Why did they ordain me with so much ceremony?
Was it for this I sang mass in the midst of so much pomp, as though in wedding the Church I were uniting myself to wealth ?" His poverty made him the slave of Don Antolin, and in the last third of the month he came almost every day to the cloister, trying to soften Silver Stick with his prayers and induce him to lend a few pesetas.

He even flattered Mariquita, who could not show herself shy with him, in spite of his cassock.
"He has a very good appearance," she said to the women of the Claverias with the enthusiasm inspired by every man.

"I like to see him by the side of Don Gabriel and to hear them talk as they walk in the cloister.

They look like two great noblemen.

His mother called him Martin, no doubt because he resembled the Saint Martin by that painter they call El Greco, that hangs in some parish church, but I forget which." To cajole Don Antolin was a far more arduous task, and the poor little curate suffered much in his endeavours to propitiate the miser, who was irritated if his miserable loans were not repaid at the proper time.