They heard them mount the stairs together, and then they were left to their imaginations. As for Antonia, she was almost terrified at the storm she had raised. Never had she seen anger so terrible. Yet, though he had not said a word directly to her, she was aware of his full sympathy. He grasped her hand, and entered the Senora’s room with her. His first order was to Rachela—
“Leave the house in five minutes; no, in three minutes. I will tell Ortiz to send your clothes after you. Go!”
“My Senora! Fray I—”
“Go!” he thundered. “Out of my house! Fly! I will not endure you another moment.”
The impetus of his words was like a great wind. They drove the woman before him, and he shut the door behind her with a terrifying and amazing rage. Then he turned to the priest—
“Fray Ignatius, you have abused my hospitality, and my patience. You shall do so no longer. For twenty-six years I have suffered your interference-”
“The Senor is a prudent man. The wise bear what they cannot resist”; and with a gentle smile and lifted eyebrows Fray Ignatius crossed himself.
“I have respected your faith, though it was the faith of a bigot; and your opinions, though they were false and cruel, because you believed honestly in them. But you shall not again interfere with my wife, or my children, or my servants, or my house.”
“The Senor Doctor is not prince, or pope. ‘Shall,’ and ‘SHALL NOT,’ no one but my own ecclesiastical superiors can say to me.”
“I say, you shall not again terrify my wife and insult my daughter, and disorganize my whole household! And, as the God of my mother hears me, you shall not again burn up His Holy Word under my roof. Never, while I dwell beneath it, enter my gates, or cross my threshold, or address yourself to any that bear my name, or eat my bread.” With the words, he walked to the door and held it open. It was impossible to mistake the unspoken order, and there was something in the concentrated yet controlled passion of Robert Worth which even the haughty priest did not care to irritate beyond its bounds.