The Fiesta — El Filibusterismo

Rizal titles the chapter with Danzar sobre un volcán as lesser gods and merchants arrive at Don Timoteo's feast, loosening into slaps and gossip while Timoteo bows like a jumping-jack until the Captain-General and his diamond-covered wife take the house. Ben-Zayb compares Juanito and Paulita to Cupid and Psyche; the General feels his last triumph shadowed by enemies and a setting sun Padre Irene names aloud. Chromos, Palace curtains, and speeches out of vogue fill the sala while the bridal party absorbs stares and congratulations, and Simoun's lamp draws admirers who praise the dining-room novelty destined for his Excellency's table.

Basilio watches from the crowd, pitying innocents until friars pass and he hardens again: let the righteous suffer with the sinners, he owes Simoun more than them. Simoun crosses the threshold with the lamp, ascends, and later leaves pale while Basilio reads alea jacta est in his face. Blocked at the door for shabby dress after his good angel urged him inside, Basilio cannot warn the hall; he flees and finds Isagani staring at Paulita on the balcony. Tomorrow she will not be the same woman, Isagani says, refusing flight even when Basilio confesses the mined dining-room and dynamite light on the azotea.

Basilio runs; Isagani enters the house for love. In the kiosk of seven plates, parchment circulates: Mene, Tekel, Phares signed Juan Crisostomo Ibarra. Custodio calls it sedition; Salvi whispers it is Ibarra's very handwriting and collapses while waiters unknown to the General serve trembling diners. The lamp dims; the General asks Padre Irene to turn the wick. A figure overturns chairs, seizes the lamp, hurls it into the river, and leaps after it before servants can shoot. Darkness swallows the greater gods' table and servants cry thief at the splash.

Rizal splits the chapter between Basilio's revenge logic and Isagani's last look at Paulita, then lets an agile figure abort massacre at the wick. Revolution timed for a party still nearly bills servants, bridesmaids, and street spectators; only a rival love acts in the kiosk darkness. When the fuse reaches the General's dinner, who counts as hero versus accomplice?