Chapter Fourteen Summary

Reverend Father Don Seferino Huanca Leyva was born as the result of a rape during carnival season; his father was a young socialite and his mother a carefree laundress. The laundress was already the mother of eight children, and since she had no husband, she tried unsuccessfully to abort the baby. Growing up, Seferino took up various occupations in order to survive and find food. One day Seferino goes door-to-door in a wealthy neighborhood begging for shoes and clothes that he later planned to sell. When he arrived at the home of Mayte Unzategui, she was drawn in by the intelligence in his eyes and pledges to visit him at his home that evening. Mayte honors her word and arrived at 6 o'clock and offered to pay for Seferino's education and to give his mother ten thousand dollars if she would allow...