Storia do Mogor 338.4.1

338.4.1

After he had given it the man went out by the door, and who can have a doubt that this deceiving counsellor was laughing over having carried through such a good piece of work ? Thereupon came an opening to the house-owner to enquire from the friar the object of all those exaggerations and the cause of so many grimaces. He asked this as one who felt infinitely for his friend's troubles, as one who would in every way help him to redress. He urged this request regardless of the efforts of the friar to prevaricate and not disclose the facts. But the more he evaded telling him, the more the householder pressed the priest to speak out. He had already begun to show great resentment at the father's declining to communicate the circumstances to him ; for it seemed to him that the conversation had reference to the disagreeables his visitor was already suffering under. Seeing himself already pledged to the man of the house by having sought his aid, and yielding to so much insistence (thanks be to Heaven !), the friar was forced to disclose the secret, begging his friend to say how his flight was to be managed. But the said person, as soon as he heard the story, became quite disconcerted, and for a short time cast his eyes to the ground. After this pause, turning them on the friar, he broke the embarrassing silence in this form of words : ' My father, he who gave your reverence that idea is not your friend, and does not wish you well.