"You say that the lieutenant threatened to Padre Damaso that--" "Yes, Padre," broke in Fray Sibyla with a faint smile, "but this morning I saw him and he told me that he was sorry for what occurred last night, that the sherry had gone to his head, and that he believed that Padre Damaso was in the same condition.

'And your threat ?' I asked him jokingly.

'Padre,' he answered me, 'I know how to keep my word when my honor is affected, but I am not nor have ever been an informer--for that reason I wear only two stars.'" After they had conversed a while longer on unimportant subjects, Fray Sibyla took his departure.
It was true that the lieutenant had not gone to the Palace, but the Captain-General heard what had occurred.

While talking with some of his aides about the allusions that the Manila newspapers were making to him under the names of comets and celestial apparitions, one of them told him about the affair of Padre Damaso, with a somewhat heightened coloring although substantially correct as to matter.
"From whom did you learn this ?" asked his Excellency, smiling.
"From Laruja, who was telling it this morning in the office." The Captain-General again smiled and said: "A woman or a friar can't insult one.

I contemplate living in peace for the time that I shall remain in this country and I don't want any more quarrels with men who wear skirts.