“perhaps you think,” said doña perfecta, with a tinge of conceit in her tones, “that señor don inocencio is going to remain silent and not give you an answer to each and every one of those points.”
“oh, no!” exclaimed the canon, arching his eyebrows. “i will not attempt to measure my poor abilities with a champion so valiant and at the same time so well armed. señor don josé knows every thing; that is to say, he has at his command the whole arsenal of the exact sciences. of course i know that the doctrines he upholds are false; but i have neither the talent nor the eloquence to combat them. i would employ theological arguments, drawn from revelation, from faith, from the divine word; but alas! señor don josé, who is an eminent savant, would laugh at theology, at faith, at revelation, at the holy prophets, at the gospel. a poor ignorant priest, an unhappy man who knows neither mathematics, nor german philosophy with its ego and its non ego, a poor dominie, who knows only the science of god and something of the latin poets, cannot enter into combat with so valiant a champion.”
pepe rey burst into a frank laugh.
“i see that señor don inocencio,” he said, “has taken seriously all the nonsense i have been talking. come, señor canon, regard the whole matter as a jest, and let it end there. i am quite sure that my opinions do not in reality differ greatly from yours. you are a pious and learned man; it is i who am ignorant. if i have allowed myself to speak in jest, pardon me, all of you—that is my way.”
“thanks!” responded the presbyter, visibly annoyed. “is that the way you want to get out of it now? i am well aware, we are all well aware, that the views you have sustained are your own. it could not be otherwise. you are the man of the age. it cannot be denied that you have a wonderful, a truly wonderful intellect. while you were talking, at the same time that i inwardly deplored errors so great, i could not but admire, i will confess it frankly, the loftiness of expression, the prodigious fluency, the surprising method of your reasoning, the force of your arguments. what a head, señora doña perfecta, what a head your young nephew has! when i was in madrid and they took me to the atheneum, i confess that i was amazed to see the wonderful talent which god has bestowed on the atheists and the protestants.”
“señor don inocencio,” said doña perfecta, looking alternately at her nephew and her friend, “i think that in judging this boy you are more than benevolent. don’t get angry, pepe, or mind what i say, for i am neither a savante, nor a philosopher, nor a theologian; but it seems to me that señor don inocencio has just given a proof of his great modesty and christian charity in not crushing you as he could have done if he had wished.”
“oh, señora!” said the ecclesiastic.
“that is the way with him,” continued doña perfecta, “always pretending to know nothing. and he knows more than the seven doctors put together. ah, señor don inocencio, how well the name you have suits you! but don’t affect an unseasonable humility now. why, my nephew has no pretensions. all he knows is what he has been taught. if he has been taught error, what more can he desire than that you should enlighten him and take him out of the limbo of his false doctrines?”
“just so; i desire nothing more than that the señor penitentiary should take me out,”—murmured pepe, comprehending that without intending it, he had got himself into a labyrinth.
“i am a poor priest, whose only learning is some knowledge of the ancients,” responded don inocencio. “i recognize the immense value, from a worldly point of view, of señor don josé’s scientific knowledge, and before so brilliant an oracle i prostrate myself and am silent.”
so saying, the canon folded his hands across his breast and bent his head. pepe rey was somewhat disturbed because of the turn which his mind had chosen to give to an idle discussion jestingly followed up, and in which he had engaged only to enliven the conversation a little. he thought that the most prudent course to pursue would be to end at once so dangerous a debate, and for this purpose he addressed a question to señor don cayetano when the latter, shaking off the drowsiness which had overcome him after the dessert, offered the guests the indispensable toothpicks stuck in a china peacock with outspread tail.
“yesterday i discovered a hand grasping the handle of an amphora, on which there are a number of hieratic characters. i will show it to you,” said don cayetano, delighted to introduce a favorite theme.
“i suppose that señor de rey is very expert in archaeological matters also,” said the canon, who, still implacable, pursued his victim to his last retreat.
“of course,” said doña perfecta. “what is there that these clever children of our day do not understand? they have all the sciences at their fingers’ ends. the universities and the academics teach them every thing in a twinkling, giving them a patent of learning.”
“oh, that is unjust!” responded the canon, observing the pained expression of the engineer’s countenance.
“my aunt is right,” declared pepe. “at the present day we learn a little of every thing, and leave school with the rudiments of various studies.”
“i was saying,” continued the canon, “that you are no doubt a great archaeologist.”
“i know absolutely nothing of that science,” responded the young man. “ruins are ruins, and i have never cared to cover myself with dust going among them.”
don cayetano made an expressive grimace.
“that is not to say that i condemn archaeology,” said doña perfecta’s nephew quickly, observing with pain that he could not utter a word without wounding some one. “i know that from that dust issues history. those studies are delightful and very useful.”
“you,” said the penitentiary, putting his toothpick into the last of his back teeth, “are no doubt more inclined to controversial studies. an excellent idea has just occurred to me, señor don josé; you ought to be a lawyer.”
“law is a profession which i abhor,” replied pepe rey. “i know many estimable lawyers, among them my father, who is the best of men; but, in spite of so favorable a specimen, i could never had brought myself to practise a profession which consists in defending with equal readiness the pro and the contra of a question. i know of no greater misjudgment, no greater prejudice, no greater blindness, than parents show in their eagerness to dedicate their sons to the law. the chief and the most terrible plague of spain is the crowd of our young lawyers, for whose existence a fabulous number of lawsuits are necessary. lawsuits multiply in proportion to the demand. and even thus, numbers are left without employment, and, as a jurisconsult cannot put his hand to the plough or seat himself at the loom, the result is that brilliant squadron of idlers full of pretensions, who clamor for places, embarrass the administration, agitate public opinion, and breed revolutions. in some way they must make a living. it would be a greater misfortune if there were lawsuits enough for all of them.”
“pepe, for heaven’s sake, take care what you say,” said doña perfecta, in a tone of marked severity. “but excuse him, señor don inocencio, for he is not aware that you have a nephew who, although he has only lately left the university, is a prodigy in the law.”
“i speak in general terms,” said pepe, with firmness. “being, as i am, the son of a distinguished lawyer, i cannot be ignorant of the fact that there are many men who practise that noble profession with honor to themselves.”
“no; my nephew is only a boy yet,” said the canon, with affected humility. “far be it from me to assert that he is a prodigy of learning, like señor de rey. in time, who can tell? his talents are neither brilliant nor seductive. of course, jacinto’s ideas are solid and his judgment is sound. what he knows he knows thoroughly. he is unacquainted with sophistries and hollow phrases.”
pepe rey appeared every moment more and more disturbed. the idea that, without desiring it, his opinions should be in opposition to those of the friends of his aunt, vexed him, and he resolved to remain silent lest he and don inocencio should end by throwing the plates at each other’s heads. fortunately the cathedral bell, calling the canon to the important duties of the choir, extricated him from his painful position. the venerable ecclesiastic rose and took leave of every one, treating rey with as much amiability and kindness as if they had been old and dear friends. the canon, after offering his services to pepe for all that he might require, promised to present his nephew to him in order that the young man might accompany him to see the town, speaking in the most affectionate terms and deigning, on leaving the room, to pat him on the shoulder. pepe rey, accepting with pleasure these formulas of concord, nevertheless felt indescribably relieved when the priest had left the dining-room and the house.
