"We have them: half Filipinos and half Peninsulars." [7]

"And the house?"

"Makaraig, the wealthy Makaraig, has offered one of his."

Capitan Basilio had to give in; these young men had everything
arranged.

"For the rest," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "it's not
altogether bad, it's not a bad idea, and now that you can't know
Latin at least you may know Castilian. Here you have another instance,
namesake, of how we are going backwards. In our times we learned Latin
because our books were in Latin; now you study Latin a little but
have no Latin books. On the other hand, your books are in Castilian
and that language is not taught--_aetas parentum pejor avis tulit
nos nequiores!_ as Horace said." With this quotation he moved away
majestically, like a Roman emperor.

The youths smiled at each other. "These men of the past," remarked
Isagani, "find obstacles for everything. Propose a thing to them and
instead of seeing its advantages they only fix their attention on
the difficulties. They want everything to come smooth and round as
a billiard ball."

"He's right at home with your uncle," observed Basilio.

"They talk of past times. But listen--speaking of uncles, what does
yours say about Paulita?"