Chapter 21: - Page 8 of 9
Manila Types
(English version of “El Filibusterismo”)
After Paulita had gone in, Tadeo resumed: Those are the nieces of the rich Captain D——, those coming up in a landau; you see how pretty and healthy they are? Well, in a few years they’ll be dead or crazy. Captain D—— is opposed to their marrying, and the insanity of the uncle is appearing in the nieces. That’s the Señorita E——, the rich heiress whom the world and the conventos are disputing over. Hello, I know that fellow! It’s Padre Irene, in disguise, with a false mustache. I recognize him by his nose. And he was so greatly opposed to this!
The scandalized novice watched a neatly cut coat disappear behind a group of ladies.
The Three Fates!
went on Tadeo, watching the arrival of three withered, bony, hollow-eyed, wide-mouthed, and shabbily dressed women. They’re called—
Atropos?
ventured the novice, who wished to show that he also knew somebody, at least in mythology.