ten o'clock
In referring to his policies , Don Custodio was not satisfied with the word _ art _ , and upon pronouncing the word _ government _ , he would extend his hand downwards to the height of a man bent over on his knees . In regard to his religious ideas , he prided himself on being a Catholic , very much a Catholic -- ah , Catholic Spain , the land of _ María Santísima _ ! A liberal could be and ought to be a Catholic , when the reactionaries were setting themselves up as gods or saints , just as a mulatto passes for a white man in Kaffirland . But with all that , he ate meat during Lent , except on Good Friday , never went to confession , believed neither in miracles nor the infallibility of the Pope , and when he attended mass , went to the one at ten o'clock , or to the shortest , the military mass . Although in Madrid he had spoken ill of the religious orders , so as not to be out of harmony with his surroundings , considering them anachronisms , and had hurled curses against the Inquisition , while relating this or that lurid or droll story wherein the habits danced , or rather friars without habits , yet in speaking of the Philippines , which should be ruled by special laws , he would cough , look wise , and again extend his hand downwards to that mysterious altitude . `` The friars are necessary , they 're a necessary evil , '' he would declare . But how he would rage when any Indian dared to doubt the miracles or did not acknowledge the Pope !