El Conejo trumpeted this at the top of his lungs and Justa held her sides with laughter.
"And don't you sing mass any more the way you used to?"
"Oh, sure."
"Let's hear it, then."
The humpback had taken for his scandalous parody, the Preface of the Mass, and for the sacred words he substituted others with which he announced his business. He began to bellow:
"Who will sell me any … slippers … pants … hempen sandals … old shoes … secondhand clothes … syringes … urinals and even chemises."
The hunchback's cries made Justa laugh nervously. El Conejo, after repeating the Preface several times took up the melody of the rogations and sang some strains in a high soprano, others in a basso profundo:
"The high silk-hat" … and instead of saying Libéranos domine, he went on: "I'll buy for spot cash…. Your old vest … will fetch a five-peseta piece…."
Then he had to stop to let Justa laugh.
She was not slow in perceiving that she had attracted Manuel, and despite the fact that he seemed no great conquest to her, she became serious, egged him on and glanced at him furtively with looks that sent the boy's blood pounding faster.