Plans Without heeding any of the bystanders, Padre Damaso went directly to the bed of the sick girl and taking her hand said to her with ineffable tenderness, while tears sprang into his eyes, "Maria, my daughter, you mustn't die!" The sick girl opened her eyes and stared at him with a strange expression.

No one who knew the Franciscan had suspected in him such tender feelings, no one had believed that under his rude and rough exterior there might beat a heart.

Unable to go on, he withdrew from the girl's side, weeping like a child, and went outside under the favorite vines of Maria Clara's balcony to give free rein to his grief.
"How he loves his goddaughter!" thought all present, while Fray Salvi gazed at him motionlessly and in silence, lightly gnawing his lips the while.
When he had become somewhat calm again Dona Victorina introduced Linares, who approached him respectfully.

Fray Damaso silently looked him over from head to foot, took the letter offered and read it, but apparently without understanding, for he asked, "And who are you ?" "Alfonso Linares, the godson of your brother-in-law," stammered the young man.
Padre Damaso threw back his body and looked the youth over again carefully.

Then his features lighted up and he arose.