of having him appointed a professor. Without being carried away by
illusions, Basilio pretended to believe in them and went on obeying
the dictates of his own conscience.

That night, while _Les Cloches de Corneville_ was being presented,
Basilio was studying at an old table by the light of an oil-lamp, whose
thick glass globe partly illuminated his melancholy features. An old
skull, some human bones, and a few books carefully arranged covered
the table, whereon there was also a pan of water with a sponge. The
smell of opium that proceeded from the adjoining bedroom made the
air heavy and inclined him to sleep, but he overcame the desire by
bathing his temples and eyes from time to time, determined not to go
to sleep until he had finished the book, which he had borrowed and
must return as soon as possible. It was a volume of the _Medicina
Legal y Toxicología_ of Dr. Friata, the only book that the professor
would use, and Basilio lacked money to buy a copy, since, under
the pretext of its being forbidden by the censor in Manila and the
necessity for bribing many government employees to get it in, the
booksellers charged a high price for it.

So absorbed wras the youth in his studies that he had not given any
attention at all to some pamphlets that had been sent to him from
some unknown source, pamphlets that treated of the Philippines, among
which figured those that were attracting the greatest notice at the
time because of their harsh and insulting manner of referring to the
natives of the country. Basilio had no time to open them, and he was
perhaps restrained also by the thought that there is nothing pleasant
about receiving an insult or a provocation without having any means
of replying or defending oneself. The censorship, in fact, permitted
insults to the Filipinos but prohibited replies on their part.