The insane woman understood her at last and went on moving her arms regardless of time or tune. A smile of satisfaction contracted the lips of the teacher. It was like the smile of a female Mephistopheles who had succeeded in developing a good pupil; it was full of hatred, contempt, mockery and cruelty; a coarse laugh could not have expressed more. Absorbed in the enjoyment which the spectacle afforded her, she did not hear her husband coming, until he opened the door with a kick. The alferez appeared, pale and gloomy. He saw what was going on there and looked daggers at his wife. She did not move from her tracks and stood smiling in a cynical way. In the gentlest manner possible, he put his hand on the shoulder of the dancing woman and made her stop. The demented woman sighed and slowly sat down on the blood-covered floor. The silence continued. The alferez was breathing heavily. His wife was observing him with her questioning eyes. She seized the whip and in a calm and measured tone asked him: "What's the matter with you? You have not said 'good evening' to me." The alferez, without replying, called the orderly. "Take this woman," he said, "and have Marta give her another shirt and take care of her. Find her good food, and a good bed.... Let him look out who treats her badly!" After carefully closing the door, he turned the key in the lock and approached his señora. "You want me to smash you?" he said, clenching his fists. "What's the matter with you?" asked she, retreating a step or two. "What's the matter with me?" he shouted, in a thundering voice, and, giving vent to an oath, showed her a paper covered with scribbling. He continued: "Didn't you write this letter to the Alcalde, saying that I am paid for permitting the gambling, d----n you? I don't know how I can keep from smashing you." "Go ahead! Try it if you dare!" said she, with a mocking smile. "He who smashes me has got to be more of a man than you!" He heard the insult, but he saw the whip. He seized one of the plates which were on the table and threw it at her head. The woman, accustomed to these fights, ducked quickly and the plate was shivered to pieces against the wall. A glass, a cup, and a knife shared the same fortune. "Coward!" she cried. "You dare not come near me!" And then she spat at him to exasperate him more. The man, blind and howling with rage, threw himself on her, but she, with wonderful rapidity, struck him a few blows across the face with the whip, and quickly escaped. Closing the door of her room with a slam, she locked herself in. Roaring with rage and pain the alferez followed her, but, coming up against the door, he could do nothing but belch forth a string of blasphemies. "Cursed be your ancestors, you swine! Open, d----n you! Open that door or I'll break your skull!" he howled, pounding and kicking the panels.