She tied a handkerchief around her head as if to keep it from bursting and, in spite of the fact that the sun was still shining, ordered the lamps to be lighted.
Sisa, as we saw, had been arrested as a disturber of the peace and taken to the barracks.

The alferez was not then present, so the unfortunate woman had had to spend the night there seated on a bench in an abandoned attitude.

The next day the alferez saw her, and fearing for her in those days of confusion nor caring to risk a disagreeable scene, he had charged the soldiers to look after her, to treat her kindly, and to give her something to eat.

Thus the madwoman spent two days.
Tonight, whether the nearness to the house of Capitan Tiago had brought to her Maria Clara's sad song or whether other recollections awoke in her old melodies, whatever the cause, Sisa also began to sing in a sweet and melancholy voice the _kundiman_ of her youth.

The soldiers heard her and fell silent; those airs awoke old memories of the days before they had been corrupted.