Chapter 18 Summary

Cosimo arrives in Olivabassa in the winter, and by spring, he has become a useful teacher to them, helping make them more comfortable and even providing a place for Don Sulpicio to sit and listen to their sins. For himself, he contacts the bookseller back in Ombrosa to have a few books sent to him in his present location.

The Spaniards meet regularly in a sort of parliament in which they draft letters of appeal to their sovereign in order that they might be able to return home. They draft several versions of this letter until El Conde rises and speaks, and mysteriously silences the desire in them to write any more letters. El Conde, Ursula and some of the more thinking girls share Cosimo's enthusiasm for the ideas of the thinkers he shares with them. El Conde in particular is continuously eager...