"To-day."
"What treachery! what infamy!" cried her mother, roaring rather than speaking. "Had you appointed a meeting?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"To-night."
"Where?"
"Here, here! I will confess everything, everything! I know it is a crime. I am a wretch; but you, my mother, will take me out of this hell. Give your consent. Say one word to me, only one word!"
"That man here in my house!" cried Doña Perfecta, springing back several paces from her daughter.
Rosario followed her on her knees.
At the same instant three blows were heard, three crashes, three explosions. [Maria Remedios had spied upon Pepe Rey, the lover; shown Caballuco, a brutal servant and ally, how to follow him stealthily into the garden; and had then come to arouse the house.] It was the heart of Maria Remedios knocking at the door through the knocker. The house trembled with an awful dread. Mother and daughter stood as motionless as statues.