Doña Victorina let him go no farther; with a sublime movement she snatched out his teeth, threw them in the dust, and trampled them under her feet. The doctor almost crying, the doctora pelting him with sarcasms, they arrived at the house of Captain Tiago. Linares, who was talking with Maria Clara, was no little disquieted by the abrupt arrival of his cousins. Maria, amid the pillows of her fauteuil, was not less surprised at the new physiognomy of her doctor.
“Cousin,” said Doña Victorina, “you are to go and challenge the alférez this instant; if not——”
“Why?” demanded the astonished Linares.
“You are to go and challenge him this instant; if not, I shall say here, and to everybody, who you are.”
“Doña Victorina!”
The three friends looked at each other.
“The alférez has insulted us. The old sorceress came down with a whip to assault us, and this creature did nothing to prevent it! A man!”
“Hear that!” said Sinang regretfully. “There was a fight, and we didn’t see it!”
“The alférez broke the doctor’s teeth!” added Doña Victorina.
Captain Tiago entered, but he wasn’t given time to get his breath. In few words, with an intermingling of spicy language, Doña Victorina narrated what had passed, naturally trying to put herself in a good light.