When news of the death of Aglipay reached her, near Manila, Hilario
Agonoy was awakened to sufficient interest to plan something for
herself. She straightway thought that if she could appear before
Judge Daft and plead against the Jesuit, even going so far as to
sacrifice herself by telling the whole story of Ambrosia Lonzello,
she might change the attitude of the United States and thus save the
day for the insurrectionists.
Within a few days, therefore, Hilario Agonoy disappeared. Ambrosia
Lonzello again appeared before her mother at the grass hut--her mother,
who has mourned the mysterious disappearance of Ambrosia--and made
herself known--telling the terrible story without concealment. The
mother was stricken with horror, and convinced her daughter that
she was in no way culpable. Woman's garments were again donned and
Ambrosia Lonzello prepared to appear, with her mother's consent,
before Governor Daft to tell her story.
It was somewhat discouraging to Ambrosia to find the Governor's
headquarters in the convento, and to be compelled to again visit the
scene of her agony and ruin. But she nerved herself for the ordeal. It
was her fortune to be admitted to Judge Daft's office, to find the
Jesuit with him. To her it was a surprise and shock. But perhaps it
was as well. Had he been there, had he seen her before she reached
the governor, she might have been locked up again, both to safeguard
himself and satisfy anew his lust. And, after the first shock of it
had passed, the sight of her despoiler revived all the strength within
her into anger and hatred, rendering her doubly powerful. Judge Daft
kindly asked:
"What can I do for you, my child?"
"Hear me," replied the girl, trembling from the intensity of her
feeling. "I come to ask for justice. That man (pointing to the Jesuit)
has wronged me. I came to the church to confess, and he by force took
me to the convento, where he locked and kept me all night, using me
as I can not tell, and making me, who trusted him as a man of God,
an outcast by his devil-deeds. I come to call justice and God's
vengeance upon him. But this is not all. He it is who persuaded
drunken soldiers to bury Bishop Aglipay alive--alive, mind you;
and as the poor man stifled in the sand, this fiend who poses as a
representative of God, mocked him by saying the burial service over
him. I come to call God's vengeance on him, and to ask for justice,
from you toward this enemy of mankind."
The girl was half hysterical, speaking in loud, impassioned
tones. Judge Daft sought to quiet her.
"Be seated, my dear young lady," he said. "These are grave charges
you make, and I shall look into them. But be calm, I fear in your
excitement you are exaggerating."
"Exaggerating! I could not if I had a thousand tongues, all eloquent,
tell half the wrongs I feel. I could not, even though educated as
you are and as he is, reveal a tenth of what I have suffered at
his hands. I beg of you, for humanity's sake, for the sake of your
daughter, if you have one, hear me and give me vengeance."
She fell on her knees before Judge Daft, who gently lifted her and
sat her in the chair. The Jesuit stood smiling and serene. The girl,
scarce knowing what she did, arose and screamed:
"You will not aid me. It is because you are as wax in the hands of
that devil, who by the hope of power and position for yourself moulds
you to his will. He induced you to pardon the murderers of Aglipay. He
persuaded you to have the army seize on our churches. He has you in
his house, directing you by flattery and making you a tyrant from
your very kindness. My curses on you both! How hard and bitter this
fierce world can be! It was my father, my own father, Judge Daft,
who delivered his daughter to this fiend. And this man, my father,
Bishop Lonzello, betrayed my mother when she was young, so that I
came into the world foredoomed to ruin and disgrace. And you, you,
Judge Daft, uphold this Jesuit in his villainy and plots and will
not hear my prayer."
The over-wrought girl sank in a heap on the floor, sobbing
bitterly. The noise of her last speech had brought several servants
on the scene. To them Judge Daft turned and compassionately said:
"Take her to a room, where she may rest."
"What! A room in this convento?" screamed the girl arising. "Back to
the scene of horror? I did not think this of you."
She was now attacking the servants with nails and fists, pressing
her way toward the door. She fought her way to the street, and then
ran at her fullest speed, away, anywhere, but away from the convento.
"Poor creature!" cried the Jesuit in tones of the deepest
commiseration. "I think there is nothing in all the world sadder than
the hallucinations of the insane."