"You are the first man that I've talked to in this country!" he finally exclaimed, extending his hand.
"Your Excellency has seen only those who drag themselves about in the city; you have not visited the slandered huts of our towns or your Excellency would have been able to see real men, if to be a man it is sufficient to have a generous heart and simple customs." The Captain-General rose and began to walk back and forth in the room.

"Senor Ibarra," he exclaimed, pausing suddenly, and the young man also rose, "perhaps within a month I shall leave.

Your education and your mode of thinking are not for this country.

Sell what you have, pack your trunk, and come with me to Europe; the climate there will be more agreeable to you." "I shall always while I live preserve the memory of your Excellency's kindness," replied Ibarra with emotion, "but I must remain in this country where my fathers have lived." "Where they have died you might say with more exactness! Believe me, perhaps I know your country better than you yourself do.

Ah, now I remember," he exclaimed with a change of tone, "you are going to marry an adorable young woman and I'm detaining you here! Go, go to her, and that you may have greater freedom send her father to me," this with a smile.