He separated his bony, knotted hands clasped behind his back, to shake his finger at Martin.
Decoud had stepped into the room after Antonia. But he did not go far. He had remained just within, against the curtain, with an expression of not quite genuine gravity, like a grown-up person taking part in a game of children. He gazed quietly at the threatening finger.
"I have watched your reverence converting General Barrios by a special sermon on the Plaza," he said, without making the slightest movement.
"What miserable nonsense!" Father Corbelan's deep voice resounded all over the room, making all the heads turn on the shoulders. "The man is a drunkard. Senores, the God of your General is a bottle!"
His contemptuous, arbitrary voice caused an uneasy suspension of every sound, as if the se
