An Eagle Flight
Copyright© 2024 by José Rizal
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With no word for any one else, Father Dámaso went straight to Maria’s bed and took her hand.
“Maria,” he said with great tenderness, and tears gushed from his eyes, “Maria, my child, you must not die!”
Maria Clara looked at him with some astonishment. No one of those who knew the Franciscan would have believed him capable of such display of feeling.
He could not say another word, but moved aside the draperies and went out among the plants of Maria’s balcony, crying like a child.
“How he loves his god-daughter!” every one thought.
Father Salvi, motionless and silent, watched him intently.
When the father’s grief seemed more controlled, Doña Victorino presented young Linares. Father Dámaso, saying nothing, looked him over from head to foot, took the letter, read it without appearing to comprehend, and asked:
“Well, who are you?”
“Alfonso Linares, the godson of your brother-in-law——” stammered the young fellow. Father Dámaso threw back his head and examined him anew, his face clearing.
“What! It’s the godson of Carlicos!” he cried, clasping him in his arms. “I had a letter from him some days ago. And it is you? You were not born when I left the country. I did not know you!” And Father Dámaso still held in his strong arms the young man, whose face began to color, perhaps from embarrassment, perhaps from suffocation. Father Dámaso appeared to have completely forgotten his grief.
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