Quart throws journalist Bonafé out of the hotel

Lorenzo Quart’s encounter with Honorato Bonafé at the Doña María hotel turns a journalist’s attempted information trade into an abrupt expulsion. Bonafé offers a damaging allegation about Father Príamo Ferro in exchange for comments on the church and its priest; Quart refuses, then physically drives him from the lobby. The scene tests Quart’s composure and dignity, and leaves the hotel’s night receptionist astonished by the priest’s conduct.

The Encounter and the Proposed Bargain

The night has already been long when Quart reaches the hotel and takes his key from the sleepy concierge. Bonafé is waiting in an armchair in the lobby. Quart regards his appearance as another badly timed intrusion, but Bonafé says he has been investigating and proposes an exchange: Quart can give him a couple of quotable details about the church and its parish priest, and Bonafé will supply an item Quart does not know. He also suggests that the deal would keep Quart’s night-time walks out of the conversation.

Bonafé identifies his promised information as something he has learned about Father Ferro. He presents the offer as generous and claims that a journalist can be trusted to follow a moral code. His theatrical appeal to truth does not persuade Quart, who is already irritated by the encounter and by Bonafé’s attempt to use private information as leverage.

The Allegation and Its Intended Use

Bonafé says that Ferro had needed money in his previous parish and had sold valuable church property, including an image and a pair of paintings. He frames the claim as a scandal rather than as a matter requiring careful inquiry. In his account of journalism, a story can be assembled from fragments, with some truth somewhere in the report; later correction or supplementation does not undo the sales it earns in the meantime.

That explanation makes the exchange more than an offer of information. Bonafé wants comments from Quart that can be paired with the allegation, while the suggestion that Ferro misused church goods supplies the sensational hook. Quart does not accept the bargain or provide the requested material. The scene establishes only what Bonafé claims; it does not independently confirm the accusation against Ferro.

Quart Forces the Confrontation to an End

Quart considers striking Bonafé with the key in his sound hand, but rejects the impulse. His restraint is shaped by the circumstances: he is a priest, they are close to the Archbishopric of Seville, and a public altercation would follow another recent scene involving a jealous official. Quart also imagines the professional consequences within the IOE, where such behavior could bring an unwanted reassignment. The thought of divine vengeance offers a counterpoint to his anger, but does not make the encounter cordial.

Instead, Quart tells Bonafé to leave and threatens to have him removed; if necessary, he says, he may forget his clerical role and do it himself. When Bonafé remains, Quart advances and drives him across the lobby toward the open entrance. Bonafé’s bag slips from his wrist and falls; Quart picks it up and tosses it to his feet outside. He makes the boundary unmistakable by telling the journalist that he never wants to see him again.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

Bonafé answers that he is not finished with Quart, and the encounter ends with an insult. Quart shrugs it off and turns back toward his room. The concierge, who had been close to calling the police, watches with open astonishment and a measure of respect. The contrast between the priest’s official identity and his forceful response is the scene’s final turn: a man who has tried to contain his anger instead enforces a personal limit through action.

The expulsion also breaks Bonafé’s proposed arrangement without resolving the allegation he has brought forward. Quart refuses both the journalist’s access and his terms, but the information about Ferro remains in circulation as a potential scandal. The episode thus gives the conflict a double consequence: Bonafé is removed from the hotel, while the question he introduced is left open rather than settled.