The brigadier, who was not very well informed in regard to what had happened to Saint Eulalia at the hands of Calfurniano, believed honestly that the silly girl was ridiculing him, and, giving a tremendous rap on the table with his fist, he shouted:—
"Listen, señorita, do you know with whom you are talking? Do you know that I am the military governor of the province, and that I have never had any decided fondness for jests? Do you know what risk you run at making sport of this most dignified council of war, over which at this moment I preside? Do you know that I have a mind to send you to prison, and shut you up in a cell, and keep you there on bread and water until you rotted? Did you know it? heh!... Did you know it? heh!... heh?... heh?..."
"I know perfectly," replied Maria in steady, but modest tone, "that I am in the presence of a council of war; but, though I were facing a battalion of soldiers, aiming at me with their guns, I should say the same thing without dropping or adding a letter. I am not accustomed to tell falsehoods, and when it concerns acts which may be some service to the cause of God, I should be unworthy of calling myself a Christian, if I denied them in the presence of any one."
"And what is it that you call the cause of God, my beautiful señorita?" asked the brigadier with apparent calmness, while his eyes flashed lightnings of wrath.
"I call the cause of God that which is at the present time represented by the legitimate and Catholic king, around whom are collected all those who feel scandalized to see religion persecuted and its ministers molested; those who mourn at seeing the infamous blasphemies uttered in Congress, and daily spread broadcast by the journals; those who do not wish to see impiety enthroned in Spain, the Catholic land, above all others, granted by God one single faith and one single worship."
The brigadier grew redder than a guindilla pepper; his lips trembled with wrath; he was about to make some shocking remark, but at last he controlled himself, and said to the prosecuting officer,—
"Continue your examination, Señor Capitán."
For the first time in his life the brigadier smothered his barbarous words. The fiscal, over whom the force of attraction for the opposite sex had not yet lost its influence, perhaps from the reason that he was younger, continued, all the time softening his voice and sweetening the smile that distorted his countenance:—
"Very well; since you have the candor to confess that you have been a party to the conspiracy, let us hope that you will continue to be as frank, and tell us all its details and the names of the persons connected with it."
"Oh, no, ... that cannot be. I declare and confess my acts, but I cannot those of the others. Even if they granted me permission, be very sure that I would not do it, since it seems to me a sin to put into the hands of the impious arms to murder good Christians...."