That their beloved Commander, the temporal defender of the Faith, should be the recipient of this miraculous manifestation was most fit and seemly.

The Commander himself was reticent; he could not tell a falsehood--he dared not tell the truth.

After all, if the good folk of San Carlos believed that the powers of his right eye were actually restored, was it wise and discreet for him to undeceive them?
For the first time in his life the Commander thought of policy--for the first time he quoted that text which has been the lure of so many well-meaning but easy Christians, of being "all things to all men." Infeliz Hermenegildo Salvatierra! For by degrees an ominous whisper crept though the little settlement.
The Right Eye of the Commander, although miraculous, seemed to exercise a baleful effect upon the beholder.

No one could look at it without winking.

It was cold, hard, relentless, and unflinching.