“Wonderful!” he exclaimed. “There’s the same Chinese who was here seven years ago, and that old woman—the very same! It might be said that tonight I’ve dreamed of a seven years’ journey in Europe. Good heavens, that pavement is still in the same unrepaired condition as when I left!” True it was that the stones of the sidewalk on the corner of San Jacinto and Sacristia were still loose.
While he was meditating upon this marvel of the city’s stability in a country where everything is so unstable, a hand was placed lightly on his shoulder. He raised his head to see the old lieutenant gazing at him with something like a smile in place of the hard expression and the frown which usually characterized him.
“Young man, be careful! Learn from your father!” was the abrupt greeting of the old soldier.
“Pardon me, but you seem to have thought a great deal of my father. Can you tell me how he died?” asked Ibarra, staring at him.
“What! Don’t you know about it?” asked the officer.
“I asked Don Santiago about it, but he wouldn’t promise to tell me until tomorrow. Perhaps you know?”
“I should say I do, as does everybody else. He died in prison!”
The young man stepped backward a pace and gazed searchingly at the lieutenant. “In prison? Who died in prison?”
“Your father, man, since he was in confinement,” was the somewhat surprised answer.
“My father—in prison—confined in a prison? What are you talking about? Do you know who my father was? Are you—?” demanded the young man, seizing the officer’s arm.