And rising to his feet, he gave his opponent half an hour to study it out.
Iday held in her hands the strip of cardboard on which was written forty-eight questions, while Albino held the book which contained the answers.
“That’s a lie! It’s not so! It lies!” cried Sinang, half in tears.
“What is the matter with you?” asked Maria Clara.
“Just imagine it: I asked the question ‘When will I have some sense?’ I threw the dice and he, this all-night-watching priest (Albino, the ex-seminary student) reads from the book: ‘When the frogs grow hairs.’ What do you think of that?”
And Sinang made a face at the former religious student, who was still laughing heartily.
“Who told you to ask such a question?” said her cousin Victoria. “Any one who asks such a question deserves just such an answer.”
“You ask a question!” said they all to Ibarra. “We have agreed that the one who receives the best answer shall receive a gift from the others. We have all asked our questions already.”
“And who has received the best answer?”
“Maria Clara, Maria Clara!” replied Sinang. “We made her ask the question whether you loved her or not: ‘Is your lover faithful and constant,’ and the book replied——”