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"It is I. May I come in?" asked the young man, his heart beating violently. The silence was not broken. A few seconds afterward gentle steps approached the door and Sinang's cheerful voice murmured through the key-hole: "Crisostomo, we are going to the theatre to-night. Write what you have to say to Maria Clara." Then the footsteps were heard retreating, as quickly as they had come.
Sinang's cochero, who was driving Sinang and her cousin in an elegant carriage, had the impudence to yell "Tabi!" in such a commanding tone that she had to jump out of the way, and could only protest: "Look at that brute of a cochero! I'm going to tell his master to train his servants better."
There were gathered the alferez, the coadjutor, the gobernadorcillo, the teniente-mayor, the schoolmaster, and many other personages of the town, even including Sinang's father, Capitan Basilio, who had been the adversary of the deceased Don Rafael in an old lawsuit.
But Maria Clara colored up, and, putting her hands over Sinang's mouth, did not allow her to finish what she had to say. "Then, let me try it," said Crisostomo, smiling. He asked the question: "Will I succeed in my present undertaking?" "You are going to get a bad answer," exclaimed Sinang.
Sinang's coachman, who was driving her and her cousin in an elegant carriage, had the impudence to call out tabi to them in such a warning voice that she had to get out of the way, and was only able to exclaim, "Look at that brute of a coachman! I am going to tell his master that he should educate his servants better!" "Let us go back to the house," she ordered her husband.
But the young maiden did not reply and said to her friends: "Take me to my room, for I cannot go alone." They helped her to her feet, and, leaning her marble-like head on pretty Sinang's shoulder, and, with the arms of her friend around her waist, she went to her bedroom.
"I'll read the examination myself and you'll have only to recall your sins." "Write to him not to think of me any more," murmured Maria Clara in Sinang's ear as the latter said good-by to her. "What?" But the aunt again approached, and Sinang had to go away without understanding what her friend had meant.
The tent had been made by hanging canvas from the limbs of some of the old trees and by erecting a few poles. There in the group was the alferez, the teniente mayor, the coadjutor, the gobernadorcillo, the school teacher, a number, of past captains and lieutenants, including even Captain Basilio, who was Sinang's father, and the former rival of the deceased Don Rafael.
"We made her ask, willy-nilly, 'Is your sweetheart faithful and constant? And the book answered " But here the blushing Maria Clara put her hands over Sinang's mouth so that she could not finish. "Well, give me the wheel," said Crisostomo, smiling. "My question is, 'Shall I succeed in my present enterprise?" "What an ugly question!" exclaimed Sinang.
All expected wonders, and Sinang's husband thought he saw carbuncles, gems that flashed fire and shone in the midst of the shadows. Capitan Basilio was on the threshold of immortality: he was going to behold something real, something beyond his dreams. "This was a necklace of Cleopatra's," said Simoun, taking out carefully a flat case in the shape of a half-moon.
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