“How, if I wasn’t even acquainted with him?”
“You ought to have been acquainted with him!”
“But, Tinchang, if it was the first time I had ever seen him or heard him spoken of?”
“You ought to have seen him before, you ought to have heard him spoken of; that’s what you are a man for! And now, you will be sent into exile, our goods will be confiscated——Oh, if I were a man! if I were a man!”
“And if you were a man,” asked the vexed husband, “what would you do?”
“What? Why, to-day, this very day, I should present myself to the captain-general, and offer to fight against the rebels, this very day!”
“But didn’t you read what the Diario says? Listen! ‘The infamous and abortive treason has been repressed with energy, force, and vigor, and the rebellious enemies of the country and their accomplices will promptly feel all the weight and all the severity of the laws!’ You see, there is no rebellion!”
“That makes no difference, you should present yourself; many did it in 1872, and so nobody harmed them.”
“Yes! it was done also by Father Bug——” But his wife’s hands were over his mouth.
“Say it! Speak that name, so you may be hung to-morrow at Bagumbayan! Don’t you know it is enough to get you executed without so much as a trial? Go on, say it!”