"Come away, come away!" cried Florentina, in alarm. "The Penitentiary is going up to Don Nominative's room and he will give us a blessing."
"Yes, come away; let us close the door of the dining-room."
They rushed pell-mell from the terrace.
"You might have guessed that Jacinto would see you from his temple of learning," said Tafetan to the Troyas.
"Don Nominative is our friend," responded one of the girls. "From his temple of science he says a great many sweet things to us on the sly, and he blows us kisses besides."
"Jacinto?" asked the engineer. "What the deuce is that name you gave him?"
"Don Nominative."
The three girls burst out laughing.
"We call him that because he is very learned."
"No, because when we were little he was little too. But, yes, now I remember. We used to play on the terrace, and we could hear him studying his lessons aloud."
"Yes, and the whole blessed day he used to spend singling."
"Declining, girl! That is what it was. He would go like this:
'Nominative, rosa, Genitive, Dative, Accusative.' "
"I suppose that I have my nickname too," said Pepe Rey.
"Let Maria Juana tell you what it is," said Florentina, hiding herself.
"I? Tell it to him you, Pepa."
"You haven't any name yet, Don Jose."
"But I shall have one. I promise you that I will come to hear what it is and to receive confirmation," said the young man, making a movement to go.
"What, are you going?"
"Yes. You have lost time enough already. To work, girls! Throwing stones at the neighbors and the passers-by is not the most suitable occupation for girls as pretty and as clever as you are. Well, good-by."
And without waiting for further remonstrances, or answering the civilities of the girls, he left the house hastily, leaving Don Juan Tafetan behind him.
The scene which he had just witnessed, the indignity suffered by the canon, the unexpected appearance of the little doctor of laws, added still further to the perplexities, the anxieties, and the disagreeable presentiments that already disturbed the soul of the unlucky engineer.
He regretted with his whole soul having entered the house of the Troyas, and, resolving to employ his time better while his hypochondriasm lasted, he made a tour of inspection through the town.
He visited the market, the Calle de la Triperia, where the principal stores were; he observed the various aspects presented by the industry and commerce of the great city of Orbajosa, and, finding only new motives of weariness, he bent his steps in the direction of the Paseo de las Descalzas; but he saw there only a few stray dogs, for, owing to the disagreeable wind which prevailed, the usual promenaders had remained at home. He went to the apothecary's, where various species of ruminant friends of progress, who chewed again and again the cud of the same endless theme, were accustomed to meet, but there he was still more bored. Finally, as he was passing the cathedral, he heard the strains of the organ and the beautiful chanting of the choir. He entered, knelt before the high altar, remembering the warnings which his aunt had given him about behaving with decorum in church; then visited a chapel, and was about to enter another when an acolyte, warden, or beadle approached him, and with the rudest manner and in the most discourteous tone said to him:
"His lordship says that you are to get out of the church."
The engineer felt the blood rush to his face. He obeyed without a word.
Turned out everywhere, either by superior authority or by his own tedium, he had no resource but to return to his aunt's house, where he found waiting for him:
First, Uncle Licurgo, to announce a second lawsuit to him; second, Senor Don Cayetano, to read him another passage from his discourse on the "Genealogies of Orbajosa"; third, Caballuco, on some business which he had not disclosed; fourth, Dona Perfecta and her affectionate smile, for what will appear in the following chapter.
