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diff --git a/12041-0.txt b/12041-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59182d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/12041-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10788 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12041 *** + +THE SHADOW OF THE CATHEDRAL + +BY + +VICENTE BLASCO IBAÑEZ + + +1919 + + +Translated From The Spanish By +Mrs. W.A. Gillespie + +With A Critical Introduction By +W.D. Howells + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There are three cathedrals which I think will remain chief of the +Spanish cathedrals in the remembrance of the traveller, namely the +Cathedral at Burgos, the Cathedral at Toledo, and the Cathedral at +Seville; and first of these for reasons hitherto of history and art, +and now of fiction, will be the Cathedral at Toledo, which the most +commanding talent among the contemporary Spanish novelists has made +the protagonist of the romance following. I do not mean that Vincent +Blasco Ibañez is greater than Perez Galdós, or Armando Palacio Valdés +or even the Countess Pardo-Bazan; but he belongs to their realistic +order of imagination, and he is easily the first of living European +novelists outside of Spain, with the advantage of superior youth, +freshness of invention and force of characterization. The Russians +have ceased to be actively the masters, and there is no Frenchman, +Englishman, or Scandinavian who counts with Ibañez, and of course no +Italian, American, and, unspeakably, no German. + +I scarcely know whether to speak first of this book or the writer of +it, but as I know less of him than of it I may more quickly dispatch +that part of my introduction. He was born at Valencia in 1866, of +Arragonese origin, and of a strictly middle class family. His father +kept a shop, a dry-goods store in fact, but Ibañez, after fit +preparation, studied law in the University of Valencia and was +duly graduated in that science. Apparently he never practiced his +profession, but became a journalist almost immediately. He was +instinctively a revolutionist, and was imprisoned in Barcelona, the +home of revolution, for some political offence, when he was eighteen. +It does not appear whether he committed his popular offence in the +Republican newspaper which he established in Valencia; but it is +certain that he was elected a Republican deputy to the Cortes, where +he became a leader of his party, while yet evidently of no great +maturity. + +He began almost as soon to write fiction of the naturalistic type, and +of a Zolaistic coloring which his Spanish critics find rather stronger +than I have myself seen it. Every young writer forms himself upon some +older writer; nobody begins master; but Ibañez became master while he +was yet no doubt practicing a prentice hand; yet I do not feel very +strongly the Zolaistic influence in his first novel, _La Barraca_, +or The Cabin, which paints peasant life in the region of Valencia, +studied at first hand and probably from personal knowledge. It is +not a very spacious scheme, but in its narrow field it is strictly a +_novela de costumbres_, or novel of manners, as we used to call the +kind. Ibañez has in fact never written anything but novels of manners, +and _La Barraca_ pictures a neighborhood where a stranger takes up a +waste tract of land and tries to make a home for himself and family. +This makes enemies of all his neighbors who after an interval of pity +for the newcomer in the loss of one of his children return to their +cruelty and render the place impossible to him. It is a tragedy such +as naturalism alone can stage and give the effect of life. I have read +few things so touching as this tale of commonest experience which +seems as true to the suffering and defeat of the newcomers, as to the +stupid inhumanity of the neighbors who join, under the lead of the +evillest among them, in driving the strangers away; in fact I know +nothing parallel to it, certainly nothing in English; perhaps _The +House with the Green Shutters_ breathes as great an anguish. + +At just what interval or remove the novel which gave Ibañez worldwide +reputation followed this little tale, I cannot say, and it is not +important that I should try to say. But it is worth while to note here +that he never flatters the vices or even the swoier virtues of his +countrymen; and it is much to their honor that they have accepted him +in the love of his art for the sincerity of his dealing with their +conditions. In _Sangre y Arena_ his affair is with the cherished +atrocity which keeps the Spaniards in the era of the gladiator +shows of Rome. The hero, as the renowned _torrero_ whose career it +celebrates, from his first boyish longing to be a bull-fighter, to +his death, weakened by years and wounds, in the arena of Madrid, is +something absolute in characterization. The whole book in fact is +absolute in its fidelity to the general fact it deals with, and the +persons of its powerful drama. Each in his or her place is realized +with an art which leaves one in no doubt of their lifelikeness, and +keeps each as vital as the _torrero_ himself. There is little of the +humor which relieves the pathos of Valdés in the equal fidelity of his +_Marta y Maria_ or the unsurpassable tragedy of Galdós in his _Doña +Perfecta_. The _torrero's_ family who have dreaded his boyish ambition +with the anxiety of good common people, and his devotedly gentle and +beautiful wife,--even his bullying and then truckling brother-in-law +who is ashamed of his profession and then proud of him when it has +filled Spain with his fame,--are made to live in the spacious scene. +But above all in her lust for him and her contempt for him the unique +figure of Doña Sol astounds. She rules him as her brother the marquis +would rule a mistress; even in the abandon of her passion she does not +admit him to social equality; she will not let him speak to her in +thee and thou, he must address her as ladyship; she is monstrous +without ceasing to be a woman of her world, when he dies before her in +the arena a broken and vanquished man. The _torrero_ is morally better +than the aristocrat and he is none the less human though a mere +incident of her wicked life,--her insulted and rejected worshipper, +who yet deserves his fate. + +_Sangre y Arena_ is a book of unexampled force and in that sort must +be reckoned the greatest novel of the author, who has neglected no +phase of his varied scene. The _torrero's_ mortal disaster in the +arena is no more important than the action behind the scenes where the +gored horses have their dangling entrails sewed up by the primitive +surgery of the place and are then ridden back into the amphitheatre to +suffer a second agony. No color of the dreadful picture is spared; the +whole thing passes as in the reader's presence before his sight and +his other senses. The book is a masterpiece far in advance of that +study of the common life which Ibañez calls _La Horda_; dealing with +the horde of common poor and those accidents of beauty and talent +as native to them as to the classes called the better. It has the +attraction of the author's frank handling, and the power of the +Spanish scene in which the action passes; but it could not hold me to +the end. + +It is only in his latest book that he transcends the Spanish scene and +peoples the wider range from South America to Paris, and from Paris to +the invaded provinces of France with characters proper to the times +and places. _The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse_ has not the rough +textures and rank dyes of the wholly Spanish stories, but it is the +strongest story of the great war known to me, and its loss in the +Parisian figures is made more than good in the novelty and veracity of +the Argentinos who supply that element of internationality which the +North American novelists of a generation ago employed to give a fresh +interest to their work. With the coming of the hero to study art and +make love in the conventional Paris, and the repatriation of his +father, a cattle millionaire of French birth from the pampas, with his +wife and daughters, Ibañez achieves effects beyond the art of Henry +James, below whom he nevertheless falls so far in subtlety and beauty. + +The book has moments of the pathos so rich in the work of Galdós and +Valdés, and especially of Emilia Pardo-Bazan in her _Morriña_ or _Home +Sickness_, the story of a peasant girl in Barcelona, but the grief of +the Argentine family for the death of the son and brother in battle +with the Germans, has the appeal of anguish beyond any moment in _La +Catedral_. I do not know just the order of this last-mentioned novel +among the stories of Ibañez, but it has a quality of imagination, of +poetic feeling which surpasses the invention of any other that I have +read, and makes me think it came before _Sangre y Arena_, and possibly +before _La Horda_. I cannot recall any other novel of the author which +is quite so psychological as this. It is in fact a sort of biography, +a personal study, of the mighty fane at Toledo, as if the edifice were +of human quality and could have its life expressed in human terms. +There is nothing forced in the poetic conception, or mechanical in +the execution. The Cathedral is not only a single life, it is a +neighborhood, a city, a world in itself; and its complex character +appears in the nature of the different souls which collectively +animate it. The first of these is the sick and beaten native of it who +comes back to the world which he has never loved or trusted, but in +which he was born and reared. As a son of its faith, Gabriel Luna was +to have been a priest; but before he became a minister of its faith, +it meant almost the same that he should become a Carlist soldier, and +fight on for that cause till it was hopeless. In his French captivity +he loses the faith which was one with the Carlist cause, and in +England he reads Darwin and becomes an evolutionist of the ardor which +the evolutionists have now lost. He wanders over Europe with the +English girl whom he worships with an intellectual rather than +passionate ardor, and after her death he ends at Barcelona in time to +share one of the habitual revolutions of the province and to spend +several years in one of its prisons. When he comes out it is into a +world which he is doomed to leave; he is sick to death and in hopeless +poverty; he has lost the courage of his revolutionary faith if not his +fealty to it; all that he asks of the world is leave to creep out of +it and somewhere die in peace. He thinks of an elder brother who like +himself was born in the precincts of the Cathedral where generations +of their family have lived and died, and his brother does not deny +him. In fact the kind, dull gardener welcomes him to a share of his +poverty, and Gabriel begins dying where he began living. The kindness +between the brothers is as simple in the broken adventurer whose wide +world has failed him as in the aging peasant, pent from his birth in +the Cathedral close, with no knowledge of anything beyond it. All +their kindred who serve in their several sort the stepmother church, +down to the gardener's son whose office is to keep dogs out of the +Cathedral and has the title of _perrero_, are good to the returning +exile. They do not well understand what and where he has been; the +tradition of his gifted youth when he was dedicated to the church and +forsook her service at the altar for her service in the field, remains +unquestioned, and he is safe in the refuge of his family who can offer +mainly their insignificance for his protection. The logic of the fact +is perfect, and Gabriel's emergence from the quiet of his retreat +inevitably follows from the nature of the agitator as the logic of +his own past and has the approval at least of the _perrero_ and the +allegiance of the rest. What is very important in the affair is that +most of the inhabitants of this Cathedral-world, rich and poor, good, +bad, and indifferent, mean and generous, are few of them wicked +people, as wickedness is commonly understood; they all have their +habitual or their occasional moments of good will. + +The refugee is tired of his past but he does not deny his faith in +humanity; his doctrine only postpones to a time secularly remote the +redemption of humanity from its secular suffering. He begins at once +to do good; he rescues his kind elder brother from the repudiation of +the daughter whom he has cast off because her seduction has condemned +her to a life of shame; he wins back the poor prostitute to her home, +and forces her father to tolerate her in it. + +Most of the Cathedral folk are of course miserably poor, but willing +to be better than they are if they can keep from starving; the fierce +and prepotent Cardinal who is over them all, has moments of the common +good will, when he forgives all his enemies except the recalcitrant +canons. He likes to escape from these, and talk with the elderly +widow of the gardener whom he has known from his boyhood, and to pity +himself in her presence and smoke himself free from, his rancor and +trouble. He is such a prelate as we know historically in enough +instances; but he is pathetic in that simplicity which survives in him +and almost makes good the loss of innocence in Latin souls. He keeps +with him the young girl who is the daughter of his youth, and whom +it cuts him to the soul to have those opprobrious canons imagine his +mistress. He is one out of the many figures that affirm their veracity +in the strange world where they have their being; and he is only the +more vivid as the head of a hierarchy which he rules rather violently +though never ignobly. + +But the populace, the underpaid domestics and laborers of the strange +ecclesiastical world in their wretched over-worked lives and hopeless +deaths are what the author presents most vividly. There is the death +of the cobbler's baby which starves at the starving mother's breast +which the author makes us witness in its insupportable pathos, but his +art is not chiefly shown in such extremes: his affair includes the +whole tragical drama of the place, both its beauty and its squalor of +fact, but he keeps central the character of the refugee, Gabriel Luna, +in the allegiance to his past which he cannot throw off. When he +begins to teach the simple denizens of the Cathedral, some of them +hear him gladly, and some indifferently, and some unwillingly, but +none intelligently. He fails with them in that doctrine of patience +which was his failure, as an agitator, with the proletariat wherever +he has been; they could not wait through geological epochs for the +reign of mercy and justice which he could not reasonably promise the +over-worked and underfed multitude to-morrow or the day after. His +brother, who could not accept his teachings, warns him that the +people of the Cathedral will not understand him and cannot accept +his scientific gospel, and for a while he desists. In fact he takes +service in the ceremonial of the Cathedral; he even plays a mechanical +part in the procession of Corpus Christi, and finally he becomes one +of the night-watchmen who guard the temple from the burglaries always +threatening its treasures. + +The story is quite without the love-interest which is the prime +attraction of our mostly silly fiction. Gabriel's association with the +English girl who wanders over Europe with him is scarcely passionate +if it is not altogether platonic; his affection for the poor girl for +whom he has won her father's tolerance if not forgiveness becomes +a tender affection, but not possibly more; and there is as little +dramatic incident as love interest in the book. The extraordinary +power of it lies in its fealty to the truth and its insight into +human nature. The reader of course perceives that it is intensely +anti-ecclesiastical, but he could make no greater mistake than to +imagine it in any wise Protestant. The author shares this hate or +slight of ecclesiasticism with all the Spanish novelists, so far as I +know them; most notably with Perez Galdós in _Doña Perfecta_ and _Lean +Rich_, with Pardo-Bazan in several of her stories, with Palacio +Valdés in the less measure of _Marta y Maria_, and _La Hermana de San +Sulpicio_ and even with the romanticist Valera in _Pepita Jimenez_. +But it may be said that while Ibañez does not go any farther than +Galdós, for instance, he is yet more intensively agnostic. He is the +standard bearer of the scientific revolt in the terms of fiction which +spares us no hope of relief in the religious notion of human life here +or hereafter that the Hebraic or Christian theology has divined. + +It is right to say this plainly, but the reader who can suffer it from +the author will find his book one of the fullest and richest in modern +fiction, worthy to rank with the greatest Russian work and beyond +anything yet done in English. It has not the topographical range of +Tolstoy's _War and Peace_, or _Resurrection_; but in its climax it +is as logically and ruthlessly tragical as anything that the Spanish +spirit has yet imagined. + +Whoever can hold on to the end of it will find his reward in the full +enjoyment of that "noble terror" which high tragedy alone can +give. Nothing that happens in the solemn story--in which something +significant is almost always happening--is of the supreme effect of +the socialist agitator's death at the hands of the disciples whom he +has taught to expect mercy and justice on earth, but forbidden to +expect it within the reach of the longest life of any man or race of +men. His rebellious followers come at night into the Cathedral where +Gabriel is watching, to rob an especially rich Madonna, whom he has +taught them to regard as a senseless and wasteful idol, and they +will not hear him when he pleads with them against the theft. The +inevitable irony of the event is awful, but it is not cruel, rather it +is the supreme touch of that pathos which seems the crowning motive of +the book. + +W.D. HOWELLS. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE SHADOW OF THE CATHEDRAL + + +CHAPTER I + + +The dawn was just rising when Gabriel Luna arrived in front of the +Cathedral, but in the narrow street of Toledo it was still night. The +silvery morning light that had scarcely begun to touch the eaves and +roofs, spread out more freely in the little Piazza del Ayuntamiento, +bringing out of the shadows the ugly front of the Archbishop's Palace, +and the towers of the municipal buildings capped with black slate, a +sombre erection of the time of Charles V. + +Gabriel walked for some time up and down the deserted square, wrapping +himself up to his eyes in the muffler of his cloak, while at intervals +his hollow cough shook him painfully. Without daring to stop walking +on account of the bitter cold, he looked at the great doorway called +"del Perdon," the only part of the church able to present a really +imposing aspect. He recalled other famous cathedrals, isolated, +occupying commanding situations, showing themselves freely in the full +pride of their beauty, and he compared them with this Cathedral +of Toledo, the mother-church of Spain, smothered by the swarm of +poverty-stricken buildings that surrounded it, clinging closely to its +walls, permitting it to display none of its exterior beauties, beyond +what could be seen from the narrow streets that closed it in on every +side. Gabriel, who was acquainted with its interior magnificence, +thought of the deceptive oriental houses, outwardly squalid and +miserable, but inwardly rich in alabasters and traceries. Jews and +Moors had not lived in Toledo for centuries in vain, their aversion to +outward show seemed to have influenced the building of the Cathedral, +now suffocated by the miserable hovels, pushed and piled up against +it, as though seeking its protection. + +The little Piazza del Ayuntamiento was the only open space that +allowed the Christian monument to display any of its grandeur; under +this little patch of open sky the early morning light showed the three +immense Gothic arches of its principal front, the hugely massive bell +tower, with its salient angles, ornamented by the cap of the Alcuzon, +a sort of black tiara, with three crowns, almost lost in the grey mist +of the wintry dawn. + +Gabriel looked affectionately at the closed and silent fane, where his +family lived, and where he himself had spent the happiest days of his +life. How many years had passed since he had last seen it! And now he +waited anxiously for the opening of its doorways. + +He had arrived in Toledo by train the previous night from Madrid. +Before shutting himself up in his miserable little room in the Posada +del Sangre (the ancient Messon del Sevillano, inhabited by Cervantes) +he had felt a feverish desire to revisit the Cathedral, and had spent +nearly an hour walking round it, listening to the barking of the +Cathedral watch-dog, who growled suspiciously, hearing the sound of +footsteps in the surrounding streets. He had been unable to sleep; the +fact of returning to his native town after so many years of misery and +adventures had taken from him all desire to rest, and, while it was +still night, he again stole out to await near the Cathedral the moment +that it should be opened. + +To while away the time he paced up and down the front, admiring again +the beauties of the porch, and noting its defects aloud, as though he +wished to call the stone benches of the Piazza and its wretched little +trees as witnesses to his criticisms. + +An iron grating surmounted by urns of the seventeenth century ran in +front of the porch, enclosing a wide, flagged space, where in former +times the sumptuous processions of the Chapter had assembled, and +where the multitude could admire the grotesque giants on high days and +festivals. + +The first storey of the façade was broken in the centre by the great +Puerta del Perdon, an enormous and very deeply-recessed Gothic arch, +which narrowed as it receded by the gradations of its mouldings, +adorned by statues of apostles, under open-worked canopies, and by +shields emblazoned with lions and castles. On the pillar dividing the +doorway stood Jesus in kingly crown and mantle, thin and drawn out, +with the look of emaciation and misery that the imagination of +the Middle Ages conceived necessary for the expression of Divine +sublimity. In the tympanum a relievo represented the Virgin surrounded +by angels, robed in the habit of St. Ildefonso, a pious legend +repeated in various parts of the building as though it were one of its +chief glories. + +On one side was the doorway called "de la Torre,"[1] on the other side +that called "de los Escribanos,"[2] for by it entered in former days +the guardians of public religion to take the oath to fulfil the duties +of their office. Both were enriched with stone statues on the jambs, +and by wreaths of little figures, foliage, and emblems that unrolled +themselves among the mouldings till they met at the summit of the +arch. + +[Footnote 1: Of the Tower.] + +[Footnote 2: Of the Scribes.] + +Above these three doorways with their exuberant Gothic rose the second +storey of Greco-Romano and almost modern construction, causing Gabriel +the same annoyance as would a discordant trumpet interrupting a +symphony. Jesus and the twelve apostles, all life size, seated at the +table, each under his own canopied niche, could be seen above the +central porch, shut in by the two tower-like buttresses which divided +the front into three parts. Beyond, two rows of arcades of inferior +design, belonging to the Italian palace, extended as far as those +under which Gabriel had so often played as a child when living in the +house of the bell-ringer. + +The riches of the Church, thought Luna, were a misfortune for art; in +a poorer church the uniformity of the ancient front would have been +preserved. But, then, the Archbishop of Toledo had eleven millions of +yearly revenue, and the Chapter as many more; they did not know what +to do with their money, so started works and made reconstructions, +and the decadent art produced monstrosities like that one of the Last +Supper. + +Above, again, rose the third storey, two great arches that lighted the +large rose of the central nave. The whole was crowned by a balustrade +of open-worked stone following the sinuosities of the frontage, between +the two salient masses that guarded it, the tower and the Musarabé +chapel. + +Gabriel ceased his contemplation, seeing that he was no longer alone +in front of the church. It was nearly daylight, and several women with +bowed heads, their mantillas falling over their eyes, were passing in +front of the iron grating. The crutches of a lame man rang out on the +fine tiles of the pavement, and, out beyond the tower, under the +great arch of communication between the archbishop's palace and the +Cathedral, the beggars were gathering in order to take up their +accustomed positions at the cloister door. The faithful and "God's +creatures" [1] knew one another; every morning they were the first +occupants of the church, and this daily meeting had established a kind +of fraternity, and with much coughing and hoarseness they all lamented +the cold of the morning and the lateness of the bell-ringer in coming +down to open the doors. + +[Footnote 1: _Pordioseres_.] + +A door opened beyond the archbishop's arch, that of the tower and +the staircase leading to the dwellings in the upper cloister. A man +crossed the street rattling a huge bunch of keys, and, followed by the +usual morning assemblage, he proceeded to open the door of the lower +cloister, narrow and pointed as an arrow-head. Gabriel recognised him, +it was Mariano, the bell-ringer. To avoid being noticed he remained +motionless in the _Piazza_, allowing those to pass first through +the Puerta del Mollete,[1] who seemed so anxious to hurry into the +Metropolitan church, lest their usual places should be stolen from +them and occupied by others. + +[Footnote 1: Door of the rolls, or loaves.] + +At last he decided to follow them, and slowly descended the same steps +leading down into the cloister, for the Cathedral, being built in a +hollow, is much lower than the adjacent streets. + +Everything appeared the same. There on the walls were the great +frescoes of Bayan y Maella, representing the works and great deeds +of Saint Eulogio, his preaching in the land of the Moors, and the +cruelties of the infidels, who, with big turbans and enormous +whiskers, were beating the saint. In the interior of the Mollete +doorway was represented the horrible martyrdom of the Child de la +Guardia; that legend born at the same time in so many Catholic towns +during the heat of anti-Semitic hatred, the sacrifice of the Christian +child, stolen from his home by Jews of grim countenance, who crucified +him in order to tear out his heart and drink his blood. + +The damp was rapidly effacing this romantic fresco, that filled the +sides of the archway like the frontispiece of a book, causing it to +scale off; but Gabriel could still see the horrible face of the judge +standing at the foot of the cross, and the ferocious gesture of the +man, who with his knife in his mouth, was bending forward to tear out +the heart of the little martyr; theatrical figures, but they had often +disturbed his childish dreams. + +The garden in the midst of the cloister showed even in midwinter its +southern vegetation of tall laurels and cypresses, stretching their +branches through the grating of the arches that, five on each side, +surrounded the square, and rising to the capitals of the pillars. +Gabriel looked a long time at the garden, which was higher than the +cloister; his face was on a level with the ground on which his father +had laboured so many years ago; at last he saw again that charming +corner of verdure--the Jews' market converted into a garden by the +canons centuries before. The remembrance of it had followed him +everywhere--in the Bois de Boulogne, in Hyde Park; for him the garden +of the Toledan Cathedral was the most beautiful of all gardens, for it +was the first he had even known in his life. + +The beggars seated on the doorsteps watched him curiously, without +daring to stretch out their hands; they could not tell if this early +morning visitor with the worn-out cloak, the shabby hat, and the old +boots, was simply an inquisitive traveller, or whether he was one of +their own order, choosing a position about the Cathedral from whence +to beg alms. + +Annoyed by this curiosity, Luna walked down the cloister, passing +by the two doors that opened into the church. The one called del +Presentacion is a lovely example of Plateresque art, chiselled like a +jewel, and adorned with fanciful and happy trifles. Going on further, +he came to the back of the staircase by which the archbishops +descended from their palace to the church; a wall covered with Gothic +interlacings, and large escutcheons, and almost on the level of the +ground was the famous "stone of light," a thin slice of marble as +clear as glass, which gave light to the staircase, and was the +admiration of all the countryfolk who came to visit the cloister. Then +came the door of Santa Catalina, black and gold, with richly-carved +polychrome foliage, mixed with lions and castles, and on the jambs two +statues of prophets. + +Gabriel went on a few steps further as he saw that the wicket of the +doorway was being opened from inside. It was the bell-ringer going +his rounds and opening all the doors; first of all a dog came out, +stretching his neck as though he was going to bark with hunger, then +two men with their caps over their eyes, wrapped in brown cloaks; the +bell-ringer held up the curtain to let them pass out. + +"Well, good-day, Mariano," said one of them by way of farewell. + +"Good-night to the caretakers of God.... May you sleep well." + +Gabriel recognised the nocturnal guardians of the Cathedral; locked +into the church since the previous night, they were now going to their +homes to sleep. + +The dog trotted off in the direction of the seminary to get his +breakfast off the scraps left by the students, free till such time as +the guardians came to look for him, to lock themselves in the church +once more. + +Luna walked down the steps of the doorway into the Cathedral. His feet +had scarcely touched the pavement before he felt on his face the cold +touch of the clammy air, like an underground vault. In the church +it was still dark, but above the stained glass of the hundreds of +different-sized windows glowed in the early dawn, looking like magic +flowers opening with the first splendours of day. Below, among the +enormous pillars that looked like a forest of stone, all was darkness, +broken here and there by the uncertain red spots of the lamps burning +in the different chapels, wavering in the shadows. The bats flew in +and out round the columns, wishing to prolong their possession of the +fane, till the first rays of the sun shone through the windows; they +fluttered over the heads of the devotees, who, kneeling before the +altars, were praying loudly, as pleased to be in the Cathedral at that +early hour as though it were their own house. Others chattered with +the acolytes and other servants of the church, who were coming in by +the different doors, sleepy and stretching themselves like workmen +coming to their work. In the twilight, figures in black cloaks glided +by on their way to the sacristy, stopping to make genuflections before +each image; and in the distance, invisible in the darkness, you +could still divine the presence of the bell-ringer, like a restless +hobgoblin, by the rattle of his bunch of keys and the creaking of the +doors he opened on his round. + +The Cathedral was awake. Echo repeated the banging of the doors from +nave to nave; a large broom, making a saw-like noise, began to sweep +in front of the sacristy; the church vibrated under the blows of +certain acolytes engaged in removing the dust from the famous carved +stalls in the choir; it seemed as though the Cathedral had awoke +with its nerves irritated, and that the slightest touch produced +complaints. + +The men's footsteps resounded with a tremendous echo, as though the +tombs of all the kings, archbishops and warriors hidden under the +tiled floor were being disturbed. + +The cold inside the church was even more intense than that outside; +this, together with the damp of its soil traversed by underground +water drains, and the leakage of subterranean and hidden tanks +that stained the pavement, made the poor canons in the choir cough +horribly, "shortening their lives," as they complainingly said. + +The morning light began to spread through the naves, bringing out of +the darkness the spotless whiteness of the Toledan Cathedral, the +purity of its stone making it the lightest and most beautiful of +temples. One could now see all the elegant and daring beauty of the +eighty-eight pillars soaring audaciously into space, white as frozen +snow, and the delicate ribs interlacing to carry the vaulting. In the +upper storey the sun shone through the large stained-glass windows, +making them look like fairy gardens. + +Gabriel seated himself on the base of one of the pilasters between two +columns; but he was soon obliged to rise and move on, the dampness +of the stone, and the vault-like cold throughout the whole building +penetrated to his very bones. + +He strolled through the naves, attracting the attention of the +devotees, who stopped in their prayers to watch him. A stranger at +that early hour, which belonged specially to the familiars of the +Cathedral, excited their curiosity. + +The bell-ringer passed him several times, following him with uneasy +glance, as though this unknown man, of poverty-stricken aspect, who +wandered aimlessly about at an hour when the treasures of the church +were, as a rule, not so strictly watched, inspired him with little +confidence. + +Another man met him near the high altar. Luna recognised him also: it +was Eusebio, the sacristan of the chapel of the Sagrario, "Azul de la +Virgen,"[1] as he was called by the Cathedral staff, on account of the +celestial colour of the cloak he wore on festival days. + +[Footnote 1: Virgin's blue.] + +Six years had passed since Gabriel had last seen him, but he had not +forgotten his greasy carcase, his surly face with its narrow, wrinkled +forehead fringed with bristly hair, his bull neck that scarcely +allowed him to breathe, and that made every breath like the blast of a +bellows. All the servants of the Cathedral envied him his post, which +was the most lucrative of all, to say nothing of the favour he enjoyed +with the archbishop and the canons. + +"Virgin's blue" considered the Cathedral as his own peculiar property, +and he often came very near turning out those who inspired him with +any antipathy. + +He fixed his bold eyes on the vagabond he saw walking about the +church, making an effort to raise his overhanging brows. Where had he +seen this strange fellow before? Gabriel noted the effort he made +to recall his memory, and turned his back to examine with pretended +interest a coloured panel hanging on a pillar. + +Flying from the curiosity excited by his presence in the fane, he went +out into the cloister; there he felt more at his ease, quite alone. +The beggars were chattering, seated on the doorsteps of the Mollete; +many of the clergy passed through them, entering the church hurriedly +by the door of the Presentacion; the beggars saluted them all by name, +but without stretching out their hands. They knew them, they all +belonged to the "household," and among friends one does not beg. They +were there to fall on the strangers, and they waited patiently for the +coming of the English; for, surely, all the strangers who came from +Madrid by the early morning train could only be from England. + +Gabriel waited near the door, knowing that those coming from the +cloister must enter by it. He crossed the archbishop's arch, and, +following the open staircase of the palace, descended into the street, +re-entering the church by the Mollete door. Luna, who knew all the +history of the Cathedral, remembered the origin of its name. At first +it was called "of justice," because under it the Vicar-General of +the Archbishopric gave audience. Later it was called "del Mollete," +because every day after high mass the acolytes and vergers assembled +there for the blessing of the half-pound loaves, or rolls of bread +distributed to the poor. Six hundred bushels of wheat--as Luna +remembered--were distributed yearly in this alms, but this was in the +days when the yearly revenues of the Cathedral were more than eleven +millions. + +Gabriel felt annoyed by the curious glances of the clergy, and of the +devout entering the church. They were people accustomed to seeing each +other daily at the same hour, and they felt their curiosity excited by +seeing a stranger breaking in on the monotony of their lives. + +He drew back to the further end of the cloister, then some words from +the beggars made him retrace his steps. + +"Ah! here comes old 'Vara de palo.'"[1] + +[Footnote 1: Wooden staff.] + +"Good-day, Señor Esteban!" + +A small man dressed in black, and shaved like a cleric, came down the +steps. + +"Esteban! Esteban!" cried Luna, placing himself between him and the +door of the Presentacion. + +"Wooden Staff" looked at him with his clear eyes like amber, the quiet +eyes of a man used to spending long hours in the Cathedral, with never +a rebellious thought arising to disturb his immovable beatitude. He +stood doubting for some time, as though he could scarcely credit the +remote resemblance in this thin, pale face, to another that lived in +his memory, but at last, with a pained surprise, he became convinced +of its identity. + +"Gabriel! my brother! is it really you?" + +And the rigidly set face of the Cathedral servant, which seemed to +have acquired the immobility of its pillars and statues, relaxed with +an affectionate smile. + +"When did you come? Where have you been? What is your life? Why have +you come?" + +"Wooden Staff" expressed his surprise by incessant questions, never +giving his brother time to answer. + +Gabriel at length explained, that he had arrived the previous night, +and that he had waited outside the church since early dawn in the +hopes of seeing his brother. + +"I have now come from Madrid, but before that I was in many places: +in England, in France, in Belgium, who knows where besides. I have +wandered from one town to another, always struggling against hunger +and the cruelty of men. My footsteps have been dogged by poverty and +the police. When I rest a little, worn out by this Wandering Jew's +existence, Justice, inspired by fear, orders me to move on, and so +once again I begin my march. I am a man to be feared, Esteban, even as +you now see me, with my body ruined before old age, and the certainty +before me of a speedy death. Again, yesterday in Madrid, they told me +I should be sent once more to prison if I stayed there any longer, and +so in the evening I took the train. Where shall I go? The world is +wide; but for me and other rebels it is very small, and narrows till +it does not leave a hand's breadth of ground for our feet. In all the +world nothing was left me but you, and this peaceful silent corner +where you live so happily, and so, I came to seek you. If you turn me +out, nothing will be left me but to die in prison, or in a hospital, +if indeed they would take me in when they know my name." + +And Gabriel, spent with his words, coughed painfully, a hollow +cavernous cough that seemed to tear his chest. He expressed himself +vehemently, moving his arms freely, with the gestures of a man used to +speaking in public, burning with the zeal of his cause. + +"Ah! brother, brother!" said Esteban, with an accent of mild reproof, +"what has it profited you reading so many books and newspapers? What +is the use of trying to disturb and upset things that are all right; +and if they are all wrong, is there no other means of righting them +possible? If you had followed your own path quietly, you would have +been a beneficiary of the Cathedral, and, who knows, you might have +had a seat in the choir among the canons, for the honour and profit of +the family! But you were always wrong-headed, although you were the +cleverest of us all. Cursed talent that leads to such misery! What +I have suffered, brother, trying to hear about your affairs! What +bitterness have I not gone through since you last came here! I thought +you were contented and happy in the printing office in Barcelona, +receiving a salary that was a fortune compared to what we earn here. +I was disturbed at reading your name so often in the papers, at those +meetings, where the division of everything is advocated, the death of +religion and of the family, and I do not know what follies besides. +The 'companion' Luna said this, or the 'companion' Luna has done the +other, and I tried to hide from the people of the 'household' that +this 'companion' could be you, guessing that such madness must turn +out ill--furiously ill--and after--after came the affairs of the +bombs." + +"I had nothing to do with that," said Gabriel sadly. "I am only a +theorist; I condemned the action as premature and inefficacious." + +"I know it, Gabriel. I always thought you innocent. You so good, so +gentle, who since you were a little one always astonished us by your +kindness; you who seemed like a saint, as our poor mother used to say! +You kill, and so treacherously, by means of such infernal artifices! +Holy Jesus!" + +And the "Wooden Staff" was silent, overcome by the recollection of +those attempts that had overwhelmed his brother. + +"But what is certain is," he continued after a little, "that you fell +into the trap spread by the Government after those affairs. What I +suffered for a while! Now and again I heard firing in the castle ditch +beyond there, and I searched anxiously in the papers for the names +of those executed, always fearing to find yours. There were rumours +current of horrible tortures inflicted on those taken to make them +confess the truth, and I thought of you, so frail, so delicate, and +I feared that some day you would be found dead in a dungeon. And I +suffered even more from my anxiety that no one here should know of +your situation; you a Luna! a son of Señor Esteban, the old gardener +of the Primate, with whom all the canons and even the archbishop +talked. You mixed up with those infernal scoundrels who wish to +destroy the world. For this reason when Eusebio the 'Virgin's Blue,' +asked me if you could possibly be the Luna of whom he read in the +papers, I replied that my brother was in America, that I heard from +him now and again, but that he was occupied with a big business--you +see what pain! Fearing from one moment to another that they would +kill you, unable to speak, unable to complain, fearful of telling +my distress even to my family. How often have I prayed in there! +Accustomed as we of the 'household' are to associate daily with +God and the saints, we may be a little hard and narrow-minded, but +misfortune softens the heart, and I addressed myself to Her who can do +everything, to our patroness the Virgin of the Sagrario, begging her +to remember you, who used to kneel at her shrine as a little child +when you were preparing to enter the seminary." + +Gabriel smiled gently as though admiring the simplicity of his +brother. + +"Do not laugh, I pray you--your smile wounds me. The Divine Lady did +all she could for you. Months afterwards I learnt that you and others +had been put on board ship with orders never to return to Spain, and, +up to the present time, never a letter or a scrap of news, good or +ill. I thought you had died, Gabriel, in those distant lands, and more +than once I have prayed for your poor soul, that I am sure wanted it." + +The "companion" showed in his eyes his gratitude for these words. + +"Thanks, Esteban. I admire your faith, but I did not come out of that +dark adventure as well as you imagine. It would have been far better +to have died. The aureole of a martyr is worth more than to enter a +dungeon a man and come out of it a limp rag. I am very ill, Esteban, +my sentence is irrevocable. I have no stomach left, my lungs are gone, +and this body that you see is like a dislocated machine that can +hardly move, creaking in every joint, as though all the bits intended +to fall apart. The Virgin who saved me at your recommendation might +really have interceded a little more in my favour, softening my +jailors. Those wretches think to save the world by giving free rein +to those wild beast instincts that slumber in us all, relics of a +far-away past. Since then, at liberty, life has been more painful than +death. On my return to Spain, pressed by poverty and persecution, my +life has been a hell. I dare stop in no place where men congregate; +they hunt me like dogs, forcing me to live out of the towns, driving +me to the mountains, into the deserts, where no human beings live. It +appears I am still a man to be feared, more to be feared than those +desperadoes who throw bombs, because I can speak, because I carry in +me an irresistible strength which forces me to preach the Truth if +I find myself in the presence of miserable and trodden-down +wretches--but all this is coming to an end. You may be easy, brother, +I am a dead man; my mission is drawing to a close, but others will +come after me, and again others. The furrow is open and the seed is in +its bowels--'GERMINAL!'[1] as a friend of my exile shouted as he saw +the last rays of the setting sun from the scaffold of the gibbet. I am +dying, and I think I have the right to rest for a few months. I wish +to enjoy for the first time in my life the sweets of silence, of +absolute quiet, of incognito; to be no one, for no one to know me; to +inspire neither sympathy nor fear. I should wish to be as a statue +on the doorway, as a pillar in the Cathedral, immovable, over whose +surface centuries have glided without leaving the slightest trace or +emotion. To wait for death as a body that eats or breathes, but cannot +think or suffer, nor feel enthusiasm; this to me would be happiness, +brother. I do not know where to go; men are waiting for me out beyond +these doors to drive me on again. Will you let me stay with you?" + +[Footnote 1: "It will sprout."] + +For all answer the "Wooden Staff" laid his hand affectionately on +Gabriel's arm. + +"Let us come upstairs, madman--you shall not die, I will nurse you; +what you want is care and quiet. We will cure that hot head, which +seems like that of Don Quixote. Do you remember when you were a child +reading us his history in the long evenings? Go along, dreamer, what +does it signify to you if the world is better or worse regulated? +As we found it, so it has always been. What does signify is that we +should live like Christians, with the certainty that the other life +will be a better one, as it will be the work of God and not of man. Go +up--let us go up." + +And taking hold of the vagabond affectionately, they passed out of +the cloister through the beggars, who had followed the interview with +curious eyes, without, however, being able to hear a single word. They +crossed the street and entered the staircase of the tower. The steps +were of red brick, worn and broken; the whitewashed walls were covered +on all sides with grotesque drawings and various inscriptions, +scrawled by those who had ascended the tower, attracted by the fame of +the big bell. + +Gabriel went up slowly, gasping, and stopping at every step. + +"I am ill, Esteban, very ill; these bellows let out the wind in every +part." + +Then, as though repenting his forgetfulness, he suddenly asked: + +"And Pepa, your wife? I hope she is all right." + +The brows of the Cathedral servant contracted, and his eyes became +bright as though full of tears. + +"She died," he said with laconic sadness. + +Gabriel stopped suddenly, clinging to the handrail, struck with +surprise; then, after a short silence, he went on, wishing to console +his brother. + +"But, Sagrario, my niece, she must have grown a beauty. The last time +I saw her she looked like a queen, with her crown of auburn hair and +her smiling face, with its golden bloom, like a ripe apricot. Did she +marry the cadet, or is she still with you?" + +The "Wooden Staff" appeared even more sad, and he looked grimly at his +brother. + +"She also died," he said drily. + +"Sagrario also dead!" exclaimed Gabriel astounded. + +"She is dead to me, which is the same thing. Brother, by all you love +best in the world, do not speak to me of her." + +Gabriel understood that he had opened some deep wound by his +inquiries, and so said no more, beginning once more his ascent. During +his absence a terrible event had happened in his brother's life--one +of those events that break up a family and separate for ever those +that survive. + +They crossed the gallery covered by the archbishop's archway and +entered the upper cloister called "the Claverias": four arcades +of equal length to those of the lower cloister, but quite bare of +decoration, and with a poverty-stricken aspect. The pavement was +chipped and broken, the four sides had a balustrade running round +between the flat pillars that supported the old beams of the roof. It +had been a provisional work three hundred years ago, and had always +remained in the same state. All along the whitewashed walls, the doors +and windows belonging to the "habitacions" of the Cathedral servants +opened without order or symmetry. These were transmitted with the +office from father to son. The cloister, with its low arcade, looked +like a street having houses on one side only; opposite was the flat +colonnade with its balustrade, against which the pointed branches of +the cypresses in the garden rested. Above the roof of the cloister +could be seen the windows of another row of "habitacions," for nearly +all the dwellings in the Claverias had two stories. + +It was the population of a whole town that lived above the Cathedral, +on a level with its roofs; and when night fell, and the staircase of +the tower was locked, it remained quite isolated from the city. This +semi-ecclesiastical tribe was born and died in the very heart of +Toledo without ever going down into the streets, clinging with +traditional instinct to the carved mountain of stone, whose arches +served it as a refuge. They lived saturated with the scent of incense, +breathing the peculiar smell of mould and old iron belonging to +ancient buildings, and with no more horizon than the arches of the +bell tower, whose height soared into the small patch of blue sky +visible from the cloister. + +The "companion" Luna thought he was returning with one step to the +days of his childhood. Little children like the Gabriel of former days +were playing about the four galleries, and sitting in that part of the +cloister bathed by the first rays of the sun. Women, who reminded +of his mother, were shaking the bedclothes out over the garden, or +sweeping the red bricks opposite their dwellings; everything seemed +the same. Time had left it quite alone, evidently thinking there was +nothing there that he could possibly age. The "companion" could now +see two sketches of lay brothers that he had drawn with charcoal when +he was eight years old; had it not been for the children one might +have thought that life had been suspended in that corner of the +Cathedral, as though this aerial population could neither be born nor +die. + +The "Wooden Staff," frowning and gloomy since the last words were +spoken, tried to give some explanation to his brother. + +"I live in our same old house. They left it to me out of respect to +the memory of my father. I am grateful to the clergy of the Chapter, +taking into consideration that I am nothing but a sad old 'Wooden +Staff.' Since my misfortune happened I have had an old woman to keep +house, and Don Luis, the Chapel-master, lives with me. You will come +to know him, a young priest of great talent, but quite hidden here: +one of God's souls, whom they think crazy in the Cathedral, but who +lives like an angel." + +They entered into the house of the Lunas, which was one of the best in +the Claverias. By the door two rows of flower vases in the shape of +a clock-case fastened to the walls were filled with hanging plants; +inside, in the sitting room, Gabriel found everything the same as +during his father's lifetime. The white walls that with years had +become like ivory, were still decorated with the old engravings of +saints, the chairs of mahogany, bright with constant rubbing, looked +like new, in spite of their curves, which showed them to belong to +a previous century, and their seats almost ready to drop through. +Through a half-open door he could see into the kitchen, where his +brother had gone to give some orders to a timid-looking old woman. In +one corner of the room, half hidden, was a sewing machine. Luna had +seen his niece working at it the last time he came to the Cathedral. +It was the permanent remembrance the "little one" had left behind her +after that catastrophe which had filled her father with such gloomy +sadness. Through a back window of the room Gabriel could see the inner +court, which made this "habitacion" one of the most charming in the +Claverias, the open expanse of sky, and the upper rooms on all four +sides, supported by rows of slender pillars, that made the courtyard +look like a little cloister. + +Esteban came back and rejoined his brother. + +"You must say what you would like for breakfast. It would soon be +ready; ask, man, ask for what you want, for though I am poor I shall +take little credit to myself unless I can make you pick up a little +and lose that look of a resuscitated corpse." + +Gabriel smiled sadly. + +"It is useless your troubling; my stomach is quite gone; a little milk +is enough for it, and I am thankful if it retains it." + +Esteban ordered the old woman to go into the town in search of the +milk, and he had hardly seated himself by his brother's side when the +door giving into the cloister opened, and the head of a young man +appeared. + +"Good-day, uncle!" he exclaimed. + +His face was unhealthy and currish, the eyes were malicious, and above +his ears were combed two large tufts of glossy hair. + +"Come in, vagabond, come in," said the "Wooden Staff." + +And he added, turning to his brother: + +"Do you know who this is? No? It is the son of our poor brother, whom +God has taken to his glory. He lives in the upper dwellings of the +cloister with his mother, who washes the linen of the choir, and of +the señores canons; and it is a delight to see how she crimps the +surplices. Thomas, lad, bow to the gentleman; it is your uncle +Gabriel, who has just arrived from America, and from Paris, and I +don't know from where else besides! From very far off countries, very +far off." + +The young man saluted Gabriel, though he seemed rather scared by the +sad and suffering face of their relative, whom he had heard his mother +speak of as a mysterious and romantic being. + +"Here, as you see him," proceeded Esteban, speaking to his brother, +and pointing to his nephew, "he is the worst lot in the Cathedral. +The Señor Obrero[1] would more than once have turned him out into +the street, were it not for respect to the memory of his father and +grandfather, and also to the name he bears, for everybody knows the +Lunas are as ancient in the Cathedral as the stones in its walls. No +escapade enters his head but he hastens to carry it out, and he swears +like a pagan even in full sacristy, under the very noses of the +beneficiaries. Don't dare to deny it! Grumbler!" + +[Footnote 1: Canon in charge of the fabric.] + +And he shook his first at the lad, half severely, half smiling, as +though in the bottom of his heart he felt some pride in his nephew's +scrapes, who received his reprimand with grimaces that made his face +twitch like that of a monkey, while his eyes retained their fixed and +insolent stare. + +"It is a real shame," continued the uncle, "that you should comb your +hair in that fashion, like the Merry Andrews that come to Toledo from +the Court on great festivals. In the good old times of the Cathedral +they would have shaved your head for you. But in these days of +alienation, of universal licence and misfortunes, our holy church is +as poor as a rat, and poverty does not give the señores canons much +inclination to examine details. It is a grievous pity to see how +everything is going down. What desolation, Gabriel! If you could only +see it! The Cathedral is as beautiful as ever, but we do not now see +the former beauty of the Lord's worship. The Chapel-master says the +same thing, and he is indignant to see that on great festivals only +about half-a-dozen musicians take their place in the middle of the +choir. The young people who live in the Claverias have not our great +love for the mother-church; they complain of the shortness of their +salaries without considering that it is the temporalities that support +religion. If this goes on I should not be surprised to see this +popinjay and other rascals like him playing at 'Rayuelo'[1] in the +crossways in front of the choir. May God forgive me!" + +[Footnote 1: A game of drawing lines.] + +And the simple "Wooden Staff" made a gesture as though scandalised at +his own words. He went on: + +"This young fellow you see here is not satisfied with his position in +life, and yet, though he is only a youth, he occupies the place his +poor father could only attain to after thirty years' service. He +aspires to be a toreador, and often on a Sunday he dares to take part +in the bull-fight in the bull-ring of Toledo. His mother came down, +dishevelled like a Magdalen, to tell me all about it, and I, thinking +that as his father was dead I ought to act in his place, I watched for +our gentleman as he returned tricked out smartly from the bull-ring, +and I thrashed him up the tower staircase to his rooms with the same +wooden staff that I use in the Cathedral, and he can tell you if I +have not a heavy hand when I am angry. Virgin of the Sagrario! A Luna +of the Holy Metropolitan Church lowering himself to be a bull-fighter! +The canons did laugh, and even the Lord Cardinal himself, as I have +been told, when they heard about the affair! A witty beneficiary has +since nicknamed him the 'Tato,'[1] and so they all call him now in +the Cathedral. So you see, brother, how much respect this rascal pays +to his family." + +[Footnote 1: _Tato_--Armadillo.] + +The "Silenciario"[1] attempted to annihilate the "Tato" with his +glance, but this latter only smiled without paying much attention, +either to his uncle's words or looks. + +[Footnote 1: _Silenciario_--Officer appointed to keep silence.] + +"You would hardly believe, Gabriel," he continued, "that this creature +often wants a bit of bread, and it is for this reason he commits all +these follies. In spite of his wrong-headedness, since the age of +twenty he has occupied the position of 'Perrero'[3] in the holy +church, he has obtained what in better times only those could obtain +who had served well and striven hard for years. He gets his six reals +a day, and as he can go freely about the church he can show the +curiosities to strangers; and so with the salary and the tips he +gets, he is much better off than I am. The foreigners who visit the +Cathedral, excommunicated people who look upon us as strange monkeys, +and who think that anything interesting of ours is only worthy of a +laugh, take a fancy to him. The English ask him if he is a toreador, +and he--what does he want better than that! When he sees they pay him +according as he pleases them, he brings out his pack of lies, for, +unfortunately, no one has any check on the deceit, and he tells them +about all the great bull-fights in which he has taken part in Toledo, +and all about the bulls he has killed; and these blockheads from +England make a note of it in their albums, and even some coarse hand +may make a sketch of this imposter's head; all he cares for is that +they should believe all his lies and give him a peseta on leaving. It +matters very little to him, if when these heretics return to their +own country they spread the report that in Toledo, in the Holy +Metropolitan Church of all Spain, the Cathedral servants are +bull-fighters, and assist in the ceremonies of worship between the +bull runs. The sum total is, that he earns more than I do, but in +spite of this he considers his employment beneath him. And such +beautiful duties, too. To walk in the great processions before +everyone, close to the Primate's great banner, with a staff covered +with red velvet to support him should he chance to fall, and wearing a +robe of scarlet brocade like a cardinal. Our Chapel-master, who knows +a great deal about such things, says that when he wears that robe +he looks like a certain Diente, or some name of the sort, who +lived hundreds of years ago in Italy, and went down into hell, and +afterwards described his journey in poetry." + +[Footnote 3: _Perrero_--Beadle whose special duty it is to chase the +dogs out of church.] + +Sounds of footsteps were heard on the narrow circular staircase in the +thickness of the wall that led from the sitting-room to the storey +above. + +"It is Don Luis," said the "Wooden Staff," "he is going to say his +mass in the chapel of the Sagrario, and afterwards to the choir." + +Gabriel rose from his sofa to salute the priest. He was feeble and +small of stature, but the thing about him that struck you at first +sight was the disproportion between his shrunken body and his immense +head. The forehead, round and prominent, seemed to crush with its +weight the dark and irregular features, much pitted by smallpox. +He was very ugly, but still the expression of his blue eyes, the +brilliancy of his white and regular teeth, and the ingenuous smile, +almost childlike, that played on his lips, gave his face that +sympathetic expression which showed him to be one of those simple +souls wrapped up in their artistic fancies. + +"And so this gentleman is the brother of whom you have spoken to me so +often," said he, hearing the introduction made by Esteban. + +He held out his hand in a friendly way to Gabriel. They both looked +very sickly, but their bodily infirmities seemed to be a bond of +attraction. + +"As the señor has studied in the seminary," said the Chapel-master, +"he will know something about music." + +"It is the only thing that I remember of all those studies." + +"But having travelled so much all over the world, you must have heard +a great deal of good music." + +"That is so. Music is to me the most pleasing of all the arts. I do +not know much about it, but I feel it." + +"Very well, very well, we shall be good friends. You must tell me all +sorts of things; how I envy you having travelled so much." + +He spoke like a restless child, without sitting down. Although the +"Silenciario" offered him a chair at each of his flirtings round the +room, he wandered from side to side in his shabby cloak, his hat in +his hand--a poor worn-out hat with not a trace of pile left, knocked +in, with a layer of grease on its flaps, miserable and old, like the +cassock and the shoes. But in spite of this poverty the Chapel-master +had a certain refinement about him. His hair, rather too long for his +ecclesiastical dress, curled round his temples, and the dignified way +in which he folded his cloak round his body reminded one of the cloak +of a tenor at the opera. He had a sort of easy grace that betrayed the +artist who, under the priestly robes, was longing to get rid of them, +leaving them at his feet like a winding sheet. + +Some deep notes from the bell, like distant thunder, floated into the +room through the cloister. + +"Uncle, they are calling us to the choir," said the "Tato." "We ought +to have been in the Cathedral before now; it is nearly eight o'clock." + +"It is true, lad. I am glad you were here to remind me; let us be +going." + +Then he added, speaking to the musical priest: + +"Don Luis, your mass is at eight o'clock. You can talk with Gabriel +later on; now we must fulfil our obligations, for those who are late +will, as you say, be turned out, even though our office hardly gives +us enough to eat." + +The Chapel-master assented sadly with a movement of his head, and +went out, following the two Cathedral servants. He seemed to go +unwillingly, as though forced to a task that was to him both irksome +and painful. He hummed absently while giving his hand to Gabriel, who +thought he recognised a fragment of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in +the low and uneven tones that came from the lips of the young priest. + +Now that he was alone Luna stretched himself on the sofa, giving +himself up to the fatigue he felt from his long wait before the +Cathedral. His brother's old servant placed a little pitcher of +milk by his side, and filling a cup, Gabriel drank, endeavouring to +overcome the repugnance of his weak stomach, which almost refused to +retain the liquid. His body, fatigued by his restless night and the +long morning wait, at last assimilated the nourishment, and a soft, +dreamy languor spread over him that he had not felt for a long time. +He soon fell asleep, remaining for more than an hour motionless on the +sofa, and though his breathing was disturbed, and his chest racked by +his hollow cough, they were unable to wake him from his slumber. + +When he did awake, it was suddenly, with a nervous start that shook +him from head to foot, making him bound from the sofa as though a +spring had been touched. It was the wariness produced by his ever +present danger, that had become habitual to him; the habit of +restlessness formed in dark dungeons, expecting hourly to see the door +open, to be beaten like a dog, or led off between a double file of +muskets to the square of execution; the habit of living perpetually +watched, of feeling in every country the espionage of the police +around him, the habit of being awoke in the middle of the night in his +wretched room in some inn by the order to leave at once; the unrest of +the ancient Asheverus, who, as soon as he could enjoy a moment's rest, +heard the eternal cry--"Go on. Go on." + +He did not try to sleep again, he preferred the present reality, the +silence of the Cathedral which was to him as a gentle caress, the +noble calm of the temple, that immense pile of worked stone, which +seemed to press on him, enveloping him, hiding for ever his weakness +and his persecutions. + +He went out into the cloister, and, resting his elbows on the +balustrade, looked down into the garden. + +The Claverias seemed quite deserted. The children who had enlivened +them in the early morning had gone to school, the women were inside +their houses preparing their mid-day meal, there seemed to be no one +in the cloister except himself; the sunlight bathed all one side, +and the shadow of the pillars cut obliquely the great golden spaces +flooding the pavement. The majestic silence, the holy calm of the +Cathedral overpowered the agitator like a gentle narcotic. The seven +centuries surrounding those stones seemed to him like so many veils +hiding him from the rest of the world. In one of the dwellings of the +Claverias you could hear the incessant tap, tap, of a hammer; it was +that of a shoemaker whom Gabriel had seen through the window-panes, +bending over his bench. In the square of sky framed by the roofs some +pigeons were flying, lazily moving their wings, soaring in the vault +of intense blue; some flew down into the cloister, and, perching on +the balustrade, broke the religious silence with their gentle cooing; +now and again the heavy door-curtains of the church were lifted, and +a breath of air charged with incense floated over the garden of the +Claverias, together with the deep notes of the organ, and the sound of +voices chanting Latin words and solemnly prolonging the cadences. + +Gabriel looked at the garden surrounded by its arcades of white stone, +with its rough buttresses of dark granite, in the chinks of which the +rain had left an efflorescence of fungus, like little tufts of black +velvet. The sun struck on one angle of the garden, leaving the rest +in cool green shade, a conventual twilight. The bell-tower hid one +portion of the sky, displaying on its reddish sides, ornamented with +Gothic tracery and salient buttresses, the fillets of black marble +with heads of mysterious personages, and the shields with the arms of +the different archbishops who had assisted at its building; above, +near the pinnacles of white stone, were seen the bells behind enormous +gratings; from below they looked like three bronze birds in a cage of +iron. + +Three deep strokes from a bell, echoing round the Cathedral, announced +that the High Mass had arrived at its most solemn moment, the mountain +of stone seemed to tremble with the vibration, which was transmitted +through the naves and galleries, to the arcades and down to the lowest +foundations. + +Again there was silence, which seemed even deeper after the bronze +thunders; the cooing of the pigeons could again be heard, and, down in +the garden, the twittering of the birds, warmed by the sun's rays that +began to gild its cool twilight. + +Gabriel felt himself deeply moved; the sweet silence, the absolute +calm, the feeling almost of non-existence overpowered him; and beyond +those walls was the world, but here it could not be seen, it could not +be felt; it remained respectful but indifferent before that monument +of the past, that splendid sepulchre, in whose interior nothing +excited its curiosity. Who would ever imagine he was there? That +growth of seven centuries, built by vanished greatness for a dying +faith, should be his last refuge. In the full tide of unbelief the +church should be his sanctuary, as it had been in former days to +those great criminals of the Middle Ages, who, from the height of the +cloister mocked at justice, detained at the doors like the beggars. +Here should be consummated in silence and calm the slow decay of his +body, here he would die with the serene satisfaction of having died to +the world long before. At last he realised his hope of ending his days +in a corner of the sleepy Spanish Cathedral, the only hope that had +sustained him as he wandered on foot along the highways of Europe, +hiding himself from the civil guards and the police, spending his +nights in ditches, huddled up, his head on his knees, fearing every +moment to die of cold. + +He clung to the Cathedral as a shipwrecked and drowning man clings +to the spar of a sinking ship; this had been his hope, and he was +beginning to realise it. The church would receive him, like an old and +infirm mother, unable to smile, but who could still stretch out her +arms. + +"At last! At last!" murmured Luna. + +And he smiled, thinking of the world of sorrows and persecutions that +he was leaving behind him, as though he were going to some remote +place, situated in another planet, from which he would never return; +the Cathedral would shelter him for ever. + +In the profound stillness of the cloister, that the sound of the +street could not reach, the "companion" Luna thought he heard far off, +very far off, the shrill sound of a trumpet and the muffled roll +of drums, then he remembered the Alcazar of Toledo, dominating the +Cathedral from its height, intimidating it with the enormous mass of +its towers; they were the drums and trumpets of the Military Academy. + +These sounds were painful to Gabriel; the world had faded from his +sight, and when he thought himself so very far from it, he could still +feel its presence only a little way beyond the roof of the temple. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Since the times of the second Cardinal de Bourbon Senior Esteban Luna +had been gardener of the Cathedral, by the right that seemed firmly +established in his family. Who was the first Luna that entered the +service of the Holy Metropolitan Church? As the gardener asked himself +this question he smiled complacently, raising his eyes to heaven, as +though he would inquire of the immensity of space. The Lunas were as +ancient as the foundations of the church; a great many generations +had been born in the abode in the upper cloister, and even before the +illustrious Cisneros built the Claverias the Lunas had lived in houses +adjacent, as though they could not exist out of the shadow of the +Primacy. To no one did the Cathedral belong with better right than +to them. Canons, beneficiaries, archbishops passed; they gained the +appointment, died, and others came in their places. It was a constant +procession of new faces, of masters who came from every corner of +Spain to take their seats in the choir, to die a few years afterwards, +leaving the vacancies to be filled again by other newcomers; but the +Lunas always remained at their post, as though the ancient family were +another column of the many that supported the temple. It might happen +that the archbishop who to-day was called Don Bernardo, might next +year be called Don Caspar, or again another Don Fernando. But what +seemed utterly impossible was that the Cathedral could exist without +Lunas in the garden, in the sacristy, or in the crossways of the +choir, accustomed as it had been for centuries to their services. + +The gardener spoke with pride of his descent, of his noble and +unfortunate relative the constable Don Alvaro, buried like a king in +his chapel behind the high altar; of the Pope Benedict XIII., proud +and obstinate like all the rest of his family; of Don Pedro de Luna, +fifth of his name to occupy the archiepiscopal throne of Toledo, and +of other relatives not less distinguished. + +"We are all from the same stem," he said with pride. "We all came +to the conquest of Toledo with the good King Alfonso VI. The only +difference has been, that some Lunas took a fancy to go and fight +the Moors, and they became lords, and conquered castles, whereas my +ancestors remained in the service of the Cathedral, like the good +Christians they were." + +With the satisfaction of a duke who enumerates his ancestors, the +Señor Esteban carried back the line of the Lunas till it became misty +and was lost in the fifteenth century. His father had known Don +Francisco III. Lorenzana, a magnificent and prodigal prince of the +church, who spent the abundant revenues of the archbishopric in +building palaces and editing books, like a great lord of the +Renaissance. He had known also the first Cardinal Bourbon, Don Luis +II., and used to narrate the romantic life of this Infante. Brother of +the King Carlos III., the custom that dedicated some of the younger +branches to the church had made him a cardinal at nine years old. But +that good lord, whose portrait hung in the Chapter House, with white +hair, red lips and blue eyes, felt more inclination to the joys of +this world than to the grandeurs of the church, and he abandoned the +archbishopric to marry a lady of modest birth, quarrelling for ever +with the king, who sent him into exile. And the old Luna, leaping +from ancestor to ancestor through the long centuries, remembered the +Archduke Alberto, who resigned the Toledan mitre to become Governor of +the Low Countries, and the magnificent Cardinal Tavera, protector +of the arts, all excellent princes, who had treated his family +affectionately, recognising their secular adhesion to the Holy +Metropolitan Church. + +The days of his youth were bad ones for the Señor Esteban; it was the +time of the war of Independence. The French occupied Toledo, entering +into the Cathedral like pagans, rattling their swords and prying into +every corner at full High Mass. The jewels were concealed, the canons +and beneficiaries, who were now called _prebendaries_, were living +dispersed over the Peninsula. Some had taken refuge in places that +were still Spanish, others were hidden in the towns, making vows for +the speedy return of "the desired." It was pitiful to hear the choir +with its few voices; only the very timid, who were bound to their +seats and could not live away from them, had remained, and had +recognised the usurping king. The second Cardinal de Bourbon, the +gentle and insignificant Don Luis Maria, was in Cadiz, the only one of +the family remaining in Spain, and the Cortes had laid their hands +on him to give a certain dynastic appearance to their revolutionary +authority. + +When the war was over and the poor cardinal returned to his seat, the +Señor Esteban was moved to pity to see his sad and childlike face, +with the small round head, and insignificant appearance; he returned +discouraged and disheartened, after receiving his nephew Ferdinand +VII. in Madrid. All his colleagues in the regency were either in +prison or in exile, and that he did not suffer a like fate was solely +due to his mitre and to his name. The unfortunate prelate thought +he had done good service in maintaining the interests of his family +during the war, and now he found himself accused of being Liberal, an +enemy to religion and the throne, without being able to imagine how he +had conspired against them. The poor Cardinal de Bourbon languished +sadly in his palace, devoting his revenues to works in the Cathedral, +till he died in 1823 at the beginning of the reaction, leaving his +place to Inguanzo, the tribune of absolutism, a prelate with iron-grey +whiskers, who had made his career as deputy in the Cortes at Cadiz, +attacking as deputy every sort of reform, and advocating a return to +the times of the Austrians as the surest means of saving his country. + +The good gardener saluted with equal cordiality the Bourbon Cardinal, +hated by the kings, as the prelate with the whiskers, who made all +the diocese tremble with his bitter and harassing temper, and his +arrogance as a revolutionary Absolutist. For him, whoever occupied the +throne of Toledo was a perfect man, whose acts no one should dare to +discuss, and he turned a deaf ear to the murmurs of the canons and +beneficiaries, who, smoking their cigarettes in the arbour of his +garden, spoke of the genialities of this Señor de Inguanzo, and were +indignant at the Government of Ferdinand VII. not being sufficiently +firm, through fear of the foreigners, to re-establish the wholesome +tribunal of the Inquisition. + +The only thing that troubled the gardener was to watch the decadence +of his beloved Cathedral. The revenues of the archbishop and of the +Chapter had been greatly wasted during the war. What had occurred was +what happens after a great flood, when the waters begin to subside +and carry everything away with them, leaving the land bare and +uninhabited. The Primacy lost many of its rights, the tenants made +themselves masters, taking advantage of the disorders of the State; +the towns refused to pay their feudal services, as though the +necessity of defending themselves and helping in the war had freed +them for ever from vassalage; further, the turbulent Cortes had +decreed the abolition of all lordships, and had very much curtailed +the enormous revenues of the Cathedral, acquired in the centuries when +the archbishops of Toledo put on their casques, and went out to fight +the Moors with double-handed swords. + +Even so, a considerable fortune remained to the church of the Primacy, +and it maintained its splendour as if nothing had happened, but the +Señor Esteban scented danger from the depths of his garden, hearing +from the canons of the Liberal conspiracies, the executions by +shooting and hanging, and the exiling, to which the king Señor Don +Fernando appealed, in order to repress the audacity of the "Negros," +the enemies of the Monarchy and of religion. + +"They have tasted the sweets," said he, "and they will return--see if +they do not return, and take what is left! During the war they took +the first bite, taking from the Cathedral more than half that was +hers, and now they will come and take the rest; they will try and +catch hold of the handle of the fryingpan." + +The gardener was angry at the possibility of such a thing happening. +Ay! and was it for this that so many lord archbishops of Toledo fought +against the Moors? Conquering towns, assaulting castles and annexing +pasture lands, which all came to be the property of the Cathedral, +contributing to the great splendour of God's worship! And was +everything to fall into the dirty hands of the enemies of anything +that was holy? Everything that so many faithful souls had willed to +them on their deathbeds, queens and magnates, and simple country +gentlemen, who left the best part of their fortunes to the Holy +Metropolitan Church, in the hope of saving their souls! What would +happen to the six hundred souls, big and little, clerics and seculars, +dignitaries and simple servants who lived from the revenues of the +Cathedral?.... And was this called liberty? To rob what did not +belong to them, leaving in poverty innumerable families who were now +supported by the "great pot" of the Chapter? + +When the sad forebodings of the gardener began to be realised, and +Mendizabal decreed the dismemberment, the Señor Esteban thought he +would have died of rage. But the Cardinal Inguanzo did better. Placed +in his seat by the Liberals as his predecessor had been by the +Absolutists, he thought it best to die in order to take no part in +these attempts against the sacred revenues of the Church. + +The Señor Luna, who was only a humble gardener, and who therefore +could not imitate the illustrious Cardinal, went on living. But every +day he felt more and more sorrowful, knowing that for shamefully low +prices, many of the Moderates, who still came to High Mass, were +stealthily acquiring to-day a house, to-morrow a farm, another day +pasture lands, properties all belonging to the Primacy, but which had +lately been put on the list of what was called national property. + +Robbers! this slow subversion and sale, that rent in pieces the +revenues of the Cathedral, caused the Señor Esteban as much +indignation as though the bailiffs had entered his house in the +Claverias to remove the family furniture, each piece of which embalmed +the memory of some ancestor. + +There were times in which he thought of abandoning his garden, and +going to Maestrazgo, or to the northern provinces, in search of some +of the loyal defenders of the rights of Charles V. and of the return +to the old times. He was then forty years of age, strong and active, +and though his temperament was pacific and he had never touched a +musket, he felt himself fired by the example of certain timid and +pious students, who had fled from the seminary, and were now, so it +was said, fighting in Catalonia behind the red cloak of Don Ramon +Cabrera. + +But the gardener, in order not to be alone in his big "habitacion" in +the Claverias, had married three years previously the daughter of the +sacristan, and he had now one son; besides, he could not tear himself +away from the church, he was another square block in the mountain of +stone, he moved and spoke as a man, but he felt a certainty that he +should perish at once if he left his garden. Besides, the Cathedral +would lose one of the most important props if a Luna were wanting in +its service, and he felt terrified at the bare thought of living out +of it. How could he wander over the mountains fighting, and firing +shots, when years had passed without his treading any other profane +soil beyond the little bit of street between the staircase of the +Claverias and the Puerta del Mollete? + +And so he went on cultivating his garden, feeling the melancholy +satisfaction that he was at least sheltered from all the wicked +revolutionaries under the shadow of that colossus of stone, which +inspired awe and respect from its majestic age. They might curtail +the revenues of the temple, but they would be powerless against the +Christian faith of those who lived under its protection. + +The garden, deaf and insensible to the revolutionary tempests that +broke over the church, continued to unfold its sombre beauty between +the arcades, the laurels grew till they reached the balustrade of the +upper cloister, and the cypresses seemed as though they aspired +to touch the roofs; the creepers twined themselves among the iron +railings, making thick lattices of verdure, and the ivy mantled the +wall of the central arbour, which was surmounted by a cap of black +slate with a rusty iron cross. After the evening choir the clergy +would come and sit in here and read, by the soft green light that +filtered through the foliage, the news from the Carlist Camp, and +discuss enthusiastically the great exploits of Cabrera, while above, +the swallows quite indifferent to human presence, circled and screamed +in the clear blue sky. The Señor Esteban would watch, standing +silently, this bat-like evening club, which was kept quietly hidden +from those belonging to the National Militia of Toledo. + +When the war terminated, the last illusions of the gardener vanished, +he fell into the silence of despair and wished to know of nothing +outside the Cathedral. God had abandoned the good and faithful, and +the traitors and evil-doers were triumphant; his only consolation +was the stronghold of the temple, which had lived through so many +centuries of turmoil, and could still defy its enemies for so many +more. + +He only wished to be the gardener, to die in the upper cloister like +his forefathers, and to leave fresh Lunas to perpetuate the family +services in the Cathedral. His eldest son, Tomas, was now twelve years +old, and able to help him in the care of the garden. After an interval +of many years a second son had been born, Esteban, who, almost before +he could walk, would kneel before the images in the "habitacion," +crying for his mother to carry him down into the church to see the +saints. + +Poverty entered into the Cathedral, reducing the number of canons and +prebendaries; at the death of any of the old servants, their places +were suppressed, and a great many carpenters, masons, and glaziers +who previously had lived there as workmen specially attached to the +Primacy, and were continually working at its repairs, were dismissed. +If from time to time certain repairs were indispensable, workmen were +called in from outside, by the day; many of the "habitacions" in the +Claverias were unoccupied, and the silence of the grave reigned where +previously the population of a small town had gathered and crowded. +The Government of Madrid (and you should have seen the expression of +contempt with which the old gardener emphasised those words) was in +treaty with the Holy Father to arrange something called the Concordat. +The number of canons was limited as though the Holy Metropolitan was +a college, they were to be paid by the Government the same as the +servants, and for the maintenance of worship in this most famous +Cathedral of all Spain--which, when it formerly collected its tithe, +scarcely knew where to lock up such riches--a monthly pension of +twelve hundred pesetas was now granted. + +"One thousand two hundred pesetas, Tomas!" said he to his son, a +silent boy, who took very little interest in anything but his garden. +"One thousand two hundred pesetas, when I can remember the Cathedral +having more than six millions of revenue! Bad times are in store for +us, and were I anyone else I would bring you up to an office, or +something outside the church; but the Lunas cannot desert the cause of +God, like so many traitors who have betrayed it. Here we were born, +here we must die, to the very last one of the family." And furious +with the clergy, who seemed to put a good face on the Concordat and +their salaries, thankful to have come out of the revolutionary tumults +even as well as they had done, he isolated himself in his garden, +locking the door in the iron railing, and shrinking from the +assemblies of former times! + +His little floral world did not change, its sombre verdure was like +the twilight that had enveloped the gardener's soul. It had not the +brilliant gaiety, overflowing with colours and scents of a garden in +the open, bathed in full sunlight, but it had the shady and melancholy +beauty of a conventual garden between four walls, with no more light +than what came through the eaves and the arcades, and no other birds +but those flying above, who looked with wonder at this little paradise +at the bottom of a well. The vegetation was the same as that of the +Greek landscapes, and of the idylls of the Greek poets--laurels, +cypress and roses, but the arches that surrounded it, with their +alleys paved with great slabs of granite in whose interstices wreaths +of grass grew, the cross of its central arbour, the mouldy smell of +the old iron railings, and the damp of the stone buttresses coloured a +soft green by the rain, gave the garden an atmosphere of reverend age +and a character of its own. + +The trees waved in the wind like censers, the flowers, pale and +languid with an anaemic beauty, smelt of incense, as though the air +wafted through the doors of the Cathedral had changed their natural +perfumes. + +The rain, trickling from the gargoyles and gutters of the roofs, was +collected in two large and deep stone tanks; sometimes the gardener's +pail would disturb their green covering, letting one perceive for an +instant the blue-blackness of their depths, but as soon as the circles +disappeared, the vegetation once more drew together and covered them +over afresh, without a movement, without a ripple, quiet and dead as +the temple itself in the stillness of the evening. + +At the feast of Corpus, and that of the Virgin of the Sagrario in the +middle of August, the townspeople brought their pitchers into the +garden, and the Señor Esteban allowed them to be filled from these two +cisterns. It was an ancient custom and one much appreciated by the +old Toledans, who thought much of the fresh water of the Cathedral, +condemned as they were during the rest of the year to drink the red +and muddy liquid of the Tagus. At other times people came into the +garden to give little presents to Señor Esteban, the devout entrusted +him with palms for their images, or bought little bunches of flowers, +believing them to be better than those they could buy at the farms, +because they came from the Metropolitan Church, and the old women +begged branches of laurel for flavouring and for household medicines. +These incomings, and the two pesetas that the Chapter had assigned to +the gardener after the final dismemberment, helped the Señor Esteban +and his family to get on. When he was getting well on in years his +third son Gabriel was born, a child who from his fourth year attracted +the attention of all the women in the Claverias; his mother affirmed +with a blind faith that he was a living image of the Child Jesus that +the Virgin of the Sagrario held in her arms. Her sister Tomasa, who +was married to the "Virgin's Blue," and was the mother of a numerous +family which occupied nearly the half of the upper cloister, talked a +great deal about the intelligence of her little nephew, when he could +hardly speak, and about the infantile unction with which he gazed at +the images. + +"He looks like a saint," she said to her friends. "You should see how +seriously he says his prayers.... Gabrielillo will become somebody; +who knows if we may not see him a bishop! Acolytes that I knew when +my father had charge of the sacristy now wear the mitre, and possibly +some day we may have one of them in Toledo." + +The chorus of caresses and praises surrounded the first years of the +child like a cloud of incense; the family only lived for him, the +Señor Esteban, a father in the good old Latin style who loved his +sons, but was severe and stern with them in order that they might grow +up honourable, felt in the presence of the child a return of his own +youth; he played with him, and lent himself smilingly to all his +little caprices; his mother abandoned her household duties to please +him, and his brother hung on his babbling words. The eldest, Tomas, +the silent youth who had taken the place of his father in the care of +the garden, and who even in the depths of winter went barefooted over +the flower-beds and rough stones of the alleys, came up often bringing +handfuls of sweet-scented herbs, so that his little brother might play +with them. Esteban, the second, who was now thirteen and who enjoyed +a certain notoriety among the other acolytes on account of his +scrupulous care in assisting at the mass, delighted Gabriel with his +red cassock and his pleated tunic, and brought him taper ends and +little coloured prints, abstracted from the breviary of some canon. + +Now and then he carried him in his arms to the store-room of the +giants, an immense room between the buttresses and the arches of the +nave, vaulted with stone. Here were the heroes of the ancient +feasts and holidays. The Cid with a huge sword, and four set pieces +representing as many parts of the world: huge figures with dusty and +tattered clothes and broken faces, which had once rejoiced the streets +of Toledo, and were now rotting under the roofs of its Cathedral. In +one corner reposed the Tarasca, a frightful monster of cardboard, +which terrified Gabriel when it opened its jaws, while on its wrinkled +back sat smiling, idiotically, a dishevelled and indecent doll, whom +the religious feeling of former ages had baptised with the name of +Anne Boleyn. + +When Gabriel went to school all were astonished at his progress. The +youngsters of the upper cloister who were such a trial to "Silver +Stick," the priest charged with maintaining good order among the tribe +established in the roofs of the Cathedral, looked upon the little +Gabriel as a prodigy. When he could scarcely walk he could read +easily, and at seven he began to recite his Latin, mastering it +quickly, as though he had never spoken anything else in his life, and +at ten he could argue with the clergy who frequented the gardens, and +who delighted in putting before him questions and difficulties. + +The Señor Esteban, growing daily more bent and feeble, smiled +delightedly before his last work; he was going to be the glory of his +house! His name was Luna, and therefore he could aspire to anything +without fear, because even Popes had come from that family. + +The canons would take the boy into the sacristy after choir, and +question him as to his studies. One of the clergy belonging to the +archbishop's household presented him to the cardinal, who, after +hearing him, gave him a handful of sugared almonds and the promise of +a scholarship, so that he could continue his studies at the seminary +gratuitously. + +The Lunas and all their relations more or less distant, who were +really nearly the whole population of the upper cloister, were +rejoiced at this promise; what else could Gabriel be but a priest? For +these people, attached to the church from the day of their birth, like +excrescences of its stones, who considered the archbishops of Toledo +as the most powerful beings in the world after the Pope, the only +profession worthy of a man of talent was the Church. + +Gabriel went to the Seminary, and to all the family the Claverias +seemed quite deserted. The long, pleasant evenings in the house of +the Lunas came to an end, at which the bell-ringer, the vergers, the +sacristans and other church servants had been used to assemble, and +listen to the clear and well modulated voice of Gabriel, who read like +an angel--sometimes the lives of the saints, at other times Catholic +newspapers that came from Madrid, or chapters from a Don Quixote with +pages of vellum and antiquated writing--a venerable copy which had +been handed down in the family for generations. + +Gabriel's life in the Seminary was the ordinary and monotonous life of +a hard-working student: triumphs in theological controversies, prizes +in heaps, and the satisfaction of being held up to his companions as a +model. + +Sometimes one of the canons who lectured in the seminary would come +into the garden:-- + +"The lad is getting on very well, Esteban; he is first in everything, +and besides, is as steady and pious as a saint. He will be the comfort +of your old age." + +The gardener, always growing older and thinner, shook his head. He +should only be able to see the end of his son's career from the +heavens, should it please God to call him there. He would die before +his son's triumph; but this did not sadden him, for the family +would remain to enjoy the victory and to give thanks to God for His +goodness. + +Humanities, theology, canons, everything, the young man mastered with +an ease which surprised his masters, and they compared him to the +Fathers of the Church, who had attracted attention by their precocity. +He would very soon finish his studies, and they all predicted that his +Eminence would give him a professorship in the seminary, even before +he sang his first mass. His thirst for learning was insatiable, and it +seemed as though the library really belonged to him. Some evenings he +would go into the Cathedral to pursue his musical studies, and talk +with the Chapel-master and the organist, and at other times in the +hall of sacred oratory he would astound the professors and the Alumni +by the fervour and conviction with which he delivered his sermons. + +"He is called to the pulpit," they said in the Cathedral garden. "He +has all the fire of the apostles; he will become a Saint Bernard or +a Bossuet. Who can tell how far this youth will go, or where he will +end?" + +One of the studies which most delighted Gabriel was that of the +history of the Cathedral, and of the ecclesiastical princes who had +ruled it. All the inherent love of the Lunas for the giantess who was +their eternal mother surged up in him, but he did not love it blindly +as all his belongings did. He wished to know the why and the wherefore +of things, comparing in his books the vague old stories that he had +heard from his father, that seemed more akin to legends than to +historical facts. + +The first thing that claimed his attention was the chronology of the +archbishops of Toledo--a long line of famous men, saints, warriors, +writers, princes, each with his number after his name, like the kings +of the different dynasties. At certain times they had been the real +kings of Spain. The Gothic kings in their courts were little more than +decorative figureheads that were raised or deposed according to the +exigencies of the moment. The nation was a theocratic republic, and +its true head was the Archbishop of Toledo. + +Gabriel grouped the long line of famous prelates by characters. First +of all the saints, the apostles in the heroic age of Christianity, +bishops as poor as their own people, barefooted, fugitives from the +Roman persecution, and bowing their heads at last to the executioner, +firm in the hope of gaining fresh strength to the doctrine for which +they sacrificed their lives--Saint Eugenio, Melancio, Pelagio, Patruno +and other names that shone in the past scarcely breaking through the +mists of legend. Then came the archbishops of the Gothic era; those +kingly prelates who exercised that superiority over the conquering +kings by which the spiritual power succeeded in dominating the +barbarian conquerors. Miracles accompanied them to confound the +Arians, and celestial prodigies were at their orders to terrify and +crush those rude men of war. The Archbishop Montano, who lived with +his wife, and was indignant at the consequent murmurs, placed red-hot +coals in his sacred vestments the while he said mass, and did not +burn, demonstrating by this miracle the purity of his life. Saint +Ildefonso, not content with only writing books against heretics, +induced Santa Leocadia to appear to him, leaving in his hands a piece +of her mantle, and he enjoyed the further honour of this same Virgin +descending from heaven to present him with a chasuble embroidered by +her own hands. Sigiberto, many years after, had the audacity to +vest himself in this chasuble, and was in consequence deposed, +excommunicated and exiled for his temerity. + +The only books that were produced in those times were written by the +prelates of Toledo. They compiled the laws, they anointed the heads +of the monarchs with the holy oil, they set up Wamba as king, they +conspired against the life of Egica, and the councils assembled in +the basilica of Santa Leocadia were political assemblies in which the +mitre was on the throne and the crown of the king at the feet of the +prelate. + +At the coming of the Saracen invasion the series of persecuted +prelates begins again. They did not now fear for their lives as during +the time of Roman intolerance; for Mussulmen as a rule do not martyr, +and furthermore, they respect the beliefs of the conquered. + +All the churches in Toledo remained in the hands of the Christian +Muzarabés[1] with the exception of the Cathedral, which was converted +into the principal mosque. + +[Footnote 1: Muzarabés--Christians living among the Moors and mixing +with them; also an ancient form of service still continued in one +chapel in Toledo and in one at Salamanca.] + +The Catholic bishops were respected by the Moors, as were also the +Hebrew rabbis; but the Church was poor, and the continual wars between +the Saracens and the Christians, together with the reprisals which set +a seal on the barbarities of the reconquest, made the continuance and +life of worship extremely difficult. + +Having arrived at this point Gabriel read the obscure names of Cixila, +Elipando and Wistremiro. Saint Eulogio termed this last "the torch of +the Holy Spirit, and the light of Spain"; but history is silent as to +his deeds, and Saint Eulogio was martyred and killed by the Moors +in Cordova on account of his excessive religious zeal. Benito, +a Frenchman who succeeded to the chair, not to be behind his +predecessors, made the Virgin send him down another chasuble to a +church in his own country before he came to Toledo. + +After these, came the interesting chronology of the warrior +archbishops, warriors of coat-of-mail and two-edged sword, the +conquerors who, leaving the choir to the meek and humble, mounted +their war-horses and thought they were not serving God unless during +the year they added sundry towns and pasture lands to the goods of the +Church. They arrived in the eleventh century, with Alfonso VI., to the +conquest of Toledo. The first were French monks from the famous Abbey +of Cluny, sent by the Abbot Hugo to the convent of Sahagun, and they +were the first to use the "don" as a sign of lordship. To the pious +tolerance of the preceding bishops, accustomed to friendly intercourse +with Arabs and Jews in the full liberty of the Muzarabé worship, +succeeded the ferocious intolerance of the Christian conqueror. The +Archbishop Don Bernardo was scarcely seated in the chair before he +took advantage of the absence of Alfonso VI. to violate all his +promises. The principal mosque had remained in the hands of the Moors +by a solemn compact with the king, who, like all the monarchs of the +reconquest, was tolerant in matters of religion. The archbishop, +using his powerful influence over the mind of the queen, made her +the accomplice of his plans, and one night, followed by clergy and +workmen, he knocked down the doors of the mosque, cleansed it and +purified it, and next morning when the Saracens came to pray towards +the rising sun, they found it changed into a Catholic cathedral. The +conquered, trusting in the word given by the conqueror, protested, +scandalised, and that they did not rise was solely due to the +influence of the Alfaqui Abu-Walid, who trusted that the king would +fulfil his promises. In three days Alfonso VI. arrived in Toledo from +the further end of Castille, ready to murder the archbishop and even +his own wife for their share in this villainy that had compromised his +word as a cavalier, but his fury was so great that even the Moors were +moved, and the Alfaqui went out to meet him, begging him to condone +the deed as it was accomplished, as the injured parties would agree to +it, and in the name of the conquered he relieved him from keeping his +word, because the possession of a building was not a sufficient reason +for breaking the peace. + +Gabriel admired as he read the prudence and moderation of the good +Moor Abu-Walid; but with his enthusiasm as a seminarist he admired +still more those proud, intolerant and warlike prelates, who trampled +laws and people under foot for the greater glory of God. + +The Archbishop Martin was Captain-General against the Moors in +Andalusia, conquering towns, and he accompanied Alfonso VIII. to the +battle of Alarcos. The famous prelate Don Rodrigo wrote the chronicle +of Spain, filling it with miracles for the greater prosperity of the +Church, and he practically made history, passing more time on his +war-horse than on his throne in the choir. At the battle de las Navas +he set so fine an example, throwing himself into the thick of the +fight, that the king gave him twenty lordships as well as that of +Talavera de la Reina. Afterwards, in the king's absence, he drove +the Moors out of Quesada and Cazorla, taking possession of vast +territories, which passed under his sway, with the name of the +Adelantamiento.[1] Don Sancho, son of Don Jaime of Aragon, and brother +to the Queen of Castille, thought more of his title of "Chief Leader" +than of his mitre of Toledo, and on the advance of the Moors went out +to meet them in the martial field. He fought wherever the fighting was +fiercest, and was finally killed by the Moslems, who cut off his hands +and placed his head on a spear. + +[Footnote 1: _Adelantamiento_--Advancement.] + +Don Gil de Albornoz, the famous cardinal, went to Italy, flying from +Don Pedro the Cruel, and, like a great captain, reconquered all the +territory of the Popes, who had taken refuge in Avignon. Don Gutierre +III. went with Don Juan II. to fight against the Moors. Don Alfonso de +Acuna fought in the civil war during the reign of Enrique IV.; and as +a fitting end to this series of political and conquering prelates, +rich and powerful as true princes, there arose the Cardinal Mendoza, +who fought at the battle of Toro, and at the conquest of Granada, +afterwards governing that kingdom; and Jimenez de Cisneros, who, +finding no Moors left in the Peninsula to fight, crossed the sea and +went to Oran, waving his cross and turning it into a weapon of war. + +The seminarist admired these men, magnified by the mists of ancient +history and the praises of the Church. For him they were the greatest +men in the world after the Popes, and, indeed, often far superior to +them. He was astonished that the Spaniards of the present times were +so blind that they did not entrust their direction and government to +the archbishops of Toledo, who in former centuries had performed +such heroic deeds. The glory and advancement of the country was so +intimately connected with their history, their dynasty was quite as +great as that of the kings, and on more than one occasion they had +saved these latter by their counsels and energy. + +After these eagles came the birds of prey; after the prelates with +their iron morions and their coats-of-mail came the rich and luxurious +prelates, who cared for no other combats but those of the law courts, +and were in perpetual litigation with towns, guilds, and private +individuals in order to retain the possessions and the vast fortune +accumulated by their predecessors. + +Those who were generous like Tavera built palaces, and encouraged +artists like El Greco, Berruguete and others, creating a Renaissance +in Toledo, an echo from Italy. Those who were miserly, like Quiroga, +reduced the expenses of the pompous church, to turn themselves into +money-lenders to the kings, giving millions of ducats to those +Austrian monarchs on whose dominions the sun never set, but who, +nevertheless, found themselves obliged to beg almost as soon as their +galleons returned from their voyages to America. + +The Cathedral was the work of these priestly ecclesiastics; each one +had done something in it which revealed his character. The rougher +and more warlike its framework, that mountain of stone and wood which +formed its skeleton; those who were more cultivated, elevated to the +See in times of greater refinement, contributed the minutely-worked +iron railings, the doors of lace-like stonework, the pictures, and +the jewels which made its sacristy a veritable treasure house. The +gestation of the giantess had lasted for three centuries; it seemed +like those enormous prehistoric animals who slept so long in their +mother's womb before seeing the light. + +When its walls and pilasters first rose above the soil Gothic art was +in its first epoch, and during the two and a half centuries that its +building lasted architecture made great strides. Gabriel could follow +this slow transformation with his mind's eye as he studied the +building, discovering the various signs of its evolution. + +The magnificent church was like a giantess whose feet were shod with +rough shoes, but whose head was covered with the loveliest plumes. The +bases of the pillars were rough and devoid of ornament, the shafts of +the columns rose with severe simplicity, crowned by plain capitals +at the base of the arches, on which the Gothic thistle had not yet +attained the exuberant branching of a later florid period; but the +vaulting which was finished perhaps two centuries after the first +beginning, and the windows with their multi-coloured ogives, displayed +the magnificence of an art at its culminating point. + +At the two extreme ends of the transepts Gabriel found the proof +of the immense progress made during the two centuries in which the +Cathedral had been rising from the ground. The Puerta del Reloj[1], +called also de la Feria[2], with its rude sculptures of archaic +rigidity, and the tympanum, covered with small scenes from the +creation, was a great contrast to the doorway at the opposite end +of the crossway, that of Los Leones[3], or by its other name, de la +Alegria[4], built nearly two hundred years afterwards, elegant and +majestic as the entrance to a palace, showing already the fleshly +audacities of the Renaissance, endeavouring to thrust themselves into +the severity of Christian architecture, a siren fastened to the door +by her curling tail serving as an example. + +[Footnote 1: _Reloj_--Clock.] + +[Footnote 2: _Feria_--Of the fair.] + +[Footnote 3: _Los Leones_--Lions.] + +[Footnote 4: _Alegria_--Joy.] + +The Cathedral, built entirely of a milky white stone from the quarries +close to Toledo, rose in one single elevation from the base of the +pillars to the vaulting, with no triforium to cut its arcades and to +weaken and load the naves with superimposed arches. Gabriel saw in +this a petrified symbol of prayer, rising direct to Heaven, without +assistance or support. The smooth, soft stone was used throughout +the building, harder stone being used for the vaultings, and on +the exterior the buttresses and pinnacles, as well as the flying +buttresses like small bridges between them, were of the hardest +granite, which from age had taken a golden colour, and which protected +and supported the airy delicacy of the interior. The two sorts of +stone made a great contrast in the appearance of the Cathedral, dark +and reddish outside, white and delicate inside. + +The seminarist found examples of every sort of architecture that had +flourished in the Peninsula. The primitive Gothic was found in the +earliest doorways, the florid in those del Perdon and de los Leones, +and the Arab architecture showed its graceful horseshoe arches in the +triforium running round the whole abside of the choir, which was the +work of Cisneros, who, though he burnt the Moslem books, introduced +their style of architecture into the heart of the Christian temple. +The plateresque style showed its fanciful grace in the door of the +cloister, and even the chirruguesque showed at its best in the famous +lanthorn of Tome, which broke the vaulting behind the high altar in +order to give light to the abside. + +In the evenings of the vacation Gabriel would leave the seminary, +and wander about the Cathedral till the hour at which its doors were +closed. He delighted in walking through the naves and behind the high +altar, the darkest and most silent spot in the whole church. Here +slept a great part of the history of Spain. Behind the locked gates of +the chapel of the kings, guarded by the stone heralds on pedestals, +lay the kings of Castille in their tombs, their effigies crowned, in +golden armour, praying, with their swords by their sides. He would +stop before the chapel of Santiago, admiring through the railings of +its three pointed arches the legendary saint, dressed as a pilgrim, +holding his sword on high, and tramping on Mahomedans with his +war-horse. Great shells and red shields with a silver moon adorned the +white walls, rising up to the vaulting, and this chapel his father, +the gardener, regarded as his own peculiar property. It was that of +the Lunas, and though some people laughed at the relationship, there +lay his illustrious progenitors, Don Alvaro and his wife, on their +monumental tombs. That of Doña Juana Pimental had at its four corners +the figures of four kneeling friars in yellow marble, who watched over +the noble lady extended on the upper part of the monument. That of +the unhappy constable of Castille was surrounded by four knights of +Santiago, wrapped in the mantle of their Order, seeming to keep guard +over their grand master, who lay buried without his head in the stone +sarcophagus, bordered with Gothic mouldings. Gabriel remembered what +he had heard his father relate about the recumbent statue of Don +Alvaro. In former times the statue had been of bronze, and when mass +was said in the chapel, at the elevation of the Host, the statue, by +means of secret springs, would rise and remain kneeling till the +end of the ceremony. Some said that the Catholic queen caused the +disappearance of this theatrical statue, believing that it disturbed +the prayers of the faithful; others said that some soldiers, enemies +of the constable, on a day of disturbance, had broken in pieces the +jointed statue. On the exterior of the church the chapel of the Lunas +raised its battlemented towers, forming an isolated fortress inside +the Cathedral. + +In spite of his family considering this chapel as their own, the +seminarist felt himself more attracted by that of Saint Ildefonso +close by, which contained the tomb of the Cardinal Albornoz. Of all +the great past in the Cathedral, that which excited his greatest +admiration was the romantic figure of this warlike prelate; lover of +letters, Spanish by birth, and Italian by his conquests. He slept in a +splendid marble tomb, shining and polished by age, and of a soft +fawn colour; the invisible hand of time had treated the face of the +recumbent effigy rather roughly, flattening the nose, and giving the +warlike cardinal an expression of almost Mongolian ferocity. Four +lions guarded the remains of the prelate. Everything in him was +extraordinary and adventurous even to his death. His body was brought +back from Italy to Spain with prayers and hymns, carried on the +shoulders of the entire population, who went out to meet it in order +to gain the indulgences granted by the Pope. This return journey to +his own country after his death lasted several months, as the good +cardinal only went by short journeys from church to church, preceded +by a picture of Christ, which now adorns his chapel, and spreading +among the multitude the sweet scent of his embalming. + +For Don Gil de Albornoz nothing seemed impossible; he was the sword of +the Apostle returned to earth in order to enforce faith. Flying from +Don Pedro the Cruel, he had taken refuge in Avignon, where lived +exiles even more illustrious than himself. There were the Popes driven +out of Rome by a people who, in their mediaeval nightmare, tried to +restore at the bidding of Rienzi the ancient republic of the Consuls. +Don Gil was not a man to live long in the pleasant little Provençal +court; like a good archbishop of Toledo, he wore the coat-of-mail +underneath his tunic, and as there were no Moors to fight he wished to +strike at heretics instead. He went to Italy as the champion of the +Church; all the adventurers of Europe and the bandits of the country +formed his army. He killed and burnt in the country, entered and +sacked the towns, all in the name of the Sovereign Pontiff, so that +before long the exile of Avignon was again able to return and occupy +his throne in Rome. The Spanish cardinal after all these campaigns, +which gave half Italy to the Papacy, was as rich as any king, and he +founded the celebrated Spanish college in Bologna. The Pope, well +aware of his robberies and rapacity, asked him to give some sort of +accounts. The proud Don Gil presented him with a cart laden with keys +and bolts. + +"These," said he proudly, "belong to the towns and castles I have +gained for the Papacy. These are my accounts." + +The irresistible glamour that a powerful warrior throws over a man +physically feeble was strongly felt by Gabriel, and it was augmented +by the thought that so much bravery and haughtiness had been joined +in a servant of the Church. Why could not men like this arise now, in +these impious times, to give fresh strength to Catholicism? + +In his strolls through the Cathedral Gabriel greatly admired the +screen before the high altar, a wonderful work of Villalpando, with +its foliage of old gold, and its black bars with silvery spots like +tin. These spots made the beggars and guides in the church declare +that all the screen was made of silver, but that the canons had had +it painted black so that it might not be plundered by Napoleon's +soldiers. + +Behind it shone the majestic decorations of the high altar, splendid +with soft old gilding, and a whole host of figures under carved +canopies representing various scenes from the Passion. Behind the +altar and the screen the gilding seemed to spring spontaneously from +the white walls, marking with brilliant lights the divisions between +the stalls. Beneath highly-decorated pointed arches were the tombs of +the most ancient kings of Castille, and that of the Cardinal Mendoza. + +Under the arches of the triforium an orchestra of Gothic angels with +stiff dalmatics and folded wings sang lauds, playing lutes and flutes, +and in the central parts of the pillars the statues of holy bishops +were interspersed with those of historical and legendary personages. + +On one side the good Alfaqui Abu-Walid, immortalised in a Christian +church for his tolerant spirit, on the opposite side the mysterious +leader of Las Navas who, after showing the Christians the way to +victory, suddenly disappeared like a divine envoy--a statue of +exceeding ugliness with a haggard face covered by a rough hood. At +either end of the screen stood as evidences of the past opulence of +the church two beautiful pulpits of rich marbles and chiselled bronze. + +Gabriel cast a glance at the choir, admiring the beautiful stalls +belonging to the canons, and he thought enthusiastically that perhaps +some day he might succeed in gaining one to the great pride of his +family. In his wanderings about the church he would often stop before +the immense fresco of Saint Christopher, a picture as bad as it +was huge--a figure occupying all one division of the wall from the +pavement to the cornice, and which by its size seemed to be the +only fitting inhabitant of the church. The cadets would come in the +evenings to look at it; that colossus of pink flesh, bearing the child +on its shoulders, advancing its angular legs carefully through the +waters, leaning on a palm tree that looked like a broom, was for them +by far the most noticeable thing in the church. The light-hearted +young men delighted in measuring its ankles with their swords and +afterwards calculating how many swords high the blessed giant could +be. It was the readiest application that they could make of those +mathematical calculations with which they were so much worried in the +academy. The apprentice of the church was irritated at the impudence +with which these dressed up popinjays, the apprentices of war, +sauntered about the church. + +Many mornings he would go to the Muzarabé Chapel, following +attentively the ancient ritual,[1] intoned by the priests especially +devoted to it. On the walls were represented in brilliant colours +scenes from the conquest of Oran by the great Cisneros. As Gabriel +listened to the monotonous singing of the Muzarabe priests he +remembered the quarrels during the time of Alfonso VI. between the +Roman liturgy and that of Toledo--the foreign worship and the national +one. The believers, to end the eternal disputes, appealed to the +"Judgment of God." The king named the Roman champion, and the Toledans +confided the defence of their Gothic rite to the sword of Juan Ruiz, +a nobleman from the borders of Pisuerga. The champion of the Gothic +breviary remained triumphant in the fight, demonstrating its +superiority with magnificent sword thrusts, but, in spite of the will +of God having been manifested in this warlike way, the Roman rite by +slow degrees became master of the situation, till at last the Muzarabé +ritual was relegated to this small chapel as a curious relic of the +past. + +[Footnote 1: The Muzarabé ritual is still sung in Arabic both in +Toledo and Salamanca.] + +Sometimes in the evenings, when the services were ended and the +Cathedral was locked up, Gabriel would go up to the abode of the +bell-ringer, stopping on the gallery above the door del Perdon. +Mariano, the bell-ringer's son, a youth of the same age as the +seminarist, and attached to him by the respect and admiration his +talents inspired, would act as guide in their excursions to the upper +regions of the church; they would possess themselves of the key of the +vaultings and explore that mysterious locality to which only a few +workmen ascended from time to time. + +The Cathedral was ugly and commonplace seen from above. In the very +early days the stone vaultings had remained uncovered, with no other +concealment beyond the light-looking carved balustrade, but the rain +had begun to damage them, threatening their destruction, and so the +Chapter had covered the Cathedral with a roof of brown tiles, which +gave the Church the appearance of a huge warehouse or a great barn. +The pinnacles of the buttresses seemed ashamed to appear above this +ugly covering, the flying buttresses became lost and disappeared among +the bare-looking buildings, built on to the Cathedral, and the little +staircase turrets became hidden behind this clumsy mass of roofing. + +The two youths climbing along the cornices, green and slippery from +the rain, would mount to quite the upper parts of the building. Their +feet would become entangled in the plants that a luxuriant nature +allowed to grow amid the joints of the stones, flocks of birds would +fly away at their approach; all the sculptures seemed to serve as +resting-places for their nests, and every hollow in the stone where +the rain-water collected was a miniature lake where the birds came +to drink; sometimes a large black bird would settle on one of the +pinnacles like an unexpected finial; it was a raven who settled there +to plume his wings, and it would remain there sunning itself for +hours; to the people who saw it from below it appeared about the size +of a fly. + +These vaultings caused Gabriel a strange impression; no one could +guess the existence of such a place in the upper regions of the +building. He would walk through the forest of worm-eaten posts which +supported the roof, through narrow passages between the cupolas of the +vaulting that arose from the flooring like white and dusty tumours; +sometimes there would be a shaft through which he could see down into +the Cathedral, the depth of which made him giddy. These shafts were +like narrow well-mouths at the bottom of which could be seen people +walking like ants on the tile flooring of the church. Through these +shafts were lowered the ropes of the great chandeliers, and the golden +chains that supported the figure of Christ above the railing of the +high altar. Enormous capstans showed through the twilight their cogged +and rusty wheels, their levers and ropes like forgotten instruments +of torture. This was the hidden machinery belonging to the great +religious festivals; by these artifices the magnificent canopy of the +holy week was raised and fastened. + +As the sun's rays shone in between the wooden posts the dust of ages +that lay like a thick mantel on the roof of the vaulting would rise +and dance in them for a few seconds, and the huge old spiders' webs +would wave like fans in the wind, while the footsteps of the intruders +would occasion wild and precipitous scrambles of rats from all the +dark corners. In the furthest and darkest corners roosted those black +birds who by night flew down into the church through the shafts in +the vaulting, and the eyes of the owls glowed with phosphorescent +brilliancy, while the bats flew sleepily about sweeping the faces of +the lads with their wings. + +The bell-ringer's son would examine the deposits dropped in the dust, +and would enumerate all the different birds who took refuge in the +summit of the mountains of stone: this belonged to the hooting owl, +and that to the red owl, and this again to the raven, and he spoke +with respect of a certain nest of eagles that his father had seen as a +young man, fierce birds who had endeavoured to tear out his eyes, +and who had so thoroughly frightened him that he had been obliged to +borrow the gun belonging to the night watchers on each occasion that +his duties took him to the roof. + +Gabriel loved that strange world, harbouring above the Cathedral with +its silence and its imposing solitude. It was a wilderness of wood, +inhabited by strange creatures who lived unnoticed and forgotten under +the roof-tree of the church. Truly the good God had a house for the +faithful down below, and an immense garret above for the creatures of +the air. + +The savage solitude of the higher regions was a great contrast to the +wealth of the chapel of the Ochava, full of relics in golden vessels +and caskets of enamel and precious marbles, to the quantities of +pearls and emeralds in the magnificent treasury, heaped up as though +they had been peas, and to the elegant luxury of the wardrobe, full +of rare and costly stuffs and vestments exquisitely embroidered with +every colour of the rainbow. + +Gabriel was just eighteen when he lost his father. The old gardener +died quietly, happy in seeing all his family in the service of the +Cathedral and the good old tradition of the Lunas continued without +interruption. Thomas, the eldest son, remained in the garden, Esteban, +after serving many years as acolyte and assistant to the sacristans, +was Silenciario, and had been given the Wooden Staff and seven reals +a day, the height of all his ambition; and as far as regarded the +youngest, the good Señor Esteban had the firm conviction that he +had begotten a Father of the Church, for whom a place in heaven was +especially reserved at the right hand of God Omnipotent. + +Gabriel had acquired in the seminary that ecclesiastic sternness that +turns the priest into a warrior more intent on the interest of the +Church than on the concerns of his family. For this reason he did +not feel the death of his father very greatly; besides, much greater +misfortunes soon occurred to preoccupy the young seminarist. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +There was great excitement both in the Cathedral and in the seminary, +everyone discussing from morning till night the news from Madrid, for +these were the days of the September revolution. The traditional and +healthy Spain, the Spain of the great historical tradition had fallen. +The Cortes Constituyentes were a volcano, a breath from the infernal +regions, to those gentlemen of the black cassock who crowded round the +unfolded newspaper, and, if they found comfort and satisfaction in a +speech of Maesterola's they would suffer the agonies of death at the +revolutionary harangues, which dealt such terrible blows at the olden +days. The clergy had turned their eyes towards Don Carlos, who +was beginning the war in the northern provinces; the king of the +Vascongados[1] mountains would be able to remedy everything when he +came down into the plains of Castille. But years passed by, Amadeus +had come and gone, they had even proclaimed a republic! And yet the +cause of God did not seem to advance much, and Heaven seemed deaf. A +republican deputy proclaimed a war against God, challenging Him to +silence him; and so impiety stalked along immune and triumphant, and +its eloquence flowed abroad like a poisonous spring. + +[Footnote 1: Provinces of Alava, Guipuscoa, and the lordship of +Biscay.] + +Gabriel lived in a state of bellicose excitement--he forgot his books, +he disregarded his future, he never thought now of singing his mass. +What would happen to his career now that the Church was in peril, and +that the sleepy poetry of past ages, that had enveloped him from his +cradle like a perfumed cloud of old incense and dried roses, was on +the point of vanishing? + +Often some of the pupils disappeared from the seminary, and the +professors would reply to the inquiries of the curious with a sly +wink. + +"They have gone out--with the good sort. They could not see quietly +what was happening--'child's play,' 'follies.'" + +But nevertheless such follies made them smile with paternal +satisfaction. + +He thought to be himself among those who fled, as the world seemed +to be coming to an end. In certain towns the revolutionary mob had +invaded and profaned the churches; as yet they had not murdered any of +the ministers of God as in other revolutions, but still the priests +were unable to go about the streets in their cassocks for fear of +being hooted and insulted. The remembrance of the archbishops of +Toledo, those brave ecclesiastical princes, implacable warriors +against the infidels, fired his warlike feelings. As yet he had never +been away from Toledo, away from the shadow of its Cathedral; Spain +seemed to him as vast as all the rest of the world put together, and +he began to feel the ardent desire of seeing something new, of seeing +closer all the wonderful things he had read about in his books, +stirring within him. + +One day he kissed his mother's hand, without feeling any very great +emotion towards the trembling and nearly blind old woman, for the +seminary had for him more tender memories than the house of his +fathers, smoked his last cigar with his brothers in the garden without +revealing his intentions to them, and that night he fled from Toledo +with a scapulary of the Heart of Jesus sewed into his waistcoat, and a +beautiful silk scarf in his wallet, one of those worked by white hands +in the convents of the city. The son of the bell-ringer went with +him. They joined one of the insignificant bands who were devastating +Murcia, but they soon went on to Valencia and Catalonia, anxious to +perform greater exploits for the cause of God than merely stealing +mules and extorting contributions from the rich. + +Gabriel felt an intense delight in this wandering life, with its +continual alarms owing to the proximity of the troops. + +He had been made an officer at once, on account of his education, and +because of the letters of recommendation that certain of the prebends +of the Metropolitan Church had given him; letters lamenting greatly +that a youth of so much theological promise should go and risk his +life like a simple sacristan. + +Luna enjoyed the free and lawless life of war with the zest of a +collegian out of bounds; but he could not hide the feeling of painful +disillusion that the sight of those armies of the Faith caused him. +He had expected to find something akin to the ancient crusading +expeditions: soldiers who fought for an ideal, who bent the knee +before beginning the fight, so that God might be on their side, and +who at night, after a hard-fought field, slept the pure sleep of an +ascetic; instead of which he found an armed mob, mutinous to their +leaders, incapable of that fanaticism which rushes blindfold to death, +anxious only that the war might last as long as possible, so that they +might continue the life of lawless wandering at the expense of the +country, which they considered the best life possible; people who +at the sight of wine, women or plunder would disband themselves, +hungering, turning against their leaders. + +It was the ancient life of the horde, surging up through civilisation, +the atavic custom of stealing the stranger's bread and women by force +of arms, the ancient Celtiberic love of factions and internal strife, +that only caught hold of a political pretext in order to revive. + +Gabriel, with very rare exceptions, found none in those badly-armed +and worse-clothed bands who fought with a fixed idea; they were +adventurers who wished for war for the sake of war; visionaries +anxious for fortune; country lads from the fields, who in their +passive ignorance had joined the factions, just as they would have +stayed at home if they had had better counsels; simple souls who +firmly believed that in the towns they were burning and destroying +God's ministers, and who had thrown themselves into the fray so that +society should not lapse into barbarism. + +The common danger, the misery of the interminable marches to deceive +the enemy, the scarcity suffered in the barren fields and on the rough +hilltops on which they took refuge, made them all equals, enthusiasts, +sceptics or rustics. They all felt the same desire to compensate +themselves for their privations, to appease the ravenous beast they +felt inside, awakened and irritated by a life of such sudden changes; +as much by the wild abundance and plundering of a sack as by the +distress endured in the long marches over interminable plains without +ever seeing the slightest sign of life. On entering a town they would +shout, "Long live religion," but on the slightest provocation they +would do this, that and the other in the name of God and all the +saints, not omitting in their filthy oaths to swear by everything most +sacred in that same religion. + +Gabriel, who soon became accustomed to this wandering life, ceased +to feel shocked. The former scruples of the seminarist vanished, +smothered under the crust of the fighting man, which became hardened +with war. + +The romantic figure of Doña Blanca, the king's sister-in-law passed +before him, like a person in a novel; in her romantic energy this +princess wished to emulate the deeds of the heroines of La Vendeé, and +mounted on a small white horse, her pistol in her belt, and the white +scarf tied over her floating tresses, she put herself at the head of +these armed bands, who revived in the centre of the Peninsula +the strife of almost prehistoric times. The flutter of the dark +riding-habit of this heroine served as a standard to the battalions of +Zouaves, to the troop of French, German, and Italian adventurers, the +scum of all the wars on the globe, who found it pleasanter to follow +a woman anxious for fame than to enlist themselves into the foreign +legion of Algeria. + +The assault of Cuenca, the sole victory of the campaign, made a deep +impression on Gabriel's memory; the troops of men wearing the scarf, +after they had knocked down the ramparts as weak as mud walls, rushed +like overflowing streams through the streets. The firing from the +windows could not stop them; they rushed in pale, with discoloured +lips and eyes brilliant with homicidal mania, the danger overcome, and +the knowledge that they were at length masters of the place drove them +mad; the doors of the houses fell under their blows, terrified men +rushed out to be pierced with bayonets in the streets, and in the +houses you could see women struggling in the arms of the assailants, +striking them in the face with one hand, while with the other they +struggled to retain their clothes. + +Gabriel saw how the roughest of the mountaineers destroyed in the +Institute all the apparatus of the Cabinet of Physical Science, +breaking it in pieces. They were furious with these inventions of the +evil one, with which they thought the unbelievers communicated with +the Government of Madrid, and they smashed on the ground with the butt +ends of their muskets, and trampled with their feet, all the +gilt wheels of the apparatus, and all the discs and batteries of +electricity. + +The seminarist was delighted at all this destruction; he also hated, +but it was with a calm, reflective hate bred in the seminary, all +positive and material sciences, for the sum total of his reasoning was +that they came perilously near to the negation of God; those sons of +the mountains in their blessed ignorance, had without knowing it done +a great deed. Ah! if only the whole nation would imitate them! In +former times there were none of these ridiculous inventions of +science, and Spain was far happier. To live a holy life, the learning +of the priests and the ignorance of the people was sufficient, for +both together produced a blessed tranquillity; what did they want +more? For so the country had existed for centuries, all through the +most glorious period of its existence. + +The war came to an end, the closely pursued rebels passed through the +centre of Catalonia and were finally driven over the frontier, where +they were compelled to give up their arms to the French custom-house +officers. Many availed themselves of the amnesty, anxious to return to +their own homes. Mariano, the bell-ringer, was one of these. He did +not wish to live in a foreign land; besides, during his absence his +father had died, and it was extremely probable that he might succeed +to the charge of the Cathedral tower if he laid due stress on the +merits of his family, his three years' campaigning for the sake of +religion, and a wound he had received in his leg; he would really be +able to compare himself with the martyrs for Christianity. + +Gabriel preferred emigration. "He was an officer and therefore +could not take the oath of allegiance to a usurping dynasty." This +declaration he made with all the pride learnt in this caricature of an +army, which emphasised all the ceremonies of ancient warfare, and who, +ragged and shoeless as they were, with their swords by their sides, +never failed to transmit orders to each other as "high-born officer." +But the real reason which prevented Luna from returning to Toledo was +that he wished to follow the course of events, to see new countries +and different customs. To return to the Cathedral would mean to remain +there for ever, to renounce everything in life, and he, who during the +war had tasted of worldly delights, had no desire to turn his back on +them quite so soon; also he was not yet of age, so he had plenty of +time before him in which to finish his studies; the priesthood was a +sure retreat, but one to which he was in no hurry to return just at +present; besides, his mother was dead, and his brother's letters told +him of no alteration in the sleepy life of the upper cloister, beyond +that the gardener was married and that the "Wooden Staff" was courting +a girl in the Claverias, it being against all the good traditions of +these people to ally themselves with anyone outside the Cathedral. + +Luna lived for more than a year in the emigrants' cantonments; his +classical education and the sympathy aroused by his youth smoothed his +path to a certain extent; he talked Latin with the French abbés, who +were delighted to hear about the war from the young theologian, and +at the same time they taught him the language of the country. These +friends procured for him Spanish lessons among the upper middle +classes who were friendly to the Church. In these days of penury he +was saved by his friendship with an old legitimist Countess, who +invited him to spend several days in her country house, introducing +the warlike seminarist to all the grave and pious friends at her +assemblies as though he had been a crusader newly returned from +Palestine. + +Gabriel's great desire was to go to Paris; his life in France had +radically changed his ideas, he really felt as though he had fallen +into a new planet. Accustomed to the monotonous life in the seminary, +and to the nomadic existence during that mountainous and inglorious +war, he was astonished at the material progress, the refinement of +civilisation, the culture and the well-being of the people in France. +He remembered now with shame his Spanish ignorance, all that Castilian +phantasmagoria, fed by lying literature, that had made him believe +that Spain was the first country in the world, and its people the +noblest and bravest, and that all the other nations were a sort of +wretched mob, created by God to be victims of heresy, and to receive +overwhelming punishment each time that they ventured to interfere with +this privileged country, which, though it eats little and drinks less, +has yet produced the holiest saints and the greatest captains of +Christendom. + +When Gabriel could express himself fluently in French and had +contrived to save a few francs for his journey, he went to Paris. A +friendly abbé had procured him employment as corrector of proofs in a +religious library close to Saint Sulpice. In this priestly quarter of +Paris, with its hostels for the clergy and for religious families, as +gloomy as convents, with its shops full of pious images, which flood +the globe with varnished and smiling saints, was accomplished the +great transformation of Gabriel. + +This quarter of Saint Sulpice with its streets almost Spanish in their +silence and peacefulness, with the sisters in black veils gliding by +the walls of the seminary, drawn by the sound of the bells, was for +the Spanish seminarist what the road to Damascus had been for the +Apostle. The French Catholicism, cultivated, reasoning and respectful +to human progress, bewildered Gabriel, whose fierce Spanish bigotry +had taught him to despise all profane science. There was only one true +learning in the world, and that was theology. The other sciences were +only toys, only fit to amuse the eternal infancy of humanity. To know +God and to meditate on the greatness of His power, this was the only +serious study to which men could devote themselves; machinery, the +discoveries of the positive sciences, in fact everything which did not +treat of divinity and the future life, was only a bagatelle for the +amusement of fools and people of no faith. + +The former seminarist, who from his earliest childhood had despised +all human progress, was stupefied when he perceived how earnestly all +French Catholicism spoke of it. In correcting the proofs of so many +religious works he could not but notice the profound respect which +this despised science inspired in the good French priests, men of such +far superior culture to that of the canons down there. And moreover he +noticed a certain humble shrinking in the representatives of religion +when they came face to face with science--a desire to please, not +to be censorious, to help on with their sympathy any conciliatory +solutions, so that dogma should not fall to the ground, finding no +place in the rapid march of events that was hurrying humanity into +the future with the whirl of its new discoveries. Entire books were +written by eminent priests with the view of adjusting and bringing +into line the revelations of the holy books and the discoveries of +modern science, even at the risk of doing some violence to the former. +The ancient and venerable Church that Gabriel had seen in his own +country, immovable in its antiquated majesty, unwilling to move a +single fold of its mantle for fear of losing some of the dust of ages, +was stirring in France, endeavouring to renew itself, throwing on one +side the ancient garments of tradition, like old rags that would turn +it into ridicule, and stretching out its hands with almost despairing +strength to catch hold of the modern achievements of science; the +great enemy of yesterday, whose appearance had been ushered in with +bonfires and shameful abjurations was triumphant to-day. + +What had that fatal apple of Paradise contained, that after six +thousand years of malediction that same Church had begun to venerate +it, striving to make it forget its ancient persecutions? Why was +religion, firm as a rock throughout the centuries, which had defied +persecutions, schisms and wars, beginning to dissolve before the +discoveries of a few men, and entering into that wild current which +sought for the cause and explanation of everything? If it had the +secular support of faith, why should it seek the assistance of reason +to maintain its traditions and to justify its dogmas? + +Gabriel felt the same fever of curiosity which had obliged him as a +child to bend his back over the old volumes, bound in parchment, in +the library of the seminary; he wished to be acquainted with the +mysterious perfume of that hated science which had so disturbed God's +priests, and had made them indirectly deny the beliefs of nineteen +centuries. He wished to know why the sacred books were being +dislocated and tortured in order to explain by geological periods the +creation which God had accomplished in six days. What danger did they +hope to avoid by making the divinity appear before science in order to +explain its acts and fit them into the decisions of the latter? +Whence came the instinctive fear of the religious authors of roundly +affirming miracles? attempting instead to justify them by intricate +and tentative reasonings, without daring to adduce as the decisive +proof the incomprehensibility of supernatural prodigies. + +For the time being Gabriel abandoned the tranquil atmosphere of the +religious library. His reputation as a humanist had reached the ears +of an editor living near the Sorbonne, so, without leaving the left +bank of the Seine, he moved into the Latin quarter to undertake the +correction of proofs in Latin and Greek. He earned in this way twelve +francs a day--far more than those canons of Toledo, who formerly had +appeared to him as great dukes. He lived in a small inn for students +near to the School of Medicine, and his vehement discussions at night +with his fellow-lodgers over the smoke of their pipes taught him as +much as the books of that hated science. Those students who lent him +books, or who told him of those he should search for in his free +hours in the library on the hill of Saint Genevieve, laughed like +pagans at the exalted ideas of the former seminarist. + +For two years young Luna did little else but read; now and again he +accompanied his friends in some escapade, throwing himself into the +free and joyous life of the Quartier, wearing out the elbows of his +sleeves on the tables of the beershops. The Mimi of Murger often +passed before him, but less melancholy than the creation of the poet, +and the ex-seminarist found his Sunday evening idylls in the woods +surrounding Paris. But Gabriel was not of an amorous temperament; +curiosity and the thirst for knowledge mastered him, and after these +escapades from which he returned fresher, and with his brain keener, +he threw himself with greater ardour into his studies. + +History, true history, whose cold clearness contrasted so strongly +with that intricate morass of miracles in the chronicles that he had +read in his childhood, beat down the greater part of his beliefs. +Catholicism was no longer for him the only religion, neither could +he any longer divide the history of humanity into two periods, that +before and that after the appearance in Judea of a handful of obscure +men, who, spreading themselves over the world, preached a cosmopolitan +morality drawn from the maxims of Orientals, and from the teachings of +Greek philosophy. + +Religions were for him human inventions, subject to the conditions of +existence belonging to all organisms, its generous infancy capable of +blind sacrifices, its self-contained and masterful manhood, in which +the early sweetness was changed by the authoritative imposition of its +power, and its inevitable age, with a long agony, in which the sick +man, guessing his speedy end, clings to life with all the energy of +desperation. + +His faith in Catholicism as the only religion disappeared completely; +losing his belief in dogmas he lost also, by inevitable logic, that +belief in the monarchy which had driven him to fight in the mountains, +and he understood clearly now the history of his country without +prejudices of race. The foreign historians showed him the sad fate of +Spain, arrested in the most critical period of her development, when +she was emerging young and strong during the most fertile period of +the Middle Ages, by the fanaticism of priests and inquisitors, and the +folly of some of her kings, who, with utterly inadequate means, wished +to revive the empire of the Caesars, draining the country for this mad +enterprise. Those people who had broken with the Papacy, turning their +backs for ever on Rome, were far happier and more prosperous than that +Spain, which slept like a beggar at the door of the Church. + +At this period of his intellectual development Gabriel had an ideal, +and often of an evening he would leave his work to go and listen to +him for an hour at the College of France: this was Ernest Renan; +Gabriel admired him for a double reason, for his talent and for his +history. The great man had also passed through a seminary, and even +now had a priestly look as though he had suffered deeply from the +pressure of the ecclesiastical yoke; he was a rebel, and Gabriel felt +as though he belonged to his own family. "Truly the hammers to destroy +the temple are forged within the temple," and the law fatal to all +religions was being accomplished, when faith vanishes, and the +multitude no longer feel the fervour of early days. + +Gabriel was astonished to hear how the teacher could penetrate the +intellectual development of the Hebrew people, which had served as the +basis of Christianity, as he heard him demolish bit by bit the +immense altarpiece, before which humanity had knelt for over nineteen +centuries. The Spanish seminarist revolted against his old faith with +all the impetuosity of his vehement temperament. How could he have +believed all that and have considered it the height of human wisdom! +Certainly Christianity had exercised a beneficial influence at one +period of the infancy of humanity, it had filled men's lives in the +Middle Ages when there was little to think of beyond religion, and, in +a land desolated by strife, there was no other refuge for intellectual +thought but the cathedral in the towns and the monastery in the +country. "The fairs--the assemblies for business and pleasure," said +the master, "were religious feasts; the scenic representations were +mysteries, the journeys were pilgrimages and the wars crusades." After +this the ways of life divided--religious life took one way and human +life the other. Art placed nature above the ideal, and men thought +more of earth than of heaven. Reason was born, and every advance that +it made was one step backward for faith, and at last the time arrived +when the clear-sighted, those who were anxious about the future, began +to ask themselves what the new belief was likely to be which would +replace the moribund religion. Luna had no doubts on the point--it was +science, and science alone, which could fill the vacuum caused by that +religion now dead for ever. + +Influenced by the Hellenism of his master, which he assimilated +easily, being accustomed to daily intercourse with the Greek authors, +he dreamed that the humanity of the future would be an immense Athens, +an artistic and learned democracy governed by great thinkers, with +no strifes but those of the mind, with no ambition but that of +cultivating the intellect, of gentle manners, and devoted to the joys +of the mind and the culture of reason. + +Of all his old beliefs, Gabriel only retained that of a creative +God from a certain superstitious scruple. His ideas were rather +disconcerted by astronomy, which he had taken up with an almost +childish eagerness, attracted by the charm of the marvellous. +That infinite space in which in olden days legions of angels had +manoeuvred, and which had served the Virgin as a pathway in her +terrestrial descents, he suddenly found to be peopled with thousands +of millions of worlds, and the more powerful men's instruments became +the more numerous they seemed to be, the distances being infinitely +prolonged to immensities that were inconceivable. Bodies were +attracted to one another travelling in space at the rate of millions +of miles a minute, and all this cloud of worlds revolved without ever +passing twice over the same spot in this immensity of silence, in +which fresh stars, and again others and others, were continually being +discovered as the instruments of observation became more perfect. + +This God of Gabriel's having lost the corporeal form given to Him by +religion, and as divulged in the history of the creation, lost at once +all His attributes, and being magnified to fill the infinite and being +absorbed into it, became so impalpable and subtle to the intellect as +to appear a phantasm. + +Nothing remained to Gabriel of all his ancient beliefs. His mind was +like a bare field over which the whirlwind had passed, for his last +belief, which had remained standing like a monolith in the midst of +ruins, the belief in the history of creation, had now fallen. + +But it was impossible to the former seminarist to remain inactive with +his cargo of new ideas. He felt obliged to believe in something, to +devote to the defence of some ideal all the faith in his character, to +make some use of that fervour of proselytising which had been so +much admired in the class of eloquence in the seminary, and so +revolutionary sociology took possession of him. First of all it was +Proudhon with his audacious writings, and afterwards the work was +completed by some "militantes" who were working in the same printing +office as himself--old soldiers of the Commune, who had lately +returned from their exile in the prisons of Oceania, and were renewing +their campaign against social organisation with an ardour increased +tenfold by their painful sufferings and their desire of vengeance. +With them he went to the anarchist meetings; there he heard Reclus +and Prince Kropotkine, and the words of the since deceased Miquel +Bakronhine came to him as the gospel of a Saint Paul of the future. + +Gabriel had met with his new religion, and he gave himself over to +it entirely, dreaming of the regeneration of humanity through its +stomach. Believing in a future life, misfortunes gave the false +consolation of happiness after death; but all religion was a lie, +there was no other life but that of the present, and Luna rose in +anger against the social injustice that condemned millions of beings +to poverty and misery for the happiness of a few privileged thousands. +Authority, which was the fount of all evil, was to him the greatest +enemy; it must be destroyed, but men must be created who were capable +of living without masters, priests or soldiers. The natural gentleness +of his character, and the horror of violence with which his three +years' campaigning had filled him, caused him rather to draw back from +his new companions, who, dreaming of hecatombs from dynamite and the +dagger to reform the world, obliged him to accept these new doctrines +through fear. No; he believed in the strength of the "idea," and in +the innocent evolution of humanity; he had only to work like the first +apostles of Christianity certain of the future, but without hurrying, +to see his ideas realised; he had only to fix his eyes on the day's +work, without thinking of the long years and centuries before it would +bear its fruit. + +The ardour of his proselytising made him leave Paris at the end of +five years. He was anxious to see the world, to study for himself all +these social miseries, so as to judge what forces these disinherited +could command for their great transformation. Besides, he began to +find himself incommoded by the vigilance of the French police, on +account of his intimacy with the Russian students of the Quartier +Latin--young men with cold eyes and limp and dishevelled hair who were +endeavouring to implant in Paris the vengeances of Nihilism. In London +he came to know a young Englishwoman of weak health, but burning like +himself with all the ardour of revolutionary propaganda, who would +walk from morning till night in the lanes and surroundings of +workshops and laboratories, distributing pamphlets and printed +leaflets that she kept in a band-box that was always hanging on her +arm. In a short time Lucy became Gabriel's companion; they loved each +other without excitement, with a cold and quiet passion, more from +community of ideas than anything else, for the love of revolutionists, +dominated with the thought of rebellion against everything existing, +has not much room for any other feeling. + +Luna and his companion went to Holland and thence to Belgium, settling +afterwards in Germany, always travelling from group to group of +"companions," taking up different work with that facility of +adaptation which seems universal among revolutionaries, who wander +over the world penniless, enduring every sort of privation, but +finding always in their difficulties some brotherly hand to raise them +and set them again on the path. + +After eight years of this life Gabriel's friend died of consumption. +They were then in Italy, and Luna, finding himself alone, understood +for the first time how much support the gentle companion of his life +had given him. In his sorrow for the loss of Lucy he forgot for a +while his revolutionary enthusiasm, lamenting only the void left in +his life. He had not loved her as most men love, but she was his +companion, his sister, they were alike in their pleasures and their +sorrows, and their common poverty had welded them into one will. +Moreover, Gabriel felt himself aged before his time by this life +of soul-stirring adventures and painful privations. He had been +imprisoned in many places in Europe, being suspected of complicity +with the terrorists, he had often been beaten by the police, and he +began to find a difficulty in travelling about the Continent, as his +photograph figured with that of several other "companions" in the +central police offices of the principal nations. He was a vagabond and +dangerous dog, who would end by being kicked out of every place. + +Gabriel could not live alone; he was accustomed to see those kind blue +eyes near him, and to hear the caressing voice with its bird-like +inflexions which had so much encouraged him in times of trial and +difficulty, and he could not endure the solitude in a strange land +after Lucy's death. A great longing for his native land awoke in him, +he wished to return to Spain, to that land he had so often ridiculed, +and which now in spite of its backwardness seemed to him so +attractive. He thought of his brothers, fixed like plants to the +stones of the Cathedral, never interesting themselves with what took +place in the world, never seeking for news of him, as though they had +entirely forgotten him. + +With a sudden impulse, as though he were afraid of dying away from +his native land, he returned to Spain. In Barcelona some of the +"companions" had obtained for him the management of a printing press, +but before taking up his post he wished to spend a few days in Toledo. +He returned an old man, though he was barely forty, speaking four or +five languages, and poorer than when he had left it. He found that +his brother the gardener had died, and that the widow and her son had +taken refuge in a garret in the Claverias, where she supported herself +by washing the canon's linen. Esteban, the "Wooden Staff," received +him with the same admiration he had felt for him while in the +seminary. He talked a great deal about his travels, gathering together +all the people in the upper cloister, so that they should listen to +this man who had travelled all over the world, just as though he were +going about his own house. In their inquiries they painfully entangled +geography, as they could only comprehend two divisions in it, the +countries of heretics, and the countries of Christians. + +Gabriel pitied the great poverty of these people, and admired the +humbleness of these Cathedral servants, content to live and die in the +same place, without any curiosity as to what was taking place outside +the walls. The church seemed to him a huge derelict. It was like the +petrified skeleton of one of those immense and powerful animals of +former days, that had been dead for ages, its body decayed, its soul +evaporated, and nothing left but this framework, like to the shells +found by geologists in prehistoric strata by whose structure they can +guess at the soft parts of the vanished being. Seeing the ceremonies +of worship which in former days had so moved him, he felt roused to +protest, a longing to shout to the priests and acolytes to stop, and +withdraw, as their times were passed, and faith was dead, and it was +only from routine and the fear of outside opinion that people now +frequented these places, which formerly religious fervour had filled +from morning till night. + +On his arrival in Barcelona Gabriel's life was a whirlwind of +proselytising, of struggles, and of persecutions. The "companions" +respected him, seeing in him the friend of all the great propagandists +of "the idea," and one who might himself rank among the most famous +revolutionists. No meeting could be held without the "companion" Luna; +that natural eloquence which had caused such wonder on his entry into +the seminary, bubbled up and spread like an intoxicating gas in these +revolutionary assemblies, firing that ragged, hungry, and miserable +crowd, making them tremble with emotion at the description of future +societies set forth by the apostle, that celestial city of the +dreamers of all ages, without property, without vices, without +inequalities, where work would become a pleasure, and where there +would be no other worship but that of science and art. Some of his +hearers, the darker spirits, would smile with a compassionate gesture, +listening to his maledictions against authority, and his hymns to +the sweetness and triumph to be won by passive resistance. He was an +idealist, one to whom they must listen because he had served the cause +well; they who were the strong men, the fighters, knew well enough how +to crush in silence that cursed society if it should show itself deaf +to the voice of Truth. + +When they exploded bombs in the streets the "companion" Luna was the +first to be surprised at the catastrophe, he was also the first to be +taken to prison on account of the popularity of his name. Oh! those +two years passed in the castle of Montjuich! They had ploughed a deep +furrow in Gabriel's memory, a deep wound that could not heal, that +made him tremble at the slightest remembrance, disturbing his calm, +and making him hot and cold with terror. + +The madness of fear had taken possession of society, and all laws and +regard to humanity, were trampled under foot to defend it. The justice +of former ages, with its violent procedure was resuscitated in full +civilisation. The judge was distrusted as being too cultured and +scrupulous, and a free hand was given to the petty officers of +justice, ordering them to introduce afresh all the old instruments of +torture. + +In the darkness of the night Gabriel saw his Moorish dungeon lighted +up; some men in uniform seized him and dragged him down the staircase +to a room where others were waiting with huge cudgels. A young man +with a soft voice, in the uniform of a lieutenant, and with the lazy +manners of a Creole, questioned him as to the various attempts that +had occurred months before down in the town. Gabriel knew nothing, had +seen nothing. But all the same these men were your companions; but +he, having fixed his eyes on high, contemplating his visions of the +future, had never realised that all around him this violence was +surging and germinating. His reiterated negative rendered the men +furious; the soft voice of the Creole became harsh with anger, and +with menaces and blasphemies they all threw themselves upon him, and +the cruel hunt of the man round and round the dungeon began, the +cudgels falling on his body, beat his head or his legs indifferently, +pursuing him into corners, following him as with a desperate bound he +reached the opposite wall, opening the way with his bent head, his +back resounding like an empty box beneath the blows. Now and then the +desperation of pain inflamed the victim, the lamb turned into a wild +beast, and before falling to the ground, cowering like a child before +superior numbers, he would throw himself on the executioners, tearing +them, and trying to bite them. Gabriel kept a button from the +lieutenant's uniform which had remained in his fingers after one of +these revolts of his weakness. + +Afterwards, his tormentors, wearied by the inutility of their +violence, left him forgotten in the dungeon. A loaf of bread and some +bits of dry salt cod were his only food. Thirst, an infernal thirst, +racked his bowels, contracted his throat, and burnt his mouth. At +first he called piteously under the door for water, but afterwards he +would beg no more, knowing beforehand what the answer would be. It was +a calculated torture; they promised him as much water as he wished, +after he should have disclosed the names of the guilty, confessing +things of which he had no knowledge. Hunger strove in him against +thirst, but fearing this latter most, he would throw this salted food +into a corner as though it were poison. He was delirious with the +delirium of a shipwrecked man tormented with visions of fresh water +in the midst of the salt waves. In his nightmare he saw clear and +murmuring brooks, great rivers; and seeking freshness for his mouth +he would pass his tongue over the filthy walls, finding a certain +alleviation in the lime of the whitewash. + +The privations and the incarceration disturbed his mind with horrible +ravings; often Gabriel was surprised at finding himself on all fours, +growling and barking opposite the door without knowing how or why. + +His tormentors seemed to forget him; they had other prisoners to look +after. The jailors gave him water, but whole months passed without +anyone entering his cell. Some nights he would hear vaguely and +far off through the greasy walls wailing and sobs in the adjacent +dungeons. One morning he was awoke by sounds as of thunder, in spite +of a tiny ray of sunlight filtering through his loophole; hearing the +jailors in the corridors near, he understood the mystery. They had +been shooting some of the prisoners. + +Luna received as a happiness this hope of death; he would renounce +with pleasure that shadow of a life in a small stone box, tormented by +physical pain and the fear of men's ferocity. His stomach, weakened by +all these privations, refused for many days, with horrible nausea, to +receive the bitter bread and the coppery mess. His want of exercise, +the want of air, and the bad and scanty nourishment had made him +fall into a mortal anaemia; he coughed continually, suffering great +oppression on his chest. The knowledge he had acquired of the human +body in his thirst for knowing everything did not admit of his being +mistaken; he would die as poor Lucy had died. + +After a year and a half of imprisonment he appeared before a council +of war, mixed up with a mob of old men, women, and even quite young +people, all weakened and broken by imprisonment, with their skin white +and thick as chewed paper, and that dazed look in their eyes that +comes from solitary confinement. Gabriel hoped he would be executed. +When the fiscal came to the name of Luna on the long list he stopped +an instant, shooting a ferocious glance at him--this man was among the +theorists. It appeared from the declarations of witnesses that he took +no direct part in the deeds of violence, and that in his speeches he +had always deprecated them; still it must be remembered that he was +one of the principal propagandists of anarchism, and that he had +delivered speeches in all the workmen's societies frequented by the +authors of the attempts. + +An elderly captain bent towards another member of the council, +speaking in his ear, but Gabriel caught his words: + +"It is on these gentlemen who make speeches that we must lay our hand, +so that they may be warned not to lecture any more on Tolstoi or +Ibsen, or any of those foreign worthies who advocate throwing bombs." + +Gabriel spent many months of solitary confinement in his prison. +From words now and then dropped by his jailors he could guess at the +fluctuations of his fate. Sometimes he would gather that he and all +his companions in misfortune were to be sent to the jail in Africa, or +again they would hint at his immediate liberation, or would prophesy +that they were all to be shot _en masse_. When at the end of two +years he left this gloomy castle, it was to be embarked with all his +companions for exile. He was only the shadow of a man; his weakness +made his walk as uncertain and tremulous as that of a child, but he +forgot his own misery in trying to assist those of his companions who +were even weaker than himself, and who bore the cruel scars of the +torments they had endured. + +The return to liberty recalled all his former gentleness and the +philosophic pity with which he surrounded all men, pitying and +pardoning their faults. On landing in England the more violent of +his companions spoke of future vengeance on their persecutors, while +Gabriel asked pardon for them, as blind instruments employed by +society in a moment of terror, thinking they had saved it by their +barbarity. + +The climate of London aggravated Gabriel's illness, and in about two +years he was obliged to move to the Continent, although England with +its absolute liberty was the only land where he could have lived +quietly and ignored. + +His existence was a cruel one, always a fugitive through the different +countries of Europe, driven from one place to another by the vigilance +of the police, thrown into prison, or expelled on the slightest +suspicion. It was a return to the ancient persecution of the gipsies, +the constant hunting of independent people, leading vagabond lives, of +the Middle Ages. His illness and his desire for rest and peace made +him return to Spain. Time had produced a certain amount of tolerance +towards the exiles, and in Spain everything is soon forgotten, and +though the authorities are harder and less scrupulous than in other +countries, still they interfere less on account of their improvidence +and the carelessness natural to the race. + +Sick and without any work by which he could earn his living, precluded +from seeking work among the printers, as his name was encircled by +a halo which terrified the masters, Gabriel fell into such extreme +poverty that the little help and succour his companions could afford +were unable to relieve it, and he travelled from end to end of the +Peninsula begging from his fellows and hiding from the police. + +His spirit was broken, he was conquered, and he had no longer strength +to continue the struggle. Nothing remained for him but to die, but +merciful death came slowly to his call. He thought of his brother, the +only affection remaining to him in the world; he remembered the quiet +family in the Claverias, of which he had caught a glimpse on his last +visit to the Cathedral, and he turned to seek them as his last hope. + +On his return to Toledo, he found the happy family dissolved; +misfortune had come even to that silent and stagnant corner. + +But the Cathedral, insensible to all human vicissitudes was there, +the same as ever, and to it he clung, hiding himself in its recesses, +hoping to die there in peace, with no other hope but to be forgotten; +dying before his proper time, tasting the bitter happiness of +annihilation, leaving behind him at the door, like an animal who sheds +its skin, all that rebellion which had drawn upon him the hatred of +society. + +His happiness was not to think, not to speak, to mould himself to that +dead world; he would be among the living statues peopling the upper +cloister, one more automaton; he would imitate those beings who seemed +to have absorbed into themselves something of the austerity of the +granite buttresses, he would inhale like a healing balsam the scent +of the rusty iron railings and the incense that spread through the +church, the ancient perfume of the past centuries. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On leaving the cloister in the mornings soon after daybreak, the first +person Gabriel would see was Don Antolin, the "Silver Stick." This +priest exercised an authority like that of Governor of the Cathedral, +for all the lay servants were under his orders, and all the repairs of +little importance were done under his supervision. + +Down below, in the church, he watched the sacristans and the acolytes, +careful that the canons and beneficiaries should have no cause of +complaint in the services. Upstairs, in the cloister, he watched over +the good behaviour and cleanliness of the families, being by the grace +of the cardinal archbishop a sort of magistrate over that little town. + +He occupied the best "habitacion" in the Claverias. At the great +ceremonies he walked in front of the Chapter in his pluvial, carrying +a silver stick nearly as tall as himself, making the tiles of the +pavement re-echo with its blows. During High Mass and the choir in the +evening he walked about the naves to check any irreverence on the part +of the congregation or any inattention on that of the staff. At eight +o'clock at night in the winter, and at nine in summer, he locked the +door of the staircase leading to the upper cloister, putting the key +in his pocket, and so all the people in the cloister remained quite +isolated from the town. If now and again anyone was taken ill in the +night, it was necessary to wake Don Antolin who, plunging his hand +into the depths of his cassock, would produce his key, and deign to +restore communication with the outer world. + +He was about seventy years of age, small and wizened; age had scarcely +tinged his shaven crown with grey, his forehead was broad and square, +and rose straight beneath the silk cap he wore in winter. His features +were rather drawn out, without a single wrinkle, and devoid of any +expression that showed emotion, the jaw-bone narrow and sharp, and the +eyes as inexpressive and motionless as the rest of the face, but with +a cold, penetrating glance that was extremely disconcerting. + +Gabriel had known him from his childhood; he was, to use his own +expression, like a private soldier of the church, who by reason of his +years and services had attained the rank of sergeant, but who could +rise no further. When Luna first entered the seminary Don Antolin had +just been ordained priest, and since then had passed his life in the +sacristy of the Primacy where he had begun as acolyte. + +On account of his absolute and irrational faith and his unbending +adhesion to the Church, the professors in the seminary had pushed him +on in his career, in spite of his ignorance; he was a son of the soil, +having been born in a village in the mountains round Toledo. The Holy +Metropolitan Church was to him the second house of God in the world, +only ranking after Saint Peter's in Rome, and all ecclesiastical +learning was to him like rays emanating from the Divine wisdom, which +blinded him, and were to be adored with the profound respect of +ignorance. + +He had that blessed and entire want of education so appreciated by the +Church in former years. Gabriel felt sure that if Silver Stick had +been born in the flourishing times of Catholicism he would have become +a saint on dedicating himself to the spiritual life, or he would have +played an excellent part in the Inquisition on the arrival of that +militant society. Having come into the world at the wrong time, when +faith was weakened and the Church could no longer impose its laws +by violence, the good Don Antolin had remained hidden in the lower +administration of the Cathedral, assisting the Canon Obrero in the +division and assignment of the money that the State allowed to the +Primacy, giving long thought over the spending of each handful of +farthings, endeavouring that the holy house, like the ruined families, +should keep up its good outward appearance without revealing the +poverty inside. + +He had been promised several times a chaplaincy of nuns, but he was +one of those faithful to the Cathedral, one of those quite in love +with the great establishment. He was proud of the confidence that the +Lord Archbishop placed in him, and of the frank friendliness +with which the canons and beneficiaries spoke to him, and of his +administrative conferences with the Obrero and the Treasurer. For this +reason he could not repress a gesture of contemptuous superiority when +having donned his pluvial, and clutching his silver stick, he advanced +and spoke to any strange clergy from the neighbouring villages who +visited the Primacy. + +His faults were purely ecclesiastic; he saved in secret, with that +cold, determined avarice so usual at all times in people attached to +the Church. His greasy skull cap had been discarded as too old by its +former owner, one of the canons; his cassock of a greenish black and +his shoes had also belonged to some one of the beneficiaries; in the +Claverias they all whispered of the monies hoarded by Don Antolin, +and of his savings that were devoted to usury--loans that never went +beyond two or three duros to the poorer servants of the church ground +down by poverty, and which he recovered with interest at the beginning +of every month when they were paid by the Canon Obrero. In him avarice +and usury were joined to the most implicit honesty in regard to the +interests of the church; he would punish relentlessly the smallest +pilfering in the sacristy, and he made up his accounts for the Chapter +with a minuteness that annoyed the Obrero. To every one his own, the +church was poor and it would be a sin worthy of hell to deprive her of +a single farthing; he, as a good servant of God was poor also, and he +thought he was doing no wrong in drawing a certain profit from the +money he had gathered together by dint of bargaining, and by many +painful privations in the midst of his poverty. + +His niece, Mariquita, lived with him, an ugly woman with masculine +features and a fresh colour, who had come from the mountains to look +after her uncle, of whose riches and power in the Primacy all his +relations and friends in the village talked a great deal. She rode +roughshod over all the other women in the Claverias, taking undue +advantage of Don Antolin's supreme authority. The more timid formed +round her a circle of adulation, endeavouring to evoke her protection +by cleaning her house and cooking for her, while Mariquita, dressed in +the habit, and with her hair most carefully combed--the only luxury +allowed by her uncle--loitered about the cloister hoping to meet there +some cadet, or that some of the foreigners visiting the tower or the +hall of the giants would take notice of her. She made sheep's eyes +at every man; and she, so hard and imperious to all the women, would +smile sweetly on all the bachelors living in the Claverias. The "Tato" +was a great friend of hers; he would come and visit her when her uncle +was absent in order to air his graces as apprentice to a Torrero. +Gabriel, with his delicate looks, his mysterious self-containment, and +the confused story of all his great travels about the world interested +her not less; she would even speak with marked deference to the +"Wooden Staff," as he was both a man and a widower, and, as the +"Perrero" wickedly said, the very sight of a pair of trousers nearly +drove the poor woman mad in that establishment where the greater part +of the men wore petticoats. + +Don Antolin had known Gabriel since his childhood, and spoke to him in +the second person. The ignorant priest still retained the remembrance +of Luna's great triumphs obtained in the seminary, and though he saw +him so poor and ailing, taking refuge in the Cathedral almost on +charity, his "tuteo" of superiority was not free from admiration. +Gabriel, on his side, feared Silver Stick, knowing his intolerant +fanaticism. For this reason he confined himself to listening to him, +careful in their conversation that not a single word should slip in +which could betray his past. He would be the first to demand his +expulsion from the Cathedral, where he wished to live unknown and +silent. + +On meeting each other in the cloister, the two men began with the same +questions every morning: + +"How is your health to-day?" + +Gabriel showed himself an optimist. He knew that his illness had +no remedy; still, that quiet life free from all emotions, and his +brother's care, feeding him at all hours, like a bird and almost by +force, had arrested the decay of his health. The course of the illness +was slower--death was meeting with obstacles. + +"I am better, Don Antolin. And yesterday, what sort of a day had you?" + +Silver Stick plunged his dirty and horny hands into the recesses of +his cassock, and produced three greasy little ticket-books, one red, +one green and the third white. He turned over the leaves, considering +the counterfoils of those he had torn out; he took the most respectful +care of these little books, as though they were far more important +than the big music books in the choir. + +"A very slack day, Gabriel! Being in the winter, so few people travel. +Our best time is in the spring, when they say the English come in by +Gibraltar. They go first to the fair in Seville, and afterwards they +come to have a look at our Cathedral. Besides, in milder weather the +people come from Madrid, and although they grumble, the flies crowd +to see the giants and the big bell, then I have to hurry with the +tickets; one day, Gabriel, I took eighty duros. I remember it was at +the last 'Corpus'; Mariquita had to sew up the pockets of my cassock, +for they tore with the weight of so many pesetas; it was a blessing +from the Lord." + +He looked sadly at the little books, as though regretting that many +days passed in winter when he only tore out one or two leaves. This +plan of selling entrance tickets to see the treasures and curiosities +of the Cathedral filled all his thoughts. It was the salvation of the +church, the modern proceeding to help it on, and he felt proud of +fulfilling this function, which made him one of the most important +persons in the life of the temple. + +"You see these green tickets?" said he to Gabriel. "These are the +dearest, they cost two pesetas each. With these you can see everything +that is most important--the treasury, the chapel of the Virgin, and +the Ochavo with its relics which are unique in the world. The other +cathedrals are dirt compared with ours, and their relics lies, many of +them invented on account of the envy that our Holy Metropolitan Church +inspired. You see these red ones? These only cost six reals, and with +them you can visit the sacristies, the wardrobe, the chapels of Don +Alvaro de Luna and of Cardinal Albornoz, and the Chapter-house, with +its two rows of portraits of the archbishops which are wonders. Who +would not scrape their purse to see such prodigies?" + +Afterwards he added, showing the last ticket book with contempt: + +"These white ones are only worth two reals. They are to see the giants +and the bells. We sell a great many of those to the lower class who +come to the Cathedral on feast days. Could you believe it, but many +of the Protestants and Jews call this a robbery? The other day three +soldiers came from the Academy with some country folks to see the +giants, and they made quite a scandalous scene because we would not +let them in for an old song. As if we were asking their charity! Many +of them commit all sorts of nuisances about the Cathedral, just as +if they were heretics, to say nothing of their drawing all sorts +of abominable things and writing obscene words on the walls of the +staircase. What shocking times, eh, Gabriel? What shocking times!" + +Luna smiled silently, and Silver Stick, encouraged by what seemed to +him acquiescence, went on with pride: + +"And about these tickets, I invented them--that is to say, I am not +really their inventor, but their introduction into this house is owing +to me. You have travelled so much, and must have seen in those foreign +countries that everything is shown on payment. The Lord Cardinal +before this one, who is now in blessed glory (and he raised his hand +to his skull cap) had also travelled a great deal--he was quite a +'modern,' and had he lived would have ended by putting electric light +in the naves of the Cathedral. I heard him on one occasion speak of +what was done in the museums and other interesting places in Rome +and other towns; unrestricted entrance at all hours--on payment, an +immense convenience to the public, who required to get no tickets +beforehand to visit these things. So one day when the Obrero and I +were biting our nails, seeing that this miserable thousand and odd +pesetas (God forgive me!) that this unhappy State allows us, could not +possibly suffice for our monthly expenses, I propounded my idea. Now, +could you believe that some of the gentlemen in the Chapter opposed +it? Some of the young canons spoke of the sellers in the Temple, you +know who they were--certain Jews who drove the Lord out with scourges +in their hand, for I know not what misdemeanours. The older ones said +the Cathedral had always had its treasures open to all for centuries, +and so it ought to go on. All the gentlemen were quite right, but +you cannot do anything with a stupid canon, and at last the defunct +cardinal, who is now in the enjoyment of God (another tug at his cap) +interfered, and the Chapter were obliged, though with much grumbling, +to accept the reform, and they ended by praising it. In all bitter +there is a sweet! Do you know how much money I handed to the Lord +Cardinal last year? More than three thousand duros, nearly as much as +this sinful State allows us, and this without prejudice to anybody. +The public pays, they admire and they go; in any case they are only +birds of passage who come once, and when they go they do not return. +And what are four wretched pesetas, when for that money you can see +one of the most glorious churches in Christendom, the cradle of +Spanish Catholicism, the Cathedral of Toledo!" + +The two men were walking in the cloister on the side warmed by the sun +at that early hour, the cleric had put away his ticket books, and his +eyes were fixed on Gabriel, who thought that to smile in his enigmatic +way, which Don Antolin accepted as assent, quite met the situation, +and it encouraged him to continue his confidences. + +"Ay, Gabriel! You cannot think that my heavy duties can be fulfilled +without hard work; the Cardinal trusts me, the Chapter distinguish +me with their regard, and the Obrero has no other hope but in my +assistance. Thanks to these tickets we can carry the Cathedral along, +and keep up its ancient appearance of grandeur, so that the public +will come and admire. But we are poorer than rats, and we must be +thankful that even some crumbs are left us from the past. If the wind +or the hail break some of our glass in the naves, we can still lay our +hands on some of the stores left by the Obreros of former days. Ay, +señor! And to think there was a time when the Chapter maintained at +its own expense inside the church, cutters and painters of glass, +plumbers, and I know not what beside, so that any great works could be +undertaken without seeking any help outside the house! If one of the +tombs gets broken, even now we have quantities of borderings carved +with saints and flowers that are wonderful to see. But what will +happen when all these are finished? When the last pane of glass in +the stores has been broken, and the last fragments of carving in the +Obreria used up? We shall have to put cheap white panes in the windows +to prevent the rain and wind coming in. The Cathedral will look like +an inn--may God forgive me the comparison--and the priests of the +Primacy will praise God dressed like the chaplain of a hermitage." + +And Don Antolin laughed sarcastically, as though this future that he +was anticipating was an absurd contradiction of the eternal laws. + +"You will easily believe," he went on, "that they do not waste +anything, and that they make money out of every possible thing. The +garden that was for so many years in your family is now leased out by +the Chapter, since your brother's death; twenty duros a year your Aunt +Tomasa pays for her son to cultivate it, and this only because, as you +know, the old woman is such a great friend of His Eminence, as they +have known each other since they were children. I go about like a +water carrier, all round the church and the cloisters, watching that +no one plays tricks, for there are a lot of young light-hearted +people, whom you cannot trust. One minute I am in the Ochavo, watching +that your nephew the 'Tato' has sold the tickets to the foreigners +(for he is quite capable of letting them in gratis if they tip him +on leaving), and the next I am up in the cloister looking after that +shoemaker who repairs the giants; they cannot deceive me, no one +escapes me without paying; but, ay! it is a long while since I have +sung mass. You can see me at mid-day when the Cathedral is closed +reading my hours hurriedly in the cloisters, watching the clock in +order to go down the moment the church is opened, when the strangers +begin to come to see the treasury. This is not the life of a good +Catholic, and if God does not lay it to my account that I am doing it +all for the glory of His house, I fear that I shall lose my soul." + +The two men walked up and down some time in silence, but Don Antolin +could not hold his tongue for long when the subject was the economic +life of the Primacy. + +"And to think, Gabriel," he continued, "that having been what we were +in former times, we should have come to this! You and most of those +alive have no idea how rich this house used to be--as rich as a king, +and often far richer. From a child no one has known as you have the +history of our glorious archbishops, but of the fortune they amassed +for God, you know nothing. Of course these temporalities do not +interest learned people like you. Have you any idea what donations the +kings and great lords gave in their lifetime to our Cathedral, or the +legacies they left her on their deathbeds? You have a great deal to +learn! I know all about it, I have searched in the Obreria, in the +archives, in the library; everyone does what interests them, and I and +the Señor Obrero have often raged at the indigence of the house, but I +console myself by thinking of what we had, long before any of us were +born. We were very rich, Gabriel--very, very rich. The archbishops of +Toledo could have placed one or two crowns on their mitre, I dare not +say three, for I think of the Supreme Pontiff. First of all, there is +the Deed of Gift to the Cathedral, made by the King Alfonso VI., by +reason of his having conquered Toledo. It was made a hermitage, after +the election of the Bishop Don Bernardo, and I have seen it in the +archives with my own sinful eyes, a parchment with Gothic letters, and +at the head is written, 'The privileges of this Holy Church.' The good +king gave to the Cathedral nine towns--if I wished I could tell you +their names--several mills, and vineyards innumerable, houses and +shops in the town, and he ends by saying with all the munificence of +a Christian cavalier, 'This, therefore, in such a way I give, and I +grant to this church and to you, Bernard, Archbishop, in free and +perfect gift, that neither by homicide, nor any other calumny, shall +it ever be forfeited. Amen.' Afterwards, Don Alfonso VII. gave us +eight towns on the other side of the Guadalquiver, several ovens, two +castles, the salt works of Belinchon, and a tenth of all the money +coined in Toledo, for the vestments of the prebendaries. The VIII. of +the name showered on the Cathedral a perfect rain of gifts, towns, +villages, and mills. Illescas is ours, and a great part of Esquivias, +as also the mortgage on Talavera. Afterwards came the fighting +prelate, Don Rodrigo, who took much land from the Moors, and the +Cathedral possesses one principality, the Adelantamiento de Cazorla, +with towns like Baza, Niebla, and Alcaraz. And besides the kings there +is a great deal to be said about the nobles, great princes who showed +their generosity to the Holy Metropolitan Church. Don Lope de Haro, +Lord of Vizcaya, not content with paying the cost of the building from +the Puerta de los Escribanos as far as the choir, gave us the town of +Alcubilete, with its mills and fisheries, and he also left a legacy +so that in the choir when complines are sung, that lamp called the +Preciosa should be lighted, which is placed by the great bronze eagle +belonging to the big missal. Don Alfonso Tello de Meneses gave us +four towns on the banks of the Guadiana, granted us tithes and bridge +tolls, and I know not what riches besides. We have been very powerful, +Gabriel; the territory of this diocese is larger than a principality. +The Cathedral had property on the earth, in the air, and in the sea! +Our dominions extended throughout the whole nation from end to end; +there was not a single province in which we did not hold possessions. +Everything contributed to the glory of the Lord, and to the comfort +and welfare of His ministers; everything paid to the Cathedral: bread +when it was baked in the ovens, the casting of the net, wheat as it +passed through the mill, money as it came from the Mint, the traveller +as he went on his way; the country people who then paid no taxes or +contributions served their king and saved their own souls, giving +the best sheaf in every ten, so that the granaries of the Holy +Metropolitan Church were quite insufficient to contain such abundance. +What times were those, Gabriel! There was faith, Gabriel, and faith +is the chief thing in life--without faith there is no virtue nor +decency--nor nothing." + +He stopped for a moment, quite out of breath with talking. The priest +was so saturated with the atmosphere of the Cathedral, that in himself +he seemed to unite all the various scents of the church; his cassock +had collected the mouldy smell of the old stones and the rusty iron +railings, and his mouth seemed to breathe of the gutters and the +gargoyles, and the rank damp of the garrets. + +With the rapid enumeration of all the past wealth Don Antolin warmed, +even to indignation. + +"And having been so rich, now we find ourselves in extreme poverty. +And I, my son, a priest of the Lord, am obliged to go hither and +thither with those tickets so that we may all live, just as though +I were a seller of entrance tickets to a bull-fight, and the Lord's +house were a theatre, having to endure all those foreign heretics, +who come in without blessing themselves, and who look at everything +through opera-glasses. And I have to smile at them because they pay us +and provide us with some dessert for our poor stew! Carape! Jesus have +mercy on me! I was going to say a sacrilege." + +Don Antolin continued his angry complaints till, in passing the front +of his house, Mariquita of the scowling and ugly countenance appeared +at the door. + +"Uncle, enough of walking. Your chocolate is getting cold." + +But before the priest disappeared into his house, she went on, smiling +amiably at Luna: + +"Will you have some, Don Gabriel?" + +And with her bold eyes, like a hungry wolf, she invited Luna to enter. +She liked the masterful ways of the man, she said, and the ease which +his former intercourse with the world had given him, and, moreover, +for her woman's imagination Gabriel's mysterious past possessed +a great attraction; his proud silence, the vague reports of his +adventures, and the smile, as much compassionate as disdainful, with +which he listened to the people of the upper cloister. + +The insinuating Mariquita withdrew, and Gabriel continued his walk +through the cloister, after finishing the little jar of milk that his +brother brought him up every morning. + +At eight o'clock, Don Luis, the Chapel-master, came out, his cloak +wrapped as usual theatrically round him, and his big hat well tilted +back, like a glory, round his enormous head; he was humming absently, +restless with perpetual nervous movements; he inquired anxiously if +the bell had yet rung for the choir, frightened by the threats of a +fine in case he were late. Gabriel felt himself very much attracted +by this poor priestly musician, who lived so despised in the furthest +corner of the church, thinking far more of music than of dogma. + +In the evenings Gabriel would often go up to the little room inhabited +by the Chapel-master, on the tipper floor of the Lunas' house; the +room contained all the priest's fortune--a little iron bed, which had +belonged formerly to the seminarist, two plaster busts of Beethoven +and Mozart, and an enormous pile of bundles of music, bound scores, +loose sheets of ruled paper, so big and so piled up and disorderly +that every now and then a pile would slip down, covering the floor of +the little room with white sheets to its furthest corner. + +"That is how all his money goes," said the Wooden Staff with an air of +good-natured reproof, "he will never have a farthing. As soon as he +gets his pay he orders more music from Madrid. It would be far better +for Don Luis if he were to buy himself a new hat, even if it were a +cheap one, so that the gentlemen of the choir should not laugh at the +covering he has on his head." + +In the winter evenings, after the choir, the musician and Gabriel took +refuge in this little room. The canons, wishing to avoid the cold +winds and the rain, took their daily walk in the galleries of the +upper cloister, not wishing to forego this exercise to which their +methodical existence had accustomed them. The rain would beat on the +window of the little room, and in the dull grey twilight the musician +would turn over his portfolios, or letting his hands wander over the +harmonium, he would talk the while with Gabriel, who was seated on the +bed. + +The musician would grow excited, speaking of his love of art. In the +midst of some peroration he would become suddenly silent, and bending +over the instrument its melodies would fill the room, and floating +down the staircase would reach the ears of the walkers in the cloister +like a distant echo. Suddenly he would cease playing and resume his +chattering, as though afraid that with his absent-mindedness his ideas +would evaporate. + +The silent Luna was the only listener he had met with in the +Cathedral; the first who would listen to him for long hours without +ridiculing him or thinking him crazy, and who often showed by his +short interruptions and questions the pleasure with which he listened. + +The end of the evening's conversation was always the same--the +greatness of Beethoven, the idol of the poor musician. + +"I have loved him all my life," said the Chapel-master, "I was +educated by a Jeronomite friar, an old man driven from his convent +who, after leaving it, had wandered over the world as a professor +of the violoncello. The Jeronomites were the great musicians of the +Church. You did not know this, neither should I have known it if this +holy man had not taken me under his protection soon after I was born, +and been to me a real father. It appears that in olden days each order +devoted itself to some special thing. One, I think the Benedictines, +copied and annotated old books; others made sweet liqueurs for the +ladies, others were wonderfully clever in training cage birds, and +the Jeronomites studied music for seven years, each one playing the +instrument of his choice, and to these we owe that there has been +preserved in the Spanish churches a little, but very little, good +musical taste. And from what my little father told me, what wonderful +orchestras these Jeronomites must have had in their convents! For the +ladies it was a great delight to go on Sunday evenings to the parlour, +where they met the good fathers, each one a master of his own +particular instrument. These were the only concerts in those days, and +with their pittance assured, and no anxiety as to housing or clothing +themselves, and with the love of art as their only duty, you may +imagine, Gabriel, what musicians they could become. For this reason, +when the friars were expelled from their convents the Jeronomites were +not the worst off. There was no need to beg masses in the churches +or to live on the charity of devout families; they were able to earn +their bread by an art conscientiously studied, and consequently they +soon got places as organists and Chapel-masters; the Chapters really +fought for them. Some were more venturesome, and, anxious to see more +of that musical world which had seemed to them while in their convents +a vision of Paradise, entered the orchestras of theatres, many +travelling even to Italy, transforming themselves so entirely that +even their own former prior could not have recognised them. One of +these was my little father. What a man! He was a good Christian, but +he had thrown himself so thoroughly into music that he retained +very little of the former friar. When he was told that probably the +convents would be re-established, he shrugged his shoulders with +indifference, a new sonata interested him much more. He sometimes said +things that have always lived in my memory. I remember one day when I +was a child he took me to a meeting of musical friends in Madrid, who +played, for their own pleasure only, the famous 'Seventh Symphony.' Do +you know it? It is the freshest and most graceful of all Beethoven's +works. I remember my little father leaving the room quite wrapped up +in himself, with his head bent, dragging me along, for I could hardly +keep up with his long footsteps, and when we got home he looked at me +fixedly, as though I had been a grown-up person. 'Listen, Luis,' he +said, 'and remember this well. There is only one Lord in the world, +Our Lord Jesus Christ, and there are two lesser lords, Galileo and +Beethoven.'" + +The musician looked lovingly at the plaster bust which faced the room +from one corner, with its leonine brows and the diffident eyes of a +deaf person. + +"I do not know much about Galileo," continued Don Luis. "I know that +he was a very wise man, and a scientific genius. I am only a musician +and I know very little about other things, but I adore Beethoven, +and I think my little father did the same--he is a god; the most +extraordinary man the world has ever produced. Don't you think so, +Gabriel?" + +His nerves were quivering with his excitement, and getting up, he +walked rapidly up and down the room, trampling on all the loose sheets +of music. + +"Ay! how I envy you, Gabriel, having travelled so much, and having +heard so many good things! The other night I could not sleep for +thinking of all you had told me about your life in Paris--those +beautiful Sunday afternoons when you would go to the Lamoureax +concerts, or sometimes to Colonnas, giving yourself a surfeit of +sublimity! And here am I, shut up, my only hope being perhaps to +conduct a Mass of Rossini's at one of the great festivals! My only +comfort is to read music, instructing myself thoroughly in those great +works that so many fools in the towns can listen to half asleep and +bored. Here I have, in this pile, the nine symphonies of the great +man--his innumerable sonatas, his masses, and together with him, +Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, in fact all the great writers. I have even +Wagner. I read them, and I play what is possible on the harmonium. +But--it is just as if you were to describe the drawing and colours of +a picture to a blind man, buried in this cloister. I know, blindly, +that there are most beautiful things in this world--for those who can +hear them." + +The Chapel-master kept from the previous year the remembrance of a +great happiness, and he spoke of it enthusiastically. He had been +chosen by the Cardinal Archbishop to go to Madrid, to be one of a +board of examiners for organists. + +"That was the best time I ever had in my life, Gabriel. One evening +I listened to Wagner, dressed in the clothes of a friend of mine, a +violinist, who plays here in Toledo at the great festivals. I heard +the Walkyria in the pit of the Real Theatre, another night I went to +a concert; but the greatest night of all was the one on which I heard +the Ninth Symphony of that ugly old fellow, of that deaf, bad-tempered +genius who is listening to us." + +And with one bound the musician rushed to the bust, kissing it +with childish humility, just as a child would caress a stern and +domineering father. + +"You know the Ninth Symphony; true, Gabriel? And what did you feel as +you listened to it? When I listen to music strange things happen to +me. I close my eyes and I see unknown countries and strange faces, and +whenever I hear the same works the same visions are repeated. If I +speak about this with any of the people down below they say I am mad, +but I know that you feel as I do, and I am not afraid that you will +laugh at me. There are musical passages that make me see the sea, blue +and boundless, with silvery waves, and this, though I have never seen +the ocean; other works bring before me woods and castles, or groups +of shepherds with white flocks; with Schubert I always see two lovers +sighing at the foot of a linden tree, and certain French composers +bring before my mind's eye beautiful women walking among beds of +roses, dressed in violet, always violet. And you, Gabriel, do not you +see these things?" + +The anarchist assented--yes, music awoke in him also a world of +fantastic visions, far more beautiful than reality. + +"I remember," went on the priest, "what the Ninth Symphony made me +see. I see it still if I only hum some of its passages. Oh! that +graceful Scherzo with its strange tremolos! I thought, hearing it, +that God and his court of saints had left the heavens to take a +walk, leaving the little angels masters of the house, full liberty! +Universal gambols! The heavenly children, without any restraint, +sported from cloud to cloud, amusing themselves by scattering on the +earth the garlands of flowers that the saints had left behind them; +one let loose the rain and made it fall on the earth; another seized +the key of the thunder and touched it, fearful peals which frightened +all the revellers and made them fly. But they returned again to +continue their graceful play, beginning afresh their noisy games that +the thunder had disturbed. And the Adagio! What do you say about that? +Do you know anything softer, more loving or so divinely peaceful? +Human beings will never speak like this again, however much progress +they make. Hearing it, I thought of those fresco-painted ceilings with +mythological figures--gods and goddesses with pink flesh and flowing +curves, Apollo and Venus reclining on a mountain of pink and gold +clouds, like a lovely dawn." + +"Chaplain, what has come to you?" said Gabriel; "this is not very +Christian." + +"No, but it is artistic," said the musician simply. "I do not trouble +myself much about religion, I believe what I was taught, and I have +never taken the trouble to inquire any further. Music alone occupies +me, of which someone has said 'that it will be the religion of the +future,' the purest manifestation of the ideal. Everything that is +beautiful delights me, and I believe in it as a work of God. 'I +believe in God and in Beethoven,' as his pupil said--and besides, how +much religion the grandeur of music contains! Do you know the last +quartet that Beethoven wrote? He felt he was dying, and he wrote on +the edge of the score this terrible question: 'Must it be?' and lower +down he added, 'Yes, it must be, it must be.' It was necessary to die, +even for such a genius to leave life, while he still carried in his +mind such glorious things, to pay the tribute of human renovation; +and then he wrote that lament, that farewell to life, whose greatness +cannot be equalled by any song, or by any words of religion." + +The musician sat down to the harmonium, and for a long while played +that last lament of the genius, his sorrowful complaint on crossing +the threshold, not despairing and trembling through fear of the +unknown, but with a brave melancholy, sinking into the eternal shadow, +confident that nothing could obscure his genius. + +These evenings of artistic communion in that corner of the sleepy +Cathedral drew the two men together with an ever increasing affection. +The musician talked, turning over his scores, or playing his +harmonium; the revolutionist listened silently, only interrupting his +friend by his painful cough. They were evenings of sweet sadness that +these two men spent together, one dreaming of leaving the stone prison +of the Cathedral to see the world, the other returning from life +wounded and breathless, content with the obscure repose of the +beautiful church, and guarding with prudent silence the secret of his +past. Art shone for them like the rays of the sun in the grey and +monotonous atmosphere of the Cathedral. + +When they met in the early mornings in the cloister the conversation +between the two friends generally ran on the same lines. + +"This evening, eh?" the Chapel-master would say mysteriously. "I have +some fresh music, we shall enjoy something new that I have been sent +to-day, and besides, I wrote a little thing last night." + +The anarchist nodded affirmatively, quite ready to serve as +entertainment for this pariah of art, who saw in him his only +audience, and who took so much kindly trouble to interest him. + +While the services lasted Gabriel would walk alone in the cloisters; +all the men were in the Cathedral, except the shoemaker, who was +mending the giants. Tired of the chattering of the women who stood +at the doors of the Claverias, he would go up to the dwelling of the +bell-ringer, his old companion in arms, or he would go down into the +garden by the remarkable staircase del Tenorio when it was open, or by +the archbishop's archway crossing the street. + +He delighted in passing an hour under the trees; he found in the +garden as many memories of his family as in the "habitacion" upstairs. +Besides, he was tired of always finding his walks bounded by stone +walls, which reminded him of his prison, and he wanted the movement of +the vegetation caressed by the breeze to foster the illusion that he +was living in complete liberty in the open country. + +In the arbour, where he had formerly so often seen his father, infirm +and crippled with age, directing his eldest son, who received all his +orders impassively, he would now meet his Aunt Tomasa, knitting her +stockings, and watching with vigilant eyes the work of a boy whom she +had taken into her service. + +Gabriel's aunt was by far the most important person in the Claverias; +her word was worth quite as much as Don Antolin's, the Silver Stick +was afraid of her, bending before the powerful protection that they +all guessed stood behind the poor old woman. In the days when her +father, Gabriel's maternal grandfather, was sacristan in the Cathedral +the functions of acolyte were exercised by a small boy, nephew of one +of the beneficiaries of the Cathedral, who ended by paying for his +education in the seminary. This little acolyte of half a century +before was now a prince of the church, and the Cardinal Archbishop of +Toledo. Old Tomasa and he had known each other as children, fighting +over trifles in the upper cloister, or playing tricks on the beggars +who sat at the Puerta del Mollete. The imposing Don Sebastian, whose +look alone made the Chapter and all the clergy in the diocese tremble, +became happy, fraternal and confidential, when now and then in the +evenings he saw Tomasa. She was the only living reminder of his +childhood in the Cathedral. The old woman would kiss his ring with +great reverence, but very soon she would lapse into talking to him as +one of her own family, often very nearly speaking to him in the second +person. The cardinal, always surrounded by fear and adulation, often +felt the necessity of the old woman's careless and frank conversation. +The people belonging to the Cathedral declared that the Señora Tomasa +was the only person who dared to tell the cardinal home-truths face to +face, and the neighbours in the Claverias felt their pride flattered +when they saw the prince of the church sweeping down the stone steps +in his brilliant scarlet robes to sit in the arbour and gossip for +a good hour with the old woman, while his attendants remained +respectfully standing at the gate of the iron railings. + +Tomasa was not puffed up with this honour; to her this ecclesiastical +prince was only the friend of her childhood, who had had a certain +amount of good luck; and in the end, he was only Don Sebastian, +without going any further into ceremonies and formulas of respect. But +her family knew how to take advantage of this friendship, especially +her son-in-law, "Virgin's Blue," a hypocrite, as the old woman +declared, who would make money out of the very cobwebs of the +Cathedral; an insatiable locust who, profiting by the friendship of +the cardinal and his mother-in-law, went on continually obtaining +fresh privileges, without the priests and sacristans daring to make +the slightest protest, seeing him so well protected. + +Gabriel much enjoyed his aunt's talk. She was the only person born +in the cloister who seemed to have freed herself from the soporific +influence of the church. She loved the Cathedral, as being her ancient +roof-tree, but she did not retain much respect for the saints in the +chapels, nor for the human dignitaries who sat in the choir. She +laughed with the happiness of a healthy and placid old woman, her +seventy years being, as she said, quite free from any evil done to her +neighbour. Her language was free and easy, like that of a woman who +has seen much, and does not believe in human majesty or irreproachable +virtues; but the bed-rock of her character was its tolerance, her +compassion for all faults, but she Was indignant with those who +attempted to hide them. + +"They are all men, Gabriel," she would say to her nephew, speaking of +the clergy of the Cathedral. "Don Sebastian is only a man; all sinners +who have much to answer for before God. They cannot be anything else, +and so I forgive them. But believe me, nephew, I often feel inclined +to laugh when I see the people kneeling before them. I believe in the +Virgin of the Sagrario, and a little in God; but in these gentlemen! +If you only knew them as I do! But, when all is said and done, we must +all live, and the evil is not in having faults, but in attempting to +hide them; playing a farce with the shamelessness of my son-in-law +who, here as you see him, is as proud as a castle, beats his breast, +kisses the ground like the Beatas,[1] and yet he is anxious for my +death, thinking I have something laid away in my chest; he filches +what he can from the Virgin's poor-box, steals the wax tapers, and +plays tricks with what is paid for masses, and yet he would be in +the street if it were not for me, who always think of my poor sick +daughter and my poor little grandchildren." + +[Footnote 1: _Beata_--woman engaged in works of charity who wears the +religious habit.] + +When Gabriel went down to see her in the garden, she always received +him with the same salutation: + +"Hola, you ghost! but to-day you are looking better, you are being +patched up. I believe your brother will pull you through with all his +care." + +And then followed a comparison between her healthy and vigorous old +age and his ruined youth, which was fighting so tenaciously against +death. + +"Here you see my seventy years, and never an illness in all my life. +Summer and winter I never hear four o'clock strike in bed, and all my +teeth are as sound as in the days when Don Sebastian came in his red +dress as server in the church and wanted to steal half my breakfast. +You Lunas have always been delicate; your father, long before he was +my age, could barely walk, and was always complaining of rheum and of +the damp in this garden. Here am I in it constantly, and I feel just +the same as when I am upstairs in the Claverias. We, the Villalpandos, +are made of iron; for, of course, we are descended from that famous +Villalpando who made the screen of the high altar, the custodia, and +an innumerable quantity of other things. He really must have been a +giant, to judge by the ease with which he twisted and moulded every +sort of metal." + +Gabriel's ill-health awoke in her the deepest compassion, but all the +same not quite free from malicious suggestions. + +"How much you must have amused yourself about the world, eh, nephew? +But that war was your perdition; without it you would now have had +your stall in the choir, and who knows if you might not have come to +be another Don Sebastian. The truth is, that from his childhood no one +spoke half as much about him in the seminary as they did of you, and +he certainly was no prodigy of learning. But you saw the world, and +you took a fancy to those countries where they say the ladies are +very pretty, and wear hats as large as parasols. You are a monster of +ugliness now, but you were very smart, though I, who am your aunt, say +so. And now you have come back so lean and suffering! You must have +lived very fast; who knows what you have done in the world--sly boots! +And your poor mother, who thought you would be a saint! God have mercy +on us! Don't deny it; you have done no good and I hate lies. You did +right to enjoy yourself and to take advantage of every opportunity, +but the misfortune is that you should have returned as you are, for it +is pitiful to see you, but I have known a great many like you. I don't +know what evil spirit possesses people belonging to the church, but +once they throw themselves into life, they don't know where to stop, +and they burn the candle at both ends till there is next to nothing +left; many of them, like you, have passed through the seminary." + +One morning Gabriel asked a question of his aunt that he had been long +thinking about, but that he had never before dared to put into words. +He wanted to know all about his niece, Sagrario, and what had happened +in his brother's house. + +"You who are so kind, aunt, you will tell me; everyone seems afraid to +speak about it; even my nephew the Tato, who is such a chatterer +and skins everyone in the Claverias, is silent when I ask him. What +happened, aunt?" + +The old woman's face grew very sad. + +"A great misfortune, my son, such as was never known before in the +upper cloister. The madness of the world came into the Cathedral, and +made a nest in the most honoured, most ancient, and most respectable +house in the Claverias. We are all good people, though we have never +seen as much of the world as can be seen from a skylight, and live +here as though wrapped in cotton wool, but you Lunas have always been +the best among the best, to say nothing of us Villalpandos, who come +close behind. Ay! if your mother could raise her head! If your father +were alive! But I lay all the blame on your brother, as being weak and +a simpleton, having that cursed blindness of all fathers, who ignore +the danger in the hope of marrying their daughters well." + +"Well, but how was it, aunt? What passed between my niece and the +cadet?" + +"What happens frequently in the world, but what has never happened +here before. A thousand times I said to my brother, 'See, Esteban, +this young gentleman is not for your daughter'--very sympathetic, +very lively, and wearing the uniform of the Academy like no one else, +leader of a group of the wildest cadets in all their escapades about +the town, besides a son of a great family--wealthy people who did not +allow him to come to Toledo with his purse empty. And she--the poor +Sagrario, crazy with love, flattered by her cadet, as proud as +possible when she walked on Sundays through the Zocodover and the +Miradero between her mother and that handsome young lover, that all +the girls in the place envied her. The beauty of your niece was +the talk of all Toledo; the girls in the college for noble ladies, +nicknamed her the 'sacristana' of the Cathedral; but the poor girl +lived only for her cadet, and she seemed to devour him with her +beautiful blue eyes. That idiot, your brother, let him come to the +house, proud of the honour that was being done to the family. You +know, Gabriel, the eternal blindness of those middle-class Toledans, +who encourage with pride the courtship of one of their girls by a +cadet, though they are perfectly well aware that it is most rare that +one of these courtships should end in marriage. There is no woman here +with the slightest pretence to a pretty face who has escaped without +her mouthful of love for one of those red pantaloons. Even I remember +when I was a girl how I would smooth my hair and pull out my dress +when I heard the rattle of a sword on the flags of the cloister. It is +a blindness that descends from mothers to daughters, and the worst +is, that those cursed ones have all their cousins and their lovers in +their own country, and to them they return as soon as they leave the +Academy." + +"That is true, aunt, but what happened to my niece?" + +"When the young man passed out a lieutenant, his family decided he +ought to return to Madrid. The farewells were like a scene at the +theatre. I believe that even your brother and that simpleton his wife, +who is now in glory, wept as though the lover were theirs. The young +people sat for hours with clasped hands, gazing into each other's +eyes, as though they would devour each other. He was the calmest; he +promised to come every Sunday and to write every day, and at first he +did so, but before long many weeks passed without his coming, and the +postman came up less often to the Claverias, and at last did not come +at all--it was ended, the young lieutenant found other amusements in +Madrid. Your poor niece was like one demented; the colour in her face +faded, she was no longer like the beautiful ripe apricot, with the +soft skin that made you long to bite it. She wept like a Magdalen in +every corner--and one day the foolish girl fled--and up to now--" + +"But where was she? Did no one search for her?" + +"Your brother seemed quite dazed. Poor Esteban! several nights we +found him half dressed in the upper cloister, as stiff as a post, +gazing up at the heavens with eyes that looked like glass. He became +furious if any of us spoke of searching for the child; the scandal +was past remedy, and he did not wish to aggravate it by her return, +bringing back a lost one to the Holy Metropolitan Church, and to the +honoured house of the Lunas. For more than a year everyone in the +Claverias seemed crushed by this blow; it seemed as though we were all +in mourning. You see, that such a thing should occur in the Cathedral +where the years pass by in blessed peace without any of us saying +one word louder than the other! And then I remembered you. It seemed +impossible that from these Lunas, so quiet and steady, should have +sprung a girl with sufficient pluck to run away to Madrid, where she +had never been before, to join a man, without fear of God or of her +own people. To whom could I liken the unhappy child? To her uncle, to +Gabriel who passed for a saint, but who, nevertheless, after fighting +like a wolf, wandered all over the world just like a gipsy." + +Gabriel made no protest at the conception his aunt had formed of his +past. + +"And after her flight? What did you know about the child?" + +"At first a good deal, but latterly not a word. The two were living +in Madrid together, peacefully and quietly, away from the world, as +though they were man and wife. This lasted for a good while, and I, +hearing about it, began to wonder if I had not been mistaken, and that +the man we had blamed so much had repented and would end by marrying +Sagrario. But at the end of the year everything was ended; he grew +tired, and the family intervened, in order that the escapade should +not cut short the career they had marked out for the young man. They +even sought the aid of the police, to frighten the child, so that she +should not molest the young officer in the first angry transports of +her desertion. Afterwards--nothing certain is known. Now and again +those who have gone to Madrid told me a little; some of them had seen +her, but it would have been far better if they had not seen her. It is +a disgrace, Gabriel; a dishonour for your family which is mine. This +unhappy girl is the worst of the worst. I heard that she had been very +ill, and I believe that she is so still. Just imagine, what a life! +And for five years! What will have happened to the unfortunate girl! +And to think that she is my sister's daughter!" + +The Señora Tomasa spoke with deep feeling. + +"Afterwards, Gabriel, you know what happened here; your poor +sister-in-law died, we hardly knew why, it was only a matter of a few +days; possibly she may have died of the shame, as she died saying that +the fault was entirely hers. It broke one's heart to see the state +your brother was in after all this. Esteban has never been good for +much, and now after this affair of his daughter he seemed to become +quite imbecile. Ay, nephew! I also have felt it greatly, even though +you see me so happy, and so satisfied with life, every now and then +the remembrance of that unhappy girl strikes me here, in my head, and +I eat badly and sleep worse, thinking that a girl who, after all, is +of our own blood, is wandering lost over the world, a plaything for +men, without anyone sheltering her, as though she were all alone, as +though she had no family." + +The Señora Tomasa wiped her eye with the point of her forefinger, her +voice shook and the tears fell over her wrinkled old cheeks. + +"Aunt, you are very kind," said Gabriel, "but you ought to have +searched more for this poor girl; you ought to have recovered her, to +have saved her, to have brought her back here. We must be merciful to +the weakness of others, especially when that other is one of our own +flesh." + +"Ay, son! Who do you say it to? A thousand times I have thought this, +but I was afraid of your brother. He is like a bit of dough, but he +turns into a wild beast if you speak to him of his daughter. Even if +we found her and brought her here he would not receive her; he would +be as angry as if you were proposing some sacrilege to him. He could +not calmly bear her presence in the house which was that of your +forefathers. Besides, though he does not say so, he fears the scandal +among the neighbours in the Claverias who know what had happened. This +is the easiest part to arrange, as they would be very careful not to +open their mouths when I am among them. But your brother frightens me, +and I do not dare." + +"I will help you," said Gabriel firmly. "Let us seek for the child, +and once we have found her I will undertake to manage Esteban." + +"It will be most difficult to find her. For a long time we have heard +nothing. Doubtless those who do see her are careful to say nothing +for fear of paining us. But I will try and find out--we will see, +Gabriel--we will think about her." + +"And the canons? and the cardinal? Will they not oppose the return of +the poor girl to the Claverias?" + +"Bah! The thing happened some time ago, and few of them will remember +it; besides, we might place the girl in a convent, where she would be +looked after and quiet, and cause scandal to no one." + +"No, not that, aunt. It is a cruel remedy. We have no right to try and +save this poor girl at the cost of her liberty." + +"You are right," said the old woman, after a few moments' reflection. +"I don't care much for these nuns myself. Where would she be more +likely to follow a good example than in the heart of her own family? +We will bring her back to this house if she repents and wishes for +peace. And I will scratch out the eyes of the first woman in the +Claverias who dares to say anything against her. My son-in-law will +probably pretend to be scandalised, but I will settle him. It would be +much better if he did not wink at the walks that Juanito, that +cadet nephew of Don Sebastian's, takes in the cloister whenever my +granddaughter stands at the door. The crackbrained fellow dreams of +nothing less than becoming related to the cardinal, and seeing his +daughter a general's wife; he might remember poor Sagrario. And as far +as regards Don Sebastian, you may be quite easy, Gabriel. He will say +nothing but that we ought to bring the child back--and what should he +say? People ought to be charitable one to another, and none more than +they; for after all, Gabriel, believe me--they are only men, nothing +but men!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The people of the Primacy always received with obstinate silence the +slightest allusion to the reigning prelate. It was a traditional +custom in the Claverias, and Gabriel remembered to have noticed the +same in his childhood. + +If they spoke of the preceding archbishop, these people, so used to +grumbling, like all those who live in solitude, would loose their +tongues and comment on his history and his defects. There was nothing +to fear from a dead prelate, and besides, it was an indirect praise to +the living archbishop and his favourites to speak ill of the defunct. +But if during the conversation the name of His reigning Eminence +arose, they were all silent, raising their hands to their caps to +salute, as though the prince of the church were able to see them from +the neighbouring palace. + +Gabriel, listening to his companions of the upper cloister, remembered +the funeral judgment of the Egyptians. In the Primacy no one dared to +speak the truth about the prelates, or to discuss their faults till +death had taken possession of them. + +The most that they dared to do was to comment on the disagreements +among the canons, to compare their lists of those who saluted one +another in the choir, or who glared at one another between versicle +and antiphon like mad dogs ready to fly at one another, or to speak +with wonder about a certain polemic discussed by the Doctoral and the +Obrero in the Catholic papers in Madrid, which had lasted for three +years, as to whether the deluge was partial or universal; answering +each other's articles with an interval of four months. + +A group of friends had collected round Gabriel. They sought him, +feeling the necessity of his presence, experiencing that attraction +exercised by those who are born to be leaders of men even though they +remain silent. In the evenings they would meet in the dwelling of the +bell-ringer, or when it was fine weather they would go out into the +gallery above the Puerta del Perdon. In the mornings the assembly +would be in the house of the shoemaker who mended the giants, a yellow +little man, who suffered from continual pains in his head, which +obliged him to wear sundry coloured handkerchiefs tied round his head +in the fashion of a turban. + +He was the poorest in all the Claverias; he had no appointment, and +mended the giants without any remuneration in the hopes of succeeding +to the first vacant place, feeling very grateful to those gentlemen of +the Chapter who gave him his house rent free, on account of his wife +being the daughter of a former old servant of the church. The smell +of the paste and of the damp floor infected his house with the rank +atmosphere of poverty. A hopeless fecundity aggravated this poverty; +his sad, placid wife with her big yellow eyes appeared every year with +a new baby tugging at her flabby breast, and several children crept +along the cloister walls, dull and inert with hunger, with enormous +heads and thin necks, always sickly, though none of them managed to +die; afflicted by all the pains of anaemia, by boils that arose and +vanished on their faces, and watery eruptions covering their hands. +The shoemaker worked for the shops in the town, without, however, +earning much money. From the rising of the sun one could hear the +sound of his hammer in the cloister. This sole evidence of profane +work attracted all the unoccupied to the miserable and evil-smelling +dwelling. Mariano, the Tato, and a verger who also lived in the +cloister, were those who most frequently met Gabriel, seated on the +shoemaker's ragged and broken chairs, so low that one could touch the +floor of red and dusty bricks with one's hands. + +Often the bell-ringer would run to his tower to ring the usual +bells, but his vacant place would be immediately occupied by an old +organ-blower, or some of the servants from the sacristy, all attracted +by what they heard of these meetings of the lower servants of the +Primacy. The object of the assembly was to listen to Gabriel. The +revolutionary wished to keep silence, and listened absently to their +grumblings at the daily round of worship; but his friends longed to +hear about those countries in which he had travelled, with all the +curiosity of people who lived confined and isolated; listening to his +descriptions of the beauties of Paris and the grandeur of London they +would open their eyes like children listening to a fairy tale. + +The shoemaker with his head bent, never ceasing his work, listened +attentively to the recital of such marvels; when Gabriel was silent +they all agreed on one point, those cities must be far more beautiful +than Madrid; and just think how beautiful Madrid was! Even the +shoemaker's wife, standing in the corner forgetful of her sickly +children, would listen to Luna with wonder, her face enlivened by a +feeble smile, which showed the woman through the animal resigned to +misery, when Luna described the luxury of the women in foreign parts. + +All these servants of the church felt their narrowed and dulled minds +stirred by these descriptions of a distant world that they were never +likely to see; the splendours of modern civilisation touched them much +more nearly than the beauties of heaven as described in the sermons, +and in the pungent and dusty atmosphere of the dirty little house they +would see unrolled before their mind's eye beautiful and fantastic +cities, and they would ask questions in all innocence as to the food +and habits of those distant people, as though they believed them +beings of a different species. + +Towards evening, at the hour of the choir, when the shoemaker was +working alone, Gabriel, tired of the monotonous silence of the +cloister, would go down into the church. + +His brother, in a woollen cloak with a white neck band, and a staff as +long as an ancient alguacil's, stood as sentry in the crossways, to +prevent the inquisitive passing between the choir and the high altar. + +Two tablets of old gold with Gothic letters, hung on to one of the +pilasters, set forth that anyone talking in a loud voice or making +signs in the church would be excommunicated; but this menace of former +centuries failed to impress the few people who came to vespers and +gossiped behind one of the pillars with some of the church servants. +The evening light, filtering through the stained glass, threw on the +pavement great patches of colour, and the priests as they walked +over this carpet of light would appear green or red according to the +colours flashed from the windows. + +In the choir the canons sang for themselves only in the emptiness of +the church; the shutting of the iron gates of the screen, opened to +admit some late-coming priest, echoed like explosions throughout the +building, and above the choir the organ joined in at times between the +plain song, but it sounded lazily, timidly, as though from necessity, +and seemed to lament its feebleness in the gathering twilight. + +Gabriel had not completed the round of the Cathedral before he was +joined by his nephew, the Perrero, who left his conversation with +the servers and acolytes, and with the errand boy belonging to the +Secretary of the Chapter, whose fixed seat was at the door of the +Chapter-house. Luna was always very much diverted by the pranks of the +Tato, and the confidence and carelessness with which he moved about +the temple, as though having been born in it deprived him of all +feeling of respect The entry of a dog into the nave caused great +excitement. + +"Uncle," said he to Luna, "you shall see how I can open my cloak." + +Seizing the two ends of his garment he advanced towards the dog with +the contortions and bounds of a wrestler; the animal, knowing this of +old, endeavoured to escape through the nearest door, but the Tato, +cutting off his retreat, drove him into the nave, and, pretending to +pursue him, drove him from chapel to chapel, finally rounding him up +where he could give him some good sound whacks. The dismal howlings +disturbed the singing of the canons, and the Tato laughed more than +ever to see behind the iron railing of the choir, the angry gesture of +the good Esteban threatening him with his wooden staff. + +"Uncle," said the depraved Perrero one evening, "you, who think you +know the Cathedral so well, have you ever seen the lively things in +it?" + +The wink of his eye, and the gesture accompanying the words showed +that the things might very well be more than lively. + +"I am always very much interested," he went on, "with the jokes the +ancients allowed themselves. Come along, uncle, it will amuse you for +a little; you, like all those who think they know the Cathedral, will +have passed many times by these things without noticing them." + +Going along the outside of the choir, the Tato led Gabriel to the +front opposite the door del Perdon. Under the great medallion, which +serves as a back to the Mount Tabor, the work of Berruguete, opens the +little chapel of the Virgin of the Star. "Look well at that image, +uncle. Is there another like it in all the world? She is a courtezan, +a siren who would drive men mad if she only fluttered her eyelids." + +For Gabriel this was no new discovery; from his childhood he had known +that beautiful and sensual figure, with its worldly smile, its rounded +outlines, and its eyes with their expression of wanton gaiety as +though she were just going to dance. + +The child in her arms was also laughing and placing his hand on the +bosom of the beautiful woman, as though he intended to tear the +covering from her breast. The image of painted stone, stuffed and +gilt, wore a blue mantle strewn with stars, from whence its name. + +"Even you, who have read so much, uncle, may possibly not know the +history of this chapel, which is far more ancient than the Cathedral. +The woolstaplers, carders, and weavers of Toledo had their patroness +here long before the church was built, and they only gave up their +right to the ground on the condition that they should be entire +masters of the chapel, and do in it whatever they pleased and in all +this piece of the Cathedral as far as those nearest pillars. Oh! the +trouble this wrought! On the days they held their feasts to the Virgin +they never paid any heed to the canons in the choir, and they greatly +disturbed all the offices with 'rabeles,'[1] lutes and disorderly +songs. If the canons begged them to be silent, they replied that it +was they in the choir who ought to keep silence, considering that +they were in their own chapel, which was far more ancient than the +Cathedral. Did you know this, uncle?" + +[Footnote 1: An ancient instrument with three strings, played with a +bow.] + +"Yes, I remember it now. The Archbishop Valero Loza brought a suit +against them at the beginning of the eighteenth century; you can see +his tomb at the foot of the altar. He lost his suit, and died from +disappointment. He desired to be buried in that place, so that the +insolent wool merchants should trample on him in death, even as +they had vanquished him in his lifetime. The haughtiness of these +ecclesiastical princes drove them to the proudest humility. But is +this all you wished to show me?" + +"You shall see better things than this. Let us say good-bye to the +Virgin. But do look at her! What a face! What alluring eyes! The +beautiful woman! I spend hours looking at her; she is my sweetheart. +Oh! the many nights I have dreamt of her." + +They walked on a little towards the great doorway of the Cathedral, so +as to obtain a better view of the exterior face of the choir. Above +the three hollows or chapels that pierce it runs a frieze of ancient +relievos, the work of some obscure mediaeval artist. Gabriel +recognised these coarse sculptures as being contemporaneous with the +Puerta del Reloj, and by far the most ancient work in the Cathedral. + +"Look you, in the first medallion Adam and Eve are as naked as worms; +but the Lord drives them out of Paradise, and they are obliged to +dress themselves to appear in the world; and see what they do directly +they get their clothes. But look at the fifth medallion on our right +hand; the old gossip who cut that had a lively turn of mind." + +Gabriel looked for the first time attentively at these forgotten +sculptures. They were carved with all the naturalistic simplicity +of the Middle Ages, with all the directness with which the artists +represented their profane conceptions, with the desire to perpetuate +the triumph of the flesh in some ignored corner of the mystical +buildings, in order to testify that human life was not dead. + +The Tato was delighted at the surprise on his uncle's face. + +"Eh! what do you think of that? I discovered it wandering about the +church. The canons sing every day on the other side of this wall +without ever suspecting what gay doings they have over their heads. +And the stained glass, uncle, look at it well. At first so many +colours blind one and the forms are indistinct; besides, the lead cuts +the figures and it is difficult to make out anything, but I know them +to my fingers' ends. They are stories, things of their own times, that +these glass-workers painted; the intrigues have been forgotten, and no +one has disentangled them." + +He pointed to the windows of the second nave, through which the +evening light was shining with a ruddy glow. + +"Look up there," went on the Perrero. "A gallant in a red cape and +sword mounts by a rope ladder; at the window a nun is waiting for him. +It seems something like the Don Juan Tenorio that they represent at +All Saints'. Further on, you see those two in bed, and people knocking +at the door. They must be the same pair of birds with the family +surprising them. Then in the next window--look well at it--lovers, +with scarcely any clothes beyond bare skin. These things belong to the +days when people had no shame, when they went with their heads covered +and the rest of their flesh bare." + +Gabriel smiled at the whimsical ideas with which ancient art inspired +the Perrero. + +"But in the choir, uncle, there is also something to see. Let us go +there; the service is over and the canons are coming out." + +Luna felt overpowered by admiration as he always did on entering the +choir. Those magnificent stalls, the work on one side of Philip of +Burgundy, and on the other side of Berruguete, bewildered him with +their profusion of marbles, jaspers, gildings, statues and medallions. +It was the genius of Michael Angelo reviving in the Toledan Cathedral. + +The Perrero examined the lower stalls, ferreting out among the Gothic +relievos the discoveries enjoyed by his unwholesome curiosity. This +first row of stalls, almost on a level with the ground, were occupied +by the inferior clergy, and were anterior by half a century to the +upper stalls; but in those fifty years art had made a great stride, +from the hard and rigid Gothic to the flowing lines and good taste of +the Renaissance. They had been carved by Maestre Rodrigo at the time +when Christian Spain, roused to enthusiasm, was helping the Catholic +kings with all its strength to complete the reconquest. On the backs +of the stalls, and on the entablature of the frieze fifty-four carved +pictures represented the principal incidents of the conquest of +Granada. + +The Tato did not look at these carvings of walnut or oak, with troops +of horsemen and companies of soldiers scaling the walls of Moorish +towns. What interested him most were the arms of the stalls, the +handrails of the steps leading to the upper seats, and the salients +dividing the stalls which served to rest the head, all covered with +animals, grotesque beings, dogs, monkeys, big birds, friars, and +little birds, all in difficult postures, some beautiful, some obscene. +Hogs and frogs wound themselves up together in inextricable tangles, +monkeys with ignoble gestures were mixed up with interlaced birds in +never ending variety--it was a world of caricatures of voluptuousness, +of monkey-like actions and satirical suggestions, in which appeared +carnal passion with the most grotesque animal grimaces. + +"Look here, uncle. Is not this capital--it is far the best." + +And the Tato showed Gabriel the little chubby figure of a preaching +friar with enormous donkey's ears. + +When they came out of the choir Gabriel spied the Chapel-master close +to the fresco of Saint Christopher. He had just emerged from a little +door close to the giant, which led by a circular staircase to the +musical archives. He was carrying under his arm a big book with dusty +pages which he showed to Gabriel. + +"I am taking it upstairs. You shall hear something out of it; it is +worth the trouble." + +And turning his eyes from the book to the little door close by he +exclaimed: + +"Ay! these archives, Gabriel, how it pains one! Each time I visit them +I come out sadder. The vandals have been at work there; nearly all the +music books have pages torn out, pieces cut out wherever there was an +illuminated letter, a vignette or anything pretty. The señor canons +do not care for music, neither do they understand it, and they are +incapable of devoting a few pesetas so that it might be heard on +festival days. It is quite enough for them to walk in procession to +some piece of Rossini's; and as far as regards the organ, all they +care about is that it must play slowly, very slowly. The slower it +plays, the more religious they think it, even though the organist may +be playing a Habanera." + +He continued looking at the little door with melancholy eyes as though +he were ready to weep over the decay of music. + +"In there, Gabriel, are many beautiful works, that ought not to be +forgotten as long as art lives in the world. In profane music we have +not been great, but believe me that Spain has been far otherwise with +religious authors. That is, provided that profane music and religious +music really exist, which I doubt; for me there is only--music--and I +think he will be a clever man who draws the line where one ends and +where the other begins. Behind this wall of Saint Christopher's, the +works of all the great Spanish musicians sleep, mutilated and covered +with dust. Perhaps it is better they do sleep, when you hear what is +sung in this choir! Here you will find Christobal Morales, who three +hundred years ago was Chapel-master here, and began the reform of +music twenty years before Palestrina. In Rome he shares the glory +with the famous master; his portrait is in the Vatican, and his +lamentations, his motets, and his Magnificat rest here, forgotten for +centuries. And Victoria? Do you know him? Another of the same period; +his jealous contemporaries called him 'Palestrina's monkey' taking +all his works to be imitations, in consequence of his long sojourn in +Rome; but, believe me, instead of being plagiarisms from the Italian, +they are far superior. Here also is Rivera, a Toledan master who no +one remembers, but in the archives there is a whole volume of his +masses, and Romero de Avila, who more than anyone had studied the +Muzarabé chants, and Ramos de Pareja, not the least musician of +the fifteenth century, who wrote in Bologna his book 'De Musica +Tractatus,' and destroyed the ancient system of Guido de Arezzo, +discovering the tonality of sound; and the Monk Urena, who added the +note 'si' to the scale, and Javier Garcia, who in the last century +reformed music, leading it towards Italy (God forgive him!), a beaten +track from which we have not yet emerged; and Nebra, the great +organist of Carlos III., who, a century before Wagner was born, used +musical discords. When he wrote the Requiem for the funeral of Dona +Barbara di Braganza, foreseeing the surprise and difficulties that the +musicians and singers would meet with in the innovations in his score, +he wrote on the margin, 'This is to give notice that there are no +mistakes in the score.' His Litany became so celebrated that it was +forbidden to copy it, under pain of excommunication; but I think +to-day the persons who remember it would be the excommunicated. +Believe me, Gabriel, these archives are a pantheon of great men, but a +pantheon, unluckily, from which no one emerges." + +Then he added, lowering his voice: + +"The Church has never been a great lover of music. To feel and +understand it you must be born a musician, and you know well enough +that these gentlemen who are paid to sing in the choir know nothing +about music. When I see you, Gabriel, smiling at religious things, +I guess by your manner how much you conceal, and I am sure you are +right. I was interested to know the history of music in the Church. +I have followed step by step the long Calvary of this unhappy art, +carrying the cross of worship uphill through the long centuries. You +have heard people often talk of religious music, as if it were a thing +apart, believed in by the Church; but it is all a lie, for religious +music does not exist." + +The Perrero had moved off when he heard that the Chapel-master, whose +loquacity was indefatigable when he spoke of his art, had started on +the theme of music. He had formed his own opinion of Don Luis and told +it to everyone in the upper cloister. He was a simpleton who only knew +how to play melancholy ditties on his harmonium, without ever thinking +of enlivening the poor people in the Claverias by playing something to +which they could dance, as the niece of Silver Stick had asked him. + +The priest and Gabriel walked slowly through the silent naves talking +the while; the only people to be seen were a group of the household at +the door of the sacristy, and two women kneeling before the railing +of the high altar praying aloud. The early twilight of the winter +evenings was beginning to darken the Cathedral, and the first bats +were coming down from the vaulting and fluttering through the columns. + +"Ecclesiastical music," said the artist, "is a real anarchy; but in +the Church everything is anarchy. I believe there is a great deal to +be said for the unity of the Catholic worship throughout the world. +When Christianity began to form itself into a religion it did not +invent even a single bad melody; it borrowed its hymns and the manner +of singing them from the Jews, a primitive and barbarous music that +would shock our ears if we heard it now. Out of Palestine, and where +there were no Jews, the earliest Christian poets--Saint Ambrose, +Prudencio and others--adopted their new hymns and psalms to the +popular songs that were then in vogue in the Roman world, or possibly +to Greek music. It seems as though that word 'Greek music' ought to +mean a great deal; is it not so, Gabriel? The Greeks were so great in +their poetry and in the plastic arts that anything that bears their +name would seem to be surrounded by an atmosphere of undying beauty. +But it is not so: the march of the arts has not been parallel in human +life; when sculpture had its Phidias, and had reached its climax, +painting had hardly passed that rudimentary stage that we see in +Pompeii, and music was only a childish babbling. Writing could not +perpetuate music, for there seemed as many musical styles as there +were peoples, and everything was left to the judgment of the +executant. You could not fix on parchment what mouths and instruments +played, and so progress was impossible. For this reason, though there +was a Renaissance for sculpture, for painting, for architecture, at +the revival of the arts after the Middle Ages, music was found in the +same elementary stage in which it was at the break-up of the ancient +world." + +Gabriel nodded his head assenting to the words of the Chapel-master. + +"This was the first Christian music," continued Don Luis. "Confided +to tradition and transmitted orally, the religious songs soon became +disfigured and corrupt. In every church they sang in a different way, +and religious music became a hotch-potch. The mystics leaned to +rigid unity, and in the sixth century Saint Gregory published his +'Antifonario,' a collection of all liturgic melodies, purifying them +according to his ideas. They were a mixture of two elements: the +Greek, rather oriental and florid, very much like the present debased +style; and the grave and rough Roman. The notes were expressed +by letters, the Phrygian and Lydian styles followed, and so the +intricacies of Greek music continued though much altered, with +fioriture, rests, and breathing pauses. The collection became lost, +and many who think a return to the old style would be best, much +regret it. To judge by the fragments that remain, if such music was +now executed it would have very little that was religious about it, as +we understand religion in art to-day; it would more resemble the songs +of the Moors, or the Chinese, or those of some schismatic Greeks who +still use the ancient liturgies. The harp was the principal instrument +in the churches till the organ appeared in the tenth century, a rough +and barbarous instrument that had to be played with blows, and was +supplied with wind from inflated skins. Guido di Arezzo made a musical +rule on the basis of Gregory's collection, and this was sufficient for +the invention of the pentagramma[1] to be assigned to the Benedictine. +They continued to use the letters of Boccio and Saint Gregory as +notes, but they placed them on lines of three different colours. The +imbroglio continued; to learn music badly took twelve years, and then +they could not manage that singers from different towns could read +from the same score. Saint Bernard, dry and austere as his times, +ridiculed this music as not being solemn enough; he was a man +antagonistic to all art; he would have liked to see the churches +dismantled and without any architectural adornments; and the slower +the music was, the better it seemed to him. He was the father of plain +song, and he maintained that the more drawn out the music was, the +more religious it became. But in the thirteenth century Christians +found this chant most wearisome. The cathedrals in those days were the +point of attraction: the theatre, the centre of all life. People went +to the church to pray to God and to amuse themselves, forgetting for +the moment all the wars and the violence and confusion outside. Once +again popular music came into the churches, and you could hear intoned +in the cathedrals all the songs most in vogue, and which were often +obscene. The people took part in the religious music, singing in +different tones, each one as seemed best to him, and these were the +first beginnings of concerted singing. In those days religion was +joyful, popular--democratic as you would say, Gabriel; there was +no Inquisition, nor suspicion of heresy to embitter the soul with +fanaticism and fear. All the coarse wind and stringed instruments that +the artisans had in the towns, or the labourers in the fields, came +into the churches, and the organ was accompanied by violas, violins, +bagpipes, flutes, guitars and lutes. The plain song was the +established liturgy almost throughout Europe; but the people disliked +it, and interspersed it with songs, and at the great festivals, +religious hymns were sung, adapted to the popular melodies then in +fashion, such as 'The song of the armed man,' 'Morencia, give me a +kiss,' 'I know not what confuses me,' 'Weep for me, lady,' 'Bad luck +to him who married you,' and others in the same style. And Rome, you +will ask, and the Church? What did it say about such disorders? The +Church lived without artistic perception: it never had any. What are +the boundaries between religious and profane music? From the sixteenth +to the seventeenth century all critics have asked themselves this +question, but the Church let them talk, accepting everything without +remark. Now and again Rome made itself heard by a Papal bull, to which +no one paid any attention, because the Pontiff was incapable of saying +this is religious art, and the other is profane. Palestrina was +entrusted with the task of reforming church music; the Pope showed +himself disposed not to leave anything but plain song, and to suppress +even that if necessary. The mass of Papa Marcelo and other melodies +was the result of this, but things did not advance much. It was +necessary in order that music should be purified inside the Church +that the great secular musical movement should begin with the Italian +Monteverde, with the Frenchman Rameau, and with the Germans Sebastian +Bach and Handel; what splendid times, Gabriel! And just think what +genius followed: Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Mehül, Boieldieu, and, above +all, our good friend Beethoven." + +[Footnote 1: The stave.] + +The Chapel-master was silent for a little as though the name of his +idol imposed on him a religious silence. Presently he continued. + +"All this avalanche of art passed over the Church, and she, according +to her habit, appropriated everything that was most to her taste; in +any country the Catholic religion adopted the music most in accordance +with its traditions--in Spain we have been saturated with the Italian +style since the days of Palestrina, and German or French music never +came to us. We were first of all fuguists and contrapuntists; but +after the 'Stabat Mater' of Rossini we felt the attraction of +theatrical melody so strongly that we have never wished to taste a +fresh dish. Religious music in Spain has run parallel with Italian +opera, a thing of which the canons are ignorant; they would be furious +if at the mass you played them anything by Beethoven, which they would +consider profane, but they listen with mystic unction to fragments +which have gone the round of all the theatres in Italy. And about the +plain song, you will ask? The plain song had its nest in this Primacy. +It was preserved here for centuries and purified; all the best was +collected in Toledo, and from the books in this Cathedral have gone +forth the chorales of all the churches in Spain and America. Poor +plain song! it has long been dead. You see for yourself, Gabriel, who +comes to the Cathedral at the hour of the choir? No one, absolutely no +one. The matins are recited, and all the offices are intoned in the +midst of perfect solitude. The people who still believe know nothing +of the liturgy; they do not prize it and have forgotten all about it; +they are only attracted by the novenas, the triduos and retreats, all +that is termed tolerated and extra-liturgic worship. The Jesuits, with +their cunning, guessed that they must give their services a theatrical +attraction, and for this reason their churches--gilt, carpeted, and +decked with flowers like dressing-rooms--are always full, whereas the +old cathedrals are as empty as tombs. They have not proclaimed the +necessity for this reform aloud, but they have put it into practice +by abolishing the singing in Latin, and substituting all sorts of +romances and songs. In the churches, with the exception of the +Tantum-ergo, nothing is sung in Latin, sermons and hymns are in the +language of the country, just as in a Protestant church. For the mass +of devout people, who believe without thinking, religions only differ +in their exterior forms. It would be impossible to consign such a +multitude to the bonfires, or that half Europe should again be in the +clutches of the thirty years' war, or that the Popes should launch +excommunication after excommunication, only to find in the end that +the only difference between a Catholic or an evangelical church is a +few images and a few wax tapers, but that the worship in both is the +same. But we must go, Gabriel; they are going to lock up." + +The bell-ringer was hurrying through the naves, shaking his bunch +of keys and startling the bats which were becoming more and more +numerous. The two devout women had disappeared; no one remained in the +Cathedral save Gabriel and the Chapel-master. From the farther end of +the nave were coming the night watchmen, to take up their charge till +the following morning, preceded by the dog. + +The two friends went out into the cloister, guided through the dusk by +the rich glow from the stained glass windows; outside, the last rays +of the sun were touching both the garden and the cloister of the +Claverias with crimson. + +"I repeat," continued the musical priest, looking back at the door +from which they had come out, "that in there they do not love music +and they do not understand it. The Church has only rendered one +service to music, and that without wishing it: they have been obliged +to have instrumentalists and vocalists for the services, and that +made them support the chapels and choir-schools that have served for +musical education in default of schools. We who represent art in the +cathedrals are as much despised as were the minstrels in the old +chapels, players of the clarion and bassoon. For the canons, all that +sleeps in the musical archives is so much Greek, and we, the artistic +priests, form a race apart, and are only just a step above the +sacristans. The Chapel-master, the organist, the tenor, contralto, and +the bass form the chapel. We are clergy like the canons, we become +beneficiaries by appointment, we have studied religious science as +they have, and, moreover, we are musicians; but in spite of this +we receive less than half the salary of a canon, and to remind us +constantly of our inferior position we have to sit in the lower +stalls. We, the only ones in the choir who know anything about music, +have to occupy the lowest places. The precentor is by right the chief +of the singers, and the precentor is a canon named by Rome without +competition, probably not knowing a note of the pentagramma. Oh! the +anarchy, friend Gabriel! Oh! the contempt of the Church for music +which has always been its slave and never its daughter! In many +convents of nuns the organist and the singers are despised and called +sergeants. There seems money for everything in the Church: the +revenues of the building are ample for everything except for music. +The canons look upon us as fools masking in ecclesiastical robes. When +the feast of Corpus or that of the Virgin of the Sagrario comes round, +and I dream of a fine mass worthy of the Cathedral, the Canon Obrero +attacks me and begs for something Italian and simple, an affair of +half-a-dozen musicians that I must pick up in the town, and then I +have to conduct a few bungling musicians, raging to hear how the +miserable orchestra sounds under these vaults, which were built for +something grander. In the end, friend Luna, it is dead, quite dead." + +The complaint of the Chapel-master did not surprise Gabriel. Everyone +in the Cathedral complained of the miserable and sordid way in which +the services were conducted. Some, like the Silver Stick, declared +that it was due to the impiety of the age, others, like the musician, +made that same religion responsible, but they did not dare to say so +aloud. Respect to the Church and to the higher powers, instilled since +their childhood, kept the population of the Cathedral silent. The +greater part of the servitors of the Church were living morally in the +sixteenth century, in an atmosphere of servility and superstitious +fear of their superiors, feeling the injustice of their position, but +without daring to give form, even in their thoughts, to their vague +notions of protest. + +Only at night, in the silence of the upper cloister, in the privacy +of those families who were born and died among the stones of the +Cathedral, did they dare to repeat the murmurs of the Church, +the interminable tangle of tattle which grew over the monotonous +ecclesiastical existence, the complaints of the canons against His +Eminence, and what the cardinal said about the Chapter, an underground +war which was reproduced at every archiepiscopal elevation, intrigues +and heart-burnings of celibates, embittered by ambition and +favouritism, primitive hatreds that reminded one of the time when the +clergy elected their own prelates and ruled over them, instead of +groaning as now under the iron rule of the archbishop's will. + +Everyone in the cloister knew of these quarrels, and the remarks that +the canons allowed themselves to make in the sacristy reached their +ears; but these humble servitors kept silence when these murmurs were +repeated in their presence, fearing to be reported by their neighbour, +who possibly might covet their post. It was the terror of the +Inquisition still alive amidst this little stagnant world. + +The Perrero was the only one who seemed to have no fear, and who spoke +openly about the Chapter and the cardinal. What did it matter to him! +Possibly he may have wished to be turned out of "that den" to give +himself up to his favourite pursuit, going to the bull-ring without +any objections from the household. Moreover, he delighted in speaking +evil of the gentlemen of the Chapter, who had given him more than one +cuff when he was an acolyte. + +He gave nicknames to all the canons, and pointing them out one by one +to Gabriel, related the most intimate secrets of their lives. He knew +the houses where each prebendary passed the evening after the choir +time, and the names of all the ladies and nuns who crimped their +surplices, and could tell of the fierce and deadly rivalries between +these admirers of the Chapter, endeavouring to vanquish each other +by the exquisite way in which they washed and ironed the canonical +batiste. As the choir were coming out he pointed out the precentor, an +obese prebendary with his face covered with red spots. + +"Look at him, uncle," he said to Gabriel, "that rash on his face is a +record of the past. He was a great gallant, never fixing himself long +anywhere. The other evening he said to a chaplain of the chapel of the +kings, 'Those captain professors at the Academy think that in point +of women they cull the best in Toledo, but where is the Church! The +seculars must lower their flag!'" + +He laughed as he pointed out a group of young priests, carefully +shaved, with their cheeks blue and shining, dressed in silk mantles +that diffused a strong scent of musk as they moved. These were the +dandies of the Chapter, the young canons, who often made journeys to +Madrid to confess their patronesses--ancient marchionesses who, by +dint of influence, had gained for them a seat in the choir. At the +Puerta del Mollete they stopped a few moments to arrange the folds of +their cloaks before they went into the street. + +"They are going out to court the ladies," said the Tato. "Brrrum! make +way for Don Juan Tenorio!" + +When they had watched all the canons come out, the Perrero spoke to +his uncle about the cardinal. + +"In these days he is given over to the fiends. No one in the palace +can manage him; his internal complaint nearly drives him mad." + +"But is it true he is so very ill?" asked Gabriel. + +"Everyone says so; ask your Aunt Tomasa. They say they are such great +friends because she makes a lotion that calms him like an angel's +hand. In the morning when he wakes in a bad temper all the palace +trembles, and very soon all the diocese. He is a good man, but when +the mad dog bites him everyone must fly. I have seen him on pontifical +days wearing his mitre, looking at us with such eyes, as though he +were ready to seize his crozier and belabour us all with it, from what +the aunt says--if he did not drink!" + +"Then the complaints of the Chapter are true." + +"He does not get drunk. No, señor, give the devil his due, but a glass +now, and another presently, and a third if a friend comes to see him, +must obfuscate him. It is a habit he brought with him from Andalusia, +where he was bishop before coming here. But nothing common, a fine and +refreshing drink, only to keep up his strength, nothing more. And the +wine is first class, uncle; I know it from one of his household. He +gives as much as fifty duros the arroba![1] They keep him the best in +all la Mancha, a vintage from the time of the French, a syrup that +warms the stomach and tempers it as though it were an organ. From what +the Aunt Tomasa says, the doctors patch him up, and then he does his +best to get ill again with this glorious wine." + +[Footnote 1: _Arroba_--Measure containing thirty-two pints.] + +The Tato, in the midst of his cynical mockery, still showed a regard +for the prelate. + +"Do not believe, uncle, that he is a nonentity. Apart from his bad +temper he is really a strong man, even as you see him here, with his +small white and shining head like a baby's, that seems even smaller +above his immense corporation; but it carries something in it! He has +spoken a great deal in Madrid, and all the newspapers took as much +notice of him as though he were Guerra. His wisdom finds a remedy for +everything. If they speak of the poverty and misery in the world, he +sings the old song: bread for the poor, charity from the rich, and +much Christian doctrine for everyone; that men ought not to quarrel +because I have more than you, and there ought to be patience and +decency in the world, for that is what is wanting. What nonsense, eh, +uncle? You laugh at it? But His Eminence's recipe rather pleases me, +especially that about the bread; but the cursed Catechism is in fault +as we have all learnt from our childhood." + +The Perrero grew quite excited speaking about his prince: + +"And as a man? A masterful man; no hypocrisy about him, nor hiding his +head. Everyone knows he was a soldier in his younger days. The Aunt +Tomasa remembers seeing him in the cloister with his helmet with +horse-hair crest, his sergeant's epaulets, and his rattling broad +sword. He is not afraid of anything, is not easily scandalised, and +does not make a fuss about things. Last year a Portuguese lady arrived +here, who nearly drove all the cadets out of their senses with her +silk stockings and her big hats. You know Juanito, and you are aware +that he is the son of a nephew of His Eminence who died some years +ago. Well, the youngster paraded up and down the Zocodover in his +uniform with the Portuguese lady on his arm to arouse the jealousy +of his companions in the Academy. One day the young woman presented +herself at the palace, and the servants, seeing her so beautifully +dressed, made no difficulty about letting her in, thinking she was +some lady from Madrid. His Eminence received her with a paternal +smile, and listened to her without winking. A friend of mine, one of +the pages who was present, told me about it. She came to complain to +the cardinal that his nephew, the cadet, had entertained her for two +days without giving her a farthing. His Eminence smiled modestly: +'Lady, the Church is poor, but I do not wish that for this misfortune +the good name of the family should suffer. Take this and it will be +remedied,' and he handed her two duros. The Portuguese, encouraged by +her good reception, began to bawl and complain, thinking she would +terrify Don Sebastian by making a scandal. But you should have seen +the fury of His Eminence as he shouted to the page, 'Boy, call the +police'; and the look on his face was such that the Portuguese lady +vanished as quickly as she could, leaving the two pieces of silver on +the table." + +Gabriel laughed, listening to the story. + +"He is a strong man, believe me, uncle. I like him because he holds +the Chapter in his fist. He is not like his predecessor, who was like +a sop in milk, who only knew how to pray, and trembled before the +last-made canon. He is quite capable of going down into the choir one +evening and turning them all out with blows from his crozier. It +is more than two months since he has been down into the Cathedral, +neither has he seen the canons. The last time they sent a deputation +to the palace everybody trembled. They went to propose I know not what +reform to the Primate, and they began by saying, 'My lord, the Chapter +thinks--.' Don Sebastian, turned into a basilisk, interrupted them, +'The Chapter cannot think anything; the Chapter has not common sense,' +and he turned his back, leaving them petrified. Afterwards, he began +shouting, and thumping the furniture with his fists, saying he would +fill all the vacancies in the Cathedral with the dregs of the clergy, +that he would fill the Chapter with drunkards, with impostors, etc. 'I +will harass the Chapter,' he shouted, 'I will dirty it; I will teach +them to talk less of me; I will cover them, yes, sir, I will cover +them with....' And you may guess, uncle, with what His Eminence wished +to cover the canons. And the poor man was right. Why should those +in the choir interfere with this way or that way that Don Sebastian +lives, or if he has those bonds or others? Does not he let them live +as they choose? Does he ever say a word to them about their scandalous +visits, although all Toledo knows of them?" + +"And what do the canons say about the cardinal?" + +"They say Juanito is his grandson, and that his father, who died, and +who passed as nephew of His Eminence, was really his son by a certain +lady when he was bishop in Andalusia. But this does not seem to +irritate Don Sebastian much; but what does irritate him and makes him +behave like a fiend is when they speak of Doña Visitacion." + +"And who is that lady?" + +"Come, that is good! You do not know Doña Visitacion? When no one +inside the Cathedral or out of it can speak of anybody else? She is +the niece of Don Sebastian, who lives with him in the palace. It is +she who rules everything, and Don Sebastian, who is so terrible with +everyone else, becomes like an angel when he sees her. He rages and +screams and bites the days when he is ill, but if Doña Visita appears, +he controls himself at once; he suffers in silence, moans like a +child, and it is sufficient for her to say a soft word, or give him a +caress for His Eminence to slobber with delight. He loves her dearly." + +"But what is she?" asked Gabriel with interest. + +"Clearly she is what you think. What else could she be? She was from +her childhood in the college for noble ladies, and as soon as the +cardinal came to Toledo he took her out, and brought her to the +palace. What a blind infatuation is Don Sebastian's! And the thing is, +the object is hardly worth it--a very thin, pale little girl, with +large eyes and a soft skin; that is all. They say she sings, and plays +the piano, and reads and knows a great many things that they teach +in that wealthy college, and by God's grace can keep His Eminence in +order. She comes sometimes into the Cathedral by the arch, dressed +as a beatita with the habit and mantilla, accompanied by a very ugly +servant." + +"She cannot be what you think, youngster." + +"Go on; all the Chapter affirm it, and even the most steady canons +thoroughly believe it. Even those who are friends and favourites of +His Eminence, and carry him tales about all the grumbling against him, +do not deny it with any warmth. And Don Sebastian gets angry, and is +furious each time any murmurs about this reach his ears. If they told +him the choir intended to give a dance he would be less irritated than +when he hears them wag their tongues about Doña Visita." + +The Perrero was silent for a few moments as though he were doubtful +about saying something serious. + +"The lady is very good and kind. They all love her in the palace +because she speaks so gently. Besides, she makes use of the great +power she has over the cardinal to prevent the violence of His +Eminence, who very often, when he is racked with excessive pain, would +throw cups and plates at the heads of his servants. Why should they +interfere with her? Does she do them any harm? Let everyone do as he +likes in his own house, and he who does evil, let God punish him." + +He scratched his head as though he were once more doubtful. + +"And as to what Doña Visita is to the Cardinal," he added, "I have +no doubt whatever. I have facts to go on, uncle, and I know how they +live. One of the servants has often seen them kissing--that is to +say, not the two kissing. No, she does the kissing, and Don Sebastian +receives her kittenish ways with the smile of an angel. The poor man +is so old!" + +And the Tato ended his confidences with various indecent remarks. + +All this grumbling against the cardinal, that came from the sacristy +up to the cloister, annoyed Gabriel's brother greatly. The "Wooden +Staff," who was a staunch private soldier of the Church, could not +bear to hear with equanimity those attacks on his superiors; in his +opinion they were all calumnies. The canons had spoken of all the +preceding archbishops precisely as they now spoke of Don Sebastian, +but this did not in the least prevent their all being called saints +after their deaths. When he discovered the Tato repeating in the +Claverias all the gossip from down below, he threatened him with all +his authority as head of the house. + +Esteban was also very much concerned at the state of his brother's +health. He was pleased at the very prudent behaviour of the latter, +who conformed with silent respect to all the customs of the Cathedral, +never permitting a word to escape him that could reveal his past; +he felt beyond measure proud of the atmosphere of admiration that +surrounded his brother, and the attention with which the simple +inhabitants of the cloister listened to the account of his travels, +but the state of his health was a continual anxiety, the certainty +that death had laid its hand upon him, and that it was solely the care +with which he was surrounded that retarded the fatal moment. + +There were days in which the Silenciario smiled with pleasure, seeing +Gabriel a better colour, and hearing less frequently his painful +cough. + +"You are going on well, brother," he would say joyfully. + +"Yes," replied Gabriel, "but do not have any illusions. _That_ will +come at its own hour, it has me in its grasp. It is only you who are +holding it back, but one day it will be stronger than you." + +The certainty that death would at last be victorious made Esteban +redouble his efforts. He thought that frequent nourishment was the +only remedy, and he scarcely ever approached Gabriel without something +in his hands. + +"Eat this. Drink what I bring you." + +He struggled valiantly with that broken constitution, with that +stomach disordered by poverty, with those lacerated lungs and with +that heart subject to constant disturbance of its functions, with that +human machine dislocated by a life of suffering and trials. + +The constant watching over the sick man had upset Esteban's economic +life; his miserable wages and the poor assistance the Chapel-master +could give were insufficient even for that extra mouth, which consumed +more than all the others in the household put together. At the end of +the month Esteban was obliged to invoke the aid of Silver Stick to +enable him to get along the last few days, entering thus into the +humble and miserable flock bound by the priest's usury. Sometimes the +Chapel-master, waking for an instant to reality, would give him a few +pesetas, sacrificing the joy of obtaining a fresh score. + +Gabriel guessed the privations that his brother underwent, and was +anxious to contribute to the expenses of the little household. But +what work could he obtain in his concealment in the Cathedral? He +wished for some post in the service of the church, in order to receive +at the beginning of every month a few pesetas from the hands of Silver +Stick; but all the posts were occupied, death alone could cause a +vacancy, and there were many eager ones watching for the opportunity +to urge their family claims. + +The impossibility of being useful to his brother, of helping to +make his sacrifices less expensive, weighed heavily on Gabriel, and +disturbed the otherwise placid monotony of his life. He inquired of +Esteban as to what he could possibly do, not to remain inactive, but +his brother always answered with his kindly expression: "Take care of +yourself, only take care of yourself; you have no other duty but to +look after your own health, I am here to do all the rest." + +When Holy Week came round Gabriel found an opportunity of getting a +few days' work. They were going to put up in the Cathedral the famous +"Monument" between the choir and the Puerta del Perdon. It was a heavy +and complicated erection, of a sumptuous and rococo style, which had +cost the second Cardinal de Bourbon a fortune at the beginning of last +century. A real forest of woodwork formed the basis of the monument; +the riches of the cardinal had created a prodigality of solidity and +sumptuousness, and several days were required to fit together the Holy +Catafalque, and not a few workmen. + +Gabriel interviewed Don Antolin asking for a place on the works. The +wages were seven reals a day, which he would be able to give his +brother for two weeks; and he, who had been used in former days to +have his work so lavishly paid, accepted this small daily wage as a +piece of unexpected good fortune. + +The "Wooden Staff" was indignant. Gabriel was ill and ought not to +risk his poor health in the fatigues of this work. What was he going +to do, coughing and suffocating every moment? How was he going to +undertake the heavy work of carrying the framework and fixing it +together? The invalid tranquillised him. He knew what those works were +in the church; everything was done with parsimony, but without much +regard to time. The workmen in the service of the church worked with +that calm laziness, and that slow prudence which characterised every +act of religion. Besides, Silver Stick, knowing his condition, would +reserve the least heavy work for him; he could fix screws and bolts, +place the candelabra in line on the steps, and arrange the tapestry; +he trusted him as a man of good taste who had seen much in his +travels. + +Gabriel worked for two weeks on the monument. This time of relative +activity seemed to give him a certain amount of relief. He moved +about, intent on giving orders to his fellow-workers; he went from the +church to the top of the Claverias, where the monument was stored, and +seeing himself covered with dust, and with his limbs fatigued by the +constant coming and going, he deluded himself into thinking he was +strong again. + +During these two weeks he never went to the shoemaker's house, and so +lost sight of his various friends. The bell-ringer and his friends +were lost in astonishment. A man of so much learning, to work like one +of themselves in order to help his brother! + +The Señora Tomasa stopped him one morning by the iron railing of the +garden. + +"I have news, Gabriel. I think I know where our child is. I won't say +any more; but be ready to help me. The day when you least expect it +you may see her in the Cathedral." + +The erection of the monument was finished. All that part of the church +between the choir and the door del Perdon was occupied by this showy +and ponderous fabric. According to their traditional custom all the +Toledans gathered to admire--the steps covered with rows of burning +lights, the Roman legionaries in alabaster leaning on their lances, +and the rich curtain with its innumerable folds that hung from the +vaulting down to the platform of the monument. + +On the evening of Holy Thursday Gabriel stood considering what was +in some sense his work, surrounded by a group of worshippers. The +Cathedral shone with its immaculate whiteness, in spite of the black +veils that covered both statues and altars. The clouds of colour from +the lovely rose windows relieved the funereal aspect of the religious +ceremony, while from the choir a tenor voice intoned the lamentations +of the oriental prophet. + +Gabriel felt someone pulling his jacket, and turning, saw the +gardener's widow. + +"Come, nephew, we have got her here; she is waiting for you in the +cloister." + +Coming out, the Señora Tomasa pointed to a woman sitting crouched on +the stone coping of the garden, wrapped in an old cloak, and with the +headkerchief drawn down over her eyes. + +Gabriel would never have recognised her. He remembered the pretty +smiling face of former years, and he looked almost with horror at +the tarnished youth, haggard with prominent cheek-bones, of the face +before him. The eyes deep sunk in the sockets without eyebrows or +eyelashes, with the pupils still beautiful, but dulled with a glassy +opacity. Everything about her revealed poverty and desolation; the +dress was a summer one, and from under it showed her split boots much +too large for her feet. + +"Salute him, child," said the old woman. "It is your Uncle Gabriel, +one of God's angels, in spite of his misfortunes, and you owe it to +him that we searched for you." + +The gardener's widow pushed Sagrario towards her Uncle, but the young +woman lowered her head, moved her shoulders and drew back, as though +she could not endure the presence of a member of her family; she +covered her face with her wretched cloak to hide her tears. + +"Aunt, let us go home," said Gabriel, "it is not good for the child to +be here." + +At the cloister staircase they made the young woman pass on in front; +she went up with her head bent and without looking, as though her feet +trod those broken steps instinctively. + +"We arrived from Madrid this morning," said the gardener's widow as +they went up. "I kept her at an inn till it was time to bring her to +the Cathedral in the evening. It is the best time, for Esteban is in +the choir, and you will have time to settle things here. I spent three +days there. Ay, Gabriel, my son, what things I have seen, what hells +there are for poor women! and we call ourselves Christians, but I +think we are fiends! Mercifully I had friends at court--some old +bell-ringers who had been in the Cathedral and who remembered the +gardener's widow. I wanted everything, even money, to get this unhappy +girl out of the devil's clutches." + +The upper cloister was quite deserted. On arriving at the door of the +Lunas the girl seemed to wake up, and drew quickly back with a look +of terror, as though inside the "habitation" some great danger was +awaiting her. + +"Go in, woman, go in," said the aunt; "it is your home. You had to +come back some time or other." + +And she pushed her till she was through the door. Once inside the +sitting-room her tears ceased; she looked round with astonishment, no +doubt surprised at finding herself there. Her eyes examined everything +with a sort of stupefaction, as though marvelling that everything +should be in the same place as five years before, and with an +exactitude that made her doubt if such a long time had really elapsed. +Nothing seemed changed in that little world under the shadow of the +Cathedral. She only, who had left it in the bloom of her youth, now +returned aged and broken. + +There was a long silence between the three people. + +"Your room, Sagrario," said Gabriel at last gently, "is the same as +when you left it. Go in and do not come out till I call you. Be calm +and do not cry; trust me. You do not know me well, but the aunt will +have told you that I am interested in your fate. Your father will soon +be coming; hide yourself and be silent. I repeat it again, do not come +out till I call you." + +When the old woman and her nephew were alone they could hear the +girl's suffocating sobs that burst out on seeing her old room. +Afterwards they heard a sound as though she were throwing herself on +the bed, and the violence of her grief seemed to become more and more +uncontrolled. + +"Poor child!" said the old woman, who was very nearly crying also, +"she is good, and she has repented of her sins; if only her father had +sought her out when that rascal deserted her, what shame and misery +it would have spared her. And her health? I really think she is worse +than you are, Gabriel. Oh, those men! with their honour which is +nothing more than lies! What is honourable is to be charitable and +compassionate to others, and to harm no one. I said this the other +day when I was shocked at the shamelessness of my son-in-law, who +was furious at my going to Madrid to find the child. He spoke of the +honour of the family, and that if Sagrario returned no decent people +could live in the Cathedral, and that he could not allow his daughter +to stand at the door; and he such a thief that he steals the Virgin's +wax every day, and deceives the devout who pay him for masses that are +never said; that is why his skin shines so and he is so fat. With so +much honour." + +After a short silence the old woman looked undecidedly at Gabriel. + +"Well, shall we begin the struggle? Shall I call Esteban?" + +"Yes, call him, he will be in the Cathedral. And you, shall you dare +to be present at the interview?" + +"No, son, manage it yourself. You know Esteban, and you know me. I +should either begin to cry, or I should turn and rend him for his +obstinacy. You will manage better by yourself, for this God has given +you those talents that you have used so badly." + +The old woman went away, and Gabriel remained alone for more than +half an hour, looking out of a window into the deserted cloister. The +yearly commemoration of the death of God spread in the priestly tribe +on the roofs, an atmosphere of sadness even more marked than that +inside the church. All the women and children of the Claverias were +down below admiring the monument, the "habitacions" seemed quite +deserted. As he sat Gabriel saw his brother pass by the window, and in +another moment he appeared at the door. + +"What do you want, Gabriel? What has happened to you? The aunt +frightened me with her summons. Are you worse?" + +"Sit down, Esteban. I am well, calm yourself." + +The "Wooden Staff" looked with surprise at Gabriel; his strange +seriousness alarmed him and the prolonged silence in which he appeared +to be arranging his thoughts without knowing where to begin. + +"Speak, man! Do make a beginning; you alarm me." + +"Brother," said Gabriel gravely, "you know very well that I have +respected the mystery in your life that I found on my return here. You +said to me, 'My daughter is dead,' and you never showed any wish to +speak of her, and you can say if I have ever touched your old wound by +the slightest allusion." + +"Well, and what then? When are you going to stop?" said Esteban, +becoming very gloomy; "why do you speak to me on a day so holy of +things that cause me so much pain?" + +"Esteban, we shall never understand each other if you hold on to your +prejudices. Do not make that gesture, but listen to me calmly; do +not act like an automaton, pulled by the same wires that moved our +grandfathers and our ancestors. Be a man, and act according to your +own thoughts. You and I have different beliefs. Setting aside religion +which I know is a consolation to you, you know that I am silent as +to mine, so as not to render my life here impossible. But apart from +this, you believe that the family is a work of God, an institution of +supernatural origin. I believe it to be a human institution based +on the necessities of the species. You condemn for ever anyone who +betrays the laws of the family, or who deserts his banner, you +sentence him to death and oblivion. I pity his weakness and forgive. +We understand honour from a different point of view. You believe in +the Castillian honour--that traditional and barbarous honour, more +cruel and dismal even than dishonour; a theatrical honour, whose +impulses are never founded on human feeling, but on the fear of what +others will say, the desire to appear greater and more dignified in +the eyes of others than to your own conscience. For the adulterous +wife, death; for the murderer, revenge; for the fugitive daughter, +contempt and forgetfulness; this is your gospel. I have another +standard; for the wife who forgets her duties, contempt and oblivion; +for that fragment of our own flesh who flies from us, love, support, +gentleness, even endeavouring to compass her return to us. Esteban, we +are separated by our beliefs, the gulf of centuries lies between us, +but you are my brother, we love each other, and I only desire your +good. I bear the same name of which you are so proud, and I loved our +poor parents as much as you could love them, and in the name of all +these I tell you that this situation must come to an end; you must not +live insensible and frozen in what you call your dignity, without the +remembrance of your daughter wandering about the world, troubling you. +You, who are so kind, who have sheltered me in the most difficult +crisis of my life, how can you sleep, how can you eat, without your +life being embittered by the remembrance of your lost daughter? What +do you know about her now? May she not be dying of hunger while you +eat? May she not be lying in a hospital while you are living in the +home of your fathers?" + +Esteban's brow contracted, and he wore his gloomiest look as he +listened to his brother. + +"It is useless for you to strive, Gabriel, nothing can come of it. +Have I denied you anything? Am I not ready to do anything for my +brother? But do not speak to me of that; she has caused me much pain, +she has broken my life, how I did not die, I know not. Have you +thought well that for centuries the family of the Lunas have been the +mirror of the Cathedral, respected by even the archbishops, and now, +suddenly to find oneself among the lowest, exposed to the ridicule of +all and looked upon with compassion by the veriest little acolyte! +What I have suffered! The times I have wept with rage alone in this +home, hearing what they were saying behind my back. And then," he +added quietly as though grief were paralysing his voice, "there was +that unhappy martyr who died of shame; my poor wife who left the world +so as not to see my grief and the contempt of others! And do you wish +me to forget all this? For the rest, Gabriel, I cannot express what +I feel as well as you do. But honour--is honour. It is to live in my +house without fear of being shamed, to sleep at night without fearing +to see in the darkness our father's eyes, asking why I allow a lost +woman to live under the same roof that the Lunas won for themselves +by centuries of service to the house of God; it is to avoid people +mocking at our family. Let them say, 'Those Lunas! how unfortunate +they are,' but they shall never say the Lunas are a family wanting in +shame. By our love, brother, leave me; do not speak to me of this. +Those evil doctrines have poisoned your mind; not only have you ceased +to believe in God, but you have ceased to believe in honour." + +"And what is all this?" said Gabriel, warming. "You yourself do not +know. 'Honour is honour.' Well, I say, children are children. You, man +of prejudices, you do not wait to consider that those beings are the +continuation of our own existence. Your religion makes you think +children are a fruit from God, nevertheless you think yourself better +and more perfect when you reject and curse those gifts of Heaven if +they cause you any trouble. No, Esteban, the love of children and pity +for their faults ought to come before all prejudices. This eternal +life of the soul, that lying promise of religion, is only true through +our children. The soul dies with the body; it is no more than a +manifestation of our own thoughts, and thought is a cerebral function, +but children perpetuate our own being throughout the generations and +the centuries; it is they who make us immortal, and that preserve +and transmit something of our personality, even as we have inherited +something from our ancestors. He who forgets those beings who are his +own creation is more worthy of execration than he who leaves life by +suicide. The disappointments of life, the laws and customs invented by +men, what are they before the instinctive affection we feel for beings +that have proceeded from ourselves, and who perpetuate the infinite +variety of our habits and thoughts? I abhor those wretches who, in +order not to disturb the commonplace peace of matrimony, abandon the +children they have outside the house. Paternity is the most noble of +all animal functions, but the animals have more courage and dignity +than man in fulfilling it. No animal of the higher sort abandons or +disowns its cub, and yet there are many men who turn their backs on +their children for fear of what people will say. If I, having a son, +were enamoured of the most beautiful woman in the world, and she +required me to forget that son, I would stifle my passion sooner than +abandon the little one. If my son sinned against every human law, +and was sent to prison, even there would I follow him, defying the +execration of the world, sooner than deny that he is my work. We +are united for ever to the creatures to whom we give life, it is a +compromise of solidarity that we make with the species when we work +for its continuance. He who breaks the chain and flies is a coward." + +"You will not convince me, Gabriel," screamed Esteban. "I will not!--I +will not!" + +"I repeat it is cowardly on your part. This honour that weighs so +heavily on you is a cruel and antiquated honour that settles all the +conflicts of life by shedding blood. Why do you not seek the man who +stole your daughter? Why do you not kill him like a father in an old +play? Is it because you are a fearful man and have not learnt the art +of murder, and that arms are his profession? If you had taken lawless +vengeance, relying only on what you think your right, his powerful +family would have retaliated on you; but you have not revenged +yourself through an instinct of self-preservation, through fear of +prison and all the punishments invented by society; you have been +afraid in spite of your anger, and this fear you indulge at the +expense of cruelty to the weaker creature. Your anger only falls on +your daughter. Come, Esteban, this is not worthy of a man." + +The "Wooden Staff" shook his head obstinately. + +"You will not convince me, I do not wish to hear you. That woman shall +not return here; did she not leave me? Let her follow her own path." + +"She left you from impulses of that instinct which all healthy beings +possess. That instinct for the preservation of the species, which +poetry beautifies and which it calls 'Love.' If she had left you after +receiving the blessing of a man before an altar, you would have been +delighted, and would have received her with open arms whenever she +came to see you. She left you to be deceived, to fall into misery and +shame, and, seeing her so unhappy, does she not deserve more pity at +your hands than if you saw her living happily? Reflect, Esteban, on +the way in which your poor daughter fell. What had you taught her to +enable her to defend herself from the evil in the world? How was she +armed to preserve intact what you call honour? You and your wife had +set her the example of the respect due to wealth and high birth by +allowing that young man to come to your house, thinking it an honour +that a gentleman should have fallen in love with your daughter. When +the inevitable results of social inequality came about she could not +give him up; she had one of those noble natures that rise in revolt +against the prejudices of the world, even at the risk of suffering all +the bitterness of their rebellion, and she fell vanquished. Whom can +you blame? Her ignorance, her life of isolation from the world, or +yourselves who never taught her better, and who, blinded by ambition, +let her wander to the edge of the precipice? Blame her less than +anybody. Unhappy girl! She has paid with interest her noble defiance +of social prejudices. She has been vanquished in the social fight--a +corpse that has to be buried; and you, her father, ought to be the one +to fulfil that work of mercy." + +Esteban, with his head bent, continued to make gestures of refusal. + +"Brother," said Gabriel solemnly; "if you hold tenaciously to your +refusal I have only one thing more to say. If your daughter does not +return here, I must go. Everyone has his scruples; you fear the gossip +of the people; I fear myself and what my thoughts can throw in my face +in my solitary moments. Since I have been your guest I have thought +constantly of your daughter, and ever since I have known what happened +in this house I have proposed to myself that the unhappy victim should +return here. You will not let her return? Well then, I must go. I +should be a thief if I ate your bread while a creature who is flesh +of your flesh suffers hunger, or if I should be nursed in my illness +while she, who is possibly worse than I am, has no friendly hand to +comfort her. If she does not return, I am not your brother, but an +intruder, usurping the share of affection and comfort that ought to +fall to her. Brother, everyone has his own code of morality; yours is +taught by the priests, mine I have made for myself, and though it is +less apparent, it may very likely be more strict. In the name of my +morality I say to you, Esteban, my brother, either your daughter +returns here or I go away. I must return to the world to be persecuted +like a wild beast, to the hospital, to the prison, to die like a dog +in the ditch by the roadside. I do not know what will become of me, +but one thing is certain, it is that I shall go to-morrow, or even +to-day, so as not to enjoy a moment more what is not mine. I, who +consider the appropriation of the goods of the world by a privileged +minority as an iniquitous robbery, cannot enjoy knowingly the comforts +that belong by natural right to another unhappy being. I can only +enjoy them sharing them with her." + +Esteban had risen to his feet with a gesture of despair. + +"Are you mad, Gabriel? Do you wish to leave me? And you say it so +calmly? Your presence here is the only joy of my life after so many +misfortunes. I am accustomed to see you. I must care for you, you are +my whole family; before I had no interest, I lived without hope. Now +I have one, to see you strong and well, and can you say so carelessly +that you will leave me? No, you shall not go--only this was wanting to +me--after the daughter, the brother; kill me once for all!--Lord God, +take me to Thyself!" + +And the simple servant of the Church raised his hands in supplication +while his eyes filled with tears. + +"Be calm, Esteban. Let us speak like men, without exclamations and +tears. Look at me, I am calm, but do not think for that it is less +certain that I shall go to-day if you do not grant me what I pray." + +"But--and she? Where is she that you plead so earnestly for her?" said +Esteban. "Have you seen her and spoken to her? Is she in Toledo? Have +you with the insolence of your unbelief even brought her into the +Cathedral?" + +Gabriel, seeing him tearful and broken by his threat of leaving, +thought the decisive moment had arrived, and opening the door of +Sagrario's room he called: + +"Come out, child, ask your father's pardon." + +He looked astounded, then he fixed his eyes on Gabriel as though +he could not guess who that woman was. What joke had his brother +prepared? + +With a brutal impulse he tore the woman's hands from her face, looking +at her earnestly; even so he did not recognise her. In the midst of +a painful silence he stood a long while looking at her. Little by +little, in that face so altered by illness, he began to trace the +well-known features. In the tearful eyes devoid of eyelashes something +reminded him of the blue eyes of the lost daughter. The discoloured +lips, surrounded by deep lines, quivered painfully, murmuring always +the same word: + +"Pardon! pardon!" + +At the sight of such a wreck the father felt his courage fail; his +eyes expressed an immense, an overwhelming sadness. + +He retreated backwards to the door of the "habitacion," followed by +the young woman, dragging herself on her knees and stretching out her +hands. + +"Brother, it is well," he said despairingly; "you are stronger than I +am, let your will be accomplished. Let her remain, as you wish it, but +do not let me see her!--remain, both of you. It is I that will go." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The sewing machine clicked from early morning till night in the house +of the Lunas. This and the hammering of the shoemaker were the only +sounds of work that disturbed the holy silence of the upper cloister. + +When Gabriel left his bed at sunrise, after a night of painful +coughing, he would find Sagrario already in the entrance room +preparing her machine for the day's work. From the day following that +of her return to the Cathedral she had devoted herself to work with +sullen silence as a means of returning unnoticed to the Claverias, +trusting that the people would forgive her past. The gardener's widow +procured her work, and so the sound of the stitching was continually +heard in the old "habitacion," accompanied very often by melodies from +the Chapel-master's harmonium. + +The "Wooden Staff" moved about his house like a shadow. He remained +continually in the Cathedral or in the lower cloister, only coming up +to the "habitacion" when it was absolutely necessary. He ate his meals +with his head bent, in order not to look at his daughter, who was +seated opposite to him at the other end of the table, ready to burst +into tears at the sight of her father before her. A painful silence +oppressed the family. Don Luis being so absent-minded, seemed the only +one not to perceive the situation, and chatted gaily with Gabriel +about his hopes and his musical enthusiasms. Everything seemed to him +quite natural; nothing disturbed him, and the return of Sagrario to +the family hearth had not caused him the slightest surprise. + +When dinner was over Esteban fled, not to return to the house till +night-time; after supper he locked himself into his own room, +leaving his brother and his daughter in possession of the entrance +sitting-room. The machine began to work again, and Don Luis fingered +his harmonium till nine o'clock, when Silver Stick locked the tower +staircase, rattling his bunch of keys with a noise that equalled a +curfew. Gabriel felt indignant at his brother's obstinacy. + +"You will kill the child; what you are doing is unworthy of a father." + +"I cannot help it, brother; it is impossible for me to look at her. It +is sufficient for me to tolerate such things in the house. Ay! if you +could only tell how the people's looks wound me!" + +In reality the scandal produced by the return of Sagrario to the +Claverias had been much less than he had feared. She seemed so ill and +so weary that none of the women felt any animosity against her, and +the energetic protection of her Aunt Tomasa imposed respect. Besides, +those simple women of instinctive passions could not now feel towards +her that hostile envy that her beauty and the cadet's courtship had +formerly inspired. Even Mariquita, Silver Stick's niece, found a +certain salve to her vanity in protecting with disdainful tolerance +that unhappy girl who in former days had attracted the attention of +every man who visited the upper cloister. + +Curiosity only disturbed the calm of the Claverias for about a week. +Little by little the women ceased to stand about the Luna's door +to watch Sagrario bending over her machine, and the girl quietly +continued her sad and hard-working life. Gabriel seldom left the +"habitacion." He spent whole days by the young woman's side, +endeavouring by his presence to atone for the hostile aloofness of her +father. It pained him that she should find herself so despised and +solitary in her own house. Every now and then the Aunt Tomasa came to +see them, enlivening them with the optimism of her happy old age. She +was pleased with her niece's conduct; to work hard so as not to be a +drag on her obstinate old father, and to help towards the maintenance +of the house, was clearly what was required; but all the same there +was no reason she should kill herself with work--calm and good humour, +this bad time would lead to a better; she was there to get things +straight with that fiend-possessed Gabriel, and she made the gloomy +"habitacion" ring with her healthy laugh and lively words. + +At other times Gabriel's friends would invade the house, abandoning +the assemblies at the shoemaker's. They could not bear Luna's absence, +they wanted to hear him, to consult him, and even the shoemaker when +his work was not urgent would leave his bench and, smelling of paste, +with his apron tucked into his belt and his head rolled up in striped +handkerchiefs, would come and sit by Sagrario's machine. + +The young woman fixed her sad eyes with admiration on her uncle. She +had always from her childhood heard her parents speak with respect of +that extraordinary relative who was travelling in foreign countries; +she vaguely remembered him as a shadow crossing her love dream when he +had spent a few days in the Cathedral before establishing himself in +Barcelona, astonishing them all by the accounts of his travels and +his foreign customs. Now she returned to find him aged, as sickly as +herself, but influencing all who surrounded him by the mysterious +power of his words, that were like heavenly music to those poor +narrow-minded souls. + +In the midst of her sadness Sagrario had no other pleasure but to +listen to her uncle; she felt the same as did those simple men who +left their work to seek Luna in their anxiety to hear fresh things +from his lips. Gabriel was the modern world that for so many years had +rolled on far from the Cathedral, never touching it, but which had at +last entered in to stir and awaken a handful of men who were still +living in the sixteenth century. + +The appearance of Sagrario had brought about a change in Luna's life; +he became more communicative, and he lost a great deal of the reserve +he had imposed upon himself when he took refuge in the stony lap of +the church. He no longer forced himself to keep silence and to hide +his thoughts; the presence of a woman seemed to enliven him and +wake once more his propagandist fervour. His companions saw a new +Gabriel--more loquacious and more disposed to communicate to them the +"new things," that were already upheaving the traditional course of +their thoughts, and that even now had on many nights disturbed their +sleep. + +They talked, discussed and consulted Luna, so that he could clear +their confused ideas, and above the voices of the men sounded the +continual click, click of the sewing machine, always busy, like an +echo of the universal work surging in the world, while the calm of the +Infinite spread itself through the precincts of the church. + +All those men, accustomed to the slow, regular, quiet duties of the +church, with long periods of rest, admired the nervous activity of +Sagrario. + +"You will kill yourself, child," said the old organ-blower. "I know +very well what it is like, I have done something of the same sort; I +blow and blow at those bellows, and when it is a mass with much +music, such as Don Luis loves, I end by cursing the organ and him who +invented it, for indeed it nearly breaks my arms." + +"Work!" said the bell-ringer with emphasis. "Work is a punishment from +God! You all know its origin. It was the eternal penalty imposed on +our first parents by the Lord when He drove them out of Paradise. It +is a chain that we must drag on for ever." + +"No, señor," replied the shoemaker. "As I have read in the newspapers, +work is the greatest of all the virtues, not a punishment; laziness is +the mother of vice, and work is a virtue. Is it not so, Don Gabriel?" + +The shoemaker looked at the master, watching for his words as a +thirsty man looks for water. + +"Work," said Gabriel, "is neither a punishment nor a virtue; it is a +hard law to which we have to submit for self-preservation and for the +welfare of the species. Without work life could not exist." + +And with the same fervid enunciation with which he had in former times +swayed the multitude at those meetings of protest against society, he +explained to this half-dozen men and the quiet sewer, who stopped her +machine to listen, the greatness of universal work, which every day +laboured on the earth, to subdue it and force it to yield sustenance +for man. + +It was a struggle the whole twenty-four hours against the blind forces +of Nature. The army of work extended over the whole globe, exploring +the continents, leaping to the islands, sailing the seas, and +descending to the bowels of the earth. How many were its soldiers? No +one could count them--millions and millions. At daybreak no one was +absent from the roll-call; the casualties were replaced, the gaps that +poverty and misfortune opened in the ranks were filled up immediately. +As soon as the sun rose the factory chimney began to smoke, the hammer +broke the stone, the file bit the metal, the plough furrowed the +earth, the ovens were lighted, the pump worked its piston, the hatchet +sounded in the wood, the locomotive moved amidst clouds of vapour, the +cranes groaned on the wharves, the steamers cut the waters, and the +little barks danced on the waves dragging their nets. None were absent +from work's review. All hurried on, driven by the fear of hunger, +defying danger, not knowing if they would live till night, or if the +sun rising over their heads would be the last in their lives. And that +daily concentration of human energies began with the first light of +day in all parts of the world, wherever men had assembled and built +towns and constituted societies, or even in the deserts to be +reclaimed by their energies. + +The stonemason breaks the stone with his hammer, and at every breath +is poisoned by inhaling the invisible particles. The miner descends to +the hell of modern times with no other guide than the glimmer from +his lamp, to wrest from the strata of the earliest ages relics of the +earth's infancy, those carbonised trees that gave shade to prehistoric +animals. Far from the sun and far from life, he defies death, just as +the mason, poised on a slight scaffolding despises giddiness, watched +only by the birds, surprised to see a creature without wings perched +on such a dizzy height. + +The workman in the factory, changed by a fatal and mistaken progress +into a slave of machinery, lives fastened to it like another wheel, a +spring of human flesh, struggling with his physical weariness against +the iron muscles that never tire; brutalised daily by the deafening +cadence of pistons and wheels to give us the innumerable products of +industry rendered necessary by the life of civilisation. + +And these millions and millions of men who support the existence +of society, who fight for it against the blind and cruel forces of +Nature, who every morning return to the struggle, seeing in this +monotonous and continual sacrifice the sole aim of their existence, +form the immense family of wage-earners, living on the surplus of a +privileged minority, contenting themselves to subsist on the smallest +part of what these reject, submitting to a wretched remuneration, +always the lowest, without hope of saving or of emancipation. + +"It is this egotistical minority," said Gabriel, having arrived at +this point, "who have falsified truth, endeavouring to persuade the +majority of workers that work is a virtue, and that the only mission +of man on earth is to work till he perishes. This code, invented, by +the great capitalists, misquotes science, declaring that people can +only live healthily who devote themselves to work, and that all +inaction is fatal, but is silent as to what science adds--that +excessive work destroys men with far greater rapidity than if they +were living in idleness. They say that work is a painful necessity for +the preservation of life, but they do not say it is a virtue, because +repose and sweet inaction are far more grateful to men and to all +animals than exertion and fatigue. The fable of Paradise, the story of +the Biblical God imposing the sweat of labour as a punishment in order +to earn subsistence, shows that in all times the natural temperament +of man considered rest as the pleasantest condition, and that work +must be considered as an evil indispensable to life, but all the same +an evil. Ruled by the instinct of preservation, man ought only to work +just as much as is necessary for food. But as the immense majority do +not work for themselves alone, but for the profits of a minority of +employers, these require that a man should work as much as he is able, +even if he dies from his over-exertion, and in this way they become +rich, hoarding the surplus from production. Their contention is that +a man should work more than is required for himself, that he should +produce more than is required for his own necessities. In this surplus +lies their wealth, and to obtain it they have invented a monstrous and +inhuman morality, that by means of religion and even of philosophy, +glorifies work, saying that work is the greatest of all virtues and +idleness the source of all vices. And this makes me ask, if idleness +is a vice in the poor, how is it that among the rich it is counted as +a sign of distinction and even of elevation of mind? And if work is +the greatest of all virtues, how is it that capitalists endeavour to +amass wealth in order to free themselves and their descendants from +the practice of so great a virtue? Why is it that this society which +exalts work with every sort of poetical conception relegates the +worker to the lowest rank? Why do they receive with greater enthusiasm +a soldier who has fought, more or less, than an aged workman who has +spent seventy years working without any one praising him or being +grateful to him for so much virtue?" + +The servants of the Cathedral nodded their heads, assenting to what +fell from the master; they looked up to him as simple people always +look up to those who come down to them as apostles of a new idea. + +The continual friction with Gabriel had caused to germinate in their +minds, stunted by the traditional atmosphere, a growth of ideas, like +the microscopic mosses the winter rains had formed on the granite +buttresses of the church. Hitherto they had lived resigned to the +life that surrounded them, moving like somnambulists on the undecided +boundary which separates soul from instinct, but the unexpected +presence of that fugitive from social battles was the impulse that +launched them into full thought, walking tentatively and with no other +light than that of their master. + +"You," went on Gabriel, "do not suffer from the slavery of work like +those who live among modern factories. The Church does not require +great exertions from you, and the service of God does not destroy you +from over-fatigue, though it kills you with hunger. There exists a +monstrous inequality between the salaries of those down below who sit +in the choir and sing and what you earn, who lend to worship all the +strength of your arms. You will not die of fatigue, it is true; many a +workman in the towns would laugh at the lightness of your duties; but +you languish from poverty. I see in this cloister the same anaemic +children that I saw in workmen's slums, I see what you eat and what +you are paid. The Church pays its servants as in the days of faith; +she believes that we still live in the times when whole towns would +throw themselves into the work with the hope of gaining heaven, and +would help to raise cathedrals without any more positive recompense +than the workman's stew and the blessing of the bishop; and all this +while, you, beings of flesh who require nourishment, deceive your +stomachs and those of your wives and children with potatoes and bread, +while down below those wooden images are covered with pearls and gold +in senseless profusion, and without its ever occurring to you to ask +yourselves why the idols who have no wants should be so rich, while +you are unable to satisfy your own and live in misery." + +The listeners looked at each other in astonishment, as though these +words were an illuminating flash. They were doubtful for a moment as +though frightened, and then the faith of conviction illuminated their +faces. + +"It is true," said the bell-ringer in a gloomy tone. + +"It is true," repeated the shoemaker, throwing into his words all +the bitterness of his grinding life of poverty, with a constantly +increasing family, and with no other help but his inadequate work. + +Sagrario remained silent. She did not understand many of her uncle's +sayings, but she received them all as gospel coming from him, and they +sounded in her ears like delicious music. + +Gabriel's reputation spread among the humble inhabitants of the +church, and all the servants of the Primacy gossiped about his wisdom. +The clergy took notice of him, and more than once on rainy evenings +the canon librarian, taking his walk in the cloisters, tried to make +Gabriel talk; but the fugitive, with a remnant of prudence, showed +himself towards the cassocks, as they themselves said, coldly +courteous and reserved, fearing that they would expel him if they +became acquainted with his views. + +Only one priest of all those he saw in the upper cloister had inspired +him with any confidence. This was a young man of wretched appearance, +with worn-out clothes, a chaplain of one of the innumerable convents +of nuns in Toledo. He received seven duros a month, which were all +his means of supporting himself and his old mother, a common peasant +woman, who had denied herself bread in order to give an education to +her son. + +"You see, Gabriel," said the priest. "You see how it is--such a great +sacrifice to earn less than a common labourer earns in my village. Why +did they ordain me with so much ceremony? Was it for this I sang mass +in the midst of so much pomp, as though in wedding the Church I were +uniting myself to wealth?" + +His poverty made him the slave of Don Antolin, and in the last third +of the month he came almost every day to the cloister, trying to +soften Silver Stick with his prayers and induce him to lend a few +pesetas. He even flattered Mariquita, who could not show herself shy +with him, in spite of his cassock. + +"He has a very good appearance," she said to the women of the +Claverias with the enthusiasm inspired by every man. "I like to see +him by the side of Don Gabriel and to hear them talk as they walk in +the cloister. They look like two great noblemen. His mother called him +Martin, no doubt because he resembled the Saint Martin by that painter +they call El Greco, that hangs in some parish church, but I forget +which." + +To cajole Don Antolin was a far more arduous task, and the poor little +curate suffered much in his endeavours to propitiate the miser, who +was irritated if his miserable loans were not repaid at the proper +time. Silver Stick with his love of authority was delighted to hold a +priest and an equal under his thumb, so that those in the Claverias +should see that he did not order about the small fry only. Don Martin +was for him only a servant in a cassock, and he made him come up to +the cloister nearly every evening on various pretexts. His delight +Was to keep him whole hours standing in front of his door, obliged to +listen and to pay attention to all his words. + +Gabriel felt pity for the moral dependency in which the poor young man +lived, and he would often leave his niece, going out into the cloister +to join them. His other friends were not long in discovering him; +first of all the bell-ringer, then the organ-blower, and presently the +verger, the Perrero, and the shoemaker would join the group, of which +Silver Stick was the nucleus. Don Antolin was delighted to see himself +surrounded by so many people, never imagining that Gabriel was the +attraction, thinking always it was his authority that inspired fear +and respect. + +Recognising equality with no one but Luna, to him only he addressed +his conversation, as though the others had no other duty but to listen +to him in silence; if anyone spoke to him he pretended not to hear, +but continued addressing Gabriel. Mariquita, huddled up in a shawl, +followed them with her eyes from the door, sharing her uncle's pride +in seeing himself surrounded by such a group, who accompanied him in +his stroll up and down the cloister; the proximity of so many men +seemed to turn her head. + +"Uncle! Don Gabriel!" she called in a coaxing voice. "Won't you come +in; you will be more comfortable inside the house, because, even +though it is sunny, it is very cold." + +But the uncle paid no attention to her words, and continued his walk +on the side of the cloister bathed by the sun, talking pompously on +his favourite theme, the present poverty of the Cathedral and its +greatness In former times. + +"These cloisters in which we are," he said; "do you believe that they +were built to serve as a refuge to the humble secular people who now +live in them? No, señor, although the Church was generous, she would +not have built these 'habitaciones,' with their inner courtyards and +their colonnades for Wooden Staffs and vergers, etc. This cloister, +which was to have been as large and beautiful as the one below, was +begun by the great Cardinal Cisneros" (Don Antolin raised his hand to +his cap) "so that the canons should live in them subject to conventual +regulations; but the canons in those days were very rich, and, +being great lords, would not consent to live shut up here; they all +protested, and the cardinal, who was very quick-tempered, wished to +keep them in leading strings, but one of them started to Rome with +their complaints, sent by his comrades. Cisneros, being governor of +the kingdom, placed guards at all the ports, and the emissary was +arrested as he was going to embark at Valencia. The end of it all +was that after a long suit the gentlemen of the Chapter came off +victorious, and lived out of the Primacy, and the Claverias remained +unfinished with this low roof and this balustrade, both provisional. +But even as it is kings have lived in this cloister; that great +monarch, Philip II., spent several days here. What glorious times! +when the kings, who had palaces at their command, preferred living in +these rooms, so as to be inside the Cathedral and nearer to God. Such +kings, such people. For this reason Spain was greater then than ever. +We were masters of the world. We had power and money, and we lived +happily on earth in the certainty of reaching heaven after death." + +"That is true," said the bell-ringer; "those were the good times, and +for their return we fought in the mountains. Ay! if only Don Carlos +had been victorious! if only there had not been traitors amongst us! +Is it not true, Gabriel? You who fought in the war as I did, you can +say if I am not right." + +"Hold your tongue, Mariano," said Gabriel, smiling sadly. "You do not +know what you are saying. You fought and shed your blood for a cause +that even now you do not understand. You went to the war as blindly as +I did. Do not look so sullen; it is no use contradicting. Well then, +let us see, what did you wish for when you went out to fight for Don +Carlos?" + +"I? First of all that every man should come by his own. Did not the +crown belong to his family? Well, let it be given to him." + +"And is this all?" asked Luna with displeasure. + +"That was the least of it. What I wanted, and do want, is that +the nation should have a good master, an upright lord, and a good +Catholic, who without restraints of laws or Cortes, should govern us +all with bread in one hand and a stick in the other. For the robber, +garrote him! for the honoured, 'you are my friend!' A king who will +not allow the rich to crush the poor, and who will not allow any one +to die of hunger who wishes to work. Come, I think I am explaining +myself clearly." + +"And all this, do you believe that it existed at any time, or that +your king would be able to restore it? Those centuries that you +describe as those of greatness and well-being were really the worst +in our history; they were the cause of Spanish decadence, and the +beginning of all our ills." + +"Stop there, Gabrielillo," said Silver Stick. "You know a great deal, +and have travelled and read much more than I have, but we cannot +swallow that. I am very much interested in the question, and I will +not allow you to take advantage of the ignorance of Mariano and these +others. How can you say that those times were evil, and that the +fault is theirs of what is happening to us now? The true culprit is +liberalism, the unbelief of the age, which has let the devil loose in +our house. Spain, when it does not trust its kings and has no faith in +Catholicism, is like a lame man who drops his crutches and falls to +the ground. We are nothing without the throne and the altar, and the +proof of this is everything that has happened to us since we had +revolutions. We have lost our islands, we count for nothing among the +other countries. The Spaniards who are the bravest men in the world, +have been defeated, there is not a peseta anywhere, and all those +gentlemen who harangue in Madrid vote fresh taxes and we are always +involved in difficulties. When was this ever seen in former times? +When?" + +"Worse and more shameful things were seen," said Luna. + +"You are mad, youngster! Those travels have corrupted you, till I +believe you are hardly a Spaniard! Look you, that he denies what +everybody knows, what is taught in all the schools! And the Catholic +kings; were they nothing? You need no books to know that. Go into the +choir, and you will see on the lower stalls all the battles that those +religious kings gained over the Moors with the help of God. They +conquered Granada and drove out the infidels who had held it seven +centuries in barbarism. Afterwards came the discovery of America. Who +could accomplish that? No one but ourselves; and that good queen who +pawned her jewels so that Columbus should accomplish his voyage. You +cannot deny all this, it seems to me. And the Emperor Charles V.! What +have you to say about him? Do you know any more extraordinary man! He +fought all the kings of Europe, and half the world was his, 'the sun +never set on his dominions,' we Spaniards were masters of the world; +you cannot either deny this. And still we have said nothing of Don +Philip II., a king so wise and so astute that he made all the monarchs +of Europe dance at his pleasure, as though he were pulling them with +a string. Everything was for the greater glory of Spain and the +splendour of religion. Of his victories and greatness we have said +nothing; if his father was victorious at Pavia, he overturned his +enemies at St. Quintin. And what do you say about Lepanto? Down in the +sacristy we preserve the banners of the ship that Don Juan of Austria +commanded. You have seen them; one of them represents Jesus crucified, +and they are so long, so very long, that when they were fastened to +the triforium, the ends had to be turned up so that they should not +trail on the ground. So, was Lepanto nothing? Come, Gabriel, you +really must be mad to deny certain things. If someone had to conquer +the Moors lest they should possess themselves of all Europe and +endanger the Christian faith, who did it? The Spaniards. When the +Turks threatened to become masters of the seas, who went out to meet +them? Spain and her Don Juan. And who went to discover a new world +but the ships of Spain; and who sailed round the world but another +Spaniard, Magallanes; and for everything great it has always been us, +always us, in those days of religion and prosperity. And what can +we say about learning? Those centuries produced Spain's most famous +men--great poets and most eminent theologians; no one has equalled +them since. And to show that religion is the source of all greatness, +the most illustrious writers have worn the religious habit. I guess +what will be your argument, that after such glorious kings came others +less distinguished, and so the decadence commenced. I know something +about that also. I have heard the librarian of the Cathedral and other +people of great learning say this. But this really means nothing. +These are the designs of God, by which He puts His people to the +proof, just as He does with individuals, bringing them down to low +estate, to raise them again to great honour, so that they may continue +in the right way. But we will not speak of this; if there has been +a decadence we do not want to know anything about it. We want the +glorious past, the brilliant times of the Catholic kings, of Don +Carlos and the two Philips, and it is on them that we fix our eyes +when we talk of Spain returning to her good old times." + +"But those centuries, Don Antolin," said Gabriel calmly, "were those +of Spanish decadence; in them was begun our ruin. I am not surprised +at your anger; you repeat what you have been taught. There are people +here of the highest education who are not less irritated if you touch +what they call their golden age. The fault is in the education that +is given in this country. All history is a lie, and to know it so +misrepresented it would be far better not to know it at all. In the +schools the past of the country is taught from the point of view of a +savage, who appreciates a thing because it shines and not because of +its worth or utility. Spain was great, and was on the high road to +become the first nation in the world, by solid and positive merits +that the hazards of war or policy could not have destroyed; but that +was before the centuries that you praise, before the times of the +foreign kings: in the Middle Ages which held great hopes, which have +vanished since the consolidation of national unity. Our Middle Ages +produced a cultivated, industrious and civilised people like none +other in the world; they had in them the materials for the building of +a great nation; but foreign architects came in who hastily ran up this +edifice; those first few years of existence that astound you with the +splendour of novelty, and among whose ruins we are still groping." + +Gabriel forgot all his prudence in the ardour of discussion. He felt +no fear of Silver Stick, with his manner of an inquisitor incapable of +reasoning. He wished to convince him; he felt all the fervour, all the +irresistible impulse of his proselytising days, without trying in any +way to disguise his feelings from consideration of the atmosphere +surrounding him. Don Antolin listened to him in astonishment, fixing +on him his cold glance. The others listened, feeling confusedly the +marvel that such ideas should be enunciated in the cloister of a +cathedral. Don Martin, the chaplain of the nuns, who stood behind his +miserly protector, showed in his eyes the eager sympathy with which he +heard Luna's words. + +He described the Hispano-Roman people over whom the Gothic invasion +swept, without, however, causing a gap, because before long the +conquerors had succumbed to the lower Latin degeneration, remaining +without strength, spending themselves in theological struggles and +dynastic intrigues like those of Byzantium. The regeneration of Spain +did not come from the north with the hordes of barbarians, but from +the south with the invading Arabs. At first they were few, but they +were sufficient to conquer Roderick and his corrupt courtiers. The +instinct of the Christian nationality revolting against the invaders, +and the gathering together of the whole soul of Spain on the rocky +heights of Covadonga to fall once more upon their conquerors, was all +a lie. The Spain of those days gratefully welcomed the people from +Africa and submitted without resistance. A squadron of Arab horsemen +was sufficient to make a town open its gates. It was a civilising +expedition more than a conquest, and a continual current of +immigration was established over the Straits. Over them came that +young and vigorous culture, of such rapid and astonishing growth, +which seemed to conquer though it was scarcely born: that civilisation +created by the religious enthusiasm of the Prophet, who had +assimilated all that was best in Judaism and in Byzantine +civilisation, carrying along with it also the great Indian traditions, +fragments from Persia and much from mysterious China. It was the +Orient entering into Europe, not as the Assyrian monarchs into Greece, +which repelled them seeing her liberties in danger, but the exact +opposite, into Spain, the slave of theological kings and warlike +bishops, which received the invaders with open arms. In two years they +became masters of what it took seven centuries to dispossess them. It +was not an invasion contested by arms, but a youthful civilisation +that threw out roots in every part. The principle of religious liberty +which cements all great nationalities came in with them, and in the +conquered towns they accepted the Church of the Christians and the +synagogues of the Jews. The Mosque did not fear the temples it found +in the country, it respected them, placing itself among them without +jealousy or desire of domination. From the eighth to the fifteenth +century the most elevated and opulent civilisation of the Middle Ages +in Europe was formed and flourished. While the people of the north +were decimating each other in religious wars, and living in tribal +barbarity, the population of Spain rose to thirty millions, gathering +to herself all races and all beliefs in infinite variety, like the +modern American people. Christians and Mussulmans, pure Arabs, +Syrians, Egyptians, Jews of Spanish extraction, and Jews from the East +all lived peaceably together, hence the various crossings and mixtures +of Muzarabes, Mudejares, Muladies and Hebrews. In this prolific +amalgamation of peoples and races all the habits, ideas, and +discoveries known up to then in the world met; all the arts, sciences, +industries, inventions and culture of the old civilisations budded +out into fresh discoveries of creative energy. Silk, cotton, coffee, +oranges, lemons, pomegranates, sugar, came with them from the East, as +also carpets, silk tissues, gauzes, damascene work and gunpowder. With +them also came the decimal numeration algebra, alchemy, chemistry, +medicine, cosmology and rhymed poetry. The Greek philosophers, who +were nearly vanishing into oblivion, saved themselves by following the +footsteps of the Arab conquerors. Aristotle reigned in the university +of Cordoba. That spirit of chivalry arose among the Spanish Arabs, +which has since been appropriated by the warriors of the north, as +though it were a special quality belonging to Christian people. While +in the barbarous Europe of the Franks, the Anglo-Normans, and the +Germans, the people lived in hovels, and the kings and barons in rocky +castles blackened by the smoke of their fires, devoured by vermin, +dressed in coarse serge, and fed like prehistoric man, the Spanish +Arabs were raising their fantastic Alcazars, and, with the refinement +of ancient Rome, they met at their baths to converse on all literary +and scientific questions. If any monk from the north felt the hunger +of learning, he came to the Arab universities or the Jewish synagogues +of Spain, and the kings of Europe thought they would be cured of their +infirmities if, by dint of golden bribes, they could procure a Spanish +physician. + +When little by little the aboriginal element separated itself from the +invaders and small Christian nationalities arose, the Arabs and the +old Spaniards (if indeed after the constant mingling of blood there +was any difference between the two races) fought chivalrously without +exterminating each other after the battles, mutually respecting one +another, with long intervals of peace, as though they wished to +retard the moment of final separation, and often joining in various +enterprises. + +A system of liberty ruled in most of the Christian States. The Cortes +arose much earlier than in the other western countries of Europe, and +the Spanish people governed and regulated their expenses themselves, +seeing only in their king a military chief. The municipalities were +little republics with their own elected magistrates. The town militia +realised the ideal of a democratic army. The Church at one with the +people lived peacefully with the other religions in the country; an +intelligent bourgeoisie created large industries in the interior, and +fitted out the first navy of the times at their own cost, and Spanish +products were more sought after than any other in all the ports +of Europe. There were towns then as populous as any of the modern +capitals; whole populations devoted themselves to weaving different +kinds of stuffs, and everything was cultivated on the soil of the +Peninsula. + +The Catholic kings marked the apogee of national strength, but it was +the beginning also of its decadence. Their reign was great because the +flow of energy begun in the Middle Ages lasted till their times; but +it was execrable, because their tortuous policy turned Spain from the +right way, rousing in us religious fanaticism and the ambition of +universal empire. Two or three centuries ahead of the rest of Europe, +Spain was for the world of those days what England is for our own +times. If we had followed the same policy of religious toleration, of +fusion of races, of industrial and agricultural work in preference to +military enterprises, where should we not be now? + +Gabriel asked this question, interrupting his ardent description of +the past. + +"The Renaissance," continued Luna, "was more Spanish than Italian. In +Italy the literature of antiquity, and Greco-Roman art revived, but +the Renaissance was not entirely literary. The Renaissance represents +the springing into life of a new and cultivated society, with arts +and manufactures, armies and, scientific knowledge, etc. And who +accomplished this but Spain, that Arab-Hebrew-Christian Spain of the +Catholic kings? The Gran Capitan taught the world the art of modern +warfare; Pedro Navarro was a wonderful engineer; the Spanish troops +were the first to use firearms, and they created also the infantry, +making war democratic, as it gave the people the superiority over the +noble horsemen clad in armour; finally, it was Spain who discovered +America." + +"And does all this seem little to you?" interrupted Don Antolin. "Do +you not exactly agree with what I said? We have never seen so much +power and greatness united in Spain as in the times of those kings, +who with reason some call the Catholics." + +"I agree that it was a grand period of our history; the last that was +really glorious, the last gleam that flashed before that Spain, who +alone walked in the right way, was extinguished. But before their +deaths the Catholic kings commenced the decadence by dismembering that +strong and healthy Spain of the Arabs, the Christians and the Jews. +You are right, Don Antolin, to say that those kings are not called +the Catholics for nothing. Doña Isabel with her feminine fanaticism +established the Inquisition, so science extinguished her lamp in the +mosques and synagogues, and hid her books in Christian convents. +Seeing that the hour for praying, instead of reading, had come, +Spanish thought took refuge in darkness, trembling in cold and +solitude, and ended by dying. What remained devoted itself to poetry, +to comedies and theological tracts. Science became a pathway that led +to the bonfire; and then came a fresh calamity, the expulsion of the +Spanish Jews, so saturated with the spirit of this country, loving it +so dearly, that even to-day, after four centuries, scattered on the +shores of the Danube or the Bosphorus there are Spanish Jews who weep, +like old Castillians, for their lost country: + + 'Perdimos la bella Sion; + Perdimos tambien España + Nido de consolacion.'[1] + +[Footnote 1: 'We lost our lovely Sion; we also lost our Spain, that +nest of consolation.] + +"That people who had given Maimonides to the science of the Middle +Ages, and who were the mainstay of all the industries and commerce +of Spain, left our country _en masse_. Spain, deceived by its +extraordinary vitality was opening its own veins to satisfy the +growing fanaticism, believing that it could survive this loss without +danger. Afterwards came what a modern writer has called 'the foreign +body,' interposing itself in our national life--those Austrians who +came to reign and caused Spain to lose her distinctive character." + +"Gabriel," interrupted the priest, "you are talking absurdities. The +true Spain began with the emperor, and went on equally gloriously +under Don Philip II. This is the pure and uncorrupted Spain that we +ought to take as an example, and which we hope to restore." + +"No. The pure and uncorrupted Spain, the Spanish Spain without foreign +admixture, is that of the Arabs, Moors and Jews, that of religious +tolerance, that of industrial and agricultural wealth, and of free +municipalities; that which perished under the Catholic kings. What +came after was a Teutonic and a Flemish Spain turned into a German +colony, serving as a mercenary under foreign standards, ruining itself +in undertakings in which it had no interest, shedding blood and gold +for the ambition of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. I can understand +the enchantment that the emperor exercised over the bigoted and +ignorant people who worshipped the past. A great man that Don Carlos! +Brave in fight, astute in politics, jolly and hearty as one of the +burgomasters of his own country; a great eater, a great drinker, and +loving to catch the girls round the waist. But he had nothing Spanish +about him. He only appreciated his mother's heritage for what he could +wring out of it. Spain became a servant to Germany, ready to supply +as many men as were required, and to furnish loans and taxes. All the +exuberant life garnered in this country by Hispano-Arab culture +was absorbed by the north in less than a hundred years. The free +municipalities disappeared, their defenders went to the scaffold both +in Castille and Valencia; the Spaniard abandoned his plough or his +weaving to range the world with an arquebus on his shoulder, and the +town militias were transformed into bands which fought all over Europe +without knowing why. The flourishing towns became villages; churches +were turned into convents; the popular and tolerant clergy were +changed into friars who imitated with servile complacency the German +fanaticism. The fields remained barren for want of hands to cultivate +them, the poor dreamt of becoming rich from the sack of the enemy's +towns and left their work; the industrious burghers abandoned commerce +as only fit for heretics, and became nurseries of clerks and petty +magistrates; and the armies of Spain as unbeaten and glorious as they +were ragged, with no pay but pillage and in continual mutiny against +their chiefs, flooded our country with a swarm of wretched vagabonds, +from whence proceeded the bully, the beggar with his blunderbuss, the +highwayman, the wandering hermits, the starving nobleman, and all +those characters of which picturesque novels have availed themselves." + +"But, the devil, Gabriel!" cried indignantly Silver Stick; "do you +deny that Don Carlos, who built the Alcazar of Toledo, and Don Philip +II., who lived in this very cloister, were two great kings?" + +"I do not deny it; they were two extraordinary men, but they killed +Spain for ever. They were two foreigners, two Germans; Philip II. +clothed himself with a false Spaniardism to continue the German policy +of his father. This masquerading caused us great harm, because there +are many men now who think of him as the noblest representation of a +Spaniard. The absurd inventions and lapses from truth to which those +times give rise are enough to drive one mad. Many Catholics dream of +canonising Philip II. for the cold cruelty with which he exterminated +heretics, but such a king had really no Catholicism but his own; he +was heir to the German Cæsarism, that eternal hammer of the Popes. +Driven by pride, he was always sailing to the windward of schism and +heresy; that he did not break with the Pontificate was solely that +this latter feared that the Spanish soldiery, who had twice entered +Rome, would remain there for ever, and that it would have to submit to +all their extortions. The father and son robbed us with dissimulation +of our nationality, and dissipated our life for their purely personal +plans of reviving the Cæsarism of Charlemagne and forming the Catholic +religion to their own imagination and taste. They nearly destroyed the +ancient religious feeling of Spain, so cultivated and tolerant from +its continual intercourse with Mahomedanism and Judaism; that Spanish +Church, whose priests lived peacefully in the towns with the alfaqui +and the rabbi, and who punished with moral penalties those who from +excess of zeal disturbed the worship of the infidels. That religious +intolerance which foreign historians consider a purely Spanish product +was really imported by the German Caesars. It was the German friar who +came with his devout brutality and his crazy theology, not tempered +as in Spain by Semitic culture. With their intolerance and +impracticability they provoked the revolution of the Reformation in +the northern countries, and, driven out of them, they came here to +plant afresh their ignorance and fanaticism. The ground was well +prepared. When the free towns whose municipalities were republics +fell, the people also languished; the foreign seed produced in a +short time an immense forest, the forest of the Inquisition and the +fanaticism which still exists; the modern woodmen cut and lop, but +they soon fall off wearied; the arms of one man can do little against +a trunk that has grown for centuries. Fire, nothing but fire, can +exterminate that cursed vegetation." + +Don Antolin opened his eyes in horror. He was not angry now, he seemed +quite thunderstruck by Luna's words. + +"Gabriel, my son!" he exclaimed; "you are 'greener' than I thought. +Just think where you are; remember what you are saying. We are in the +Holy Metropolitan Church of all the Spains." + +But Luna was fairly launched by the renewal of his historical +remembrances and he was not to be stopped, driven on as he was by his +propagandist zeal. He was fired by the old oratorical fervour, and he +spoke as at those meetings when he could scarcely continue his speech +for the applause, and the protests and surging of the multitude +obstructing the police. + +The horror of the priest only seemed to excite him more. + +"Philip II.," he continued, "was a foreigner, a German to the very +bones. His grave taciturnity, his slow and penetrating mind, were not +Spanish, they were Flemish. The impassibility with which he received +the reverses which ruined the nation was that of a foreigner who was +bound by no ties of affection to the country. 'It is better to reign +over corpses than over heretics,' he said, and corpses the Spaniards +really were, condemned not to think, but to lie in order to conceal +their thoughts. All the ancient offices had disappeared. Outside +the Church there was no future for any adventurous soul, except in +America--which ceased to be of any use to the nation after it became +converted into the treasure chest of the king--or to be a soldier +fighting in Europe for the rehabilitation of the Holy German Empire, +for the subjection of the Pope to the Emperor or the extinction of the +reformed religion, undertakings that in no way concerned Spain, but +were all the same very blood-letting affairs, even for those who +escaped with their lives. All the handicraftsmen disappeared, carried +away to the armies, and the towns became filled with invalids and +veterans, carrying their rusty swords, their only proof of personal +valour. All the middle-class guilds were suppressed; there only +remained nobles proud of being servants to the king and a populace +who only asked for bread and entertainments, like the Romans, and +contented themselves with the broth from the convents and the burning +of heretics organised by the Inquisition. + +"After this, ruin overwhelmed us; after the great Caesars, so fatal to +Spain, came the little ones--Philip III., who gave the final blow by +expelling the Moors; Philip IV., a degenerate with literary fancies, +who wrote verses and courted nuns, and the miserable Charles II. + +"Spain had never been so religious, Don Antolin," said Luna. "The +Church was mistress of everything; the ecclesiastical tribunals judged +even the king himself, but secular justice could not touch even the +hem of a garment of the lowest sacristan, even though he committed the +greatest crimes in the public streets. Only the Church could judge its +own; as Barrioneuva relates in his memoirs, friars armed to the teeth +wrested from the king's justice at the foot of the scaffold, in broad +daylight in the midst of the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, one of their own +brothers condemned for murder. The Inquisition, not satisfied with +burning heretics, judged and punished gangs of cattle-lifters. Men of +letters, terrified, took refuge in ornamental literature as the last +refuge of thought, confining themselves to the production of witty +novels or plays, in which a fantastic honour was exalted which only +existed in poets' imagination, while the greatest corruption of morals +reigned. The great Spanish genius ignored or feigned to ignore what +the religious revolution beyond the frontiers was saying. Quevedo +only, who was the most daring, ventured to say: + + 'With the Inquisition.... + Hush! Silence!' + +the sad epitaph of Spanish thought which preferred to perish as it +could not speak the truth. In order to live quietly and support +themselves in those days of ignorance, many poets sought the shadow +of the Church and wore its vestments. Lope de Vega, Calderon, Tirsode +Molina, Miradamerscua, Tarriga, Argensola, Gongora, Rioja, and others +were priests, many of them after stormy lives. Montalban was a priest +and employed in the Inquisition, and even the poor Cervantes, in +his old age, had to take the habit of St. Francis. Spain had eleven +thousand convents, more than a hundred thousand friars, and forty +thousand nuns, and to these must be added seventy-eight thousand +priests and the innumerable servitors and dependents of the Church, +such as alguaciles, familiars, jailors, and notaries of the +Inquisition, sacristans, stewards, buleros,[1] convent door-porters, +choristers, singers, lay brothers, novices--and I know not how many +other people. In exchange, the nation from a population of thirty +millions had shrunk to seven millions in less than two hundred +years. The expulsion of Jews and Moors by religious intolerance, the +continual foreign wars, the emigration to America in the hopes of +growing rich without work, hunger, the lack of sanitation, and the +abandonment of agriculture, had brought about this rapid depopulation. +The revenues of Spain had fallen to fourteen million ducats, whereas +the clerical revenue had risen to eight millions; the Church possessed +more than half the national fortune! What times! Eh, Don Antolin?" + +[Footnote 1: _Buleros_--One charged with distributing crusading bulls +and collecting alms for them.] + +Silver Stick listened coldly, as though he had formed some definite +idea about Luna, and therefore did not make much account of his words. + +"However bad they were," he said slowly, "they could not be worse than +they are at present. At all events no one robbed the Church. Everyone +was contented in his poverty, thinking of heaven, which is the only +truth, and the worship of God which corresponds to it. Is it that you +possibly do not believe in God?" + +Gabriel avoided an answer, and went on talking of those times. + +"It was a period of barbarism and stagnation, and while Europe was +developing and progressing the people who had been foremost in all +civilisation were now left far behind. The kings, inspired by Spanish +pride and the hereditary pretensions of the German Caesars, conceived +the mad idea of mastering all Europe, with no more support than +a nation of seven million of inhabitants, and a few companies of +ill-paid and starving soldiers. The gold from America had gone to fill +the Dutchmen's purses, and in this undertaking, worthy of Don Quixote, +the nation received blow after blow. Spain became more and more +Catholic, poorer and more barbarous. She aspired to conquer the whole +world, yet in the interior she had whole provinces uninhabited; many +of the old towns had disappeared, the roads were obliterated and no +one in Spain knew for certain the geography of the country though few +were ignorant of the situation of heaven and of purgatory. The farms +of any fertility were not occupied by granges but by convents, and +along the few highways bivouacked bands of robbers, who took refuge, +when they found themselves pursued, in the monasteries, where they +were welcomed for their piety, and for the many masses they ordered +for their sinful souls. + +"The ignorance was atrocious, the kings were advised even in warlike +matters by priests. Charles II., when the Dutch troops offered to +garrison the Spanish towns in Flanders, consulted with the clerics as +on a case of conscience, because this might facilitate the diffusion +of heresy, and he ended by preferring to let them fall into the hands +of the French, who, although they were enemies, were at all events +Catholics. In the university of Salamanca the poet Torres de +Villarroel could not find a single work on geography, and when he +spoke of mathematics, the pupils assured him it was a kind of sorcery, +a devilish science that could only be understood by anointing oneself +with an ointment used by witches. The theologians rejected the project +of a canal to unite the Tagus and the Manzanares, saying that this +would be a work against the will of God; but having laid this +down--fiat--the two rivers joined themselves even though they had +been separated from the beginning of the world. The doctors of Madrid +begged Philip IV. to allow the refuse to remain in the streets +'because the air of the town being exceedingly keen, it would cause +great ravages unless it were impregnated with the vapours from the +filth,' and a century later, a famous theologian in Seville registered +in a public document with those who were discussing with him, 'that +we would far rather err with Saint Clement, Saint Basil and Saint +Augustin, than agree with Descartes and Newton.' + +"Philip II. had threatened with death and confiscation anyone who +published foreign books or who circulated manuscripts, and his +successors forbade any Spaniard to write on political subjects, so, +finding no ways of expansion for thought, they devoted themselves to +fine arts and poetry; painting and the theatre rose to a higher level +than in any other country; they were the safety valves of the national +genius; but this spring of art was only ephemeral, for in the midst of +the seventeenth century a grotesque and debasing decadence overwhelmed +everything. + +"The poverty in those centuries was horrible; that same Philip II., +though he was lord of the world, put up titles of nobility for sale +for the sum of six thousand reals, noting on the margin of the decree +'that it was not necessary to inquire much into the quality and origin +of the people.' In Madrid the people sacked the bakeries, fighting +with their fists for the bread. The president of Castille travelled +through the province with the executioner to wring the scanty harvest +from the peasants. The collectors of taxes, finding nothing that they +could collect in the towns, tore off the roofs of the houses, selling +the woodwork and the tiles. The families fled to the mountains +whenever they saw in the distance the king's representative, and so +the towns remained deserted and fell into ruins. Hunger came in even +to the royal palaces, and Charles II., Lord of Spain and of the +Indies, was unable on several occasions to procure food for his +servants. The ambassadors of England and Denmark were obliged to sally +forth with their armed servants to seek for bread in the suburbs of +Madrid. + +"And amidst all this the innumerable convents, masters of more than +half the country and the sole possessors of wealth, showed their +charity by distributing soup to those who had strength to fetch it, +and by founding asylums and hospitals, where the people died of misery +though they were certain of reaching heaven. The ancient manufactures +had all disappeared. Segovia, so famous for its cloth, that had +employed over 40,000 persons in its manufacture, only held 15,000 +inhabitants, and these had so completely forgotten the art of weaving +wool that when Philip V. wished to re-establish the industry, he was +obliged to import German weavers. + +"And it was the same thing in Seville, in Valencia, and in Medina del +Campo, so famous for their fairs and their manufactures," continued +Gabriel. "Seville which in the fifteenth century had 16,000 silk +weavers, at the end of the seventeenth could only produce 65. Though +it is true in exchange its Cathedral clergy numbered 117 canons, and +it had 78 convents, with more than 4,000 friars and 14,000 priests +in the diocese. And Toledo? At the close of the fifteenth century +it employed 50,000 artisans in its silk and wool weaving and in its +factory of arms, to say nothing of curriers, silversmiths, glovers, +and jewellers; at the end of the seventeenth century it had hardly +15,000 inhabitants. Everything was decayed, everything was ruined; +twenty-five houses belonging to illustrious families had passed into +the hands of the convents, and the only rich people in the town were +the friars, the archbishop and the Cathedral. Spain was so exhausted +at the end of the Austrian rule that she saw herself nearly divided +among the different powers of Europe, like Poland, another Catholic +country like ours. The quarrels among the kings were the only thing +that saved her." + +"If those times were so bad, Gabriel," said Silver Stick, "how was +it the Spaniards showed such unanimity? How was it there were no +'pronunciamientos' and risings in these deplorable times?" + +"What could they do? The despotism of the Caesars had imposed on the +Spaniards a blind obedience to the kings as the representatives +of God, and the clergy had educated them in this belief from the +community of interests between the Church and the throne. Even the +most illustrious poets corrupted the people, exalting servility to the +monarchy in their plays. Calderon affirmed that the property and life +of a citizen did not belong to himself but to the king. Besides, +religion filled everything; it was the sole end of existence, and the +Spaniards meditating always on heaven, ended by accustoming themselves +to the miseries of earth. Do not doubt but the excess of religion was +our ruin, and came very near exterminating us as a nation. Even now we +are dragging along the consequences of this plague which lasted for +centuries. To save this country from death what had to be done? The +foreigners had to be called in, and the Bourbons came. See how low we +had fallen that we had not even soldiers. In this land, even if we +were wanting in other advantages, we could from the earliest days +reckon on good warlike leaders; but look, in the war of succession we +had to have English and French generals, and even officers, for there +was not a Spaniard who could train a cannon or command a company; we +had no one to serve us as a minister, and under Philip V. and Fernando +VI. all the Government were foreigners, strangers called in to revive +the lost manufactures, to reclaim the derelict lands, to repair the +ancient irrigation channels, and to found colonies in the deserts +inhabited by wild beasts and bandits. Spain, who had colonised half +the world after her own fashion, was now re-discovered and colonised +by Europeans.[1] The Spaniards seemed like poor Indians, guided by +their Cacique the friar, with their rags covered with scapularies and +miracle-working relics. Anti-clericalism was the only remedy against +all this superstition and ruin, and this spirit came in with the +foreign colonists. Philip V. wished to suppress the Inquisition and to +end the naval war with the Mussulman nations which had lasted for a +thousand years, depopulating the shores of the Mediterranean with the +fear of the Barbary and Turkish pirates. But the natives resisted any +reform coming from the colonists, and the first Bourbon had to desist, +finding his crown in danger. Later on his immediate successors, having +deeper roots in the country dared to continue his work. Carlos III. +in his endeavour to civilise Spain laid a heavy hand on the Church, +limiting its privileges and curtailing its revenues, being careful of +earthly things and forgetful of the heavenly. The bishops protested, +speaking in letters and pastorals 'of the persecutions of the poor +Church, robbed of its goods, outraged in its ministers, and attacked +in its immunities,' but the awakened country rejoiced in the +only prosperous days it had known in modern times before the +disestablishment. Europe was ruled by philosophic kings and Charles +III. was one of them. The echo of the English revolution still +vibrated through the world; the monarchs now wished to be loved and +not feared, and in every country they struggled against the ignorance +and brutality of the masses, bringing about progressive reforms +by royal enactment and even by force. But the great evil of the +monarchical system was its heredity, the power settled in one family, +for the son of a clever man with good intentions might be an imbecile. +After Charles III. came Charles IV., and as if this were not +sufficient, in the year of his death the French revolution broke out, +which made all the kings in Europe tremble, and the Bourbons of Spain +quite lost their heads, which they were never able to recover. They +went astray, wandering from the right way, throwing themselves once +more into the arms of the Church as the only means of avoiding the +revolutionary danger, and they have not yet returned, nor will they, +to the right track. Jesuits, friars and bishops became once more the +counsellors at the palace, as they still are, as in the times when +Carlos II. concocted his military and political plans with a council +of theologians. We have had false revolutions which have dethroned +people, but not ideas. It is true we have advanced a little, but +timidly, with halting footsteps and disorderly retreats, like one who +advances fearfully, and suddenly, at the slightest noise, rushes back +to the point of departure. The transformation has been more exterior +than interior. The minds of the people are still in the seventeenth +century; they still feel the fear and cowardice engendered by the +inquisitorial bonfires. The Spaniards are slaves to their very marrow; +their pride and their energies are all on the surface; they have not +lived through three centuries of ecclesiastical servitude for nothing. +They have made revolutions, they are capable of rebelling, but they +will always stop short at the threshold of the Church, who was their +mistress by force and remains so still, even though its power has +vanished. There is no fear of them entering here. You may remain quite +easy, Don Antolin, though in justice many accounts might be required +of her from the past. Is it because they are as religious as formerly? +You know that this is not the case, though they complain with reason +of the way in which the ancient grandeur of the Church has been +extinguished without popular aid." + +[Footnote 1: In 1897 an Act was passed "to colonise derelict land in +Spain."] + +"That is true," said Silver Stick; "there is no faith. No one is +capable of making any sacrifice for the house of God. Only in the hour +of death, when fear comes in, do some of them remember to assist us +with their fortune." + +"There is no faith, that is the truth. The Spaniard, after that +religious fever that nearly killed him, lived in a state of perfect +indifference, not from scientific reflection but from inability to +think at all. They know they will go either to heaven or hell; they +believe it because they have been taught so, but they let themselves +be carried on by the stream of life, without the strength to choose +either one place or the other. They accept the established, living +in a sort of an intellectual somnambulism. If now and then thought +awakening suggests some criticism it is smothered at once by fear; +the Inquisition still lives among us though we have no longer the +bonfires, but we are terribly afraid of 'what will be said.' A +stationary and narrow-minded society is our modern holy office. He +who raises his protest, rising above the general and common monotony, +draws upon himself the stupid anger of scandalised man, and suffers +punishment; if he is poor he is put to the proof of hunger, his means +of life being cut away from him, and if he is independent he is burned +in effigy, creating emptiness around him. Everyone must be correct and +agree to what is established, and hence it arises, that, bound to +one another by fear, never an original thought arises, there is no +independent thought, and even the learned keep to themselves the +conclusions they draw from their studies. As long as this goes on the +task of the revolutionary is useless in this country; they may change +the apparent nature of the soil, but when the pickaxe strikes they +come at once on the stones of ages, solid and compact. The national +character though it has lost its religious faith is unchanged. Faith +is dead, but the corpse still remains with the appearance of life, +occupying the same place and obstructing the pathway. The Church is +poor and driven into a corner compared to what it was formerly, Don +Antolin, but do not fear, its situation will not be aggravated, the +tide has risen to its full height and will not overflow; as long as +the people in this country are afraid to say what they think, as long +as they are scandalised by a new idea, and tremble at what their +neighbours will say, so long will they laugh at revolutions, for +however much they break out, none of these will bring the water to +your mouths." + +Don Antolin laughed on hearing this. + +"But Gabrielillo, man--you must be mad. All this reading and +travelling has turned your head. At first I was indignant, thinking +you were among those who wished for another revolution to take +away the little that is left to us, proclaiming the republic and +suppressing all ecclesiastical things, but I see that you go much +beyond this, that you conform to nothing, and that everything seems to +you the worst; and this rather pleases me, because I see you are not a +terrible enemy to be feared as you fire from too far. It seems to me +that your head is as much affected as your chest. But do all these +revolutions we have had seem as nothing to you? Do you think the +country is still as savage as you have described it in past years? But +I," continued the priest ironically, "hear a great deal said about the +progress of the country, and I know that we have railways, and that +the long chimneys are arising in all the town suburbs, and many of the +impious are delighted at this, comparing them to the church belfries." + +"Bah!" exclaimed Gabriel indifferently. "There is a little of this +progress; the revolutions have placed Spain in touch with other +countries, the progressive current has caught this country and is +carrying it along as the Asiatics and others are carried; no one +can escape it nowadays. But we advance at very low water, inert and +without strength; if we advance it is with the current, and not by +our own energy, while other people stronger than we swim and swim, +advancing at every stroke. How have we contributed to this progress? +Where are our manifestations of modern life? The railways, few and +bad, are the work of foreigners, and are their property; the grass +grows between the rails, which shows that we still follow the holy +calm of carts and wagons. The most important industries, metallurgy +and mines, are all in the hands of foreigners or of Spaniards who are +subject to them, living under their bountiful protection. Commerce +languishes under an old-fashioned protection which enhances the price +of all commodities, and so there is no capital forthcoming; money +remains hidden in earthen jars in the fields as treasure, or in the +towns is devoted to usury as in past times; the most daring venture +to invest in public stock; Government continues the mismanagement, +certain of always finding someone to lend, and pointing to this credit +as a proof of the country's prosperity. There are in Spain two million +hectares of uncultivated land, twenty-six millions of unirrigated +arable land, and only one million irrigated. This cultivation of +unirrigated land, which has come to be almost our only agriculture +is a concession that Spanish indolence makes to hunger, a perpetual +demonstration of the fanaticism that trusts in prayer or in the rain +from heaven more than in human progress. The rivers rush to the sea +through scorched-up provinces overflowing in winter, not to fertilise, +but to carry away everything in the volume of the inundation; there is +plenty of stone for churches and new convents, but none for dykes and +reservoirs; they build belfries and cut down the trees that attract +the rain. And do not tell me again, Don Antolin, that the Church is +poor and in no ways in fault; the poor are yourselves, you of the old +and traditional Church, you of the religion 'à la Española,' for in +this as in everything else there are fashions, and the faithful +follow the most recent; for here are the Jesuits, the most modern +manifestation of Catholicism, the 'latest novelty,' with their Sacred +Heart of Jesus and other French idolatries, building palaces and +churches in all directions, diverting the money that formerly went to +the Cathedrals, the only evidence of wealth in the country. But let us +return to our progress. Worse even for agriculture than the drought +is the ignorance and routine of the labourers, every new invention or +scientific appliance repels them, thinking it evil. 'The old times +were the good ones, our ancestors cultivated in this way and so ought +we'; and so ignorance is turned into a sort of national glory, and +we cannot hope for any remedy at present. In other countries the +universities and high schools send out reformers, men fighting for +progress; here the centres of learning only send out a proletariat +of students who must live, besieging all the professions and public +appointments, with the sole desire to open themselves a way to +continuous employment. They study (if you can call it study) for a few +years, not to learn, but to gain a diploma, a scrap of paper which +authorises them to earn their bread. They learn anything that the +professor teaches, without the slightest desire to inquire any +further. The professors are for the greater part doctors or barristers +practising their profession, who come between whiles and sit for an +hour in their chairs, repeating like a phonograph what they have said +for many previous years, and then they return to their sick or their +lawsuits, without caring in the least what is being said or written in +the world since they got their appointments. All Spanish culture is at +second hand, purely on the surface, 'translated from the French,' and +even this is only for the scanty minority who read, for the rest of +those so-called intellectuals have no other library but the text-books +they studied as children, and all they learn of the progress of human +thought is from the newspapers. The parents who are desirous of +securing as soon as possible the future of their sons who are seeking +a career, send them to these centres of learning when they scarcely +know how to speak; the man-student of other countries, in the +full plenitude of his thinking powers, does not exist here. The +universities are full of children, and in the different institutes you +only see short trousers, and the Spaniard, before he shaves himself +for the first time, is a licentiate and on the high road to become +a doctor; the wet nurse will end by sitting by the professor. These +children who receive the baptism of science at an age when in other +countries they are playing with their toys, being confirmed in the +title that proclaims their scientific acquirements, study no more; +these are the intellectuals who are to direct and save us, and who +to-morrow may be legislators and ministers. Come, my good man, it is +enough to make one laugh!" + +Gabriel did not laugh, but Silver Stick and the others applauded his +words. Any criticism against the present times delighted the priest. + +"This country is drained, Don Antolin, nothing remains standing. The +number of towns which have vanished since our decadence commenced is +incalculable. In other countries ruins are carefully preserved, as +so many stone pages of their history; they are cleaned, preserved, +supported and strengthened, and paths opened round them so that all +can examine them. Here, where Roman, Byzantine and Arab art have +passed, and also the Mudejar, the Gothic and the Renaissance--in fact, +all the styles of Europe--the ruins in the country are hidden and +disfigured by herbage and creepers, and in the towns they are +mutilated and disfigured by the vandalism of the people. They are +constantly thinking of the past, and yet they despise its remains; +what a country of dreams and desolation! Spain is no longer a country, +it is an ill-arranged and dusty museum, full of old things that +attract all the curious of Europe, but in which even the ruins are +ruined." + +The eyes of Don Martin, the young curate, fastened themselves on +Gabriel. They seemed to speak to him and express the pleasure with +which he heard his words. The other listeners, silent and with bowed +heads, did not feel less the enchantment of those propositions which +sounded so audaciously in the restful and rank atmosphere of the +cloister. Don Antolin was the only one who laughed, finding Gabriel's +ideas quite charming but absolutely crazy It was getting late and the +sun had sunk below the roofs of the Cathedral. Silver Stick's niece +called to them once again from the door of her house. + +"We are coming, child," said the priest, "but I have one thing first +to say to this gentleman." + +And addressing himself to Luna, he continued: + +"But, Hombre de Dios![1]--but I ought not to call you that as you +are so turbulent--you think everything is out of joint. The Spanish +Church, worn out as you say, has become very poor, and still you say +this revolution is a very small affair. What do you wish for? What +is it that you desire so that things might be settled? Tell us your +secret quickly and let us go, for the cold is very sharp." + +[Footnote 1: Man of God.] + +And he laughed again, looking at Gabriel with paternal pity as though +he were a child. + +"My remedy!" exclaimed Gabriel, taking no notice of the priest's +gesture. "I have no remedy whatever, it is the progress of humanity +that alone offers one. All the nations on earth have passed through +the same evolutions; first of all they were ruled by the sword, then +by faith, and now by science. We ourselves have been ruled by warriors +and priests, but now we tarry at the gate of modern life, without the +strength or wish to take science by the hand, who is the only guide +we could have, hence our sad situation. Science is nowadays in +everything--in agriculture, in all manufactures, in arts and crafts, +in the culture and well-being of the people; it is even in war. Spain +still lives far from the sun of science, at most she knows a pale +reflection, cold and feeble, that comes to us from foreign countries. +The failure of faith has left us without strength, like those +creatures who, having suffered from a severe illness in their youth, +remain anaemic for ever, without possible recuperation, condemned to +premature old age." + +"Bah! Science!" said Silver Stick, turning towards his house; "that +is the eternal cry of all the enemies of religion. There is no better +science than to love God and His works. Good evening." + +"Very good evening, Don Antolin; but remember this, we have not yet +done with faith and the sword; sometimes one directs us or the other +drives us; but of science, never a word, unless Spain has changed in +the last twenty-four hours." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +After this evening Gabriel avoided the meetings in the cloister, so +as to have no more discussions with Silver Stick. He repented of his +audacity, and when he was alone reflected on the danger to which +he had exposed himself in expressing his views so freely. He felt +terrified at the possibility of being expelled from the Cathedral to +roam the world afresh; he reproached himself, throwing in his own +teeth his folly in hurling himself against the prejudices of the past. +What could he hope to effect by changing the thoughts of these poor +people? What weight could the conversion of these few men, stuck +like limpets to the stones of the past, have in the emancipation of +humanity? + +The Cathedral was to Gabriel like a gigantic tumour, which blistered +the Spanish epidermis, like scars of its ancient infirmities. It was +not a muscle capable of development, but an abscess which bided its +time either to be extirpated, or to disappear of itself through the +working of the germs it contained; he had chosen this ruin as +his refuge and he ought to be silent, to be prudent so that his +ingratitude should not be flung in his face. + +Moreover, his brother Esteban, breaking the cold reserve into which he +had retired since the arrival of his daughter, counselled prudence. + +"His mind seems possessed by the demon, Esteban," said the priest, +"and he explains his views with the most perfect calmness in this holy +house, as though he were in one of those infernal clubs which exist in +foreign countries. Where on earth has your brother been to learn such +things? Never have I heard such frightful heresies. Tell him that I +shall forget it all as I have known him since his childhood, and that +I remember he was the pride of our seminary, but more especially +because he is ill, and it would be inhuman to drive him out of the +Cathedral; but he must not repeat this scandal. Silence! Let him keep +all those atrocities in his own head, if it so pleases him to lose his +soul; but in this holy house, and especially before its staff, not a +word. Do you understand? not a word. The next thing will be that he +will hold meetings in the Holy Metropolitan Church. Besides, your +brother must remember that, after all, at this moment, he is eating +the bread of the Church, as he lives on you, and is supported by you, +and it is not right to speak in this way of the most excellent work of +God, and try to point out all its defects." + +This last consideration weighed the most with Gabriel, and it wounded +his dignity. Don Antolin said rightly, he was no more than a parasite +of the Cathedral, and having taken refuge in her lap, he owed her +gratitude and silence. He would keep silence. Had he not decided +when he took refuge there to live as one dead? He would live like an +animated corpse, which in some religious orders is the supreme of +human perfection. He would think like everyone else, or rather, he +would try not to think at all, but would simply vegetate there till +his last hour came, like the plants in the garden or the fungus on the +buttresses of the cloister. + +The Cathedral servants seated themselves round the sewing machine, +hoping in vain that their master would come down, but content on the +whole, though they did not see him, to be near him, to look at his +empty seat, and to talk to the girl who expressed such ingenuous +admiration for her uncle's conversation. The Chapel-master was +delighted that Luna, his sole admirer, had returned to visit him; +during his temporary eclipse the poor musician had suffered all the +bitterness of solitude, despairing with almost infantile rage, as +though an immense audience had turned its back on him. He caressed +Gabriel as though he was the woman he loved, listening to his +coughing, and recommending all sorts of fantastic remedies imagined +by himself, uneasy at the progress of his malady and trembling at the +idea that death might tear from him his only listener. + +He told Gabriel of all the music he had studied during his absence. +When the sick man coughed much, he would cease playing his harmonium, +and begin long talks with his friend, always on the subject of his +constant preoccupation, musical art. + +"Gabriel," said the musician one evening; "you who are so keen an +observer, and who knows so much, has it ever struck you that Spain is +sad, and has not the sweet sentimentality of true poetry? She is not +melancholy, she is sad, with a wild and savage silence. She either +laughs in wild peals, or weeps moaning. She has not the gentle smile, +the joyful brightness that distinguishes the man from the animal. If +she laughs it is showing all her teeth; her inner meaning is always +gloomy, with the obscurity of a cavern in which all passions rage like +wild beasts seeking for an outlet." + +"You say truly, Spain is sad," replied Luna. "She does not now go +dressed in black, with the rosary hanging to the pommel of her sword +as in former years. Still in her heart she is always dressed in +mourning and her soul is gloomy and wild. For three hundred years the +poor thing has endured the inquisitorial anguish of burning or being +burnt, and she still feels the spasm of that life of terror. There is +no joy here." + +"There certainly is not, and you find this more in music than in any +other phase of Spanish life. The Germans dance the gay and voluptuous +waltz with a 'bock' in their hand, singing the _Gaudeamus igitur_, +that students' hymn glorifying the material life free from care. The +French sing amid rippling laughter, and dance with their free and +elastic limbs, greeting with rapturous applause their fantastic and +monkey-like movements. The English have turned their dance into +gymnastics, with the energy of a healthy body delighting in its own +strength. But all these people, when they feel the sweet sadness of +poetry, sing Lieds, romances, ballads, something soft and flowing, +that rests the soul and speaks to the imagination. Here even the +popular dances have much that is priestly, recalling the priestly +stiffness of the sacred dances, and the circling frenzy of the +priestess, who ended by falling in front of the altar with foaming +mouth and bloodshot eyes. And our songs? They are most beautiful, the +products of many civilisations, but most sad, despairing, gloomy, +revealing the soul of a sick and tainted people, who find their +greatest pleasure in human bloodshed, or urging on dying horses in the +enclosure of a circus. Spanish joy! Andalusian merriment! I cannot +help laughing at it. One night in Madrid I assisted at an Andalusian +fête, all that was most typical, most Spanish. We went to enjoy +ourselves immensely. Wine and more wine! And accordingly the bottle +went round, with ever frowning brows, gloomy faces, abrupt gestures. +'Ole! come along here! This is the joy of the world!' but the joy did +not appear in any part. The men looked at one another with scowling +brows, the women stamped their feet and clapped their hands with a +stupid vacuity in their looks, as though the music had emptied their +brains. The dancers swayed like erect serpents, with their mouths +open, their looks hard, grave, proud, unapproachable, like dancers who +were performing a sacred rite. Now and then above the monotonous and +sleepy rhythm, a song, harsh and strident like a roar, like the scream +of one who falls with his body run through. And the poetry? As dreary +as a dungeon, sometimes very beautiful, but beautiful as might be the +song of a prisoner behind his bars, dagger thrusts to the faithless +wife, offences against the mother washed out in blood, complaints +against the judge who sends to prison the caballeros[1] of the +broad-brimmed sombreros and sashes. The adieus of the culprit who +watches in the chapel the light of his last morning dawn. A poetry +of death and the scaffold that wrings the heart and robs it of all +happiness; even the songs to the beauty of women contain blood and +threats. And this is the music that delights the people in their hours +of relaxation and that will go on 'enlivening' them probably for +centuries. We are a gloomy people, Gabriel, we have it in our very +marrow, we do not know how to sing unless we are threatening or +weeping, and that song is the most beautiful which contains most +sighs, most painful groans and gasps of agony." + +[Footnote 1: Highwaymen.] + +"It is true, the Spanish people must necessarily be so. It believes +with its eyes shut in its kings and priests as the representatives of +God, and it moulds itself in their image and likeness. Its merriment +is that of the friars--a coarse merriment of dirty jests, of greasy +words and hoarse laughs. Our spicy novels are stories of the refectory +composed in the hours of digestion, with the garments loosened, the +hands crossed on the paunch, and the triple chin resting on +the scapulary. Their laughter arises always from the same +sources--grotesque poverty, the troublesome hangers on, the tricks +of hunger to rob a companion of his provision of begged scraps. The +tricks to filch purses from the gaily-dressed ladies who flaunt in the +churches, who serve as models to our poets of the golden age to depict +a lying world devoid of honour. The woman enslaved behind iron bars +and shutters, more dishonest and vicious than the modern woman with +all her liberty. The Spanish sadness is the work of her kings, of +those gloomy invalids who dreamt of conquering the whole world while +their own people were dying of hunger. When they saw that their deeds +did not correspond to their hopes, they became hypochondriacs and +despairingly fanatical, believing their ruin to be a punishment from +God, giving themselves over to a cruel devotion in order to appease +the divinity. When Philip II. heard of the wreck of the _Invincible_, +the death of so many thousand men, and the sorrow of half Spain, he +never even winked an eyelid. 'I sent it to fight with men, not with +the elements,' and he went on with his prayers in the Escorial. The +imperturbable gloom and ferocity of the kings re-acted on the nation, +and this is why for many centuries black was the favourite colour at +the court of Spain. The sombre groves in the royal palaces, with their +gloomy winter foliage, were and still are their favourite resorts; the +roofs of their country palaces are black, with towers surmounted by +weather-cocks, and dark cloisters like monasteries." + +Shut into that small room with no other listener than the +Chapel-master, Gabriel forgot the discretion he had imposed on +himself with a view to the continuance of his quiet existence in +the Cathedral. He could speak without fear in the presence of the +musician, and he spoke warmly about the Spanish kings and of the gloom +that from them had filtered through the country. + +Melancholy was the punishment imposed by Nature on the despots of the +Western decadence. When a king had any artistic predispositions, like +Fernando VI., instead of tasting the joy of life he nearly died of +weariness listening to the airs on the guitar feebly tinkled by +Farinelli. As they were born with their minds closed to every +inspiration of beauty or poetry, they spent their lives gun in hand in +the woods near Madrid, shooting the deer and yawning with disgust at +the fatigues of the chase, while the queens amused themselves at a +distance hanging on to the arm of one of the bodyguard. They could +not live with impunity for three centuries in close contact with the +Inquisition, exercising power simply as papal delegates, under the +direction of bishops, Jesuits, confessors, and monastic orders, who +only left to the Spanish monarchy the appearance of power, turning +it, in fact, into an oppressed theocratic republic. The gloom of +Catholicism penetrated into their very bones, and while the fountains +of Versailles were playing among their marble nymphs, and the +courtiers of Louis XIV. were decked like butterflies in their +multi-coloured garments, as shameless as pagans among the beautiful +goddesses, the court of Spain, dressed in black, with a rosary hanging +at its girdle, assisted at the burnings and, girt with the green scarf +of the holy office, honoured itself by undertaking the duties of +alguacil at the bonfires of heretics. While humanity, warmed by the +soft breath of the Renaissance, was admiring the Apollos and adoring +the Venus' discovered by the plough amid the ruins of mediaeval +catastrophes, the type of supreme beauty for the Spanish monarchy +was the criminal of Judea. The black and dusty Christs in the old +cathedrals, with the livid mouth, the skeleton and distorted body, the +feet bony, and dripping with blood, much blood,--that liquid so loved +by the religious when doubt begins and faith weakens, and to impose +dogma they place their hand on the sword. + +"For this reason the Spanish monarchy has been steeped in gloom, +transmitting its melancholy from one generation to another. If by any +chance there appeared among them anyone happy and pleased with life, +it was because in the blue blood of the maternal veins there was a +plebeian drop, which pierced like the rays of the sun into a sick +room." + +Don Luis listened to Gabriel, receiving his words with affirmative +gestures. + +"Yes, we are a people governed by gloom," said the musician. "The +sombre humour of those dark centuries lives in us still. I have often +thought how difficult life must have been to an awakened spirit. The +Inquisition listening to every word, and endeavouring to guess every +thought. The conquest of heaven the sole ideal of life! And that +conquest becoming daily more difficult! Money must be paid to the +Church to save one's self, and poverty was the most perfect state; and +again, besides the sacrifice of all comfort, prayers at all hours, +the daily visits to the church, the life of confraternities, the +disciplines in the vaults of the parish church, the voice of the +brother of Mortal Sin interrupting sleep to remind one of the approach +of Death; and added to this fanatical and weary life the uncertainty +of salvation, the threat of falling into hell for the slightest fault, +and the impossibility of ever thoroughly appeasing a sullen and +revengeful God. And then again, the more tangible menace, the terror +of the bonfire, engendering cowardice and debasing suspected men." + +"In this way we can understand," said Gabriel, "the cynical confession +of the Canon Llorente explaining why he became secretary to the Holy +Office: 'They began to roast, and in order not to be roasted I took on +me the part of roaster.' For intelligent men there was nothing else +to be done. How could they resist and rebel? The king, master of all +lives and property, was only the servant of bishops, friars, and +familiars. The kings of Spain, except the first Bourbons, were nothing +but servants of the Church; in no country has been seen as palpably +as in this one the solidarity between Church and State. Religion +succeeded in living without the kings, but the kings could not exist +without religion. The fortunate warrior, the conqueror who founded +a throne, had no need of a priest. The fame of his exploits and his +sword were enough for him, but as death drew near he thought of his +heirs, who would be unable to dispose of glory and fear to make +themselves respected as he had done, and he drew near to the priest, +taking God as a mysterious ally who would watch over the preservation +of the throne. The founder of a dynasty reigned 'by the grace of +strength' but his descendants reigned 'by the grace of God.' The king +and the Church were everything for the Spanish people. Faith had made +them slaves by a moral chain that no revolutions could break; its +logic was indisputable--the belief in a personal God, who busied +Himself with the most minute concerns of the world, and granted His +grace to the king that he might reign, obliged them to obey under pain +of going to hell. Those who were rich and well placed in the world +grew fat, praising the Lord who created kings to save men the trouble +of governing themselves; those who suffered consoled themselves by +thinking that this life was but a passing trial, after which they +would be sure to gain a little niche in heaven. Religion is the best +of all auxiliaries to the kings; if it had not existed before the +monarchs these last would have invented it. The proof is that in these +times of doubt they are firmly anchored to Catholicism, which is the +strongest prop of the throne. Logically the kings ought to say, 'I am +king because I have the power, because I am supported by the army.' +But no, señor, they prefer to continue the old farce and say, 'I, the +king, by the grace of God.' The little tyrant cannot leave the lap of +the greater despot; it is impossible to them to maintain themselves by +themselves." + +Gabriel was silent for some time; he was suffocating, his chest was +heaving with the spasms of his hollow cough. The Chapel-master drew +near alarmed. + +"Do not be uneasy," said Luna, recovering himself; "it is so every +day. I am ill and I ought not to talk so much, but these things excite +me, and I feel irritated by the absurdities of the monarchy and +religion, not only in this country, but all over the world. But, +notwithstanding, I have felt real pity, profound commiseration for a +being with royal blood. Can you believe it? I saw him quite close in +one of my journeys through Europe. I do not know how the police +who guarded his carriage did not drive me away, fearing a possible +attempt, but what I felt was compassion for the kings who have come +so late into a world that no longer believes in the divine right; and +these last twigs, sprouting from the worm-eaten and rotten trunk of a +dynasty, carry in their poor sap the decay of the rotten branches. It +was a youth, as sick as I am, not by the chances of life, but weakly +from his cradle, condemned before his birth to suffer from the malady +that came to him with his life. Just imagine, Don Luis, if at this +time for the preservation of my own interests I begot a son, would it +not be a coldly premeditated attempt against the future?" + +And the revolutionist described the young invalid: his thin body, +artificially strengthened by hygiene and gymnastics, his eyes heavy +and sunk deep in their sockets, the lower jaw hanging loose like that +of a corpse, wanting the strength that keeps it fixed to the skull. + +"Poor youth! Why was he born? What would be accomplished in his +journey through the world? Why had Nature, who so often refuses +fecundity to the strong, shown herself prodigal to the loveless union +of a dying consumptive? What was the use to him of having carriages +and horses, liveried servants to salute him, and ninnies to give him +food; it would have been far better had he never appeared in the world +but had remained in the limbo of those who are never born. Like the +squire of Don Quixote, who finding himself at last in the plenty of +Barataria, had by his side a doctor Recio to restrain his appetite, +this poor creature could never enjoy with freedom the pleasures of the +remains of life left to him." + +"They pay him thousands of duros," added Gabriel, "for every minute of +his life, but no amount of gold can procure him a drop of fresh blood +to cure the hereditary poison in his veins. He is surrounded by +beautiful women, but if he feels arising the happy tremors of youth, +the sap of the spring of life, the predisposition of a family who have +only been notable for the victories won in love's battles, he must +remain cold and austere, under his mother's vigilant eye, who knows +that carnal passion would rapidly end a life so weak and uncertain. +And the end of all these sad-and painful privations--inevitable death. +Why was this poor creature born? Often the greatness of the earth is +worse than a malediction, and reasons of State are the most cruel of +all torments for an invalid, obliging him to feign a health he does +not feel. To speak of the illness of the king is a crime, and the +courtiers living under the shadow of the throne consider the slightest +allusion to the king's health as a sacrilege, a crime worthy of +punishment, as though he were not a human being subject like others to +death." + +"I do not care much for politics," said the Chapel-master; "kings and +republics are all the same to me, I am a votary of art. I do not know +what monarchy may be in the other countries that you have seen, but in +Spain it seems quite played out. It is tolerated like so many relics +of the past, but it inspires no enthusiasm and no one is inclined to +sacrifice themselves for it, and I believe that even the people who +live in its shadow, and whose interests are most bound up with those +of the crown, have more devotion on their tongues than in their +hearts." + +"It is so, Don Luis," said Gabriel; "for nearly a century the monarchy +has been dead in Spain; the last loved and popular king was Fernando +VII. Since then the nation has asserted itself, becoming emancipated +from the old traditions, but the kings have not progressed; on the +contrary, they have gone back, withdrawing themselves daily more and +more from the anticlerical and reforming tendencies of the first +Bourbons. If in educating a prince nowadays his masters were to say, +'We will try and make a Carlos III. of him,' even the stones of the +palace would be scandalised. The Austrians have revived like those +parasitic plants which, having been torn up, reappear after a little +while. If in the life of the kings they seek for examples in the past, +they remember the Austrian Caesars, but it is complete oblivion of +those first Bourbons who morally killed the Inquisition, expelled +the Jesuits, and fostered the material progress of the country; they +renounce the memory of those foreign ministers who came to civilise +Spain. Jesuits, friars and clerics order and direct as in the best +times of Charles II. To have had as minister a Count of Aranda, the +friend of Voltaire, is a shame of the past and to be passed over in +silence. Yes, Don Luis, you say well, the monarchy is dead. Between it +and the country there is the same relation as between a corpse and a +living man. The secular laziness, the resistance to all change, and +the fear of the unknown that all stationary people feel, are the +causes of the continuance of this institution, that has not like other +countries the military outlet or the aggrandisement of its territory +as a justification of its existence." + +With this the conversation ended that evening in the Chapel-master's +little room. + +Gabriel found himself drawn afresh by the affection of his admirers +in the Claverias. They coaxed him and followed him, lamenting his +absence. They could not live without him, so declared the shoemaker. +They had become accustomed to listen to him, they felt the desire of +being enlightened, and they begged the master not to desert them. + +"We meet in the tower now," said the bell-ringer; "Silver Stick +looks on our meetings with an evil eye, and he has gone so far as +to threaten the shoemaker to turn him out of the Claverias if the +meetings continue to be held in his house. He will not interfere with +me; he knows my character. Besides, if he rules in the upper cloister, +I rule in my tower. I am quite capable, if he comes to disturb us with +his spying, of throwing him down the stairs, the miserly devil!" + +And he added with an affectionate expression, a great contrast to his +usual rough and taciturn character: + +"Come, Gabriel, we expect you in my house. When you are tired of +keeping your niece and that crazy Don Luis company, come up for a +little while. We cannot get on without your words. Don Martin has been +quite enthusiastic since he heard you the other evening; he wants to +see you; he says he would go from one end of Toledo to the other to +hear you. He wishes me to let him know if you decide on rejoining your +friends, because Don Antolin in speaking to him sets you down as a +madman and a heretic who does not know what to be after. But he is an +ignoramus who, after studying for his profession, can do no better +than sell tickets and squeeze the poor." + +Luna returned to the meetings in the bell-ringer's house. The greater +part of the morning he sat by his niece, soothed by the tic-tac of the +machine, which caused a gentle drowsiness, watching the cloth pass +under the presser with little jumps, spreading the peculiar chemical +scent of new stuffs. + +He watched Sagrario always sad, devoting herself to her work with +taciturn tenacity; when now and then she raised her head to regulate +her cotton and met Gabriel's glance, a faint smile would pass over her +face. + +In the isolation in which the anger of her father had left them they +felt obliged to draw together as though a common danger threatened +them, and their bodily infirmities were a further bond of union. +Gabriel pitied the fate of the poor young woman, seeing how hardly the +world had treated her after her flight from the family hearth. Her +long illness had changed her greatly and still caused her pain, her +once beautiful teeth were no longer white and regular, and the lips +were pallid and drawn; her hair had grown thin in places, but she +contrived to conceal this with locks of the auburn hair, remains of +her former beauty, which she dressed with great skill; but in spite +of this her youth was beginning to assert itself, giving light to her +eyes and charm to her smile. + +Many nights Gabriel, tossing on his bed unable to sleep, coughing, and +with his head and chest bathed in cold sweat, would hear in the room +adjoining the suppressed moans of his niece, timid and smothered so +that the rest of the household should not be disturbed. + +"What was the matter with you last night?" asked Gabriel the following +morning. "What were you moaning for?" + +And Sagrario, after many denials, finally admitted her discomfort: + +"My bones ache; directly I get to bed the pain begins and I feel as +though my limbs were being torn asunder. And you, how are you? All +night I heard you cough, and I thought you were suffocating." + +And the two invalids stricken by life forgot their own aches and pains +to sympathise with those of the other, establishing between their +hearts a current of loving pity, attracted to each other not by the +difference of sex, but by the fraternal sympathy aroused by each +other's misfortunes. + +Very often Sagrario would try to send her uncle away; it pained her +to see him sitting close by her, doing nothing, coughing painfully, +fixing his eyes upon her as though she were an object of adoration. + +"Get up from here," the girl would say gaily--"it makes me nervous +seeing you so very quiet keeping me company when what you want is +life and movement. Go to your friends; they are expecting you in the +bell-ringer's tower. They have been talking about me, thinking it is +I who keep you in the house. Go out to walk, uncle! Go and speak of +those things that stir you so much, and that those poor people listen +to open-mouthed. Be careful as you go up the stairs; go slowly and +stop often, so that the demon of the cough, may not get hold of you." + +Gabriel spent the later hours of the morning in the bell-ringer's +"habitacion." The walls of ancient whitewash were adorned by faded +and yellow engravings, representing episodes in the Carlist war, +remembrances of the mountain campaign which for long years had been +the pride of Mariano, but of which now he never spoke. + +Here Gabriel met all his admirers. Even the shoemaker worked at night +in order not to deprive himself of this meeting. Don Martin, the +curate, also came up, concealing himself carefully so that Silver +Stick should not see him. It was a small community grouping itself +round the sick apostle, with all the zeal inspired by the unknown. + +Gabriel answered all these men's questions, that so often betrayed the +simplicity of their minds. When a fit of coughing seized him, they all +surrounded him with concern written on their faces. They would have +wished even at the cost of their own lives to restore him to health. +Luna, carried away by his enthusiasm, ended by narrating to them the +story of his life and sufferings, and so the prestige of martyrdom +came to increase the ardour of these people. The narrowed minds of +these sedentary men, living tranquil and safe in the Cathedral, made +them admire the adventures and torments of this fighter; for them he +was a martyr to this new religion of the humble and oppressed, and +besides, their innocence converted him into a victim of that social +injustice which they daily hated more. + +For them there was no other truth but Gabriel's words; the +bell-ringer, although the roughest and most silent among them, was +the most advanced in his conversion. His admiration for Gabriel which +dated from their childhood, his dog-like fidelity, carried him on with +leaps and bounds, making him accept at once even the most distant +ideals. + +"I am whatever you are, Gabriel," he said firmly. "Are you not an +anarchist? I will be one also--indeed, I think I have always been one. +Do you not preach that the poor should live and the rich should work; +that everyone should possess what he earns, and that we should all +help one another? Well, this is just what I thought when we wandered +over the country with our guns and our scarf. And as far as religion +is concerned, which formerly nearly drove us mad, I feel perfectly +indifferent. I am convinced on hearing you that it is a sort of fable +invented by clever people in order that we, the poor and unfortunate, +should submit to the miseries of this world hoping for heaven; it +is not badly imagined, for in the end those who die and do not find +heaven will not return to complain." + +One day Gabriel wished to go up where the bells were hung. It was now +well on in spring; it was warm, and the intense blue of the sky seemed +to attract him. + +"I have not seen the 'big bell' since I was a child," he said. "Let us +go up; I should like to see Toledo for the last time." + +And accompanied by his admirers, indeed, almost carried by them, he +went slowly up the narrow spiral staircase. Arrived at the top, the +soft wind was murmuring through the great iron railings, the cages of +the bells. From the centre of the vault hung the famous "Gorda," an +immense bronze bell, with all one side split by a large crack; the +clapper, which was the author of the mischief, lay below it, engraved +and as thick as a column, and a smaller one now occupied the cavity. +The roofs of the Cathedral, dark and ugly, lay at their feet, and in +front on a hill rose the Alcazar, higher and larger than the church, +as though keeping up the spirit of the emperor who built it, Caesar +of Catholicism, champion of the faith, but who nevertheless strove to +keep the Church at his feet. + +The city spread out around the Cathedral, the houses disappearing in +the crowd of towers, cupolas and absides. It was impossible to look on +any side without meeting with chapels, churches, convents and ancient +hospitals. Religion had absorbed the industrious Toledo of old, and +still guarded the dead city beneath its hood of stone. From some of +the belfries a red flag was floating, bearing a white chalice; this +meant that some newly-ordained priest was singing his first mass. + +"I have never been up here," said Don Martin, sitting by Gabriel's +side on one of the rafters, "without seeing some of these flags; +ecclesiastical recruiting never ceases, there are always visionaries +to fill its ranks. Those who really have faith are the minority, the +greater part enter because they see the Church still triumphant and +seemingly commanding, and they think that in her ranks some tremendous +career is waiting for them. Unlucky wights! I also was led to the +altar with music and oratorical shouts, as though I were walking to a +triumph. Incense spread its clouds before my eyes, all my family wept +with emotion at seeing me nothing less than a minister of God. And +the day following all this theatrical pomp, when the lights and the +censers were extinguished and the church had recovered its ordinary +aspect, began this miserable life of poverty and intrigue to earn +one's bread--seven duros a month! To endure at all hours the +complaints of those poor women, with their tempers embittered by +seclusion, common as the lowest servants, who spend their lives +gossiping in the parlour of what is passing in the towns, inventing +scandals to please the canons, or the families who protect the house. +And there are priests who envy me! hungering against me for this +coveted chaplaincy of nuns! looking upon me as a flattering hanger-on +of the archiepiscopal palace, not understanding how otherwise, being +so young, I could have hooked out this preferment that allows me to +live in Toledo on seven duros a month!" + +Gabriel nodded his head, sympathising with the young priest's +complaints. + +"Yes, it is you who are deceived. The day for making great fortunes in +the Church is past, and the poor youths who now wear the cassock and +dream of a mitre make me think of those emigrants who go to distant +countries famous through long centuries of plunder, and find them even +more poverty-stricken than their own land." + +"You are right, Gabriel. The day of the all-powerful Church is past; +she has still in her udders milk enough for all, but there are few who +can fasten on to them and fill themselves to repletion, while others +groan with hunger. One could die of laughing when one hears of the +equality and the democratic spirit of the Church. It is all a lie; in +no other institution does so cruel a despotism reign. In early days +Popes and bishops were elected by the faithful, and were deposed from +power if they used it badly. The aristocracy of the Church exists +still; it may be a canon upwards, or one who succeeds in crowning +himself with a mitre; from them no account is required. Among the +laity appointments are changed, ministers are turned out, soldiers are +degraded--even kings are dethroned; but who exacts responsibility from +Pope or bishops once they are anointed and in more or less frequent +intercourse with the Holy Spirit? If you want Justice you are sent +before tribunals equally formed by the aristocrats of the Church; +there is no power more absolute on earth, not even the Grand Turk, who +in a measure is responsible through fear of revolts in his seraglio. +Here, in the seraglio of the Church, we are all less than women. If it +happens that a priest, weary of persecution, feeling the man once more +rising beneath his cassock, deals a heavy blow at his tyrant, he is +declared mad; the climax of hypocrisy! They try to demonstrate that in +the Church one lives in the best of worlds, and it is only the lack of +reason that causes any rebellion against its authority." + +Don Martin was silent for a long while as though he were searching in +his memory; at length he continued: + +"You also laugh at the idea of the actual poverty of the Church in +Spain. She is like the great ruined noblemen, who still have enough +to live upon in idleness, but who think themselves miserably poor +compared to their former wealth; the Church has the nostalgia of those +former centuries when she possessed half the wealth of Spain. Poor +she is if she thinks of those times, but if you compare her with the +Catholicism of other modern nations you find that, as in former years, +she is by far the most favoured and best paid establishment in the +State. She absorbs forty-one millions of the revenue, which is +enormous in a country which only devotes nine millions to schools and +teaching, and one million to the relief of the poor. To maintain an +intercourse with God costs a Spaniard five times as much as to learn +to read. But this forty-one millions is a blind. My own poverty made +me inquisitive, and I wished to know what the clergy in Spain really +receive, and what comes to our hands, the rank and file. The demands +and pensions of the Church are an intricate tangle, apart from the +forty-one millions. There is not a single ministry in which the Church +has not struck her roots; she is paid by the Ministers of State for +foreign missions, which are no use to anyone, by the Ministers of +War and Marine for military clergy, and by the Ministers of Public +Instruction and Justice. She is paid to support the pomp of the Roman +Pontiff, as we maintain his ambassador in Spain, which is as though +I allowed myself the luxury of keeping servants, and laid on my +neighbour the obligation of paying them. She is paid for the repairs +to churches, for episcopal libraries, for the colonisation of +Fernando Po, for unforeseen occurrences, and I do not know how many +supplemental items besides! And you must take into account what the +Spanish people pay the Church voluntarily apart from what the State +gives. The Bull of the Holy Crusade produces two and a half million +pesetas annually; besides this you must consider what the parochial +clergy draw from their congregations, the annual gifts to the +religious orders for their ministry and offices (and this is +the fattest portion), and the ecclesiastical revenue from the +Ayuntamientos and deputations. In short, this Church, which is +continually speaking of its poverty, draws from the State and the +country more than three hundred million pesetas annually--nearly +double what the army costs; although they are always complaining +in the sacristies of these modern times, saying that everything is +devoured by the military, and that the fault of everything that has +happened is theirs, as they threw themselves on to the side of that +cursed liberty. Three hundred millions, Gabriel! I have calculated it +carefully! And I, who form part of this great establishment, receive +seven duros a month; the greater part of the vicars in Spain are paid +less than an excise officer, and thousands of clergy live from hand to +mouth, wandering from sacristy to sacristy trying to obtain a mass to +put the stew on the fire; and if bands of clergy do not go into the +highways to rob, it is only from fear of the civil guard, and because +after a couple of days of hunger a third may come in which they may +beg some scraps to eat; there is always a crumb to allay hunger, and +no cassock ever falls in the street dying of want, but there are a +great many clerics who spend their existence deceiving their stomachs, +trying to imagine they nourish themselves, till some sudden illness +comes which hurries them out of the world. Where, then, does all this +money go? To the aristocracy of the Church, to the true sacerdotal +caste; but we who are in religion are people of the backstairs. What a +terrible mistake, Gabriel! To renounce love and family affection, to +fly all worldly pleasures, the theatre, concerts, the cafe; to be +looked upon by people, even by those who think themselves religious, +as a strange being, a sort of intermediate, neither a man nor a woman; +to wear petticoats and to be dressed like a lugubrious doll; and in +exchange for all these sacrifices to earn less than a man who breaks +stones on the road. We live idly, certain that we shall never fall +from over-work, but our poverty is greater than that of many workmen; +we cannot acknowledge it, nor put ourselves in the way of begging +alms, for the honour of our cloth. And besides, why should they keep +us if we are of no practical use and cost the country so dear? When +the religious domination came to an end in Spain it was only we, the +lower ones, who suffered in consequence. The priest is poor, the +temple is poor also; but the prince of the Church retains his +thousands of duros yearly, and his great ecclesiastical state, and +he sings his psalms tranquilly, certain that his pittance is in no +danger. The revolution up to now has only prejudiced the lower clergy; +the power of the Church is ended, it is gone; what we see is only its +corpse, but an enormous corpse that will cost a great deal to remove, +and whose preservation will swallow up a great deal of money." + +"It is true the Church is defunct; what we fight are only its remains. +The vulgar believe it still lives because they can see and touch it, +forgetting that a religion counts centuries in its life as minutes, +and that generation after generation pass between its death and +burial. Centuries before the birth of Jesus Paganism had fallen. +The Athenian poets mocked the gods of Olympus on the stage, and the +philosophers despised it. All the same Christianity required many +years of propaganda and the political support of the Caesars to bring +it to an end, and even then it was not done with, for dogmas are like +men who leave behind something of themselves in the family who succeed +them. Religions do not disappear suddenly through a trapdoor; they +are extinguished slowly, leaving some of their beliefs and their +ceremonies to the religions that follow them. We have been born in one +of those times of transition, we are present at the death of a whole +world of beliefs. How long will the agony last? Who knows? Two +centuries? Possibly less may be wanted to crystallise in humanity a +fresh proof of its uncertainty and of its fear of the great mystery of +nature, but death is certain, inevitable. But what religion has been +eternal? The symptoms of dissolution are visible everywhere. Where is +that faith that drove those warlike multitudes to the crusades? Where +is that fervour which continued building cathedrals for a couple of +hundred years with angelic patience to shelter a host under a mountain +of stone? Who scourges themselves to-day, or tortures their flesh, +or lives in the desert musing continually on death and hell? Three +centuries of intolerance and of excessive clerical severity have +made our nation the most indifferent to all religious matters. The +ceremonies of worship are followed by routine, because they appeal +to the imagination, but no one takes the trouble to understand the +foundations of the beliefs they profess; they live as they please, +certain that in their last hours it is sufficient to save their souls, +to die surrounded by priests with a crucifix in their hands. In former +days the pressure from clergy, friars, and inquisitors was so great +that the machine of faith burst into a thousand pieces, and there +is no one now who can fit the pieces together, which require the +co-operation of all. And that was a piece of good luck, friend Don +Martin; a century more of religious intolerance and we should have +been like those Mussulmen in Africa, who live in barbarism on account +of their excessive bigotry, after having been the civilising Arabs of +Cordoba and Granada." + +"Do you know," said the young curate, "why Catholicism has held up its +appearances of power? It is because from ancient times, in all Latin +countries, it has possessed itself of every avenue through which human +life must pass." + +"It is true, no religion has been so cautious as ours, or has ambushed +itself better to entrap men. None has chosen with such certainty in +the time of power the positions it can hold strongly in its decadence. +It is impossible to move without stumbling against her. She knows of +old that man as long as he is healthy, in the plenitude of his vital +strength, is by instinct irreligious. When he lives comfortable the +so-called eternal life concerns him very little. He only believes in +God and fears Him in the hour of supreme cowardice, when death opens +before him the bottomless pit of nothingness, and his pride as a +rational animal revolts against the complete extinction of his being. +He wishes his soul to be immortal, and so he accepts the religious +phantasies of heaven and hell. The Church, fearing the irreligiousness +of health, has occupied, as you say, all the avenues of life, so that +no man shall accustom himself to live without her, appealing solely to +her in the hour of death. The dead provide much money, they are her +best asset; but she wishes equally to reign over the living. Nothing +escapes her despotism and her spying. She insinuates herself into +all human concerns from the greatest to the most insignificant, she +interferes in both public and private life; she baptizes the child +when it comes into the world, accompanies the child to school, +monopolises love, declaring it shameful and abominable if it does +not submit to her benediction, and divides the earth into two +categories--the consecrated, for those who die in her bosom, and the +dunghill in the open air for the heretic. The Church interferes in +dress, laying down what is honest and Christian wear and what is +scandalous frivolity. She interferes in the most intimate relations +of domestic life, and even penetrates into the kitchen, turning +Catholicism into a culinary art, ruling what ought to be eaten, what +ought or ought not to be mixed, and anathematizing certain foods, +which, being good enough the rest of the year, become the most +horrible sacrilege if partaken on certain days. She accompanies a man +from his birth, and does not leave him even after he is laid in the +tomb; she keeps him chained by his soul, making it wander through +space, passing from one place to another, ascending the pathway to +heaven, according to the sacrifices imposed on themselves by his +successors for the benefit of the Church. A greater or more complete +despotism no tyrant could possibly imagine." + +It was mid-day. The bell-ringer had disappeared; suddenly the rattle +of chains and pulleys was heard and a dull thunder made the tower +tremble; all the stones and metal and even the surrounding ether +vibrated. The big "Gorda" had just rung, deafening the bystanders. A +few moments afterwards, from the front of the Alcazar, came the sound +of martial music, trumpets, and drums. + +"Let us go," said Gabriel. "Really, Mariano might have warned us and +spared us this surprise." + +And he added, smiling ironically: + +"It is always the same; it is the parasites who shine the most and +make the most noise; they make up in noise what they lack in utility." + +The festival of Corpus drew near without anything occurring to ruffle +the quiet life of the Cathedral. Sometimes in the upper cloister they +spoke of His Eminence's health. His serious quarrels with the Chapter +had obliged him to keep his bed, and he had just had an attack which +made them fear for his life. + +"It is his heart," said the Tato--who was usually very well informed +about things in the palace--"Doña Visita is weeping like a Magdalen +and cursing the canons, seeing Don Sebastian so ill." + +As Wooden Staff sat down to table with his family he began to speak +of the decadence of the feast of Corpus, which had been so famous in +Toledo in former times. In his desire to complain he forgot the bitter +silence he had imposed on himself in his daughter's presence. + +"You will hardly recognise our Corpus," he said to Gabriel. "Of all +that we remember nothing remains but the famous tapestries that are +hung outside the Cathedral. The giants are not drawn up before the +Puerta del Perdon, and the procession is shorn of its glory." + +The Chapel-master also complained bitterly. + +"And the mass, Señor Esteban? Just think what a mass for such a solemn +festivity! Four instruments from outside the house, and a Rossini mass +of the lightest description so as not to cost much. It would have been +far better for this to have played the organ alone." + +According to an ancient custom, on the vesper before the feast, the +band of the Academy of Infantry played in the evening before the +Cathedral. All Toledo came to hear the serenade, which was an event in +the monotonous life of the town, and from the province of Madrid many +strangers came for the bull-fight on the following day. + +Mariano, the bell-ringer, invited his friends to listen to the +serenade from the Greco-Roman gallery on the principal front. At the +hour when the lights were usually extinguished in the Claverias and +Don Antolin locked the street door, Gabriel and his friends glided +cautiously to the bell-ringer's "habitacion." Sagrario was also +persuaded to come by her uncle, who in this way managed to tear her +from her machine. She really must enjoy some little amusement; she +ought to appear in the world now and then; she was killing herself +with all that tiresome work. + +They all sat in the gallery. The shoemaker had brought his wife, +always with a small baby at her flabby breast. The Tato was talking +delightedly to the organ-blower and the verger about the bull-fight on +the following day, and Mariano stood by his adored comrade, while his +wife, a woman as rough as himself, spoke with Sagrario. + +The men were deploring the absence of Don Martin. Probably he had gone +down below among the people who filled the square, doubtless dreading +that he must be up before daybreak to say mass to the nuns. + +The palace of the Ayuntamiento was decorated with strings of light, +which were reflected on to the façade of the Cathedral, giving the +stones a rosy flush as of fire. + +Among the trees walked groups of girls with flowers and white blouses, +like the first appearances of spring. The cadets followed them, +their hands on the pommels of their swords, walking along with +their pinched-in waists and their full pantaloons _à la Turc_. The +archiepiscopal palace remained entirely closed. Above the rosy light +in the piazza, spread the beautiful summer sky, clear and deep, +spangled with innumerable brilliant stars. + +When the music ceased, and the lights began to fade, the inhabitants +of the Cathedral felt unwilling to leave their seats. They were very +comfortable there, the night was warm, and they, accustomed to the +confinement and the silence of the Claverias, felt the joy of freedom, +sitting on that balcony with Toledo at their feet and the immensity of +space above them. + +Sagrario, who had never been out of the upper cloister since her +return to the paternal roof, looked at the stars with delight. + +"How many stars!" she murmured dreamily. + +"There are more than usual to-night," said the bell-ringer. "The +summer sky seems a field of stars in which the harvest increases with +the fine weather." + +Gabriel smiled at the simplicity of his companions. They all wondered +at God, so foreseeing and so thoughtful, who had made the moon to give +light to men by night, and the stars so that the darkness should not +be complete. + +"Well, then," inquired Gabriel, "why is there not a moon always if it +was made to give us light?" + +There was a long silence. They were all thinking over Gabriel's +question. The bell-ringer, being most intimate with the master, +ventured to put the question about which they were all thinking. "What +were the heavens, and what was there beyond the blue?" + +The square was now deserted and in darkness, there was no light but +the gentle shimmering of the stars scattered in space like golden +dust. From the immense vault there seemed to fall a religious calm, an +overwhelming majesty that stirred the souls of those simple people. +The infinite seemed to bewilder them with its vast grandeur. + +"You," said Gabriel, "have your eyes closed to immensity, you cannot +understand it. You have been taught a wretched and rudimentary origin +of the world, imagined by a few ragged and ignorant Jews in a corner +of Asia, which, having been written in a book, has been accepted down +to our days. This personal God, like to ourselves in His shape and +passions, is an artificer of gigantic capacity, who worked six days +and made everything existing. On the first day He created light, and +on the fourth the sun and stars; from whence then came that light if +the sun had not then been created? Is there any distinction between +one and the other? It seems impossible that such absurdities should +have been credited for centuries." + +The listeners nodded their heads in assent; the absurdity appeared to +them palpable--as it always did when Gabriel spoke. + +"If you wish to penetrate the heavens," continued Luna, "you must get +rid of the human conception of distance. Man measures everything by +his own stature, and he conceives dimensions by the distance his eyes +can reach. This Cathedral seems to us enormous because underneath its +naves we seem like ants; but, nevertheless, the Cathedral seen from +far is only an insignificant wart; compared with the piece of land we +call Spain it is less than a grain of sand, and on the face of the +earth it is a mere atom--nothing. Our sight makes us consider thirty +or forty yards a dizzy height. At this moment we think we are very +high because we are near the roof of the Cathedral, but compared to +the infinite this height is as small as when an ant balances on the +top of a pebble not knowing how to come down. Our sight is short, and +we who can only measure by yards, and apprehend short distances, must +make an immense effort of imagination to realise infinity. Even then +it escapes us and we speak of it very often as of a thing that has no +meaning. How shall I make you understand the immensity of the world? +You must not believe, as our ancestors did, that the earth is flat +and stationary and that the heaven is a crystal dome on which God has +fastened the stars like golden nails, and in which the sun and moon +move to give us light, you must understand that the earth is round, +and whirls round in space." + +"Yes, we do know a little about that," said the bell-ringer +doubtfully, "for we were taught so at school. But, really, do you +think it moves?" + +"Because in your littleness as human beings, because to our +microscopic mole-like sight the immense mechanism of the world is +lost, do not for a moment doubt it. The earth turns. Without moving +from where you are, in twenty-four hours you will have made the +complete circuit with the globe. Without moving our feet we rush along +at the rate of four hundred leagues an hour, a velocity that the +fastest trains cannot attain. You are astonished? We rush along +without knowing it. Our planet does not only turn on itself, but at +the same time it turns round the sun at the rate of nearly a hundred +thousand miles an hour. Every second we cover thirty thousand miles. +Men have never invented a cannon ball that could fly so quickly. You +move through space fixed to a projectile which whirls with dizzy +speed, and, deceived by your smallness, you think you are living +immovable in a dead cathedral. And this velocity is as nothing +compared with others. The sun round which we turn, flies and flies +through space, carrying on by its attraction the earth and the other +planets. It goes through immensity, dragging us along, travelling +towards the unknown, without ever striking other bodies, finding +always sufficient space to move in with a rapidity which makes one +giddy; and this has gone on for thousands and millions of centuries +without either it or the earth who follows it in its flight ever +passing twice over the same spot." + +They all listened to Gabriel open-mouthed with astonishment, and their +bright eyes seemed dazed and bewildered. + +"It is enough to drive one mad," murmured the bell-ringer. "What then +is man, Gabriel?" + +"Nothing; even as this earth, which seems so large, and that we have +peopled with religions, kingdoms and revelations from God, is nothing. +Dreams of ants! even less! This same sun which seems so enormous +compared to our globe is nothing more than an atom in immensity. What +you call stars are other suns like ours, surrounded by planets like +our earth, but which are invisible on account of their small size. How +many are they? Man brings his optical instruments to perfection and +is able to pierce further into the fields of heaven, discovering ever +more and more. Those which are scarcely visible in the infinite appear +much nearer when a new telescope is invented, and beyond them in +the depths of space others and again others appear, and so on +everlastingly. They are unaccountable. Some are worlds inhabited like +ours; others were so, and revolve solitary in space, waiting for a +fresh evolution of life; many are still forming; and yet all these +worlds are no more than corpuscles of the luminous mist of the +infinite. Space is peopled by fires that have burnt for millions, +trillions and quadrillions of centuries, throwing out heat and light. +The milky way is nothing but a cloud of stars that seem to us as one +mass, but which in reality are so far apart that thousands of suns +like ours with all their planets could revolve among them without ever +coming into collision." + +Gabriel remembered the travelling of sound and light. "Their velocity +is insignificant compared with the distances in space. The sun, which +is the nearest to us, is still so far that for a sound to go from us +to it would take three millions of years. Poor human beings will never +be able to travel with the rapidity of sound. + +"These suns travel like ours towards the unknown with giddy flight, +but they are so distant that three or four thousand years may pass +without man being aware that they have moved more than a finger's +breadth. The distances of infinity are maddening. The sun is a nebula +of inflammatory gas, and the earth an imperceptible molecule of sand. + +"The luminous ray of the Polar star requires half a century to reach +our eyes; it might have disappeared forty-nine years ago, and still we +should see it in space. + +"And all these worlds are created, grow and die like human beings. +In space there is no more rest than on earth. Some stars are +extinguished, others vary, and others shine with all the power of +their young life. The dead planets dissolved by fires furnish +the material for new worlds; it is a perpetual renewal of forms, +throughout millions and millions of centuries, that represent in their +lives what the few dozen years to which we are limited, are in our +own. And beyond all those incalculable distances there is space, and +more space on every side, with fresh conglomerations of worlds without +limit or end." + +Gabriel spoke in the midst of solemn silence. The listeners closed +their eyes as if such immensity stunned them. They followed in +imagination Gabriel's description, but their narrowed minds wished to +place a term to the infinite, and in their simplicity they imagined +beyond these incalculable distances a vault of firm matter millions of +leagues thick. Surely all that strange and fantastic work must have a +limit. What was at the back of it? And the barrier created by their +imagination fell suddenly; and again they flew through space, always +infinite, with ever new worlds. + +Gabriel spoke of them and of their life with absolute certainty. +Spectral analysis showed the same composition in the stars as on the +earth, consequently if life had arisen in our atom, most certainly it +must exist in other celestial bodies, though probably in different +forms; in many planets it had already ended, in many it was still to +come; but surely all those millions of worlds had had, or would have, +life. + +Religions, wishing to explain the origin of the world, paled and +trembled before the infinite. It was like the Cathedral tower, which +covered with its bulk a great part of the heavens, hiding millions of +worlds, but which was of insignificant size compared to the immensity +it hid, less than an infinitesimal part of a molecule--nothing. It +seemed very great because it was close to men, concealing immensity, +but when men looked above it, getting a full grasp of the infinite, +they laughed at its Lilliputian pride. + +"Then," inquired timidly the old organ-blower, pointing to the +Cathedral, "what is it they teach us in there?" + +"Nothing," replied Gabriel. + +"And what are we--men?" asked the Perrero. + +"Nothing." + +"And the governments, the laws, and the customs of society?" inquired +the bell-ringer. + +"Nothing. Nothing." + +Sagrario fixed her eyes, grown larger by her earnest contemplation of +the heavens, on her uncle. + +"And God," she asked in a soft voice; "where is God?" + +Gabriel stood up, leaning on the balustrade of the gallery; his figure +stood out dark and clear against the starry space. + +"We are God ourselves, and everything that surrounds us. It is life +with its astonishing transformations, always apparently dying, yet +always being infinitely renewed. It is this immensity that astounds us +with its greatness, and that cannot be realised in our minds. It is +matter that lives, animated by the force that dwells in it, with +absolute unity, without separation or duality. Man is God, and the +world is God also." + +He was silent for a moment and then added with energy: + +"But if you ask me for that personal God invented by religions, in the +likeness of a man, who brought the world out of nothing, who directs +our actions, who classifies souls according to their merits, and +commissions Sons to descend into the world to redeem it, I say seek +for Him in that immensity, see where He hides His littleness. But even +if you were immortal you might spend millions of years passing from +one star to another without ever finding the corner where He hides His +deposed despotic majesty. This vindictive and capricious God arose in +men's brains, and the brain is a human being's most recent organ, the +last to develop itself. When man invented God the world had existed +millions of years." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +On the morning of Corpus the first person Gabriel saw on leaving the +cloister was Don Antolin, who was looking over his tickets, placing +them in line in front of him on the stone balustrade. + +"This is a great day," said Luna, wishing to smooth down Silver Stick. +"You are preparing for a great crowd; no doubt many strangers will +come." + +Don Antolin looked intently at Gabriel, evidently doubting his +sincerity; but seeing that he was not laughing, he answered with a +certain satisfaction. + +"The feast is not beginning badly; there are a great many who wish to +see our treasures. Ay, son! indeed we want it badly. You who rejoice +in our troubles may be satisfied. We live in horrible straits. Our +feast of Corpus is worth very little compared with former times; but +all the same, what economies we have had to make in the Obreria, to +provide the four ochavos[1] that the extra festivity will cost!" + +[Footnote 1: _Ochavo_--small Spanish brass coin, value two maravedis.] + +Don Antolin remained silent for some time, still looking intently at +Luna, as though some extraordinary idea had just occurred to him. At +first he frowned as though he were rejecting it, but little by little +his face lit up with a malicious smile. + +"By the way, Gabriel," he said in a honeyed tone which contained +something very aggressive, "I remember at the time of the monument in +Holy Week you spoke to me of your wish to earn some money for your +brother. Now you have an opportunity. It will not be much; still it +will be something. Would you care to be one of those who carry the +platform of the Sacrament?" + +Guessing the wish of the malicious priest to annoy him, Gabriel was on +the point of answering haughtily, but suddenly he was tempted by the +wish to foil Silver Stick by accepting his proposal; he wished to +astound him by acceding to his absurd idea; besides, he thought that +this would be a sacrifice worthy of the generosity with which his +brother treated him. Even though he could not assist with much money, +he could show his wish to work, and the scruples of his self-love +vanished before the hope of carrying home a couple of pesetas. + +"You do not care about it," said the priest in mocking accents, "you +are too 'green,' and your dignity would suffer too much by carrying +the Lord through the streets of Toledo." + +"You are mistaken. As for wishing it, I do wish it, but you must +remember it is very heavy work for an invalid." + +"Do not let that trouble you," said Don Antolin resolutely; "you will +be at least ten inside the car, and I have chosen all strong men; you +would go to complete the number, and I should recommend you to accept +in order to earn a little." + +"Then we will clench the business, Don Antolin; you may reckon on me, +I am always ready to earn a day's wage whenever it turns up." + +His great wish to get out of the Cathedral had finally decided him, +his wish once more to walk through the streets of Toledo, that he had +not seen during his seclusion in the cloister, and without anyone +being able to take notice of him. Besides, the ironical situation +tickled him extremely, that he of all men with his round religious +denials should be the one to pilot the God of Catholicism through the +devout crowd. + +This spectacle made him smile, possibly it was a symbol; certainly +Wooden Staff would greatly rejoice, he would look upon it as a small +triumph for religion, that obliged His enemies to carry Him on their +shoulders. But he himself would look upon it in a different way; +inside the eucharistic car he would represent the doubt and denials +hidden in the heart of worship, splendid in its exterior pomp, but +void of faith and ideals. + +"Then we are agreed, Don Antolin. I will come down shortly into the +Cathedral." + +They parted, and Gabriel, after quietly digesting the milk his niece +brought him, went down into the Cathedral without saying a word to +anyone about the work he intended carrying out; he was afraid of his +brother's objections. + +In the lower cloister he again met Silver Stick, who was talking to +the gardener's widow, showing her contemptuously a bunch of wheat ears +tied with a red ribbon. He had found it in the holy water stoup by the +Puerta del Alegria. Every year on the day of Corpus he had found the +same offering in the same place; an unknown had thus dedicated to the +Church the first wheat of the year. + +"It must be a madman," said the priest. "What is the good of this? +What does this bunch mean? If at least it had been a cart of sheaves +as in the good old times of the tenths!" + +And while he threw the ears with contempt into a flower border in the +garden, Gabriel thought with delight of the atavic force which had +resuscitated in a Catholic church, the pagan offering: the homage to +the divinity of the firstfruits of the earth fertilised by the spring. + +The choir was ended and the mass beginning when Gabriel entered the +Cathedral, the lower servants were discussing at the door of the +sacristy the great event of the day. His Eminence had not come down to +the choir and would not assist at the procession. He said he was ill, +but those of the household laughed at this excuse, remembering that +the evening before he had walked as far as the Hermitage of the Virgin +de la Vega. The truth was he would not meet his Chapter; he was +furious with them, and showed his anger by refusing to preside over +them in the choir. + +Gabriel strolled through the naves. The congregation of the faithful +was greater than on other days, but even so the Cathedral seemed +deserted. In the crossways, kneeling between the choir and the high +altar, were several nuns in starched linen bibs and pointed hoods, in +charge of sundry groups of children dressed in black, with red or +blue stripes according to the colleges to which they belonged; a +few officials from the academy, fat and bald, listened to the mass +standing, bending their heads over their cuirass. In this scattered +assemblage, listening to the music, stood out the pupils from the +school of noble ladies, some of them quite girls, others proud-looking +young women in all the pride of their budding beauty, looking on with +glowing eyes, all dressed in black silk, with mantillas of blonde +mounted over high combs with bunches of roses--aristocratic ladies +with "_manolesca_" grace, escaped from a picture by Goya. + +Gabriel saw his nephew the Tato dressed in his scarlet robes like the +noble Florentine, striking the pavement with his staff to scare the +dogs. He was talking with a group of shepherds from the mountains, +swarthy men twisted and gnarled as vine shoots, in brown jackets, +leather sandals, and thonged leggings; women with red kerchiefs +and greasy and mended garments that had descended through several +generations. They had come down from their mountains to see the Corpus +of Toledo, and they walked through the naves with wonder in their +eyes, starting at the sound of their own footsteps, trembling each +time the organ rolled, as though fearing to be turned out of that +magic palace, which seemed to them like one in a fairy tale. The women +pointed out with their fingers the coloured glass windows, the great +rosettes on the porches, the gilded warriors on the clock of the +Puerta de la Feria, the tubes of the organs, and finally remained +open-mouthed in stupid wonder. The Perrero in his scarlet garments +seemed like a prince to them, and overwhelmed with the respect they +felt for him, they could not succeed in understanding what he said, +but when the Tato threatened with his staff a mastiff following +closely at his master's heels, those simple people decided to leave +the church sooner than abandon the faithful companion of their wild +mountain life. + +Gabriel looked through the choir railings; both the upper and lower +stalls were full. It was a great festival, and not only were all the +canons and beneficiaries in their places, but all the priests of the +chapel of the kings,[1] and the prebends of the Muzarabé chapel--those +two small churches who live quite apart with traditional autonomy +inside the Cathedral of Toledo. + +[Footnote 1: The kings of Spain are canons of Toledo Cathedral, and +are fined in case of absence on festival days.] + +In the middle of the choir Luna saw his friend the Chapel-master in +his crimped and pleated surplice, waving a small bâton. Around him +were grouped about a dozen musicians and singers, whose voices and +instruments were completely smothered each time the organ sounded from +above, while the priest directed with a resigned look the music, which +lost itself feeble and swamped in the solitude of the immense naves. + +At the High Altar, on its square car, stood the famous Custodia, +executed by the celebrated master Villalpando. A Gothic shrine, +exquisitely worked and chiselled, bright with the shimmering of its +gold in the light of the wax tapers, and of such delicate and airy +work that the slightest motion made it shiver, shaking its finials +like ears of corn. + +Those invited to the procession were arriving in the Cathedral. The +town dignitaries in black robes, professors from the academy in full +dress with all their decorations, officers of the Civil Guard, whose +quaint uniform reminded one of that of the soldiers of the early part +of the century. Through the naves with affectedly skipping steps +came the children, dressed as angels--angels _à la Pompadour_, with +brocaded coat, red-heeled shoes, blonde lace frills, tin wings +fastened to their shoulders, and mitres with plumes on their white +wigs. The Primacy got out for this festivity all its traditional +vestments. The gala uniform of all the church attendants belonged to +the eighteenth century, the time of its greatest prosperity. The two +men who were to guide the car had powdered hair, black coats, and knee +breeches, like the priests of the last century. The vergers and Wooden +Staffs wore starched ruffs and perukes, and though they had scarcely +enough to eat, brocade and velvet covered all the people from the +Claverias; even the acolytes wore gold embroidered dalmatics. + +The High Altar was decorated by the "Tanta Monta" tapestries--those +famous hangings of the Catholic kings, with emblems and shields, given +by Cisneros to the Cathedral. The auxiliary bishop said mass, and his +attendant deacons were perspiring under the traditional mantles +and chasubles covered with beautiful raised embroidery in high and +splendid relief, as stiff and uncomfortable as ancient armour. + +The surroundings of the Cathedral were disturbed by the gathering for +the procession; the doors of the sacristies slammed, opened and shut +hurriedly by the various officials and people employed. In that quiet +and monotonous life the annual occurrence of a procession which had to +pass through many streets caused as much confusion and disturbance as +an adventurous expedition to a distant country. + +When the mass ended the organ began to play a noisy and disorderly +march, rather like a savage dance, while the procession was being +marshalled in order. Outside the Cathedral the bells were ringing, +the band of the academy had ceased playing its quick march, and the +officers' words of command and the rattle of the muskets could be +heard as the cadets drew up in companies by the Puerta Llana. + +Don Antolin, with his great silver staff and a pluvial of white +brocade, went from one place to another collecting the employees of +the Church; Gabriel saw him approaching, red-faced and perspiring. + +"To your post; it is time." + +And he led him to the High Altar by the Custodia. Gabriel and eight +other men crept inside the scaffolding, raising the cloth with which +its sides were covered. They were obliged to bend themselves inside +the erection, and their duty was to push it, so that it should move +along on its hidden wheels. Their only duty was to push it; outside, +the two servants in black clothes and white wigs were in charge of +the front and back shaft or tiller, which guided the eucharistic car +through the tortuous streets. Gabriel was placed by his companions in +the centre; he was to warn them when to stop and when to recommence +their march. The monumental Custodia was mounted on a platform with a +great counterpoise, and between it and the framework of the car was +about a hand's breadth of space, through which Gabriel looked, thus +transmitting the orders of the front pilot. + +"Attention! March!" shouted Gabriel, obeying an outside signal. + +And the sacred car began to move slowly down the inclined wooden plane +that covered the steps of the High Altar. It was obliged to stop on +passing the railings. All the people knelt, and Don Antolin and the +Wooden Staffs having opened a way between them, the canons advanced in +their ample red robes, the auxiliary bishop with his gilded mitre, +and the other dignitaries in white linen mitres without ornament +whatsoever. They all knelt around the Custodia. The organ was silent, +and, accompanied by the hoarse blare of a trombone, they intoned a +hymn in adoration of the Sacrament; the incense rose in blue clouds +around the Custodia, veiling the brilliancy of its gold. When the hymn +ceased the organ began to play again, and the car once more resumed +its march. The Custodia trembled from base to summit, and the motion +made a quantity of little bells hanging on to its Gothic adornments +tinkle like a cascade of silver. Gabriel walked along holding on to +one of the crossbeams, with his eyes fixed on the pilots, feeling +on his legs the movements of those who pushed this scaffolding, so +similar to the cars of Indian idols. + +On coming out of the Cathedral by the Puerta Llana, the only door in +the church on a level with the street, Gabriel could take in the whole +procession at a glance. He could see the horses of the Civil Guards +breaking the regularity of the march, the players of the city +kettledrums dressed in red, and the crosses of the different parishes +grouped without order round the enormous and extremely heavy banner +of the Cathedral, like a huge sail covered with embroidered figures. +Beyond, all the centre of the street was clear, flanked on either side +by rows of clergy and soldiers carrying tapers, the deacons with their +censers, assisted by the roccoco angels carrying the vessels for the +Asiatic perfume, and the canons in their extremely valuable historical +capes. Behind the sacrament were grouped the authorities, and the +battalion of cadets brought up the rear, their muskets on their arms, +their shaven heads bare, keeping step to the time of the march. + +Gabriel breathed with delight the air of the public streets. He who +had seen all the great capitals of Europe admired the streets of the +ancient city after his long seclusion in the Cathedral. They seemed +to him very populous, and he felt the surprise that great modern +improvements must cause to those used to a retired and sedentary life. + +The balconies were hung with ancient tapestries and shawls from +Manilla; the streets were covered with awnings, and the pavement +spread thickly with sand, so that the eucharistic car should glide +easily over the pointed cobble stones. + +Up the hills the Custodia advanced laboriously, the men inside the +car sweating and gasping. Gabriel coughed, his spine aching with the +enclosure in the movable prison, and the dignity of the march was +disturbed by the words of command from the Canon Obrero, who, in +scarlet robes with a staff in his hand, directed the procession, +reproving the pilots and those who pushed the car inside for their +jerky and irregular movements. + +Apart from these discomforts, Gabriel was delighted with his +extraordinary escapade through the town; he laughed, thinking what the +crowd, kneeling in veneration, would have said had they known whose +eyes were looking out at them from underneath the car. No doubt many +of those officials escorting God, in their white trousers, red coats, +with swords by their sides and cocked hats would have news of his +existence; they would surely have heard some one speak of him, and +they probably kept his name in their memory as that of a social enemy. +And this reprobate, rejected by all, concealed in a hole in the +Cathedral like those adventurous birds who rested in its vaultings, +was the man who was guiding the footsteps of God through this most +religious city! + +A little after mid-day the Custodia returned to the Cathedral, passing +in front of the Puerta del Mollete. Gabriel saw the exterior walls +hung with the famous tapestries. As soon as the farewell hymns were +ended the canons despoiled themselves quickly of their vestments, +rushing to the door on their dismissal without saluting. They were +going to their dinners much later than usual, as this extraordinary +day upset the even course of their lives. The church, so noisy and +illuminated in the morning, emptied itself rapidly, and silence and +twilight once more reigned in it. + +Esteban was furious when he saw Gabriel emerging from the eucharistic +car. + +"You will kill yourself, such work is not for you. What caprice could +have seized you?" + +Gabriel laughed. Yes, it was a caprice, but he did not repent of it. +He had taken a turn through the town without being seen, and he could +give his brother sufficient for two days' maintenance; he wished to +work, not to be a heavy charge on him. + +Wooden Staff was softened. + +"You idiot, have I asked anything of you? Do I want anything else but +that you should live quietly and get better?" + +But, as though he wished to acknowledge this exertion on his brother's +part by something which would please him, when he returned to the +Claverias he dropped his usual sullen face, and spoke to his daughter +during the meal. + +Towards evening the Claverias were quite deserted. Don Antolin hurried +down with his tickets, rejoicing in the knowledge that many strangers +were waiting for him. The Tato and the bell-ringer had slipped +furtively down the tower stairs, dressed in their best clothes; they +were going to the bull-fight. Sagrario obliged to be idle in order to +keep the feast day holy, had gone to the shoemaker's house, and while +he was showing the giants to the servants and soldiers of the academy, +and the peasants from the country, Luna's niece helped to mend the +clothes for the poor woman crushed by poverty and the superabundance +of children. + +When the Chapel-master and the Wooden Staff went down to the choir, +Gabriel went out into the cloister. He could only see there a cadet +who was walking up and down, with his hand on the pommel of his sword, +holding it horizontally like the fiery tizonas[1] of former days. Luna +recognised him by the full pantaloons and the wasplike waist, which +made the Tato declare that this particular cadet wore stays--it was +Juanito the cardinal's nephew. He often walked in the cloister, hoping +for an opportunity to talk with Leocadia, the beautiful daughter of +the Virgin's sacristan. From the parents he had nothing to fear, but +the future warrior had a certain dread of Tomasa, as the old lady +looked on these visits with an evil eye, and threatened to make them +known to his uncle the Cardinal. + +[Footnote 1: _Tizona_--name of the Cid's sword.] + +Gabriel had often spoken to the cadet, for when the youth met him +in the cloister he always stopped to speak, endeavouring by the +platitudes of his conversation to justify his presence in the +Claverias; but Luna was surprised to meet him there on a festival +afternoon. + +"Are you not going to the bull-fight?" he inquired. "I thought +everyone from the academy would be in the Plaza." + +Juanito smiled, caressing his moustache; it was his favourite gesture, +as it raised his arm, giving him the satisfaction of displaying the +sleeve adorned with sergeant's stripes. He was not a common cadet, he +had his stripes, and though this did not seem much to one who dreamed +of being a general, still it was a step in the right direction. No; +he did not go to bull-fights. In truth he was an _habitué_ but he had +sacrificed himself in order to talk for a whole afternoon with his +sweetheart at the door of her house in the silence of the Claverias. +The grandmother had gone down into the garden, and "Virgin's Blue" +would not be long in going out and leaving the coast clear, as if +the matter in no way concerned him. "The beautiful evening, friend +Gabriel!" He had far more serious and important affairs than the new +comers at the academy, who spent all their Sundays at the cafés, or +walking up and down like fools--everyone at the academy, even the +professors, envied him his sweetheart. + +"And when is the wedding to be?" said Gabriel gaily. + +Master Stripes looked most important as he replied: "There were many +things to be done before--first of all to bring his uncle to consent, +which might not be easy, and to follow the guiding of his good star to +attain a certain rank; but he was intended for great things, so it was +only a matter of a few years. + +"I, friend Luna, am of the stuff of young generals; it is the good +luck of the family. My uncle, when he was only an acolyte, was certain +he would become a cardinal, and he succeeded. I shall rise much +faster. Besides, you know that to be an archbishop of Toledo is not a +small thing. My uncle has many friends in the palace, and commands in +the ministry of war just as though he were a general. In point of fact +he is far more a soldier than a cleric! And to prove it to you, there +is the only thing he has ever written, a prayer to the Virgin for the +soldiers to recite before they go into action." + +"And you, Juanito, do you really feel any vocation for a military +life?" + +"A great deal--ever since I knew how to open books and read them I +have wished to rival those great captains that I saw in the prints, +erect on their horses, with swords in their hands, proud and handsome. +Believe me, no one enters on this career without a vocation; many are +entered in the seminaries against their will, but no one can make a +soldier by force; anyone who comes to the academy has the longing in +himself." + +"And are all of them as sure of the result as you are?" + +"Oh, yes; all," said the cardinal's nephew smiling, "except that the +immense majority have not such probabilities of making a name. +But, such as we are, there is not one amongst us who dreams of the +possibility of vegetating as a captain in a reserve regiment, or of +dying of old age as a commandant. We all of us see first of all youth +glorified by the uniform, full of adventures (for you know all +the women fight for us), by the joy of life, loved and respected +everywhere, head and shoulders above our countrymen; and when old age +approaches, and we begin to get fat and bald, the gold braid of a +general, politics, and, who knows, possibly the portfolio of war! This +is in everyone's thoughts. No one believes but that the future holds a +bâton for him, and that he has only to unhook it and fasten it to his +belt. I know for certain what is awaiting me, the rest dream and hope +for it, and so we go on living." + +Gabriel smiled as he listened to the cadet. + +"You are all deceiving yourselves, like those poor youths who enter +the seminaries, believing that a mitre awaits them or a fat benefice +on the other side of the door. It is the influence and attraction +still exercised by the great things that have been. Let us see--apart +from the material result of the profession--why do you become +soldiers?" + +"For the sake of glory!" said the cadet pompously, remembering the +harangues of the colonel director of the academy. "For our country, +whose defence is entrusted to us! and for the honour of our flag!" + +"Glory!" said Gabriel, ironically. "I know all about that. Very often, +seeing you all so young and inexperienced, so full of vain hopes, I +have reconstructed in my own mind what might be called the psychology +of the cadet. I can guess all that you thought before entering the +academy, and I foresee the bitter and crushing disillusion that awaits +you on leaving it. The history of wars and the artistic trappings of +the uniform have seduced your youth. Afterwards, warlike tales of an +irresistible fascination--Bonaparte with his little band crossing the +bridge at Arcola amid showers of bullets. And then our own generals, +not to go further--Espartero at Luchana, O'Donnel in Africa, and, +above all, Prim, that almost legendary leader, directing the battalion +at Castillejos with his sword. 'I wish to be the same,' say these +youths; 'where one man has arrived another may also succeed'; +enthusiasm is taken for predestination, and each one thinks himself +created by God on purpose to be a famous leader. In the meanwhile you +live in Toledo, dreaming of glory, of hairbreadth enterprises, of +gigantic battles and noisy triumphs. But when, with the two stars on +your arm you go to a regiment, the first thing that comes to meet you +at the barrack gate, even before you receive the salute of the sentry, +is the ugly and disagreeable reality. He who dreams of covering +himself with glory and becoming a great leader before he is thirty, +thinking of nothing but strategic combinations and original +fortifications, must occupy himself with the washing and decency of a +lot of wild lads, who come in from the fields reeking with excessive +health; try the rations, discuss drawers and shirts, calculate the +lasting of ankle boots and hempen shoes, and he who never went near +the kitchen at home, was most carefully looked after by his mother, +and thought that everything was women's work except giving words +of command and drawing soldiers up in line, now finds the first +requirement in a regiment is to be cook, tailor, shoemaker, etc., very +often receiving reprimands from his superiors if he prove lazy in +those duties." + +"That is true," said Juanito laughing; "but without these things there +cannot be an army, and an army is necessary." + +"We are not discussing if it is necessary or no. I only wish to point +out that you (or perhaps not you, as you enter on a good footing, +but certainly your companions) are self-deceivers, and are preparing +without knowing it the shipwreck of your lives, precisely like those +other youths who, poorer, or perhaps less energetic, crowd to enter +the Church. The Church has come to an end as there is no longer faith; +military glory has ended in Spain as there are no longer wars of +conquest, and our character as strong fighting men has been lost for +centuries. If we have a war, it is either civil or colonial--wars that +might be called disasters--without glory and without profit, but in +which men die as at Thermopyle or Austerlitz, as a man can only die +once; but without the consolation of fame, or of public applause, +without in fact that aureole that you call glory. You have all been +born too late; you are the warriors of a people who must perforce live +in peace; just as those seminarists will be the future priests in a +country where there are no longer miracles nor faith, only routine and +utter stagnation of thought." + +"But if we have no foreign wars, if conquests have come to an end, we +serve at least to defend the integrity of Spanish soil, to guard our +own homes. Is it that you think," said the cadet nettled, "we are +incapable of dying for our country?" + +"I do not doubt it; that is the only thing Spaniards are capable of +doing, to die most heroically, but in the end to die. Our history +for the last two centuries has been nothing but a tale of heroic +deaths--'Glorious defeat in such a place,' 'Heroic disaster in some +other.' By sea and by land we have astonished the world, throwing +ourselves blindly into danger, showing a good front, without +flinching, with the stoicism of a Chinaman. But nations do not grow +great from their contempt of death, but through their ability to +preserve life. The Poles were the terror of the Turks, and some of the +best soldiers in Europe, yet Poland has ceased to exist. If any great +European power _could_ invade us--you will remark I say _could_, for +in these things the wish is not the same as the power, I know exactly +what would happen; the Spaniards would know how to die, but you may be +perfectly certain the invaders would not require more than two battles +to sweep away entirely all our military preparations. And all this, +which could be scattered in a couple of days, what sacrifices it costs +the country!" + +"Then," said the cadet ironically, "I presume we must suppress the +army, and leave the nation undefended." + +"As things are to-day there is no hope of that happening. As long as +all Europe is armed and the smallest country has an army, Spain will +have one also. It is not for her to set an example; and besides, the +example would be of no use, it is as though one having a few thousand +pesetas should endeavour to initiate the remedy to social injustice by +sacrificing himself and giving them up." + +After a long silence Gabriel spoke again very quietly, noticing the +ironical and even aggressive manner of the cadet. + +"No doubt you are pained by what I say; believe me I feel it, as I +have no wish to wound the beliefs of anyone, least of all of those who +have formed to themselves an ideal of life. But truth is truth. The +social question does not trouble you. Is it not so? You know nothing +about it, you have never thought about it for an instant and it is the +same with all your, companions, but nevertheless, what you suffer in +your prestige, in your love of country and of your standard, has no +other cause but the social disorder at present rampant in the world. +Wealth is everything, capital is lord of the world. Science directs +humanity as the successor of faith, but the rich have possessed +themselves of its discoveries, and have monopolised them to continue +their tyranny. In the economic world they have made themselves masters +of machinery and of all progress, using them as chains to enslave the +workman, forcing an excess of production, but limiting his daily wage +to what is strictly necessary. In the life of nations the same thing +repeats itself--war to-day is nothing but an appliance of science, and +the richest countries have acquired the greatest improvements in the +art of extermination. They have crowds of recruits, thousands of +enormous cannon, they can keep millions of men under arms, with every +sort of modern improvement, without becoming bankrupt. But to poor +countries, their only remaining course is to hold their tongues, or to +rage uselessly, as the disinherited do against those in possession of +their property. The most cowardly and sedentary people on the face of +the globe may become invincible warriors if they have the money. The +bravery of chivalry came to an end with the invention of powder, and +the pride of race has faded for ever before the advent of trade. If +the Cid came to life again he would be in jail, he would have become a +highwayman, unable to adjust himself to the inequalities and injustice +of modern life. If the Gran Capitan were now minister of war, he would +probably be unable even with this military tax which oppresses the +country to put his regiments in condition to undertake a fresh war in +Italy. It is money, that cursed money! which has killed the finest +part of soldiering--personal bravery, initiative, originality--just as +it has crushed the workman, making his life a hell." + +The cadet listened attentively to Gabriel, understanding for the first +time that in great nations there is something more than the warlike +sympathies of the monarch and the bravery of the army. He saw suddenly +that wealth was the basis and mainspring of all military enterprise. + +"Then," he said thoughtfully, "if foreign nations do not attack us it +is not because they fear us." + +"No; that we are permitted to live in peace is because these +omnipotent powers with all their ambitions and jealousies preserve a +certain equilibrium. They are like the great capitalists who, occupied +with vast projects of speculation, neglect either from carelessness or +contempt the small undertakings that lie at their door. Do you believe +that Switzerland or Belgium or other small countries live in peace +surrounded by great powers because they have an army? They would exist +just the same if they had not a single soldier, and the military power +of Spain is not greater than that of one of these small countries; +the poverty of the country and the scanty population oblige us to be +humble. In these days there are two kinds of armies those organised +for conquest and those whose only use is to keep order at home, that +are no more than police on a large scale, with guns and generals. That +of Spain, however much it costs, and however much they increase it, +comes under the latter classification." + +"And if it is only this," said the cadet, "is it not something? +We keep peace at home, and we watch over the tranquillity of our +country." + +"Yes, but that could be done by fewer people and for less money. +Besides, how about glory? Will you youths, full of illusions, +overflowing with aggressiveness and energy for new undertakings, +resign yourselves to this profession of watchmen and caretakers to a +country? Your future will be as monotonous as that of a priest in his +cathedral. Every day the same--to drill men to move this or that way, +to play at dominoes or billiards in a cafe, to walk about in uniform +or take a nap in the guard-room. There can be nothing for you beyond +a small disturbance at the tax on provisions, a strike, a closing of +shops to protest against the taxes, and then to fire on a mob armed +with sticks and stones. If at any time in your life you are ordered to +fire, you may be sure it will be on Spaniards. The Government do not +wish for an army as they know it is useless for the exterior defence +of the nation; besides, the national finances do not admit of its +maintenance, and they are consequently satisfied with an embryonic +organisation which is always insubordinate, distracted by incessant +and contradictory reforms, copying foreign improvements as a poor +girl copies the robes of a great lady. Believe me, there is nothing +pleasant in living such a narrowed and monotonous life, with no other +chance of glory but that of shooting a workman who protests or a +people who complain." + +"But, how about liberty? How about political progress?" inquired the +cadet. "I have heard it said by a captain at the academy that if the +Liberal party exists in Spain it is through the army." + +"There is a great deal in that," said Gabriel. "It is indubitably the +most important service the army has rendered to the State; without it, +who knows where the civil wars would have ended in this country, so +stationary and so timid about all reforms! I repeat it, I do not +ignore this service, but, believe me, that civil wars between liberty +and political absolutism will never be repeated, neither could the +guerilla warfare of the Independence with any definite issue. The +means of communication and military progress have put an end to +mountain warfare. The Mauser, which is the arm of the day, requires +well-provided parks of ammunition to follow it, cartridge magazines at +its back, and all this is incompatible with party fighting." + +"But you will admit that we are of some use, and that we render the +nation good service." + +"I admit it in the actual state of things, but I should admit it more +fully if you were fewer. The greater part of the grant is spent, but +all the same you live in poverty, decent and hidden, but poverty all +the same. A lieutenant earns less than many operatives, but he must +buy himself showy uniforms, be smart, and frequent when he wants +amusement the same places as the rich. He can only see before him long +years of waiting and of hidden poverty, borne with dignity, until some +promotion provides him with a few duros more monthly. You all suffer +dragging on this existence of slaves to the sword, the nation who +pays grumbles at seeing you inactive, and forgets other superfluous +expenses to fix its complaints solely on the military. Believe me, for +a modern army, you are too few and badly organised; to keep the peace +at home you are too many and too dear. The fault is not yours, your +vocation has come too late, when fate has rendered Spain powerless for +adventurous undertakings. If she revives she will have to follow a +direction which will certainly not be that of the sword. For this +reason I say that these youths stray from the right path when they +seek for glory where their ancestors thought to find it." + +The appearance of Silver Stick cut short the dialogue. He ran in, pale +with excitement, gasping, rattling his bunch of keys. + +"His Eminence is coming," he said, hurriedly. "He is already under the +arch; he wishes to spend the evening in the garden; it is a whim! They +say he is quite unmanageable to-day." + +And he ran on to open the staircase del Tenorio, which put the +Claverias in communication with the lower cloister. + +The cadet was alarmed at the unexpected proximity of his uncle. He did +not wish to meet him there, he feared the cardinal's temper, and fled +towards the tower staircase on his way to the bull-fight, sacrificing +his sweetheart sooner than meet with Don Sebastian. + +Gabriel, who now found himself alone in the cloister, leant against a +column and watched the progress of this terrible prince of the Church. +He saw him come out of the doorway leading to the abode of the giants, +followed by two servants. Luna was able to examine him well for the +first time. He was enormous; but in spite of his age carried himself +erectly; over his black cassock with the red borders hung his gold +cross. He was leaning with a martial air on a staff of command, and +the gold tassels of his hat fell on the pink skin of his fat neck, +which was fringed with white hair. His small and penetrating eyes +looked on all sides in the hopes of discovering some delinquency, +something contravening the established rules, which would enable him +to break out into shouts and menaces and so give vent to his ill +humour and to the anger which furrowed his brows. + +He disappeared by the staircase del Tenorio, preceded by Don Antolin, +who, after opening the iron gates, had placed himself at his orders, +shaking with fear. The silence and solitude of the Claverias were +undisturbed, it seemed as though the people hidden in their houses +remained absolutely still, guessing the danger that was passing. + +Gabriel, leaning on the balustrade, watched the cardinal enter the +lower cloister, walking round two sides till he came to the garden +gate. A slight gesture from the prelate was sufficient to stop the two +servants, and he walked on alone through the central avenue towards +the summer-house where Tomasa was fast asleep between its leafy walls, +her knitting in her hands. + +The old woman awoke at the sound of footsteps, and seeing the prelate, +gave a cry of surprise. + +"Don Sebastian! You here!" + +"I wished to visit you," said the cardinal with a benevolent smile, +seating himself on a bench. "It must not be always you who come to +seek me. I owe you many visits, and here I am." + +Plunging one hand into the depths of his cassock, he drew forth a +small gold case and lighted a cigarette. He stretched out his legs +with the complacency of one who being always accustomed to wear +the frowning brow of authority, finds himself for a few moments at +liberty. + +"But have you not been ill?" inquired the gardener's widow. "I had +thought of coming round to the palace this afternoon to inquire after +your health from Doña Visita." + +"Hold your tongue, you fool; I have never felt better, especially +since this morning. The slap I have given to _those_ by not going into +the choir to pray with them has put me in a splendid humour, and in +order that they may thoroughly understand my meaning I have come to +see you. I wish them all to know that I am quite well, and that what +is said about my illness is untrue. I wish all in Toledo to understand +that the archbishop will not see his canons, and that he does so from +a sense of dignity, not from pride, as at the same time he can come +down to see his old friend the gardener's widow." + +And the terrible old man laughed like a child to think of the +annoyance this visit would cause his Chapter. + +"Do not believe, however, Tomasa," he continued, "that I have come to +see you solely for this reason. I felt sad and worried in the palace +this afternoon. Visitacion was busy with some friends from Madrid, and +I had that heartache I sometimes feel when I think of the past. I felt +that I must come and see you, more especially as it is always cool in +the Cathedral garden, whereas outside it is as hot as an oven. Ah! +Tomasa! how strong I see you! So slim and so active. You wear better +than I do; you are not wrapped in fat like this sinner, and you have +not the pains that disturb my nights. Your hair is still dark, your +teeth are well preserved, and you do not need like this old cardinal +to have a mechanism inside your mouth; but all the same, Tomasa, you +are just as old as I am. We have very few years of life left to us, +however much the Lord may wish to preserve us. What would I not give +to return to those days when I ran up to your house in my red gown in +search of your father, the sacristan, and stole your breakfast. Eh, +Tomasa?" + +The two old people, forgetting social differences, recalled the past +with the friendly resignation of those advancing towards death. +Everything was the same as in their childhood--the garden, the +cloister; nothing about the Cathedral had changed. + +His Eminence, closing his eyes, fancied himself once more the restless +acolyte of fifty years before; the blue spirals from his cigarette +seemed to carry his thoughts back through the interminable labyrinths +of the past. + +"Do you remember how your poor father used to laugh at me? 'This boy,' +he would say in the sacristy, 'is a Sixtus V. What do you wish to be?' +he would ask me, and I always gave the same answer, 'Archbishop of +Toledo.' And the good sacristan would laugh again at the certainty +with which I spoke of my hopes. Believe me, Tomasa, I thought much of +him when I was consecrated bishop, regretting his death. I should have +been delighted with his tears of joy seeing me with the mitre on my +head. I have always loved you, you are an excellent family, and have +often satisfied my hunger." + +"Silence, señor, silence, and do not recall those things. I am the one +who ought to be grateful for your kindness, so simple and genuine in +spite of your rank, which comes next after the Pope. And the truth +is," added the old woman with the pride of her frankness, "that no one +is the loser. Friends like I am you can never have; like all the great +ones of the earth, you are surrounded by flatterers and rascals. If +you had remained a simple mass priest no one would have sought you +out, but Tomasa would have always been your friend, always ready to do +you a service. If I love you so much it is because you are kind and +affable, but if you had put on pride like other archbishops, I should +have kissed your ring and--'Good-bye.' The cardinal to his palace, the +gardener's widow to her garden." + +The prelate received the old woman's frankness smilingly. + +"You will always be Don Sebastian to me," she continued. "When you +told me not to call you Eminence or to use the same ceremonies as +other people, I was as pleased as if I had been given the mantle of +the Virgin del Sagrario. Such ceremonies would have stuck in my throat +and made me ready to cry out, 'Let him have his fill of Eminence and +Illustrious, but we have scratched each other thousands of times when +we were little, and this big thief could never see a scrap of bread or +an apricot in my hand without trying to snatch and devour it!' You may +be thankful I spoke of you as 'usted'[1] when you became a beneficiary +of the Cathedral, for, after all, it would not do to 'thou' a priest +as if he were an acolyte." + +[Footnote 1: Contraction of _vuestra merced_--your worship.] + +Silence fell on the two old people, their eyes wandered tenderly over +the garden, as if each tree or arcade covered with foliage contained +some memory. + +"Do you know what I have just remembered," said Tomasa. "I remember +that we saw each other just here many many years ago, at least +forty-eight or fifty. I was with my poor elder sister who had just +married Luna the gardener, and in the cloister wandering round me was +he who afterwards became my husband. We saw a handsome sergeant come +into the summer-house with a great jingle of spurs, a sword on his +arm, and a helmet with a tail just like the Jews on the Monument. It +was you, Don Sebastian, who had come to Toledo to visit your uncle +the beneficiary, and who would not leave without visiting your friend +Tomasita. How handsome and smart you were. I do not say it to flatter +you, it is truth. You looked like being a rogue with the girls! And I +still remember you said something to me about how pretty and fresh you +thought me after so many years absence. You don't mind my reminding +you of this? Really? It was only a soldier's gallant jests. How many +would say that now? When you left, I said to my brother-in-law, 'He +has put on the uniform for good and all; it is useless his uncle, the +beneficiary, thinking of making a priest of him.'" + +"It was a youthful sally," said the cardinal smiling, remembering with +pride the dashing sergeant of dragoons. "In Spain, there are only +three professions worthy of a man--the sword, the Church and the toga. +My blood was hot and I wanted to be a soldier, but unluckily I fell on +times of peace, my promotion would have been very slow, and in order +not to embitter my uncle's last years, I renewed my studies and turned +to the Church. One can serve God or one's country as well in one place +as another, but, believe me, very often in spite of the pomp of my +cardinalate I think with envy of that soldier you saw. What happy +times they were! Even now the sword draws me. When I see the cadets I +would gladly exchange with some of them, giving them my crozier and +cross. And possibly I might have done better than any of them! Ah! if +only the great times of the reconquest could return when the prelates +went out to fight the Moors! What a great Archbishop of Toledo I +should have been!" + +And Don Sebastian drew up his fat old body, and proudly stretched out +his arms with all the remains of his former strength. + +"You have always been a strong man," said the gardener's widow. "I say +very often to some of the priests who speak of you and criticise you: +'You must not trifle with His Eminence, he is quite capable of going +one day into the choir--some he likes and some he does not--and +driving you all out at one fell swoop.'" + +"I have more than once been tempted to do so," said the prelate +firmly, his eyes flashing with energy, "but I have been prevented by +the thought of my charge and my character as a peaceful priest. I am +the shepherd of a Catholic flock, not a wolf who tears the sheep in +his fierceness. But sometimes I can bear no more, and God forgive me! +I have often been tempted to raise the shepherd's crook and chastise +with blows that rebel flock who harbour in the Cathedral." + +The prelate became excited, speaking of his quarrels with the Chapter; +the placidity of mind produced by the quiet of the garden disappeared +as he thought of his hostile subordinates. He felt obliged as at +other times to confide his troubles to the gardener's widow with that +instinctive kindly feeling which often causes highly-placed people to +confide in humble friends. + +"You cannot imagine, Tomasa, what those men make me suffer. I will +subdue them because I am the master, because they owe me obedience by +the rule of discipline without which there can be neither Church nor +religion; but they oppose and disobey me. My orders are carried out +with grumbling, and when I assert myself even the last ordained priest +stands on what he calls his rights, lays complaints against me and +appeals either to the Rota[1] or to Rome. Let us see, am I the master +or am I not? Ought the shepherd to argue with his sheep and consult +how to guide them in the right way? They sicken and weary me with +their complaints and questions. There is not half a man amongst them, +they are all cowardly tale-bearers. In my presence they lower their +eyes, smile and praise His Eminence, and as soon as I turn my back +they are vipers trying to bite me, scorpion tongues which respect +nothing. Ay, Tomasa, my daughter! pity me! when I think of all this it +makes me quite ill." + +[Footnote 1: Ecclesiastical court.] + +The prelate turned pale, rising from his seat as though he felt a +sudden spasm of pain. + +"Do not worry yourself so much," said the old woman, "you are above +them all, and you will overcome them." + +"Clearly, I shall defeat them; if not, it would fill my cup, for it +would be the first time I had been vanquished. These squabbles among +comrades do not trouble me much after all, for I know in the end I +shall see my detested enemies at my feet. But it is their tongues, +Tomasa!--what they say about the beings I love most in the world, that +is what wounds me, and is killing me." + +He sat down again, coming quite close to the gardener's widow, so as +to speak in a very low voice. + +"You know my past better than anyone; I have such great confidence in +you that I have told you everything. Besides, you are very quick, +and if I had not told you, you would have guessed. You know what +Visitacion is to me, and most certainly you are aware of what those +wretches say about her. Do not play the fool; everyone inside and +outside the Cathedral listens to these calumnies and believes them. +You are the only one who does not credit them because you know the +truth. But ay! the truth cannot be told, I cannot proclaim it, these +robes forbid me." + +And he seized a handful of his cassock with his clenched fingers as if +he would rend it. + +A long silence followed. Don Sebastian looked fixedly at the ground, +clutching with his hands as though he were trying to grasp invisible +enemies; every now and then he felt a stab of pain and sighed +uneasily. + +"Why do you think about these things?" said the gardener's widow; +"they only make you ill, and you ought not to have disturbed yourself +to come and see me, you would have done better to remain in the +palace." + +"No, you distract my mind from them, it is a great comfort to tell you +of my troubles. Up there I feel in despair, and have to exert all +my self-command to suppress my anger. I do not wish my servants to +understand, for they are quite capable of laughing at me, neither do I +wish poor Visitacion to know anything. I cannot dissimulate. I cannot +feign happiness when I am so irritated! What a hell I suffer! I cannot +say that I have been a man, and that I have been weak as the flesh of +which I am made, that I have with me the fruit of my faults, and that +I will not separate myself from them, though persecuted by calumny. +Every man acts as he is able, and I wish to be good in spite of my +faults. I might have separated from my children, I might have deserted +them, as others have done to preserve their reputation as saints, but +I am a man, and I am proud of them; I am a man with all his defects +and all his virtues, neither greater nor less than the general run of +humanity. The feeling of paternity is so deeply rooted in me that I +would sooner lose my mitre than abandon my children. You remember when +Juanito's father, who passed as my nephew, died, how deeply I felt it, +I thought I should have died also. Such a fine, handsome man, and +with such a brilliant future before him! I would have made him a +magistrate, president of the supreme court, minister, anything I +wished! And in twenty-four hours he was dead as though Heaven wished +to punish me. It is true I have my grandson remaining, but this +Juanito in no way resembles his father, and I confess it to you, I +do not care much for him. I can only see in him the most distant +reflection of my poor son. Of my past, of that time which was the +happiest of my life, all I have left me is Visitacion. She is the +living image of the poor dead one. I worship her! and this feeble ray +of happiness these wretched people disturb with their calumnies. It is +enough to make one kill them!" + +Overcome by the happy recollection of the spring-time which had +flowered during the first years of his episcopate, far away in an +Andalusian diocese, he repeated once again to Tomasa the tale of his +relations with a certain devout lady, who from her childhood had felt +a horror of the world. Devotion had drawn them together, but life +was not long in asserting her rights, opening herself a way by their +almost mystical relations, and finally uniting them in a carnal +embrace. They had lived faithful to each other in the secrecy of +ecclesiastical life, loving each other with scrupulous prudence, so +that no rumour of their relations had ever publicly transpired, +until she died, leaving two children. Don Sebastian, a man of strong +passions, was almost vehement in his paternal feelings--those two +beings were the image of the poor dead woman, the remembrance of the +only idyll which had softened a life wholly given over to ambition, +and the calumnies circulated by his enemies, founded on the presence +of his daughter in the archiepiscopal palace nearly drove him mad. + +"They believe her to be my mistress!" he said angrily. "My poor +Visitacion, so good, so affectionate, so gentle to all, changed to a +courtesan by these wretches! A sweetheart that I have taken for my +amusement from the college of Noble Ladies! As if I, old and infirm, +were able to think of such things! Brutes! wretches! Crimes have been +committed for less!" + +"Let them say on. God is in heaven and sees us all." + +"I know it, but this is not enough to quiet me. You have children, +Tomasa, and you know what it is to love them. It is not only what +is done against them that wounds us, but what is said. What days of +suffering I endure! You know since my boyhood all my dreams have been +to rise to where I am. I used to look at the throne in the choir and +think how comfortable I should be in it--of the immense happiness of +being a prince of the Church. Well, now I am on the throne. I have +spent half a century removing the stones from my path, leaving my skin +and even my flesh on the brambles of the hillside. I only know how +I was able to rise from the black mass and obtain a bishopric! +Afterwards--now I am an archbishop! now I am a cardinal! At last I can +rise no higher! And what is it all? Happiness always floats before us +like the cloud of light which guided the Israelites. We see it, we +almost touch it, but it never lets itself be caught. I am more unhappy +now than in the days when I struggled to rise, and thought myself the +most unfortunate of men. I am no longer young; the height on which +I stand draws all eyes to me and prevents me defending myself. Ay, +Tomasa! pity me, for I am worthy of compassion! To be a father and +to be obliged to hide it as a crime! To love my daughter with an +affection which increases more and more as I draw nearer to death, and +have to endure that people should imagine this pure affection to be +something so repugnant!" + +And the terrible glance of Don Sebastian, which terrified all the +diocese, was clouded with tears. + +"Moreover, I have other troubles," he went on, "but they are those of +a far-seeing man who fears the future. When I die, all that I have +will be my daughter's. Juanito inherits what belonged to his mother, +who was rich; besides, he has his profession and the support of my +friends. Visitacion will be very rich. You know my adversaries throw +in my face what they call my avarice. Avaricious I am not, but +foreseeing, and anxious for the well-being of those belonging to me. I +have saved a great deal. I am not one of those who distribute bread at +the gate of his palace, nor who seek popularity through almsgiving. +I have pasture lands in Estremadura, many vineyards in La Mancha, +houses, and above all State stock--much stock. As a good Spaniard I +have wished to help the Government with my money, more especially +as it bears interest. I do not quite know how much I possess, but +certainly twenty millions of reals, and probably more, all saved by +myself and increased by fortunate speculations. I cannot complain +of fate, and the Lord has helped me. Everything is for my poor +Visitacion. I should delight in seeing her married to a good man; but +she will not leave me. She is drawn to the Church, and that is my +fear. Do not be surprised, Tomasa; I, a prince of the Church, fear to +see how she is attracted by devotion, and I do all I can to turn her +from it. I respect a religious woman, but not one who is only happy in +the Church. A woman ought to live; she ought to be happy as a mother. +I have always looked badly on nuns." + +"Let her be, señor," said the gardener's widow; "there is nothing +strange in her love for the Church. Living as she does she could +scarcely do otherwise." + +"For the present time, I have no fear. I am by her side, and her being +fond of the society of the nuns signifies very little to me. But I +may die to-morrow, and just imagine what a splendid mouthful +poor Visitacion and her millions would be, left alone, with this +predilection to religious life, of which those cunning people would +be sure to take advantage! I have seen a great deal. I belong to the +class, and I am in the secret. There is no lack of religious orders +who devote themselves to hunting heiresses for the greater glory of +God, as they say. Besides, there are many foreign nuns with great +flapping caps travelling about here, who are lynxes for that sort of +work, and I am terrified lest they should pounce on my daughter. I +belong to the ancient Catholicism, to that pure Spanish religion, free +from all modern extravagances. It would be sad to have spent my life +in saving, only to fatten the Jesuits or those sisters who cannot +speak Castilian. I do not wish my money to share the fate of that of +the sacristans in the proverb. For this reason, to the annoyance +I feel at my struggles with this inimical Chapter, I must add the +distress I feel at my daughter's feeble character. Probably she will +be hunted; some rake will laugh at me and possess himself of my +money." + +Excited by his gloomy thoughts, he gave vent to an interjection both +caustic and obscene, a memory of his soldiering days; in the presence +of the gardener's widow there was no need to control himself, and the +old woman was accustomed to this relief of his temper. + +"Let us see," he said imperiously after a long silence. "You, who know +me better than anyone, am I as bad as my enemies suppose? Do I deserve +that the Lord should punish me for my faults? You are one of God's +souls, simple and good, and you know more of all this by your instinct +than all the doctors of theology." + +"You bad, Don Sebastian? Holy Jesus! You are a man like all others, +neither more nor less; but you are sincere, all of one piece, without +deceit or hypocrisy." + +"A man--you have said it. I am a man like the rest. We who attain a +certain height are like the saints on the fronts of the churches: from +below we cause admiration for our beauty, but viewed closely we cause +horror from the ugliness of the stones corroded by time. However much +we wish to sanctify ourselves, keeping ourselves apart, we are still +nothing but men--creatures of flesh and blood like those who surround +us. + +"In the Church those who free themselves from human passion are most +rare. And who knows if, even among those few privileged ones, some are +not driven by the demon of vanity to increase the asceticism of their +lives, thinking of the glory of being on an altar! The priest who +succeeds in subduing his flesh falls into avarice, which is the +ecclesiastical vice _par excellence_. I have never hoarded from vice; +I have saved for my own, but never for myself." + +The prelate was silent for a long while; but in his irresistible +desire to confide in the simple old woman he went on. + +"I am sure that God will not despise me when my hour comes. His +infinite mercy is above all the littleness of life. What has been my +fault? To have loved a woman, as my father loved my mother; to +have had children as the apostles and saints had. And why not? +Ecclesiastical celibacy is an invention of men, a detail of discipline +agreed upon at the councils; but the flesh and its exigencies are +anterior by many centuries; they date from Paradise. Whoever crosses +this barrier, not from vice, but from irresistible passion, because he +cannot conquer the impulse to create a family and to have a companion, +fails indubitably towards the laws of the Church, but he does not +disobey God. I fear the approach of death; many nights I doubt and +tremble like a child. But I have served God in my own way. In former +times I would have served Him with my sword, fighting against the +heretics. Now I am His priest and do battle for Him whenever I see the +impiety of the age curtailing anything of His glory. The Lord will +forgive me, receiving me into His bosom. You, who are so good, Tomasa, +and have the soul of an angel beneath your rough exterior, do you not +think so?" + +The gardener's widow smiled, and her words fell slowly on the silence +of the dying evening. + +"Tranquillise yourself, Don Sebastian. I have seen many saints in this +house, and they have been worth much less than you. To ensure their +salvation they would have abandoned their children. To maintain what +they call purity of soul they would have renounced their family. +Believe me, no saints enter here; they are men, nothing but men. You +have nothing to repent of in following the impulse of your heart. God +created us in His image and likeness, and also planted in us family +love. All the rest, chastity, celibacy and other trifles, you invented +for yourselves, to distinguish yourselves from the common herd of +people. Be a man, Don Sebastian, and the more you show yourself such +the better it will be for you, and the better the Lord will receive +you in His glory." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +A few days after Corpus Don Antolin went one morning in search of +Gabriel. Silver Stick smiled at Luna, speaking to him in a patronising +way. + +He had thought of him all night; it pained him to see him idle, +walking about the cloister; it was the want of occupation that +inspired him with such perverse ideas. + +"Let us see," he continued, "would it suit you to come down with me +every afternoon into the Cathedral, to show the Treasury and the +other curiosities? A great many foreigners come who can scarcely make +themselves understood when they question me; you will understand them, +as you know French and English, and, your brother says, many other +languages. The Cathedral would be a gainer, as it would show these +strangers that we have an interpreter at our disposal; you would +be doing us a favour and would lose nothing by it. It is always an +amusement to see new faces; and about the recompense ..." + +Don Antolin stopped here, scratching his head beneath his skull cap. +He would see what he could screw out of the funds of the Obreria; if +just at first nothing could be managed, as the revenues of the Primacy +were meagre and at their lowest ebb, no doubt something could be given +later on. + +He looked anxiously for Gabriel's answer, who, however, was quite +agreeable; when all was said and done he was a guest of the Cathedral +and owed it something. And from that afternoon he went down at the +hour of choir to show the foreigners all the treasures of the church. + +There was no lack of travellers who showed Don Antolin's coloured +tickets waiting for the time to see the jewels. Silver Stick could +never see a stranger without imagining that he was a lord or a +duke, and often felt very much surprised at the shabbiness of their +clothing; according to his ideas only the great ones of the earth +could give themselves the pleasure of travelling, and he opened wide +his incredulous and scandalised eyes when Gabriel told him that many +were shoemakers from London or shopkeepers from Paris, who during +their holidays treated themselves to a trip through the ancient +country of the Moors. + +Five canons in their choir surplices advanced up the nave, each one +holding a key in his hand; these were the guardians of the treasure. +Each one opened the lock confided to his custody, the door swung +heavily, and the chapel, with its antique treasures, was opened. In +large glass cases, like a museum, was displayed the ancient opulence +of the Cathedral: statues of chiselled silver, large globes crowned +by graceful little figures all of precious metal, ivory caskets of +complicated work, custodias and viriles[1] of gold, enormous gilt +dishes, embossed with mythological subjects reviving the joy of +paganism in that sordid and dusty corner of the Christian Church, and +precious stones spread their varied colours over pectorals, mitres and +mantles for the Virgin. There were diamonds so immense as to make one +doubt their being genuine, emeralds the size of pebbles, amethysts, +topaz, and pearls--very many pearls, strewn by the hundreds and +thousands on the Virgin's garments. The foreigners were amazed at all +this wealth and dazzled by the quantity, while Gabriel, who had become +accustomed to see it daily, looked at it carelessly. The Treasury +presented a deplorable spectacle of neglect: the riches had aged with +the Cathedral, the diamonds did not flash, the gold seemed tarnished +and dusty, the silver was blackened, the pearls were opaque and sick, +the smoke from the wax tapers and the damp atmosphere of the church +had sadly dulled everything. + +[Footnote 1: _Virile_--small box with double glass in which the Host +is exhibited.] + +"The Church," said Gabriel to himself, "ages everything she touches. +The treasures lose their brilliancy in her hands, like jewels that +fall into the power of usurers. The diamond becomes dulled in the +bosom of the great miser, and the most beautiful picture becomes +blackened on her altars." + +After the visit to the Treasury came the exhibition of the Ochavo, the +octagonal chapel of dark marbles, that pantheon of relics where +the most repulsive human remains--skulls with their ghastly grin, +mummified arms and worn-eaten vertebras--were shown in gold or silver +shrines. The gross and credulous piety of former days displayed +itself in the full tide of unbelief, so that even Don Antolin, so +uncompromising when he spoke of the glories of his Cathedral, lowered +his voice and hurried over his explanations as he showed a piece +of the mantle worn by Santa Leocadia when she "appeared" to the +Archbishop of Toledo, quite understanding the difficulty of explaining +how an apparition could wear garments of stuff. + +Gabriel translated faithfully Don Antolin's explanation, repeating +it again and again with imperturbable gravity, while the canons who +escorted the batch of strangers drew a few paces away with an absent +look, to avoid questions. + +One day a phlegmatic Englishman interrupted the interpreter. + +"And have you not amongst all these things a feather from the wings of +St. Michael?" + +"No, señor, and it is a great pity," said Luna, equally seriously, +"but you will probably find it in some other Cathedral; we cannot have +everything here." + +In the Chapter-house, a mixture of Arab and Gothic architecture, the +foreigners were much interested by the double row of portraits of the +Toledan archbishops hanging on the wall, with their mitres and golden +croziers. Gabriel called their attention to the picture of Don +Cerebruno, a mediaeval prelate, so called from his enormous head; but +it was the wardrobe which more especially surprised the foreigners. + +It was a room surrounded by large cupboards and shelves of old wood; +above these the walls were covered with dusty and torn pictures, +copies of Flemish paintings that the canons had relegated to this +corner; round the room were placed in line the ancient armchairs of +the church, some of Spanish workmanship, austere, with straight lines +and ravelled coverings, others of Greek design with curved feet +inlaid with ivory. The capes and chasubles were piled on the shelves, +according to colours, with the collars outside the heap, so that +people could examine the wonderful embroidery. A whole world of +patterns appeared with every possible brilliancy of colour on a few +inches of stuff. The astonishing art of the ancient embroiderers made +the silk a series of vivid pictures; the collar and the narrow stripes +on the front of a cape were large enough to reproduce all the scenes +of the biblical creation and the passion of Jesus. Brocade and silk +unrolled the magnificence of their textures. One cape was a garden +of flame-coloured carnations, another was a bed of roses and other +fantastic flowers with twisted stamens and metallic petals. The +sacristans produced from the deep shelves, as though they were books, +the splendid and famous frontals of the high altar. There were special +ones for each festival; that for St. John's Day was brightly coloured +with verbenas, purple bunches of grapes, and golden lambs that fat +little angels were caressing with their chubby hands. The most +ancient, of soft and rather faded colours, showed Persian gardens with +blue waters in which fabulous reddish beasts were drinking. + +The visitors were bewildered seeing all this vast collection of +stuffs and embroideries unrolled piece after piece--all the past of +a Cathedral which, having millions of revenue, employed for its +embellishment armies of embroiderers, acquiring the richest textures +of Valencia and Seville, reproducing in gold and colours all the +episodes from the Holy books, and the torments of the martyrs, all the +glorious legends of the Church, immortalised by the needle, before +printing had been able to do so. + +Gabriel returned every evening to the upper cloister, wearied out with +walking the length and breadth of the Cathedral. During the first few +days he was delighted with the novelty of seeing fresh faces, to hear +the rustle of the visitors who, branching off from the great stream of +travellers who inundated Europe, came as far as Toledo. But after a +little while the people he saw every afternoon seemed to him just the +same. There were the same questions, the same stiff and hard-featured +Englishwomen, and the same o-o-o-h's of cold and conventional +admiration, and the same identical way of turning their backs with +rude pride when there was nothing else to be shown. Returning to +the quiet of the upper cloister after the daily exhibition of the +Treasury, Gabriel thought the poverty of the Claverias even more +revolting and intolerable. The shoemaker seemed sadder and yellower in +the rank atmosphere of his den, bending over his bench hammering the +soles, his wife more feeble and ill, the miserable slave of maternity, +weakened by hunger, and offering to her little son as his only hope of +food those flaccid breasts in which there was nothing left but a drop +of blood. The little child was dying! Sagrario, who had left her +machine to spend the greater part of the day in the shoemaker's room +said so in a low voice to her uncle. She did all the work of the +house, while the poor mother, motionless in a chair, with the little +one in her lap, looked at it with weeping eyes. When the baby woke +from its stupor it would wearily raise its head from its little neck, +which had become a mere thread; the mother to stifle its feeble moans +would press it to her breast, but the child would turn away its mouth +guessing the inutility of expending its strength on that rag of flesh +from which it could only succeed in extracting the last drop. + +Gabriel examined the child, noting its extreme emaciation and the +spots that scrofula had spread over its straw-coloured skin. He shook +his head incredulously when the neighbours who had gathered round the +invalid each diagnosed some particular ailment, and recommended every +imaginable sort of household remedy, from decoctions of rare herbs and +stinking ointments to applications on the chest of miracle working +prints, and tracing seven crosses on the navel with as many +paternosters. + +"It is hunger," said Luna to his niece, "nothing but hunger." And +depriving himself of part of his own food, he sent to the shoemaker's +house the milk that had been brought up for himself. But the child's +stomach could not retain the liquid too substantial for its weakness, +and threw it up as soon as swallowed. The Aunt Tomasa, with her +energetic and enterprising character, brought a woman from outside the +Cathedral to nourish the child, but after two days, and before the +effects became visible, she came no more, as if she had felt disgusted +at the miserable and corpse-like little body touching her. In vain the +gardener's widow searched; it was not easy to find generous breasts +who would give their milk for very little pay. + +In the meanwhile the child was dying. All the women came in and out of +the shoemaker's house, and even Don Antolin would stand at the door in +the mornings. + +"How is the little one? Just the same? It is all in God's hands." + +And he would retire, doing the shoemaker the great charity of not +speaking to him about the pesetas he owed him, on account of the sick +child. + +"Virgin's Blue" was annoyed by this incident, which upset the calm of +the cloister, and disturbed the bliss of his digestion as a happy and +well-fed servant of the Church. It was a shame that that shoemaker +should be allowed to live in the Claverias with all that flock of +wretched and scurvy children; one would die every month; all sorts +of illness would lay hold on them. By what right were they in the +Cathedral when they drew no wage from the Obreria? Such stinking +excrescences ought to remain outside the Lord's house. + +His mother-in-law was furious. + +"Silence, you thief of the saints!" she cried. "Silence, or I will +throw a dish at you! We are all sons of God, and if things were as +they should be, all the poor ought to live in the Cathedral. Instead +of saying such things it would be much better if you gave those +unhappy people part of what you have stolen from the Virgin." + +The sacristan shrugged his shoulders with contempt. If they had not +enough to eat they should not have children. There he was himself with +only one daughter--he did not think he had any right to more--and so +thanks to Our Lady he was able to save a scrap for his old age. + +Tomasa spoke of the shoemaker's child to the good gentlemen of the +Chapter when they came into the garden for a few minutes after choir. +They listened absently, putting their hands in their cassocks. + +"It is all God's will! What poverty!" + +And some gave her ten centimes, others a real, one or two even a +peseta. The old woman went one day to the Archbishop's palace. Don +Sebastian was engaged and unable to see her, but he sent her two +pesetas by one of the servants. + +"They don't mean badly," said the gardener's widow, giving her +collection to the poor mother, "but each one lives for himself, and +his neighbour may manage as he can. No one divides his cloak with +another--take this, and see how you can get out of your trouble." + +They fed a little better in the shoemaker's house; the miserable +scrofulous children collected in the cloister profited most by the +baby's illness; it was growing daily weaker, lying motionless for +hours, with almost imperceptible breathing, on its mother's lap. + +When the unhappy child died, all the people of the Claverias rushed +to the home. Inside could be heard the mother's wailings, strident, +interminable, like the bellowing of a wounded beast; outside the +father wept silently, surrounded by his friends. + +"It died just like a bird," he said with long pauses, his words broken +by sobs. "His mother held him on her knees--I was working--'Antonio, +Antonio!' she called, 'see, what is the matter with the child, it is +moving its mouth and making grimaces?' I ran up quickly, its face +was quite dusky--as if it had a veil over it. It opened its mouth, a +couple of twitches with its eyes staring, and its neck fell over--just +the same as a bird, just the same." + +He wept, repeating constantly the resemblance between his son and +those birds who die in winter from the cold. + +The bell-ringer looked gloomily at Gabriel. + +"You who know everything, is it true that it died of hunger?" + +And the Tato with his scandalous impetuosity shouted loudly-- + +"There is no justice in the world! All this must be altered! Fancy a +child dying of hunger in this house, where money runs like water, and +where all those creatures are dressed in gold!" + +When the little corpse was carried to the cemetery, the cloister +seemed quite deserted; all its life was concentrated in the +shoemaker's house, all the women surrounded the mother. Despair had +rendered that sick and feeble woman furious. She no longer wept: her +child's death had made her ferocious--she wished to bite or to dash +her skull against the wall. + +"Ay! my s-o-o-o-n! my Antonio!" + +At night Sagrario and the other women remained in the house to look +after her. In her desperation she wished to make some one responsible +for her misfortune, and she fixed on those highest in the cloister. +Don Antolin had not helped her with the smallest alms; his affected +niece had scarcely been in to see the little one, nothing interested +her but men. + +"It is all Silver Stick's fault," wailed the poor mother--"he is +a thief. He grinds our poverty with his usurer's snares. Never a +farthing did he give for my son. And that Mariquita is just the same. +Yes, señor, I do say so. She only thinks of decking herself out so +that the cadets may see her." + +"For mercy's sake, woman, they will hear you," begged some of the +terrified women. + +But others scouted this fear. "Let Don Antolin and his niece hear +them! What did it matter? The Claverias were tired of the rapacity +of the uncle, and the magnificent airs that ugly woman gave herself! +Because they were poor they were not going to spend their lives +trembling before that couple. God only knew what the uncle and niece +did when they were alone in the house together!" + +A breath of rebellion had passed over that sleepy world. It was the +unconscious influence of Gabriel. What he had said to his friends had +been passed on to all the men in the Claverias, getting even to the +women. They were confused and garbled ideas, that very few could +understand, but they cherished them like fresh pure air reviving +their minds. They sounded in their ears like a pleasant echo from the +outside world. It was sufficient for them to know that this quiet life +of submission they had led up to now was not immutable--they had +a right to something better--and that human beings ought to rebel +against injustice and oppression. + +Don Antolin, who knew well enough the crew confided to his care, +was not long in perceiving this moral upturn. He felt hostility and +rebellion on every side. The debtors answered him haughtily, alleging +their poverty as a reason for no longer enduring his avarice; his +imperious orders were tardily executed, and he had a clear perception +that they were laughing behind his back as he walked through the +cloister, and making threatening gestures. One day his legs trembled +beneath him and his eyes were dimmed, hearing how the Perrero replied +to one of his reprimands, having returned late to the Cathedral, and +obliging him to descend and open the door after he had gone to bed. +The Tato made him understand, with an insolent expression, that he had +bought a knife, and that he intended its first fleshing to be in the +bowels of some priest or other who ground down the poor. + +His niece complained to Don Antolin, they paid no attention to her and +flouted her, no woman now ever came to help her gratuitously in her +household duties. They replied insolently that those who wanted +servants must pay for them. What was her uncle thinking about? It was +certainly time to assert his authority and to lay a heavy hand on +these people. + +She herself, so lively and energetic in her own house, was now obliged +to retire snorting with rage or weeping, whenever she stationed +herself at her door. All the women of the Claverias wished to revenge +themselves for their former thraldom, standing already on the +declivity of disrespect. + +"Look at her!" screamed the shoemaker's wife to her neighbours, +"always so dressed up, the ugly jade. She decks herself with the blood +that vampire of an uncle sucks from the poor." + +And from the iron gratings of the upper Claverias, giving on the +roofs, there was generally a voice singing the ancient couplet, no +doubt inspired by the Cathedral garden-- + + "Las amas de los curas y los laureles + Como nunca dan fruto siempre estan verdes." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Priest's housekeepers--like laurels--never have any +fruit, because they are evergreens.] + +It was this that ended the patience of Don Antolin; this insulting +conjecture about himself and his niece that disturbed his miserly +chastity. He visited the cardinal to complain of the inhabitants of +the cloister, but His Eminence, who lived in a perpetual rage, grew +furious listening to him and very nearly thrashed him. Why did he +come to him with such tales? For what reason had he been given any +authority? Was there nothing left of a man beneath his cassock? He who +was wanting in the good discipline of the house--turn him out into the +street at once! More energy, and be careful never to trouble him again +with such insignificant tales, otherwise the person who would be +turned into the street would be Silver Stick himself. + +Don Antolin felt a little braver after this interview, although he +swore mentally never again to visit that terrible prelate. He was +determined to reassert his authority, by punishing the weakest, whom +he considered as the origin of all these scandals. The shoemaker +should be expelled from the Claverias, as he was there through +no other right but that his wife had been born there. Mariquita, +bewildered by her uncle's energy, must needs speak to some one about +these intentions, and so the news circulated through the cloister. + +Don Antolin did not dare to move a step further, terrified by the +silent unanimity with which the whole population rose against him. + +The Tato looked at him with mocking and threatening eyes, in which +Silver Stick could plainly read "Remember the knife"; but what +terrified Don Antolin more than anything was the silence of the +bell-ringer, and the savage and hostile glance with which he responded +to his words. + +Even the good Wooden Staff, Esteban, protested in his own way, saying +quietly to Don Antolin: + +"Is it really true that you intend turning out the shoemaker? You will +do wrong, very wrong, for after all he is very poor, and his wife was +born in the cloister. These innovations always bring misfortune, Don +Antolin." + +So the priest, finding he had no support, and seeing hostility on +every side, put off his energetic resolutions till the following day, +even reproving his niece when she threw his weakness in his face. + +The Canon Obrero, from whom he had implored help, did not care to +disturb the blessed peace of his existence by mixing himself up in the +quarrels of the smaller people. It was Silver Stick's own affair; he +could punish or expel any one he thought fit without fear of anybody. +But Don Antolin, dreading the responsibility that might accrue from +energetic action, ended by delivering himself over to Gabriel and +begging for his assistance. That man was the one who wielded the real +authority in the upper cloister; all those who had listened to him +followed his advice blindly. + +"Help me, Gabrielillo," said the priest with an agonised expression. +"If you cannot restore order, this will end badly; they even insult my +poor niece, and some day I shall turn half the people of the Claverias +out into the street, as I hold authority from His Eminence for +everything. Ay, señor! I do not know what has happened here; surely +the devil must have got loose in our upper cloister! How these people +have changed to me!" + +Luna guessed Don Antolin's thoughts and his allusions to the devil who +had got loose in the cloister. That devil was himself. No doubt Silver +Stick was right. Without intending it he had introduced discord into +the Cathedral. He had sought calm and forgetfulness in that refuge, +and the spirit of rebellion had followed him even into this +concealment. He recalled his thoughts on the first day, when he was +alone in the silent cloister; he wished to be another stone in the +Cathedral, without thought, without feeling, to spend the rest of his +life fixed to that ruin, with the embryonic life of the fungus on the +buttress, but the spirit of the outside world had entered in with him. + +Luna remembered how travellers in time of plague had crossed the +sanitary cordon--they were well and happy, nothing betrayed the +infection in their bodies; but the poisonous germs travelled in the +folds of their clothes and in their hair, carrying death without +knowing it, helping it to leap all barriers and obstacles, without +being in the least aware of it. He was the same, but instead of +spreading death, he spread tumultuous and rebellious life. The protest +of the lower orders that had been surging throughout the world, for +more than a century, had entered with him into this still remaining +fragment of the sixteenth century. He had awakened those men, who had +been like the sleepers in the legend, motionless in their cave for +ages, while the centuries rolled on and the world was transformed. + +The awakening of these people was sudden and violent, like that of a +people in revolution. They were ashamed of the old errors that they +had worshipped, and this made them receive as gospel everything that +was new, without quailing before the consequences. + +It was the faith of a people which, once it takes form, rushes +onwards, accepting everything, justifying everything, the only +requirement being its novelty, and casting aside contemptuously those +traditional principles which it had just abandoned. + +The cowardly submission of Silver Stick was the first victory of those +more daring souls who formed Luna's surrounding. The avaricious and +despotic priest lowered his eyes before them, smilingly anxious to +make himself agreeable. This they owed to the master, for he was now +the true ruler of the upper cloister. Don Antolin consulted him before +making any arrangements, and his ugly niece smiled on Gabriel as the +daughters of the conquered might smile on a triumphant hero. + +They now no longer hid themselves in the bell-ringer's house for their +meetings; they formed a circle in the cloister during the evenings, +discussing the audacious doctrines taught by Luna, without now being +intimidated by the religious atmosphere. They sat with the look of +lords, surrounding their master, while in the opposite gallery walked +Silver Stick like a black phantom, reading his book of hours, and +casting now and then an uneasy glance on the group. Even his ancient +vassal, the chaplain of the nuns, had dared to leave him to go and +listen to Gabriel. + +Don Antolin with the keenness of his ecclesiastical training, guessed +the intensity of the evil produced by Luna. But for the moment his +egoism was stronger than his reflection. Let them talk--what did it +matter? It was only a little ebullition of pride in those people, +nothing more. All words and wind in the head. Meanwhile they had +better not ask for any more money! In exchange he had a very good +auxiliary in Luna, who, sharing his authority, spared him many +annoyances, and the Cathedral disposed of his services gratuitously as +interpreter to the foreigners. + +These already began to talk of the great intelligence and education +of the Toledan sacristans, a praise Don Antolin received as though it +were entirely deserved by himself. + +Gabriel was far more alarmed than Don Antolin at the effect of his +words; he bitterly repented having been led to speak of his past and +of his ideals. He had sought for peace and silence, but he was +still surrounded, though in a smaller degree, by the atmosphere of +proselytism and blind enthusiasm, as in the days of his martyrdom. +He had wished to efface himself and to disappear on entering the +Cathedral, but fate mocked him, reviving the agitation in the midst +of his concealment, to disturb the peace of that ruin. Society had +forgotten him, but he unconsciously was agitating, and drawing to +himself the attention of the outside world. + +The enthusiasm of these neophytes was a danger, and his brother, the +Wooden Staff, without understanding the full extent of the evil, +warned him with his usual good sense. + +"You are turning the heads of these poor men, with the things you +tell them. Be careful; they are very well meaning, but they are very +ignorant. And having been ignorant all their lives, it is dangerous to +turn such men into sages at one blow. It is as if I, being accustomed +to the homely stew, were taken to-day to His Eminence's table. I +should gorge myself and drink too much; at night I should have a +colic, and should probably hop the twig." + +Gabriel acknowledged the truth of this prudent advice, but he could +not draw back--he was driven on by the affection of his disciples and +his own ardour as propagandist. It was a great delight to him to see +the wonder in those virgin minds, entering tumultuously into the +luminous palaces constructed by human thought during the last century. + +The description of the future of humanity inflamed all Luna's ardour. +He spoke of the happiness of men, after a revolutionary crisis which +would change all the organisation of humanity with mystic rapture, +like a Christian preacher describing heaven. + +"Man ought to seek happiness solely in this world, for after death +there only existed the infinite life of matter with its endless +combinations, but the human being was effaced as entirely as a plant +or an animal--he fell into oblivion when he sank into the tomb. +Immortality of the soul was one of the illusions of human pride worked +up by religions, who laid their foundations on this lie. It was +only in this life that man could find heaven. Everyone embarked on +immensity in the same ship, the earth. We were all comrades in our +dangers and our struggles, and we ought to look upon one another +as brothers seeking the common welfare. And what about the unequal +distribution of goods, the division of classes, the ability to work, +and, above all, the struggle for existence, that the philosophers and +poets of the oppressing classes paint as an indispensable condition of +progress? Communism is the holiest aspiration of humanity, the +divine dream of man since he began to think in the first dawn of +civilisation. Religions had endeavoured to establish it, but religion +had been shipwrecked and was moribund, and only science could enforce +it in the future. They must stop on the way they were going, as +humanity was marching on the road to perdition, therefore it was +necessary to return to the point of departure. The first man who had +cultivated a portion of the earth and garnered the fruits of his +toil, thought it was his for ever, and left it to his sons as their +property; they engaged other men to cultivate it for them--so these +men became robbers, appropriators of the universal heritage. It was +the same with those who possessed themselves of the invention of +human genius, machines, etc., for the benefit of a small majority, +subjecting the rest of mankind to the law of hunger. No, everything +was for everyone. The earth belonged to all human beings without +exception, like the sun and the air; its products ought to be divided +between everyone with due regard to their necessities. It was shameful +that man, who only appeared for an instant on this planet--a minute, +a second, for his life was no more than this in the life of +immensity--should spend this mere breath of existence fighting with +his kin, robbing them, excited by the fever of plunder, not even +enjoying the majestic calm of a wild beast, which when it has eaten, +rests, without ever thinking of doing harm from vanity or avarice. +There ought to be neither rich nor poor--nothing but men. The only +inevitable division must be that between brains more or less highly +organised. But the wise, from the fact of being so, ought to show +their greatness, sacrificing themselves for the more simple, without +seeking to assist the greatness of their minds by material advantages; +for in stomachs there were no categories or ranks. Everything that +exists, even the smallest production that man considers his exclusive +work, is the work of the past and present generations. By what right +can anyone say 'This is mine, mine only'? Man is not consulted before +he is formed if he wishes to burst forth into life. He is born--and +from the fact of being born he has a right to well-being." Gabriel +proclaimed his supreme formula, "Everything for everyone, and +well-being for all." + +His friends listened in profound silence. The right to well-being +sank profoundly into their minds; it was the saying that most cruelly +touched their poverty, taunted by the contrast of the wealth of the +Church. + +Don Martin, the young chaplain, was the only one who timidly raised +any objections to the master's sayings. He wished to know if, when +everything was for everyone, when man should have recognised his +right to happiness, without laws or compulsion to force him to +production--would he work? seeing that work was a necessity, and not a +virtue, as those who employ labour say, to glorify it. + +Gabriel loudly affirmed the necessity of work in the future. The +man of the future would work without being forced to do so by his +necessities; he would not be ruled by the body and its imperious +requirements; his conscience would be inspired with the clear +understanding of solidarity with his fellows and the certainty that +if one abandoned social duties others would follow the example, thus +rendering life in common impossible and so returning to the actual +times of poverty and robbery. + +"Why do not the few men of culture and sound conscience living at +present kill and rob?" exclaimed Gabriel. "It is not through fear of +the law and its representatives, for a clear intelligence, if it takes +the trouble, can easily find ways of evading both; neither can it be +through fear of eternal penalties and divine punishment, as such +men do not believe in these inventions of the past. It is from that +respect to his fellows which is felt by every elevated mind, from the +consideration that all violence should be avoided, for if everyone +gave themselves over to it, all social life must disappear. When this +understanding, which now only belongs to a few, embraces all humanity, +men will live ruled by their own consciences without laws or police, +working from social duty, without requiring man to be the only spring +of activity, and sweating without compassion to be the only way to +ease." + +Throughout all his revolutionary raptures Luna had no illusions as to +the present. Humanity was at present an infected land, in which the +best seeds rotted, or which at best produced only poisonous fruits; we +must wait till the equalising revolution begun in the human conscience +a century ago should be completed, after that it would be possible +and easy to change the basis of society; he had a blind faith in +the future. Man must progress in the same way as communities; these +reckoned their evolutions by centuries, but man by millions of +years. How could a man of to-day be compared to the biped animal of +prehistoric times, though bearing visibly the traces of the animalism +from which he had lately emerged? Living in fellowship with his +ancestors the monkeys, the principal difference being the first +babblings of speech, and the first trembling spark that began to burn +in his brain. + +From the ravenous beast of former days, suffering from all the cruel +forces of nature and living in fraternal misery with the lower +animals, the man of to-day was evolved, asserting his superiority to +his ancestors, dominating all nature. From the men of to-day, in whom +the passions of their former animalism are finding their equilibrium +with the gradual unfolding of the mind, will arise that superior and +perfect being indicated by philosophers, pure from all animal egoism, +and endeavouring to change the actual cruel, restless, and uncertain +life, into a period of happy and prosperous equality. + +The animalism at present dominant in man exasperated Gabriel; it was +the great stumbling-block to all his generous views of the future, +and he explained to his astonished listeners the transformations of +natural creatures and of the origin of man, and the wondrous poem of +the evolution of nature from the original protoplasm to the infinite +varieties of life. We still carry in us the marks of our origin. One +could not help laughing at the God of the Jews, who had modelled a man +from clay, like a sculptor. Unlucky artist! Science pointed out much +carelessness and bungling in His work, without being able to justify +such mistakes. The skin of our bodies did not serve us as a covering +like the fur of an animal. How could we then believe it? Why were +nipples given to human males, if they were of no use for milk giving? +Why was the vertebral column at the back of the body as in quadrupeds, +when it would have been more logical, in creating a man who stands on +his feet, to place it in the centre of the body as a strong support, +thus avoiding the curvatures and weakness of the spine that are now +suffered by this disequilibrium in the support of its weight? + +Gabriel enumerated the various inexplicable inconsistencies and +incongruities found in the human body, presuming it to be of divine +origin. + +"I feel prouder," said he, "of my animal origin; to be a lineal +descendant of inferior beings than to have emerged imperfect from the +hand of a stupid God. I feel the same satisfaction that a nobleman +feels in speaking of his ancestors when I think of our remote +forefathers, those men-beasts, exposed like the animals to all the +cruel severity of nature, who, little by little, through hundreds of +centuries, have transformed themselves, triumphing in the unfolding of +their minds, their brains, and their social instincts. Making clothes, +edible foods, arms, tools and houses, neutralising the exterior +influences of nature. What hero or discoverer in the four thousand +years comprising our history can compare with those elementary men who +have slowly evolved and maintained on the earth the existence of our +species, exposed thousands of times to annihilation. The day on which +our ancestors cared for the sick and wounded, instead of abandoning +them as all animals had previously done; on which the first seed was +planted, the first arrow shot, brought nature face to face with the +greatest of her revolutions. Only one in the future will be able to +equal it; if man in remote times was able to free his body, now he +requires the great revolution to free his mind. The races who go +furthest in their intellectual development will be the ultimate +survivors; they will be masters of the earth, destroying all others. +The least wise in those days will probably be far superior to the most +cultivated intellects of the present times. Each individual will find +his happiness in the happiness of his fellows, and no one will try to +exercise compulsion on his neighbour. No laws or penalties will exist, +and voluntary associations will supply through the influence of reason +the present power of authority. This will be in the future--far, very +far off. But what do centuries matter in the life of humanity! They +are like seconds in our existence. On the day when man shall be +transformed into this superior being, with the full development of +all his intellectual faculties, now so embryonic, this earth will no +longer be the vale of tears spoken of by religion, but the paradise +dreamed of by the poets." + +In spite of the enthusiasm with which Gabriel spoke, his hearers did +not appear to share these illusions. They were silent, and their +attitude was one of coldness before the immense distance of that +future to which their master confided all his hopes of universal +prosperity. They wished for it at once, with the eagerness of a child +who is shown a dainty which is afterwards put out of its reach. The +sacrifices, the slow work for the future, struck no chord in their +minds. From Gabriel's explanations they only drew the fact that they +were unhappy, but that they had the same right to happiness and +comfort as those privileged few whom they had formerly respected in +their ignorance. As a certain portion of human felicity belonged to +them they wished to possess it at once, without delay or resistance, +with all the fervour of one claiming what belongs to him. Luna +remarked in this silence a certain rebellion, like those ironical +gestures with which his companions in Barcelona had received his +illusions about the future and his anathemas against violence of +action. + +These ardent neophytes outdistanced their teacher; they listened to +him with respect, but they were obliged to isolate themselves from him +in order to digest his teachings in their own fashion. Don Martin was +the only one who followed him in his visionary excursions into the +future. The bell-ringer, the organ-blower, the shoemaker and the Tato +now went up nightly to the bell-ringer's house, without summoning +the master, and there they gave vent to their hatred of everything +existing, under the forgotten old prints, yellow and wrinkled, which +pictured the inglorious episodes of the Carlist war. + +This nocturnal reunion was a continual complaint against social +injustice. They thought themselves even more unfortunate when they +took an exact review of their situation. The shoemaker recalled with +tearful eyes the little child who had died of hunger, and spoke of the +misery of his offspring, so numerous as to render his work useless. +The organ-blower spoke of his miserable old age, the six reals daily +during his life, without any hope of earning more. The Tato, in the +fits of rage of a bullying coxcomb, proposed to behead all the canons +in the choir some evening and then to set fire to the Cathedral. And +the bell-ringer, gloomy and scowling, said aloud, following up the +course of his thoughts: + +"And below so much wealth that is of no use to anybody--amassed from +pure pride--thieves! robbers!" + +Gabriel returned to pass his days by Sagrario's side. His disciples +hid themselves daily more carefully in their isolation in the tower. +Don Martin had his mother ill, and could not leave the convent. + +Silver Stick felt quite satisfied with Luna seeing him alone, +believing that it was he who had alienated his disciples, cutting +short in this way his dangerous conversations so as to restore order +in the cloister. One day he addressed him smilingly with a patronising +manner. + +"You will be rewarded for your good conduct, Gabrielillo, much sooner +than you expect. Did I not say I would look out for something for you +in exchange for the help you gave me in showing the treasury? Well, +now you have it. From next week two pesetas daily will fall into +your purse like two suns. Are you equal to staying all night in the +Cathedral? The older watchman, the one who was a civil guard, is tired +of it, and is going home to his own village. It appears that since his +dog died he has taken a dislike to the duties. The other watchman is +very poorly and wants a companion. Will you undertake it? If it were +winter I should not say anything about it, as you cough too much to +spend the night down there; but in summer the Cathedral is the coolest +place in Toledo. What lovely nights! And by the time bad weather comes +on we will have found you some better place. You are trustworthy, +though your head is rather light; but you come of an honoured and +well-known family, which is what is wanted. Do you accept?" + +Luna accepted, declaring his intention to Esteban, when the latter +objected on account of his weak health. He would only undertake the +watchman's duties during the summer; besides, two pesetas a day were +even more than Wooden Staff earned; the income of the family would be +doubled, and it would be a pity to lose such a good opportunity. + +That evening Sagrario spoke to her uncle praising the energy which +prompted him to undertake any sort of work so as not to be a charge on +the family. + +They were in the cloister leaning on the balustrade; below was the +dark garden with its waving branches, above a summer sky veiled by the +heat haze which dulled the brightness of the stars. They were alone +in the four-sided gallery. The lighted windows of the Chapel-master's +little room threw a square of red on the opposite roofs. They could +hear the harmonium playing slowly and sadly, and when it stopped the +shadow of the musician passed and repassed over the square of light +with his nervous gestures, which, enlarged by the reflection, appeared +the most grotesque contortions. + +The nocturnal calm and darkness surrounded Gabriel and Sagrario with a +gentle caress; that mysterious freshness was falling from above which +seems to revive drooping spirits and magnify old remembrances. The +Church seemed to them as an immense sleeping beast, in whose lap they +had found peace and protection. + +Gabriel spoke of his past, in order to convince the young woman that +his work in the Cathedral would not be very arduous. He had suffered +much; there was no bitterness that he had not tasted; he had endured +hunger, terrible hunger, in his peregrinations through the world. +He did not know which were the most painful, his martyrdom in the +dungeons of the gloomy castle, or his days of despair in the streets +of crowded cities, seeing food and gold through the glass windows of +the shops while his head was swimming with the dizziness of hunger. +He could endure his misery while he wandered alone through the cruel +selfishness of civilisation; but the most horrible days were those +in which he shared his vagabond poverty with Lucy, his gentle and +melancholy companion. + +Gabriel spoke of the Englishwoman as of a dead sister. + +"Had you known her, Sagrario, you would have loved her. She was a +strong woman, a brave companion, united to me more by the community of +thought than by carnal attraction. I loved her when I first saw her. +I hardly know if it was love that we felt; poets have written so many +lies about love, and have falsified it in such an exaggerated way, +that I do not for certain know what it is." + +He spoke to the young woman of love, explaining it according to his +beliefs. Goethe had defined it as an "elective affinity," speaking +as a man of science and not as a poet, using the term that chemistry +gives to the tendency of two substances to unite and form a distinct +product. Two beings between whom no affinity existed could meet +through false laws of life in perpetual contact, but they could not +mix or merge into one another. This happened more often than not +between the individuals of different sexes who peopled the earth; a +passing sentimentality could exist, or carnal caprice, but seldom +love. The poor invalid Lucy was his affinity; they met and they loved. +In their pity for human miseries, their hatred of inequalities and +injustice, their self-abnegation in the cause of the humble and +unfortunate they were equal; they were not only united by their hearts +but by their brains. + +She was plain, with a soft and sad plainness that seemed to Luna the +supreme ideal of beauty in the midst of that struggling world of +unfortunates and victims. She was the image of a woman of the people +reared in the workmen's slums of great cities, anaemic from the +mephitic air of the den in which she was born and from bad and +insufficient food, with a wretched body, all feminine graces paralysed +in their development by the rough work done in her childhood. Her +lips, that great ladies paint red, were violet; the only beauty of her +face lay in her eyes, those windows of sorrow, made larger by the cold +nights passed in the street from horror of the scenes she saw in her +childhood; her father, drunken, with the brutal wish of a workman to +forget, who, after imagining that his tavern was a paradise, would +become infuriated with the poverty of his home and beat the whole +family. + +"She was like all you women of the lower orders, Sagrario. Your beauty +only lasts an instant; in fact, it can only exist in the first flush +of youth. A woman of the poor cannot be beautiful unless she gets +out of her class. Daily labour makes her lose all her freshness and +strength, and maternity in the midst of poverty absorbs even the +marrow in her bones. When her daily work is ended and she returns +home, she has to sweep and wash, and shrivel herself to a mummy before +the smoky kitchen stove. I loved Lucy for that reason, because she was +consumed and drained by sweating, because she was the girl worker +in all her melancholy decadence, born beautiful and made hideous by +social injustice." + +He recalled the unbending and deadly hatred with which that little +woman spoke so quietly of the supreme vengeance of the fallen, of the +revenge for long years of oppression. She showed herself more firmly +rooted and fiercer in her illusions than Gabriel, and he would praise +her daring as a propagandist, her perilous expeditions into the great +towns, running the gauntlet of watchful police, carrying on her arm +that old bonnet-box full of pamphlets that might have sent her to +prison. She was the "miss" animated by evangelical propaganda, who +travels over the globe distributing Bibles with a cold smile, fearless +alike of the mockery of civilisation, or the brutality of savages; but +what Lucy distributed were incitements to revolution; she did not seek +out the happy but the despairing, in the factories and infected +slums. The two endured hunger, finding themselves often separated by +persecution and prison, but they met again, continuing their romantic +career, till poverty and consumption ended her life. + +Gabriel wept, remembering their last interview in an Italian hospital, +clean and sweet, but with the frozen atmosphere of charity. As he was +not her husband he could only visit her twice a week. He presented, +himself ragged and downcast, seeing her in an armchair daily paler +and weaker, her skin of a waxen transparency and her eyes immensely +enlarged. He knew a little about everything, and he could not conceal +from himself the gravity of her illness. She waited quietly for death. +"Bring me some roses," she said, smiling to Gabriel, as if in the last +moment of her life she wished to acknowledge the natural beauty of the +world made hideous and darkened by man. The "companion" lived on dry +bread, refusing the help of his comrades only a little less poor than +himself, sleeping on the ground, in order to take her on his next +visit a bunch of flowers. + +"She died, Sagrario," groaned Luna, "and I know not where they buried +her; possibly she may have served for a lecture at the school of +anatomy; she fell into the common grave like those soldiers whose +heroism remains in obscurity. But I still see her; she has followed me +in all my misfortunes, and I think she lives again in you." + +"But uncle," said Sagrario, gently, touched by his recital, "I cannot +do what she did. I am an unhappy woman, without strength or will." + +"Call me Gabriel," said Luna, vehemently. "You are my Lucy, who again +crosses my path; I knew it from the first, and for a long while I have +been searching my feelings, analysing my will, and I have arrived at +one certainty--that I love you, Sagrario." + +The young woman made a gesture of surprise, drawing further from him. + +"Do not draw away, do not fear me. I am a feeble man, you are a weak +woman; you have suffered much, and have bid good-bye to the joys of +the earth, but you are strong through misfortune and can look the +truth in the face. We are both wrecks of life, and the only hope +left us is to wait and die quietly in the desert island which is our +refuge. We are undone, rent and swept away; Death has laid his hand +upon us; we are fallen and shapeless rags after having passed through +the mills of an absurd society. For this reason I love you, because +you are my equal in misfortune; elective affinity unites us. Poor Lucy +was the work-girl enfeebled by sweating, weakened from her birth by +poverty. You were the girl of the people drawn from her home by the +attraction of the well-being of the privileged; seduced, not by love, +but by the caprices of the happy; the girl offered as a sacrifice to +the Minotaur whose remains were afterwards thrown on to the dunghill. +I love you, Sagrario; we are two fugitives from society, whose paths +must join; I am hated as dangerous, you are despised as an outcast; +misfortune has laid hold on us. Our bodies are weakened and we bear +the wounds of the conquered, but before death claims us, let us make +our lives sweet by love. Let us seek for roses as did poor Lucy." + +He pressed the young woman's hands, who, bewildered by Gabriel's +words, knew not what to say, and wept softly. Upstairs, in the upper +storey of the Claverias, the Chapel-master played his harmonium. +Gabriel knew the music: it was Beethoven's last lament, the "Must it +be," that the great genius sang before his death with a melancholy +that made one shiver. + +"I love you, Sagrario," continued Gabriel, "ever since I saw you +return to this house, bravely facing the odious curiosity of the +people around. I have spent weeks and months by the side of your +machine, seeing how industriously you worked. I have studied you and +read you. You are a sincere and simple creature; your mind has none +of the doublings and hidden corners of those complicated and tortuous +souls used to the artifices of civilisation. I guessed day by day, by +your gentle glance and the attention with which you listened to me, +your gratitude for the little I was able to do for you. I remembered +the dark period of your life, your slavery to the flesh; and finding +me always gentle with you, protecting you from your father's anger, +your gratitude has grown and grown, till to-day you love me, Sagrario. +You yourself have not realised it, you know not how to explain it, but +your being responds to mine like those chemical substances I spoke of. +That single and eternal love is a lying invention of the poets, of +which facts often make a mockery. One can love several people with +equal warmth: the indispensable thing is the affinity. You who +formerly loved a man to madness, what do you feel for me? Have I +deceived myself? You really love me?" + +Sagrario continued weeping, with her head bent, as though she did +not dare to look at Luna. He reassured her gently: she must call +him Gabriel, speak to him as "thou." Were they not companions in +misfortune? + +"I am ashamed," murmured the young woman. "So much happiness disturbs +me. Yes, I like you. No, I love you, Gabriel. I would never have +confessed it; I would have died sooner than reveal my secret. What am +I that anyone should love me? For many days I have not looked in the +glass, for I should weep at the remembrance of my lost youth. And +then my story--my terrible story. How could I imagine that you--or, I +should say, that thou, wouldst read my thoughts so clearly? See how +I tremble; the shock has not yet ceased, the surprise of finding my +secret discovered. A man like you to descend to me, ugly and sick for +ever. No, do not speak of the other man; I forgot him long ago. And am +I going to remember him now that you give me the charity of your love? +No, Gabriel, you are the greatest and best of men; you are like a god +to me." + +They remained silent a long while with their hands clasped, looking +into the darkness of the murmuring garden. From above still sounded +the lament of the genius at his fading life. + +Sagrario leant on Gabriel as though her strength were failing, and as +if terrified at so much happiness, she wished to take refuge in his +arms. + +"Why have I known you so late!" she said in a low voice. "I should +have wished to love you in my youth, to be beautiful and healthy only +for you, to have the beauty and charm of a great lady to soften the +rest of your life. But my gratitude can offer you little, nothing but +ill-health; the seeds of death are in me, and slowly I shall fade +away. Gabriel, why did you set your heart on me?" + +"Because you are an invalid, and unfortunate as I am. Our misery is +the loving affinity. Besides, I have never loved like most men. In my +travels I have seen the most beautiful women in the world without the +slightest glow of desire. I am not of an amorous temperament. From my +adventures in Paris when I was young I always returned with a feeling +of disgust. My love for the unfortunate has mastered me to the point +of blunting my feelings. I am like a drunkard or a gambler, who, +obsessed by their passion, feel nothing before a woman. A studious +man, buried in his books, feels very little the calls of sex. My +passion is pity for the disinherited, and hatred of injustice +and inequality. It has so entirely absorbed me, enslaving all my +faculties, that I have never had time to think of love. The female +does not attract me, but I worship a woman when I see her sad and +unfortunate. Ugliness makes more impression on me than beauty, because +it speaks to me of social infamies, it shows me the bitterness of +injustice, it is the only wine which revives my strength. I loved Lucy +because she was unfortunate and dying. I love you, Sagrario, because +in your early youth you were a wanderer in life, one whom no one would +love. My love is for you, to brighten what remains to you of life." + +Sagrario leant on Gabriel's breast. + +"How good you are!" she sighed; "what a beautiful soul!" + +"Yours is the same, poor Sagrario. Your life has been a snare. You +sold yourself through hunger and despair as do thousands of others; +you thought to find bread in the false pretences of love. Everything +is for the privileged of this world: the arms of the father, the sex +of the daughter, and when those arms are weakened, or the youthful +body loses its charms, they are thrown on one side and replaced. The +market is abundant; I love you for your misfortunes. Had I seen you +young and beautiful as in former times, I should not have felt the +slightest attraction. Beauty is a bar to sentiment. The Sagrario of +former times, with her dreams of being a great lady flattered by the +words of youthful lovers, brightly dressed like brilliant birds, would +never have thought of a vagabond aged by misery, ugly and sick. We +understand each other because we are unfortunate; misery allows us to +see into each other's souls; in full happiness we should never have +met." + +"It is true," she murmured, leaning her head on Gabriel's shoulder. "I +love that misery which has allowed us to know, each other." + +"You will be my companion," continued Luna, in a soft tone. "We will +pass our lives together till death breaks the chain. I will protect +you, although the protection of a sick and persecuted man is not worth +much." + +He passed his arm round the woman, raising her head with his other +hand, fixing his eyes on those of Sagrario, which were shining in the +starlight bright with tears. + +"We shall be two souls, two minds who cherish one another without +giving rein to passion, and with a purity such as no poets have +imagined. This night in which we have mutually confessed one to +another, in which our souls have been laid open to one another is our +wedding night; kiss me, companion of my life!" + +And in the silence of the cloister they kissed each other noiselessly, +slowly, as though with their lips joined they were weeping over the +misery of their past, and the brevity of a love around which death was +circling. Above, the lament of Beethoven went on unfolding its sad +modulations, which floated through the cloister and round the sleeping +Cathedral. + +Gabriel stood erect sustaining Sagrario, who seemed almost fainting +from the strength of her feelings; he looked up at the luminous space +with almost priestly gravity, and said, whispering close to the young +woman's ear: + +"Our life will be like a deserted garden, where amid fallen trunks and +dead branches fresh foliage springs up. Companion, let us love one +another. Above our misery as pariahs let spring arise. It will be a +sad spring, without fruit, but it will have flowers. The sun shines +for those who are in the open, but for us, dear companion, it is very +far. But from the black depths of our well we will clasp each other, +raising our heads, and though his heat will not revive us, we will +adore him like a distant star." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +In the beginning of July Gabriel began his nocturnal watch in the +Cathedral. + +At nightfall he went down into the cloister, and at the Puerta del +Mollete, joined the other watchman, a sickly-looking man who coughed +as badly as Luna, and who never left off his cloak even in the height +of summer. + +"Come along, we are going to lock up!" said the bell-ringer, rattling +his bunch of keys. + +After the two men had entered the church, he locked the doors from +outside and walked away. + +As the days were long, there still remained two hours of daylight +after the watchmen entered the Cathedral. + +"All the church is ours, companion," said the other watchman. + +And like a man used to the imposing appearance of the deserted church, +he settled himself comfortably in the sacristy as in his own house, +opening his supper basket on the chests, and spreading out his +eatables between candelabras and crucifixes. + +Gabriel wandered about the fane. After many nights of watching, the +impression produced when he first saw the immense church deserted and +locked up had not yet faded. His footsteps resounded on the pavement, +his strides shortened by the tombs of prelates and great men of former +days. The silence of the church was disturbed by the strange echoes +and mysterious rustlings; the first day Gabriel had often turned his +head in alarm, thinking he heard footsteps following him. + +Outside the church the sun was still shining, the coloured wheel +of the rose window above the great doorway glowed like a luminous +flower-bed; below, among the pillars, the light seemed overcome by the +darkness; the bats began to descend, and with their wings made the +dust fall from the shafts in the vaulting. They fluttered round about +the pillars, circling as in a forest of stone; in their blind flight +they often struck the cords of the hanging lamps, or shook the old red +hats with dusty and ragged tassels that hung high above the cardinals' +tombs. + +Gabriel made his rounds throughout the church. He shook the iron +railings in front of the altars to make sure they were securely +locked, pushed the doors of the Muzarabe Chapel, and that of the +Kings, threw a glance into the Chapter-house, and finally stopped +before the Virgin del Sagrario; through the grating he could see the +lamps burning, and above, the image covered with jewels. After this +examination he went in search of his comrade, and they both sat down +in the crossways, either on the steps of the choir or of the high +altar; from there you could take in the whole of the church at one +glance. + +The two watchmen began by carefully putting on their caps. + +"They will probably have ordered you," said Gabriel's companion, "to +respect the Church, and that if you want to smoke a cigar you must go +up to the gallery of the Locum; and that if you wish to sup you must +go into the sacristy. They said the same to me when I first entered +into the service of the Church. But these are only the words of people +who sleep comfortably and quietly in their own houses. Here the +principal thing is to keep good watch, and beyond that, each one may +do as seems best to him to pass the night. God and the saints sleep +during these hours; they really must want some rest after spending the +whole day listening to prayers and hymns, receiving incense, and being +scorched by wax tapers close to their faces. We watch their sleep, +and, the devil! we are surely not wanting in respect if we allow +ourselves a little liberty. Come along, companion, it is getting dark; +let us club our suppers." + +So the two watchmen supped in the crossways, spreading the contents of +their baskets on the marble steps. + +Gabriel's comrade carried at his belt, as his only arm, an ancient +pistol, a present to the Obreria which had never been fired; to Luna, +Silver Stick pointed out a carbine, a legacy to the sacristy from the +ex-civil guard, in memory of his years of service. Gabriel made a +gesture of repulsion. It was all right standing there, he would get it +if it were wanted; so he left it in the corner with some packets of +cartridges, mouldy from the damp and covered with cobwebs. + +As the night fell the colours from the windows above became obscured, +and in the darkness of the naves all the lights from the various lamps +began to shine like wavering stars; all the outlines of the church +were lost, and Gabriel fancied himself once more sleeping at night on +the open ground. It was only when he went the rounds with his lantern +in his hand that the outlines of the Cathedral rose out of the shadow +ever vaster and more mysterious. The pillars seemed to start out to +meet him, rising suddenly up to the roof with the flashes of light +from the lantern, the squares in the tiled floor seemed to dance with +every swing of the light, and every now and then Gabriel could feel on +his head the flutter of passing wings. To the screams of the bats +were added the hooting of other frightened birds, who in their flight +knocked against the pilasters; they were the owls who came down +attracted by the oil in the lamps, and who nearly extinguished them +with the sweep of their wings. + +Every half-hour the silence was disturbed by the sound of rusty wheels +and springs, and then a bell with a silvery tone struck; these were +the gilded giants of the Puerta del Reloj, marking the passing of time +with their hammers. + +Gabriel's companion complained greatly of the innovations introduced +by the cardinal for the annoyance of poor folks. In former times he +and his old comrade, once they were locked up, could sleep as they +pleased without fear of being reproved by the Chapter. But His +Eminence, who was always endeavouring to find some means of annoying +his neighbour, had placed in different parts of the Cathedral certain +little clocks brought from abroad, and now they had to go every +half-hour, open them and record their visit. The following day they +were examined by Silver Stick, and if any carelessness was discovered +he imposed a fine. + +"An invention of the demon not to allow us to sleep, comrade. But +all the same we might manage a nap if we help one another. While one +sleeps a bit the other must undertake to check these cursed machines. +No carelessness, eh, fresh man? The pay is short and hunger great, and +we cannot afford fines." + +Gabriel, always good-natured, was the one who made most rounds, +looking scrupulously after the markers, while his companion, the Señor +Fidel, rested quietly, praising his generosity. They had given him a +good companion; he liked him much better than the old one, with his +imperious manners of an old guard, always squabbling as to whose turn +it was to get up and make the round. + +The poor man coughed as much as Gabriel; his catarrhs disturbed +the silence, echoing through the naves till it seemed like several +monstrous dogs barking. + +"I do not know how many years I have had this hoarseness," said the +old man; "it is a present from the Cathedral. The doctors say I ought +to give up this employment; but what I say is--who is to support me? +You, companion, have begun at the best time. There is a coolness here +that all those would envy who are generally perspiring about this time +in the cafes of the Zocodover. We are still in summer, but you can +imagine the damp which penetrates everything; and you should see what +it is in winter! we must really dress up as maskers, covered with +caps, shawls and cloaks. They have the charity to leave us a little +fire in the sacristy, but many mornings they find us almost frozen. +Those of the Chapter call the choir 'kill canon,' and if those +gentlemen complain of one hour's stay in this ice-house, having eaten +well and drunk better, you may just fancy what it is for us. You have +had the good luck to begin in summer, but when the winter comes on you +will just have a good time of it!" + +But even though it was the best part of the year, Gabriel coughed +much, his illness increasing from the dampness of the Cathedral. + +On moonlight nights the church was strangely transfigured, and Gabriel +remembered sundry operatic effects he had seen during his travels. +The white tracery of the windows stood out against the blackness with +milky whiteness, splashes of light glided down the pilasters, some +even from the vaulting. These mocking spectres moved slowly along the +pavement, mounting the opposite pillars and losing themselves in the +darkness; those rays of cold and diffused light made the shadows seem +even darker as they brought out of the darkness here a chapel, beyond, +a sepulchral stone or the outline of some pilaster; and the great +Christ, who crowned the railings of the high altar, glowed against its +background of shadow with the brilliancy of its old gilding, like some +miraculous apparition floating in space in a halo of light. + +When the cough would not allow the old watchman to sleep, he told +Gabriel of the many years he had carried on this nocturnal life in the +Primacy. The office had some resemblance to that of a sexton, for he +spent most of it among the dead in the silence of desertion, never +seeing anyone till his watch was finished. He had ended by becoming +used to it, and it had cured him of many fears he had in his youth. +Before, he had believed in the resurrection of the dead, in souls, and +the apparitions of saints. But now he laughed at all that. Whole years +he had carried on this night work in the Cathedral, and if he heard +anything it was only the scampering of rats, who respected neither +saints nor altars, for after all they were only wood! + +He only feared men of flesh and blood, those robbers who in former +times had more than once entered the Cathedral, obliging the Chapter +to establish this night vigilance. + +He entertained Gabriel with the account of all the attempts at robbery +which had happened during the century. In the Cathedral was enough +wealth to tempt a saint, Madrid was near, and he much feared the +"swell" thieves. But thieves would have to be clever and fortunate +to get the better of them. Silver Stick, the bell-ringer, and the +sacristan made their nightly inspection before locking up, Mariano +then taking the keys away with him to the belfry. No one could +think of breaking the locks and bolts, for they were of antique and +extremely strong work; besides, they two were there inside to give the +alarm on hearing the slightest noise. Formerly, by the help of the +dog, the watching had been more complete, for the animal was so alert +that no passer-by could approach the doors for an instant without his +barking. After its death the Señor Obrero spoke month after month of +getting another, but he had never fulfilled his promise. But all the +same, without the dog, they two were there and that meant something, +eh! He with his old pistol which had never been fired, and Gabriel +with his carbine, which was still standing in the corner where his +predecessor had left it. He plumed himself upon the fear he and his +companion would excite, but, called back to reality by Luna's smile, +he added: + +"At any rate, in case of emergency we can reckon on the bell that +summons the canons; the rope hangs down in the choir, and we have +only to ring it. And just imagine what would happen if it rang in +the silence of the night! All Toledo would be on foot, knowing that +something serious was taking place in the Cathedral. With this and +those cursed markers that will not let one sleep, one might say that +even the king was not so well guarded at night as this church." + +In the morning when the watch was ended, Gabriel would return to his +house, perished with cold, longing to stretch himself in bed. He would +find Sagrario in the kitchen, warming the milk he was to drink before +turning in. His gentle companion still called him "uncle" in the +presence of the household, and only used the loving "thou" when they +were alone. When he was in bed she would bring the steaming milk, +making him drink it with maternal caresses, smoothing the pillows; +after which she would carefully close the windows and doors so that no +ray of light should disturb him. + +"Those nights in the Cathedral!" said she complainingly. "You are +killing yourself, Gabriel. It is not fit for you. My father says the +same. As it is certain there is nothing beyond death, and that we +shall not see one another, do try and prolong your life by being +careful. Now that we know each other, and are so happy, it would be so +sad to lose you!" + +Gabriel reassured her. This would not go on beyond the summer; after +that they would give him something better. She must not be so sad; +such a little thing did not kill one. He would cough just as much +living in the Claverias as passing the night in the Cathedral. + +After dinner he would go into the cloister, completely rested by his +morning's sleep. It was the only time of the day in which he could see +his friends; they either came to find him, or he went in search of +them, going to the shoemaker's house or up into the tower. + +They greeted him respectfully, listening to his words with the same +attention as before; but he noted in them a certain air of proud +independence, and at the same time of pity, as if, although grateful +to him for having transmitted his ideas to them, they pitied him for +his gentle character, so inimical to all violence. + +"Those birds," said Gabriel to his brother, "are flying on their own +account. They do not want me, and wish to be alone." + +Wooden Staff shook his head sadly. + +"God grant, Gabriel, that some day you may not repent of having spoken +to them of things they cannot understand! They have greatly changed, +and no one can endure our nephew, the Perrero. He says that if he is +not allowed to kill bulls in order to get rich, he will kill men to +get out of his poverty; that he has as much right to enjoyment as any +gentleman, and that all the rich are robbers. Really, brother, by the +Holy Virgin! have you taught them such horrible things?" + +"Let them alone," said Gabriel, laughing; "they have not yet digested +their new ideas, and are vomiting follies. All this will pass, for +they are good souls." + +The only thing that vexed him was that Mariano withdrew from him. He +fled his company as if he were afraid. He seemed to fear that Gabriel +would read his thoughts, with that irresistible power that from +boyhood he had held over him. + +"Mariano, what is the matter with you?" said he, seeing him pass +through the cloisters. + +"Much that is out of gear," answered his surly friend. + +"I know it, man--I know it; but you seem to avoid me. Why is this?" + +"Avoid you--I?--never. You know I always love you. When you come to +my house you see how we all welcome you. We owe you a great deal; you +have opened our eyes and we are no longer brute beasts. But I am tired +of knowing so much and being so poor, and my companions are thinking +the same. We do not care to have our heads full and our bellies +empty." + +"Well, then, what remedy have we? We have all been born too-soon. +Others will come after us, finding things better arranged. What can +you do to right the present, when there are millions of workers in +the world more wretched than yourselves, who have not succeeded in +finding a better way out even at the cost of their blood, fighting +against authority?" + +"What shall we do?" grumbled his companion. "That is what we shall +see, and you will see also. We are not such fools as you think. You +are very clever, Gabriel, and we respect you as our master, for +everything you say is true. But it seems to us that when you have to +do with things--practical things: you understand me? when one must +call bread, bread, and wine, wine: am I explaining myself?--you are, +begging your pardon, rather soft, like all those who live much in +books. We are ignorant, but we see more clearly." + +He walked away from Gabriel, who-was quite unable to understand the +true bearing of this aberration among his disciples. Several times +when he went up to the tower to spend a few moments with his friends, +they would suddenly cease their conversation, looking anxiously at him +as though they feared he might have overheard their words. + +It was several days since Don Martin had been in the cloister. Gabriel +knew through Silver Stick that the chaplain's mother had died, and a +week afterwards he saw him one evening in the Claverias. His eyes were +bloodshot, his cheeks thin, and his skin drawn as though he had wept +much. + +"I come to take farewell, Gabriel. I have spent a month of sorrow and +sleeplessness nursing my mother. The poor thing is dead; she was +far from young, and I expected this ending, but however strong and +resigned one may be, these blows must be felt. Now the poor old woman +is gone I am free; she was the only tie that bound me to this Church, +in which I no longer believe. Its dogma is absurd and puerile, its +history a tissue of crimes and violence. Why should I lie like others, +feigning a faith I do not feel? To-day I have been to the palace to +tell them they may dispose of my seven duros monthly and my chaplaincy +of nuns. I am going away. I wish not only to fly the Church, I wish +to get out of her atmosphere; and a renegade priest could not live in +Toledo. You see this masquerade? I wear it to-day for the last time; +to-morrow I shall taste the first joy of my life, tearing this shroud +into shreds, such small shreds that no one will be able to use them. +I shall be a man. I will go far away, as far as I can. I wish to know +what the world is like as I have to live in it. I know no one, I shall +have no assistance. You are the most extraordinary man I have ever +known, and here you are hidden in this dungeon by your own free will, +concealed in a Church which to your views must be empty. I am not +afraid of poverty. When one has been God's representative on six reals +a day one can look hunger in the face. I will be a workman; I will dig +the earth, if necessary. I will get employment on something--but I +shall be a free man." + +As the two friends walked up and down the cloister Gabriel counselled +Don Martin in determining the place to which he should direct his +steps, as his thoughts wavered between Paris and the American +republics, where emigration was most needed. + +As the evening fell, Gabriel took leave of his disciple; his +fellow-watchman was waiting for him in the cloister ready for +locking-up time. + +"Probably we shall never meet again," said the chaplain sadly. "You +will end your days here, in the house of a God in whom you do not +believe." + +"Yes, I shall die here," said Gabriel, smiling. "He and I hate one +another, but all the same it seems as if He could not do without me. +If He goes out into the streets it is I who guide His steps, and again +at night, it is I who guard His wealth. Good-bye, and good-luck, +Martin. Be a man without weakness. Truth is well worth poverty." + +The disappearance of the chaplain of nuns was effected without +scandal. Don Antolin and the other priests thought the young man +had moved to Madrid through ambition, to help swell the number of +place-hunting clerics. Gabriel was the only one who knew Don Martin's +real intentions. Besides, an astonishing piece of news, that fell on +the Cathedral like a thunderbolt, soon caused the young priest to be +forgotten, throwing all the gentlemen of the choir, all the smaller +folk in the sacristies, and the whole population of the upper cloister +into the greatest commotion. + +The quarrels between the Archbishop and his Chapter had ended, +everything that had been done by the cardinal was approved of in Rome, +and His Eminence fairly roared with joy in his palace, with the fiery +impetuosity of his usual feelings. + +As the canons entered the choir they walked with bent heads, looking +ashamed and frightened. + +"Well, have you heard?" they said to one another as they disrobed in +the sacristy. + +In a great hurry, with flying cloaks they all left the church, every +man his own way, without forming groups or circles, each one anxious +to free himself from all responsibility, and to appear free from all +complicity with the prelate's enemies. + +The Tato laughed with joy seeing the sudden dispersion, and the +agitation of the gentlemen of the choir. + +"Run! run I The old gossip will give you something to think about!" + +The same preparations were made every year in the middle of August for +the festival of the Virgin del Sagrario. In the Cathedral they spoke +of this year's festival with mystery and anxiety, as though they were +expecting great events. His Eminence, who had not been into the church +for many months, in order not to meet his Chapter, would preside in +the choir on the feast day. He wished to see his enemies face to +face, crushed by his triumph, and to enjoy their looks of confused +submission. And accordingly, as the festival drew near many of the +canons trembled, thinking of the harsh and proud look the angry +prelate would fix on them. + +Gabriel paid very little attention to these anxieties of the clerical +world; he led a strange life, sleeping the greater part of the +day, preparing himself for the fatiguing night watch, which he now +undertook alone. The Señor Fidel had fallen ill, and the Obreria to +avoid expense, and not to deprive the old man of his wretched pay, had +not engaged a new companion for him. He spent the nights alone in the +Cathedral as calmly as if he had been in the upper cloister, quite +accustomed to the grave-like silence. In order not to sleep, he read +by the light of his lantern any books he could get in the Claverias, +uninteresting treatises on history in which Providence played the +principal _rôle_; lives of the saints, amusing from their simple +credulity, bordering on the grotesque; and that family Quixote of the +Lunas', that he had so often spelt out when little, and in which he +still found some of the freshness of his childhood. + +The Virgin's feast day arrived; the festival was the same as in +other years. The famous image had been brought out of its chapel and +occupied on its foot-board a place on the high altar. They brought out +her mantle kept in the Treasury and all her jewels, that scintillated +kissed by the innumerable lights, glittering and flashing with endless +brilliancy. + +Before the commencement of the festival, the inquisitive of the +Cathedral, pretending absent-mindedness, strolled between the choir +and the Puerta del Perdon. The canons in their red robes assembled +near the staircase lighted by the famous "stone of light." His +Eminence would come down this way, and the canons grouped themselves, +timidly whispering, asking each other what was going to happen. + +The cross-bearer appeared on the first step of the staircase, holding +his emblem horizontally with both hands so that it should pass under +the arch of the doorway. After, between servitors, and followed by the +mulberry-coloured robe of the auxiliary bishop, advanced the cardinal, +dressed in his purple, which quenched the reddish-violet of the +canons. + +The Chapter were drawn up in two rows with bowed heads, offering +homage to their prince. What a glance was Don Sebastian's! The canons, +bending, thought they felt it on the nape of their necks with the +coldness of steel. He held his enormous body erect in its flowing +purple with a gallant pride, as if at the moment he felt himself +entirely cured of the malady which was tearing his entrails, and of +the weak heart which oppressed his lungs. His fat face quivered with +delight, and the folds of his double chin spread out over his lace +rochet. His cardinal's biretta seemed to swell with pride on his +little, white and shining head. Never was a crown worn with such pride +as that red cap. + +He stretched out his hand, gloved in purple, on which shone the +episcopal emerald ring, with such an imperious gesture that one after +another of the canons found themselves forced to kiss it. It was the +submission of churchmen, accustomed from their seminary to an apparent +humility which covered rancours and hatreds of an intensity unknown in +ordinary life. The Cardinal guessed their disinclination, and gloated +over his triumph. + +"You have no idea what our hatreds are," he had often said, to his +friend, the gardener's widow. "In ordinary life few men die of +ill-humour; he who is annoyed gives vent to it, and recovers his +equanimity. But in the Church you may count by the hundred men who +die in a fit of rage, because they are unable to revenge themselves; +because discipline closes their mouths and bows their heads. Having no +families, and no anxieties about earning their bread, most of us only +live for self-love and pride." + +The Chapter formed their procession accompanied by His Eminence. The +scarlet Perrero headed the march, then came the black vergers and +Silver Stick, making the tiles of the pavement ring with the blows of +their staffs. Behind came the archiepiscopal cross and the canons in +pairs, and finally the prelate with his scarlet train spread out at +full length, held up by two pages. Don Sebastian blessed to the right +and to the left, looking with his penetrating eyes at the faithful who +bowed their heads. + +His imperious character and the joy of his triumph made his glance +flash. What a splendid victory! The Church was his home, and he +returned to it after a long absence with all the majesty of an +absolute master, who could crush the evil-speaking slaves who dared to +attack him. + +The greatness of the Church seemed to him at that moment more glorious +than ever. What an admirable institution! The strong man who arrived +at the top was an omnipotent god to be feared. Nothing of pernicious +and revolutionary equality. Dogma exalted the humility of all before +God; but when you came to examples, flocks were always spoken of, and +shepherds to direct them. He was that shepherd because the Omnipotent +has so ordered it. Woe to whoever attempted to dethrone him! + +In the choir his delighted pride tasted an even greater satisfaction. +He was seated on the throne of the archbishops of Toledo, that seat +which had been the star of his youth, the remembrance of which had +disturbed him in his Episcopacy, when the mitre had travelled through +the provinces, waiting for the hour to rise to the Primacy. He stood +erect under the artistic canopy of the Mount Tabor, at the top of four +steps, so that all in the choir could see him and recognise that he +was their prince. The heads of the dignitaries seated at his side were +thus on a level with his feet. He could trample on them like vipers +should they dare to rise again, striking at his most intimate +affections. + +Fired by the appreciation of his own grandeur and triumph, he was the +first to rise, or to sit down; as is directed in the rubric of the +services, he joined his voice to those in the choir, astonishing them +all by the harsh energy of his singing; the Latin words rolled from +his mouth like blows upon those hated people, and his eyes passed with +a threatening expression over the double row of bent heads. + +He was a fortunate man, who had risen from place to place, but he +never felt a satisfaction so deep, so complete as at that moment. He +himself was startled at his own delight, at that orgy of pride that +had extinguished his chronic ailments; it seemed to him as though he +were spending in a few hours the stores of enjoyment of his whole +life. + +As the mass was ending, the singers and lower people in the choir, who +were the only ones who dared to look at him, were alarmed, seeing him +suddenly grow pale, rise with his face discomposed, pressing his hands +to his breast. The canons noticing it, rushed towards him, forming a +crowded mass of red vestments in front of his throne. His Eminence was +suffocating, fighting against that circle of hands who instinctively +clutched at him. + +"Air!" he moaned, "air! Get out from before me with a thousand curses! +Take me home!" + +Even in the midst of his agony, he recovered his majestic gesture +and his old soldiering oaths to drive away his enemies. He was +suffocating, but he would not allow the canons to see it: he guessed +the delight many of them must feel beneath their compassionate manner. +Let no one touch him! He could manage for himself! So leaning on two +faithful servants, he began his march, gasping, towards the episcopal +staircase, followed by great part of the Chapter. + +The religious function ended hurriedly. The Virgin Would forgive it, +she should have a better solemnity next year; and all the authorities +and invited guests left their seats to run in search of news to the +archiepiscopal palace. + +When Gabriel woke, past mid-day, every one in the upper cloister was +talking of His Eminence's health. His brother inquired of the Aunt +Tomasa who had just come from the palace. + +"He is dying, my sons," said the gardener's widow; "he cannot escape +from it. Doña Visitacion signalled it to me from afar, weeping, poor +thing! He cannot be put to bed, for his chest is heaving like a +broken bellows. The doctors say he will not last till night. What a +misfortune! And on a day like this!" + +The agony of the ecclesiastical prince was received in funereal +silence. The women of the Claverias went backwards and forwards with +news from the palace to the upper cloister; the children were shut up +in the houses, frightened by their mothers' threats if they attempted +to play in the galleries. + +The Chapel-master, who was generally indifferent to events in the +Cathedral, went nevertheless to inquire of His Eminence's condition. +He had a plan which he quickly explained to the family during dinner. +The funeral of a cardinal deserved the execution of a celebrated mass, +with a full orchestra recruited in Madrid. He had already cast his +eyes on the famous Requiem of Mozart; that was the only reason for +which he was interested in the prelate's fate. + +Gabriel, looking at his companion, felt the gentle selfishness that a +living man feels when a great man dies. + +"So the great fall, Sagrario, and we, the sickly and wretched, have +still some life before us." + +At the hour of locking up the church he went down to begin his watch. +The bell-ringer was waiting for him with the keys. + +"How about the Cardinal?" inquired Gabriel. + +"He will certainly die to-day, if he is not already dead." + +And afterwards he added: + +"You will have a great illumination to-night, Gabriel. The Virgin is +on the high altar till to-morrow morning, surrounded by wax tapers." + +He was silent for a moment, as if undecided about Something. + +"Possibly," he added, "I may come down and keep you company a little. +You must be dull alone; expect me." + +When Gabriel was locked into the church, he caught sight of the high +altar, resplendent with lights. He made his usual trial of doors and +railings; visited the Locum and the large lavoratories, where once +some thieves had concealed themselves, and after he was quite certain +that there was no human being in the church except himself, he seated +himself in the crossways with his cloak round him, and his basket of +supper. + +He sat there a long while, looking through the railings at the Virgin +del Sagrario. Born in the Cathedral and brought up as a child by his +mother, who knelt with him before the image, he had always admired it +as the most perfect type of beauty. Now he criticised it coldly with +his artistic eye. She was ugly and grotesque like all the very rich +images; sumptuous and wealthy piety had decked her out with their +treasures. There was nothing about her of the idealism of the Virgin +painted by Christian artists; she was much more like an Indian idol +covered with jewels. The embroidered dress and mantle stood out with +the stiffness of stone folds, and over the head-dress sparkled a crown +as large as a helmet, diminishing the face. Gold, pearls and diamonds +shone on every part of her vestments, and she wore pendants and +bracelets of immense value. + +Gabriel smiled at the religious simplicity which dressed heavenly +heroes according to the fashions of the earth. + +The faint twilight glimmering through the windows and the wavering +flame of the tapers animated the face of the image as if she were +speaking. + +"Even as I am!" said Gabriel to himself. "If a holy person were in my +place he would think the Virgin was laughing one moment and crying the +next; with a little imagination and faith, behold here is a miracle! +These flickerings of light have been an inexhaustible mine for the +priests, even the Venus' of former times changed the expression of +their faces at the pleasure of the faithful, just like a Christian +image." + +He thought a long time about miracles, the invention of all religions, +and as old as human ignorance and credulity. + +It was now quite dark. After supping frugally, Gabriel opened a book +that he carried in his basket and began to read by the light of his +lantern. Now and then he raised his head, disturbed by the fluttering +and screams of the night birds, attracted by the extraordinary +brilliancy of the countless wax tapers. The time passed slowly in the +darkness; the silvery sound of the warriors' hammers re-echoed through +the vaulting. Luna got up and visited the markers to record his visit. + +Ten o'clock had struck when Gabriel heard the wicket of the Puerta de +Santa Catalina open quickly but without violence, as though a key had +been used. Luna remembered the bell-ringer's offer, but soon he heard +the sound of many steps magnified by the echo as if a whole host were +advancing. + +"Who goes there?" shouted Gabriel, rather alarmed. + +"It is us, man," answered from the darkness the husky voice of +Mariano. "Did I not tell you we should come down?" + +As they came into the crossways, the light from the high altar fell +full upon them, and Gabriel saw the Tato and the shoemaker with the +bell-ringer. They wished to keep Luna company part of the night, so +that his watch should not be so wearisome, and they produced a bottle +of brandy, of which they offered him some. + +"You know I do not drink," said Gabriel. "I have never cared for +alcohol; wine sometimes, and very little of that. But where are you +all going to, dressed out as for a feast day?" + +The Tato answered hurriedly. Silver Stick locked up the Claverias at +nine, and they wished to spend the night out of bounds. They had been +some time at a cafe in the Zocodover, feasting like lords. They +had had all sorts of adventures, that was a night quite out of the +ordinary way, more especially as all the town was in commotion about +the Archbishop. + +"How is he going on?" inquired Gabriel. + +"I believe he died half-an-hour ago," said the bell-ringer. "When +I went up to my house for the keys, a doctor was coming out of the +palace and he told one of the canons. But let us sit down." + +They all sat down, in their embroidered caps, on the steps of the high +altar railing. Mariano put his bunch of keys on the ground, a mass of +iron as big as a club. There were keys of every age, some of iron, +very large, rough and rusty, showing the old hammer marks and with +coats of arms near the bows; others, more modern were clean and bright +as silver, but they were all very large and heavy, with powerful +indented teeth, proportionate to the size of the edifice. + +The three friends seemed extraordinarily happy, with a nervous gaiety +which made them catch hold of each other and laugh. They cast sidelong +looks at the Virgin and then looked at each other, with a mysterious +gesture that Gabriel was quite unable to understand. + +"You have all drunk a good deal, is it not so?" said Luna. "You do +wrong, for you know that drink is the degradation of the poor." + +"A day is a day, uncle," said the Perrero; "it delights us that the +great ones are dying. You see, I esteem His Eminence highly, but let +him go to the devil! The only satisfaction a poor man has is to see +that the end comes also to the rich." + +"Drink," said the bell-ringer, offering him the bottle. "It is a +pleasure to find ourselves here, well and happy, while to-morrow His +Eminence will find himself between four boards; we shall have to ring +the little bell all day!" + +The Tato drank, passing the bottle to the shoemaker, who held it a +long time glued to his gullet. Of the three he seemed the most tipsy; +his eyes were bloodshot, he stared stonily on every side and remained +silent, he only gave a forced laugh when anyone spoke to him, as if +his thoughts were very, very far off. + +On the other hand, the bell-ringer was far more loquacious than usual. +He spoke of the cardinal's fortune, at the wealth that would fall to +Doña Visitacion, of the joy many of the Chapter must feel that night. +He interrupted himself to take a pull at the brandy bottle, passing it +afterwards to his companions. The smell of the alcohol spread through +that atmosphere impregnated with incense and the smoke of wax tapers. + +More than an hour passed in this way. Mariano had stopped the +conversation several times as if he had something serious to say and +was vacillating, wanting courage. + +"Gabriel, time is passing and we have much to do and to talk about. +It is a little past eleven, but we have still several hours to do the +thing well." + +"What do you mean to say?" asked Luna, surprised. + +"Few words--in a nut-shell. It concerns your becoming rich and us +also; we intend to get out of this poverty. You have noticed for +some time that we have avoided you, that we preferred talking among +ourselves to the pleasure of listening to you. We all know that you +are very learned, but as far as things of this life go you are not +worth a farthing. We have learnt a great deal from you, but that does +not get us out of our poverty. We have spent months thinking how to +make a lucky stroke. These revolutions of which you speak seem to us +very far off; our grandchildren may see them, but we never shall. It +is all right for clever people to look to the future, but ignorant +people like us look to the present. We have employed our time +discussing all sorts of schemes, to kidnap Don Sebastian and require +a million of ransom, to break into the palace one night, and I don't +know what besides! All wild ideas started by your nephew. But this +morning in my house, while we were lamenting our poverty, we suddenly +saw our salvation close at hand. You as the sole guardian of the +Cathedral. The Virgin on the high altar, with the jewels that are +locked up in the Treasury all the rest of the year, and I with the +keys in my power. The easiest thing in the world. Let us clean out the +Virgin and take the road to Madrid, where we shall arrive at dawn; the +Tato knows a lot of people there among cloak stealers. We will hide +ourselves there for a little while, and then you, who know the world, +will guide us. We will go to America, sell the stones, and we shall be +rich. Get up, Gabriel! We are going to strip the idol, as you say." + +"But this is a robbery that you are proposing!" exclaimed Luna, +alarmed. + +"A robbery?" said the bell-ringer. "Call it so, if you like--and, what +then? Are you afraid of it? More has been robbed from us, who were +born with the right to a share of the world, but however much we look +round we cannot find a vacant place. Besides, what harm do we do to +anybody? These jewels are of no use to the bit of wood they cover, it +does not eat, it does not feel the cold in winter, and we are poor +miserable creatures. You yourself have said it, Gabriel, seeing our +poverty. Our children die of hunger on their mother's knees, while +these idols are covered with wealth, come along, Gabriel, do not let +us lose any more time." + +"Come along, uncle," said the Tato, "have a little courage. You must +admit we ignorant people know how to manage things when it comes to +the point." + +Gabriel was not listening to them; surprise had made him fall into a +reverie of self-examination. He thought--terrified of the great error +he had committed--he saw an immense gulf opening between himself and +those he had believed to be his disciples. He remembered his brother's +words. Ah, the good sense of the simpleminded! He, with all his +reading, had never foreseen the danger of teaching these ignorant +people in a few months what required a whole life of thought and +study. What happened to people stirred up by revolution was happening +here on a small scale. The most noble thoughts become corrupted +passing through the sieve of vulgarity; the most generous aspirations +are poisoned by the dregs of poverty. + +He had sown the revolutionary seed in these outcasts of the Church, +drowsing in the atmosphere of two centuries ago. He had thought to +help on the revolution of the future by forming men, but on awaking +from his dreams he found only common criminals. What a terrible +mistake! His ideas had only tended to destruction. In removing from +the dulled brains the prejudices of ignorance, and the superstitions +of the slave, he had only succeeded in making them daring for evil. +Selfishness was the only passion vibrating in them. They had only +learnt that they were wretched and ought not to be so. The fate of +their companions in misfortune, of the greater part of humanity, +wretched and sad, had no interest for them. If they could get out of +their present state, bettering themselves in whatever way they could, +they cared very little if the world went on just as it did before; +that tears, and pain and hunger should reign below, in order to ensure +the comfort of those above. He had sown his thoughts in them hoping +to accelerate the harvest, but like all those forced and artificial +cultivations, that grow with astonishing rapidity only to give rotten +fruit, the result of his propaganda was moral corruption. Men in the +end, like all of them! The human wild beast, seeking his own welfare +at the cost of his fellow, perpetuating the disorders of pain for the +majority, as long as he can enjoy plenty during the few years of his +life. Ah! Where could he meet with that superior being, ennobled by +the worship of reason, doing good without hope of reward, sacrificing +everything for human solidarity, that man-God who would glorify the +future! + +"Come along, Gabriel," continued the bell-ringer. "Do not let us lose +time it is only a few minutes' work; and then--flight!" + +"No," said Luna firmly, coming out of his reverie, "you shall not do +this; you ought not to do it. It is a robbery you suggest to me, and +my pain is great, seeing that you reckoned on me; others rob from +fatal instinct or from corruption of soul, you have come to it because +I tried to enlighten you, because I tried to open your minds to the +truth. Oh! it is horrible, most horrible!" + +"What is the use of all these objections, Gabriel? Is it not a bit of +wood? Whom do we harm by taking its jewels? Do not the rich rob, and +everyone who possesses anything? Why should we not imitate them?" + +"For this very reason, because what you propose doing is a suggestion +of evil, because it perpetuates once more that system of violence and +disorder which is the root of all misery. Why do you hate the rich, +if what they do in sweating the poor is just the same as what you are +doing in taking possession of a thing for yourselves--understand me +well--for yourselves--and not for all. The robbery does not scare me, +for I do not believe in ownership nor in the sanctity of things, but +for this very reason I detest this appropriation to yourselves and +I oppose it. Why do you wish to possess all this? You say it is to +remedy your poverty. That is not true. It is to be rich, to enter into +the privileged group, to be three individual men of that detested +minority which desires to enjoy prosperity by enslaving humanity. If +all the poor of Toledo were now shouting outside the doors of the +Cathedral, rebellious and emboldened, I would open the way for them, I +would point out those jewels that you covet, and I would say, 'Possess +yourselves of those, they are so many drops of sweat and blood wrung +from your ancestors; they represent the servile work on the land of +the lords, the brutal plundering of the king's cavaliers, so that +magnates and kings may cover with jewels those idols which can open to +them the gates of heaven. These things do not belong to you because +you happen to be the most daring; they belong to all, as do all the +riches of the earth. For men to lay their hands on everything existing +in the world would be a holy work, the redeeming revolution of the +future. To possess yourselves of some portion of what by moral right +is not yours, would only be for you a crime against the laws of the +land, for me it would be a crime against the disinherited, the only +masters of the existing----" + +"Silence, Gabriel," said the bell-ringer harshly; "if I let you, you +would go on talking till dawn. I do not understand you, nor do I wish +to. We came to do you a good turn, and you treat us to a sermon. We +wish to see you as rich as ourselves, and you answer us by talking of +others, of a lot of people that you don't know, of that humanity who +never gave you a scrap of bread when you wandered like a dog. I must +treat you as I did in our youth when we were campaigning. I have +always loved you and I admire your talents, but we must really treat +you like a child. Come along, Gabriel! Hold your tongue, and follow +us! We will lead you to happiness! Forward, companions!" The Tato +and the shoemaker stood up, walking towards the railings of the high +altar, the Tato seized one of its gates, and half opened it. + +"No!" shouted Gabriel with energy. "Stop! Mariano, you do not know +what you are doing. You believe your happiness will be accomplished +when you have possessed yourselves of those jewels. But afterwards? +Your families remain here. Tato, think of your mother. Mariano, you +and the shoemaker have wives--you have children." + +"Bah!" said the bell-ringer. "They will come and join us when we are +in safety far away. Money can do everything--the thing is to get it." + +"And your children? Shall they be told their fathers were thieves!" + +"Bah! they will be rich in other countries. Their history will not be +worse than that of other rich men's sons." + +Gabriel understood the fierce determination that animated those men. +His endeavours to restrain them were useless. Mariano seized him, +seeing he was trying to push between them and the altar. + +"Stand aside, little one," he said. "You are no use for anything. Let +us alone. Are you afraid of the Virgin? Undeceive yourself, even if we +carry off all she has, she will work no miracle." + +Gabriel attempted one final effort. + +"You shall do nothing. If you pass the railings, if you approach the +high altar, I will ring the call bell, and before ten minutes all +Toledo will be at the gates." + +And opening the iron gate of the choir, he entered with a decision +that surprised the bell-ringer. + +The shoemaker in tipsy silence was the only one who followed him. + +"My children's bread!" he murmured in thickened speech. "They wish to +rob them! They wish to keep them poor!" + +Mariano heard a metallic clatter, and saw the shoemaker raise his hand +armed with the bunch of keys which had fallen on the marble steps of +the railing, then he heard a strangely sonorous sound, as if something +hollow was being struck. + +Gabriel gave one scream, and fell forwards on the ground; the +shoemaker continued striking his head. + +"Do not give him any more--stop!" + +These were the last words Gabriel heard confusedly, as he lay +stretched at the entrance of the choir; a warm and sticky liquid ran +over his eyes; afterwards--silence, darkness and--nothing! + +His last thought was to tell himself he was dying--that probably he +was already dead, and that only the last vital struggle remained to +him, the last struggle of a life vanishing for ever. + +Still he came back to life. He opened his eyes with difficulty and saw +the sun coming through a barred window, white walls, and a dirty and +darned cotton counterpane. After great wandering and stumbling, he +could collect his thoughts sufficiently to' form one idea: they had +placed the Cathedral on his temples--the huge church was hanging over +his head crushing him. What terrible pain! He could not move; he +seemed fastened by his head. His ears were buzzing, his tongue seemed +paralysed. His eyes could see feebly, as though the light were muddy +and a reddish haze enveloped all things. + +He thought that a face with whiskers, surmounted by the hat of a civil +guard, bent over him, looking into his eyes. He moved his lips, but +no one heard a sound. No doubt it was the nightmare of his old +persecutions returning again. + +They looked at him, seeing that he opened his eyes. A gentleman +dressed in black advanced towards his bed, followed by others who +carried papers under their arms. He guessed they were speaking to him +by the movement of their lips, but he could hear nothing. Was he in +another world? Were all his beliefs false, and after death did another +life exist the same as the one he had left? + +He fell again into darkness and unconsciousness. A long time passed--a +very long time. Again he opened his eyes, but now the haze was denser, +it was not red but black. + +Through this veil he thought he saw his brother's face, horrified +and drawn with fear; and the cocked hats of the civil guards, those +nightmares, surrounding poor Wooden Staff. Afterwards, more misty, +more uncertain, the face of his gentle companion, Sagrario, looking +at him with weeping eyes in terrible grief, caressing him with her +glance, fearless of the black, armed men who surrounded her. + +This was his last look, uncertain and clouded, as though seen by +the light of a flying spark. Afterwards, eternal darkness and +annihilation. + +As his eyes were closing for ever, a voice close to him said: + +"We have followed your scent, rascal; you were well hidden, but we +have discovered you through one of your own. Now we shall see what +account you can give of the Virgin's jewels, thief!" + +But the terrible enemy of God and social order could give no account +to man. + +The following day he was carried out of the prison infirmary on men's +shoulders to disappear in the common grave. + +The earth kept the secret of his death, that frowning Mother who +watches men's struggles impassively, knowing that all grandeur and +ambitions, all miseries and follies must rot in her breast, with no +other object than the fertilisation and renovation of life. + + * * * * * + +N.B.--The jewels were stolen from the sacristy of Toledo Cathedral in +1868. + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Shadow of the Cathedral +by Vicente Blasco Ibañez + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12041 *** |