"Pshaw!" answered the young man with disgust, seating himself and turning his face away with disdain. "They have been telling us a lot of lies. Young Ibarra is a prudent boy. He does not seem to be a fool. I think he is a pretty good sort of a chap." "Do you think so?" "Hostilities began last night." "So soon? And how did it come about?" Father Sibyla related briefly what had taken place between Father Dámaso and Crisostomo Ibarra. "Furthermore," he added, in conclusion, "the young man is going to marry that daughter of Captain Tiago, who was educated in the college of our sisters. He is rich and would not want to make any enemies who might cause the loss of his happiness and his fortune." The sick man bowed his head as a sign of assent. "Yes, that is my opinion. With such a wife and such a father-in-law we can hold him body and soul. And if not, it will be all the better for us if he declares himself our enemy." Father Sibyla looked at the old man with surprise. "That is to say, for the good of our whole corporation," he added, breathing with difficulty. "I prefer open attacks to the foolish praise and adulations of friends, for, the truth is, flattery is always paid for." "Does Your Reverence think so?" The old man looked at him sadly. "Always bear this in mind," he answered, panting with fatigue, "that our power will endure as long as it is believed in. If they attack us, the Government says, 'They attack them, because they see in them an obstacle to their liberty, therefore let us preserve them.'" "And if the Government gives them a hearing? Sometimes the Government----" "The Government will do no such thing." "Nevertheless, if some bold and reckless man, impelled by covetousness, should dare to think that he wanted our possessions----" "Then, woe to him!" For a moment both remained silent. "Furthermore," continued the sick man, "it will do us good to have them attack us and wake us up. It would show us our weaknesses and strengthen us. The exaggerated praises which we get deceive us, and put us asleep. We are becoming ridiculous and on the day that we become ridiculous we shall fall as we fell in Europe. Money will no longer flow into our churches, no one will longer buy our scapularies or girdles, and when we cease to be rich we shall no longer possess the great influence which we wield at present." "Pshaw! We shall always have our property, our plantations----"