“You heretic, begone!”
“God is everywhere. But still if you wish to give me the crucifix I will guard it carefully as a keepsake.”
“Wait just a second. I have my dress here.”
She withdrew from the window for a moment and came back with the bronze crucifix, which she handed out to me through the iron grating. In taking it from her I got possession of her brown, firm hand, and kissed it a number of times voraciously, gluttonously!
“That will do, little boy. Do you expect to keep it up till morning?”
I went away from that window grating intoxicated with love and bliss. So far gone was I that when I met the watchman a little distance away I gave him two pesetas. Afterwards I regretted it, for there was no need of doing so, according to what Gloria had said. This time, also, I noticed as little as before whether the stars were glittering on high with sweet brilliancy, or whether the moonlight filtered down into the dark labyrinthine streets, spotting them here and there with patines of bright silver. I carried in my own heart a radiant sun, which dazzled me and prevented me from seeing such petty details!
III. A VISIT TO THE CONVENT.
... During all this time neither the Mother Superior nor the sisters had asked who I was, or how and why Gloria happened to be in that place. They looked at me with quick glances of curiosity, showing that my presence embarrassed them. I had not opened my lips.
My wife, doubtless piqued by this neglect, suddenly said, “Did you not know that I was married?”
The sisters burst into a laugh.