That was a dilemma indeed, and he had never been in a worse one.

He had a vague idea that the most innocent thing could not be admitted to the friars but that they, or rather their estates and curacies, would get out of it all the results and advantages imaginable.

So his good angel prompted him to deny everything with all the energy of his soul and refractoriness of his hair, and he was about to shout a proud _nego_, for the reason that he who denies everything does not compromise himself in anything, as a certain lawyer had once told him; but the evil habit of disregarding the dictates of one's own conscience, of having little faith in legal folk, and of seeking aid from others where one is sufficient unto himself, was his undoing.

His companions, especially Juanito Pelaez, were making signs to him to admit it, so he let himself be carried away by his evil destiny and exclaimed, "_Concedo_, Padre," in a voice as faltering as though he were saying, "_In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum._" "_Concedo antecedentum_," echoed the professor, smiling maliciously.

"_Ergo_, I can scratch the mercury off a looking-glass, put in its place a piece of _bibinka_, and we shall still have a mirror, eh?
Now what shall we have ?" The youth gazed at his prompters, but seeing them surprised and speechless, contracted his features into an expression of bitterest reproach.