The Espadanas The fiesta is over.

The people of the town have again found, as in every other year, that their treasury is poorer, that they have worked, sweated, and stayed awake much without really amusing themselves, without gaining any new friends, and, in a word, that they have dearly bought their dissipation and their headaches.

But this matters nothing, for the same will be done next year, the same the coming century, since it has always been the custom.
In Capitan Tiago's house sadness reigns.

All the windows are closed, the inmates move about noiselessly, and only in the kitchen do they dare to speak in natural tones.

Maria Clara, the soul of the house, lies sick in bed and her condition is reflected in all the faces, as the sorrows of the mind may be read in the countenance of an individual.
"Which seems best to you, Isabel, shall I make a poor-offering to the cross of Tunasan or to the cross of Matahong ?" asks the afflicted father in a low voice.