Page:The reign of greed (1912).pdf/37

 "They talk of past times. But listen—speaking of uncles, what does yours say about Paulita?"

Isagani blushed. "He preached me a sermon about the choosing of a wife. I answered him that there wasn't in Manila another like her—beautiful, well-bred, an orphan—"

"Very wealthy, elegant, charming, with no defect other than a ridiculous aunt," added Basilio, at which both smiled.

"In regard to the aunt, do you know that she has charged me to look for her husband?"

"Doña Victorina? And you've promised, in order to keep your sweetheart."

"Naturally! But the fact is that her husband is actually hidden—in my uncle's house!"

Both burst into a laugh at this, while Isagani continued: "That's why my uncle, being a conscientious man, won't go on the upper deck, fearful that Doña Victorina will ask him about Don Tiburcio. Just imagine, when Doña Victorina learned that I was a steerage passenger she gazed at me with a disdain that—"

At that moment Simoun came down and, catching sight of the two young men, greeted Basilio in a patronizing tone: "Hello, Don Basilio, you're off for the vacation? Is the gentleman a townsman of yours?"

Basilio introduced Isagani with the remark that he was not a townsman, but that their homes were not very far apart. Isagani lived on the seashore of the opposite coast. Simoun examined him with such marked attention that he was annoyed, turned squarely aroiuid, and faced the jeweler with a provoking stare.

"Well, what is the province like?" the latter asked, turning again to Basilio.

" Why, aren't you familiar with it?"

"How the devil am I to know it when I've never set foot in it? I've been told that it’s very poor and doesn’t buy jewels."