"She deserves them!" went on Doña Victorina as if she had not heard what Padre Salvi said. "That woman is so insolent! In the church she did nothing but stare at me. You can see that she's a nobody. Sunday I was going to ask her if she saw anything funny about my face, but who would lower oneself to speak to people that are not of rank?" The curate, on his part, continued just as though he had not heard this tirade. "Believe me, Don Santiago, to complete your daughter's recovery it's necessary that she take communion tomorrow. I'll bring the viaticum over here. I don't think she has anything to confess, but yet, if she wants to confess herself tonight--" "I don't know," Doña Victorina instantly took advantage of a slight hesitation on Padre Salvi's part to add, "I don't understand how there can be men capable of marrying such a fright as that woman is. It's easily seen where she comes from. She's just dying of envy, you can see it! How much does an alferez get?" "Accordingly, Don Santiago, tell your cousin to prepare the sick girl for the communion tomorrow. I'll come over tonight to absolve her of her peccadillos." Seeing Aunt Isabel come from the sick-room, he said to her in Tagalog, "Prepare your niece for confession tonight. Tomorrow I'll bring over the viaticum. With that she'll improve faster." "But, Padre," Linares gathered up enough courage to ask faintly, "you don't think that she's in any danger of dying?" "Don't you worry," answered the padre without looking at him. "I know what I'm doing; I've helped take care of plenty of sick people before. Besides, she'll decide herself whether or not she wishes to receive the holy communion and you'll see that she says yes." Capitan Tiago immediately agreed to everything, while Aunt Isabel returned to the sick girl's chamber. Maria Clara was still in bed, pale, very pale, and at her side were her two friends. "Take one more grain," Sinang whispered, as she offered her a white tablet that she took from a small glass tube. "He says that when you feel a rumbling or buzzing in your ears you are to stop the medicine." "Hasn't he written to you again?" asked the sick girl in a low voice. "No, he must be very busy." "Hasn't he sent any message?" "He says nothing more than that he's going to try to get the Archbishop to absolve him from the excommunication, so that--" This conversation was suspended at the aunt's approach. "The padre says for you to get ready for confession, daughter," said the latter. "You girls must leave her so that she can make her examination of conscience." "But it hasn't been a week since she confessed!" protested Sinang. "I'm not sick and I don't sin as often as that." "Abá! Don't you know what the curate says: the righteous sin seven times a day? Come, what book shall I bring you, the _Ancora_, the _Ramillete_, or the _Camino Recto para ir al Cielo?_" Maria Clara did not answer.