“They are between God and my soul. There is no absolution from duty.”
“Grace of God! Hear you, Senora! Hear you the rebellious and disobedient one! She has defied me to my face! She is near to being anathema! She is not your daughter! She is bewitched. Some evil spirit has possession of her. Let no one touch her or speak to her; it shall be a mortal sin.”
Antonia fell at her mother’s knee. “Mi madre! I am your daughter, your Antonia, that you carried in your breast, and that loves you better than life. Permit me not to be accused of sin—to be called a devil. Mother, speak for me.”
At this moment Isabel entered. Seeing the distress of her mother and sister she hastened to them; but Fray Ignatius stepped between, and extending his arms forbade her nearer approach.
“I forbid you to speak to your sister. I forbid you to touch her, to give her food, or water, or sympathy, until she has humbled herself, and obtained the forgiveness of her sin.”
Then mother love stood up triumphant over superstition. “I and my daughter are the same,” said the Senora, and she gave her hand to Antonia. “If she has sinned, we will bear the penance together; she and I together.”
“I command you to stand apart. For the good of Antonia’s sinful soul, I command you to withdraw yourself from her.”
“She is my daughter, father. I will bear the sin and the punishment with her. The Holy Mother will understand me. To her I will go.”
The door of her room was at hand; she stepped swiftly to it, and putting her daughters before her, passed in and turned the key.
The movement took the priest by surprise, and yet he was secretly satisfied with it. He had permitted himself to act with an imprudence most unusual. He had allowed the Senora to find out her own moral strength, and made a situation for her in which she had acted not only without his support, but against his authority.