Even the good Wooden Staff, Esteban, protested ¡n
; own way, saying quietly to Don Antolin :



290 THE SHADOW OF THE CATHEDRAL

''Is it really true that you intend turning out tk
shoemaker? You will do wrong, very wrong, for after
all he is very poor, and his wife was bom in the cloister.
These innovations always bring misfortune, Don An-
tolin."

So the priest, finding he had no support, and seeing
hostility on every side, put off his energetic resolutions
till the following day, even reproving his niece when
she threw his weakness in his face.
The Canon Obrero, from whom he had implored help,
did not care to disturb the blessed peace of his existence
by mixing himself up in the quarrels of the smaller peo-
ple. It was Silver Stick's own affair ; he could punish or
expel any one he thought fit without fear of anybody.
But Don Antolin, dreading the responsibility that might
accrue from energetic action, ended by delivering himself
over to Gabriel and begging for his assistance. That
man was the one who wielded the real authority in the
upper cloister; all those who had listened to him fol-
lowed his advice blindly.
