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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:27 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:27 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12270-0.txt b/12270-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..634051a --- /dev/null +++ b/12270-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5681 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12270 *** + +[Illustration: _Gertrude Atherton_ PHOTOGRAPHED BY MRS. LOUNSBERY] + +THE DOOMSWOMAN + +An Historical Romance of Old California + +By + +Gertrude Atherton + + +[Illustration] + + + +1900 + + + + +To + +STEPHEN FRANKLIN + + + + +THE DOOMSWOMAN. + + + +I. + + +It was at Governor Alvarado's house in Monterey that Chonita first +knew of Diego Estenega. I had told him much of her, but had never +cared to mention the name of Estenega in the presence of an Iturbi y +Moncada. + +Chonita came to Monterey to stand godmother to the child of Alvarado +and of her friend Doña Martina, his wife. She arrived the morning +before the christening, and no one thought to tell her that Estenega +was to be godfather. The house was full of girls, relatives of +the young mother, gathered for the ceremony and subsequent week of +festivities. Benicia, my little one, was at the rancho with Ysabel +Herrera, and I was staying with the Alvarados. So many were the guests +that Chonita and I slept together. We had not seen each other for a +year, and had so much to say that we did not sleep at all. She was +ten years younger than I, but we were as close friends as she with her +alternate frankness and reserve would permit. But I had spent several +months of each year since childhood at her home in Santa Barbara, +and I knew her better than she knew herself; when, later, I read her +journal, I found little in it to surprise me, but much to fill and +cover with shapely form the skeleton of the story which passed in +greater part before my eyes. + +We were discussing the frivolous mysteries of dress, if I remember +aright, when she laid her hand on my mouth suddenly. + +"Hush!" she said. + +A caballero serenaded his lady at midnight in Monterey. + +The tinkle of a guitar, the jingling of spurs, fell among the strong +tones of a man's voice. + +Chonita had been serenaded until she had fled to the mountains for +sleep, but she crept to the foot of the bed and knelt there, her +hand at her throat. A door opened, and, one by one, out of the black +beyond, five white-robed forms flitted into the room. They looked like +puffs of smoke from a burning moon. The heavy wooden shutters were +open, and the room was filled with cold light. + +The girls waltzed on the bare floor, grouped themselves in +mock-dramatic postures, then, overcome by the strange magnetism of the +singer, fell into motionless attitudes, listening intently. How well +I remember that picture, although I have almost forgotten the names of +the girls! + +In the middle of the room two slender figures embraced each other, +their black hair falling loosely over their white gowns. On the +window-step knelt a tall girl, her head pensively supported by her +hand, a black shawl draped gracefully about her; at her feet sat +a girl with head bowed to her knees. Between the two groups was a +solitary figure, kneeling with hand pressed to the wall and face +uplifted. + +When the voice ceased I struck a match, and five pairs of little hands +applauded enthusiastically. He sang them another song, then galloped +away. + +"It is Don Diego Estenega," said one of the girls. "He rarely sings, +but I have heard him before." + +"An Estenega!" exclaimed Chonita. + +"Yes; of the North, thou knowest. His Excellency thinks there is +no man in the Californias like him,--so bold and so smart. Thou +rememberest the books that were burned by the priests when the +governor was a boy, because he had dared to read them, no? Well, when +Diego Estenega heard of that, he made his father send to Boston and +Mexico for those books and many more, and took them up to his redwood +forests in the north, far away from the priests. And they say he had +read other books before, although such a lad; his father had brought +them from Spain, and never cared much for the priests. And he has been +to Mexico and America and Europe! God of my soul! it is said that he +knows more than his Excellency himself,--that his mind works faster. +Ay! but there was a time when he was wild,--when the mescal burnt +his throat like hornets and the aguardiente was like scorpions in +his brain; but that was long ago, before he was twenty; now he is +thirty-four. He amuses himself sometimes with the girls,--_valgame +Dios!_ he has made hot tears flow,--but I suppose we do not know +enough for him, for he marries none. Ay! but he has a charm." + +"Like what does he look? A beautiful caballero, I suppose, with eyes +that melt and a mouth that trembles like a woman in the palsy." + +"Ay, no, my Chonita; thou art wrong. He is not beautiful at all. He is +rather haggard, and wears no mustache, and he has the profile of the +great man, fine and aquiline and severe, excepting when he smiles, and +then sometimes he looks kind and sometimes he looks like a devil. He +has not the beauty of color; his hair is brown, I think, and his eyes +are gray, and set far back; but how they flash! I think they could +burn if they looked too long. He is tall and straight and very strong, +not so indolent as most of our men. They call him The American because +he moves so quickly and gets so cross when people do not think fast +enough. _He_ thinks like lightning strikes. Ay! they all say that he +will be governor in his time; that he would have been long ago, but he +has been away so much. It must be that he has seen and admired thee, +my Chonita, and discovered thy grating. Thou art happy that thou too +hast read the books. Thou and he will be great friends, I know!" + +"Yes!" exclaimed Chonita, scornfully. "It is likely. Thou hast +forgotten--perhaps--the enmity between the Capulets and the Montagues +was a sallow flame to the bitter hatred, born of jealousy in love, +politics, and social precedence, which exists between the Estenegas +and the Iturbi y Moncadas?" + + + + +II. + + +Delfina, the first child of Alvarado, born in the purple at the +governor's mansion in Monterey, was about to be baptized with all the +pomp and ceremony of the Church and time. Doña Martina, the wife of +a year, was unable to go to the church, but lay beneath her lace and +satin coverlet, her heavy black hair half covering the other side of +the bed. Beside her stood the nurse, a fat, brown, high-beaked old +crone, holding a mass of grunting lace. I stood at the foot of the +bed, admiring the picture. + +"Be careful for the sun, Tomasa," said the mother. "Her eyes must be +strong, like the Alvarados',--black and keen and strong." + +"Sure, señora." + +"And let her not smother, nor yet take cold. She must grow tall and +strong,--like the Alvarados." + +"Sure, señora." + +"Where is his Excellency?" + +"I am here." And Alvarado entered the room. He looked amused, and +probably had overheard the conversation. He justified, however, the +admiration of his young wife. His tall military figure had the perfect +poise and suggestion of power natural to a man whose genius had +been recognized by the Mexican government before he had entered his +twenties. The clean-cut face, with its calm profile and fiery +eyes, was not that of the Washington of his emulation, and I never +understood why he chose so tame a model. Perhaps because of the +meagerness of that early proscribed literature; or did the title +"Father of his Country" appeal irresistibly to that lofty and doomed +ambition? + +He passed his hand over his wife's long white fingers, but did not +offer her any other caress in my presence. + +"How dost thou feel?" + +"Well; but I shall be lonely. Do not stay long at the church, no? +How glad I am that Chonita came in time for the christening! What a +beautiful _comadre_ she will be! I have just seen her. Ay, poor Diego! +he will fall in love with her; and what then?" + +"It would have been better had she come too late, I think. To avoid +asking Diego to stand for my first child was impossible, for he is the +man of men to me. To avoid asking Doña Chonita was equally impossible, +I suppose, and it will be painful for both. He serenaded her last +night, not knowing who she was, but having seen her at her grating; he +only returned yesterday. I hope she plants no thorns in his heart." + +"Perhaps they will marry and bind the wounds," suggested the woman. + +"An Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada will not marry. He might forget, +for he is passionate and of a nature to break down barriers when a +wish is dear; but she has all the wrongs of all the Iturbi y Moncadas +on her white shoulders, and all their pride in the carriage of her +head; to say nothing of that brother whom she adores. She learned this +morning that it was Diego's determined opposition that kept Reinaldo +out of the Departmental Junta, and meets him in no tender frame of +mind----" + +Doña Martina raised her hand. Chonita stood in the door-way. She was +quite beautiful enough to plant thorns where she listed. Her tall +supple figure was clothed in white, and over her gold hair--lurid and +brilliant, but without a tinge of red--she wore a white lace mantilla. +Her straight narrow brows and heavy lashes were black; but her skin +was more purely white than her gown. Her nose was finely cut, the arch +almost indiscernible, and she had the most sculptured mouth I have +ever seen. Her long eyes were green, dark, and luminous. Sometimes +they had the look of a child, sometimes she allowed them to flash +with the fire of an animated spirit. But the expression she chose to +cultivate was that associated with crowned head and sceptered hand; +and sure no queen had ever looked so calm, so inexorable, so haughty, +so terribly clear of vision. She never posed--for any one, at least, +but herself. For some reason--a youthful reason probably--the iron in +her nature was most admired by her. Wherefore,--also, as she had the +power, as twin, to heal and curse,--I had named her the Doomswoman, +and by this name she was known far and wide. By the lower class of +Santa Barbara she was called The Golden Señorita, on account of her +hair and of her father's vast wealth. + +"Come," she said, "every one is waiting. Do not you hear the voices?" + +The windows were closed, but through them came a murmur like that of a +pine forest. + +The governor motioned to the nurse to follow Chonita and myself, and +she trotted after us, her ugly face beaming with pride of position. +Was not in her arms the oldest-born of a new generation of Alvarados? +the daughter of the governor of The Californias? Her smock, +embroidered with silk, was new, and looked whiter than fog against +her bare brown arms and face. Her short red satin skirt, a gift of her +happy lady's, was the finest ever worn by exultant nurse. About her +stringy old throat was a gold chain, bright red roses were woven +in her black reboso. I saw her admire Chonita's stately figure with +scornful reserve of the colorless gown. + +We were followed in a moment by the governor, adjusting his collar +and smoothing his hair. As he reached the door-way at the front of the +house he was greeted with a shout from assembled Monterey. The plaza +was gay with beaming faces and bright attire. The men, women, and +children of the people were on foot, a mass of color on the opposite +side of the plaza: the women in gaudy cotton frocks girt with silken +sashes, tawdry jewels, and spotless camisas, the coquettish reboso +draping with equal grace faces old and brown, faces round and olive; +the men in glazed sombreros, short calico jackets and trousers; +Indians wound up in gala blankets. In the foreground, on prancing +silver-trapped horses, were caballeros and doñas, laughing and +coquetting, looking down in triumph upon the dueñas and parents who +rode older and milder mustangs and shook brown knotted fingers at +heedless youth. The young men had ribbons twisted in their long black +hair, and silver eagles on their soft gray sombreros. Their velvet +serapes were embroidered with gold; the velvet knee-breeches were +laced with gold or silver cord over fine white linen; long deer-skin +botas were gartered with vivid ribbon; flaunting sashes bound their +slender waists, knotted over the hip. The girls and young married +women wore black or white mantillas, the silken lace of Spain, +regardless of the sun which might darken their Castilian fairness. +Their gowns were of flowered silk or red or yellow satin, the waist +long and pointed, the skirt full; jeweled buckles of tiny slippers +flashed beneath the hem. The old people were in rich dress of sober +color. A few Americans were there in the ugly garb of their country, a +blot on the picture. + +At the door, just in front of the cavalcade, stood General Vallejo's +carriage, the only one in California, sent from Sonoma for the +occasion. Beside it were three superbly-trapped horses. + +The governor placed the swelling nurse in the carriage, then glanced +about him. "Where is Estenega?--and the Castros?" he asked. + +"There are Don José and Doña Modeste Castro," said Chonita. + +The crowd had parted suddenly, and two men and a woman rode toward the +governor. One of the men was tall and dark, and his somber military +attire became the stern sadness of his face. Castro was not +Comandante-general of the army at that time, but his bearing was as +imperious in that year of 1840 as when six years later the American +Occupation closed forever the career of a man made in derision +for greatness. At his right rode his wife, one of the most queenly +beauties of her time, small as she was in stature. Every woman's +eye turned to her at once; she was our leader of fashion, and we all +copied the gowns that came to her from the city of Mexico. + +But Chonita gave no heed to the Castros. She fixed her cold direct +regard on the man who rode with them, and whom, she knew, must be +Diego Estenega, for he was their guest. She was curious to see this +enemy of her house, the political rival of her brother, the owner of +the voice which had given her the first thrill of her life. He was +dressed as plainly as Castro, and had none of the rich southern beauty +of the caballeros. His hair was cut short like Alvarado's, and his +face was thin and almost sallow. But the life that was in that face! +the passion, the intelligence, the kindness, the humor, the grim +determination! And what splendid vitality was in his tall thin figure, +and nervous activity under the repose of his carriage! I remember +I used to think in those days that Diego Estenega could conquer the +world if he wished, although I suspected that he lacked one quality of +the great rulers of men,--inexorable cruelty. + +From the moment his horse carried him into the plaza he did not remove +his eyes from Chonita's face. She lowered hers angrily after a +moment. As he reached the house he sprang to the ground, and Alvarado +presented the sponsors. He lifted his cap and bowed, but not as low as +the caballeros who were wont to prostrate themselves before her. They +murmured the usual form of salutation: + +"At your feet, señorita." + +"I appreciate the honor of your acquaintance." + +"It is my duty and pleasure to lift you to your horse." And, still +holding his cap in his hand, he led her to one of the three horses +which stood beside the carriage; with little assistance she sprang to +its back, and he mounted the one reserved for him. + +The cavalcade started. First the carriage, then Alvarado and myself, +followed by the sponsors, the Castros, the members of the Departmental +Junta and their wives, then the caballeros and the doñas, the old +people and the Americans; the populace trudging gayly in the rear, +keeping good pace with the riders, who were held in check by a +fragment of pulp too young to be jolted. + +"You never have been in Monterey before, señorita, I understand," said +Estenega to Chonita. No situation could embarrass him. + +"No; once they thought to send me to the convent here,--to Doña +Concepcion Arguéllo,--but it was so far, and my mother does not like +to travel. So Doña Concepcion came to us for a year, and, after, I +studied with an instructor who came from Mexico to educate my brother +and me." She had no intention of being communicative with Diego +Estenega, but his keen reflective gaze confused her, and she took +refuge in words. + +"Doña Eustaquia tells me that, unlike most of our women, you have +read many books. Few Californian women care for anything but to look +beautiful and to marry,--not, however, being unique in that respect. +Would you not rather live in our capital? You are so far away down +there, and there are but few of the _gente de razon_, no?" + +"We are well satisfied, señor, and we are gay when we wish. There are +ten families in the town, and many rancheros within a hundred leagues. +They think nothing of coming to our balls. And we have grand religious +processions, and bull-fights, and races. We have beautiful cañons for +meriendas; and I could dance every night if I wished. We are few, but +we are quite as gay and quite as happy as you in your capital." The +pride of the Iturbi y Moncadas and of the Barbariña flashed in her +eyes, then made way for anger under the amused glance of Estenega. + +"Oh, of course," he said, teasingly. "You are to Monterey what +Monterey is to the city of Mexico. But, pardon me, señorita; I would +not anger you for all the gold which is said to lie like rocks under +our Californias,--if it be true that certain padres hold that mighty +secret. (God! how I should like to get one by the throat and throttle +it out of him!) Pardon me again, señorita; I was going to say that +you may be pleased to know that there is little magnificence where my +ranchos are,--high on the coast, among the redwoods. I live in a house +made of big ugly logs, unpainted. There are no cavalcades in the cold +depths of those redwood forests, and the ocean beats against ragged +cliffs. Only at Fort Ross, in her log palace, does the beautiful +Russian, Princess Hélène Rotscheff, strive occasionally to make +herself and others forget that the forest is not the Bois of her +beloved Paris, that in it the grizzly and the panther hunger for her, +and that an Indian Prince, mad with love for the only fair-haired +woman he has ever seen, is determined to carry her off----" + +"Tell me! tell me!" cried Chonita, eagerly, forgetting her rôle and +her enemy. "What is that? I do not know the princess, although she has +sent me word many times to visit her--Did an Indian try to carry her +off?" + +"It happened only the other day. Prince Solano, perhaps you have +heard, is chief of all the tribes of Sonoma, Valley of the Moon. He +is a handsome animal, with a strong will and remarkable organizing +abilities. One day I was entertaining the Rotscheffs at dinner when +Solano suddenly flung the door open and strode into the room: we are +old friends, and my servants do not stand on ceremony with him. As he +caught sight of the princess he halted abruptly, stared at her for a +moment, much as the first man may have stared at the first woman, then +turned and left the house, sprang on his mustang and galloped away. +The princess, you must know, is as blonde as only a Russian can be, +and an extremely pretty woman, small and dainty. No wonder the mighty +prince of darkness took fire. She was much amused. So was Rotscheff, +and he joked her the rest of the evening. Before he left, however, +I had a word with him alone, and warned him not to let the princess +stray beyond the walls of the fortress. That same night I sent a +courier to General Vallejo--who, fortunately, was at Sonoma--bidding +him watch Solano. And, sure enough--the day I left for Monterey +the Princess Hélène was in hysterics, Rotscheff was swearing like a +madman, and a soldier was at every carronade: word had just come from +General Vallejo that he had that morning intercepted Solano in his +triumphant march, at the head of six tribes, upon Fort Ross, and sent +him flying back to his mountain-top in disorder and bitterness of +spirit." + +"That is very interesting!" cried Chonita. "I like that. What an +experience those Russians have had! That terrible tragedy!--Ah, I +remember, it was you who were to have aided Natalie Ivanhoff in her +escape--" + +"Hush!" said Estenega. "Do not speak of that. Here we are. At your +service, señorita." He sprang to the whaleboned pavement in front of +the little church facing the blue bay and surrounded by the gray ruins +of the old Presidio, and lifted her down. + +Chonita recalled, and angry with herself for having been beguiled +by her enemy, took the infant from the nurse's arms and carried it +fearfully up the aisle. Estenega, walking beside her, regarded her +meditatively. + +"What is she?" he thought, "this Californian woman with her hair of +gold and her unmistakable intellect, her marble face crossed now and +again by the animation of the clever American woman? What an +anomaly to find on the shores of the Pacific! All I had heard of The +Doomswoman, The Golden Señorita, gave me no idea of this. What a pity +that our houses are at war! She is not maternal, at all events; I +never saw a baby held so awkwardly. What a poise of head! She looks +better fitted for tragedy than for this little comedy of life in the +Californias. A sovereignty would suit her,--were it not for her eyes. +They are not quite so calm and just and inexorable as the rest of +her face. She would not even make a good household tyrant, like Doña +Jacoba Duncan. Unquestionably she is religious, and swaddled in all +the traditions of her race; but her eyes,--they are at odds with all +the rest of her. They are not lovely eyes; they lack softness and +languor and tractability; their expression changes too often, and they +mirror too much intelligence for loveliness, but they never will be +old eyes, and they never will cease to look. And they are the eyes +best worth looking into that I have ever seen. No, a sovereignty would +not suit her at all; a salon might. But, like a few of us, she is some +years ahead of her sphere. Glory be to the Californias--of the future, +when we are dirt, and our children have found the gold!" + +The baby was nearly baptized by the time he had finished his +soliloquy. She had kicked alarmingly when the salt was laid on her +tongue, and squalled under the deluge of water which gave her her name +and also wet Chonita's sleeve. The godmother longed for the ceremony +to be over; but it was more protracted than usual, owing to the +importance of the restless object on the pillow in her weary arms. +When the last word was said, she handed pillow and baby to the nurse +with a fervent sigh of relief which made her appear girlish and +natural. + +After Estenega had lifted her to her horse he dried her sleeve +with his handkerchief. He lingered over the task; the cavalcade and +populace went on without them, and when they started they were in the +rearward of the blithesome crowd. + +"Do you know what I thought as I stood by you in the church?" he +asked. + +"No," she said, indifferently. "I hope you prayed for the fortune of +the little one." + +"I did not; nor did you. You were too afraid you would drop it. I was +thinking how unmotherly, I had almost said unwomanly, you looked. You +were made for the great world,--the restless world, where people fly +faster from monotony than from a tidal wave." + +She looked at him with cold dignity, but flushed a little. "I am not +unwomanly, señor, although I confess I do not understand babies and do +detest to sew. But if I ever marry I shall be a good wife and mother. +No Spanish woman was ever otherwise, for every Spanish woman has had a +good mother for example." + +"You have said exactly what you should have said, voicing the inborn +principles and sentiments of the Spanish woman. I should be interested +to know what your individual sentiments are. But you misunderstand me. +I said that you were too good for the average lot of woman. You are a +woman, not a doll; an intelligence, not a bundle of shallow emotions +and transient desires. You should have a larger destiny." + +She gave him a swift sidelong flash from eyes that suddenly looked +childish and eager. + +"It is true," she said, frankly, "I have no desire to marry and have +many children. My father has never said to me, 'Thou must marry;' and +I have sometimes thought I would say 'No' when that time came. For the +present I am contented with my books and to ride about the country +on a wild horse; but perhaps--I do not know--I may not always be +contented with that. Sometimes when reading Shakespeare I have +imagined myself each of those women in turn. But generally, of course, +I have thought little of being any one but myself. What else could I +be here?" + +"Nothing; excepting a Joan of Arc when the Americans sweep down upon +us. But that would be only for a day; we should be such easy prey. +If I could put you to sleep and awaken you fifty years hence, when +California was a modern civilization! God speed the Americans: Therein +lies our only chance." + +"What!" she cried. "You--you would have the Americans? You--a +Californian! But you are an Estenega; that explains everything." + +"I am a Californian," he said, ignoring the scorn of the last words, +"but I hope I have acquired some common-sense in roving about the +world. The women of California are admirable in every way,--chaste, +strong of character, industrious, devoted wives and mothers, born +with sufficient capacity for small pleasures. But what are our men? +Idle, thriftless, unambitious, too lazy to walk across the street, but +with a horse for every step, sleeping all day in a hammock, gambling +and drinking all night. They are the natural followers of a race of +men who came here to force fortune out of an unbroken country with +little to help them but brains and will. The great effort produced +great results; therefore there is nothing for their sons to do, and +they luxuriously do nothing. What will the next generation be? Our +women will marry Americans,--respect for men who are men will overcome +prejudice,--the crossed blood will fight for a generation or two, then +a race will be born worthy of California. Why are our few great men so +very great to us? What have men of exceptional talent to fight down in +the Californias except the barriers to its development? In England or +the United States they still would be great men,--Alvarado and Castro, +at least,--but they would have to work harder." + +Chonita, in spite of her disapproval and her blood, looked at him +with interest. His ideas and language were strikingly unlike the +sentimental rhetoric of the caballeros. + +"It is as you say," she admitted; "but the Californian's highest duty +is loyalty to his country. Ours is a double duty, isolated as we are +on this far strip of land, away from all other civilization. We should +be more contemptible than Indians if we were not true to our flag." + +"No wonder that you and that famous patriot of ours, Doña Eustaquia +Ortega, are bonded friends. I doubt if you could hate as well as she. +You have no such violence in your nature; you could neither love nor +hate very hard. You would love (if you loved at all) with majesty and +serenity, and hate with chili severity." While he spoke he watched her +intently. + +She met his gaze unflinchingly. "True, señor; I am no 'bundle of +shallow emotions,' nor have I a lion in me, like Eustaquia. I am a +creature of deliberation, not of impulse: I love and hate as duty +dictates." + +"You are by nature the most impulsive woman I ever saw," he said, much +amused, "and Eustaquia's lion is a kitten to the one that sleeps in +you. You have cold deliberation enough, but it is manufactured, and +the result of pretty hard work at that. Like all edifices reared +without a foundation, it will fall with a crash some day, and +the fragments will be of very little use to you." And there the +conversation ended: they had reached the plaza, and a babel of voices +surrounded them. Governor Alvarado stood on the upper corridor of his +house, throwing handfuls of small gold coins among the people, who +were shrieking with delight. The girl guests mingled with them, seeing +that no palm went home empty. Beside the governor sat Doña Martina, +radiant with pride, and behind her stood the nurse, holding the infant +on its pillow. + +"We had better go to the house as soon as possible," said Estenega. +"It is nearly time for the bull-bear fight, and we must have good +seats." + +They forced their way through the crowd, dismounted at the door, and +went up to the corridor. The Castros and I were already there, with a +number of other invited guests. The women sat in chairs, close to the +corridor railing; several rows of men stood behind them. + +The plaza was a jagged circle surrounded by dwelling-houses, some one +story in height, others with overhanging balconies; from it radiated +five streets. All corridors were crowded with the elegantly-dressed +men and women of the aristocracy; large black fans were waving; every +eye was flashing expectantly; the people stood on platforms which had +been erected in four of the streets. + +Amidst the shouts of the spectators, two vaqueros, dressed in black +velvet short-clothes, dazzling linen, and stiff black sombreros, +tinkling bells attached to their trappings, jingling spurs on their +heels, galloped into the plaza, driving a large aggressive bull. +They chased him about in a circle, swinging their reatas, dodging +his onslaughts, then rode out, and four others entered, dragging an +unwilling bear by a reata tied to each of its legs. By means of a long +chain and much dexterity they fastened the two beasts together, freed +the legs of the bear, then retired to the entrance to await events. +But the bull and the bear would not fight. The latter arose on his +haunches and regarded his enemy warily; the bull appeared to disdain +the bear as too small game; he but lowered his horns and pawed the +ground. The spectators grew impatient. The brave caballeros and dainty +doñas wanted blood. They tapped their feet and murmured ominously. As +for the populace, it howled for slaughter. Governor Alvarado made a +sign to one of the vaqueros; the man rushed abruptly upon the bull and +hit him a sharp blow across the nose with the cruel quirto. The +bull's dignity vanished. With the quadrupedian capacity for measuring +distance, he inferred that the blow had been inflicted by the bear, +who sat some twenty feet away, mildly licking his paws. He made a +savage onset. The bear, with the dexterity of a vaquero, leaped +aside and sprang upon the assailant's neck, his teeth meeting +argumentatively in the rope-like tendons. The bull roared with pain +and rage and attempted to shake him off, but he hung on; both lost +their footing and rolled over and over amidst clouds of dust, a mighty +noise, and enough blood to satisfy the early thirst of the beholders. +Then the bull wrenched himself free; before the mountain visitor could +scramble to his feet, he fixed him with his horns and tossed him on +high. As the bear came down on his back with a thud and a snap which +would have satisfied a bull less anxious to show what a bull could do, +the victor rushed upon the corpse, kicked and stamped and bit +until the blood spouted into his eyes, and pulp and dust were +indistinguishable. Then how the delighted spectators clapped their +hands and cried "Brava!" to the bull, who pranced about the plaza, +dragging the carcass of the bear after him, his head high, his big +eyes red and rolling! The women tore off their rebosos and waved them +like banners, smashed their fans, and stamped their little feet; the +men whirled their sombreros with supple wrists. But the bull was not +satisfied; he pawed the ground with demanding hoofs; and the vaqueros +galloped into the ring with another bear. Nor had they time to detach +their reatas before the bull was upon the second antagonist; and they +were obliged to retire in haste. + +Estenega, who stood between Chonita and myself, watched The Doomswoman +attentively. Her lips were compressed fiercely: for a moment they +bore a strange resemblance to his own as I had seen them at times. +Her nostrils were expanded, her lids half covered her eyes. "She has +cruelty in her," he murmured to me as the first battle finished; "and +it was her imperious wish that the bull should win, because he is the +more lordly animal. She has no sympathy for the poor bundle of hair +and quivering flesh that bounded on the mountain yesterday. Has she +brutality in her?--just enough--" + +"Brava! Brava!" The women were on their feet; even Chonita for the +moment forgot herself, and beat the railing with her small fist. +Another bear had been impaled and tossed and trampled. The bull, +panting from his exertions, dashed about the plaza, still dragging his +first victim after him. Suddenly he stopped; the blood gushed from his +nostrils; he shivered like a skeleton hanging in the wind, then fell +in an ignominious heap--dead. + +"A warning, Diego," I said, rising and shaking my fan at him. "Be not +too ambitious, else wilt thou die of thy victories. And do not love +the polar star," I murmured in his ear, "lest thou set fire to it and +fall to ashes thyself." + + + + +III. + + +In the long dining-room, opening upon the large high-walled garden at +the back of the Governor's house, a feast was spread for fifty people. +Doña Martina sat for a little time at the head of the table, her +yellow gown almost hidden by the masses of hair which her small head +could not support. Castro was on one side of her, Estenega on the +other, Chonita by her arch-enemy. A large bunch of artificial flowers +was at each plate, and the table was loaded with yellowed chickens +sitting proudly in scarlet gravy, tongues covered with walnut sauce, +grilled meats, tamales, mounds of tortillas, and dulces. + +Alvarado, at the lower end of the table, sat between Doña Modeste +Castro and myself; and between the extremes of the board were faces +glowing, beautiful, ugly, but without exception fresh and young. From +all, the mantilla and serape had been removed, jewels sparkled in the +lace shirts of the men, white throats were encircled by the invariable +necklace of Baja Californian pearls. Chonita alone wore a string of +black pearls. I never saw her without it. + +Doña Martina took little part in the talk and laughter, and after +a time slipped away, motioning to Chonita to take her place. The +conversation turned upon war and politics, and in its course Estenega, +looking from Chonita to Castro with a smile of good-natured irony +said,-- + +"Doña Chonita is of your opinion, coronel, that California was the +direct gift of heaven to the Spaniards, and that the Americans cannot +have us." + +Castro raised his glass to the _comadre_. "Doña Chonita has the loyal +bosom of all Californian women. Our men love better the olive of peace +than the flavor of discord; but did the bandoleros dare to approach +our peaceful shores with dastardly intent to rob, then, thanks be +to God, I know that every man among them would fight for this virgin +land. Thou, too, Diego, thou wouldst unsheathe thy sword, in spite of +thy pretended admiration of the Americans." + +Estenega raised his shoulders. "Possibly. But in American occupation +lies the hope of California. What have we done with it in our +seventy years of possession? Built a few missions, which are rotting, +terrorized or cajoled few thousand worthless Indians into civilized +imbecility, and raised a respectable number of horses and cattle. Our +hide and tallow trade is only good; the Russians have monopolized the +fur trade; we continue to raise cattle and horses because it would be +an exertion to suppress them; and meanwhile we dawdle away our lives +very pleasurably, whilst a magnificent territory, filled with gold and +richer still in soil, lies idle beneath our feet. Nature never works +without a plan. She compounded a wonderful country, and she created a +wonderful people to develop it. She has allowed us to drone on it +for a little time, but it was not made for us; and I am sufficiently +interested in California to wish to see her rise from her sleep and +feel and live in every part of her." He turned suddenly to Chonita. +"If I were a sculptor," he said, "I should use you as a model for a +statue of California. I have the somewhat whimsical idea that you are +the human embodiment of her." + +Before she could muster her startled and angry faculties for reply, +before Estenega had finished speaking, in fact, Castro brought his +open palm down on the table, his eyes blazing. + +"Oh, execrable profanation!" he cried. "Oh, unheard-of perfidy! Is it +possible that a man calling himself a Californian could give utterance +to such sentiments? Oh, abomination! You would invite, welcome, +uphold, the American adventurer? You would tear apart the bosom of +your country under pretense of doctoring its evils? You would cast +this fair gift of Almighty God at the feet of American swine? Oh, +Diego! Diego! This comes of the heretic books thou hast read. It is +better to have heart than brain." + +"True: the palpitations do not last as long. We have had proof which I +need not recapitulate that to preserve California to itself it must be +tied fast to Mexico, otherwise would it die of anarchy or fall a prey +to the first invader. So far so good. But what has Mexico done for +California? Nothing; and she will do less. She is a mother who has +forgotten the child she put out to nurse. England and France and +Russia would do as little. But the United States, young and +ambitious, will give her greedy attention, and out of their greed +will California's good be wrought. And although they sweep us from the +earth, they will plant fruit where they found weeds." + +Don José pushed back his chair violently and left the table. Estenega +turned to Chonita and found her pallid, her nostrils tense, her eyes +flashing. + +"Traitor!" she articulated. "I hate you! And it was you--_you_--who +kept my loyal brother from serving his country in the Departmental +Junta. He is as full of fire and patriotism as Castro; and yet you, +whose blood is ice, could be a member of the Electoral College and +defeat the election of a man who is as much an honor to his country as +you are a shame." + +He smiled a little cruelly, but without anger or shame in his face. +"Señorita," he said, "I defeated your brother because I did not +believe him to be of any use to his country. He would only have been +in the way as a member of the Junta, and an older man wanted the +place. Your brother has Don José's enthusiasm without his magnetism +and remarkable executive power. He is too young to have had +experience, and has done neither reading nor thinking. Therefore I +did my best to defeat him. Pardon my rudeness, señorita; ascribe it to +revenge for calling me a traitor." + +"You--you----" she stammered, then bent her head over her plate, +her Spanish dignity aghast at the threatening tears. Her hand hung +clinched at her side. Diego took it in spite of resistance, and, +opening the rigid fingers, bent his head beneath the board and kissed +them. + +"I believe you are somewhat of a woman, after all," he said. + + + + +IV. + + +The party deserted the table for the garden, there to idle until +evening should give them the dance. All of the men and most of the +women smoked cigaritos, the latter using the gold or silver holder, +supporting it between the thumb and finger. The high walls of the +garden were covered with the delicate fragrant pink Castilian roses, +and the girls plucked them and laid them in their hair. + +"Does it look well, Don Diego?" asked one girl, holding her head +coquettishly on one side. + +"It looked better on its vine," he said, absently. He was looking for +Chonita, who had disappeared. "Roses are like women: they lose their +subtler fragrance when plucked; but, like women, their heads always +droop invitingly." + +"I do not understand thee, Don Diego," said the girl, fixing her wide +innocent eyes on the young man's inscrutable face. "What dost thou +mean?" + +"That thou art sweeter than Castilian roses," he said and passed on. +"And how is, thy little one?" he asked a young matron whose lithe +beauty had won his admiration a year ago, but to whom maternity had +been too generous. She raised her soft brown eyes out of which the +coquettish sparkle had gone. + +"Beautiful! Beautiful!" she cried. "And so smart, Don Diego. He beats +the air with his little fists, and--Holy Mary, I swear it!--he winks +one eye when I tickle him." + +Estenega sauntered down the garden endeavoring to imagine Chonita fat +and classified. He could not. He paused beside a woman who did not +raise her eyes at once, but coquettishly pretended to be absorbed in +the conversation of those about her. She too had been married a year +and more, but her figure had not lost its elegance, and she was very +handsome. Her coquetry was partly fear. Estenega's power was felt +alike by innocent girls and chaste matrons. There were few scandals in +those days; the women of the aristocracy were virtuous by instinct +and rigid social laws; but, how it would be hard to tell, Estenega +had acquired the reputation of being a dangerous man. Perhaps it had +followed him back from the city of Mexico, where at one time, he had +spent three years as diputado, and whence returned with a brilliant +and startling record of gallantry. A woman had followed on the next +ship, and, unless I am much mistaken, Diego passed many uneasy +hours before he persuaded her to return to Mexico. Then old Don José +Briones' beautiful young wife was found dead in her bed one morning, +and the old women who dressed the body swore that there were marks of +hard skinny fingers on her throat. Estenega had made no secret of his +admiration of her. At different times girls of the people had left +Monterey suddenly, and vague rumors had floated down from the North +that they had been seen in the redwood forests where Estenega's +ranchos lay. I asked him, point-blank, one day, if these stories were +true, prepared to scold him as he deserved; and he remarked coolly +that stories of that sort were always exaggerated, as well as a man's +success with women. But one had only to look at that face, with its +expression of bitter-humorous knowledge, its combination of strength +and weakness, to feel sure that there were chapters in his life that +no woman outside of them would ever read. I always felt, when with +Diego Estenega, that I was in the presence of a man who had little +left to learn of life's phases and sensations. + +"The sun will freckle thy white neck," he said to the matron who would +not raise her eyes. + +"Shall I bring thy mantilla, Doña Carmen?" + +She looked up with a swift blush, then lowered her soft black eyes +suddenly before the penetrating gaze of the man who was so different +from the caballeros. + +"It is not well to be too vain, señor. We must think less of those +things and more of--our Church." + +"True; the Church may be a surer road to heaven than a good +complexion, if less of a talisman on earth. Still I doubt if a +freckled Virgin would have commanded the admiration of the centuries, +or even of the Holy Ghost." + +"Don Diego! Don Diego!" cried a dozen horrified voices. + +"Diego Estenega, if it were any man but thou," I exclaimed, "I would +have thee excommunicated. Thou blasphemer! How couldst thou?" + +Diego raised my threatening hand to his lips. "My dear Eustaquia, it +was merely a way of saying that woman should be without blemish. And +is not the Virgin the model for all women?" + +"Oh," I exclaimed, impatiently, "thou canst plant an idea in people's +minds, then pluck it out before their very eyes and make them believe +it never was there. That is thy power,--but not over me. I know thee." +We were standing apart, and I had dropped my voice. "But come and talk +to me awhile. I cannot stand those babies," and I indicated with a +sweep of my fan the graceful, richly-dressed caballeros whose soft +drooping eyes and sensuous mouths were more promising of compliments +than conversation. "Neither Alvarado nor Castro is here. Thou too +wouldst have gone in a moment had I not captured thee." + +"On the contrary, I should have captured you. If we were not too old +friends for flirting I should say that your handsome-ugly face is the +most attractive in the garden. It is a pretty picture, though," +he went on, meditatively,--"those women in their gay soft gowns, +coquetting demurely with the caballeros. Their eyes and mouths are +like flowers; and their skins are so white, and their hair so black. +The high wall, covered with green and Castilian roses, was purposely +designed by Nature for them. Sometimes I have a passing regret that +it is all doomed, and a half-century hence will have passed out of +memory." + +"What do you mean?" I asked, sharply. + +"Oh, we will not discuss the question of the future. I sent Castro +away from the table in a towering rage, and it is too hot to excite +you. Even the impassive Doomswoman became so angry that she could not +eat her dinner." + +"It is your old wish for American occupation--the bandoleros! No; I +will not discuss it with you: I have gone to bed with my head bursting +when we have talked of it before. You might have spared poor José. But +let us talk of something else--Chonita. What do you think of her?" + +"A thousand things more than one usually thinks of a woman after the +first interview." + +"But do you think her beautiful?" + +"She is better than beautiful. She is original." + +"I often wonder if she would be La Favorita of the South if it were +not for her father's great wealth and position. The men who profess to +be her slaves must have absorbed the knowledge that she has the +brains they have not, although she conceals her superiority from them +admirably: her pride and love of power demand that she shall be La +Favorita, although her caballeros must weary her. If she made them +feel their insignificance for a moment they would fly to the standard +of her rival, Valencia Menendez, and her regalities would be gone +forever. A few men have gone honestly wild over her, but I doubt if +any one has ever really loved her. Such women receive a surfeit of +admiration, but little love. If she were an unintellectual woman she +would have an extraordinary power over men, with her beauty and her +subtle charm; but now she is isolated. What a pity that your houses +are at war!" + +He had been looking away from me. As I finished speaking he turned +his face slowly toward me, first the profile, which looked as if cut +rapidly with a sharp knife out of ivory, then the full face, with its +eyes set so deeply under the scraggy brows, its mouth grimly humorous. +He looked somewhat sardonic and decidedly selfish. Well I knew what +that expression meant. He had the kindest heart I had ever known, but +it never interfered with a most self-indulgent nature. Many times I +had begged him to be considerate of some girl who I knew charmed him +for the moment only; but one secret of his success with women was his +unfeigned if brief enthusiasm. + +"Let her alone!" I exclaimed. "You cannot marry her. She would go into +a convent before she would sacrifice the traditions of her house. And +if you were not at war, and she married you, you would only make her +miserably happy." + +He merely smiled and continued to look me straight in the eyes. + + + + +V. + + +I went upstairs and found Chonita reading Landor's "Imaginary +Conversations." (When Chonita was eighteen,--she was now +twenty-four--Don Alfredo Robinson, one of the American residents, +had at her father's request sent to Boston for a library of several +hundred books, a birthday gift for the ambitious daughter of the +Iturbi y Moncadas. The selection was an admirable one, and a rancho +would not have pleased her as well. She read English and French with +ease, although she spoke both languages brokenly.) As I entered she +laid down the book and clasped her hands behind her head. She looked +tranquil, but less amiable than was her wont. + +"Thou hast been far away from the caballeros and the doñas of +Monterey," I said. + +"Not even among Spanish ghosts." + +"I think thou carest at heart for nothing but thy books." + +"And a few people, and my religion." + +"But they come second, although thou wilt not acknowledge it even to +thyself. Suppose thou hadst to sacrifice thy religion or thy books, +never to read another? Which wouldst thou choose?" + +"God of my soul! what a question! No Spanish woman was ever a truer +Catholic; but to read is my happiness, the only happiness I want on +earth." + +"Art thou sure that to train the intellect means happiness?" + +"Sure. Does it not give us the power to abstract ourselves from life +when we are tired of it?" + +"True, but there is another result you have not thought of. The more +the intellect is developed, the more acute and aggressive is the +nervous system; the more tenacious is the memory, the more has one to +live with, and the higher the ideals. When the time comes for you to +live you will suffer with double the intensity and depth of the woman +whose nerves are dull or stunted." + +"To suffer you must love, and I never shall love. Who is there to +love? Books always suffice me, and I suppose there are enough in the +world to make the time pass as long as I live." + +I did not continue the argument, knowing the placid superiority of +inexperience. + +"But thou hast not yet told me which thou wouldst give up." + +"The books, of course. I hope I know my duty. I would sacrifice all +things to my religion. But the priests do not interfere now as they +did in the last generation." + +I was very religious in those days, and my heart beat with approval. +"I have always said that the Church may let women read what they +choose. The good principles they are born with they will adhere to." + +"We are by nature conservatives, that is all. And we have need of +religion. We must have something to lean on, and men are poor props, +as far as I have observed. Sometimes after having read a long while in +an absorbing book, particularly one that seemed to put something with +a living hand into my brain and make it feel larger, I find that I am +miles away from the Church; I have forgotten its existence. I always +_run_ back." + +"_Dios!_ I should think so. Yes, it is well we do need our religion. +Men do not; for that reason they drop it the moment the wings on their +minds grow fast--as they would, when the warm sun came out, drop the +thick blanket of the Indian, borrowed and gratefully worn in dark +uncertain weather. I do not dare ask Diego Estenega what he believes, +lest he tell me he believes nothing and I should have to hear it. How +dost thou like my friend, Chonita?" + +"Art thou asking me how I like the enemy of my house? I hate him." + +"If he goes to Santa Barbara with Alvarado this summer wilt thou ask +him to be thy guest?" + +"Of course. The enmity has always been veiled with much courtesy; and +I would have him see that we know how to entertain." + +I watched her covertly; I could detect no sign of interest. Presently +she took up the volume of Landor and read aloud to me, the stately +English sounding oddly with her Spanish accent. + + + + +VI. + + +At ten o'clock the large sala of the Governor's house was thronged +with guests, and the music of the flute, harp, and guitar floated +through the open windows: the musicians sat on the corridor. How +harmonious was the Monterey ball-room of that day!--the women in their +white gowns of every rich material, the men in white trousers, black +silk jackets, and low morocco shoes; no color except in the jewels +and the rich Southern faces. The bare ugly sala, from which the uglier +furniture had been removed, needed no ornaments with that moving +beauty; and even the coffee-colored, high-stomached old people were +picturesque. I wander through those deserted salas sometimes, and, +as the tears blister my eyes, imagination and memory people the cold +rooms, and I forget that the dashing caballeros and lovely doñas who +once called Monterey their own and made it a living picture-book are +dust beneath the wild oats and thistles of the deserted cemetery on +the hill. The Americans hardly know that such a people once existed. + +Chonita entered the sala at eleven o'clock, looking like a snow queen. +Her gold hair, which always glittered like metal, was arranged to +simulate a crown; she wore a gown of Spanish lace, and no jewels but +the string of black pearls. I never had seen her look so cold and so +regal. + +Estenega stepped out upon the corridor. "Play El Son," he said, +peremptorily. Then as the vivacious music began he walked over to +Chonita and clapped his hands in front of her as authoritatively as +he had bidden the musicians. What he did was of frequent occurrence +in the Californian ball-room, but she looked haughtily rebellious. He +continued to strike his hands together, and looked down upon her +with an amused smile which brought the angry color to her face. Her +hesitation aroused the eagerness of the other men, and they cried +loudly-- + +"El Son! El Son! señorita." + +She could no longer refuse, and, passing Estenega with head erect, +she bent it slightly to the caballeros and passed to the middle of the +room, the other guests retreating to the wall. She stood for a moment, +swaying her body slightly; then, raising her gown high enough for +the lace to sweep the instep of her small arched feet, she tapped +the floor in exact time to the music for a few moments, then glided +dreamily along the sala, her willowy body falling in lovely lines, +unfolding every detail of El Son, unheeding the low ripple of +approval. Then, dropping her gown, she spun the length of the room +like a white cloud caught in a cyclone; her garments whirred, +her heels clicked, her motion grew faster and swifter, until the +spectators panted for breath. Then, unmindful of the lively melody, +she drifted slowly down, swaying languidly, her long round arms now +lolling in the lace of her gown, now lifted to graceful sweep and +curve. The caballeros shouted their appreciation, flinging gold and +silver at her feet; never had El Son been given with such variations +before. Never did I see greater enthusiasm until the night which +culminated the tragedy of Ysabel Herrera. Estenega stood enraptured, +watching every motion of her body, every expression of her face. +The blood blazed in her cheeks, her eyes were like green stars and +sparkled wickedly. The cold curves of her statuesque mouth were warm +and soft, her chin was saucily uplifted, her heavy waving hair fell +over her shoulders to her knees, a glittering veil. Where had The +Doomswoman, the proud daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas, gone? + +The girls were a little frightened: this was not the Son to which they +were accustomed. The young matrons frowned. The old people exclaimed, +"Caramba!" "Mother of God!" "Holy Mary!" I was aghast; well as I knew +her, this was a piece of audacity for which I was unprepared. + +As the dance went on and she grew more and more like an untamed +wood-nymph, even the caballeros became vaguely uneasy, hotly as they +admired the beautiful wild thing enchaining their gaze. I looked again +at Estenega and knew that his heart beat in passionate sympathy. + +"I have found _her_," he murmured, exultantly. "She is California, +magnificent, audacious, incomprehensible, a creature of storms and +convulsions and impregnable calm; the germs of all good and all bad in +her; a woman sublimated. Every husk of tradition has fallen from her." + +Once, as she passed Estenega, her eyes met his. They lit with a glance +of recognition, then the lids drooped and she floated on. He left the +room; and when he returned she sat on a window-seat, surrounded by +caballeros, as calm and as pale as when he had commanded her to dance. +He did not approach her, but, joined me at the upper end of the sala, +where I stood with Alvarado, the Castros, Don Thomas Larkin, the +United States Consul, and a half-dozen others. We were discussing +Chonita's interpretation of El Son. + +"That was a strange outbreak for a Spanish girl," said Señor Larkin. + +"She is Chonita Iturbi y Moncada," said Castro, severely. "She is like +no other woman, and what she does is right." + +The consul bowed. "True, coronel. I have seen no one here like Doña +Chonita. There is a delicious uniformity about the Californian women: +so reserved, shrinking yet dignified, ever on their guard. Doña +Chonita changed so swiftly from the typical woman of her race to an +houri, almost a bacchante,--only an extraordinary refinement of nature +kept her this side of the line,--that an American would be tempted to +call her eccentric." + +Alvarado lifted his hand and pointed through the window to the stars. +"The golden coals in the blue fire of heaven are not higher above +censure," he said. + +Doña Modeste raised her eyebrows. "Coals are safest when burned on +the domestic hearth and carefully watched; safer still when they have +fallen to ashes." + +"What is this rumor of pirates on the coast?" demanded Alvarado, +abruptly. + +I put my hand through Estenega's arm and drew him aside. The music of +the contradanza was playing, and we stood against the wall. + +"Well, you know Chonita better since that dance," I said to him. +"Polar stars are not unlikely to have volcanoes. Better let the deeps +alone, my friend; the lava might scorch you badly. Women of complex +natures are interesting studies, but dangerous to love. They wear the +nerves to a point, and the tired brain and heart turn gratefully to +the crystalline, idle-minded woman. She is too much like yourself, +Diego. And you,--how long could you love anybody? Love with you means +curiosity." + +His face looked like chalk for a moment, an indication with him of +suppressed and violent emotion. Then he turned his head and regarded +me with a slight smile. "Not altogether. You forget that the most +faithless men have been the most faithful when they have found the +one woman. Curiosity and fickleness are merely parts of a restless +seeking,--nothing more." + +"I was sure you would acquit yourself with credit! But you have an +unholy charm, and you never hesitate to exert it." + +He laughed outright. "One would think I was a rattlesnake. My unholy +charm consists of a reasonable amount of address born of a great +weakness for women and some personal magnetism,--the latter the +offspring of the habit of mental concentration--" + +"And an inexorable will--" + +"Perhaps. As to the exercise of it--why not? _Vive la bagatelle!_" + +"It is useless to argue with you. Are you going to let that girl +alone?" + +"She is the only girl in the Californias whom I shall not let alone." + +I could have shaken him. "To what end? And her brother? I have +often wondered which would rule you in a crisis, your head or your +passions." + +"It would depend upon the crisis. I am afraid you are right,--that +altiloquent Reinaldo will give trouble." + +"Is it true that he has been conspiring with Carillo, and that an +extraordinary and secret session of the Departmental Junta has been +called?" + +He looked down upon me with his grimmest smile. "You curious little +woman! You must not put your white fingers into the Departmental pie. +If you had been a man, with as good a brain as you have for a woman, +you would have been an ornament to our politics. But as it is--pardon +me--the better for our balancing country the less you have to do with +it." + +I could feel my eyes snap. "You respect no woman's mind," I said, +savagely; "nothing but the woman in her. But I will not quarrel with +you. Tell that baby over there to come and waltz with me." + +At dawn, as we entered our room, I seized Chonita by the shoulders and +shook her. "What did you mean by such a performance?" I demanded. "It +was unprecedented!" + +She threw back her head and laughed. "I could not help it," she said. +"First I felt an irresistible desire to show Monterey that I dared +do anything I chose. And then I have a wild something in me which has +often threatened to break loose before; and to-night it did. It was +that man. He made me." + +"_Ay, Dios!"_ I thought, "it has begun already." + + + + +VII. + + +The festivities were to last a week, every one taking part but +Alvarado and Doña Martina. The latter was not strong enough, the +governor cared more for duty than for pleasure. + +The next day we had a merienda on the hills behind the town. The green +pine woods were gay with the bright colors of the young people. Here +and there a caballero dashed up and down to show his horsemanship and +the silver and embroidered silk of his saddle. Silver, too, were +his jingling spurs, the eagles on his sombrero, the buttons on his +colorous silken jacket. Horses, without exception handsomely trapped, +were tethered everywhere, pawing the ground or nibbling the grass. The +girls wore white or flowered silk or muslin gowns, and rebosos about +their heads; the brown ugly dueñas, ever at their sides, were foils +they would gladly have dispensed with. The tinkle of the guitar never +ceased, and the sweet voices of the girls and the rich voices of the +men broke forth with the joyous spontaneity of the birds' songs about +them. + +Chonita wore a white silk gown, I remember flowered with blue,--large +blue lilies. The reboso matched the gown. As soon as we arrived--we +were a little late--she was surrounded by caballeros who hardly knew +whether to like her or not, but who adhered to the knowledge that she +was Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, the most famous beauty of the South. + +"_Dios!_ but thou art beautiful," murmured one, his dreamy eyes +dwelling on her shining hair. + +"_Gracias_, señor." She whispered it as bashfully as the maidens to +whom he was accustomed, her eyes fixed upon a rose she held. + +"Wilt thou not stay with us here in Monterey?" + +She raised her eyes slowly,--he could not but feel the effort,--gave +him one bewildering glance, half appealing, half protesting, then +dropped them suddenly. + +"Wilt thou stay with me?" panted the caballero. + +"Ay, señor! thou must not speak like that. Some one will hear thee." + +"I care not! God of my life! I care not! Wilt thou marry me?" + +"Thou must not speak to me of marriage, señor. It is to my father thou +must speak. Would I, a Californian maiden, betroth myself without his +knowledge?" + +"Holy heaven! I will! But give me one word that thou lovest me,--one +word!" + +She lifted her chin saucily and turned to another caballero, who, I +doubt not, proposed also. Estenega, who had watched her, laughed. + +"She acts the part to perfection," he said to me. "Either natural or +acquired coquetry has more to do with saving her from the solitary +plane of the intellectual woman than her beauty or her father's +wealth. I am inclined to think that it is acquired. I do not believe +that she is a coquette at heart, any more than that she is the marble +doomswoman she fondly believes herself." + +"You will tell her that," I exclaimed, angrily; "and she will end +by loving you because you understand her; all women want to be +understood. Why don't you go to Paris again? You have not been there +for a long time." + +Not deeming this suggestion worthy of answer, he left me and walked to +Chonita, who was glancing over the top of her fan into the ardent eyes +of a third caballero. + +"You will step on a bunch of nettles in a moment," he said, +practically. "Your slippers are very thin; you had better stand over +here on the path." And he dexterously separated her from the other +men. "Will you walk to that opening over there with me? I want to show +you a better view of Monterey." + +His manner had not a touch of gallantry, and she was tired of the +caballeros. + +"Very well," she said. "I will look at the view." + +As she followed him she noted that he led her where the bushes were +thinnest, and kicked the stones from her path. She also remarked the +nervous energy of his thin figure. "It comes from his love of the +Americans," she thought, angrily. "He must even walk like them. The +Americans!" And she brought her teeth together with a sharp click. + +He turned, smiling. "You look very disapproving," he said. "What have +I done?" + +"You look like an American! You even wear their clothes, and they are +the color of smoke; and you wear no lace. How cold and uninteresting a +scene would this be if all the men were dressed as you are!" + +"We cannot all be made for decorative purposes. And you are as unlike +those girls, in all but your dress, as I am unlike the men. I will not +incur your wrath by saying that you are American: but you are modern. +Our lovely compatriots were the same three hundred years ago. Will +Doña California be pleased to observe that whale spouting in the bay? +There is the tree beneath which Junipero Serra said his first mass in +this part of the country. What a sanctimonious old fraud he must have +been, if he looked anything like his pictures! Did you ever see bay +bluer than that? or sand whiter? or a more perfect semicircle of hills +than this? or a more straggling town? There is the Custom-house on the +rocks. You will go to a ball there to-night, and hear the boom of +the surf as you dance." He turned with one of his sudden impatient +motions. "Suppose we ride. The air is too sharp to lie about under the +trees. This white horse mates your gown. Let us go over to Carmelo." + +"I should like to go," she said, doubtfully; he had made her throb +with indignation once or twice, but his conversation interested her +and her free spirit approved of a ride over the hills unattended by +dueña. "But--you know--I do not like you." + +"Oh, never mind that; the ride will interest you just the same." And +he lifted her to the horse, sprang on another, caught her bridle, +lest she should rebel, and galloped up the road. When they were on the +other side of hill he slackened speed and looked at her with a smile. +She was inclined to be angry, but found herself watching the varying +expressions of his mouth, which diverted her mind. It was a baffling +mouth, even to experienced women, and Chonita could make nothing of +it. It had neither sweetness nor softness, but she had never felt +impelled to study the mouth of a caballero. And then she wondered how +a man with a mouth like that could have manners so gentle. + +"Are you aware," he said, abruptly, "that your brother is accused of +conspiracy?" + +"What?" She looked at him as if she inferred that this was the order +of badinage that an Iturbi y Moncada might expect from an Estenega. + +"I am not joking. It is quite true." + +"It is not true! Reinaldo conspire against his government? Some one +has lied. And you are ready to believe!" + +"I hope some one has lied. The news is very direct, however." He +looked at her speculatively. "The more obstacles the better," he +thought; "and we may as well declare war on this question at once. +Besides, it is no use to begin as a hypocrite, when every act would +tell her what I thought of him. Moreover, he will have more or less +influence over her until her eyes are opened to his true worth. She +will not believe me, of course, but she is a woman who only needs an +impetus to do a good deal of thinking and noting." "I am going to make +you angry," he said. "I am going to tell you that I do not share your +admiration of your brother. He has ten thousand words for every idea, +and although, God knows, we have more time than anything else in this +land of the poppy where only the horses run, still there are more +profitable ways of employing it than to listen to meaningless and +bombastic words. Moreover, your brother is a dangerous man. No man is +so safe in seclusion as the one of large vanities and small ambitions. +He is not big enough to conceive a revolution, but is ready to be the +tool of any unscrupulous man who is, and, having too much egotism to +follow orders, will ruin a project at the last moment by attempting to +think for himself. I do not say these things to wantonly insult you, +señorita, only to let you know at once how I regard your brother, that +you may not accuse me of treachery or hypocrisy later." + +He had expected and hoped that she would turn upon him with a burst of +fury; but she had drawn herself up to her most stately height, and +was looking at him with cold hauteur. Her mouth was as hard as a pink +jewel, and her eyes had the glitter of ice in them. + +"Señor," she said, "it seems to me that you, too, waste many words--in +speaking of my brother; for what you say of him cannot interest me. +I have known him for twenty-two years; you have seen him four or six +times. What can you tell me of him? Not only is he my brother and the +natural object of my love and devotion, but he is Reinaldo Iturbi y +Moncada, the last male descendant of his house, and as such I hold him +in a regard only second to that which I bear to my father. And with +the blood in him he could not be otherwise than a great and good man." + +Estenega looked at her with the first stab of doubt he had felt. "She +is Spanish in her marrow," he thought,--"the steadfast unreasoning +child of traditions. I could not well be at greater disadvantage. But +she is magnificent." + +"Another thing which was unnecessary," she added, "was to defend +yourself to me or to tell me how you felt toward my brother, and why. +We are enemies by tradition and instinct. We shall rarely meet, and +shall probably never talk together again." + +"We shall talk together more times than you will care to count. I +have much to say to you, and you shall listen. But we will discuss the +matter no further at present. Shall we gallop?" + +He spurred his horse, and once more they fled through the pine woods. +Before long they entered the valley of Carmelo. The mountains were +massive and gloomy, the little bay was blue and quiet, the surf of +the ocean roared about Point Lobos, Carmelo River crawled beneath +its willows. In the middle of the valley stood the impressive yellow +church, with its Roman tower and rose-window; about it were the +crumbling brown hovels of the deserted Mission. Once as they rode +Estenega thought he heard voices, but could not be sure, so loud was +the clatter of the horses' hoofs. As they reached the square they drew +rein swiftly, the horses standing upright at the sudden halt. Then +strange sounds came to them through the open doors of the church: +ribald shouts and loud laughter, curses and noise of smashing glass, +such songs as never were sung in Carmelo before; an infernal clash of +sound which mingled incongruously with the solemn mass of the surf. +Chonita's eyes flashed. Even Estenega's face darkened: the traditions +planted in plastic youth arose and rebelled at the desecration. + +"Some drunken sailors," he said. "There--do you see that?" A craft +rounded Point Lobos. "Pirates!" + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed Chonita. + +"Let down your hair," he said, peremptorily; "and follow all that I +suggest. We will drive them out." + +She obeyed him without question, excited and interested. Then they +rode to the doors and threw them wide. + +The upper end of the long church was swarming with pirates; there was +no mistaking those bold, cruel faces, blackened by sun and wind, half +covered with ragged hair. They stood on the benches, they bestrode +the railing, they swarmed over the altar, shouting and carousing in +riotous wassail. Their coarse red shirts were flung back from hairy +chests, their faces were distorted with rum and sacrilegious delight. +Every station, every candlestick, had been hurled to the floor and +trampled upon. The crucifix stood on its head. Sitting high on the +altar, reeling and waving a communion goblet, was the drunken chief, +singing a blasphemous song of the pirate seas. The voices rumbled +strangely down the hollow body of the church; to perfect the scene +flames should have leaped among the swinging arms and bounding forms. + +"Come," said Estenega. He spurred his horse, and together they +galloped down the stone pavement of the edifice. The men turned at +the loud sound of horses' hoofs; but the riders were in their +midst, scattering them right and left, before they realized what was +happening. + +The horses were brought to sudden halt. Estenega rose in his stirrups, +his fine bold face looking down impassively upon the demoniacal gang +who could have rent him apart, but who stood silent and startled, +gazing from him to the beautiful woman, whose white gown looked part +of the white horse she rode. Estenega raised his hand and pointed to +Chonita. + +"The Virgin," he said, in a hollow, impressive voice. "The Mother of +God. She has come to defend her church. Go." + +Chonita's face blanched to the lips, but she looked at the +sacrilegists sternly. Fortune favored the audacity of Estenega. The +sunlight, drifting through the star-window above the doors at the +lower end of the church, smote the uplifted golden head of Chonita, +wreathing it with a halo, gifting the face with unearthly beauty. + +"Go!" repeated Estenega, "lest she weep. With every tear a heart will +cease to beat." + +The chief scrambled down from the altar and ran like a rat past +Chonita, his swollen mouth dropping. The others crouched and followed, +stumbling one over the other, their dark evil faces bloodless, their +knees knocking together with superstitious terror. They fled from +the church and down to the bay, and swam to their craft. Estenega and +Chonita rode out. They watched the ugly vessel scurry around Point +Lobos; then Chonita spoke for the first time. + +"Blasphemer!" she exclaimed. "Mother of God, wilt thou ever forgive +me?" + +"Why not call me a Jesuit? It was a case where mind or matter must +triumph. And you can confess your enforced sin, say a hundred aves or +so, and be whiter than snow again; whereas, had our Mission of Carmelo +been razed to the ground, as it was in a fair way to be, California +would have lost an historical monument." + +"And Junipero Serra's bones are there, and it was his favorite +Mission," said the girl, unwillingly. + +"Exactly. And now that you are reasonably sure of being forgiven, will +not you forgive me? I shall ask no priest's forgiveness." + +She looked at him a moment, then shook her head. "No: I cannot forgive +you for having made me commit what may be a mortal sin. But, Holy +Heaven!--I cannot help saying it--you are very quick!" + +"For each idea is a moment born. Upon whether we wed the two or think +too late depends the success or the failure of our lives." + +"Suppose," she said, suddenly,--"suppose you had failed, and those men +had seized me and made me captive: what then?" + +"I should have killed you. Not one of them should have touched you. +But I had no doubts, or I should not have made the attempt. I know the +superstitious nature of sailors, especially when they are drunk. Shall +we gallop back? They will have eaten all the dulces." + + + +VIII. + + +Monterey danced every night and all night of that week, either at +Alvarado's or at the Custom-house, and every afternoon met at the +races, the bull-fight, a merienda, or to climb the greased pole, +catch the greased pig by its tail as it ran, or exhibit skill in +horsemanship. Chonita, at times an imperious coquette, at others, +indifferent, perverse, or coy, was La Favorita without appeal, and +the girls alternately worshipped her--she was abstractedly kind to +them--or heartily wished her back in Santa Barbara. Estenega rarely +attended the socialities, being closeted with Alvarado and Castro most +of the time, and when he did she avoided him if she could. The pirates +had fled and were seen no more; but their abrupt retreat, as described +by Chonita, continued to be an exciting topic of discussion. There +were few of us who did not openly or secretly approve of Estenega's +Jesuitism and admire the nimbleness of his mind. The clergy did not +express itself. + +On the last night of the festivities, when the women, weary with the +unusually late hours of the past week, had left the ball-room early +and sought their beds, and the men, being at loss for other amusement, +had gone in a body to a saloon, there to drink and gamble and set fire +to each other's curls and trouser-seats, the Departmental Junta met in +secret session. The night was warm, the plaza deserted; all who were +not in the saloon at the other end of the town were asleep; and after +the preliminary words in Alvarado's office the Junta picked up their +chairs and went forth to hold conclave where bulls and bears had +fought and the large indulgent moon gave clearer light than adamantine +candles. They drew close together, and, after rolling the cigarito, +solemnly regarded the sky for a few moments without speaking. Their +purpose was a grave one. They met to try Pio Pico for contempt of +government and annoying insistence in behalf of his pet project to +remove the capital from Monterey to Los Angeles; José Antonio Carillo +and Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada for conspiracy; and General Vallejo for +evil disposition and unwarrantable comments upon the policy of the +administration. None of the offenders was present. + +With the exception of Alvarado, Castro, and Estenega, the members +of the Junta were men of middle age, and represented the talent of +California,--Jimeno, Gonzales, Arguëllo, Requena, Del Valle. Their +dark, bearded faces, upturned to the stars, made a striking set of +profiles, but the effect was marred by the silk handkerchiefs they had +tied about their heads. + +Alvarado spoke, finally, and, after presenting the charges in due +form, continued: + +"The individual enemy to the government is like the fly to the lion; +it cannot harm, but it can annoy. We must brush away the fly as a +vindication of our dignity, and take precaution that he does not +return, even if we have to bend our heads to tie his little legs. I +do not purpose to be annoyed by these blistering midgets we are met +to consider, nor to have my term of administration spotted with their +gall. I leave it to you, my compatriots and friends, to advise me what +is best to do." + +Jimeno put his feet on the side rung of Castro's chair, puffed a large +gray cloud, and half closed his eyes. He then, for three-quarters of +an hour, in a low, musical voice, discoursed upon the dignity of the +administration and the depravity of the offenders. When his brethren +were beginning to drop their heads and breathe heavily, Alvarado +politely interrupted him and referred the matter to Castro. + +"Imprison them!" exclaimed the impetuous General, suddenly alert. +"With such a Governor and such a people, this should be a land white +as the mountain-tops, unblemished by the tracks of mean ambitions +and sinful revolutions. Let us be summary, although not cruel; let no +man's blood flow while there are prisons in the Californias; but we +must pluck up the roots of conspiracy and disquiet, lest a thousand +suckers grow about them, as about the half-cut trunks of our +redwood-trees, and our Californias be no better than any degenerate +country of the Old World. Let us cast them into prison without further +debate." + +"The law, my dear José, gives them a trial," drawled Gonzales. And +then for a half-hour he quoted such law as was known in the country. +When he finished, the impatient and suppressed members of the Junta +delivered their opinions simultaneously; only Estenega had nothing +to say. They argued and suggested, cited evidence, defended and +denounced, lashing themselves into a mighty excitement. At length they +were all on their feet, gesticulating and prancing. + +"Mother of God!" cried Requena. "Let us give Vallejo a taste of his +own cruelty. Let us put him in a temascal and set those of his Indian +victims who are still alive to roast him out--" + +"No! no! Vallejo is maligned. He had no hand in that massacre. His +heart is whiter than an angel's----" + +"It is his liver that is white. His heart is black as a black snake's. +To the devil with him!" + +"Make a law that Pio Pico can never put foot out of Los Angeles again, +since he loves it so well--" + +"His ugly face would spoil the next generation--" + +"Death to Carillo and Iturbi y Moncada! Death to all! Let the poison +out of the veins of California!" + +"No! no! As little blood in California as possible. Put them in +prison, and keep them on frijoles and water for a year. That will cure +rebellion: no chickens, no dulces, no aguardiente--" + +Alvarado brought his staff of office down sharply upon a board he had +provided for the purpose. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "will you not sit down and smoke another +cigarito? We must be calm." + +The Junta took to its chairs at once. Alvarado never failed to command +respect. + +"Don Diego Estenega," said the Governor, "will you tell us what you +have thought whilst the others have talked?" + +Estenega, who had been star-gazing, turned to Alvarado, ignoring the +Junta. His keen brilliant eyes gave the Governor a thrill of relief; +his mouth expressed a mind made up and intolerant of argument. + +"Vallejo," he said, "is like a horse that will neither run nor back +into his stall: he merely stands still and kicks. His kicking makes +a noise and raises a dust, but does no harm. In other words, he will +irritate, but never take a responsibility. Send him an official notice +that if he does not keep quiet an armed force will march upon Sonoma +and imprison him in his own house, humiliating him before the eyes of +his soldiers and retainers. + +"As for Pio Pico, threaten to fine and punish him. He will apologize +at once and be quiet for six months, when you can call another secret +session and issue another threat. It would prolong the term of his +submission to order him to appear before the Junta and make it an +apology with due humility. + +"Now for Carillo and Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada." He paused a moment +and glanced at Chonita's grating. He had the proofs of her brother's +rascality in his pocket; no one but himself had seen them. He +hesitated the fraction of another moment, then smiled grimly. "Oh, +Helen!" he thought, "the same old story." + +"That Carillo is guilty," he said aloud, "is proven to us beyond +doubt. He has incited rebellion against the government in behalf of +Carlos Carillo. He is dangerous to the peace of the country. Iturbi +y Moncada is young and heedless, hardly to be considered seriously; +furthermore, it is impossible to obtain proof of his complicity. His +intimacy with Carillo gives him the appearance of guilt. It would be +well to frighten him a little by a short term of imprisonment. He is +restless and easily led; a lesson in time may save his honored house +from disaster. But to Carillo no quarter." He rose and stood over +them. "The best thing in Machiavelli's 'Prince,'" he said, "is the +author's advice to Caesar Borgia to exterminate every member of +the reigning house of a conquered country, in order to avoid future +revolutions and their infinitely greater number of dead. Do not let +the water in your blood whimper for mercy. You are not here to protect +an individual, but a country." + +"You are right," said Alvarado. + +The others looked at the young man who had merely given them the +practical advice of statecraft as if he had opened his chest and +displayed the lamp of wisdom burning. His freedom from excitement in +all ordeals which animated them to madness had long ago inspired +the suspicion that he was rather more than human. They uttered not a +protest. Alvarado's one-eyed secretary made notes of their approval; +and the Junta, after another friendly smoke, adjourned, well pleased +with itself. + +"Would I sacrifice my country for her a year hence?" thought Estenega, +as he sauntered home. "But, after all, little harm is done. He is not +worth killing, and fright and discomfort will probably cure him." + + + + +IX. + + +Chonita and Estenega faced each other among the Castilian roses of the +garden behind the Governor's house. The dueña was nodding in a corner; +the first-born of the Alvarados, screaming within, absorbed the +attention of every member of the household, from the frantic young +mother to the practical nurse. + +"My brother is to be arrested, you say?" + +"Yes." + +"And at your suggestion?" + +"Yes." + +"And he may die?" + +"Possibly." + +"Nothing would have been done if it had not been for you?" + +"Nothing." + +"God of my life! Mother of God! how I hate you!" + +"It is war, then?" + +"I would kill you if I were not a Catholic." + +"I will make you forget that you are a Catholic." + +"You have made me remember it to my bitterest sorrow. I hate you so +mortally that I cannot go to confession: I cannot forgive." + +"I hope you will continue to hate for a time. Now listen to me. You +have several reasons for hating me. My house is the enemy of yours. +I am to all intents and purposes an American; you can consider me +as such. I have that indifference for religious superstition and +intolerance for religion's thraldom which all minds larger of +circumference than a napkin-ring must come to in time. I have +endangered the life of your brother, and I have opposed and shall +oppose him in his political aspirations; he has my unequivocal +contempt. Nevertheless, I tell you here that I should marry you were +there five hundred reasons for your hatred of me instead of a paltry +five. I shall take pleasure in demonstrating to you that there is a +force in the universe a good deal stronger than traditions, religion, +or even family ties." + +His eyes were not those of a lover; they shone like steel. His mouth +was forbidding. She drew back from him in terror, then struck her +hands together passionately. + +"I marry you!" she cried. "An Estenega! A renegade? May God cast me +out of heaven if I do! There, I have sworn! I have sworn! Do you think +a Catholic would break that vow? I swear it by the Church,--and I put +the whole Church between us!" + +"I told you just now that I would make you forget your Church." He +caught her hand and held it firmly. "A last word," he said "Your +brother's life is safe: I promise you that." + +"Let me go!" she said. "Let me go! I fear you." She was trembling; his +warmth and magnetism had sprung to her shoulder. + +He gave her back her hand. "Go," he said: "so ends the first chapter." + + + + +X. + + +Casa Grande,[A] the mansion of the Iturbi y Moncadas in Santa Barbara, +stood at the right of the Presidio, facing the channel. A mile behind, +under the shadow of the gaunt rocky hills curving about the valley, +was the long white Mission, with its double towers, corridor of many +arches, and sloping roof covered with red tiles. Between was the wild +valley where cattle grazed among the trees and the massive bowlders. +The red-tiled white adobe houses of the Presidio and of the little +town clustered under its wing, the brown mud huts of the Indians, were +grouped in the foreground of the deep valley. + +The great house of the Iturbi y Moncadas, erected in the first years +of the century, was built about three sides of a court, measuring one +hundred feet each way. Like most of the adobes of its time, it had +but one story. A wide pillared corridor, protected by a sloping +roof, faced the court, which was as bare and hard as the floor of a +ball-room. Behind the dwelling were the manufactories and huts of the +Indian retainers. Don Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada was the magnate of +the South. His ranchos covered four hundred thousand acres; his +horses and cattle were unnumbered. His Indians, carpenters, coopers, +saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, manufacturers of household staples, +supplied the garrison and town with the necessaries of life; he also +did a large trading business in hides and tallow. Rumor had it that in +the wooden tower built against the back of the house he kept gold by +the bushel-basketful; but no one called him miser, for he gave the +poor of the town all they ate and wore, and kept a supply of drugs for +their sick. So beloved and revered was he that when earthquakes shook +the town, or fires threatened it from the hills, the poor ran in a +body to the court-yard of Casa Grande and besought his protection. +They never passed him without saluting to the ground, nor his house +without bending their heads. And yet they feared him, for he was an +irascible old gentleman at times, and thumped unmercifully when in a +temper. Chonita, alone, could manage him always. + +When I returned to Santa Barbara with Chonita after her visit to +Monterey, the yellow fruit hung in the padres' orchard, the grass was +burning brown, sky and water were the hard blue of metal. + +The afternoon of our arrival, Don Guillermo, Chonita, and I were on +the long middle corridor of the house: in Santa Barbara one lived in +the air. The old don sat on the long green bench by the sala door. His +heavy, flabby, leathery face had no wrinkles but those which curved +from the corners of the mouth to the chin. The thin upper lip was +habitually pressed hard against the small protruding under one, the +mouth ending in straight lines which seemed no part of the lips. His +small slanting eyes, usually stern, could snap with anger, as they did +to-day. The nose rose suddenly from the middle of his face; it might +have been applied by a child sculpturing with putty; the flat bridge +was crossed by erratic lines. A bang of grizzled hair escaped from the +black silk handkerchief wound as tightly as a turban about his head. +He wore short clothes of dark brown cloth, the jacket decorated +with large silver buttons, a red damask vest, shoes of embroidered +deer-skin, and a cravat of fine linen. + +Chonita, in a white gown, a pale-green reboso about her shoulders, her +arms crossed, her head thoughtfully bent forward, walked slowly up and +down before him. + +"Holy God!" cried the old man, pounding the floor with his stick. +"That they have dared to arrest my son!--the son of Guillermo Iturbi y +Moncada! That Alvarado, my friend and thy host, should have permitted +it!" + +"Do not blame Alvarado, my father. Remember, he must listen to the +Departmental Junta; and this is their work." "Fool that I am!" she +added to herself, "why do I not tell who alone is to blame? But I need +no one to help me hate him!" + +"Is it true that this Estenega of whom I hear so much is a member of +the Junta?" + +"It may be." + +"If so, it is he, he alone, who has brought dishonor upon my house. +Again they have conquered!" + +"This Estenega I met--and who was _compadre_ with me for the baby--is +little in California, my father. If it be he who is a member of the +Junta, he could hardly rule such men as Alvarado, Jimeno, and Castro. +I saw no other Estenega." + +"True! I must have other enemies in the North; but I had not known +of it. But they shall learn of my power in the South. Don Juan de la +Borrasca went to-day to Los Angeles with a bushel of gold to bail my +son, and both will be with us the day after to-morrow. A curse upon +Carillo--but I will speak of it no more. Tell me, my daughter,--God +of my soul, but I am glad to have thee back!--what thoughtest thou of +this son of the Estenegas? Is it Ramon, Esteban, or Diego? I have seen +none of them since they were little ones. I remember Diego well. He +had lightning in his little tongue, and the devil in his brain. I +liked him, although he was the son of my enemy; and if he had been an +Iturbi y Moncada I would have made a great man of him. Ay! but he was +quick. One day in Monterey, he got under my feet and I fell flat, much +imperilling my dignity, for it was on Alvarado Street, and I was a +member of the Territorial Deputation. I could have beaten him, I was +so angry; but he scrambled to his little feet, and, helping me to +mine, he said, whilst dodging my stick, 'Be not angry, señor. I gave +my promise to the earth that thou shouldst kiss her, for all the world +has prayed that she should not embrace thee for ninety years to come.' +What could I do? I gave him a cake. Thou smilest, my daughter; but +thou wilt not commend the enemy of thy house, no? Ah, well, we grow +less bitter as we grow old; and although I hated his father I liked +Diego. Again, I remember, I was in Monterey, and he was there; his +father and I were both members of the Deputation. Caramba! what hot +words passed between us! But I was thinking of Diego. I took a volume +of Shakespeare from him one day. 'Thou art too young to read such +books,' I said. 'A baby reading what the good priests allow not men +to read. I have not read this heretic book of plays, and yet thou dost +lie there on thy stomach and drink in its wickedness.' 'It is true,' +he said, and how his steel eyes did flash; 'but when I am as old as +you, señor, my stomach will be flat and my head will be big. Thou +art the enemy of my father, but--hast thou noticed?--thy stomach is +bigger than his, and he has conquered thee in speech and in politics +more times than thou hast found vengeance for. Ay!--and thy ranchos +have richer soil and many more cattle, but he has a library, Don +Guillermo, and thou hast not.' I spanked him then and there; but I +never forgot what he said, and thou hast read what thou listed. I +would not that the children of Alejandro Estenega should know more +than those of Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada." + +"Thou hast cause to be proud of Reinaldo, for he sparkles like the +spray of the fountain, and words are to him like a shower of leaves in +autumn. And yet, and yet," she added, with angry candor, "he has not a +brain like Diego Estenega. _He_ is not a man, but a devil." + +"A good brain has always a devil at the wheel; sharp eyes have sharper +nerves behind; and lightning from a big soul flashes fear into a +little one. Diego is not a devil,--I remember once I had a headache, +and he bathed my head, and the water ran down my neck and gave me a +cold which put me to bed for a week,--but he is the devil's godson, +and were he not the son of my enemy I should love him. His father was +cruel and vicious--but smart, Holy Mary! Diego has his brain; but he +has, too, the kind heart and gentle manner--Ay! Holy God!--Come, come: +here are the horses. Call Prudencia, and we will go to the bark and +see what the good captain has brought to tempt us." + +Four horses led by vaqueros, had entered the court-yard. + +"Prudencia," called Chonita. + +A door opened, and a girl of small figure, with solemn dark eyes and +cream-like skin, her hair hanging in heavy braids to her feet, stepped +upon the corridor, draping a pink reboso about her head. + +"I am here, my cousin," she said, walking with all the dignity of the +Spanish woman, despite her plump and inconsiderable person. "Thou art +rested, Doña Eustaquia? Do we go to the ship, my uncle? and shall we +buy this afternoon? God of my life! I wonder has he a high comb to +make me look tall, and flesh-colored stockings. My own are gone with +holes. I do not like white--" + +"Hush thy chatter," said her uncle. "How can I tell what the captain +has until I see? Come, my children." + +We sprang to our saddles, Don Guillermo mounted heavily, and we +cantered to the beach, followed by the ox-cart which would carry the +fragile cargo home. A boat took us to the bark, which sat motionless +on the placid channel. The captain greeted us with the lively welcome +due to eager and frequent purchasers. + +"Now, curb thy greed," cried Don Guillermo, as the girls dropped down +the companion-way, "for thou hast more now than thou canst wear in +five years. God of my soul! if a bark came every day they would want +every shred on board. My daughter could tapestry the old house with +the shawls she has." + +When I reached the cabin I found the table covered with silks, +satins, crêpe, shawls, combs, articles of lacquer-ware, jewels, silk +stockings, slippers, spangled tulle, handkerchiefs, lace, fans. The +girls' eyes were sparkling. Chonita clapped her hands and ran around +the table, pressing to her lips the beautiful white things she quickly +segregated, running her hand eagerly over the little slippers, hanging +the lace about her shoulders, twisting a rope of garnets in her yellow +hair. + +"Never have they been so beautiful, Eustaquia! Is it not so, my +Prudencia?" she cried to the girl, who was curled on one corner of +the table, gloating over the treasures she knew her uncle's generosity +would make her own. "Look, how these little diamonds flash! And the +embroidery on this crêpe!--a dozen eyes went out ay! yi! This satin +is like a tile! These fans were made in Spain! This is as big as a +windmill. God of my soul!"--she threw a handful of yellow sewing-silk +upon a piece of white satin; "Ana shall embroider this gown,--the +golden poppies of California on a bank of mountain snow." She suddenly +seized a case of topaz and a piece of scarlet silk and ran over to +me: I being a Montereña, etiquette forbade me to purchase in Santa +Barbara. "Thou must have these, my Eustaquia. They will become thee +well. And wouldst thou like any of my white things? Mary! but I am +selfish. Take what thou wilt, my friend." + +To refuse would be to spoil her pleasure and insult her hospitality: +so I accepted the topaz--of which I had six sets already--and the +silk,--whose color prevailed in my wardrobe,--and told her that I +detested white, which did not suit my weather-dark skin, and she was +as blind and as pleased as a child. + +"But come, come," she cried. "My father is not so generous when he has +to wait too long." + +She gathered the mass of stuff in her arms and staggered up the +companion-way. I followed, leaving Prudencia raking the trove her +short arms would not hold. + +"Ay, my Chonita!" she wailed, "I cannot carry that big piece of pink +satin and that vase. And I have only two pairs of slippers and one +fan. Ay, Cho-n-i-i-ta, look at those shawls! Mother of God, suppose +Valencia Menendez comes--" + +"Do not weep on the silk and spoil what thou hast," called down +Chonita from the top step. "Thou shalt have all thou canst wear for a +year." + +She reached the deck and stood panting and imperious before her +father. "All! All! I must have all!" she cried. "Never have they been +so fine, so rich." + +"Holy Mary!" shrieked Don Guillermo. "Dost thou think I am made of +doubloons, that thou wouldst buy a whole ship's cargo? Thou shalt have +a quarter; no more,--not a yard!" + +"I will have all!" And the stately daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas +stamped her little foot upon the deck. + +"A third,--not a yard more. And diamonds! Holy Heaven! There is +not gold enough in the Californias to feed the extravagance of the +Señorita Doña Chonita Iturbi y Moncada." + +She managed to bend her body in spite of her burden, her eyes flashing +saucily above the mass of tulle which covered the rest of her face. + +"And not fine raiment enough in the world to accord with the state +of the only daughter of the Señor Don Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada, the +delight and the pride of his old age. Wilt thou send these things to +the North, to be worn by an Estenega? Thy Chonita will cry her eyes +so red that she will be known as the ugly witch of Santa Barbara, and +Casa Grande will be like a tomb." + +"Oh, thou spoilt baby! Thou wilt have thy way--" At this moment +Prudencia appeared. Nothing whatever could be seen of her small person +but her feet; she looked like an exploded bale of goods. "What! what!" +gasped Don Guillermo. "Thou little rat! Thou wouldst make a Christmas +doll of thyself with satin that is too heavy for thy grandmother, and +eke out thy dumpy inches with a train? Oh, Mother of God!" He turned +to the captain, who was smoking complacently, assured of the issue. +"I will let them carry these things home; but to-morrow one-half, at +least, comes back." And he stamped wrathfully down the deck. + +"Send the rest," said Chonita to the captain, "and thou shalt have a +bag of gold to-night." + +[Footnote A: In writing of Casa Grande and its inmates, no reference +to the distinguished De la Guerra family of Santa Barbara is intended, +beyond the description of their house and state and of the general +characteristics of the founder of the family fortunes in California.] + + + + +XI. + + +The next morning Chonita, clad in a long gown of white wool, a silver +cross at her throat, her hair arranged like a coronet, sat in a large +chair in the dispensary. Her father stood beside a table, parcelling +drugs. The sick-poor of Santa Barbara passed them in a long line. + +The Doomswoman exercised her power to heal, the birthright of the +twin. + +"I wonder if I can," she said to me, laying her white fingers on a +knotted arm, "or if it is my father's medicines. I have no right to +question this beautiful faith of my country, but I really don't see +how I do it. Still, I suppose it is like many things in our religion, +not for mere human beings to understand. This pleases my vanity, at +least. I wonder if I shall have cause to exercise my other endowment." + +"To curse?" + +"Yes: I think I might do that with something more of sincerity." + +The men, women, and children, native Californians and Indians, +scrubbed for the occasion, filed slowly past her, and she touched all +kindly and bade them be well. They regarded her with adoring eyes and +bent almost to the ground. + +"Perhaps they will help me out of purgatory," she said; "and it is +something to be on a pedestal; I should not like to come down. It is +a cheap victory, but so are most of the victories that the world knows +of." + +When she had touched nearly a hundred, they gathered about her, and +she spoke a few words to them. + +"My friends, go, and say, 'I shall be well.' Does not the Bible say +that faith shall make ye whole? Cling to your faith! Believe! Believe! +Else will you feel as if the world crumbled beneath your feet! +And there is nothing, nothing to take its place. What folly, what +presumption, to suggest that anything can--a mortal passion--" She +stopped suddenly, and continued coldly, "Go, my friends; words do not +come easily to me to-day. Go, and God grant that you may be well and +happy." + + + + +XII. + + +We sat in the sala the next evening, awaiting the return of the +prodigal and his deliverer. The night was cool, and the doors were +closed; coals burned in a roof-tile. The room, unlike most Californian +salas, boasted a carpet, and the furniture was covered with green rep, +instead of the usual black horse-hair. + +Don Guillermo patted the table gently with his open palm, accompanying +the tinkle of Prudencia's guitar and her light monotonous voice. She +sat on the edge of a chair, her solemn eyes fixed on a painting of +Reinaldo which hung on the wall. Doña Trinidad was sewing as usual, +and dressed as simply as if she looked to her daughter to maintain the +state of the Iturbi y Moncadas. Above a black silk skirt she wore a +black shawl, one end thrown over her shoulder. About her head was a +close black silk turban, concealing, with the exception of two soft +gray locks on either side of her face, what little hair she may still +have possessed. Her white face was delicately cut: the lines of time +indicated spiritual sweetness rather than strength. + +Chonita roved between the sala and an adjoining room where four Indian +girls embroidered the yellow poppies on the white satin. I was reading +one of her books,--the "Vicar of Wakefield." + +"Wilt thou be glad to see Reinaldo, my Prudencia?" asked Don +Guillermo, as the song finished. + +"Ay!" and the girl blushed. + +"Thou wouldst make a good wife for Reinaldo, and it is well that he +marry. It is true that he has a gay spirit and loves company, but you +shall live here in this house, and if he is not a devoted husband he +shall have no money to spend. It is time he became a married man and +learned that life was not made for dancing and flirting; then, too, +would his restless spirit get him into fewer broils. I have heard +him speak twice of no other woman, excepting Valencia Menendez, and I +would not have her for a daughter; and I think he loves thee." + +"Sure!" said Doña Trinidad. + +"That is love, I suppose," said Chonita, leaning back in her chair and +forgetting the poppies. "With her a placid contented hope, with him a +calm preference for a malleable woman. If he left her for another she +would cry for a week, then serenely marry whom my father bade her, and +forget Reinaldo in the _donas_ of the bridegroom. The birds do almost +as well." + +Don Guillermo smiled indulgently. Prudencia did not know whether +to cry or not. Doña Trinidad, who never thought of replying to her +daughter, said,-- + +"Chonita mia, Liseta and Tomaso wish to marry, and thy father will +give them the little house by the creek." + +"Yes, mamacita?" said Chonita, absently: she felt no interest in the +loves of the Indians. + +"We have a new Father in the Mission," continued her mother, +remembering that she had not acquainted her daughter with all the +important events of her absence. "And Don Rafael Guzman's son was +drafted. That was a judgment for not marrying when his father bade +him. For that I shall be glad to have Reinaldo marry. I would not have +him go to the war to be killed." + +"No," said Don Guillermo. "He must be a diputado to Mexico. I would +not lose my only son in battle. I am ambitious for him; and so art +thou, Chonita, for thy brother? Is it not so?" + +"Yes. I have it in me to stab the heart of any man who rolls a stone +in his way." + +"My daughter," said Don Guillermo, with the accent of duty rather than +of reproof, "thou must love without vengeance. Sustain thy brother, +but harm not his enemy. I would not have thee hate even an Estenega, +although I cannot love them myself. But we will not talk of the +Estenegas. Dost thou realize that our Reinaldo will be with us this +night? We must all go to confession to-morrow,--thy mother and myself, +Eustaquia, Reinaldo, Prudencia, and thyself." + +Chonita's face became rigid. "I cannot go to confession," she said. +"It may be months before I can: perhaps never." + +"What?" + +"Can one go to confession with a hating and an unforgiving heart? Ay! +that I never had gone to Monterey! At least I had the consolation of +my religion before. Now I fight the darkness by myself. Do not ask +me questions, for I shall not answer them. But taunt me no more with +confession." + +Even Don Guillermo was dumb. In all the twenty-four years of her life +she never had betrayed violence of spirit before: even her hatred of +the Estenegas had been a religion rather than a personal feeling. It +was the first glimpse of her soul that she had accorded them, and they +were aghast. What--what had happened to this proud, reserved, careless +daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas? + +Doña Trinidad drew down her mouth. Prudencia began to cry. Then, +for the moment, Chonita was forgotten. Two horses galloped into the +court-yard. + +"Reinaldo!" + +The door had but an inside knob: Don Guillermo threw it open as a +young man sprang up the three steps of the corridor, followed by a +little man who carefully picked his way. + +"Yes, I am here, my father, my mother, my sister, my Prudencia! Ay, +Eustaquia, thou too." And the pride of the house kissed each in turn, +his dark eyes wandering absently about the room. He was a dashing +caballero, and as handsome as any ever born in the Californias. The +dust of travel had been removed--at a saloon--from his blue velvet +gold-embroidered serape, which he immediately flung on the floor. His +short jacket and trousers were also of dark-blue velvet, the former +decorated with buttons of silver filigree, the latter laced with +silver cord over spotless linen. The front of his shirt was covered +with costly lace. His long botas were of soft yellow leather stamped +with designs in silver and gartered with blue ribbon. The clanking +spurs were of silver inlaid with gold. The sash, knotted gracefully +over his hip, was of white silk. His curled black hair was tied with a +blue ribbon, and clung, clustering and damp, about a low brow. He bore +a strange resemblance to Chonita, in spite of the difference of color, +but his eyes were merely large and brilliant: they had no stars in +their shallows. His mouth was covered by a heavy silken mustache, and +his profile was bold. At first glance he impressed one as a perfect +type of manly strength, aggressively decided of character. It was only +when he cast aside the wide sombrero--which, when worn a little +back, most becomingly framed his face--that one saw the narrow, +insignificant head. + +For a time there was no conversation, only a series of exclamations. +Chonita alone was calm, smiling a loving welcome. In the excitement of +the first moments little notice was taken of the devoted bailer, who +ardently regarded Chonita. + +Don Juan de la Borrasca was flouting his sixties, fighting for his +youth as a parent fights for its young. His withered little face wore +the complacent smile of vanity; his arched brows furnished him with a +supercilious expression which atoned for his lack of inches,--he was +barely five feet two. His large curved nose was also a compensating +gift from the godmother of dignity, and he carried himself so erectly +that he looked like a toy general. His small black eyes were bright +as glass beads, and his hair was ribboned as bravely as Reinaldo's. He +was clad in silk attire,--red silk embroidered with butterflies. His +little hands were laden with rings; carbuncles glowed in the lace of +his shirt. He was moderately wealthy, but a stanch retainer of the +house of Iturbi y Moncada, the devoted slave of Chonita. + +She was the first to remember him, and held out her hand for him to +kiss. "Thou hast the gratitude of my heart, dear friend," she said, +as the little dandy curved over it. "I thank thee a thousand times for +bringing my brother back to me." + +"Ay, Doña Chonita, thanks be to God and Mary that I was enabled so to +do. Had my mission proved unsuccessful I should have committed a crime +and gone to prison with him. Never would I have returned here. Dueño +adorado, ever at thy feet." + +Chonita smiled kindly, but she was listening to her brother, who was +now expatiating upon his wrongs to a sympathetic audience. + +"Holy heaven!" he exclaimed, striding up and down the room, "that an +Iturbi y Moncada, the descendant of twenty generations, should be put +to shame, to disgrace and humiliation, by being cast into a common +prison! That an ardent patriot, a loyal subject of Mexico, should be +accused of conspiring against the judgment of an Alvarado! Carillo was +my friend, and had his cause been a just one I had gone with him to +the gates of death or the chair of state. But could I, _I_, conspire +against a wise and great man like Juan Bautista Alvarado? No! not even +if Carillo had asked me so to do. But, by the stars of heaven, he +did not. I had been but the guest of his bounty for a month; and the +suspicious rascals who spied upon us, the poor brains who compose the +Departmental Junta, took it for granted that an Iturbi y Moncada could +not be blind to Carillo's plots and plans and intrigues, that, having +been the intimate of his house and table, I must perforce aid and abet +whatever schemes engrossed him. Ay, more often than frequently did +a dark surmise cross my mind, but I brushed it aside as one does the +prompting of evil desires. I would not believe that a Carillo would +plot, conspire, and rise again, after the terrible lesson he had +received in 1838. Alvarado holds California to his heart; Castro, the +Mars of the nineteenth century, hovers menacingly on the horizon. Who, +who, in sober reason, would defy that brace of frowning gods?" + +His eloquence was cut short by respiratory interference, but he +continued to stride from one end of the room to the other, his +face flushed with excitement. Prudencia's large eyes followed him, +admiration paralyzing her tongue. Doña Trinidad smiled upward with +the self-approval of the modest barn-yard lady who has raised a +magnificent bantam. Don Guillermo applauded loudly. Only Chonita +turned away, the truth smiting her for the first time. + +"Words! words!" she thought, bitterly. "_He_ would have said all that +in two sentences. Is it true--_ay, triste de mi!_--what he said of my +brother? I hate him, yet his brain has cut mine and wedged there. My +head bows to him, even while all the Iturbi y Moncada in me arises to +curse him. But my brother! my brother! he is so much younger. And if +he had had the same advantages--those years in Mexico and America and +Europe--would he not know as much as Diego Estenega? Oh, sure! sure!" + +"My son," Don Guillermo was saying, "God be thanked that thou didst +not merit thy imprisonment. I should have beaten thee with my cane and +locked thee in thy room for a month hadst thou disgraced my name. +But, as it happily is, thou must have compensation for unjust +treatment.--Prudencia, give me thy hand." + +The girl rose, trembling and blushing, but crossed the room with +stately step and stood beside her uncle. Don Guillermo took her hand +and placed it in Reinaldo's. "Thou shalt have her, my son," he said. +"I have divined thy wishes." + +Reinaldo kissed the small fingers fluttering in his, making a great +flourish. He was quite ready to marry, and his pliant little cousin +suited him better than any one he knew. "Day-star of my eyes!" he +exclaimed, "consolation of my soul! Memories of injustice, discomfort, +and sadness fall into the waters of oblivion rolling at thy feet. I +see neither past nor future. The rose-hued curtain of youth and hope +falls behind and before us." + +"Yes, yes," assented Prudencia, delightedly. "My Reinaldo! my +Reinaldo!" + +We congratulated them severally and collectively, and, when the +ceremony was over, Reinaldo cried, with even more enthusiasm than he +had yet shown, "My mother, for the love of Mary give me something to +eat,--tamales, salad, chicken, dulces. Don Juan and I are as empty as +hides." + +Doña Trinidad smiled with the pride of the Californian housewife. "It +is ready, my son. Come to the dining-room, no?" + +She led the way, followed by the family, Reinaldo and Prudencia +lingering. As the others crossed the threshold he drew her back. + +"A lump of tallow, dost thou hear, my Prudencia?" he whispered, +hurriedly. "Put it under the green bench. I must have it to-night." + +"Ay! Reinaldo--" + +"Do not refuse, my Prudencia, if thou lovest me. Wilt thou do it?" + +"Sure, my Reinaldo." + + + + +XIII. + + +The family retired early in its brief seasons of reclusion, and at ten +o'clock Casa Grande was dark and quiet. Reinaldo opened his door and +listened cautiously, then stepped softly to the green bench and felt +beneath for the lump of tallow. It was there. He returned to his room +and swung himself from his window into the yard, about which were +irregularly disposed the manufactories of the Indians, a high wall +protecting the small town. All was quiet here, and had been for hours. +He stole to the wooden tower and mounted a ladder, lifting it from +story to story until he reached the attic under the pointed roof. Then +he lit a candle, and, removing a board from the floor, peered down +into the room whose door was always so securely locked. The stars +shone through the uncurtained windows and were no yellower than the +gold coins heaped on the large table and overflowing the baskets. +Reinaldo took a long pole from a corner and applied to one end a piece +of the soft tallow. He lowered the pole and pressed it firmly into the +pile of gold on the table. The pole was withdrawn, and this ingenious +fisherman removed a large gold fish from the bait. He fished patiently +for an hour, then filled a bag he had brought for the purpose, and +returned as he had come. Not to his bed, however. Once more he opened +his door and stole forth, this time to the town, to hold high revel +around the gaming-table, where he was welcomed hilariously by his boon +companions. + +A wild fandango in a neighboring booth provided relaxation for the +gamblers. In an hour or two Reinaldo found his way to this well-known +haven. Black-eyed dancing-girls in short skirts of tawdry satin +trimmed with cotton lace, mock jewels on their bare necks and in their +coarse black hair, flew about the room and screamed with delight as +Reinaldo flung gold pieces among them. The excitement continued in all +its variations until morning. Men bet and lost all the gold they had +brought with them, then sold horse, serape, and sombrero to the +men who neither drank nor gambled, but came prepared for close and +profitable bargains. Reinaldo lost his purloins, won them again, stood +upon the table and spoke with torrential eloquence of his wrongs and +virtues, kissed all the girls, and when by easy and rapid stages he +had succeeded in converting himself into a tank of aguardiente, he was +carried home and put to bed by such of his companions as were sober +enough to make no noise. + + + + +XIV. + + +Chonita, clad in a black gown, walked slowly up and down the corridor +of Casa Grande. The rain should have dripped from the eaves, beaten +with heavy monotony upon the hard clay of the court-yard, to accompany +her mood, but it did not. The sky was blue without fleck of cloud, the +sun like the open mouth of a furnace of boiling gold, the air as warm +and sweet and drowsy as if it never had come in shock with human care. +Prudencia sat on the green bench, drawing threads in a fine linen +smock, her small face rosy with contentment. + +"Why dost thou wear that black gown this beautiful morning?" she +demanded, suddenly. "And why dost thou walk when thou canst sit down?" + +"I had a dream last night. Dost thou believe in dreams?" She had as +much regard for her cousin's opinion as for the twittering of a bird, +but she felt the necessity of speech at times, and at least this child +never remembered what she said. + +"Sure, my Chonita. Did not I dream that the good captain would bring +pink silk stockings? and are they not my own this minute?" And she +thrust a diminutive foot from beneath the hem of her gown, regarding +it with admiration. "And did not I dream that Tomaso and Liseta would +marry? What was thy dream, my Chonita?" + +"I do not know what the first part was; something very sad. All I +remember is the roar of the ocean and another roar like the wind +through high trees. Then a moment that shook and frightened me, but +sweeter than anything I know of, so I cannot define it. Then a swift +awful tragedy--I cannot recall the details of that, either. The whole +dream was like a black mass of clouds, cut now and again by a scythe +of lightning. But then, like a vision within a dream, I seemed to +stand there and see myself, clad in a black gown, walking up and +down this corridor, or one like it, up and down, up and down, never +resting, never daring to rest, lest I hear the ceaseless clatter of +a lonely fugitive's horse. When I awoke I was as cold as if I had +received the first shock of the surf. I cannot say why I put on this +black gown to-day. I make no haste to feel as I did when I wore it in +that dream,--the desolation,--the endlessness; but I did." + +"That was a strange dream, my Chonita," said Prudencia, threading her +needle. "Thou must have eaten too many dulces for supper: didst thou?" + +"No," said Chonita, shortly, "I did not." + +She continued her aimless walk, wondering at her depression of +spirits. All her life she had felt a certain mental loneliness, but +a healthy body rarely harbors an invalid soul, and she had only to +spring on a horse and gallop over the hills to feel as happy as a +young animal. Moreover, the world--all the world she knew--was at her +feet; nor had she ever known the novelty of an ungratified wish. Once +in a while her father arose in an obdurate mood, but she had only to +coax, or threaten tears,--never had she been seen to shed one,--or +stamp her foot, to bring that doting parent to terms. It is true +that she had had her morbid moments, an abrupt impatient desire for +something that was not all light and pleasure and gold and adulation; +but, being a girl of will and sense, she had turned resolutely from +the troublous demands of her deeper soul, regarding them as coals +fallen from a mind that burned too hotly at times. + +This morning, however, she let the blue waters rise, not so much +because they were stronger than her will, as because she wished to +understand what was the matter with her. She was filled with a dull +dislike of every one she had ever known, of every condition which +had surrounded her from birth. She felt a deep disgust of placid +contentment, of the mere enjoyment of sunshine and air. She recalled +drearily the clock-like revolutions of the year which brought +bull-fights, races, rodeos, church celebrations; her mother's +anecdotes of the Indians; her father's manifold interests, ever the +theme of his tongue; Reinaldo's grandiloquent accounts of his exploits +and intentions; Prudencia's infinite nothings. She hated the balls of +which she was La Favorita, the everlasting serenades, the whole life +of pleasure which made that period of California the most perfected +Arcadia the modern world has known. Some time during the past few +weeks the girl had crossed her hands over her breast and lain down in +her eternal tomb. The woman had arisen and come forth, blinded as yet +by the light, her hands thrust out gropingly. + +"It is that man," she told herself, with angry frankness. "I had +not talked with him ten minutes before I felt as I do when the scene +changes suddenly in one of Shakespeare's plays,--as if I had been +flung like a meteor into a new world. I felt the necessity for mental +alertness for the first time in my life; always, before, I had striven +to conceal what I knew. The natural consequences, of course, were +first the desire to feel that stimulation again and again, then to +realize the littleness of everything but mental companionship. I have +read that people who begin with hate sometimes end with love; and if I +were a book woman I suppose I should in time love this man whom I now +so hate, even while I admire. But I am no lump of wax in the hands +of a writer of dreams. I am Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, and he is Diego +Estenega. I could no more love him than could the equator kiss the +poles. Only, much as I hate him, I wish I could see him again. He +knows so much more than any one else. I should like to talk to him, +to ask him many things. He has sworn to marry me." Her lip curled +scornfully, but a sudden glow rushed over her. "Had he not been an +Estenega,--yes, I could have loved him,--that calm, clear-sighted +love that is born of regard; not a whirlwind and a collapse, like most +love. I should like to sit with my hands in my lap and hear him talk +forever. And we cannot even be friends. It is a pity." + +The girl's mind was like a splendid castle only one wing of which had +ever been illuminated. By the light of the books she had read, and +of acute observation in a little sphere, she strove to penetrate the +thick walls and carry the torch into broader halls and lofty towers. +But superstition, prejudice, bitter pride, inexperience of life, +conjoined their shoulders and barred the way. As Diego Estenega had +discerned, under the thick Old-World shell of inherited impressions +was a plastic being of all womanly possibilities. But so little did +she know of herself, so futile was her struggle in the dark with only +sudden flashes to blind her and distort all she saw, that with nothing +to shape that moulding kernel it would shrink and wither, and in a few +years she would be but a polished shell, perfect of proportion, hollow +at the core. + +But if strong intellectual juices sank into that sweet, pliant kernel, +developing it into the perfected form of woman, establishing the +current between the brain and the passions, finishing the work, or +leaving it half completed, as Circumstance vouchsafed?--what then? + +"Ay, Señor!" exclaimed Prudencia, as two people, mounted on horses +glistening with silver, galloped into the court-yard. "Valencia and +Adan!" + +I came out of the sala at that moment and watched them alight: Adan, +that faithful, dog-like adorer, of whose kind every beautiful woman +has a half-dozen or more, Valencia the bitter-hearted rival of +Chonita. She was a tall, dazzling creature, with flaming black eyes +large and heavily lashed, and a figure so lithe that she seemed to +sweep downward from her horse rather than spring to the ground. She +had the dark rich skin of Mexico--another source of envy and hatred, +for the Iturbi y Moncadas, like most of the aristocracy of the +country, were of pure Castilian blood and as white as porcelain in +consequence--and a red full mouth. + +"Welcome, my Chonita!" she cried. "_Valgame Dios!_ but I am glad to +see thee back!" She kissed Chonita effusively. "Ay, my poor brother!" +she whispered, hurriedly. "Tell him that thou art glad to see him." +And then she welcomed me with words that fell as softly as rose-leaves +in a zephyr, and patted Prudencia's head. + +Chonita, with a faint flush on her cheek, gave Adan her hand to kiss. +She had given this faithful suitor little encouragement, but his +unswerving and honest devotion had wrung from her a sort of careless +affection; and she told me that first night in Monterey that if she +ever made up her mind to marry she thought she would select Adan: he +was more tolerable than any one she knew. It is doubtful if he had +crossed her mind since; and now, with all a woman's unreason, she +conceived a sudden and violent dislike for him because she had treated +him too kindly in her thoughts. I liked Adan Menendez; there was +something manly and sure about him,--the latter a restful if not a +fascinating quality. And I liked his appearance. His clear brown eyes +had a kind direct regard. His chin was round, and his profile a little +thick; but the gray hair brushed up and away from his low forehead +gave dignity to his face. His figure was pervaded with the indolence +of the Californian. + +"At your feet, señorita mia," he murmured, his voice trembling. + +"It gives me pleasure to see thee again, Adan. Hast thou been well and +happy since I left?" + +It was a careless question, and he looked at her reproachfully. + +"I have been well, Chonita," he said. + +At this moment our attention was startled by a sharp exclamation from +Valencia. Prudencia had announced her engagement. Valencia had refused +many suitors, but she had intended to marry Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada. +Not that she loved him: he was the most brilliant match in three +hundred leagues. Within the last year he had bent the knee to the +famous coquette; but she had lost her temper one day,--or, rather, it +had found her,--and after a violent quarrel he had galloped away, and +gone almost immediately to Los Angeles, there to remain until Don +Juan went after him with a bushel of gold. She controlled herself in +a moment, and swayed her graceful body over Prudencia, kissing her +lightly on the cheek. + +"Thou baby, to marry!" she said, softly. "Thou didst take away my +breath. Thou dost look no more than fourteen years. I had forgotten +the grand merienda of thy eighteenth birthday." + +Prudencia's little bosom swelled with pride at the discomfiture of the +haughty beauty who had rarely remembered to notice her. Prudencia was +not poor; she owned a goodly rancho; but it was an hacienda to the +state of a Menendez. + +"Thou wilt be one of my bridesmaids, no, Doña Valencia?" she asked. + +"That will be the proud day of my life," said Valencia, graciously. + +"We have a ball to-night," said Chonita. + +"Thou wouldst have had word to-day. Thou wilt stay now, no? and not +ride those five leagues twice again? I will send for thy gown." + +"Truly, I will stay, my Chonita. And thou wilt tell me all about thy +visit to Monterey, no?" + +"All? Ay! sure!" + +Adan kissed both Prudencia's little hands in earnest congratulation. +As he did so, the door of Reinaldo's room opened, and the heir of the +Iturbi y Moncadas stepped forth, gorgeous in black silk embroidered +with gold. He had slept off the effects of the night's debauch, and +cold water had restored his freshness. He kissed Prudencia's hand, his +own to us, then bent over Valencia's with exaggerated homage. + +"At thy feet, O loveliest of California's daughters. In the immensity +of thought, going to and coming from Los Angeles, my imagination has +spread its wings like an eagle. Thou hast been a beautiful day-dream, +posing or reclining, dancing, or swaying with grace superlative on thy +restive steed. I have not greeted my good friend Adan. I can but look +and look and keep on looking at his incomparable sister, the rose of +roses, the queen of queens." + +"Thy tongue carols as easily as a lark's," said Valencia, with but +half-concealed bitterness. "Thou couldst sing all day,--and the next +forget." + +"I forget nothing, beautiful señorita,--neither the fair days of +spring nor the ugly storms of winter. And I love the sunshine and flee +from the tempest. Adan, brother of my heart, welcome as ever to Casa +Grande--Ay! here is my father. He looks like Sancho Panza." + +Don Guillermo's sturdy little mustang bore him into the court-yard, +shaking his stout master not a little. The old gentleman's black +silk handkerchief had fallen to his shoulders: his face was red, but +covered with a broad smile. + +"I have letters from Monterey," he said, as Reinaldo and Adan ran down +the steps to help him alight. "Alvarado goes by sea to Los Angeles +this month, but returns by land in the next, and will honor us with +a visit of a week. I shall write to him to arrive in time for the +wedding. Several members of the Junta come with him,--and of their +number is Diego Estenega." + +"Who?" cried Reinaldo. "An Estenega? Thou wilt not ask him to cross +the threshold of Casa Grande?" + +"I always liked Diego," said the old man, somewhat confusedly. "And he +is the friend of Alvarado. How can I avoid to ask him, when he is of +the party?" + +"Let him come," cried Reinaldo. "God of my life!--I am glad that he +comes, this lord of redwood forests and fog-bound cliffs. It is well +that he see the splendor of the Iturbi y Moncadas,--our pageants and +our gay diversions, our cavalcades of beauty and elegance under a +canopy of smiling blue. Glad I am that he comes. Once for all shall +he learn that, although his accursed family has beaten ours in war and +politics, he can never hope to rival our pomp and state." + +"Ah!" said Valencia to Chonita, "I have heard of this Diego Estenega. +I too am glad that he comes. I have the advantage of thee this time, +my friend. Thou and he must hate each other, and for once I am without +a rival. He shall be my slave." And she tossed her spirited head. + +"He shall not!" cried Chonita, then checked herself abruptly, the +blood rushing to her hair. "I hate him so," she continued hurriedly +to the astonished Valencia, "that I would see no woman show him favor. +Thou wilt not like him, Valencia. He is not handsome at all,--no color +in his skin, not even white, and eyes in the back of his head. No +mustache, no curls, and a mouth that looks,--oh, that mouth, so grim, +so hard!--no, it is not to be described. No one could; it makes you +hate him. And he has no respect for women; he thinks they were made to +please the eye, no more. I do not think he would look ten seconds at +an ugly woman. Thou wilt not like him, Valencia, sure." + +"Ay, but I think I shall. What thou hast said makes me wish to see him +the more. God of my life! but he must be different from the men of the +South. And I shall like that." + +"Perhaps," said Chonita, coldly. "At least he will not break thy +heart, for no woman could love him. But come and take thy siesta, +no? and refresh thyself for the dance. I will send thee a cup +of chocolate." And, bending her head to Adan, she swept down the +corridor, followed by Valencia. + + + + +XV. + + +Those were two busy months before Prudencia's wedding. Twenty girls, +sharply watched and directed by Doña Trinidad and the sometime +mistress of Casa Grande, worked upon the marriage wardrobe. Prudencia +would have no use for more house-linen; but enough fine linen was made +into underclothes to last her a lifetime. Five keen-eyed girls did +nothing but draw the threads for deshalados, and so elaborate was the +open-work that the wonder was the bride did not have bands and stripes +of rheumatism. Others fashioned crêpes and flowered silks and heavy +satins into gowns with long pointed waists and full flowing skirts, +some with sleeves of lace and high to the base of the throat, others +cut to display the plump whiteness of the owner. Twelve rebosos were +made for her; Doña Trinidad gave her one of her finest mantillas; +Chonita, the white satin embroidered with poppies, for which she had +conceived a capricious dislike. She also invited Prudencia to take +what she pleased from her wardrobe; and Prudencia, who was nothing if +not practical, helped herself to three gowns which had been made for +Chonita at great expense in the city of Mexico, four shawls of Chinese +crêpe, a roll of pineapple silk, and an American hat. + +The house until within two weeks of the wedding was full of +visitors,--neighbors whose ranchos lay ten leagues away or nearer, +and the people of the town; all of them come to offer congratulations, +chatter on the corridor by day and dance in the sala by night. The +court was never free of prancing horses pawing the ground for +eighteen hours at a time under their heavy saddles. Doña Trinidad's +cooking-girls were as thick in the kitchen as ants on an anthill, for +the good things of Casa Grande were as famous as its hospitality, and +not the least of the attractions to the merry visitors. When we did +not dance at home we danced at the neighbors' or at the Presidio. +During the last two weeks, however, every one went home to rest and +prepare for the festivities to succeed the wedding; and the old house +was as quiet as a canon in the mountains. + +Chonita took a lively concern in the preparations at first, but her +interest soon evaporated, and she spent more and more time in the +little library adjoining her bedroom. She did less reading than +thinking, however. Once she came to me and tried for fifteen minutes +to draw from me something in Estenega's dispraise; and when I finally +admitted that he had a fault or two I thought she would scalp me. +Still, at this time she was hardly more than fascinated, interested, +tantalized by a mind she could appreciate but not understand. If they +had never met again he would gradually have moved backward to +the horizon of her memory, growing dim and more dim, hovered in a +cloud-bank for a while, then disappeared into that limbo which must +exist somewhere for discarded impressions, and all would have been +well. + + + + +XVI. + + +The evening before the wedding Prudencia covered her demure self +with black gown and reboso, and, accompanied by Chonita, went to the +Mission to make her last maiden confession. Chonita did not go with +her into the church, but paced up and down the long corridor of the +wing, gazing absently upon the deep wild valley and peaceful ocean, +seeing little beyond the images in her own mind. + +That morning Alvarado and several members of the Junta had arrived, +but not Estenega. He had come as far as the Rancho Temblor, Alvarado +explained, and there, meeting some old friends, had decided to remain +over night and accompany them the next day to the ceremony. As Chonita +had stood on the corridor and watched the approach of the Governor's +cavalcade her heart had beaten violently, and she had angrily +acknowledged that her nervousness was due to the fact that she was +about to meet Diego Estenega again. When she discovered that he +was not of the party, she turned to me with pique, resentment, and +disappointment in her face. + +"Even if I cannot ever like him," she said, "at least I might have the +pleasure of hearing him talk. There is no harm in that, even if he is +an Estenega, a renegade, and the enemy of my brother. I can hate him +with my heart and like him with my mind. And he must have cared little +to see us again, that he could linger for another day." + +"I am mad to see Don Diego Estenega," said Valencia, her red lips +pouting. "Why did he, of all others, tarry?" + +"He is fickle and perverse," I said,--"the most uncertain man I know." + +"Perhaps he thought to make us wish to see him the more," suggested +Valencia. + +"No," I said: "he has no ridiculous vanities." + +Chonita wandered back and forth behind the arches, waiting for +Prudencia's long confession of sinless errors to conclude. + +"What has a baby like that to confess?" she thought, impatiently. "She +could not sin if she tried. She knows nothing of the dark storms +of rage and hatred and revenge which can gather in the breasts of +stronger and weaker beings. I never knew, either, until lately; but +the storm is so black I dare not face it and carry it to the priest. I +am a sort of human chaos, and I wish I were dead. I thought to forget +him, and I see him as plainly as on that morning when he told me that +it was he who would send my brother to prison----" + +She stopped short with a little cry. Diego Estenega stood before the +Mission in the broad swath of moonlight. She had heard a horse gallop +up the valley, but had paid no attention to the familiar sound. +Estenega had appeared as suddenly as if he had arisen from the earth. + +"It is I, señorita." He ascended the Mission steps. "Do not fear. May +I kiss your hand?" + +She gave him her hand, but withdrew it hurriedly. Of the tremendous +mystery of sex she knew almost nothing. Girls were brought up in such +ignorance in those days that many a bride ran home to her mother on +her wedding night; and books teach Innocence little. But she was fully +conscious that there was something in the touch of Estenega's lips and +hand that startled while it thrilled and enthralled. + +"I thought you stayed with the Ortegas to-night," she said. Oh, +blessed conventions! + +"I did,--for a few hours. Then I wanted to see you, and I left them +and came on. At Casa Grande I found no one but Eustaquia; every one +else had gone to the gardens; and she told me that you were here." + +Chonita's heart was beating as fast as it had beaten that morning; +even her hands shook a little. A glad wave of warmth rushed over her. +She turned to him impetuously. "Tell me?" she exclaimed. "Why do I +feel like this for you? I hate you: you know that. There are many +reasons,--five; you counted them. And yet I feel excited, almost glad, +at your coming. This morning I was disappointed when you did not. Tell +me,--you know everything, and I so little,--why is it?" + +Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes terrified and appealing. She looked +very lovely and natural. Probably for the first time in his life +Estenega resisted a temptation. He passionately wished to take her in +his arms and tell her the truth. But he was too clever a man; there +was too much at stake; if he frightened her now he might never even +see her again. Moreover, she appealed to his chivalry. And it suddenly +occurred to him that so sweet a heart would be warped in its waking if +passion bewildered and controlled her first. + +"Doña Chonita," he said, "like all women,--all beautiful and spoiled +women,--you demand variety. I happen to be made of harder stuff than +your caballeros, and you have not seen me for two months; that is +all." + +"And if I saw you every day for two months would I no longer care +whether you came or went?" + +"Undoubtedly. + +"Is it sweet or terrible to feel this way?" thought the girl. "Would I +regret if he no longer made me tremble, or would I go on my knees and +thank the Blessed Virgin?" Aloud she said, "It was strange for me to +ask you such questions; but it is as if you had something in your mind +separate from yourself, and that _it_ would tell me, and you could not +prevent its being truthful. I do not believe in _you_; you look as if +nothing were worth the while to lie or tell the truth about; but your +mind is quite different. It seems to me that it knows all things, that +it is as cold and clear as ice." + +"What a whimsical creature you are! My mind, like myself,--I feel as +if I were twins,--is at your service. Forget that I am Diego Estenega. +Regard me as a sort of archive of impressions which may amuse or serve +you as the poorest of your books do. That they happen to be catalogued +under the general title of Diego Estenega is a mere detail; an +accident, for that matter; they might be pigeon-holed in the skull of +a Bandini or a Pico. I happen to be the magnet, that is all." + +"If I could forget that you were an Estenega,--just for a week, while +you are here," she said, wistfully. + +"You are a woman of will and imagination,--also of variety. Make an +experiment; it will interest you. Of course there will be times when +you will be bitterly conscious that I am the enemy of your house; it +would be idle to expect otherwise; but when we happen to be apart from +disturbing influences, let us agree to forget that we are anything but +two human beings, deeply congenial. As for what I said in the garden +at Monterey, the last time we spoke together,--I shall not bother +you." + +"You no longer care?" she exclaimed. + +"I did not say that. I said I should not bother you,--recognizing +your hostility and your reasons. Be faithful to your traditions, my +beautiful doomswoman. No man is worth the sacrifice of those dear old +comrades. What presumption for a man to require you to abandon the +cause of your house, give up your brother, sacrifice one or more of +your religious principles; one, too, who would open his doors to the +Americans you hate! No man is worth such a sacrifice as that." + +"No," she said, "no man." But she said it without enthusiasm. + +"A man is but one; traditions are fivefold, and multiplied by duty. +Poor grain of sand--what can he give, comparable to the cold serene +happiness of fidelity to self? Love is sweet,--horribly sweet,--but so +common a madness can give but a tithe of the satisfaction of duty to +pure and lofty ideals." + +"I do not believe that." The woman in her arose in resentment. "A life +of duty must be empty, cold, and wrong. It was not that we were made +for." + +"Let us talk little of love, señorita: it is a dangerous subject." + +"But it interests me, and I should like to understand it." + +"I will explain the subject to you fully, some day. I have a fancy to +do that on my own territory,--up in the redwoods--" + +"Here is Prudencia." + +A small black figure swept down the steps of the church. She bowed +low to Estenega when he was presented, but uttered no word. The Indian +servants brought the horses to the door, and they rode down the valley +to Casa Grande. + + + + +XVII. + + +The guests of Casa Grande--there were many besides Alvarado and his +party; the house was full again--were gathered with the family on the +corridor as Estenega, Chonita, and Prudencia dismounted at the extreme +end of the court-yard. As Reinaldo saw the enemy of his house approach +he ran down the steps, advanced rapidly, and bowed low before him. + +"Welcome, Señor Don Diego Estenega," he said,--"welcome to Casa +Grande. The house is thine. Burn it if thou wilt. The servants are +thine; I myself am thy servant. This is the supreme moment of my life, +supremer even than when I learned of my acquittal of the foul +charges laid to my door by scheming and jealous enemies. It is +long--alas!--since an Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada have met in +the court-yard of the one or the other. Let this moment be the seal of +peace, the death of feud, the unification of the North and the South." + +"You have the hospitality of the true Californian, Don Reinaldo. It +gives me pleasure to accept it." + +"Would, then, thy pleasure could equal mine!" "Curse him!" he added to +Chonita, as Estenega went up the steps to greet Don Guillermo and Doña +Trinidad, "I have just received positive information that it was +he who kept me from distinguishing myself and my house in the +Departmental Junta, he who cast me in a dungeon. It poisons my +happiness to sleep under the same roof with him." + +"Ay!" exclaimed Chonita. "Why canst thou not be more sincere, my +brother? Hospitality did not compel thee to say so much to thine +enemy. Couldst thou not have spoken a few simple words like himself, +and not blackened thy soul?" + +"My sister! thou never spokest to me so harshly before. And on my +marriage eve!" + +"Forgive me, my most beloved brother. Thou knowest I love thee. But it +grieves me to think that even hospitality could make thee false." + +When they ascended the steps, not a woman was to be seen; all had +followed Prudencia to her chamber to see the _donas_ of the groom, +which had arrived that day from Mexico. Chonita tarried long enough to +see that her father had forgotten the family grievance in his revived +susceptibility to Estenega, then went to Prudencia's room. There +women, young and old, crowded each other, jabbering like monkeys. The +little iron bed, the chairs and tables, every article of furniture, +in fact, but the altar in the corner, displayed to advantage exquisite +materials for gowns, a mass of elaborate underclothing, a white lace +mantilla to be worn at the bridal, lace flounces fine and deep, crêpe +shawls, sashes from Rome, silk stockings by the dozen. On a large +table were the more delicate and valuable gifts: a rosary of topaz, +the cross a fine piece of carving; a jeweled comb; a string of +pearls; diamond hoops for the ears; a large pin painted with a head of +Guadalupe, the patron saint of California; and several fragile +fans. Quite apart, on a little table, was the crown and pride of the +_donas_,--six white cobweb-like smocks, embroidered, hemistitched, and +deshaladoed. Did any Californian bridegroom forget that dainty item he +would be repudiated on his wedding-eve. + +"God of my life!" murmured Valencia, "he has taste as well as gold. +And all to go on that round white doll!" + +There was little envy among the other girls. Their eyes sparkled with +good-nature as they kissed Prudencia and congratulated her. The older +women patted the things approvingly; and, between religion, a _donas_ +to satisfy an angel, and prospective bliss, Prudencia was the happiest +little bride-elect in all The Californias. + +"Never were such smocks!" cried one of the girls. "Ay! he will make a +good husband. That sign never fails." + +"Thou must wear long, long trains now, my Prudencia, and be as stately +as Chonita." + +"Ay!" exclaimed Prudencia. Did not every gown already made have a +train longer than herself? + +"Thou needst never wear a mended stocking with all these to last thee +for years," said another: never had silk stockings been brought to +the Californias in sufficient plenty for the dancing feet of its +daughters. + +"I shall always mend my stockings," said Prudencia, "I myself." + +"Yes," said one of the older women, "thou wilt be a good wife and +waste nothing." + +Valencia laid her arm about Chonita's waist. "I wish to meet Don Diego +Estenega," she said. "Wilt thou not present him to me?" + +"Thou art very forward," said Chonita, coldly. "Canst thou not wait +until he comes thy way?" + +"No, my Chonita; I wish to meet him now. My curiosity devours me." + +"Very well; come with me and thou shalt know him.--Wilt thou come too, +Eustaquia? There are only men on the corridor." + +We found Diego and Don Guillermo talking politics in a corner, both +deeply interested. Estenega rose at once. + +"Don Diego Estenega," said Chonita, "I would present you to the +Señorita Doña Valencia Menendez, of the Rancho del Fuego." + +Estenega bowed. "I have heard much of Doña Valencia, and am delighted +to meet her." + +Valencia was nonplussed for a moment; he had not given her the +customary salutation, and she could hardly murmur the customary reply. +She merely smiled and looked so handsome that she could afford to +dispense with words. + +"A superb type," said Estenega to me, as Don Guillermo claimed +the beauty's attention for a moment. "But only a type; nothing +distinctive." + +Nevertheless, ten minutes later, Valencia, with the manoeuvring of the +general of many a battle, had guided him to a seat in the sala under +Doña Trinidad's sleepy wing, and her eyes were flashing the language +of Spain to his. I saw Chonita watch them for a moment, in mingled +surprise and doubt, then saw a sudden look of fear spring to her eyes +as she turned hastily and walked away. + +Again I shared her room,--the thirty rooms and many in the +out-buildings were overflowing with guests who had come a hundred +leagues or less,--and after we had been in bed a half-hour, Chonita, +overcome by the insinuating power of that time-honored confessional, +told me of her meeting with Estenega at the Mission. I made few +comments, but sighed; I knew him so well. "It will be strange to even +seem to be friends with him," she added,--"to hate him in my heart and +yet delight to talk with him, and perhaps to regret when he leaves." + +"Are you sure that you still hate him?" + +She sat up in bed. The solid wooden shutters were closed, but over the +door was a small square aperture, and through this a stray moonbeam +drifted and fell on her. Her hair was tumbling about her shoulders, +and she looked decidedly less statuesque than usual. + +"Eustaquia," she said, solemnly, "I believe I can go to confession." + + + + +XVIII. + + +At sunrise the next morning the guests of Casa Grande were horsed and +ready to start for the Mission. The valley between the house and the +Mission was alive with the immediate rancheros and their families, and +the people of the town, aristocrats and populace. + +At Estenega's suggestion, I climbed with him to the attic of the +tower, much to the detriment of my frock. But I made no complaint +after Diego had removed the dusty little windows on both sides and +I looked through the apertures at the charming scene. The rising sun +gave added fire to the bright red tiles of the long white Mission, +and threw a pink glow on its noble arches and towers and on the white +massive aqueduct. The bells were crashing their welcome to the bride. +The deep valley, wooded and rocky, was pervaded by the soft glow of +the awakening, but was as lively as midday. There were horses of every +color the Lord has decreed that horses shall wear. The saddles upon +them were of embossed leather or rich embroidered silk heavily mounted +with silver. Above all this gorgeousness sat the caballeros and +the doñas, in velvet and silk, gold lace and Spanish, jewels and +mantillas, and silver-weighted sombreros; a confused mass of color and +motion; a living picture, shifting like a kaleidoscope. Nor was +this all: brown, soberly-dressed old men and women in satin-padded +carretas,--heavy ox-carts on wheels made from solid sections of trees, +and driven by a gañan seated on one of the animals; the populace in +cheap finery, some on foot, others astride old mules or broken-winded +horses, two or three on one lame old hack; all chattering, shouting, +eager, interested, impatiently awaiting the bride and a week of +pleasure. + +In the court-yard and plaza before it the guests of the house were +mounted on a caponera of palominas,--horses peculiar to the country; +beautiful creatures, golden-bronze, and burnished, with luxuriant +manes and tails which waved and shone like the sparkling silver of +a water-fall. A number were riderless, awaiting the pleasure of the +bridal party. One alone was white as a Californian fog. He lifted his +head and pranced as if aware of his proud distinction. The aquera and +saddle which embellished his graceful beauty were of pink silk worked +with delicate leaves in gold and silver thread. The stirrups, cut from +blocks of wood, were elaborately carved. The glistening reins were +made from the long crystal hairs of his mane, and linked with silver. +A strip of pink silk, joined at the ends with a huge rosette, was +hung from the high silver pommel of the saddle, depending on the left +side,--a stirrup for my lady's foot. + +A deeper murmur, a sudden lining of sombreros and waving of little +hands, proclaimed that the bridal party had appeared, and we hastened +down. + +Prudencia, the mantilla of the _donas_ depending from a comb six +inches high, was attired in a white satin gown with a train of +portentous length, and looked like a kitten with a long tail. Reinaldo +was dazzling. He wore white velvet embroidered with gold; his linen +and lace were more fragile than cobwebs; his white satin slippers +were clasped with diamond buckles, the same in which his father had +married; his jacket was buttoned with diamonds. His white velvet +sombrero was covered with plumes. Never have I seen so splendid +a bridegroom. I saw Estenega grin; but I maintain that, whatever +Reinaldo's deficiencies, he was a picture to be thankful for that +morning. + +Doña Trinadad was quietly gowned in gray satin, but Don Guillermo was +as picturesque in his way as his son. His black silk handkerchief had +been knotted hurriedly about his head, and the four corners hung upon +his neck. His short breeches were of red velvet, his jacket of blue +cloth trimmed with large silver buttons and gold lace; his vest was +of yellow damask, his linen embroidered. Attached to his slippers were +enormous silver spurs inlaid with gold, the rowels so long that they +scratched more trains than one that day. + +The bridesmaids stood in a group apart, a large bouquet: each wore +a gown of a different color. Valencia blazed forth in yellow, +and flashed triumphant glances at Estenega, now and again one of +irrepressible envy and resentment at Reinaldo. Chonita looked like a +water-witch in pale green covered with lace that stirred with every +breath of air; her mantilla was as delicate as sea-spray. About her +was something subtle, awakened, restive, that I noticed for the first +time. Once she intercepted one of Valencia's lavish glances, and her +own eyes were extremely wicked and dangerous for a moment. I looked at +Estenega. He was regarding her with a fierce intensity which made him +oblivious for the moment of his surroundings. I looked at Valencia. +Thunderclouds were those heavy brows, lowered to the lightning which +sprang from depths below. I looked again at Chonita. The pink color +was in her marble face; pinker were her carven lips. + +"God of my soul!" I said to Estenega. "Go home." + +"My Prudencia," said Don Guillermo. He lifted her to the pink saddle, +adjusted her foot in the pink ribbon, climbed up behind her, placed +one arm about her waist, took the bridle in his other hand, and +cantered out of the court-yard. Reinaldo sprang to his horse, lifted +his mother in front of him, and followed. Then went the bridesmaids; +and the rest of us fell into line as we listed. As we rode up the +valley, those awaiting us joined the cavalcade, the populace closing +it, spreading out like a fan attached to the tail of a snake. The +bells rang out a joyful discordant peal; the long undulating line of +many colors wound through the trees, passed the long corridor of the +Mission, to the stone steps of the church. + +The ceremony was a long one, for communion was given the bride and +groom; and during the greater part of it I do not think Estenega +removed his gaze from Chonita. I could not help observing her too, +although I was deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. +Her round womanly figure had never appeared to greater advantage than +in that close-fitting gown; her hips being rather wide, she wore fewer +gathers than was the fashion. Her faultless arms had a warmth in their +whiteness; the filmy lace of her mantilla caressed a throat so full +and round and white and firm that it seemed to invite other caresses; +even the black pearls clung lovingly about it. Her graceful head was +bent forward a little, and the soft black lashes brushed her cheeks. +The pink flush was still in her face, like the first tinge of color on +the chill desolation of dawn. + +"Is she not beautiful?" whispered Estenega, eagerly. "Is not that a +woman to make known to herself? Think of the infinite possibilities, +the sublimation of every----" + +Here I ordered him to keep quiet, reminding him that he was in church, +a fact he had quite forgotten. I inferred that he remembered it later, +for he moved restlessly more than once and looked longingly toward the +door. + +It was over at last, and as the bride and groom appeared in the door +of the church and descended the steps, a salute was fired from the +Presidio. On the long corridor a table had been built from end to +end and a goodly banquet provided by the padres. We took our seats +at once, the populace gathering about a feast spread for them on the +grass. + +Padre Jimeno, the priest who had officiated at the ceremony, sat at +the head of the table; the other priests were scattered among us, and +good company all of them were. We were a very lively party. Prudencia +was toasted until her calm important head whirled. Reinaldo made a +speech as full of flowers as the occasion demanded. Alvarado made +one also, five sentences of plain well-chosen words, to which the +bridegroom listened with scorn. Now and again a girl swept the strings +of a guitar or a caballero sang. The delighted shrieks of the people +came over to us; at regular intervals cannons were fired. + +Estenega found himself seated between Chonita and Valencia. I was +opposite, and beginning to feel profoundly fascinated by this drama +developing before my eyes. I saw that he was amused by the situation +and not in the least disconcerted. Valencia was nervous and eager. +Chonita, whose pride never failed her, had drawn herself up and looked +coldly indifferent. + +"Señor," murmured Valencia, "thou wilt tarry with us long, no? We have +much to show thee in Santa Barbara, and on our ranchos." + +"I fear that I can stay but a week, señorita. I must return to Los +Angeles." + +"Would nothing tempt thee to stay, Don Diego?" + +He looked into her rich Southern face and approved of it: when had he +ever failed to approve of a pretty woman? "Thine eyes, señorita, would +tempt a man to forget more than duty." + +"And thou wilt stay?" + +"When I leave Santa Barbara what I take of myself will not be worth +leaving." + +"Ay! and what thou leavest thou never shalt have again." + +"There is my hope of heaven, señorita." + +He turned from this glittering conversation to Chonita. + +"You are a little tired," he said, in a low voice. "Your color has +gone, and the shadows are coming about your eyes." + +The suspicion was borne home to her that he must have observed her +closely to detect those shades of difference which no one else had +noted. + +"A little, señor. I went to bed late and rose early. Such times as +these tax the endurance. But after a siesta I shall be refreshed." + +"You look strong and very healthy." + +"Ay, but I am! I am not delicate at all. I can ride all day, and +swim--which few of our women do. I even like to walk; and I can dance +every night for a week. Only, this is an unusual time." + +Her supple elastic figure and healthy whiteness of skin betokened +endurance and vitality, and he looked at her with pleasure. "Yes, you +are strong," he said. "You look as if you would _last_,--as if you +never would grow brown nor stout." + +"What difference, if the next generation be beautiful?" she said, +lightly. "Look at Don Juan de la Borrasca. See him gaze upon Panchita +Lopez, who is just sixteen. What does he care that the women of his +day are coffee-colored and stringy or fat? You will care as little +when you too are brown and dried up, afraid to eat dulces, and each +month seeking a new parting for your hair." + +"You are a hopeful seer! But you--are you resigned to the time when +even the withered old beau will not look at you,--you who are the +loveliest woman in the Californias?" + +It was the first compliment he had paid her, and she looked up with a +swift blush, then lowered her eyes again. "With truth, I never imagine +myself except as I am now; but I should have always my books, and no +husband to teach me that there were other women more fair." + +"And books will suffice, then?" + +"Sure." She said it a little wistfully. Then she added, abruptly, "I +shall go to confession this week." + +"Ah!" + +"Yes; for although I hate you still--that is, I do not like you--I +have forgiven you. I believe you to be kind and generous, although +the enemy of my brother; that if you did oppose him and cast him +into prison, you did so with a loyal motive; you cannot help making +mistakes, for you are but human. And I do not forget that if it were +not for you he would not be a bridegroom to-day. Also, you are not +responsible for being an Estenega; so, although I do not forgive the +blood in you,--how could I, and be worthy to bear the name of Iturbi y +Moncada?--I forgive you, yourself, for being what you cannot help, and +for what you have unwittingly and mistakenly done. Do you understand?" + +"I understand. Your subtleties are magnificent." + +"You must not laugh at me. Tell me, how do you like my friend +Valencia?" + +"Well enough. I want to hear more about your confession. You fall back +into the bosom of your Church with joy, I suppose?" + +"Ay!" + +"And you would never disobey one of her mandates?" + +"Holy God! no." + +"Why?" + +"Why? Because I am a Catholic." + +"That is not what I asked you. Why are you a Catholic? if I must make +myself more plain. Why are you afraid to disobey? Why do you cling to +the Church with your back braced against your intelligence? It is hope +of future reward, I suppose,--or fear?" + +"Sure. I want to go to the heaven of the good Catholic." + +"Do not waste this life, particularly the youth of it, preparing for +a legendary hereafter. Granting, for the sake of argument, that this +existence is supplemented by another: you have no knowledge of what +elements you will be composed when you lay aside your mortal part to +enter there. Your power of enjoyment may be very thin indeed, like the +music of a band without brass; the sort of happiness one can imagine a +human being to experience out of whose anatomy the nervous system has +by some surgical triumph been removed, and in whom love of the arts +alone exists, abnormally cultivated. But one thing we of earth do +know; you do not, but I will tell you; we have a slight capacity for +happiness and a large capacity for enjoyment. There is not much in +life, God knows, but there is something. One can get a reasonable +amount out of it with due exercise of philosophy. Of that we are sure. +Of what comes after we are absolutely unsure." + +She had endeavored to interrupt him once or twice, and did so now, her +eyes flashing. "Are you an atheist?" she demanded, abruptly. "Are you +not a Catholic?" + +"I am neither an atheist nor a Catholic. The question of religion has +no interest for me whatever. I wish it had none for you." + +She looked at him sternly. For a moment I thought the Doomswoman would +annihilate the renegade. But her face softened suddenly. "I will pray +for you," she said, and turned to the man at her right. + +Estenega's face turned the chalky hue I always dreaded, and he bent +his lips to her ear. + +"Pray for me many times a day; and at other times recall what I said +about the relative value of possible and improbable heavens. You are a +woman who thinks." + +"Don Diego," exclaimed Valencia, unable to control her impatience +longer, and turning sharply from the caballero who was talking to her +in a fiery undertone, "thou hast not spoken to me for ten minutes." + +"For ten hours, señorita. Thou hast treated me with the scorn and +indifference of one weary of homage." + +She blushed with gratification. "It is thou who hast forgotten me." + +"Would that I could!" + +"Dost thou wish to?" + +"When I am away from thee, or thou talkest to other men,--sure." + +"It is thy fault if I talk to other men." + +"You make me feel the Good Samaritan." + +"But I care not to talk to them." + +"Thy heart is a comb of honey, señorita. On my knees I accept the +little morsel the queen bee--thy swift messenger--brings me. Truly, +never was sweet so sweetly sweet." + +"It is thou who hast the honey on thy tongue, although I fear there +may be a stone in thy heart." + +"Ah! Why? No stone could sit so lightly in my breast as my heart when +those red lips smile to me." + +Chonita listened to this conversation with mingled amazement and +anger. She did not doubt Estenega's sincerity to herself; neither did +Valencia appear to doubt him. But his present levity was manifest to +her. Why should he care to talk so to another woman? How strange were +men! She gave up the problem. + +After the long banquet concluded, the cavalcade formed once more, and +we returned to the town. Prudencia rode her white horse alone this +time, her husband beside her. Leading the cavalcade was the Presidio +band. Its members wore red jackets trimmed with yellow cord, Turkish +trousers of white wool, and red Polish caps. With their music mingled +the regular detonations of the Presidio cannon. After we had wound +the length of the valley we made a progress through the town for the +benefit of the populace, who ran to the corridors to watch us, and +shouted with delight. But the sun was hot, and we were all glad to be +between the thick adobe walls once more. + +We took a long siesta that day, but hours before dark the populace +was crowded in the court-yard under the booth which had been erected +during the afternoon. After the early supper the guests of Casa +Grande, and our neighbors of the town, filled the sala, the large bare +rooms adjoining, and the corridors. The old people of both degrees +seated themselves in rows against the wall, the fiddles scraped, the +guitars twanged, the flutes cooed, and the dancing began. + +In the court-yard a small space was cleared, and changing couples +danced El Jarabe and La Jota,--two stately jigs,--whilst the +spectators applauded with wild and impartial enthusiasm, and Don +Guillermo from the corridor threw silver coins at the dancers' feet. +Now and again a pretty girl would dance alone, her gay skirt lifted +with the tips of her fingers, her eyes fixed upon the ground. A man +would approach from behind and place his hat on her head. Perhaps she +would toss it saucily aside, perhaps let it rest on her coquettish +braids,--a token that its owner was her accepted gallant for the +evening. + +Above, the slender men and women of the aristocracy, the former in +black and white, the latter in gowns of vivid richness, danced the +contradanza, the most graceful dance I have ever seen; and since those +Californian days I have lived in almost every capital of Europe. +The music is so monotonous and sweet, the figures so melting and +harmonious, that to both spectator and dancer comes a dreaming languid +contentment, as were the senses swimming on the brink of sleep. +Chonita and Valencia were famous rivals in its rendering, always the +sala-stars to those not dancing. Valencia was the perfection of grace, +but it was the grace now of the snake, again of the cat. She suggested +fangs and claws, a repressed propensity to sudden leaps. Chonita's +grace was that of rhythmical music imprisoned in a woman's form of +proportions so perfect that she seemed to dissolve from one figure +into another, swaying, bending, gliding. The soul of grace emanated +from her, too evanescent to be seen, but felt as one feels perfume or +the something that is not color in the heart of a rose. Her star-like +eyes were open, but the brain behind them was half asleep: she danced +by instinct. + +I was watching the dancing of these two,--the poetry of promise and +the poetry of death,--when suddenly Don Guillermo entered the room, +stamped his foot, pulled out his rosary, and instantly we all went +down on our knees. It was eight of the clock, and this ceremony was +never omitted in Casa Grande, be the occasion festive or domestic. +When we had told our beads, Don Guillermo rose, put his rosary in his +pocket, trotted out, and the dancing was resumed. + +As the contradanza and its ensuing waltz finished, Estenega went up to +Chonita. "You are too tired to dance any more to-night," he said. "Let +us sit here and talk. Besides, I do not like to see you whirling about +the room in men's arms." + +"It is nothing to you if I dance with other men," she said, +rebelliously, although she took the seat he indicated. "And to dance +is not wrong." + +"Nothing is wrong. In some countries the biggest liar is king. We +know as little of ethics--except, to be sure, the ethics of +civilization--as one sex knows of another. So we fall back on +instinct. I have not a prejudice, but I feel it disgusting to see a +woman who is somewhat more to me than other women, embraced by another +man. It would infuriate me if done in private; why should it not at +least disgust me in public? I care as little for the approving seal +of the conventions as I care whether other women--including my own +sisters--waltz or not." + +And, alas! from that night Chonita never waltzed again. "It is not +that I care for his opinion," she assured me later; "only he made me +feel that I never wanted a man to touch me again." + +Valencia used every art of flashing eyes and pouting lips and gay +sally--there was nothing subtle in her methods--to win Estenega to her +side; but the sofa on which he sat with Chonita might have been +the remotest star in the firmament. Then, prompted by pique and +determination to find ointment for her wounded vanity, she suddenly +opened her batteries upon Reinaldo. That beautiful young bridegroom +was bored to the verge of dissolution by his solemn and sleepy +Prudencia, who kept her wide eyes upon him with an expression of rapt +adoration, exactly as she regarded the Stations in the Mission when +performing the Via Crucis. Valencia, to his mind, was the handsomest +woman in the room, and he felt the flattery of her assault. Besides, +he was safely married. So he drifted to her side, danced with her, +flirted with her, devoted himself to her caprices, until every one was +noting, and I thought that Prudencia would bawl outright. Just in the +moment, however, when our nerves were humming, Don Guillermo thumped +on the door with his stick and ordered us all to go to bed. + + + + +XIX. + + +The next morning we started at an early hour for the Rancho de las +Rocas, three leagues from Santa Barbara. The populace remained in the +booth, but we were joined by all our friends of the town, and once +more were a large party. We were bound for a merienda and a carnesada, +where bullocks would be roasted whole on spits over a bed of coals in +a deep excavation. It took a Californian only a few hours to sleep +off fatigue, and we were as fresh and gay as if we had gone to bed at +eight the night before. + +Valencia managed to ride beside Estenega, and I wondered if she +would win him. Woman's persistence, allied to man's vanity, so often +accomplishes the result intended by the woman. It seemed to me the +simplest climax for the unfolding drama, although I should have been +sorry for Diego. + +It was Reinaldo's turn to look black, but he devoted himself +ostentatiously to Prudencia, who beamed like a child with a stick of +candy. Chonita rode between Don Juan de la Borrasca and Adan. Her face +was calm, but it occurred to me that she was growing careless of her +sovereignty, for her manner was abstracted and indifferent; she seemed +to have discarded those little coquetries which had sat so gracefully +upon her. Still, as long as she concealed the light of her mind under +a bushel, her beauty and Lorleian fascination would draw men to her +feet and keep them there. Every man but Estenega and Alvarado was +as gay of color as the wild flowers had been, and the girls, as they +cantered, looked like full-blown roses. Chonita wore a dark-blue gown +and reboso of thin silk, which became her fairness marvelously well. + +"Doña Chonita, light of my eyes," said Don Juan, "thou art not wont to +be so quiet when I am by thee." + +"Thou usually hast enough to say for two." + +"Ay, thou canst appreciate the art of speech. Hast thou ever known any +one who could converse with lighter ease than I and thy brother?" + +"I never have heard any one use more words." + +"Ay! they roll from my tongue--and from Reinaldo's--like wheels +downhill." + +She turned to Adan: "They will be happy, you think,--Reinaldo and +Prudencia?" + +"Ay!" + +"What a beautiful wedding, no?" + +"Ay!" + +"Life is always the same with thee, I suppose,--smoking, riding, +swinging in the hammock?" + +"Ay!" + +"Thou wouldst not exchange thy life for another? Thou dost not wish to +travel?" + +"No,--sure." + +She wheeled suddenly and galloped over to her father and Alvarado, her +caballeros staring helplessly after her. + +When we arrived at the rancho the bullocks were already swinging +in the pits, the smell of roast meat was in the air. We dismounted, +throwing our bridles to the vaqueros in waiting; and while Indian +servants spread the table, the girls joined hands and danced about the +pit, throwing flowers upon the bullocks, singing and laughing. The +men watched them, or amused themselves in various ways,--some with +cockfights and impromptu races; others began at once to gamble on a +large flat stone; a group stood about a greased pole and jeered at two +rival vaqueros endeavoring to mount it for the sake of the gold piece +on the top. One buried a rooster in the ground, leaving its head +alone exposed; others, mounting their horses, dashed by at full speed, +snatching at the head as they passed. Reinaldo distinguished himself +by twisting it off with facile wrist while urging his horse to the +swiftness of the east wind. + +"I am going to dare more than Californian has ever dared before," said +Estenega to me, as we gathered at length about the table-cloth. "I am +going to get Doña Chonita off by herself in that little canon and have +a talk with her. Now, do you stand guard." + +"I shall not!" I exclaimed. "It is understood that when Doña Trinidad +stays at home Chonita is in my charge. I will not permit such a +thing." + +"Thou wilt, my Eustaquia. Doña Chonita is no pudding-brained girl. She +needs no dueña." + +"I know that; but it is not that I am thinking of. Suppose some one +sees you; thou knowest the inflexibility of our conventions." + +"You forget that we are _comadre_ and _compadre_. Our privileges +are many." He abruptly dismissed the intimate "thou," with his usual +American perversity. + +"True; I had forgotten. But whither is all this tending, Diego? She +neither will nor can marry you." + +"She both can and will. Will you help me, or not? Because if not I +shall proceed without you. Only you can make it easier." + +I always gave way to him; everybody did. + +He was as good as his word. How he managed, Chonita never knew, but +not a half-hour after dinner she found herself alone in the canon with +him, seated among the huge stones cataclysms had hurled there. + +"Why have you brought me here?" she asked. + +"To talk with you." + +"But this would be severely censured." + +"Do you care?" + +"No." + +She looked at him with a curious feeling she had had before; there +was something inside of his head that she wanted to get at,--something +that baffled and teased and allured her. She wanted to understand him, +and she was oppressed by the weight of her ignorance; she had no key +to unlock a man like that. With one of her swift impulses she told him +of what she was thinking. + +He smiled, his eyes lighting. "I am more than willing you should +know all that you would be curious about," he said. "Ask me a hundred +questions; I will answer them." + +She meditated a moment. She never had taken sufficient interest in a +man before to desire to fathom him, and the arts of the Californian +belle were not those of the tactfully and impartially interested woman +of to-day. She did not know how to begin. + +"What have you read?" she asked, at length. + +He gave her some account of his library,--a large one,--and mentioned +many books of many nations, of which she had never heard. + +"You have read all those books?" + +"There are many long winter nights and days in the redwood forests of +the northern coast." + +"That does not tell me much,--what you have read. I feel that it is +but one of the many items which went to the making up of you. You have +traveled everywhere, no? Was it like living over again the books of +travel?" + +"Not in the least. Each man travels for himself." + +"Madame de Staël said that traveling was sad. Is it so?" + +"To the lover of history it is like food without salt: imagination has +painted an historical city with the panorama of a great time; it has +been to us a stage for great events. We find it a stage with familiar +paraphernalia, and actors as commonplace as ourselves." + +"It is more satisfactory to stay at home and read about it?" + +"Infinitely, though less expanding." + +"Then is anything worth while except reading? + +"Several things; the pursuit of glory, for one thing, and the active +occupied life necessary for its achievement." + +She leaned forward a little; she felt that she had stumbled nearer to +him. "Are you ambitious?" she asked. + +"For what it compels life to yield; abstractly, not. Ambition is the +looting of hell in chase of biting flames swirling above a desert of +ashes. As for posthumous fame, it must be about as satisfactory as a +draught of ice-water poured down the throat of a man who has died on +Sahara. And yet, even if in the end it all means nothing, if 'from +hour to hour we ripe and ripe and then from hour to hour we rot +and rot,' still for a quarter-century or so the nettle of ambition +flagellating our brain may serve to make life less uninteresting and +more satisfactory. The abstraction and absorption of the fight, the +stinging fear of rivals, the murmur of acknowledgment, the shout of +compelled applause,--they fill the blanks." + +"Tell me," she said, imperiously, "what do you want?" + +"Shall I tell you? I never have spoken of it to a living soul but +Alvarado. Shall I tell it to a woman,--and an Iturbi y Moncada? Could +the folly of man further go?" + +"If I am a woman I am an Iturbi y Moncada, and if I am an Iturbi y +Moncada I have the honor of its generations in my veins." + +"Very good. I believe you would not betray me, even in the interest of +your house. Would you?" + +"No." + +"And I love to talk to you, to tell you what I would tell no other. +Listen, then. An envoy goes to Mexico next week with letters from +Alvarado, desiring that I be the next governor of the Californias, and +containing the assurance that the Departmental Junta will endorse +me. I shall follow next month to see Santa Ana personally; I know him +well, and he was a friend of my father's. I wish to be invested with +peculiar powers; that is to say, I wish California to be practically +overlooked while I am governor and I wish it understood that I shall +be governor as long as I please. Alvarado will hold no office under +the Americans, and is as ready to retire now as a few years later. Of +course my predilection for the Americans must be carefully concealed +both from the Mexican government and the mass of the people here: +Santa Ana and Alvarado know what is bound to come; the Mexicans, +generally, retain enough interest in the Californias to wish to keep +them. I shall be the last governor of the Department, and I shall +employ that period to amalgamate the native population so closely that +they will make a strong contingent in the new order of things and +be completely under my domination. I shall establish a college with +American professors, so that our youth will be taught to think, and to +think in English. Alvarado has done something for education, but not +enough; he has not enforced it, and the methods are very primitive. +I intend to be virtually dictator. With as little delay as possible +I shall establish a newspaper,--a powerful weapon in the hands of a +ruler, as well as a factor of development. Then I shall organize a +superior court for the punishment of capital crimes. Not that I do not +recognize the right of a man to kill if his reasons satisfy himself, +but there can be no subservience to authority in a country where +murder is practically licensed. American immigration will be more than +encouraged, and it shall be distinctly understood by the Americans +that I encourage it. Everything, of course, will be done to promote +good-will between the Californians and the new-comers. Then, when the +United States make up their mind to take possession of us, I shall +waste no blood, but hand over a country worthy of capture. In the +meantime it will have been carefully drilled into the Californian mind +that American occupation will be for their ultimate good, and that I +shall go to Washington to protect their interests. There will then be +no foolish insurrections. Do you care to hear more?" + +Her face was flushed, her chest was rising rapidly. + +"I hardly know what to think,--how I feel. You interest me so much as +you talk that I wish you to succeed: I picture your success. And yet +it maddens me to hear you talk of the Americans in that way,--also +to know that your house will be greater than ours,--that we will be +forgotten. But--yes, tell me all. What will you do then?" + +"I shall have California, in the first place, scratched for the gold +that I believe lies somewhere within her. When that great resource +_is_ located and developed I shall publish in every American newspaper +the extraordinary agricultural advantages of the country. In a word, +my object is to make California a great State and its name synonymous +with my own. As I told you before, for fame as fame I care nothing; +I do not care if I am forgotten on my death-bed; but with my blood +biting my veins I must have action while living. Shall I say that +I have a worthier motive in wishing to aid in the development of +civilization? But why worthier? Merely a higher form of selfishness. +The best and the worst of motives are prompted by the same instinct." + +"I would advise you," she said, slowly, "never to marry. Your wife +would be very unhappy." + +"But no one has greater scorn than you for the man who spends his life +with his lips at the chalice of the poppy." + +"True, I had forgotten them." She rose abruptly. "Let us go back," she +said. "It is better not to stay too long." + +As they walked down the canon she looked at him furtively. The men of +her race were almost all tall and finely-proportioned, but they did +not suggest strength as this man did. And his face,--it was so +grimly determined at times that she shrank from it, then drew +near, fascinated. It had no beauty at all--according to Californian +standards; she could not know that it represented all that intellect, +refinement and civilization, generally, would do for the human +race for a century to come,--but it had a subtle power, an absolute +audacity, an almost contemptuous fearlessness in its bold, fine +outline, a dominating intelligence in the keen deeply-set eyes, and +a hint of weakness, where and what she could not determine, that +mystified and magnetized her. + +"I know you a little better," she said, "just a little,--enough to +make my curiosity ache and jump. At the same time, I know now what I +did not before,--that I might climb and mine and study and watch, and +you would always be beyond me. There is something subtle and evasive +about you--something I seem to be close to always, yet never can see +or grasp." + +"It is merely the barrier of sex. A man can know a woman fairly well, +because her life, consequently the interests which mould her mind and +conceive her thoughts, are more or less simple. A man's life is so +complex, his nature so inevitably the sum and work of it of it lies +so far outside of woman's sphere, his mind spiked with a thousand +magnets, each pointing to a different possibility,--that she would +need divine wisdom to comprehend him in his entirety, even if he made +her a diagram of every cell in his brain,--which he never would, out +of consideration for both her and his own vanity. But within certain +restrictions there can be a magnificent sense of comradeship." + +"But a woman, I think, would never be happy with that something in +the man always beyond her grasp,--that something which she could be +nothing to. She would be more jealous of that independence of her in +man than of another woman." + +"That was pure insight," he said. "You could not know that." + +"No," she said, "I had not thought of it before." + +I had made a martyr of myself on a three-cornered stone at the +entrance of the canon, waiting to dueña them out. "Never will I do +this again!" I exclaimed, with that virtue born of discomfort, as they +came in sight. + +"My dearest Eustaquia," said Diego, kissing my hand gallantly, "thou +hast given me pleasure so often, most charming and clever of women, +thou hast but added one new art to thy overflowing store." + +We mounted almost immediately upon returning, and I was alone with +Chonita for a moment. "Do you realize that you are playing with fire?" +I said, warningly. "Estenega is a dangerous man; the most successful +man with women I have ever known." + +"I do not deny his power," she said. "But I am safe, for the many +reasons thou knowest of. And, being safe, why should I deny myself the +pleasure of talking to him? I shall never meet his like again. Let me +live for a little while." + +"Ay, but do not live too hard! It hurts down into the core and +marrow." + + + + +XX. + + +While we were eating supper, a dozen Indian girls were gathered about +a table in one of the large rooms behind the house, busily engaged +in blowing out the contents of several hundred eggs and filling the +hollowed shells with cologne, flour, tinsel, bright scraps of paper. +Each egg-was then sealed with white wax, and ready for the cascaron +frolic of the evening. + +We had been dancing, singing, and talking for an hour after rosario, +when the eggs were brought in. In an instant every girl's hair was +unbound, a wild dive was made for the great trays, and eggs flew in +every direction. Dancing was forgotten. The girls and men chased each +other about the room, the air was filled with perfume and glittering +particles, the latter looking very pretty on black floating hair. +Etiquette demanded that only one egg should be thrown by the same hand +at a time, but quick turns of supple wrists followed each other very +rapidly. To really accomplish a feat the egg must crash on the back of +the head, and each occupied in attack was easy prey. + +Chonita was like a child. Two priests were of our party, and she made +a target of their shaven crowns, shrieking with delight. They vowed +revenge, and chased her all over the house; but not an egg had broken +on that golden mane. She was surrounded at one time by caballeros, but +she whirled and doubled so swiftly that every cascaron flew afield. + +The pelting grew faster and more furious; every room was invaded; we +chased each other up and down the corridors. The people in the court +had their cascarones also, and the noise must have been heard at the +Mission. Don Guillermo hobbled about delightedly, covered with tinsel +and flour. Estenega had tried a dozen times to hit Chonita, but as +if by instinct she faced him each time before the egg could leave his +hand. Finally he pursued her down the corridor to her library, where +I, fortunately, happened to be resting, and both threw themselves into +chairs, breathless. + +"Let us stay here," he said. "We have had enough of this." + +"Very well," she said. She bent her head to lift a book which had +fallen from a shelf, and felt the soft blow of the cascaron. + +"At last!" said Estenega, contentedly. "I was determined to conquer, +if I waited until morning." + +Chonita looked vexed for a moment,--she did not like to be +vanquished,--then shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her chair. +The little room was plainly furnished. Shelves covered three sides, +and the window-seat and the table were littered with books. There were +no curtains, no ornaments; but Chonita's hair, billowing to the floor, +her slender voluptuous form, her white skin and green irradiating +eyes, the candlelight half revealing, half concealing, made a picture +requiring no background. I caught the expression of Estenega's face, +and determined to remain if he murdered me. + +Peals of laughter, joyous shrieks, screams of mock terror, floated in +to us. I broke a silence which was growing awkward: + +"How happy they are! Creatures of air and sunshine! Life in this +Arcadia is an idyl." + +"They are not happy," said Estenega, contemptuously; "they are gay. +They are light of heart through absence of material cares and endless +sources of enjoyment, which in turn have bred a careless order of +mind. But did each pause long enough to look into his own heart, would +he not find a stone somewhere in its depths?--perhaps a skull graven +on the stone,--who knows?" + +"Oh, Diego!" I exclaimed, impatiently, "this is a party, not a +funeral." + +"Then is no one happy?" asked Chonita, wistfully. + +"How can he be, when in each moment of attainment he is pricked by the +knowledge that it must soon be over? The youth is not happy, because +the shadow of the future is on him. The man is not happy, because the +knowledge of life's incompleteness is with him." + +"Then of what use to live at all?" + +"No use. It is no use to die, neither, so we live. I will grant that +there may be ten completely happy moments in life,--the ten conscious +moments preceding certain death--and oblivion." + +"I will not discuss the beautiful hope of our religion with you, +because you do not believe, and I should only get angry. But what +are we to do with this life? You say nothing is wrong nor right. What +would you have the stumbling and unanchored do with what has been +thrust upon him?" + +"Man, in his gropings down through the centuries, has concocted, +shivered, and patched certain social conditions well enough calculated +to develop the best and the worst that is in us, making it easier for +us to be bad than good, that good might be the standard. We feel a +deeper satisfaction if we have conquered an evil impulse and done +what is accepted as right, because we have groaned and stumbled in +the doing,--that is all. Temptation is sweet only because the impulse +comes from the depths of our being, not because it is difficult to be +tempted. If we overcome, the satisfaction is deep and enduring,--which +only goes to show that man is but a petty egotist, always drawing +pictures of himself on a pedestal. The man who emancipates himself +from traditions and yields to his impulses is debarred from happiness +by the blunders of the blindfolded generations preceding him, which +arranged that to yield was easy and to resist difficult. Had they +reversed the conditions and conclusions, the majority of the human +race would have fought each other to death, but the selected remnant +would have had a better time of it. + +"Let us suppose a case as conditions now exist. Assume, for the sake +of argument, that you loved me and that you plucked from your nature +your religion, your fidelity to your house, your love for your +brother, and gave yourself to me. You would stand appalled at the +sacrifice until you realized that you had come to me only because +it would have been more difficult to stay away. You conquer the +passionate cry of love,--the strongest the human compound has ever +voiced,--and you are miserably happy for the rest of your life no +attitude being so pleasing to the soul as the attitude of martyrdom. +Many a man and woman looks with some impatience for the last good-bye +to be said, so sweet is the prospect of sadness, of suffering, of +resignation." + +I was aghast at his audacity, but I saw that Chonita was fascinated. +Her egotism was caressed, and her womanhood thrilled. "Are we all such +shams as that?" was what she said. "You make me despise myself." + +"Not yourself, but a great structure--of which you are but a +grain--with a faulty foundation. Don't despise yourself. Curse the +builders who shoveled those stones together." + +He left her then, and she told me to go to bed; she wanted to sit a +while and think. + +"He makes you think too much," I said. "Better forget what he says as +soon as you can. He is a very disturbing influence." + +But she made me no reply, and sat there staring at the floor. She +began to feel a sense of helplessness, like a creature caught in a +net. It was more the man's personality than his words which made her +feel as if he were pouring himself throughout her, taking possession +of brain and every sense, as though he were a sort of intellectual +drug. + +"I believe I was made from his rib," she thought, angrily, "else why +can he have this extraordinary power over me? I do not love him. I +have read somewhat of love, and seen more. This is different, quite. I +only feel that there is something in him that I want. Sometimes I feel +that I must dig my nails into him and tear him apart until I find +what I want,--something that belongs to me. Sometimes it is as if he +promised it, at others as if he were unconscious of its existence; +always it is evanescent. Is he going to make my mind his own?--and yet +he always seems to leave mine free. He has never snubbed me. He makes +me think: there is the danger." + +An hour later there was a tap on her door. Casa Grande was asleep. She +sat upright, her heart beating rapidly. Estenega was audacious enough +for anything. But it was her brother who entered. + +"Reinaldo!" she exclaimed, horrified to feel an unmistakable stab of +disappointment. + +"Yes, it is I. Art thou alone?" + +"Sure." + +"I have something to say to thee." + +He drew a chair close to her and sat down "Thou knowest, my sister," +he began, haltingly, "how I hate the house of Estenega. My hatred +is as loyal as thine: every drop of blood in my veins is true to the +honor of the house of Iturbi y Moncada. But, my sister, is it not so +that one can sacrifice himself, his mere personal feelings, upon the +altar of his country? Is it not so, my sister?" + +"What is it thou wishest me to understand, Reinaldo?" + +"Do not look so stern, my Chonita. Thou hast not yet heard me; and, +although thou mayest be angry then, thou wilt reason later. Thou art +devoted to thy house, no?" + +"Thou hast come here in the night to ask me such a question as that?" + +"And thou lovest thy brother?" + +"Reinaldo, thou hast drunken more mescal than Angelica. Go back to thy +bride." But, although she spoke lightly, she was uneasy. + +"My sister, I never drank a drop of mescal in my life! Listen. It +is our father's wish, thy wish, my wish, that I become a great and +distinguished man, an ornament to the house of Iturbi y Moncada, a +star on the brow of California. How can I accomplish this great +and desirable end? By the medium of politics only; our wars are so +insignificant. I have been debarred from the Departmental Junta by +the enemy of our house, else would it have rung with my eloquence, and +Mexico have known me to-day. Yet I care little for the Junta. I wish +to go as diputado to Mexico; it is a grander arena. Moreover, in that +great capital I shall become a man of the world,--which is necessary +to control men. That is _his_ power,--curse him! And he--he will not +let me go there. Even Alvarado listens to him. The Departmental Junta +is under his thumb. I will never be anything but a caballero of Santa +Barbara--I, an Iturbi y Moncada, the last scion of a line illustrious +in war, in diplomacy, in politics--until he is either dead--do not +jump, my sister; it is not my intention to murder him and ruin my +career--or becomes my friend." + +"Canst thou not put thy meaning in fewer words?" + +"My sister, he loves thee, and thou lovest thy brother and thy house." + +Chonita rose to her full height, and although he rose too, and was +taller, she seemed to look down upon him. + +"Thou wouldst have me marry him? Is that thy meaning?" + +"Ay." His voice trembled. Under his swagger he was always a little +afraid of the Doomswoman. + +"Thou askest perjury and disloyalty and dishonor of an Iturbi y +Moncada?" + +"An Iturbi y Moncada asks it of an Iturbi y Moncada. If the man is +ready to bend his neck in sacrifice to the glory of his house, is it +for the woman to think?" + +Chonita stood grasping the back of her chair convulsively; it was +the only sign of emotion she betrayed. She knew that what he said was +true: that Estenega, for public and personal reasons, never would +let him go to Mexico; he would permit no enemy at court. But this +knowledge drifted through her mind and out of it at the moment; she +was struggling to hold down a hot wave of contempt rushing upward +within her. She clung to her traditions as frantically as she clung to +her religion. + +"Go," she said, after a moment. + +"Thou wilt think of what I have said?" + +"I shall pray to forget it." + +"Chonita!" his voice rang out so loud that she placed her hand on his +mouth. He dashed it away. "Thou wilt!" he cried, like a spoilt child. +"Thou wilt! I shall go to the city of Mexico, and only thou canst send +me there. All my father's gold and leagues will not buy me a seat in +the Mexican Congress, unless this accursed Estenega lifts his hand +and says, 'Thou shalt.' Holy God! how I hate him! Would that I had +the chance to murder him! I would cut his heart out to-morrow. And +my father likes him, and has outlived rancor. And thou--thou art not +indifferent." + +"Go!" + +He threw his arms about her, kissing and caressing her. "My sister! My +sister! Thou wilt! Say that thou wilt!" But she flung him off as if he +were a snake. + +"Wilt thou go?" she asked. + +"Ay! I go. But he shall suffer. I swear it! I swear it!" And he rushed +from the room. + +Chonita sat there, staring more fixedly at the floor than when +Estenega had left her. + + + + +XXI. + + +Reinaldo did not go to his Prudencia. He went down to the booths in +the town and joined the late revelers. Don Guillermo, rising before +dawn, and walking up and down the corridor to conquer the pangs of +Doña Trinidad's dulces, noticed that the door of his son's room was +ajar. He paused before it and heard slow, regular, patient sobs. He +opened the door and went in. Prudencia, alone, curled up in a far +corner of her bed, the clothes over her head, was bemoaning many +things incidental to matrimony. As she heard the sound of heavy steps +she gave a little shriek. + +"It is I, Prudencia," said her uncle. "Where is Reinaldo?" + +"I--do--not--know." + +"Did he not come from the ball-room with thee?" + +"N-o-o-o-o." + +"Dost thou know where he has gone?" + +"N-o-o-o, señor." + +"Art thou afraid?" + +"Ay! God--of--my--life!" + +"Never mind," said the old gentleman. "Go to sleep. Thy uncle will +protect thee, and this will not happen again." + +He seated himself by the bedside. Prudencia's sobs ceased gradually, +and she fell asleep. An hour later the door opened softly, and +Reinaldo entered. In spite of the mescal in him, his knees shook as he +saw the indulgent but stern arbiter of the Iturbi y Moncada destinies +sitting in judgment at the bedside of his wife. + +"Where have you been, sir?" + +"To take a walk,--to see to--" + +"No lying! It makes no difference where you have been. What I want +to know is this: Is it your duty to gallivant about town? or is your +place at this hour beside your wife?" + +"Here, señor." + +The old man rose, and, seizing the bride-groom by the shoulders, shook +him until his teeth clattered together. "Then see that you stay here +with her hereafter, or you shall no longer be a married man." And he +stamped out and slammed the door behind him. + + + + +XXII. + + +We spent the next day at the race-field. Many of the caballeros had +brought their finest horses, and Reinaldo's were famous. The vaqueros +threw off their black glazed sombreros and black velvet jackets, +wearing only the short black trousers laced with silver, a shirt of +dazzling whiteness, a silk handkerchief twisted about the head, and +huge spurs on their bare brown heels. Some of us stood on a platform, +others remained on their horses; all were wild with excitement and +screamed themselves hoarse. The great dark eyes of the girls flashed, +their red mouths trembled with the flood of eager exclamations; the +lace mantilla or flowered reboso fluttered against hot cheeks, to be +torn off, perhaps, and waved in the enthusiasm of the moment. They +forgot the men, and the men forgot them. Even Chonita was oblivious to +all else for the hour. She was a famous horsewoman, and keenly alive +to the enchantment of the race-field. The men bet their ranchos, whole +caponeras of their finest horses, herds of cattle, their saddles and +their jewels. Estenega won largely, and, as it happened, from Reinaldo +particularly. Don Guillermo was rather pleased than otherwise, holding +his son to be in need of further punishment; but Reinaldo was obliged +to call upon all the courtesy of the Spaniard and all the falseness of +his nature to help him remember that his enemy was his guest. + +We went home to siesta and long gay supper, where the races were the +only topic of conversation; then to dance and sing and flirt +until midnight, the people in the booths as tireless as ourselves. +Valencia's attentions to Estenega were as conspicuous as usual, but he +managed to devote most of his time to Chonita. + + * * * * * + +That night Chonita had a dream. She dreamed that she awoke without +a soul. The sense of vacancy was awful, yet there was a singular +undercurrent consciousness that no soul ever had been within +her,--that it existed, but was yet to be found. + +She arose, trembling, and opened her door. Santa Barbara was as +quiet as all the world is in the chill last hours of night. She +half expected to see something hover before her, a will-o'-the-wisp, +alluring her over the rocky valleys and towering mountains until death +gave her weary feet rest. She remembered vaguely that she had read +legends of that purport. + +But there was nothing,--not even the glow of a late cigarito or the +flash of a falling star. Still she seemed to know where the soul +awaited her. She closed her door softly and walked swiftly down the +corridor, her bare feet making no sound on the boards. At a door on +the opposite side she paused, shaking violently, but unable to pass +it. She opened the door and went in. The room, like all the others in +that time of festivity, had more occupants than was its wont; a bed +was in each corner. The shutters and windows were open, the moonlight +streamed in, and she saw that all were asleep. She crossed the room +and looked down upon Diego Estenega. His night garment, low about the +throat, made his head, with its sharply-cut profile, look like the +heads on old Roman medallions. The pallor of night, the extreme +refinement of his face, the deep repose, gave him an unmortal +appearance. Chonita bent over him fearfully. Was he dead? His +breathing was regular, but very quiet. She stood gazing down upon him, +the instinct of seeking vanished. What did it mean? Was this her soul! +A man? How could it be? Even in poetry she had never read of a man +being a woman's soul,--a man with all his frailties and sins, for the +most part unrepented. She felt, rather than knew, that Estenega had +trampled many laws, and that he cared too little for any law but his +own will to repent. And yet, there he lay, looking, in the gray light +and the impersonality of sleep, as sinless as if he had been created +within the hour. He looked not like a man but a spirit,--a soul; and +the soul was hers. + +Again she asked herself, what did it mean? Was the soul but brain? She +and he were so alike in rudiments, yet he so immeasurably beyond her +in experience and knowledge and the stronger fiber of a man's mind-- + +He awoke suddenly and saw her. For a moment he stared incredulously, +then raised himself on his hand. + +"Chonita!" he whispered. + +But Chonita, with the long glide of the Californian woman, faded from +the room. + +When she awoke the next morning she was assailed by a distressing +fear. Had she been to Estenega's room the night before? The memory was +too vivid, the details too practical, for a sleep-vagary. At breakfast +she hardly dared to raise her eyes. She felt that he was watching her; +but he often watched her. After breakfast they were alone at one end +of the corridor for a moment, and she compelled herself to raise her +eyes and look at him steadily. He was regarding her searchingly. + +She was not a woman to endure uncertainty. + +"Tell me," she cried, trembling from head to foot, the blood rushing +over her face, "did I go to your room last night?" + +"Doña Chonita!" he exclaimed. "What an extraordinary question! You +have been dreaming." + + + + +XXIII. + + +We went to a bull-fight that day, danced that night, meriendaed and +danced again; a siesta in the afternoon, a few hours' sleep in the +night, refreshing us all. Chonita, alone, looked pale, but I knew that +her pallor was not due to weariness. And I knew that she was beginning +to fear Estenega; the time was almost come when she would fear herself +more. Estenega had several talks apart with her. He managed it without +any apparent maneuvering; but he always had the devil's methods. +Valencia avenged herself by flirting desperately with Reinaldo, and +Prudencia's honeymoon was seasoned with gall. + +On Saturday night Chonita stole from her guests, donned a black gown +and reboso, and, attended by two Indian servants, went up to the +Mission to confession. As she left the church a half-hour later, and +came down the steps, Estenega rose from a bench beneath the arches of +the corridor and joined her. + +"How did you know that I came?" she asked; and it was not the stars +that lit her face. + +"You do little that I do not know. Have you been to confession?" + +"Yes." + +They walked slowly down the valley. + +"And you forgave and were forgiven?" + +"Yes. Ay! but my penance is heavy!" + +"But when it is done you will be at rest, I suppose." + +"Oh, I hope! I hope!" + +"Have you begun to realize that your Church cannot satisfy you?" + +"No! I will not say that." + +"But you know it. Your intelligence has opened a window somewhere and +the truth has crept in." + +"Do not take my religion from me, señor!" Her eyes and voice appealed +to him, and he accepted her first confession of weakness with a throb +of exulting tenderness. + +"My love!" he said, "I would give you more than I took from you." + +"No! never!--Even if we were not enemies, and I had not made that +terrible vow, my religion has been all in all to me. Just now I have +many things that torment me; and I have asked so little of religion +before--my life has been so calm--that now I hardly know how to ask +for so much more. I shall learn. Leave me in peace." + +"Do you want me to go?" he asked. "If you did,--if I troubled you by +staying here,--I believe I would go. Only I know it would do no good: +I should come back." + +"No! no! I do not want you to go. I should feel--I will admit to +you--like a house without its foundation. And yet sometimes, I pray +that you will go. Ay! I do not like life. I used to have pride in my +intelligence. Where is my pride now? What good has the wisdom in my +books done me, when I confess my dependence upon a man, and that +man my enemy--and the acquaintance of a few weeks?" She was speaking +incoherently, and Estenega chafed at the restraint of the servants so +close behind them. "Tell me," she exclaimed, "what is it in you that I +want?--that I need? It is something that belongs to me. Give it to me, +and go away." + +"Chonita, I give it to you gladly, God knows. But you must take me, +too. You want in me what is akin to you and what you will find nowhere +else. But I cannot tear my soul out of my body. You must take both or +neither." + +"Ay! I cannot! You know that I cannot! + +"I ignore your reasons." + +"But I do not." + +"You shall, my beloved. Or if you do not ignore you shall forget +them." + +"When I am dead--would that I were!" She was excited and trembling. +The confession had been an ordeal, and Estenega was never +tranquillizing. She wished to cling to him, but was still mistress +of herself. He divined her impulse, and drew her arm through his and +across his breast. He opened her hand and pressed his lips to the +palm. Then he bent his face above hers. She was trembling violently; +her face was wild and white. His own was ashen, and the heart beneath +her arm beat rapidly. + +"I love you devotedly," he said. "You believe that, Chonita?" + +"Ah! Mother of God! do not! I cannot listen." + +"But you shall listen. Throw off your superstitions and come to me. +Keep the part of your religion that is not superstition; I would be +the last to take it from you; but I will not permit its petty dogmas +to stand between us. As for your traditions, you have not even the +excuse of filial duty; your father would not forbid you to become my +wife. And I love you very earnestly and passionately. Just how much, I +might convey to you if we were alone." + +He was obliged to exercise great self-restraint, but there was no +mistaking his seriousness. When such scientific triflers do find a +woman worth loving, they are too deeply sensible of the fact not to +be stirred to their depths; and their depths are apt to be in large +disproportion to the lightness of their ordinary mood. "Come to me," +he continued. "I need you; and I will be as tender and thoughtful +a husband as I will be ardent as a lover. You love me: don't blind +yourself any longer. Do you picture, in a life of solitude and cold +devotion to phantoms, any happiness equal to what you would find here +in my arms?" + +"Oh, hush! hush! You could make me do what you wished, I have no will. +I feel no longer myself. What is this terrible power?" + +"It is the magnetism of love; that is all. I am not exercising any +diabolical power over you. Listen: I will not trouble you any more +now. I am obliged to go to Los Angeles the day after to-morrow, and on +my way back to Monterey--in about two weeks--I shall come here again. +Then we will talk together; but I warn you, I will accept only one +answer. You are mine, and I shall have you." + +They reached Casa Grande a moment later, and she escaped from him and +ran to her room. But she dared not remain alone. Hastily changing her +black gown for the first her hand touched,--it happened to be vivid +red and made her look as white as wax,--she returned to the sala; +not to dance even the square contradanza, but to stand surrounded by +worshiping caballeros with curling hair tied with gay ribbons, and +jewels in their laces. Valencia regarded her with a bitter jealousy +that was rising from red heat to white. How dared a woman with hair of +gold wear the color of the brunette? It was a theft. It was the last +indignity. And once more she chained Reinaldo, in default of Estenega, +to her side. And deep in Prudencia's heart wove a scheme of vengeance; +the loom and warp had been presented unwittingly by her chivalrous +father-in-law. + +Estenega remained in the sala a few moments after Chonita's +reappearance, then left the house and wandered through the booth in +the court, where the people were dancing and singing and eating and +gambling as if with the morrow an eternal Lent would come, and thence +through the silent town to the pleasure-grounds of Casa Grande, which +lay about half a mile from the house. He had been there but a short +while when he heard a rustle, a light footfall; and, turning, he saw +Chonita, unattended, her bare neck and gold hair gleaming against the +dark, her train dragging. She was advancing swiftly toward him. His +pulses bounded, and he sprang toward her, his arms outstretched; but +she waved him back. + +"Have mercy," she said. "I am alone. I brought no one, because I have +that to tell you which no one else must hear." + +He stepped back and looked at the ground. + +"Listen," she said. "I could not wait until to-morrow, because a +moment lost might mean--might mean the ruin of your career, and you +say your envoy has not gone yet. Just now--I will tell you the other +first. Mother of God! that I should betray my brother to my enemy! But +it seems to me right, because you placed your confidence in me, and +I should feel that I betrayed you if I did not warn you. I do not +know--oh, Mary!--I do not know--but this seems to me right. The other +night my brother came to me and asked me--ay! do not look at me--to +marry you, that you would balk his ambition no further. He wishes to +go as diputado to Mexico, and he knows that you will not let him. I +thought my brain would crack,--an Iturbi y Moncada!--I made him no +answer,--there was no answer to a demand like that,--and he went from +me in a fury, vowing vengeance upon you. To-night, a few moments +ago, he whispered to me that he knew of your plans, your intentions +regarding the Americans: he had overheard a conversation between you +and Alvarado. He says that he will send letters to Mexico to-morrow, +warning the government against you. Then their suspicions will be +roused, and they will inquire--Ay, Mary!" + +Estenega brought his teeth together. "God!" he exclaimed. + +She saw that he had forgotten her. She turned and went back more +swiftly than she had come. + +Estenega was a man whose resources never failed him. He returned to +the house and asked Reinaldo to smoke a cigarito and drink a bottle of +wine in his room. Then, without a promise or a compromising word, he +so flattered that shallow youth, so allured his ambition and pampered +his vanity and watered his hopes, that fear and hatred wondered at +their existence, closed their eyes, and went to sleep. Reinaldo +poured forth his aspirations, which under the influence of the +truth-provoking vine proved to be an honest yearning for the pleasures +of Mexico. As he rose to go he threw his arm about Estenega's neck. + +"Ay! my friend! my friend!" he cried, "thou art all-powerful. Thou +alone canst give me what I want." + +"Why did you never ask me for what you wanted?" asked Estenega. And +he thought, "If it were not for Her, you would be on your way to Los +Angeles to-night under charge of high treason. I would not have taken +this much trouble with you." + + + + +XXIV. + + +A rodeo was held the next day,--the last of the festivities;--Don +Guillermo taking advantage of the gathering of the rancheros. It was +to take place on the Cerros Rancho, which adjoined the Rancho de +las Rocas. We went early, most of us dismounting and taking to the +platform on one side of the circular rodeo-ground. The vaqueros +were already galloping over the hills, shouting and screaming to the +cattle, who ran to them like dogs; soon a herd came rushing down into +the circle, where they were thrown down and branded, the stray cattle +belonging to neighbors separated and corralled. This happened again +and again, the interest and excitement growing with each round-up. + +Once a bull, seeing his chance, darted from his herd and down the +valley. A vaquero started after him; but Reinaldo, anxious to display +his skill in horsemanship, and being still mounted, called to the +vaquero to stop, dashed after the animal, caught it by its tail, +spurred his horse ahead, let go the tail at the right moment, and, +amidst shouts of "Coliar!" "Coliar!" the bull was ignominiously rolled +in the dust, then meekly preceded Reinaldo back to the rodeo-ground. + +After the dinner under the trees most of the party returned to the +platform, but Estenega, Adan, Chonita, Valencia, and myself strolled +about the rancho. Adan walked at Chonita's side, more faithful than +her shadow. Valencia's black eyes flashed their language so plainly to +Estenega's that he could not have deserted her without rudeness; and +Estenega never was rude. + +"Adan," said Chonita, abruptly, "I am tired of thee. Sit down under +that tree until I come back. I wish to walk alone with Eustaquia for +awhile." + +Adan sighed and did as he was bidden, consoling himself with a +cigarito. Taking a different path from the one the others followed, we +walked some distance, talking of ordinary matters, both avoiding the +subject of Diego Estenega by common consent. And yet I was convinced +that she carried on a substratum of thought of which he was the +subject, even while she talked coherently to me. On our way back the +conversation died for want of bone and muscle, and, as it happened, we +were both silent as we approached a small adobe hut. As we turned the +corner we came upon Estenega and Valencia. He had just bent his head +and kissed her. + +Valencia fled like a hare. Estenega turned the hue of chalk, and I +knew that blue lightning was flashing in his disconcerted brain. I +felt the chill of Chonita as she lifted herself to the rigidity of a +statue and swept slowly down the path. + +"Diego, you are a fool!" I exclaimed, when she was out of hearing. + +"You need not tell me that," he said, savagely. "But what in heaven's +name--Well, never mind. For God's sake straighten it out with her. +Tell her--explain to her--what men are. Tell her that the present +woman is omnipotently present--no, don't tell her that. Tell her +that history is full of instances of men who have given one woman the +devoted love of a lifetime and been unfaithful to her every week in +the year. Explain to her that a man to love one woman must love all +women. And she has sufficient proof that I love her and no other +woman: I want to marry her, not Valencia Menendez. Heaven knows I will +be true to her when I have her. I could not be otherwise. But I need +not explain to you. Set it right with her. She has brain, and can be +made to understand." + +I shook my head. "You cannot reason with inexperience; and when it +is allied to jealousy--God of my soul! Her ideal, of course, is +perfection, and does not take human weakness into account. You have +fallen short of it to-day. I fear your cause is lost." + +"It is not! Do you think I will give her up for a trifle like that?" + +"But why not accept this break? You cannot marry her--" + +"Oh, do not refer to that nonsense!" he exclaimed, harshly. "I shall +peel off her traditions when the time comes, as I would strip off the +outer hulls of a nut. Go! Go, Eustaquia!" + +Of course I went. Chonita was not at the rodeo-ground, but, escorted +by her father, had gone home. I followed immediately, and when I +reached Casa Grande I found her sitting in her library. I never saw +a statue look more like marble. Her face was locked: only the eyes +betrayed the soul in torment. But she looked as immutable as a fate. + +"Chonita," I exclaimed, hardly knowing where to begin, "be reasonable. +Men of Estenega's brain and passionate affectionate nature are always +weak with women, but it means nothing. He cares nothing for Valencia +Menendez. He is madly in love with you. And his weakness, my dear, +springs from the same source as his charm. He would not be the man +he is without it. His heart would be less kindly, his impulses less +generous, his brain less virile, his sympathies less instinctive and +true. The strong impregnable man, the man whom no vice tempts, no +weakness assails, who is loyal without effort,--such a man lacks +breadth and magnetism and the power to read the human heart and +sympathize with both its noble impulses and its terrible weaknesses. +Such men--I never have known it to fail--are full of petty vanities +and egoisms and contemptible weaknesses, the like of which Estenega +could not be capable of. No man can be perfect, and it is the man +of great strength and great weakness who alone understands and +sympathizes with human nature, who is lovable and magnetic, and who +has the power to rouse the highest as well as the most passionate love +of a woman. Such men cause infinite suffering, but they can give a +happiness that makes the suffering worth while. You never will meet +another man like Diego Estenega. Do not cast him lightly aside." + +"Do I understand," said Chonita, in a perfectly unmoved voice, "that +you are counseling me to marry an Estenega and the man who would send +me to Hell hereafter? Do you forget my vow?" + +I came to myself with a shock. In the enthusiasm of my defense I had +forgotten the situation. + +"At least forgive him," I said, lamely. + +"I have nothing to forgive," she said. "He is nothing to me." + +I knew that it was useless to argue with her. + +"I have a favor to ask of you," she said. "Most of our guests leave +this afternoon: will you let me sleep alone to-night?" + +I should have liked to put my arm about her and give her a woman's +sympathy, but I did not dare. All I could do was to leave her alone. + + + + +XXV. + + +Casa Grande held three jealous women. The situation had its comic +aspect, but was tragic enough to the actors. + +In the evening the lingering guests of the house and the neighbors +of the town assembled as usual for the dance. Only Estenega absented +himself. Valencia stood her ground: she would not go while Estenega +remained. Chonita moved proudly among her guests, and never had been +more gracious. Valencia dared not meet her eyes nor mine, but, seeing +that Prudencia was watching her, avenged her own disquiet by enhancing +that of the bride. Never did she flirt so imperiously with Reinaldo +as she did that fateful night; and Reinaldo, who was man's vanity +collected and compounded, devoted himself to the dashing beauty. Her +cheeks burned with excitement, her eyes were restless and flashing. + +The music stopped. The women were eating the dulces passed by the +Indian servants. The men had not yet gone into the dining-room. +Valencia dropped her handkerchief; Reinaldo, stooping to recover it, +kissed her hand behind its flimsy shelter. + +Then Prudencia arose. She trailed her long gown down the room between +the two rows of people staring at her grim eyes and pressed lips; her +little head, with its high comb, stiffly erect. She walked straight up +to Reinaldo and boxed his ears before the assembled company. + +"Thou wilt flirt no more with other women," she said, in a loud, clear +voice. "Thou art my husband, and thou wilt not forget it again. Come +with me." + +And, amidst the silence of mountain-tops in a snow-storm, he stumbled +to his feet and followed her from the room. + +I could not sleep that night. In spite of the amusement I had felt at +Prudencia's _coup-d'état_, I was oppressed by the chill and foreboding +which seemed to emanate from Chonita and pervade the house. I knew +that terrible calm was like the menacing stillness of the hours before +an earthquake. What would she do in the coming convulsion? I shuddered +and tormented myself with many imaginings. + +I became so nervous that I rose and dressed and went out upon the +corridor and walked up and down. It was very late, and the moon was +risen, but the corners were dark. Figures seemed to start from them, +but my nerves were strong; I never had given way to fear. + +My thoughts wandered to Estenega. Who shall judge the complex heart +of a man? the deep, intense, lasting devotion he may have for the one +woman he recognizes as his soul's own, and yet the strange wayward +wanderings of his fancy,--the nomadic assertion of the animal; the +passionate love he may feel for this woman of all women, yet the +reserve in which he always holds her, never knowing her quite as well +as he has known other women; the last test of highest love, passion +without sensuality? And yet the regret that she does not gratify every +side of his nature, even while he would not have her; regret for the +terrible incongruity of human nature, the mingling of the beast and +the divine, which cannot find satisfaction in the same woman; whatever +the fire in her, she cannot gratify the instincts which rage below +passion in man, without losing the purity of mind which he adores in +her. She, too, feels a vague regret that some portion of his nature +is a sealed book to her, forever beyond her ken. But her regret is +nothing to his: he knows, and she does not. + +My meditations were interrupted suddenly. I heard a door stealthily +opened. I knew before turning that the door was that of Chonita's +room, the last at the end of the right wing. It opened, and she came +out. It was as if a face alone came out. She was shrouded from head to +foot in black, and her face was as white as the moon. Possessed by a +nameless but overwhelming fear, I turned the knob of the door nearest +me and almost fell into the room. I closed the door behind me, but +there was no key. By the strip of white light which entered through +the crevice between the half-open shutters I saw that I was in the +room of Valencia Menendez; but she slept soundly and had not heard me. + +I stood still, listening, for many minutes. At first there was no +sound; I evidently had startled her, and she was waiting for the house +to be still again. At last I heard some one gliding down the corridor. +Then, suddenly, I knew that she was coming to this room, and, +possessed by a horrible curiosity and growing terror, I sank on my +knees in a corner. + +The door opened noiselessly, and Chonita entered. Again I saw only +her white face, rigid as death, but the eyes flamed with the terrible +passions that her soul had flung up from its depths at last. Then I +saw another white object,--her hand. But there was no knife in it. +Had there been, I think I should have shaken off the spell which +controlled me: I never would see murder done. It was the awe of the +unknown that paralyzed my muscles. She bent over Valencia, who moved +uneasily and cast her arms above her head. I saw her touch her finger +to the sleeping woman's mouth, inserting it between the lips. Then she +moved backward and stood by the head of the bed, facing the +window. She raised herself to her full height and extended her arms +horizontally. The position gave her the form of a cross--a black +cross, topped and pointed with malevolent white; one hand was spread +above Valencia's face. She was the most awful sight I ever beheld. She +uttered no sound; she scarcely breathed. Suddenly, with the curve of a +panther, her figure glided above the unconscious woman, her open hand +describing a strange motion; then she melted from the room. + +Valencia awoke, shrieking. + +"Some one has cursed me!" she cried. "Mother of God! Some one has +cursed me!" + +I fled from the room, to faint upon my own bed. + + + + +XXVI. + + +The next morning Casa Grande was thrown into consternation. Valencia +Menendez was in a raging fever, and had to be held in her bed. + +After breakfast I sent for Estenega and told him of what I had seen. +In the first place I had to tell some one, and in the second I thought +to end his infatuation and avert further trouble. "You firebrand!" I +exclaimed, in conclusion. "You see the mischief you have worked! You +will go, now, thank heaven--and go cured." + +"I will go,--for a time," he said. "This mood of hers must wear +itself out. But, if I loved her before, I worship her now. She is +magnificent!--a woman with the passions of hell and the sweetness of +an angel. She is the woman I have waited for all my life,--the only +woman I have ever known. Some day I will take her in my arms and tell +her that I understand her." + +"Diego," I said, divided between despair and curiosity, "you have +fancied many women: wherein does your feeling for Chonita differ? How +can you be sure that this is love? What is your idea of love?" + +He sat down and was silent for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully: +"Love is not passion, for one may feel that for many women; not +affection, for friendship demands that. Not even sympathy and +comradeship; one can find either with men. Nor all, for I have felt +all, yet something was lacking. Love is the mysterious turning of one +heart to another with the promise of a magnetic harmony, a strange +original delight, a deep satisfaction, a surety of permanence, which +did either heart roam the world it never would find again. It is the +knowledge that did the living body turn to corruption, the spirit +within would still hold and sway the steel which had rushed unerringly +to its magnet. It is the knowledge that weakness will only arouse +tenderness, never disgust, as when the fancy reigns and the heart +sleeps; that faults will clothe themselves in the individuality of the +owner and become treasures to the loving mind that sees, but worships. +It is the development of the highest form of selfishness, the +passionate and abiding desire to sacrifice one's self to the happiness +of one beloved. Above all, it is the impossibility to cease to love, +no matter what reason, or prudence, or jealousy, or disapproval, or +terrible discoveries, may dictate. Let the mind sit on high and argue +the soul's mate out of doors, it will rebound, when all is said and +done, like a rubber ball when the pressure of the finger is removed. +As for Chonita she is the lost part of me." + +He left that day, and without seeing Chonita again. Valencia was in +wildest delirium for a week; at the end of the second every hair on +her head, her brows, and her eyelashes had fallen. She looked like a +white mummy, a ghastly pitiful caricature of the beautiful woman whose +arrows quivered in so many hearts. They rolled her in a blanket and +took her home; and then I sought Chonita, who had barely left her +room and never gone to Valencia's. I told her that I had witnessed the +curse, and described the result. + +"Have you no remorse?" I asked. + +"None." + +"You have ruined the beauty, the happiness, the fortune, of another +woman." + +"I have done what I intended." + +"Do you realize that again you have raised a barrier between yourself +and your religion? You do not look very repentant." + +"Revenge is sweeter than religion." + +Then in a burst of anger I confessed that I had told Estenega. For a +moment I thought her terrible hatred was about to hurl its vengeance +at me; but she only asked,-- + +"What did he say?" + +Unwillingly, I repeated it, but word for word. And as I spoke, her +face softened, the austerity left her features, an expression of +passionate gratitude came into her eyes. + +"Did he say that, Eustaquia?" + +"He did." + +"Say it again, please." + +I did so. And then she put her hands to her face, and cried, and +cried, and cried. + + + + +XXVII. + + +At the end of the week Doña Trinidad died suddenly. She was sitting on +the green bench, dispensing charities, when her head fell back gently, +and the light went out. No death ever had been more peaceful, no soul +ever had been better prepared; but wailing grief went after her. Poor +Don Guillermo sank in a heap as if some one had felled him, Reinaldo +wept loudly, and Prudencia was not to be consoled. Chonita was away +on her horse when it happened, galloping over the hills. Servants were +sent for her immediately, and met her when she was within an hour or +two of home. As she entered the sala, Don Guillermo, Reinaldo, and +Prudencia literally flung themselves upon her; and she stood like a +rock, and supported them. She had loved her mother, but it had always +been her lot to prop other people; she never had had a chance to lean. + +All that night and next day she was closely engaged with the members +of the agonized household, even visiting the grief-stricken Indians at +times. On the second night she went to the room where her mother +lay with all the pomp of candles and crosses, and bade the Indian +watchers, crouching like buzzards about the corpse, to go for a time. +She sank into a chair beside the dead, and wondered at the calmness of +her heart. She was not conscious of any feeling stronger than regret. +She tried to realize the irrevocableness of death,--that the mother +who had been so kindly an influence in her life had gone out of it. +But the knowledge brought no grief. She felt only the necessity for +alleviating the grief of the others; that was her part. + +The door opened. She drew her breath suddenly. She knew that it +was Estenega. He sat down beside her and took her hand and held it, +without a word, for hours. Gradually she leaned toward him, although +without touching him. And after a time tears came. + +He went his way the next morning, but he wrote to her before he left, +and again from Monterey, and then from the North. She only answered +once, and then with only a line. + +But the line was this: + +"Write to me until you have forgotten me." + +One day she brought me a package and asked me to take it to Valencia. +"It is an ointment," she said,--"one of old Brigida's" (a witch who +lived on the cliffs and concocted wondrous specifics from herbs). +"Tell her to use it and her hair will grow again." + +And that was the only sign of penitence I was permitted to see. + +Then for a long interval there came no word from Estenega. + + + + +XXVIII. + + +Before going to Mexico, Estenega remained for some weeks at his +ranchos in the North, overlooking the slaughtering of his cattle, an +important yearly event, for the trade in hides and tallow with foreign +shippers was the chief source of the Californian's income. He also was +associated with the Russians at Fort Ross and Bodega in the fur-trade. +But he was far from being satisfied with these desultory gains. They +sufficed his private wants, but with the great schemes he had in mind +he needed gold by the bushel. How to obtain it was a problem which sat +on the throne of his mind side by side with Chonita Iturbi y Moncada. +He had reason to believe that gold lay under California; but where? He +determined that upon his return from Mexico he would take measures +to discover, although he objected to the methods which alone could be +employed. But, like all born rulers of men, he had an impatient scorn +for means with a great end in view. There was no intermediate way of +making the money. It would be a hundred years before the country would +be populous enough to give his vast ranchos a reasonable value; and, +although he had twenty thousand head of cattle, the market for their +disposal was limited, and barter was the principle of trade, rather +than coin. + +Toward the end of the month he hurried to Monterey to catch a bark +about to sail for Mexico. The important preliminaries of the future +he had planned could no longer be delayed; the treacherous revengeful +nature of Reinaldo might at any moment awake from the spell in which +he had locked it; had a ship sailed before, he would have left his +commercial interests with his mayor-domo and gone to the seat of +government at once. + +He arrived in Monterey one evening after hard riding. The city was +singularly quiet. It was the hour when the indefatigable dancers of +that gay town should have flitted past the open windows of the salas, +when the air should have been vocal with the flute and guitar, song +and light laughter. But the city might have been a living tomb. The +white rayless houses were heavy and silent as sepulchers. He rode +slowly down Alvarado Street, and saw the advancing glow of a cigar. +When the cigar was abreast of him he recognized Mr. Larkin. + +"What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Small-pox," replied the consul, succinctly. "Better get on board +at once. And steer clear of the lower quarter. Your vaquero +arrived yesterday, and I instructed him to put your baggage in the +custom-house. He dropped it and fled to the country." + +Estenega thanked him and proceeded on his way. He made a circuit to +avoid the lower quarter, but saw that it was not abandoned; lights +moved here and there. "Poor creatures!" he thought, "they are probably +dying like poisoned rats." + +On the side of the hill by the road was a solitary hut. He was obliged +to pass it. A candle burned beyond the open window, and he set his +lips and turned his head; not from fear of contagion, however. And his +eyes were drawn to the window in spite of his resolute will. He looked +once, and looked again, then checked his horse. On the bed lay a +girl in the middle stages of the disease, her eyes glittering with +delirium, her black hair matted and wet. She was evidently alone. +Estenega spurred his horse and galloped around to the back of the hut. +In the kitchen, the only other room, huddled an old crone, brown and +gnarled like an old apple. She was sleeping; by her side was a bottle +of aguardiente. Estenega called loudly to her. + +"Susana!" + +The creature stirred, but did not open her eyes. He called twice +again, and awakened her. She stared through the open door, her lower +jaw falling, showing the yellow stumps. + +"Who is?" + +"Is Anita alone with you?" + +"Ay, yi! Don Diego! Yes, yes. All run from the house like rats from +a ship that burns. Ay, yi! Ay, yi! and she so pretty before! A-y, +y-i!--" Her head fell forward; she relapsed into stupor. + +Estenega rode around to the window again. The girl was sitting on the +edge of the bed, mechanically pulling the long matted strands of her +hair. + +"Water! water!" she cried, faintly. "Ay, Mary!" She strove to rise, +but fell back, clutching at the bedclothing. + +Estenega rode to a deserted hut near by, concealed his saddle in +a corner under a heap of rubbish, and turned his horse loose. He +returned to the hut where the sick girl lay, and entered the room. She +recognized him in spite of her fever. + +"Don Diego! Is it you?--you?" she said, half raising herself. "Ay, +Mary! is it the delirium?" + +"It is I," he said. "I will take care of you. Do you want water?" + +"Ay, water. Ay, thou wert always kind, even though thy love did last +so little a while." + +He brought the water and did what he could to relieve her sufferings: +like all the rancheros, he had some knowledge of medicine. He held the +old crone under the pump, gave her an emetic, broke her bottle, and +ordered her to help him care for the girl. Between awe of him and +promise of gold, she gave him some assistance. + +Estenega watched the vessel sail the next morning, and battled with +the impulse to leap from the window, hire a boat, and overtake it. The +delay of a month might mean the death of his hopes. For all he knew, +the bark carried the letters of his undoing; Reinaldo himself might +be on it. He set his lips with an expression of bitter contempt--the +expression directed at his own impotence in the hands of +Circumstance,--and went to the bedside of the girl. She was hopelessly +ill; even medical skill, were there such a thing in the country, could +not save her; but he could not leave to die like a dog a woman who had +been his mistress, even if only the fancy of a week, as this poor +girl had been. She had loved him, and never annoyed him; they had +maintained friendly relations, and he had helped her whenever she had +appealed to him. But in this hour of her extremity she had further +rights, and he recognized them. He had cut her hair close to her head, +and she looked more comfortable, although an unpleasant sight. As he +regarded her, he thought of Chonita, and the tide of love rose in him +as it had not before. In the beginning he had been hardly more than +infatuated with her originality and her curious beauty; at Santa +Barbara her sweetness and kinship had stolen into him and the +momentous fusion of passion and spiritual love had given new birth +to a torpid soul and stirred and shaken his manhood as lust had +never done; now in her absence and exaltation above common mortals he +reverenced her as an ideal. Even in the bitterness of the knowledge +that months must elapse before he could see her again, the tenderness +she had drawn to herself from the serious depths of his nature +throbbed throughout him, and made him more than gentle to the poor +creature whose ignorance could not have comprehended the least of what +he felt for Chonita. + +She died within three days. The good priest, who stood to his post and +made each of his afflicted poor a brief daily visit, prayed by her +as she fell into stupor, but she was incapable of receiving extreme +unction. Estenega was alone with her when she died, but the priest +returned a few moments later. + +"Don Thomas Larkin wishes me to say to you, Don Diego Estenega," said +the Father, "that he would be glad to have you stay with him until the +next vessel arrives. As two members of his family have the disease, he +has nothing to fear from you. I will care for the body." + +Estenega handed him money for the burial, and looked at him +speculatively. The priest must have heard the girl's confessions, and +he wondered why he did not improve the opportunity to reprove a man +whose indifference to the Church was a matter of indignant comment +among the clergy. The priest appeared to divine his thoughts, for he +said: + +"Thou hast done more than thy duty, Don Diego. And to the frailties of +men I think the good God is merciful. He made them. Go in peace." + +Estenega accepted Mr. Larkin's invitation, but, in spite of the genial +society of the consul, he spent in his house the most wretched three +weeks of his life. He dared not leave Monterey until he had passed the +time of incubation, having no desire to spread the disease; he dared +not write to Chonita, for the same reason. What must she think? She +supposed him to have sailed, of course, but he had promised to write +her from Monterey, and again from San Diego. And the uncertainty +regarding his Mexican affairs was intolerable to a man of his active +mind and supertense nervous system. His only comfort lay in Mr. +Larkin's assurance that the national bark Joven Guipuzcoana was due +within the month and would return at once. Early in the fourth week +the assurance was fulfilled, and by the time he was ready to sail +again his danger from contagion was over. But he embarked without +writing to Chonita. + +The voyage lasted a month, tedious and monotonous, more trying than +his retardation on land, for there at least he could recover some +serenity by violent exercise. He divided his time between pacing +the deck, when the weather permitted, and writing to Chonita: long, +intimate, possessing letters, which would reveal her to herself as +nothing else, short of his own dominant contact, could do. At San Blas +he posted his letters and welcomed the rough journey overland to the +capital; but under a calm exterior he was possessed of the spirit of +disquiet. As so often happens, however, his fears proved to have been +vagaries of a morbid state of mind and of that habit of thought which +would associate with every cause an effect of similar magnitude. Santa +Ana welcomed him with friendly enthusiasm, and was ready to listen to +his plans. That wily and astute politician, who was always abreast of +progress and never in its lead, recognized in Estenega the coming man, +and, knowing that the seizure of the Californias by the United States +was only a question of time, was keenly willing to make an ally of +the man who he foresaw would control them as long as he chose, both +at home and in Washington. For the matter of that, he recognized +the impotence of Mexico to interfere, beyond bluster, with plans any +resolute Californian might choose to pursue; but it was important to +Estenega's purpose that the governorship should be assured to him by +the central government, and the eyes of the Mexican Congress directed +elsewhere. He knew the value of the moral effect which its apparent +sanction would have upon rebellious Southerners. + +"I am at your service," said Santa Ana; "and the governorship is +yours. But take heed that no rumor of your ultimate intentions reaches +the ears of Congress until you are firmly established. If it opposed +you relentlessly--and it keeps its teeth on California like a dog on +a bone bigger than himself--I should have to yield; I have too much +at stake myself. I will look out that any communications from enemies, +including Iturbi y Moncada, are opened first by me." + +Estenega wrote to Chonita again by the ship that left during his brief +stay in the capital, and it was his intention to go directly to +Santa Barbara upon arriving in California. But when he landed in +Monterey--disinfected and careless as of old--he learned that she was +about to start, perhaps already had done so, for Fort Ross, to pay a +visit to the Rotscheffs. The news gave him pleasure; it had been his +wish to say what he had yet to say in his own forests. + +And then the plan which had been stirring restlessly in his mind for +many months took imperative shape: he determined that if there was +gold in California he would wring the secret out of its keeper, by +gentle means or violent, and that within the next twenty-four hours. + + + + +XXIX. + + +Estenega drew rein the next night before the neglected Mission of San +Rafael. The valley, surrounded by hills dark with the silent +redwoods, bore not a trace of the populous life of the days before +secularization. The padre lived alone, lodge-keeper of a valley of +shadows. + +He opened the door of his room on the corridor as he heard the +approach of the traveler, squinting his bleared, yellow-spotted eyes. +He was surly by nature, but he bowed low to the man whose power was so +great in California, and whose generosity had sent him many a bullock. +He cooked him supper from his frugal store, piled the logs in the open +fireplace,--November was come,--and, after a bottle of wine, produced +from Estenega's saddle-bag, expanded into a hermit's imitation of +conviviality. Late in the night they still sat on either side of the +table in the dusty, desolate room. The Forgotten had been entertained +with vivid and shifting pictures of the great capital in which he had +passed his boyhood. He smiled occasionally; now and again he gave a +quick impatient sigh. Suddenly Estenega leaned forward and fixed him +with his powerful gaze. + +"Is there gold in these mountains?" he asked, abruptly. + +The priest was thrown off his guard for a moment; a look of meaning +flashed into his eyes, then one of cunning displaced it. + +"It may be, Señor Don Diego; gold is often in the earth. But had I the +unholy knowledge, I would lock it in my breast. Gold is the canker in +the heart of the world. It is not for the Church to scatter the evil +broadcast." + +Estenega shut his teeth. Fanaticism was a more powerful combatant than +avarice. + +"True, my father. But think of the good that gold has wrought. Could +these Missions have been built without gold?--these thousands of +Indians Christianized?" + +"What you say is not untrue; but for one good, ten thousand evils +are wrought with the metal which the devil mixed in hell and poured +through the veins of the earth." + +Estenega spent a half-hour representing in concrete and forcible +images the debt which civilization owed to the fact and circulation +of gold. The priest replied that California was a proof that commerce +could exist by barter; the money in the country was not worth speaking +of. + +"And no progress to speak of in a hundred years," retorted Estenega. +Then he expatiated upon the unique future of California did she have +gold to develop her wonderful resources. The priest said that to cut +California from her Arcadian simplicity would be to start her on her +journey to the devil along with the corrupt nations of the Old +World. Estenega demonstrated that if there was vice in the older +civilizations there was also a higher state of mental development, and +that Religion held her own. He might as well have addressed the walls +of the Mission. He tempted with the bait of one of the more central +Missions. The priest had only the dust of ambition in the cellar of +his brain. + +He lost his patience at last. "I must have gold," he said, shortly; +"and you shall show me where to find it. You once betrayed to my +father that you knew of its existence in these hills; and you shall +give me the key." + +The priest looked into the eyes of steel and contemptuously determined +face before him, and shut his lips. He was alone with a desperate man; +he had not even a servant; he could be murdered, and his murderer +go unsuspected; but the heart of the fanatic was in him. He made no +reply. + +"You know me," said Estenega. "I owe half my power in California to +the fact that I do not make a threat to-day and forget it to-morrow. +You will show me where that gold is, or I shall kill you." + +"The servant of God dies when his hour comes. If I am to die by the +hand of the assassin, so be it." + +Estenega leaned forward and placed his strong hand about the priest's +baggy throat, pushing the table against his chest. He pressed his +thumb against the throttle, his second finger hard against the +jugular, and the tongue rolled over the teeth, the congested eyes +bulged. "It may be that you scorn death, but may not fancy the mode +of it. I have no desire to kill you. Alive or dead, your life is of no +more value than that of a worm. But you shall die, and die with much +discomfort, unless you do as I wish." His hand relaxed its grasp, but +still pressed the rough dirty throat. + +"Accursed heretic!" said the priest. + +"Spare your curses for the superstitious." + +He saw a gleam of cunning come into the priest's eyes. "Very well; if +I must I must. Let me rise, and I will conduct you." + +Estenega took a piece of rope from his saddle-bag and tied it about +the priest's waist and his own. "If you have any holy pitfall in view +for me, I shall have the pleasure of your company. And if I am led +into labyrinths to die of starvation, you at least will have a meal: I +could not eat you." + +If the priest was disconcerted, he did not show it. He took a lantern +from a shelf, lit the fragment of candle, and, opening a door at the +back, walked through the long line of inner rooms. All were heaped +with rubbish. In one he found a trap-door with his foot, and descended +rough steps cut out of the earth. The air rose chill and damp, and +Estenega knew that the tunnel of the Mission was below, the secret +exit to the hills which the early Fathers built as a last resource in +case of defeat by savage tribes. When they reached the bottom of the +steps the tallow dip illuminated but a narrow circle; Estenega could +form no idea of the workmanship of the tunnel, except that it was not +more than six feet and a few inches high, for his hat brushed the top, +and that the floor and sides appeared to be of pressed clay. There was +ventilation somewhere, but no light. They walked a mile or more, +and then Estenega had a sense of stepping into a wider and higher +excavation. + +"We are no longer in the tunnel," said the priest. He lifted the +lantern and swung it above his head. Estenega saw that they were in a +circular room, hollowed probably out of the heart of a hill. He also +saw something else. + +"What is that?" he exclaimed, sharply. + +The priest handed him the lantern. "Look for yourself," he said. + +Estenega took the lantern, and, holding it just above his head and +close to the walls, slowly traversed the room. It was belted with +three strata of crystal-like quartz, sown thick with glittering yellow +specks and chunks. Each stratum was about three feet wide. + +"There is a fortune here," he said. He felt none of the greed of gold, +merely a recognition of its power. + +"Yes, señor; enough to pay the debt of a nation." + +"Where are we? Under what hill? I am sorry I had not a compass with +me. It was impossible to make any accurate guess of direction in that +slanting tunnel. Where is the outlet?" + +The priest made no reply. + +Estenega turned to him peremptorily. "Answer me. How can I find this +place from without?" + +"You never will find it from without. When the danger from Indians was +over, a pious Father closed the opening. This gold is not for you. You +could not find even the trap-door by yourself." + +"Then why have you brought me here?" + +"To tantalize you. To punish you for your insult to the Church through +me. Kill me now, if you wish. Better death than hell." + +Estenega made a rapid circuit of the room. There was no mode of +egress other than that by which they had entered, and no sign of any +previously existing. He sprang upon the priest and shook him until +the worn stumps rattled in their gums. "You dog!" he said, "to balk +me with your ignorant superstition! Take me out of this place by its +other entrance at once, that I may remain on the hill until morning. +I would not trust your word. You shall tell me, if I have to torture +you." + +The priest made a sudden spring and closed with Estenega, hugging +him like a bear. The lantern fell and went out. The two men stumbled +blindly in the blackness, striking the walls, wrestling desperately, +the priest using his teeth and panting like a beast. But he was no +match for the virility and science of his young opponent. Estenega +threw him in a moment and bound him with the rope. Then he found the +lantern and lit the candle again. He returned to the priest and stood +over him. The latter was conquered physically, but the dogged light +of bigotry still burned in his eyes, although Estenega's were not +agreeable to face. + +Estenega was furious. He had twisted Santa Ana, one of the most subtle +and self-seeking men of his time, around his finger as if he had +been a yard of ribbon; Alvarado, the wisest man ever born in the +Californias, was swayed by his judgment; yet all the arts of which his +intellect was master fell blunt and useless before this clay-brained +priest. He had more respect for the dogs in his kennels, but unless +he resorted to extreme measures the creature would defeat him through +sheer brute ignorance. Estenega was not a man to stop in sight of +victory or to give his sword to an enemy he despised. + +"You are at my mercy. You realize that now, I suppose. Will you show +me the other way out?" + +The priest drew down his under-lip like a snarling dog, revealing the +discolored stumps. But he made no other reply. + +Estenega lit a match, and, kneeling beside the priest, held it to his +stubbled beard. As the flame licked the flesh the man uttered a yell +like a kicked brute. Estenega sprang to his feet with an oath. "I +can't do it!" he exclaimed, with bitter disgust. "I haven't the iron +of cruelty in me. I am not fit to be a ruler of men." He untied the +rope about the prisoner's feet. "Get up," he said, "and conduct me +back as we came." The priest scrambled to his feet and hobbled down +the long tunnel. They ascended the steps beneath the Mission and +emerged into the room. Estenega turned swiftly to prevent the closing +of the trap-door, but only in time to hear it shut with a spring and +the priest kick rubbish above it. + +He cut the rope which bound the other's hands. "Go," he said, "I have +no further use for you. And if you report this, I need not explain to +you that it will fare worse with you than it will with me." + +The priest fled, and Estenega, hanging the lantern on a nail, pushed +aside the rubbish with his feet, purposing to pace the room until +dawn. In a few moments, however, he discovered that the despised +hermit was not without his allies; ten thousand fleas, the pest of the +country, assaulted every portion of his body they could reach. They +swarmed down the legs of his riding-boots, up his trousers, up his +sleeves, down his neck. "There is no such thing in life as tragedy," +he thought. He hung the lantern outside the door to mark the room, and +paced the yard until morning. But there were dark hours yet before the +dawn, and during one of them a figure, when his back was turned, +crept to the lantern and hung it before an adjoining room. When light +came,--and the fog came first,--all Estenega's efforts to find the +trap-door were unavailing, although the yard was littered with the +rubbish he flung into it from the room. He suspected the trick, but +there were ten rooms exactly alike, and although he cleared most of +them he could discover no trace of the trap-door. He looked at the +hills surrounding the Mission. They were many, and beyond there were +others. He mounted his horse and rode around the buildings, listening +carefully for hollow reverberation. The tunnel was too far below; he +heard nothing. + +He was defeated. For the first time in his life he was without +resource, overwhelmed by a force stronger than his own will; and his +spirit was savage within him. He had no authority to dig the floors +of the Mission, for the Mission and several acres about it were +the property of the Church. The priest never would take him on that +underground journey again, for he had learned the weak spot in his +armor, nor had he fear of death. Unless accident favored him, or some +one more fortunate, the golden heart of the San Rafael hill would +pulse unrifled forever. + + + + +XXX. + + +He turned his back upon the Mission and rode toward his home, sixty +miles in a howling November wind. At Bodega Bay he learned that +Governor Rotscheff had passed there two days before with a party of +guests that he had gone down to Sausalito to meet. Chonita awaited +him in the North. A softer mood pressed through the somberness of his +spirit, and the candle of hope burned again. Gold must exist elsewhere +in California, and he swore anew that it should yield itself to him. +The last miles of his ride lay along the cliffs. Sometimes the steep +hills covered with redwoods rose so abruptly from the trail that the +undergrowth brushed him as he passed; on the other side but a few +inches stood between himself and death amidst the surf pounding on the +rocks a thousand feet below. The sea-gulls screamed about his head, +the sea-lions barked with the hollow note of consumptives on the +outlying rocks. On the horizon was a bank of fog, outlined with the +crests and slopes and gulches of the mountain beside him. It sent an +advance wrack scudding gracefully across the ocean to puff among the +redwoods, capriciously clinging to some, ignoring others. Then came +the vast white mountain rushing over the roaring ocean, up the cliffs +and into the gloomy forests, blotting the lonely horseman from sight. + +He arrived at his house--a big structure of logs--late in the night. +His servants came out to meet him, and in a moment a fire leaped in +the great fireplace in his library. He lived alone; his parents and +brothers were dead, and his sisters married; but the fire made the low +long room, covered with bear-skins and lined with books, as cheerful +as a bachelor could expect. He found a note from the Princess Hélène +Rotscheff, the famous wife of the governor, asking him to spend the +following week at Fort Ross; but he was so tired that even the image +of Chonita was dim; the note barely caused a throb of anticipation. +After supper he flung himself on a couch before the fire and slept +until morning, then went to bed and slept until afternoon. By that +time he was himself again. He sent a vaquero ahead with his evening +clothes, and an hour or two later started for Fort Ross, spurring his +horse with a lighter heart over the cliffs. His ranchos adjoined +the Russian settlement; the journey from his house to the military +enclosure was not a long one. He soon rounded the point of a sloping +hill and entered the spreading core formed by the mountains receding +in a semicircle above the cliffs, and in whose shelter lay Fort Ross. +The fort was surrounded by a stockade of redwood beams, bastions in +the shape of hexagonal towers at diagonal corners. Cannon, mounted on +carriages, were at each of the four entrances, in the middle of the +enclosure, and in the bastions. Sentries paced the ramparts with +unremitting vigilance. + +Within were the long low buildings occupied by the governor and +officers, the barracks, and the Russian church, with its belfry and +cupola. Beyond was the "town," a collection of huts accommodating +about eight hundred Indians and Siberian convicts, the workingmen of +the company. All the buildings were of redwood logs or planed boards, +and made a very different picture from the white towns of the South. +The curving mountains were sombrous with redwoods, the ocean growled +unceasingly. + +Estenega threw his bridle to a soldier and went directly to the house. +A servant met him on the veranda and conducted him to his room; it +was late, and every one else was dressing for dinner. He changed his +riding-clothes for the evening dress of modern civilization, and went +at once to the drawing-room. Here all was luxury, nothing to suggest +the privations of a new country. A thick red carpet covered the floor, +red arras the walls; the music of Mozart and Beethoven was on the +grand piano. The furniture was rich and comfortable, the large carved +table was covered with French novels and European periodicals. + +The candles had not been brought in, but logs blazed in the open +fireplace. As Estenega crossed the room, a woman, dressed in black, +rose from a deep chair, and he recognized Chonita. He sprang forward +impetuously and held out his arms, but she waved him back. + +"No, no," she said, hurriedly. "I want to explain why I am here. I +came for two reasons. First, I could refuse the Princess Hélène no +longer; she goes so soon. And then--I wanted to see you once more +before I leave the world." + +"Before you do what?" + +"I am not going into a convent; I cannot leave my father. I am going +to retire to the most secluded of our ranchos, to see no more of the +world or its people. I shall take my father with me. Reinaldo and +Prudencia will remain at Casa Grande." + +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed, impatiently. "Do you suppose I shall let you +do anything of the sort? How little you know me, my love! But we will +discuss that question later. We shall be alone only a few moments now. +Tell me of yourself. How are you?" + +"I will tell you that, also, at another time." + +And at the moment a door opened, and the governor and his wife entered +and greeted Estenega with cordial hospitality. The governor was +a fine-looking Russian, with a spontaneous warmth of manner; the +princess a woman who possessed both elegance and vivacity, both +coquetry and dignity; she could sparkle and chill, allure and suppress +in the same moment. Even here, rough and wild as her surroundings +were, she gave much thought to her dress; to-night her blonde +harmonious loveliness was properly framed in a toilette of mignonette +greens, fresh from Paris. A moment later Reinaldo and Prudencia +appeared, the former as splendid a caballero as ever, although +wearing the chastened air of matrimony, the latter pre-maternally +consequential. Then came the officers and their wives, all brilliant +in evening dress; and a moment later dinner was announced. + +Estenega sat at the right of his hostess, and that trained daughter of +the salon kept the table in a light ripple of conversation, sparkling +herself, without striking terror to the hearts of her guests. She and +Estenega were old friends, and usually indulged in lively sallies, +ending some times in a sharp war of words, for she was a very clever +woman; but to-night he gave her absent attention: he watched Chonita +furtively, and thought of little else. + +Her eyes had darker shadows beneath them than those cast by her +lashes; her face was pale and slightly hollowed. She had suffered, and +not for her mother. "She shall suffer no more," he thought. + +"We hunt bear to-night," he heard the governor say at length. + +"I should like to go," said Chonita, quickly. "I should like to go out +to-night." + +Immediately there was a chorus from all the Other women, excepting the +Princess Hélène and Prudencia; they wanted to go too. Rotscheff, who +would much rather have left them at home, consented with good grace, +and Estenega's spirits rose at once. He would have a talk with Chonita +that night, something he had not dared to hope for, and he suspected +that she had promoted the opportunity. + +The men remained in the dining-room after the ladies had withdrawn, +and Estenega, restored to his normal condition, and in his natural +element among these people of the world, expanded into the high +spirits and convivial interest in masculine society which made him as +popular with men as he was fascinating, through the exercise of +more subtle faculties, to women. Reinaldo watched him with jealous +impatience; no one cared to hearken to his eloquence when Estenega +talked; and he had come to Fort Ross only to have a conversation +with his one-time enemy. As he listened to Estenega, shorn, for the +time-being, of his air of dictator and watchful ambition, a man of +the world taking an enthusiastic part in the hilarity of the hour, +but never sacrificing his dignity by assuming the rôle of chief +entertainer, there grew within him a dull sense of inferiority: he +felt, rather than knew, that neither the city of Mexico nor gratified +ambitions would give him that assured ease, that perfection of +breeding, that calm sense of power, concealing so gracefully the +relentless will and the infinite resource which made this most +un-Californian of Californians seem to his Arcadian eyes a being of a +higher star. And hatred blazed forth anew. + +As the men rose, finally, to go to the drawing-room, he asked Estenega +to remain for a moment. "Thou wilt keep thy promise soon, no?" he said +when they were alone. + +"What promise?" + +"Thy promise to send me as diputado to the next Mexican Congress." + +Estenega looked at him reflectively. He had little toleration for the +man of inferior brain, and, although he did not underrate his power +for mischief, he relied upon his own wit to circumvent him. He had +disposed of this one by warning Santa Ana, and he concluded to be +annoyed by him no further. Besides, as a brother-in-law, he would be +insupportable except at the long range of mutual unamiability. + +"I made you no promise," he said, deliberately; "and I shall make you +none. I do not wish you in the city of Mexico." + +Reinaldo's face grew livid. "Thou darest to say that to me, and yet +would marry my sister?" + +"I would, and I shall." + +"And yet thou wouldst not help her brother?" + +"Her brother is less to me than any man with whom I have sat to-night. +Build no hopes on that. You will stay at Santa Barbara and play the +grand seigneur, which suits you very well, or become a prisoner in +your own house." And he left the room. + + + + +XXXI. + + +An hour later they assembled in the plaza to start for the bear hunt. +Reinaldo was not of the party. + +Estenega lifted Chonita to her horse and stood beside her for a moment +while the others mounted. He touched her hand with his: + +"We could not have a more beautiful night," he said, significantly. +"And I have often wished that my father had included this spot when he +applied for his grant. I should like to live with you here. Even when +the winds rage and hurl the rain through the very window pane, I know +of no more enchanting spot than Fort Ross. The Russians are going; +some day I will buy it for you." + +She made no reply, but she did not withdraw her hand, and he held +it closely and glanced slowly about him. Always, despite his bitter +intimacy with life, in kinship with nature, perhaps in that moment it +had a deeper meaning, for he saw with double vision: She was there; +and, with him, sensible not only of the beauty of the night, but of +the indefinable mystery which broods over California the moment the +sun falls. Perhaps, too, he was troubled by a vague foreboding, such +as comes to mortals sometimes in spite of their limitations: he never +saw Fort Ross again. + +On the horizon the fog crouched and moved; marched like a battalion of +ocean's ghosts; suddenly cohered and sent out light puffs of smoke, as +from the crater of a spectral volcano. The moon, full and bright and +cold, hung low in the dark sky: one hardly noted the stars. The vast +sweep of water was as calm as a lake, dark and metallic like the sky, +barely reflecting the silver light between. But although calm it was +not quiet. It greeted the forbidding rocks beyond the shore, the long +irregular line of stark, storm-beaten cliffs, with ominous mutter, now +and again throwing a cloud of spray high in the air, as if in derisive +proof that even in sleep it was sensible of its power. Occasionally it +moaned, as if sounding a dirge along the mass of stones which storms +had hurled or waves had wrenched from the crags above,--a dirge for +beheaded Russians, for him who had walked the plank, or for the lover +of Natalie Ivanhoff. + +Here and there the cliffs were intersected by deep straggling gulches, +out of whose sides grew low woods of brush; but the three tables +rising successively from the ocean to the forest on the mountain, were +almost bare. On the highest, between two gulches, on a knoll so bare +and black and isolated that its destiny was surely taken into account +at creation, was a tall rude cross and a half hundred neglected +graves. The forest seemed blacker just behind it, the shadows thicker +in the gorges that embraced it, the ocean grayer and more illimitable +before it. "Natalie Ivanhoff is there in her copper coffin," said +Estenega, "forgotten already." + +The curve of the mountain was so perfect that it seemed to reach down +a long arm on either side and grasp the cliffs. The redwoods on its +crown and upper slopes were a mass of rigid shadows, the points, only, +sharply etched on the night sky. They might have been a wall about an +undiscovered country. + +"Come," cried Rotscheff, "we are ready to start." And Estenega sprang +to his horse. + +"I don't envy you," said the Princess Hélène from the veranda, her +silveren head barely visible above the furs which enveloped her. "I +prefer the fire." + +"You are warmly clad?" asked Estenega of Chonita. "But you have the +blood of the South in your veins." + +They climbed the steep road between the levels, slowly, the women +chattering and asking questions, the men explaining and advising. +Estenega and Chonita having much to say, said nothing. + +A cold volume of air, the muffled roar of a mountain torrent, rushed +out of the forest, startling with the suddenness of its impact. Once a +panther uttered its human cry. + +They entered the forest. It was so dark here that the horses wandered +from the trail and into the brush again and again. Conversation +ceased; except for the muffled footfalls of the horses and the speech +of the waters there was no sound. Chonita had never known a stillness +so profound; the giant trees crowding together seemed to resent +intrusion, to menace an eternal silence. She moved her horse close to +Estenega's and he took her hand. Occasionally there was an opening, a +well of blackness, for the moon had not yet come to the forest. + +They reached the summit, and descended. Half-way down the mountain +they rode into a farm in a valley formed by one of the many basins. + +The Indians were waiting, and killed a bullock at once, placing the +carcass in a conspicuous place. Then all retired to the shade of the +trees. In less than a half-hour a bear came prowling out of the forest +and began upon the meal so considerately provided for him. When his +attention was fully engaged, Rotscheff and the officers, mounted, +dashed down upon him, swinging their lassos. The bear showed fight and +stood his ground, but this was an occasion when the bear always got +the worst of it. One lasso caught his neck, another his hind foot, +and he was speedily strained and strangled to death. No sooner was +he despatched than another appeared, then another, and the sport grew +very exciting, absorbing the attention of the women as well as the +energies of the men. + +Estenega lifted Chonita from her horse. "Let us walk," he said. +"They will not miss us. A few yards farther, and you will be on my +territory. I want you there." + +She made no protest, and they entered the forest. The moon shone down +through the lofty redwoods that seemed to scrape its crystal; the +monotone of the distant sea blended with the faint roar of the +tree-tops. The vast gloomy aisles were unbroken by other sound. + +He took her hand and held it a moment, then drew it through his arm. +"Now tell me all," he said, "They will be occupied for a long while. +The night is ours." + +"I have come here to tell you that I love you," she said. "Ah, can _I_ +make _you_ tremble? It was impossible for me not to tell you this; I +could not rest in my retreat without having the last word with +you, without having you know me. And I want to tell you that I have +suffered horribly; you may care to know that, for no one else in the +world could have made me, no one else ever can. Only your fingers +could twist in my heart-strings and tear my heart out of my body. I +suffered first because I doubted you, then because I loved you, then +the torture of jealousy and the pangs of parting, then those dreadful +three months when I heard no word. I could not stay at Casa Grande; +everything associated with you drove me wild. Oh, I have gone through +all varieties! But the last was the worst, after I heard from you +again, and all other causes were removed, and I knew that you were +well and still loved me: the knowledge that I never could be anything +to you,--and I could be so much! The torment of this knowledge was so +bitter that there was but one refuge,--imagination. I shut my eyes to +my little world and lived with you; and it seemed to me that I grew +into absolute knowledge of you. Let me tell you what I divined. You +may tell me that I am wrong, but I do not believe that you will. I +think that in the little time we were together I absorbed you. + +"It seemed to me that your soul reached always for something just +above the attainable, restless in the moments which would satisfy +another, fretted with a perverse desire for something different when +an ardent wish was granted, steeped, under all wanton determined +enjoyment of life, with the bitter knowing of life's sure impotence +to satisfy. Could the dissatisfied darting mind loiter long enough to +give a woman more than the promise of happiness?--but never mind that. + +"With this knowledge of you my own resistless desire for variety left +me: my nature concentrated into one paramount wish,--to be all things +to you. What I had felt vaguely before and stifled--the nothingness +of life, the inevitableness of satiety--I repudiated utterly, now that +they were personified in you; I would not recognize the fact of their +existence. _I_ could make you happy. How could imagination shape such +scenes, such perfection of union, of companionship, if reality were +not? Imagination is the child of inherited and living impressions. I +might exaggerate; but, even stripped of its halo, the substance must +be sweeter and more fulfilling than anything else on this earth at +least. And I knew that you loved me. Oh, I had _felt_ that! And the +variousness of your nature and desires, although they might madden +me at times, would give an extraordinary zest to life. I was The +Doomswoman no longer. I was a supplementary being who could meet you +in every mood and complete it; who would so understand that I could +be man and woman and friend to you. A delusion? But so long as I shall +never know, let me believe. An extraordinary tumultuous desire that +rose in me like a wave and shook me often at first, had, in those last +sad weeks, less part in my musings. It seemed to me that that was the +expression, the poignant essence, of love; but there was so much else! +I do not understand that, however, and never shall. But I wanted to +tell you all. I could not rest until you knew me as I am and as +you had made me. And I will tell you this too," she cried, breaking +suddenly, "I wanted you so! Oh, I needed you so! It was not I, only, +who could give. And it is so terrible for a woman to stand alone!" + +He made no reply for a moment. But he forgot every other interest and +scheme and idea stored in his impatient brain. He was thrilled to his +soul, and filled with the exultant sense that he was about to take to +his heart the woman compounded for him out of his own elements. + +"Speak to me," she said. + +"My love, I have so much to say to you that it will take all the years +we shall spend together to say it in." + +"No, no! Do not speak of that. There I am firm. Although the misery of +the past months were to be multiplied ten hundred times in the future, +I would not marry you." + +Estenega, knowing that their hour of destiny was come, and that upon +him alone depended its issues, was not the man to hesitate between +such happiness as this woman alone could give him, and the gray +existence which she in her blindness would have meted to both: his +bold will had already taken the future in its relentless grasp. But, +knowing the mental habit of women, he thought it best to let Chonita +free her mind, that there might be the less in it to protest for +hearing while his heart and passion spoke to hers. + +"It seems absurd to argue the matter," he said, "but tell me the +reasons again, if you choose, and we will dispose of them once for +all. Do not think for a moment, my darling, that I do not respect your +reasons; but I respect them only because they are yours; in themselves +they are not worthy of consideration." + +"Ay, but they are. It has been an unwritten law for four generations +that an Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada should not marry; the enmity +began, as you should know, when a member of each family was an officer +in a detachment of troops sent to protect the Missions in their +building. And my father--he told me lately--loved your father's sister +for many years,--that was the reason he married so late in life,--and +would not ask her because of her blood and of cruel wrongs her father +had done his. Shall his daughter be weak where he was strong? You cast +aside traditions as if they were the seeds of an apple; but remember +that they are blood of my blood. And the vow I made,--do you forget +that? And the words of it? The Church stands between us. I will tell +you all: the priest has forbidden me to marry you; he forbade it every +time I confessed; not only because of my vow, but because you had +aroused in me a love so terrible that I almost took the life of +another woman. Could I bring you back to the Church it might be +different; but you rule others; no one could remould you. You see it +is hopeless. It is no use to argue." + +"I have no intention of arguing. Words are too good to waste on such +an absurd proposition that because our fathers hated, we, who are +independent and intelligent beings, should not marry when every drop +of heart's blood demands its rights. As for your vow,--what is a vow? +Hysterical egotism, nothing more. Were it the promise of man to man, +the subject would be worth discussing. But we will settle the matter +in our own way." He took her suddenly in his arms and kissed her. She +put her arms about him and clung to him, trembling, her lips pressed +to his. In that supreme moment he felt not happiness, but a bitter +desire to bear her out of the world into some higher sphere where the +conditions of happiness might possibly exist. "On the highest pinnacle +we reach," he thought, "we are granted the tormenting and chastening +glimpse of what might be, had God, when he compounded his victims, +been in a generous mood and completed them." + +And she? she was a woman. + +"You will resist no longer," he said, in a few moments. + +"Ay, more surely than ever, now." Her voice was faint, but crossed by +a note of terror. "In that moment I forgot my religion and my duty. +And what is so sweet,--it cannot be right." + +"Do you so despise your womanhood, the most perfect thing about you?" + +"Oh, let us return! I wanted to kiss you once. I meant to do that. But +I should not--Let us go! Oh, I love you so! I love you so!" + +He drew her closer and kissed her until her head fell forward and +her body grew heavy. "I shall think and act now, for both," he said, +unsteadily, although there was no lack of decision in his voice. "You +are mine. I claim you, and I shall run no further risk of losing you. +Oh, you will forgive me--my love--" + +Neither saw a man walking rapidly up the trail. Suddenly the man gave +a bound and ran toward them. It was Reinaldo. + +"Ah, I have found thee," he cried. "Listen, Don Diego Estenega, lord +of the North, American, and would-be dictator of the Californias. Two +hours ago I despatched a vaquero with a circular letter to the priests +of the Department of the Californias, warning them each and all +to write at once to the Archbishop of Mexico, and protest that the +success of your ambitions would mean the downfall of the Catholic +Church in California, and telling them your schemes. Thou art mighty, +O Don Diego Estenega, but thou art powerless against the enmity of +the Church. They are mightier than thou, and thou wilt never rule in +California. Unhand my sister! Thou shalt not have her either. Thou +shalt have nothing. Wilt thou unhand her?" he cried, enraged at +Estenega's cold reception of his damnatory news. "Thou shouldst not +have her if I tore thy heart from thy body." + +Estenega looked contemptuously across Chonita's shoulder, although +his heart was lead within him. "The last resource of the mean and +down-trodden is revenge," he said. "Go. To-morrow I shall horsewhip +you in the court-yard of Fort Ross." + +Reinaldo, hot with excitement and thirst for further vengeance, +uttered a shriek of rage and sprang upon him. Estenega saw the gleam +of a knife and flung Chonita aside, catching the driving arm, the +fury of his heart in his muscles. Reinaldo had the soft muscles of +the cabellero, and panted and writhed in the iron grasp of the man +who forgot that he grappled with the brother of a woman passionately +loved, remembered only that he rejoiced to fight to the death the man +who had ruined his life. Reinaldo tried to thrust the knife into his +back; Estenega suddenly threw his weight on the arm that held it, +nearly wrenching it from its socket, snatched the knife, and drove it +to the heart of his enemy. + +Then the hot blood in his body turned cold. He stood like a stone +regarding Chonita, whose eyes, fixed upon him, were expanded with +horror. Between them lay the dead body of her brother. + +He turned with a groan and sat down on a fallen log, supporting his +chin with his hand. His profile looked grim and worn and old. He +stared unseeingly at the ground. Chonita stood, still looking at him. +The last act of her brother's life had been to lay the foundation of +her lover's ruin; his death had completed it: all the South would +rise did the slayer of an Iturbi y Moncada seek to rule it. She felt +vaguely sorry for Reinaldo; but death was peace; this was hell +in living veins. The memory of the world beyond the forest grew +indistinct. She recalled her first dream and turned in loathing from +the bloodless selfishness of which it was the allegory. Superstition +and tradition slipped into some inner pocket of her memory, there to +rattle their dry bones together and fall to dust. She saw only the +figure, relaxed for the first time, the profile of a man with his +head on the block. She stepped across the body of her brother, and, +kneeling beside Estenega, drew his head to her breast. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Doomswoman, by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12270 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36e6c54 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12270 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12270) diff --git a/old/12270-8.txt b/old/12270-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91cc6a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12270-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6100 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Doomswoman, by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Doomswoman + An Historical Romance of Old California + +Author: Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton + +Release Date: May 5, 2004 [EBook #12270] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOOMSWOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Leah Moser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: _Gertrude Atherton_ PHOTOGRAPHED BY MRS. LOUNSBERY] + +THE DOOMSWOMAN + +An Historical Romance of Old California + +By + +Gertrude Atherton + + +[Illustration] + + + +1900 + + + + +To + +STEPHEN FRANKLIN + + + + +THE DOOMSWOMAN. + + + +I. + + +It was at Governor Alvarado's house in Monterey that Chonita first +knew of Diego Estenega. I had told him much of her, but had never +cared to mention the name of Estenega in the presence of an Iturbi y +Moncada. + +Chonita came to Monterey to stand godmother to the child of Alvarado +and of her friend Doña Martina, his wife. She arrived the morning +before the christening, and no one thought to tell her that Estenega +was to be godfather. The house was full of girls, relatives of +the young mother, gathered for the ceremony and subsequent week of +festivities. Benicia, my little one, was at the rancho with Ysabel +Herrera, and I was staying with the Alvarados. So many were the guests +that Chonita and I slept together. We had not seen each other for a +year, and had so much to say that we did not sleep at all. She was +ten years younger than I, but we were as close friends as she with her +alternate frankness and reserve would permit. But I had spent several +months of each year since childhood at her home in Santa Barbara, +and I knew her better than she knew herself; when, later, I read her +journal, I found little in it to surprise me, but much to fill and +cover with shapely form the skeleton of the story which passed in +greater part before my eyes. + +We were discussing the frivolous mysteries of dress, if I remember +aright, when she laid her hand on my mouth suddenly. + +"Hush!" she said. + +A caballero serenaded his lady at midnight in Monterey. + +The tinkle of a guitar, the jingling of spurs, fell among the strong +tones of a man's voice. + +Chonita had been serenaded until she had fled to the mountains for +sleep, but she crept to the foot of the bed and knelt there, her +hand at her throat. A door opened, and, one by one, out of the black +beyond, five white-robed forms flitted into the room. They looked like +puffs of smoke from a burning moon. The heavy wooden shutters were +open, and the room was filled with cold light. + +The girls waltzed on the bare floor, grouped themselves in +mock-dramatic postures, then, overcome by the strange magnetism of the +singer, fell into motionless attitudes, listening intently. How well +I remember that picture, although I have almost forgotten the names of +the girls! + +In the middle of the room two slender figures embraced each other, +their black hair falling loosely over their white gowns. On the +window-step knelt a tall girl, her head pensively supported by her +hand, a black shawl draped gracefully about her; at her feet sat +a girl with head bowed to her knees. Between the two groups was a +solitary figure, kneeling with hand pressed to the wall and face +uplifted. + +When the voice ceased I struck a match, and five pairs of little hands +applauded enthusiastically. He sang them another song, then galloped +away. + +"It is Don Diego Estenega," said one of the girls. "He rarely sings, +but I have heard him before." + +"An Estenega!" exclaimed Chonita. + +"Yes; of the North, thou knowest. His Excellency thinks there is +no man in the Californias like him,--so bold and so smart. Thou +rememberest the books that were burned by the priests when the +governor was a boy, because he had dared to read them, no? Well, when +Diego Estenega heard of that, he made his father send to Boston and +Mexico for those books and many more, and took them up to his redwood +forests in the north, far away from the priests. And they say he had +read other books before, although such a lad; his father had brought +them from Spain, and never cared much for the priests. And he has been +to Mexico and America and Europe! God of my soul! it is said that he +knows more than his Excellency himself,--that his mind works faster. +Ay! but there was a time when he was wild,--when the mescal burnt +his throat like hornets and the aguardiente was like scorpions in +his brain; but that was long ago, before he was twenty; now he is +thirty-four. He amuses himself sometimes with the girls,--_valgame +Dios!_ he has made hot tears flow,--but I suppose we do not know +enough for him, for he marries none. Ay! but he has a charm." + +"Like what does he look? A beautiful caballero, I suppose, with eyes +that melt and a mouth that trembles like a woman in the palsy." + +"Ay, no, my Chonita; thou art wrong. He is not beautiful at all. He is +rather haggard, and wears no mustache, and he has the profile of the +great man, fine and aquiline and severe, excepting when he smiles, and +then sometimes he looks kind and sometimes he looks like a devil. He +has not the beauty of color; his hair is brown, I think, and his eyes +are gray, and set far back; but how they flash! I think they could +burn if they looked too long. He is tall and straight and very strong, +not so indolent as most of our men. They call him The American because +he moves so quickly and gets so cross when people do not think fast +enough. _He_ thinks like lightning strikes. Ay! they all say that he +will be governor in his time; that he would have been long ago, but he +has been away so much. It must be that he has seen and admired thee, +my Chonita, and discovered thy grating. Thou art happy that thou too +hast read the books. Thou and he will be great friends, I know!" + +"Yes!" exclaimed Chonita, scornfully. "It is likely. Thou hast +forgotten--perhaps--the enmity between the Capulets and the Montagues +was a sallow flame to the bitter hatred, born of jealousy in love, +politics, and social precedence, which exists between the Estenegas +and the Iturbi y Moncadas?" + + + + +II. + + +Delfina, the first child of Alvarado, born in the purple at the +governor's mansion in Monterey, was about to be baptized with all the +pomp and ceremony of the Church and time. Doña Martina, the wife of +a year, was unable to go to the church, but lay beneath her lace and +satin coverlet, her heavy black hair half covering the other side of +the bed. Beside her stood the nurse, a fat, brown, high-beaked old +crone, holding a mass of grunting lace. I stood at the foot of the +bed, admiring the picture. + +"Be careful for the sun, Tomasa," said the mother. "Her eyes must be +strong, like the Alvarados',--black and keen and strong." + +"Sure, señora." + +"And let her not smother, nor yet take cold. She must grow tall and +strong,--like the Alvarados." + +"Sure, señora." + +"Where is his Excellency?" + +"I am here." And Alvarado entered the room. He looked amused, and +probably had overheard the conversation. He justified, however, the +admiration of his young wife. His tall military figure had the perfect +poise and suggestion of power natural to a man whose genius had +been recognized by the Mexican government before he had entered his +twenties. The clean-cut face, with its calm profile and fiery +eyes, was not that of the Washington of his emulation, and I never +understood why he chose so tame a model. Perhaps because of the +meagerness of that early proscribed literature; or did the title +"Father of his Country" appeal irresistibly to that lofty and doomed +ambition? + +He passed his hand over his wife's long white fingers, but did not +offer her any other caress in my presence. + +"How dost thou feel?" + +"Well; but I shall be lonely. Do not stay long at the church, no? +How glad I am that Chonita came in time for the christening! What a +beautiful _comadre_ she will be! I have just seen her. Ay, poor Diego! +he will fall in love with her; and what then?" + +"It would have been better had she come too late, I think. To avoid +asking Diego to stand for my first child was impossible, for he is the +man of men to me. To avoid asking Doña Chonita was equally impossible, +I suppose, and it will be painful for both. He serenaded her last +night, not knowing who she was, but having seen her at her grating; he +only returned yesterday. I hope she plants no thorns in his heart." + +"Perhaps they will marry and bind the wounds," suggested the woman. + +"An Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada will not marry. He might forget, +for he is passionate and of a nature to break down barriers when a +wish is dear; but she has all the wrongs of all the Iturbi y Moncadas +on her white shoulders, and all their pride in the carriage of her +head; to say nothing of that brother whom she adores. She learned this +morning that it was Diego's determined opposition that kept Reinaldo +out of the Departmental Junta, and meets him in no tender frame of +mind----" + +Doña Martina raised her hand. Chonita stood in the door-way. She was +quite beautiful enough to plant thorns where she listed. Her tall +supple figure was clothed in white, and over her gold hair--lurid and +brilliant, but without a tinge of red--she wore a white lace mantilla. +Her straight narrow brows and heavy lashes were black; but her skin +was more purely white than her gown. Her nose was finely cut, the arch +almost indiscernible, and she had the most sculptured mouth I have +ever seen. Her long eyes were green, dark, and luminous. Sometimes +they had the look of a child, sometimes she allowed them to flash +with the fire of an animated spirit. But the expression she chose to +cultivate was that associated with crowned head and sceptered hand; +and sure no queen had ever looked so calm, so inexorable, so haughty, +so terribly clear of vision. She never posed--for any one, at least, +but herself. For some reason--a youthful reason probably--the iron in +her nature was most admired by her. Wherefore,--also, as she had the +power, as twin, to heal and curse,--I had named her the Doomswoman, +and by this name she was known far and wide. By the lower class of +Santa Barbara she was called The Golden Señorita, on account of her +hair and of her father's vast wealth. + +"Come," she said, "every one is waiting. Do not you hear the voices?" + +The windows were closed, but through them came a murmur like that of a +pine forest. + +The governor motioned to the nurse to follow Chonita and myself, and +she trotted after us, her ugly face beaming with pride of position. +Was not in her arms the oldest-born of a new generation of Alvarados? +the daughter of the governor of The Californias? Her smock, +embroidered with silk, was new, and looked whiter than fog against +her bare brown arms and face. Her short red satin skirt, a gift of her +happy lady's, was the finest ever worn by exultant nurse. About her +stringy old throat was a gold chain, bright red roses were woven +in her black reboso. I saw her admire Chonita's stately figure with +scornful reserve of the colorless gown. + +We were followed in a moment by the governor, adjusting his collar +and smoothing his hair. As he reached the door-way at the front of the +house he was greeted with a shout from assembled Monterey. The plaza +was gay with beaming faces and bright attire. The men, women, and +children of the people were on foot, a mass of color on the opposite +side of the plaza: the women in gaudy cotton frocks girt with silken +sashes, tawdry jewels, and spotless camisas, the coquettish reboso +draping with equal grace faces old and brown, faces round and olive; +the men in glazed sombreros, short calico jackets and trousers; +Indians wound up in gala blankets. In the foreground, on prancing +silver-trapped horses, were caballeros and doñas, laughing and +coquetting, looking down in triumph upon the dueñas and parents who +rode older and milder mustangs and shook brown knotted fingers at +heedless youth. The young men had ribbons twisted in their long black +hair, and silver eagles on their soft gray sombreros. Their velvet +serapes were embroidered with gold; the velvet knee-breeches were +laced with gold or silver cord over fine white linen; long deer-skin +botas were gartered with vivid ribbon; flaunting sashes bound their +slender waists, knotted over the hip. The girls and young married +women wore black or white mantillas, the silken lace of Spain, +regardless of the sun which might darken their Castilian fairness. +Their gowns were of flowered silk or red or yellow satin, the waist +long and pointed, the skirt full; jeweled buckles of tiny slippers +flashed beneath the hem. The old people were in rich dress of sober +color. A few Americans were there in the ugly garb of their country, a +blot on the picture. + +At the door, just in front of the cavalcade, stood General Vallejo's +carriage, the only one in California, sent from Sonoma for the +occasion. Beside it were three superbly-trapped horses. + +The governor placed the swelling nurse in the carriage, then glanced +about him. "Where is Estenega?--and the Castros?" he asked. + +"There are Don José and Doña Modeste Castro," said Chonita. + +The crowd had parted suddenly, and two men and a woman rode toward the +governor. One of the men was tall and dark, and his somber military +attire became the stern sadness of his face. Castro was not +Comandante-general of the army at that time, but his bearing was as +imperious in that year of 1840 as when six years later the American +Occupation closed forever the career of a man made in derision +for greatness. At his right rode his wife, one of the most queenly +beauties of her time, small as she was in stature. Every woman's +eye turned to her at once; she was our leader of fashion, and we all +copied the gowns that came to her from the city of Mexico. + +But Chonita gave no heed to the Castros. She fixed her cold direct +regard on the man who rode with them, and whom, she knew, must be +Diego Estenega, for he was their guest. She was curious to see this +enemy of her house, the political rival of her brother, the owner of +the voice which had given her the first thrill of her life. He was +dressed as plainly as Castro, and had none of the rich southern beauty +of the caballeros. His hair was cut short like Alvarado's, and his +face was thin and almost sallow. But the life that was in that face! +the passion, the intelligence, the kindness, the humor, the grim +determination! And what splendid vitality was in his tall thin figure, +and nervous activity under the repose of his carriage! I remember +I used to think in those days that Diego Estenega could conquer the +world if he wished, although I suspected that he lacked one quality of +the great rulers of men,--inexorable cruelty. + +From the moment his horse carried him into the plaza he did not remove +his eyes from Chonita's face. She lowered hers angrily after a +moment. As he reached the house he sprang to the ground, and Alvarado +presented the sponsors. He lifted his cap and bowed, but not as low as +the caballeros who were wont to prostrate themselves before her. They +murmured the usual form of salutation: + +"At your feet, señorita." + +"I appreciate the honor of your acquaintance." + +"It is my duty and pleasure to lift you to your horse." And, still +holding his cap in his hand, he led her to one of the three horses +which stood beside the carriage; with little assistance she sprang to +its back, and he mounted the one reserved for him. + +The cavalcade started. First the carriage, then Alvarado and myself, +followed by the sponsors, the Castros, the members of the Departmental +Junta and their wives, then the caballeros and the doñas, the old +people and the Americans; the populace trudging gayly in the rear, +keeping good pace with the riders, who were held in check by a +fragment of pulp too young to be jolted. + +"You never have been in Monterey before, señorita, I understand," said +Estenega to Chonita. No situation could embarrass him. + +"No; once they thought to send me to the convent here,--to Doña +Concepcion Arguéllo,--but it was so far, and my mother does not like +to travel. So Doña Concepcion came to us for a year, and, after, I +studied with an instructor who came from Mexico to educate my brother +and me." She had no intention of being communicative with Diego +Estenega, but his keen reflective gaze confused her, and she took +refuge in words. + +"Doña Eustaquia tells me that, unlike most of our women, you have +read many books. Few Californian women care for anything but to look +beautiful and to marry,--not, however, being unique in that respect. +Would you not rather live in our capital? You are so far away down +there, and there are but few of the _gente de razon_, no?" + +"We are well satisfied, señor, and we are gay when we wish. There are +ten families in the town, and many rancheros within a hundred leagues. +They think nothing of coming to our balls. And we have grand religious +processions, and bull-fights, and races. We have beautiful cañons for +meriendas; and I could dance every night if I wished. We are few, but +we are quite as gay and quite as happy as you in your capital." The +pride of the Iturbi y Moncadas and of the Barbariña flashed in her +eyes, then made way for anger under the amused glance of Estenega. + +"Oh, of course," he said, teasingly. "You are to Monterey what +Monterey is to the city of Mexico. But, pardon me, señorita; I would +not anger you for all the gold which is said to lie like rocks under +our Californias,--if it be true that certain padres hold that mighty +secret. (God! how I should like to get one by the throat and throttle +it out of him!) Pardon me again, señorita; I was going to say that +you may be pleased to know that there is little magnificence where my +ranchos are,--high on the coast, among the redwoods. I live in a house +made of big ugly logs, unpainted. There are no cavalcades in the cold +depths of those redwood forests, and the ocean beats against ragged +cliffs. Only at Fort Ross, in her log palace, does the beautiful +Russian, Princess Hélène Rotscheff, strive occasionally to make +herself and others forget that the forest is not the Bois of her +beloved Paris, that in it the grizzly and the panther hunger for her, +and that an Indian Prince, mad with love for the only fair-haired +woman he has ever seen, is determined to carry her off----" + +"Tell me! tell me!" cried Chonita, eagerly, forgetting her rôle and +her enemy. "What is that? I do not know the princess, although she has +sent me word many times to visit her--Did an Indian try to carry her +off?" + +"It happened only the other day. Prince Solano, perhaps you have +heard, is chief of all the tribes of Sonoma, Valley of the Moon. He +is a handsome animal, with a strong will and remarkable organizing +abilities. One day I was entertaining the Rotscheffs at dinner when +Solano suddenly flung the door open and strode into the room: we are +old friends, and my servants do not stand on ceremony with him. As he +caught sight of the princess he halted abruptly, stared at her for a +moment, much as the first man may have stared at the first woman, then +turned and left the house, sprang on his mustang and galloped away. +The princess, you must know, is as blonde as only a Russian can be, +and an extremely pretty woman, small and dainty. No wonder the mighty +prince of darkness took fire. She was much amused. So was Rotscheff, +and he joked her the rest of the evening. Before he left, however, +I had a word with him alone, and warned him not to let the princess +stray beyond the walls of the fortress. That same night I sent a +courier to General Vallejo--who, fortunately, was at Sonoma--bidding +him watch Solano. And, sure enough--the day I left for Monterey +the Princess Hélène was in hysterics, Rotscheff was swearing like a +madman, and a soldier was at every carronade: word had just come from +General Vallejo that he had that morning intercepted Solano in his +triumphant march, at the head of six tribes, upon Fort Ross, and sent +him flying back to his mountain-top in disorder and bitterness of +spirit." + +"That is very interesting!" cried Chonita. "I like that. What an +experience those Russians have had! That terrible tragedy!--Ah, I +remember, it was you who were to have aided Natalie Ivanhoff in her +escape--" + +"Hush!" said Estenega. "Do not speak of that. Here we are. At your +service, señorita." He sprang to the whaleboned pavement in front of +the little church facing the blue bay and surrounded by the gray ruins +of the old Presidio, and lifted her down. + +Chonita recalled, and angry with herself for having been beguiled +by her enemy, took the infant from the nurse's arms and carried it +fearfully up the aisle. Estenega, walking beside her, regarded her +meditatively. + +"What is she?" he thought, "this Californian woman with her hair of +gold and her unmistakable intellect, her marble face crossed now and +again by the animation of the clever American woman? What an +anomaly to find on the shores of the Pacific! All I had heard of The +Doomswoman, The Golden Señorita, gave me no idea of this. What a pity +that our houses are at war! She is not maternal, at all events; I +never saw a baby held so awkwardly. What a poise of head! She looks +better fitted for tragedy than for this little comedy of life in the +Californias. A sovereignty would suit her,--were it not for her eyes. +They are not quite so calm and just and inexorable as the rest of +her face. She would not even make a good household tyrant, like Doña +Jacoba Duncan. Unquestionably she is religious, and swaddled in all +the traditions of her race; but her eyes,--they are at odds with all +the rest of her. They are not lovely eyes; they lack softness and +languor and tractability; their expression changes too often, and they +mirror too much intelligence for loveliness, but they never will be +old eyes, and they never will cease to look. And they are the eyes +best worth looking into that I have ever seen. No, a sovereignty would +not suit her at all; a salon might. But, like a few of us, she is some +years ahead of her sphere. Glory be to the Californias--of the future, +when we are dirt, and our children have found the gold!" + +The baby was nearly baptized by the time he had finished his +soliloquy. She had kicked alarmingly when the salt was laid on her +tongue, and squalled under the deluge of water which gave her her name +and also wet Chonita's sleeve. The godmother longed for the ceremony +to be over; but it was more protracted than usual, owing to the +importance of the restless object on the pillow in her weary arms. +When the last word was said, she handed pillow and baby to the nurse +with a fervent sigh of relief which made her appear girlish and +natural. + +After Estenega had lifted her to her horse he dried her sleeve +with his handkerchief. He lingered over the task; the cavalcade and +populace went on without them, and when they started they were in the +rearward of the blithesome crowd. + +"Do you know what I thought as I stood by you in the church?" he +asked. + +"No," she said, indifferently. "I hope you prayed for the fortune of +the little one." + +"I did not; nor did you. You were too afraid you would drop it. I was +thinking how unmotherly, I had almost said unwomanly, you looked. You +were made for the great world,--the restless world, where people fly +faster from monotony than from a tidal wave." + +She looked at him with cold dignity, but flushed a little. "I am not +unwomanly, señor, although I confess I do not understand babies and do +detest to sew. But if I ever marry I shall be a good wife and mother. +No Spanish woman was ever otherwise, for every Spanish woman has had a +good mother for example." + +"You have said exactly what you should have said, voicing the inborn +principles and sentiments of the Spanish woman. I should be interested +to know what your individual sentiments are. But you misunderstand me. +I said that you were too good for the average lot of woman. You are a +woman, not a doll; an intelligence, not a bundle of shallow emotions +and transient desires. You should have a larger destiny." + +She gave him a swift sidelong flash from eyes that suddenly looked +childish and eager. + +"It is true," she said, frankly, "I have no desire to marry and have +many children. My father has never said to me, 'Thou must marry;' and +I have sometimes thought I would say 'No' when that time came. For the +present I am contented with my books and to ride about the country +on a wild horse; but perhaps--I do not know--I may not always be +contented with that. Sometimes when reading Shakespeare I have +imagined myself each of those women in turn. But generally, of course, +I have thought little of being any one but myself. What else could I +be here?" + +"Nothing; excepting a Joan of Arc when the Americans sweep down upon +us. But that would be only for a day; we should be such easy prey. +If I could put you to sleep and awaken you fifty years hence, when +California was a modern civilization! God speed the Americans: Therein +lies our only chance." + +"What!" she cried. "You--you would have the Americans? You--a +Californian! But you are an Estenega; that explains everything." + +"I am a Californian," he said, ignoring the scorn of the last words, +"but I hope I have acquired some common-sense in roving about the +world. The women of California are admirable in every way,--chaste, +strong of character, industrious, devoted wives and mothers, born +with sufficient capacity for small pleasures. But what are our men? +Idle, thriftless, unambitious, too lazy to walk across the street, but +with a horse for every step, sleeping all day in a hammock, gambling +and drinking all night. They are the natural followers of a race of +men who came here to force fortune out of an unbroken country with +little to help them but brains and will. The great effort produced +great results; therefore there is nothing for their sons to do, and +they luxuriously do nothing. What will the next generation be? Our +women will marry Americans,--respect for men who are men will overcome +prejudice,--the crossed blood will fight for a generation or two, then +a race will be born worthy of California. Why are our few great men so +very great to us? What have men of exceptional talent to fight down in +the Californias except the barriers to its development? In England or +the United States they still would be great men,--Alvarado and Castro, +at least,--but they would have to work harder." + +Chonita, in spite of her disapproval and her blood, looked at him +with interest. His ideas and language were strikingly unlike the +sentimental rhetoric of the caballeros. + +"It is as you say," she admitted; "but the Californian's highest duty +is loyalty to his country. Ours is a double duty, isolated as we are +on this far strip of land, away from all other civilization. We should +be more contemptible than Indians if we were not true to our flag." + +"No wonder that you and that famous patriot of ours, Doña Eustaquia +Ortega, are bonded friends. I doubt if you could hate as well as she. +You have no such violence in your nature; you could neither love nor +hate very hard. You would love (if you loved at all) with majesty and +serenity, and hate with chili severity." While he spoke he watched her +intently. + +She met his gaze unflinchingly. "True, señor; I am no 'bundle of +shallow emotions,' nor have I a lion in me, like Eustaquia. I am a +creature of deliberation, not of impulse: I love and hate as duty +dictates." + +"You are by nature the most impulsive woman I ever saw," he said, much +amused, "and Eustaquia's lion is a kitten to the one that sleeps in +you. You have cold deliberation enough, but it is manufactured, and +the result of pretty hard work at that. Like all edifices reared +without a foundation, it will fall with a crash some day, and +the fragments will be of very little use to you." And there the +conversation ended: they had reached the plaza, and a babel of voices +surrounded them. Governor Alvarado stood on the upper corridor of his +house, throwing handfuls of small gold coins among the people, who +were shrieking with delight. The girl guests mingled with them, seeing +that no palm went home empty. Beside the governor sat Doña Martina, +radiant with pride, and behind her stood the nurse, holding the infant +on its pillow. + +"We had better go to the house as soon as possible," said Estenega. +"It is nearly time for the bull-bear fight, and we must have good +seats." + +They forced their way through the crowd, dismounted at the door, and +went up to the corridor. The Castros and I were already there, with a +number of other invited guests. The women sat in chairs, close to the +corridor railing; several rows of men stood behind them. + +The plaza was a jagged circle surrounded by dwelling-houses, some one +story in height, others with overhanging balconies; from it radiated +five streets. All corridors were crowded with the elegantly-dressed +men and women of the aristocracy; large black fans were waving; every +eye was flashing expectantly; the people stood on platforms which had +been erected in four of the streets. + +Amidst the shouts of the spectators, two vaqueros, dressed in black +velvet short-clothes, dazzling linen, and stiff black sombreros, +tinkling bells attached to their trappings, jingling spurs on their +heels, galloped into the plaza, driving a large aggressive bull. +They chased him about in a circle, swinging their reatas, dodging +his onslaughts, then rode out, and four others entered, dragging an +unwilling bear by a reata tied to each of its legs. By means of a long +chain and much dexterity they fastened the two beasts together, freed +the legs of the bear, then retired to the entrance to await events. +But the bull and the bear would not fight. The latter arose on his +haunches and regarded his enemy warily; the bull appeared to disdain +the bear as too small game; he but lowered his horns and pawed the +ground. The spectators grew impatient. The brave caballeros and dainty +doñas wanted blood. They tapped their feet and murmured ominously. As +for the populace, it howled for slaughter. Governor Alvarado made a +sign to one of the vaqueros; the man rushed abruptly upon the bull and +hit him a sharp blow across the nose with the cruel quirto. The +bull's dignity vanished. With the quadrupedian capacity for measuring +distance, he inferred that the blow had been inflicted by the bear, +who sat some twenty feet away, mildly licking his paws. He made a +savage onset. The bear, with the dexterity of a vaquero, leaped +aside and sprang upon the assailant's neck, his teeth meeting +argumentatively in the rope-like tendons. The bull roared with pain +and rage and attempted to shake him off, but he hung on; both lost +their footing and rolled over and over amidst clouds of dust, a mighty +noise, and enough blood to satisfy the early thirst of the beholders. +Then the bull wrenched himself free; before the mountain visitor could +scramble to his feet, he fixed him with his horns and tossed him on +high. As the bear came down on his back with a thud and a snap which +would have satisfied a bull less anxious to show what a bull could do, +the victor rushed upon the corpse, kicked and stamped and bit +until the blood spouted into his eyes, and pulp and dust were +indistinguishable. Then how the delighted spectators clapped their +hands and cried "Brava!" to the bull, who pranced about the plaza, +dragging the carcass of the bear after him, his head high, his big +eyes red and rolling! The women tore off their rebosos and waved them +like banners, smashed their fans, and stamped their little feet; the +men whirled their sombreros with supple wrists. But the bull was not +satisfied; he pawed the ground with demanding hoofs; and the vaqueros +galloped into the ring with another bear. Nor had they time to detach +their reatas before the bull was upon the second antagonist; and they +were obliged to retire in haste. + +Estenega, who stood between Chonita and myself, watched The Doomswoman +attentively. Her lips were compressed fiercely: for a moment they +bore a strange resemblance to his own as I had seen them at times. +Her nostrils were expanded, her lids half covered her eyes. "She has +cruelty in her," he murmured to me as the first battle finished; "and +it was her imperious wish that the bull should win, because he is the +more lordly animal. She has no sympathy for the poor bundle of hair +and quivering flesh that bounded on the mountain yesterday. Has she +brutality in her?--just enough--" + +"Brava! Brava!" The women were on their feet; even Chonita for the +moment forgot herself, and beat the railing with her small fist. +Another bear had been impaled and tossed and trampled. The bull, +panting from his exertions, dashed about the plaza, still dragging his +first victim after him. Suddenly he stopped; the blood gushed from his +nostrils; he shivered like a skeleton hanging in the wind, then fell +in an ignominious heap--dead. + +"A warning, Diego," I said, rising and shaking my fan at him. "Be not +too ambitious, else wilt thou die of thy victories. And do not love +the polar star," I murmured in his ear, "lest thou set fire to it and +fall to ashes thyself." + + + + +III. + + +In the long dining-room, opening upon the large high-walled garden at +the back of the Governor's house, a feast was spread for fifty people. +Doña Martina sat for a little time at the head of the table, her +yellow gown almost hidden by the masses of hair which her small head +could not support. Castro was on one side of her, Estenega on the +other, Chonita by her arch-enemy. A large bunch of artificial flowers +was at each plate, and the table was loaded with yellowed chickens +sitting proudly in scarlet gravy, tongues covered with walnut sauce, +grilled meats, tamales, mounds of tortillas, and dulces. + +Alvarado, at the lower end of the table, sat between Doña Modeste +Castro and myself; and between the extremes of the board were faces +glowing, beautiful, ugly, but without exception fresh and young. From +all, the mantilla and serape had been removed, jewels sparkled in the +lace shirts of the men, white throats were encircled by the invariable +necklace of Baja Californian pearls. Chonita alone wore a string of +black pearls. I never saw her without it. + +Doña Martina took little part in the talk and laughter, and after +a time slipped away, motioning to Chonita to take her place. The +conversation turned upon war and politics, and in its course Estenega, +looking from Chonita to Castro with a smile of good-natured irony +said,-- + +"Doña Chonita is of your opinion, coronel, that California was the +direct gift of heaven to the Spaniards, and that the Americans cannot +have us." + +Castro raised his glass to the _comadre_. "Doña Chonita has the loyal +bosom of all Californian women. Our men love better the olive of peace +than the flavor of discord; but did the bandoleros dare to approach +our peaceful shores with dastardly intent to rob, then, thanks be +to God, I know that every man among them would fight for this virgin +land. Thou, too, Diego, thou wouldst unsheathe thy sword, in spite of +thy pretended admiration of the Americans." + +Estenega raised his shoulders. "Possibly. But in American occupation +lies the hope of California. What have we done with it in our +seventy years of possession? Built a few missions, which are rotting, +terrorized or cajoled few thousand worthless Indians into civilized +imbecility, and raised a respectable number of horses and cattle. Our +hide and tallow trade is only good; the Russians have monopolized the +fur trade; we continue to raise cattle and horses because it would be +an exertion to suppress them; and meanwhile we dawdle away our lives +very pleasurably, whilst a magnificent territory, filled with gold and +richer still in soil, lies idle beneath our feet. Nature never works +without a plan. She compounded a wonderful country, and she created a +wonderful people to develop it. She has allowed us to drone on it +for a little time, but it was not made for us; and I am sufficiently +interested in California to wish to see her rise from her sleep and +feel and live in every part of her." He turned suddenly to Chonita. +"If I were a sculptor," he said, "I should use you as a model for a +statue of California. I have the somewhat whimsical idea that you are +the human embodiment of her." + +Before she could muster her startled and angry faculties for reply, +before Estenega had finished speaking, in fact, Castro brought his +open palm down on the table, his eyes blazing. + +"Oh, execrable profanation!" he cried. "Oh, unheard-of perfidy! Is it +possible that a man calling himself a Californian could give utterance +to such sentiments? Oh, abomination! You would invite, welcome, +uphold, the American adventurer? You would tear apart the bosom of +your country under pretense of doctoring its evils? You would cast +this fair gift of Almighty God at the feet of American swine? Oh, +Diego! Diego! This comes of the heretic books thou hast read. It is +better to have heart than brain." + +"True: the palpitations do not last as long. We have had proof which I +need not recapitulate that to preserve California to itself it must be +tied fast to Mexico, otherwise would it die of anarchy or fall a prey +to the first invader. So far so good. But what has Mexico done for +California? Nothing; and she will do less. She is a mother who has +forgotten the child she put out to nurse. England and France and +Russia would do as little. But the United States, young and +ambitious, will give her greedy attention, and out of their greed +will California's good be wrought. And although they sweep us from the +earth, they will plant fruit where they found weeds." + +Don José pushed back his chair violently and left the table. Estenega +turned to Chonita and found her pallid, her nostrils tense, her eyes +flashing. + +"Traitor!" she articulated. "I hate you! And it was you--_you_--who +kept my loyal brother from serving his country in the Departmental +Junta. He is as full of fire and patriotism as Castro; and yet you, +whose blood is ice, could be a member of the Electoral College and +defeat the election of a man who is as much an honor to his country as +you are a shame." + +He smiled a little cruelly, but without anger or shame in his face. +"Señorita," he said, "I defeated your brother because I did not +believe him to be of any use to his country. He would only have been +in the way as a member of the Junta, and an older man wanted the +place. Your brother has Don José's enthusiasm without his magnetism +and remarkable executive power. He is too young to have had +experience, and has done neither reading nor thinking. Therefore I +did my best to defeat him. Pardon my rudeness, señorita; ascribe it to +revenge for calling me a traitor." + +"You--you----" she stammered, then bent her head over her plate, +her Spanish dignity aghast at the threatening tears. Her hand hung +clinched at her side. Diego took it in spite of resistance, and, +opening the rigid fingers, bent his head beneath the board and kissed +them. + +"I believe you are somewhat of a woman, after all," he said. + + + + +IV. + + +The party deserted the table for the garden, there to idle until +evening should give them the dance. All of the men and most of the +women smoked cigaritos, the latter using the gold or silver holder, +supporting it between the thumb and finger. The high walls of the +garden were covered with the delicate fragrant pink Castilian roses, +and the girls plucked them and laid them in their hair. + +"Does it look well, Don Diego?" asked one girl, holding her head +coquettishly on one side. + +"It looked better on its vine," he said, absently. He was looking for +Chonita, who had disappeared. "Roses are like women: they lose their +subtler fragrance when plucked; but, like women, their heads always +droop invitingly." + +"I do not understand thee, Don Diego," said the girl, fixing her wide +innocent eyes on the young man's inscrutable face. "What dost thou +mean?" + +"That thou art sweeter than Castilian roses," he said and passed on. +"And how is, thy little one?" he asked a young matron whose lithe +beauty had won his admiration a year ago, but to whom maternity had +been too generous. She raised her soft brown eyes out of which the +coquettish sparkle had gone. + +"Beautiful! Beautiful!" she cried. "And so smart, Don Diego. He beats +the air with his little fists, and--Holy Mary, I swear it!--he winks +one eye when I tickle him." + +Estenega sauntered down the garden endeavoring to imagine Chonita fat +and classified. He could not. He paused beside a woman who did not +raise her eyes at once, but coquettishly pretended to be absorbed in +the conversation of those about her. She too had been married a year +and more, but her figure had not lost its elegance, and she was very +handsome. Her coquetry was partly fear. Estenega's power was felt +alike by innocent girls and chaste matrons. There were few scandals in +those days; the women of the aristocracy were virtuous by instinct +and rigid social laws; but, how it would be hard to tell, Estenega +had acquired the reputation of being a dangerous man. Perhaps it had +followed him back from the city of Mexico, where at one time, he had +spent three years as diputado, and whence returned with a brilliant +and startling record of gallantry. A woman had followed on the next +ship, and, unless I am much mistaken, Diego passed many uneasy +hours before he persuaded her to return to Mexico. Then old Don José +Briones' beautiful young wife was found dead in her bed one morning, +and the old women who dressed the body swore that there were marks of +hard skinny fingers on her throat. Estenega had made no secret of his +admiration of her. At different times girls of the people had left +Monterey suddenly, and vague rumors had floated down from the North +that they had been seen in the redwood forests where Estenega's +ranchos lay. I asked him, point-blank, one day, if these stories were +true, prepared to scold him as he deserved; and he remarked coolly +that stories of that sort were always exaggerated, as well as a man's +success with women. But one had only to look at that face, with its +expression of bitter-humorous knowledge, its combination of strength +and weakness, to feel sure that there were chapters in his life that +no woman outside of them would ever read. I always felt, when with +Diego Estenega, that I was in the presence of a man who had little +left to learn of life's phases and sensations. + +"The sun will freckle thy white neck," he said to the matron who would +not raise her eyes. + +"Shall I bring thy mantilla, Doña Carmen?" + +She looked up with a swift blush, then lowered her soft black eyes +suddenly before the penetrating gaze of the man who was so different +from the caballeros. + +"It is not well to be too vain, señor. We must think less of those +things and more of--our Church." + +"True; the Church may be a surer road to heaven than a good +complexion, if less of a talisman on earth. Still I doubt if a +freckled Virgin would have commanded the admiration of the centuries, +or even of the Holy Ghost." + +"Don Diego! Don Diego!" cried a dozen horrified voices. + +"Diego Estenega, if it were any man but thou," I exclaimed, "I would +have thee excommunicated. Thou blasphemer! How couldst thou?" + +Diego raised my threatening hand to his lips. "My dear Eustaquia, it +was merely a way of saying that woman should be without blemish. And +is not the Virgin the model for all women?" + +"Oh," I exclaimed, impatiently, "thou canst plant an idea in people's +minds, then pluck it out before their very eyes and make them believe +it never was there. That is thy power,--but not over me. I know thee." +We were standing apart, and I had dropped my voice. "But come and talk +to me awhile. I cannot stand those babies," and I indicated with a +sweep of my fan the graceful, richly-dressed caballeros whose soft +drooping eyes and sensuous mouths were more promising of compliments +than conversation. "Neither Alvarado nor Castro is here. Thou too +wouldst have gone in a moment had I not captured thee." + +"On the contrary, I should have captured you. If we were not too old +friends for flirting I should say that your handsome-ugly face is the +most attractive in the garden. It is a pretty picture, though," +he went on, meditatively,--"those women in their gay soft gowns, +coquetting demurely with the caballeros. Their eyes and mouths are +like flowers; and their skins are so white, and their hair so black. +The high wall, covered with green and Castilian roses, was purposely +designed by Nature for them. Sometimes I have a passing regret that +it is all doomed, and a half-century hence will have passed out of +memory." + +"What do you mean?" I asked, sharply. + +"Oh, we will not discuss the question of the future. I sent Castro +away from the table in a towering rage, and it is too hot to excite +you. Even the impassive Doomswoman became so angry that she could not +eat her dinner." + +"It is your old wish for American occupation--the bandoleros! No; I +will not discuss it with you: I have gone to bed with my head bursting +when we have talked of it before. You might have spared poor José. But +let us talk of something else--Chonita. What do you think of her?" + +"A thousand things more than one usually thinks of a woman after the +first interview." + +"But do you think her beautiful?" + +"She is better than beautiful. She is original." + +"I often wonder if she would be La Favorita of the South if it were +not for her father's great wealth and position. The men who profess to +be her slaves must have absorbed the knowledge that she has the +brains they have not, although she conceals her superiority from them +admirably: her pride and love of power demand that she shall be La +Favorita, although her caballeros must weary her. If she made them +feel their insignificance for a moment they would fly to the standard +of her rival, Valencia Menendez, and her regalities would be gone +forever. A few men have gone honestly wild over her, but I doubt if +any one has ever really loved her. Such women receive a surfeit of +admiration, but little love. If she were an unintellectual woman she +would have an extraordinary power over men, with her beauty and her +subtle charm; but now she is isolated. What a pity that your houses +are at war!" + +He had been looking away from me. As I finished speaking he turned +his face slowly toward me, first the profile, which looked as if cut +rapidly with a sharp knife out of ivory, then the full face, with its +eyes set so deeply under the scraggy brows, its mouth grimly humorous. +He looked somewhat sardonic and decidedly selfish. Well I knew what +that expression meant. He had the kindest heart I had ever known, but +it never interfered with a most self-indulgent nature. Many times I +had begged him to be considerate of some girl who I knew charmed him +for the moment only; but one secret of his success with women was his +unfeigned if brief enthusiasm. + +"Let her alone!" I exclaimed. "You cannot marry her. She would go into +a convent before she would sacrifice the traditions of her house. And +if you were not at war, and she married you, you would only make her +miserably happy." + +He merely smiled and continued to look me straight in the eyes. + + + + +V. + + +I went upstairs and found Chonita reading Landor's "Imaginary +Conversations." (When Chonita was eighteen,--she was now +twenty-four--Don Alfredo Robinson, one of the American residents, +had at her father's request sent to Boston for a library of several +hundred books, a birthday gift for the ambitious daughter of the +Iturbi y Moncadas. The selection was an admirable one, and a rancho +would not have pleased her as well. She read English and French with +ease, although she spoke both languages brokenly.) As I entered she +laid down the book and clasped her hands behind her head. She looked +tranquil, but less amiable than was her wont. + +"Thou hast been far away from the caballeros and the doñas of +Monterey," I said. + +"Not even among Spanish ghosts." + +"I think thou carest at heart for nothing but thy books." + +"And a few people, and my religion." + +"But they come second, although thou wilt not acknowledge it even to +thyself. Suppose thou hadst to sacrifice thy religion or thy books, +never to read another? Which wouldst thou choose?" + +"God of my soul! what a question! No Spanish woman was ever a truer +Catholic; but to read is my happiness, the only happiness I want on +earth." + +"Art thou sure that to train the intellect means happiness?" + +"Sure. Does it not give us the power to abstract ourselves from life +when we are tired of it?" + +"True, but there is another result you have not thought of. The more +the intellect is developed, the more acute and aggressive is the +nervous system; the more tenacious is the memory, the more has one to +live with, and the higher the ideals. When the time comes for you to +live you will suffer with double the intensity and depth of the woman +whose nerves are dull or stunted." + +"To suffer you must love, and I never shall love. Who is there to +love? Books always suffice me, and I suppose there are enough in the +world to make the time pass as long as I live." + +I did not continue the argument, knowing the placid superiority of +inexperience. + +"But thou hast not yet told me which thou wouldst give up." + +"The books, of course. I hope I know my duty. I would sacrifice all +things to my religion. But the priests do not interfere now as they +did in the last generation." + +I was very religious in those days, and my heart beat with approval. +"I have always said that the Church may let women read what they +choose. The good principles they are born with they will adhere to." + +"We are by nature conservatives, that is all. And we have need of +religion. We must have something to lean on, and men are poor props, +as far as I have observed. Sometimes after having read a long while in +an absorbing book, particularly one that seemed to put something with +a living hand into my brain and make it feel larger, I find that I am +miles away from the Church; I have forgotten its existence. I always +_run_ back." + +"_Dios!_ I should think so. Yes, it is well we do need our religion. +Men do not; for that reason they drop it the moment the wings on their +minds grow fast--as they would, when the warm sun came out, drop the +thick blanket of the Indian, borrowed and gratefully worn in dark +uncertain weather. I do not dare ask Diego Estenega what he believes, +lest he tell me he believes nothing and I should have to hear it. How +dost thou like my friend, Chonita?" + +"Art thou asking me how I like the enemy of my house? I hate him." + +"If he goes to Santa Barbara with Alvarado this summer wilt thou ask +him to be thy guest?" + +"Of course. The enmity has always been veiled with much courtesy; and +I would have him see that we know how to entertain." + +I watched her covertly; I could detect no sign of interest. Presently +she took up the volume of Landor and read aloud to me, the stately +English sounding oddly with her Spanish accent. + + + + +VI. + + +At ten o'clock the large sala of the Governor's house was thronged +with guests, and the music of the flute, harp, and guitar floated +through the open windows: the musicians sat on the corridor. How +harmonious was the Monterey ball-room of that day!--the women in their +white gowns of every rich material, the men in white trousers, black +silk jackets, and low morocco shoes; no color except in the jewels +and the rich Southern faces. The bare ugly sala, from which the uglier +furniture had been removed, needed no ornaments with that moving +beauty; and even the coffee-colored, high-stomached old people were +picturesque. I wander through those deserted salas sometimes, and, +as the tears blister my eyes, imagination and memory people the cold +rooms, and I forget that the dashing caballeros and lovely doñas who +once called Monterey their own and made it a living picture-book are +dust beneath the wild oats and thistles of the deserted cemetery on +the hill. The Americans hardly know that such a people once existed. + +Chonita entered the sala at eleven o'clock, looking like a snow queen. +Her gold hair, which always glittered like metal, was arranged to +simulate a crown; she wore a gown of Spanish lace, and no jewels but +the string of black pearls. I never had seen her look so cold and so +regal. + +Estenega stepped out upon the corridor. "Play El Son," he said, +peremptorily. Then as the vivacious music began he walked over to +Chonita and clapped his hands in front of her as authoritatively as +he had bidden the musicians. What he did was of frequent occurrence +in the Californian ball-room, but she looked haughtily rebellious. He +continued to strike his hands together, and looked down upon her +with an amused smile which brought the angry color to her face. Her +hesitation aroused the eagerness of the other men, and they cried +loudly-- + +"El Son! El Son! señorita." + +She could no longer refuse, and, passing Estenega with head erect, +she bent it slightly to the caballeros and passed to the middle of the +room, the other guests retreating to the wall. She stood for a moment, +swaying her body slightly; then, raising her gown high enough for +the lace to sweep the instep of her small arched feet, she tapped +the floor in exact time to the music for a few moments, then glided +dreamily along the sala, her willowy body falling in lovely lines, +unfolding every detail of El Son, unheeding the low ripple of +approval. Then, dropping her gown, she spun the length of the room +like a white cloud caught in a cyclone; her garments whirred, +her heels clicked, her motion grew faster and swifter, until the +spectators panted for breath. Then, unmindful of the lively melody, +she drifted slowly down, swaying languidly, her long round arms now +lolling in the lace of her gown, now lifted to graceful sweep and +curve. The caballeros shouted their appreciation, flinging gold and +silver at her feet; never had El Son been given with such variations +before. Never did I see greater enthusiasm until the night which +culminated the tragedy of Ysabel Herrera. Estenega stood enraptured, +watching every motion of her body, every expression of her face. +The blood blazed in her cheeks, her eyes were like green stars and +sparkled wickedly. The cold curves of her statuesque mouth were warm +and soft, her chin was saucily uplifted, her heavy waving hair fell +over her shoulders to her knees, a glittering veil. Where had The +Doomswoman, the proud daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas, gone? + +The girls were a little frightened: this was not the Son to which they +were accustomed. The young matrons frowned. The old people exclaimed, +"Caramba!" "Mother of God!" "Holy Mary!" I was aghast; well as I knew +her, this was a piece of audacity for which I was unprepared. + +As the dance went on and she grew more and more like an untamed +wood-nymph, even the caballeros became vaguely uneasy, hotly as they +admired the beautiful wild thing enchaining their gaze. I looked again +at Estenega and knew that his heart beat in passionate sympathy. + +"I have found _her_," he murmured, exultantly. "She is California, +magnificent, audacious, incomprehensible, a creature of storms and +convulsions and impregnable calm; the germs of all good and all bad in +her; a woman sublimated. Every husk of tradition has fallen from her." + +Once, as she passed Estenega, her eyes met his. They lit with a glance +of recognition, then the lids drooped and she floated on. He left the +room; and when he returned she sat on a window-seat, surrounded by +caballeros, as calm and as pale as when he had commanded her to dance. +He did not approach her, but, joined me at the upper end of the sala, +where I stood with Alvarado, the Castros, Don Thomas Larkin, the +United States Consul, and a half-dozen others. We were discussing +Chonita's interpretation of El Son. + +"That was a strange outbreak for a Spanish girl," said Señor Larkin. + +"She is Chonita Iturbi y Moncada," said Castro, severely. "She is like +no other woman, and what she does is right." + +The consul bowed. "True, coronel. I have seen no one here like Doña +Chonita. There is a delicious uniformity about the Californian women: +so reserved, shrinking yet dignified, ever on their guard. Doña +Chonita changed so swiftly from the typical woman of her race to an +houri, almost a bacchante,--only an extraordinary refinement of nature +kept her this side of the line,--that an American would be tempted to +call her eccentric." + +Alvarado lifted his hand and pointed through the window to the stars. +"The golden coals in the blue fire of heaven are not higher above +censure," he said. + +Doña Modeste raised her eyebrows. "Coals are safest when burned on +the domestic hearth and carefully watched; safer still when they have +fallen to ashes." + +"What is this rumor of pirates on the coast?" demanded Alvarado, +abruptly. + +I put my hand through Estenega's arm and drew him aside. The music of +the contradanza was playing, and we stood against the wall. + +"Well, you know Chonita better since that dance," I said to him. +"Polar stars are not unlikely to have volcanoes. Better let the deeps +alone, my friend; the lava might scorch you badly. Women of complex +natures are interesting studies, but dangerous to love. They wear the +nerves to a point, and the tired brain and heart turn gratefully to +the crystalline, idle-minded woman. She is too much like yourself, +Diego. And you,--how long could you love anybody? Love with you means +curiosity." + +His face looked like chalk for a moment, an indication with him of +suppressed and violent emotion. Then he turned his head and regarded +me with a slight smile. "Not altogether. You forget that the most +faithless men have been the most faithful when they have found the +one woman. Curiosity and fickleness are merely parts of a restless +seeking,--nothing more." + +"I was sure you would acquit yourself with credit! But you have an +unholy charm, and you never hesitate to exert it." + +He laughed outright. "One would think I was a rattlesnake. My unholy +charm consists of a reasonable amount of address born of a great +weakness for women and some personal magnetism,--the latter the +offspring of the habit of mental concentration--" + +"And an inexorable will--" + +"Perhaps. As to the exercise of it--why not? _Vive la bagatelle!_" + +"It is useless to argue with you. Are you going to let that girl +alone?" + +"She is the only girl in the Californias whom I shall not let alone." + +I could have shaken him. "To what end? And her brother? I have +often wondered which would rule you in a crisis, your head or your +passions." + +"It would depend upon the crisis. I am afraid you are right,--that +altiloquent Reinaldo will give trouble." + +"Is it true that he has been conspiring with Carillo, and that an +extraordinary and secret session of the Departmental Junta has been +called?" + +He looked down upon me with his grimmest smile. "You curious little +woman! You must not put your white fingers into the Departmental pie. +If you had been a man, with as good a brain as you have for a woman, +you would have been an ornament to our politics. But as it is--pardon +me--the better for our balancing country the less you have to do with +it." + +I could feel my eyes snap. "You respect no woman's mind," I said, +savagely; "nothing but the woman in her. But I will not quarrel with +you. Tell that baby over there to come and waltz with me." + +At dawn, as we entered our room, I seized Chonita by the shoulders and +shook her. "What did you mean by such a performance?" I demanded. "It +was unprecedented!" + +She threw back her head and laughed. "I could not help it," she said. +"First I felt an irresistible desire to show Monterey that I dared +do anything I chose. And then I have a wild something in me which has +often threatened to break loose before; and to-night it did. It was +that man. He made me." + +"_Ay, Dios!"_ I thought, "it has begun already." + + + + +VII. + + +The festivities were to last a week, every one taking part but +Alvarado and Doña Martina. The latter was not strong enough, the +governor cared more for duty than for pleasure. + +The next day we had a merienda on the hills behind the town. The green +pine woods were gay with the bright colors of the young people. Here +and there a caballero dashed up and down to show his horsemanship and +the silver and embroidered silk of his saddle. Silver, too, were +his jingling spurs, the eagles on his sombrero, the buttons on his +colorous silken jacket. Horses, without exception handsomely trapped, +were tethered everywhere, pawing the ground or nibbling the grass. The +girls wore white or flowered silk or muslin gowns, and rebosos about +their heads; the brown ugly dueñas, ever at their sides, were foils +they would gladly have dispensed with. The tinkle of the guitar never +ceased, and the sweet voices of the girls and the rich voices of the +men broke forth with the joyous spontaneity of the birds' songs about +them. + +Chonita wore a white silk gown, I remember flowered with blue,--large +blue lilies. The reboso matched the gown. As soon as we arrived--we +were a little late--she was surrounded by caballeros who hardly knew +whether to like her or not, but who adhered to the knowledge that she +was Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, the most famous beauty of the South. + +"_Dios!_ but thou art beautiful," murmured one, his dreamy eyes +dwelling on her shining hair. + +"_Gracias_, señor." She whispered it as bashfully as the maidens to +whom he was accustomed, her eyes fixed upon a rose she held. + +"Wilt thou not stay with us here in Monterey?" + +She raised her eyes slowly,--he could not but feel the effort,--gave +him one bewildering glance, half appealing, half protesting, then +dropped them suddenly. + +"Wilt thou stay with me?" panted the caballero. + +"Ay, señor! thou must not speak like that. Some one will hear thee." + +"I care not! God of my life! I care not! Wilt thou marry me?" + +"Thou must not speak to me of marriage, señor. It is to my father thou +must speak. Would I, a Californian maiden, betroth myself without his +knowledge?" + +"Holy heaven! I will! But give me one word that thou lovest me,--one +word!" + +She lifted her chin saucily and turned to another caballero, who, I +doubt not, proposed also. Estenega, who had watched her, laughed. + +"She acts the part to perfection," he said to me. "Either natural or +acquired coquetry has more to do with saving her from the solitary +plane of the intellectual woman than her beauty or her father's +wealth. I am inclined to think that it is acquired. I do not believe +that she is a coquette at heart, any more than that she is the marble +doomswoman she fondly believes herself." + +"You will tell her that," I exclaimed, angrily; "and she will end +by loving you because you understand her; all women want to be +understood. Why don't you go to Paris again? You have not been there +for a long time." + +Not deeming this suggestion worthy of answer, he left me and walked to +Chonita, who was glancing over the top of her fan into the ardent eyes +of a third caballero. + +"You will step on a bunch of nettles in a moment," he said, +practically. "Your slippers are very thin; you had better stand over +here on the path." And he dexterously separated her from the other +men. "Will you walk to that opening over there with me? I want to show +you a better view of Monterey." + +His manner had not a touch of gallantry, and she was tired of the +caballeros. + +"Very well," she said. "I will look at the view." + +As she followed him she noted that he led her where the bushes were +thinnest, and kicked the stones from her path. She also remarked the +nervous energy of his thin figure. "It comes from his love of the +Americans," she thought, angrily. "He must even walk like them. The +Americans!" And she brought her teeth together with a sharp click. + +He turned, smiling. "You look very disapproving," he said. "What have +I done?" + +"You look like an American! You even wear their clothes, and they are +the color of smoke; and you wear no lace. How cold and uninteresting a +scene would this be if all the men were dressed as you are!" + +"We cannot all be made for decorative purposes. And you are as unlike +those girls, in all but your dress, as I am unlike the men. I will not +incur your wrath by saying that you are American: but you are modern. +Our lovely compatriots were the same three hundred years ago. Will +Doña California be pleased to observe that whale spouting in the bay? +There is the tree beneath which Junipero Serra said his first mass in +this part of the country. What a sanctimonious old fraud he must have +been, if he looked anything like his pictures! Did you ever see bay +bluer than that? or sand whiter? or a more perfect semicircle of hills +than this? or a more straggling town? There is the Custom-house on the +rocks. You will go to a ball there to-night, and hear the boom of +the surf as you dance." He turned with one of his sudden impatient +motions. "Suppose we ride. The air is too sharp to lie about under the +trees. This white horse mates your gown. Let us go over to Carmelo." + +"I should like to go," she said, doubtfully; he had made her throb +with indignation once or twice, but his conversation interested her +and her free spirit approved of a ride over the hills unattended by +dueña. "But--you know--I do not like you." + +"Oh, never mind that; the ride will interest you just the same." And +he lifted her to the horse, sprang on another, caught her bridle, +lest she should rebel, and galloped up the road. When they were on the +other side of hill he slackened speed and looked at her with a smile. +She was inclined to be angry, but found herself watching the varying +expressions of his mouth, which diverted her mind. It was a baffling +mouth, even to experienced women, and Chonita could make nothing of +it. It had neither sweetness nor softness, but she had never felt +impelled to study the mouth of a caballero. And then she wondered how +a man with a mouth like that could have manners so gentle. + +"Are you aware," he said, abruptly, "that your brother is accused of +conspiracy?" + +"What?" She looked at him as if she inferred that this was the order +of badinage that an Iturbi y Moncada might expect from an Estenega. + +"I am not joking. It is quite true." + +"It is not true! Reinaldo conspire against his government? Some one +has lied. And you are ready to believe!" + +"I hope some one has lied. The news is very direct, however." He +looked at her speculatively. "The more obstacles the better," he +thought; "and we may as well declare war on this question at once. +Besides, it is no use to begin as a hypocrite, when every act would +tell her what I thought of him. Moreover, he will have more or less +influence over her until her eyes are opened to his true worth. She +will not believe me, of course, but she is a woman who only needs an +impetus to do a good deal of thinking and noting." "I am going to make +you angry," he said. "I am going to tell you that I do not share your +admiration of your brother. He has ten thousand words for every idea, +and although, God knows, we have more time than anything else in this +land of the poppy where only the horses run, still there are more +profitable ways of employing it than to listen to meaningless and +bombastic words. Moreover, your brother is a dangerous man. No man is +so safe in seclusion as the one of large vanities and small ambitions. +He is not big enough to conceive a revolution, but is ready to be the +tool of any unscrupulous man who is, and, having too much egotism to +follow orders, will ruin a project at the last moment by attempting to +think for himself. I do not say these things to wantonly insult you, +señorita, only to let you know at once how I regard your brother, that +you may not accuse me of treachery or hypocrisy later." + +He had expected and hoped that she would turn upon him with a burst of +fury; but she had drawn herself up to her most stately height, and +was looking at him with cold hauteur. Her mouth was as hard as a pink +jewel, and her eyes had the glitter of ice in them. + +"Señor," she said, "it seems to me that you, too, waste many words--in +speaking of my brother; for what you say of him cannot interest me. +I have known him for twenty-two years; you have seen him four or six +times. What can you tell me of him? Not only is he my brother and the +natural object of my love and devotion, but he is Reinaldo Iturbi y +Moncada, the last male descendant of his house, and as such I hold him +in a regard only second to that which I bear to my father. And with +the blood in him he could not be otherwise than a great and good man." + +Estenega looked at her with the first stab of doubt he had felt. "She +is Spanish in her marrow," he thought,--"the steadfast unreasoning +child of traditions. I could not well be at greater disadvantage. But +she is magnificent." + +"Another thing which was unnecessary," she added, "was to defend +yourself to me or to tell me how you felt toward my brother, and why. +We are enemies by tradition and instinct. We shall rarely meet, and +shall probably never talk together again." + +"We shall talk together more times than you will care to count. I +have much to say to you, and you shall listen. But we will discuss the +matter no further at present. Shall we gallop?" + +He spurred his horse, and once more they fled through the pine woods. +Before long they entered the valley of Carmelo. The mountains were +massive and gloomy, the little bay was blue and quiet, the surf of +the ocean roared about Point Lobos, Carmelo River crawled beneath +its willows. In the middle of the valley stood the impressive yellow +church, with its Roman tower and rose-window; about it were the +crumbling brown hovels of the deserted Mission. Once as they rode +Estenega thought he heard voices, but could not be sure, so loud was +the clatter of the horses' hoofs. As they reached the square they drew +rein swiftly, the horses standing upright at the sudden halt. Then +strange sounds came to them through the open doors of the church: +ribald shouts and loud laughter, curses and noise of smashing glass, +such songs as never were sung in Carmelo before; an infernal clash of +sound which mingled incongruously with the solemn mass of the surf. +Chonita's eyes flashed. Even Estenega's face darkened: the traditions +planted in plastic youth arose and rebelled at the desecration. + +"Some drunken sailors," he said. "There--do you see that?" A craft +rounded Point Lobos. "Pirates!" + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed Chonita. + +"Let down your hair," he said, peremptorily; "and follow all that I +suggest. We will drive them out." + +She obeyed him without question, excited and interested. Then they +rode to the doors and threw them wide. + +The upper end of the long church was swarming with pirates; there was +no mistaking those bold, cruel faces, blackened by sun and wind, half +covered with ragged hair. They stood on the benches, they bestrode +the railing, they swarmed over the altar, shouting and carousing in +riotous wassail. Their coarse red shirts were flung back from hairy +chests, their faces were distorted with rum and sacrilegious delight. +Every station, every candlestick, had been hurled to the floor and +trampled upon. The crucifix stood on its head. Sitting high on the +altar, reeling and waving a communion goblet, was the drunken chief, +singing a blasphemous song of the pirate seas. The voices rumbled +strangely down the hollow body of the church; to perfect the scene +flames should have leaped among the swinging arms and bounding forms. + +"Come," said Estenega. He spurred his horse, and together they +galloped down the stone pavement of the edifice. The men turned at +the loud sound of horses' hoofs; but the riders were in their +midst, scattering them right and left, before they realized what was +happening. + +The horses were brought to sudden halt. Estenega rose in his stirrups, +his fine bold face looking down impassively upon the demoniacal gang +who could have rent him apart, but who stood silent and startled, +gazing from him to the beautiful woman, whose white gown looked part +of the white horse she rode. Estenega raised his hand and pointed to +Chonita. + +"The Virgin," he said, in a hollow, impressive voice. "The Mother of +God. She has come to defend her church. Go." + +Chonita's face blanched to the lips, but she looked at the +sacrilegists sternly. Fortune favored the audacity of Estenega. The +sunlight, drifting through the star-window above the doors at the +lower end of the church, smote the uplifted golden head of Chonita, +wreathing it with a halo, gifting the face with unearthly beauty. + +"Go!" repeated Estenega, "lest she weep. With every tear a heart will +cease to beat." + +The chief scrambled down from the altar and ran like a rat past +Chonita, his swollen mouth dropping. The others crouched and followed, +stumbling one over the other, their dark evil faces bloodless, their +knees knocking together with superstitious terror. They fled from +the church and down to the bay, and swam to their craft. Estenega and +Chonita rode out. They watched the ugly vessel scurry around Point +Lobos; then Chonita spoke for the first time. + +"Blasphemer!" she exclaimed. "Mother of God, wilt thou ever forgive +me?" + +"Why not call me a Jesuit? It was a case where mind or matter must +triumph. And you can confess your enforced sin, say a hundred aves or +so, and be whiter than snow again; whereas, had our Mission of Carmelo +been razed to the ground, as it was in a fair way to be, California +would have lost an historical monument." + +"And Junipero Serra's bones are there, and it was his favorite +Mission," said the girl, unwillingly. + +"Exactly. And now that you are reasonably sure of being forgiven, will +not you forgive me? I shall ask no priest's forgiveness." + +She looked at him a moment, then shook her head. "No: I cannot forgive +you for having made me commit what may be a mortal sin. But, Holy +Heaven!--I cannot help saying it--you are very quick!" + +"For each idea is a moment born. Upon whether we wed the two or think +too late depends the success or the failure of our lives." + +"Suppose," she said, suddenly,--"suppose you had failed, and those men +had seized me and made me captive: what then?" + +"I should have killed you. Not one of them should have touched you. +But I had no doubts, or I should not have made the attempt. I know the +superstitious nature of sailors, especially when they are drunk. Shall +we gallop back? They will have eaten all the dulces." + + + +VIII. + + +Monterey danced every night and all night of that week, either at +Alvarado's or at the Custom-house, and every afternoon met at the +races, the bull-fight, a merienda, or to climb the greased pole, +catch the greased pig by its tail as it ran, or exhibit skill in +horsemanship. Chonita, at times an imperious coquette, at others, +indifferent, perverse, or coy, was La Favorita without appeal, and +the girls alternately worshipped her--she was abstractedly kind to +them--or heartily wished her back in Santa Barbara. Estenega rarely +attended the socialities, being closeted with Alvarado and Castro most +of the time, and when he did she avoided him if she could. The pirates +had fled and were seen no more; but their abrupt retreat, as described +by Chonita, continued to be an exciting topic of discussion. There +were few of us who did not openly or secretly approve of Estenega's +Jesuitism and admire the nimbleness of his mind. The clergy did not +express itself. + +On the last night of the festivities, when the women, weary with the +unusually late hours of the past week, had left the ball-room early +and sought their beds, and the men, being at loss for other amusement, +had gone in a body to a saloon, there to drink and gamble and set fire +to each other's curls and trouser-seats, the Departmental Junta met in +secret session. The night was warm, the plaza deserted; all who were +not in the saloon at the other end of the town were asleep; and after +the preliminary words in Alvarado's office the Junta picked up their +chairs and went forth to hold conclave where bulls and bears had +fought and the large indulgent moon gave clearer light than adamantine +candles. They drew close together, and, after rolling the cigarito, +solemnly regarded the sky for a few moments without speaking. Their +purpose was a grave one. They met to try Pio Pico for contempt of +government and annoying insistence in behalf of his pet project to +remove the capital from Monterey to Los Angeles; José Antonio Carillo +and Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada for conspiracy; and General Vallejo for +evil disposition and unwarrantable comments upon the policy of the +administration. None of the offenders was present. + +With the exception of Alvarado, Castro, and Estenega, the members +of the Junta were men of middle age, and represented the talent of +California,--Jimeno, Gonzales, Arguëllo, Requena, Del Valle. Their +dark, bearded faces, upturned to the stars, made a striking set of +profiles, but the effect was marred by the silk handkerchiefs they had +tied about their heads. + +Alvarado spoke, finally, and, after presenting the charges in due +form, continued: + +"The individual enemy to the government is like the fly to the lion; +it cannot harm, but it can annoy. We must brush away the fly as a +vindication of our dignity, and take precaution that he does not +return, even if we have to bend our heads to tie his little legs. I +do not purpose to be annoyed by these blistering midgets we are met +to consider, nor to have my term of administration spotted with their +gall. I leave it to you, my compatriots and friends, to advise me what +is best to do." + +Jimeno put his feet on the side rung of Castro's chair, puffed a large +gray cloud, and half closed his eyes. He then, for three-quarters of +an hour, in a low, musical voice, discoursed upon the dignity of the +administration and the depravity of the offenders. When his brethren +were beginning to drop their heads and breathe heavily, Alvarado +politely interrupted him and referred the matter to Castro. + +"Imprison them!" exclaimed the impetuous General, suddenly alert. +"With such a Governor and such a people, this should be a land white +as the mountain-tops, unblemished by the tracks of mean ambitions +and sinful revolutions. Let us be summary, although not cruel; let no +man's blood flow while there are prisons in the Californias; but we +must pluck up the roots of conspiracy and disquiet, lest a thousand +suckers grow about them, as about the half-cut trunks of our +redwood-trees, and our Californias be no better than any degenerate +country of the Old World. Let us cast them into prison without further +debate." + +"The law, my dear José, gives them a trial," drawled Gonzales. And +then for a half-hour he quoted such law as was known in the country. +When he finished, the impatient and suppressed members of the Junta +delivered their opinions simultaneously; only Estenega had nothing +to say. They argued and suggested, cited evidence, defended and +denounced, lashing themselves into a mighty excitement. At length they +were all on their feet, gesticulating and prancing. + +"Mother of God!" cried Requena. "Let us give Vallejo a taste of his +own cruelty. Let us put him in a temascal and set those of his Indian +victims who are still alive to roast him out--" + +"No! no! Vallejo is maligned. He had no hand in that massacre. His +heart is whiter than an angel's----" + +"It is his liver that is white. His heart is black as a black snake's. +To the devil with him!" + +"Make a law that Pio Pico can never put foot out of Los Angeles again, +since he loves it so well--" + +"His ugly face would spoil the next generation--" + +"Death to Carillo and Iturbi y Moncada! Death to all! Let the poison +out of the veins of California!" + +"No! no! As little blood in California as possible. Put them in +prison, and keep them on frijoles and water for a year. That will cure +rebellion: no chickens, no dulces, no aguardiente--" + +Alvarado brought his staff of office down sharply upon a board he had +provided for the purpose. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "will you not sit down and smoke another +cigarito? We must be calm." + +The Junta took to its chairs at once. Alvarado never failed to command +respect. + +"Don Diego Estenega," said the Governor, "will you tell us what you +have thought whilst the others have talked?" + +Estenega, who had been star-gazing, turned to Alvarado, ignoring the +Junta. His keen brilliant eyes gave the Governor a thrill of relief; +his mouth expressed a mind made up and intolerant of argument. + +"Vallejo," he said, "is like a horse that will neither run nor back +into his stall: he merely stands still and kicks. His kicking makes +a noise and raises a dust, but does no harm. In other words, he will +irritate, but never take a responsibility. Send him an official notice +that if he does not keep quiet an armed force will march upon Sonoma +and imprison him in his own house, humiliating him before the eyes of +his soldiers and retainers. + +"As for Pio Pico, threaten to fine and punish him. He will apologize +at once and be quiet for six months, when you can call another secret +session and issue another threat. It would prolong the term of his +submission to order him to appear before the Junta and make it an +apology with due humility. + +"Now for Carillo and Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada." He paused a moment +and glanced at Chonita's grating. He had the proofs of her brother's +rascality in his pocket; no one but himself had seen them. He +hesitated the fraction of another moment, then smiled grimly. "Oh, +Helen!" he thought, "the same old story." + +"That Carillo is guilty," he said aloud, "is proven to us beyond +doubt. He has incited rebellion against the government in behalf of +Carlos Carillo. He is dangerous to the peace of the country. Iturbi +y Moncada is young and heedless, hardly to be considered seriously; +furthermore, it is impossible to obtain proof of his complicity. His +intimacy with Carillo gives him the appearance of guilt. It would be +well to frighten him a little by a short term of imprisonment. He is +restless and easily led; a lesson in time may save his honored house +from disaster. But to Carillo no quarter." He rose and stood over +them. "The best thing in Machiavelli's 'Prince,'" he said, "is the +author's advice to Caesar Borgia to exterminate every member of +the reigning house of a conquered country, in order to avoid future +revolutions and their infinitely greater number of dead. Do not let +the water in your blood whimper for mercy. You are not here to protect +an individual, but a country." + +"You are right," said Alvarado. + +The others looked at the young man who had merely given them the +practical advice of statecraft as if he had opened his chest and +displayed the lamp of wisdom burning. His freedom from excitement in +all ordeals which animated them to madness had long ago inspired +the suspicion that he was rather more than human. They uttered not a +protest. Alvarado's one-eyed secretary made notes of their approval; +and the Junta, after another friendly smoke, adjourned, well pleased +with itself. + +"Would I sacrifice my country for her a year hence?" thought Estenega, +as he sauntered home. "But, after all, little harm is done. He is not +worth killing, and fright and discomfort will probably cure him." + + + + +IX. + + +Chonita and Estenega faced each other among the Castilian roses of the +garden behind the Governor's house. The dueña was nodding in a corner; +the first-born of the Alvarados, screaming within, absorbed the +attention of every member of the household, from the frantic young +mother to the practical nurse. + +"My brother is to be arrested, you say?" + +"Yes." + +"And at your suggestion?" + +"Yes." + +"And he may die?" + +"Possibly." + +"Nothing would have been done if it had not been for you?" + +"Nothing." + +"God of my life! Mother of God! how I hate you!" + +"It is war, then?" + +"I would kill you if I were not a Catholic." + +"I will make you forget that you are a Catholic." + +"You have made me remember it to my bitterest sorrow. I hate you so +mortally that I cannot go to confession: I cannot forgive." + +"I hope you will continue to hate for a time. Now listen to me. You +have several reasons for hating me. My house is the enemy of yours. +I am to all intents and purposes an American; you can consider me +as such. I have that indifference for religious superstition and +intolerance for religion's thraldom which all minds larger of +circumference than a napkin-ring must come to in time. I have +endangered the life of your brother, and I have opposed and shall +oppose him in his political aspirations; he has my unequivocal +contempt. Nevertheless, I tell you here that I should marry you were +there five hundred reasons for your hatred of me instead of a paltry +five. I shall take pleasure in demonstrating to you that there is a +force in the universe a good deal stronger than traditions, religion, +or even family ties." + +His eyes were not those of a lover; they shone like steel. His mouth +was forbidding. She drew back from him in terror, then struck her +hands together passionately. + +"I marry you!" she cried. "An Estenega! A renegade? May God cast me +out of heaven if I do! There, I have sworn! I have sworn! Do you think +a Catholic would break that vow? I swear it by the Church,--and I put +the whole Church between us!" + +"I told you just now that I would make you forget your Church." He +caught her hand and held it firmly. "A last word," he said "Your +brother's life is safe: I promise you that." + +"Let me go!" she said. "Let me go! I fear you." She was trembling; his +warmth and magnetism had sprung to her shoulder. + +He gave her back her hand. "Go," he said: "so ends the first chapter." + + + + +X. + + +Casa Grande,[A] the mansion of the Iturbi y Moncadas in Santa Barbara, +stood at the right of the Presidio, facing the channel. A mile behind, +under the shadow of the gaunt rocky hills curving about the valley, +was the long white Mission, with its double towers, corridor of many +arches, and sloping roof covered with red tiles. Between was the wild +valley where cattle grazed among the trees and the massive bowlders. +The red-tiled white adobe houses of the Presidio and of the little +town clustered under its wing, the brown mud huts of the Indians, were +grouped in the foreground of the deep valley. + +The great house of the Iturbi y Moncadas, erected in the first years +of the century, was built about three sides of a court, measuring one +hundred feet each way. Like most of the adobes of its time, it had +but one story. A wide pillared corridor, protected by a sloping +roof, faced the court, which was as bare and hard as the floor of a +ball-room. Behind the dwelling were the manufactories and huts of the +Indian retainers. Don Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada was the magnate of +the South. His ranchos covered four hundred thousand acres; his +horses and cattle were unnumbered. His Indians, carpenters, coopers, +saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, manufacturers of household staples, +supplied the garrison and town with the necessaries of life; he also +did a large trading business in hides and tallow. Rumor had it that in +the wooden tower built against the back of the house he kept gold by +the bushel-basketful; but no one called him miser, for he gave the +poor of the town all they ate and wore, and kept a supply of drugs for +their sick. So beloved and revered was he that when earthquakes shook +the town, or fires threatened it from the hills, the poor ran in a +body to the court-yard of Casa Grande and besought his protection. +They never passed him without saluting to the ground, nor his house +without bending their heads. And yet they feared him, for he was an +irascible old gentleman at times, and thumped unmercifully when in a +temper. Chonita, alone, could manage him always. + +When I returned to Santa Barbara with Chonita after her visit to +Monterey, the yellow fruit hung in the padres' orchard, the grass was +burning brown, sky and water were the hard blue of metal. + +The afternoon of our arrival, Don Guillermo, Chonita, and I were on +the long middle corridor of the house: in Santa Barbara one lived in +the air. The old don sat on the long green bench by the sala door. His +heavy, flabby, leathery face had no wrinkles but those which curved +from the corners of the mouth to the chin. The thin upper lip was +habitually pressed hard against the small protruding under one, the +mouth ending in straight lines which seemed no part of the lips. His +small slanting eyes, usually stern, could snap with anger, as they did +to-day. The nose rose suddenly from the middle of his face; it might +have been applied by a child sculpturing with putty; the flat bridge +was crossed by erratic lines. A bang of grizzled hair escaped from the +black silk handkerchief wound as tightly as a turban about his head. +He wore short clothes of dark brown cloth, the jacket decorated +with large silver buttons, a red damask vest, shoes of embroidered +deer-skin, and a cravat of fine linen. + +Chonita, in a white gown, a pale-green reboso about her shoulders, her +arms crossed, her head thoughtfully bent forward, walked slowly up and +down before him. + +"Holy God!" cried the old man, pounding the floor with his stick. +"That they have dared to arrest my son!--the son of Guillermo Iturbi y +Moncada! That Alvarado, my friend and thy host, should have permitted +it!" + +"Do not blame Alvarado, my father. Remember, he must listen to the +Departmental Junta; and this is their work." "Fool that I am!" she +added to herself, "why do I not tell who alone is to blame? But I need +no one to help me hate him!" + +"Is it true that this Estenega of whom I hear so much is a member of +the Junta?" + +"It may be." + +"If so, it is he, he alone, who has brought dishonor upon my house. +Again they have conquered!" + +"This Estenega I met--and who was _compadre_ with me for the baby--is +little in California, my father. If it be he who is a member of the +Junta, he could hardly rule such men as Alvarado, Jimeno, and Castro. +I saw no other Estenega." + +"True! I must have other enemies in the North; but I had not known +of it. But they shall learn of my power in the South. Don Juan de la +Borrasca went to-day to Los Angeles with a bushel of gold to bail my +son, and both will be with us the day after to-morrow. A curse upon +Carillo--but I will speak of it no more. Tell me, my daughter,--God +of my soul, but I am glad to have thee back!--what thoughtest thou of +this son of the Estenegas? Is it Ramon, Esteban, or Diego? I have seen +none of them since they were little ones. I remember Diego well. He +had lightning in his little tongue, and the devil in his brain. I +liked him, although he was the son of my enemy; and if he had been an +Iturbi y Moncada I would have made a great man of him. Ay! but he was +quick. One day in Monterey, he got under my feet and I fell flat, much +imperilling my dignity, for it was on Alvarado Street, and I was a +member of the Territorial Deputation. I could have beaten him, I was +so angry; but he scrambled to his little feet, and, helping me to +mine, he said, whilst dodging my stick, 'Be not angry, señor. I gave +my promise to the earth that thou shouldst kiss her, for all the world +has prayed that she should not embrace thee for ninety years to come.' +What could I do? I gave him a cake. Thou smilest, my daughter; but +thou wilt not commend the enemy of thy house, no? Ah, well, we grow +less bitter as we grow old; and although I hated his father I liked +Diego. Again, I remember, I was in Monterey, and he was there; his +father and I were both members of the Deputation. Caramba! what hot +words passed between us! But I was thinking of Diego. I took a volume +of Shakespeare from him one day. 'Thou art too young to read such +books,' I said. 'A baby reading what the good priests allow not men +to read. I have not read this heretic book of plays, and yet thou dost +lie there on thy stomach and drink in its wickedness.' 'It is true,' +he said, and how his steel eyes did flash; 'but when I am as old as +you, señor, my stomach will be flat and my head will be big. Thou +art the enemy of my father, but--hast thou noticed?--thy stomach is +bigger than his, and he has conquered thee in speech and in politics +more times than thou hast found vengeance for. Ay!--and thy ranchos +have richer soil and many more cattle, but he has a library, Don +Guillermo, and thou hast not.' I spanked him then and there; but I +never forgot what he said, and thou hast read what thou listed. I +would not that the children of Alejandro Estenega should know more +than those of Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada." + +"Thou hast cause to be proud of Reinaldo, for he sparkles like the +spray of the fountain, and words are to him like a shower of leaves in +autumn. And yet, and yet," she added, with angry candor, "he has not a +brain like Diego Estenega. _He_ is not a man, but a devil." + +"A good brain has always a devil at the wheel; sharp eyes have sharper +nerves behind; and lightning from a big soul flashes fear into a +little one. Diego is not a devil,--I remember once I had a headache, +and he bathed my head, and the water ran down my neck and gave me a +cold which put me to bed for a week,--but he is the devil's godson, +and were he not the son of my enemy I should love him. His father was +cruel and vicious--but smart, Holy Mary! Diego has his brain; but he +has, too, the kind heart and gentle manner--Ay! Holy God!--Come, come: +here are the horses. Call Prudencia, and we will go to the bark and +see what the good captain has brought to tempt us." + +Four horses led by vaqueros, had entered the court-yard. + +"Prudencia," called Chonita. + +A door opened, and a girl of small figure, with solemn dark eyes and +cream-like skin, her hair hanging in heavy braids to her feet, stepped +upon the corridor, draping a pink reboso about her head. + +"I am here, my cousin," she said, walking with all the dignity of the +Spanish woman, despite her plump and inconsiderable person. "Thou art +rested, Doña Eustaquia? Do we go to the ship, my uncle? and shall we +buy this afternoon? God of my life! I wonder has he a high comb to +make me look tall, and flesh-colored stockings. My own are gone with +holes. I do not like white--" + +"Hush thy chatter," said her uncle. "How can I tell what the captain +has until I see? Come, my children." + +We sprang to our saddles, Don Guillermo mounted heavily, and we +cantered to the beach, followed by the ox-cart which would carry the +fragile cargo home. A boat took us to the bark, which sat motionless +on the placid channel. The captain greeted us with the lively welcome +due to eager and frequent purchasers. + +"Now, curb thy greed," cried Don Guillermo, as the girls dropped down +the companion-way, "for thou hast more now than thou canst wear in +five years. God of my soul! if a bark came every day they would want +every shred on board. My daughter could tapestry the old house with +the shawls she has." + +When I reached the cabin I found the table covered with silks, +satins, crêpe, shawls, combs, articles of lacquer-ware, jewels, silk +stockings, slippers, spangled tulle, handkerchiefs, lace, fans. The +girls' eyes were sparkling. Chonita clapped her hands and ran around +the table, pressing to her lips the beautiful white things she quickly +segregated, running her hand eagerly over the little slippers, hanging +the lace about her shoulders, twisting a rope of garnets in her yellow +hair. + +"Never have they been so beautiful, Eustaquia! Is it not so, my +Prudencia?" she cried to the girl, who was curled on one corner of +the table, gloating over the treasures she knew her uncle's generosity +would make her own. "Look, how these little diamonds flash! And the +embroidery on this crêpe!--a dozen eyes went out ay! yi! This satin +is like a tile! These fans were made in Spain! This is as big as a +windmill. God of my soul!"--she threw a handful of yellow sewing-silk +upon a piece of white satin; "Ana shall embroider this gown,--the +golden poppies of California on a bank of mountain snow." She suddenly +seized a case of topaz and a piece of scarlet silk and ran over to +me: I being a Montereña, etiquette forbade me to purchase in Santa +Barbara. "Thou must have these, my Eustaquia. They will become thee +well. And wouldst thou like any of my white things? Mary! but I am +selfish. Take what thou wilt, my friend." + +To refuse would be to spoil her pleasure and insult her hospitality: +so I accepted the topaz--of which I had six sets already--and the +silk,--whose color prevailed in my wardrobe,--and told her that I +detested white, which did not suit my weather-dark skin, and she was +as blind and as pleased as a child. + +"But come, come," she cried. "My father is not so generous when he has +to wait too long." + +She gathered the mass of stuff in her arms and staggered up the +companion-way. I followed, leaving Prudencia raking the trove her +short arms would not hold. + +"Ay, my Chonita!" she wailed, "I cannot carry that big piece of pink +satin and that vase. And I have only two pairs of slippers and one +fan. Ay, Cho-n-i-i-ta, look at those shawls! Mother of God, suppose +Valencia Menendez comes--" + +"Do not weep on the silk and spoil what thou hast," called down +Chonita from the top step. "Thou shalt have all thou canst wear for a +year." + +She reached the deck and stood panting and imperious before her +father. "All! All! I must have all!" she cried. "Never have they been +so fine, so rich." + +"Holy Mary!" shrieked Don Guillermo. "Dost thou think I am made of +doubloons, that thou wouldst buy a whole ship's cargo? Thou shalt have +a quarter; no more,--not a yard!" + +"I will have all!" And the stately daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas +stamped her little foot upon the deck. + +"A third,--not a yard more. And diamonds! Holy Heaven! There is +not gold enough in the Californias to feed the extravagance of the +Señorita Doña Chonita Iturbi y Moncada." + +She managed to bend her body in spite of her burden, her eyes flashing +saucily above the mass of tulle which covered the rest of her face. + +"And not fine raiment enough in the world to accord with the state +of the only daughter of the Señor Don Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada, the +delight and the pride of his old age. Wilt thou send these things to +the North, to be worn by an Estenega? Thy Chonita will cry her eyes +so red that she will be known as the ugly witch of Santa Barbara, and +Casa Grande will be like a tomb." + +"Oh, thou spoilt baby! Thou wilt have thy way--" At this moment +Prudencia appeared. Nothing whatever could be seen of her small person +but her feet; she looked like an exploded bale of goods. "What! what!" +gasped Don Guillermo. "Thou little rat! Thou wouldst make a Christmas +doll of thyself with satin that is too heavy for thy grandmother, and +eke out thy dumpy inches with a train? Oh, Mother of God!" He turned +to the captain, who was smoking complacently, assured of the issue. +"I will let them carry these things home; but to-morrow one-half, at +least, comes back." And he stamped wrathfully down the deck. + +"Send the rest," said Chonita to the captain, "and thou shalt have a +bag of gold to-night." + +[Footnote A: In writing of Casa Grande and its inmates, no reference +to the distinguished De la Guerra family of Santa Barbara is intended, +beyond the description of their house and state and of the general +characteristics of the founder of the family fortunes in California.] + + + + +XI. + + +The next morning Chonita, clad in a long gown of white wool, a silver +cross at her throat, her hair arranged like a coronet, sat in a large +chair in the dispensary. Her father stood beside a table, parcelling +drugs. The sick-poor of Santa Barbara passed them in a long line. + +The Doomswoman exercised her power to heal, the birthright of the +twin. + +"I wonder if I can," she said to me, laying her white fingers on a +knotted arm, "or if it is my father's medicines. I have no right to +question this beautiful faith of my country, but I really don't see +how I do it. Still, I suppose it is like many things in our religion, +not for mere human beings to understand. This pleases my vanity, at +least. I wonder if I shall have cause to exercise my other endowment." + +"To curse?" + +"Yes: I think I might do that with something more of sincerity." + +The men, women, and children, native Californians and Indians, +scrubbed for the occasion, filed slowly past her, and she touched all +kindly and bade them be well. They regarded her with adoring eyes and +bent almost to the ground. + +"Perhaps they will help me out of purgatory," she said; "and it is +something to be on a pedestal; I should not like to come down. It is +a cheap victory, but so are most of the victories that the world knows +of." + +When she had touched nearly a hundred, they gathered about her, and +she spoke a few words to them. + +"My friends, go, and say, 'I shall be well.' Does not the Bible say +that faith shall make ye whole? Cling to your faith! Believe! Believe! +Else will you feel as if the world crumbled beneath your feet! +And there is nothing, nothing to take its place. What folly, what +presumption, to suggest that anything can--a mortal passion--" She +stopped suddenly, and continued coldly, "Go, my friends; words do not +come easily to me to-day. Go, and God grant that you may be well and +happy." + + + + +XII. + + +We sat in the sala the next evening, awaiting the return of the +prodigal and his deliverer. The night was cool, and the doors were +closed; coals burned in a roof-tile. The room, unlike most Californian +salas, boasted a carpet, and the furniture was covered with green rep, +instead of the usual black horse-hair. + +Don Guillermo patted the table gently with his open palm, accompanying +the tinkle of Prudencia's guitar and her light monotonous voice. She +sat on the edge of a chair, her solemn eyes fixed on a painting of +Reinaldo which hung on the wall. Doña Trinidad was sewing as usual, +and dressed as simply as if she looked to her daughter to maintain the +state of the Iturbi y Moncadas. Above a black silk skirt she wore a +black shawl, one end thrown over her shoulder. About her head was a +close black silk turban, concealing, with the exception of two soft +gray locks on either side of her face, what little hair she may still +have possessed. Her white face was delicately cut: the lines of time +indicated spiritual sweetness rather than strength. + +Chonita roved between the sala and an adjoining room where four Indian +girls embroidered the yellow poppies on the white satin. I was reading +one of her books,--the "Vicar of Wakefield." + +"Wilt thou be glad to see Reinaldo, my Prudencia?" asked Don +Guillermo, as the song finished. + +"Ay!" and the girl blushed. + +"Thou wouldst make a good wife for Reinaldo, and it is well that he +marry. It is true that he has a gay spirit and loves company, but you +shall live here in this house, and if he is not a devoted husband he +shall have no money to spend. It is time he became a married man and +learned that life was not made for dancing and flirting; then, too, +would his restless spirit get him into fewer broils. I have heard +him speak twice of no other woman, excepting Valencia Menendez, and I +would not have her for a daughter; and I think he loves thee." + +"Sure!" said Doña Trinidad. + +"That is love, I suppose," said Chonita, leaning back in her chair and +forgetting the poppies. "With her a placid contented hope, with him a +calm preference for a malleable woman. If he left her for another she +would cry for a week, then serenely marry whom my father bade her, and +forget Reinaldo in the _donas_ of the bridegroom. The birds do almost +as well." + +Don Guillermo smiled indulgently. Prudencia did not know whether +to cry or not. Doña Trinidad, who never thought of replying to her +daughter, said,-- + +"Chonita mia, Liseta and Tomaso wish to marry, and thy father will +give them the little house by the creek." + +"Yes, mamacita?" said Chonita, absently: she felt no interest in the +loves of the Indians. + +"We have a new Father in the Mission," continued her mother, +remembering that she had not acquainted her daughter with all the +important events of her absence. "And Don Rafael Guzman's son was +drafted. That was a judgment for not marrying when his father bade +him. For that I shall be glad to have Reinaldo marry. I would not have +him go to the war to be killed." + +"No," said Don Guillermo. "He must be a diputado to Mexico. I would +not lose my only son in battle. I am ambitious for him; and so art +thou, Chonita, for thy brother? Is it not so?" + +"Yes. I have it in me to stab the heart of any man who rolls a stone +in his way." + +"My daughter," said Don Guillermo, with the accent of duty rather than +of reproof, "thou must love without vengeance. Sustain thy brother, +but harm not his enemy. I would not have thee hate even an Estenega, +although I cannot love them myself. But we will not talk of the +Estenegas. Dost thou realize that our Reinaldo will be with us this +night? We must all go to confession to-morrow,--thy mother and myself, +Eustaquia, Reinaldo, Prudencia, and thyself." + +Chonita's face became rigid. "I cannot go to confession," she said. +"It may be months before I can: perhaps never." + +"What?" + +"Can one go to confession with a hating and an unforgiving heart? Ay! +that I never had gone to Monterey! At least I had the consolation of +my religion before. Now I fight the darkness by myself. Do not ask +me questions, for I shall not answer them. But taunt me no more with +confession." + +Even Don Guillermo was dumb. In all the twenty-four years of her life +she never had betrayed violence of spirit before: even her hatred of +the Estenegas had been a religion rather than a personal feeling. It +was the first glimpse of her soul that she had accorded them, and they +were aghast. What--what had happened to this proud, reserved, careless +daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas? + +Doña Trinidad drew down her mouth. Prudencia began to cry. Then, +for the moment, Chonita was forgotten. Two horses galloped into the +court-yard. + +"Reinaldo!" + +The door had but an inside knob: Don Guillermo threw it open as a +young man sprang up the three steps of the corridor, followed by a +little man who carefully picked his way. + +"Yes, I am here, my father, my mother, my sister, my Prudencia! Ay, +Eustaquia, thou too." And the pride of the house kissed each in turn, +his dark eyes wandering absently about the room. He was a dashing +caballero, and as handsome as any ever born in the Californias. The +dust of travel had been removed--at a saloon--from his blue velvet +gold-embroidered serape, which he immediately flung on the floor. His +short jacket and trousers were also of dark-blue velvet, the former +decorated with buttons of silver filigree, the latter laced with +silver cord over spotless linen. The front of his shirt was covered +with costly lace. His long botas were of soft yellow leather stamped +with designs in silver and gartered with blue ribbon. The clanking +spurs were of silver inlaid with gold. The sash, knotted gracefully +over his hip, was of white silk. His curled black hair was tied with a +blue ribbon, and clung, clustering and damp, about a low brow. He bore +a strange resemblance to Chonita, in spite of the difference of color, +but his eyes were merely large and brilliant: they had no stars in +their shallows. His mouth was covered by a heavy silken mustache, and +his profile was bold. At first glance he impressed one as a perfect +type of manly strength, aggressively decided of character. It was only +when he cast aside the wide sombrero--which, when worn a little +back, most becomingly framed his face--that one saw the narrow, +insignificant head. + +For a time there was no conversation, only a series of exclamations. +Chonita alone was calm, smiling a loving welcome. In the excitement of +the first moments little notice was taken of the devoted bailer, who +ardently regarded Chonita. + +Don Juan de la Borrasca was flouting his sixties, fighting for his +youth as a parent fights for its young. His withered little face wore +the complacent smile of vanity; his arched brows furnished him with a +supercilious expression which atoned for his lack of inches,--he was +barely five feet two. His large curved nose was also a compensating +gift from the godmother of dignity, and he carried himself so erectly +that he looked like a toy general. His small black eyes were bright +as glass beads, and his hair was ribboned as bravely as Reinaldo's. He +was clad in silk attire,--red silk embroidered with butterflies. His +little hands were laden with rings; carbuncles glowed in the lace of +his shirt. He was moderately wealthy, but a stanch retainer of the +house of Iturbi y Moncada, the devoted slave of Chonita. + +She was the first to remember him, and held out her hand for him to +kiss. "Thou hast the gratitude of my heart, dear friend," she said, +as the little dandy curved over it. "I thank thee a thousand times for +bringing my brother back to me." + +"Ay, Doña Chonita, thanks be to God and Mary that I was enabled so to +do. Had my mission proved unsuccessful I should have committed a crime +and gone to prison with him. Never would I have returned here. Dueño +adorado, ever at thy feet." + +Chonita smiled kindly, but she was listening to her brother, who was +now expatiating upon his wrongs to a sympathetic audience. + +"Holy heaven!" he exclaimed, striding up and down the room, "that an +Iturbi y Moncada, the descendant of twenty generations, should be put +to shame, to disgrace and humiliation, by being cast into a common +prison! That an ardent patriot, a loyal subject of Mexico, should be +accused of conspiring against the judgment of an Alvarado! Carillo was +my friend, and had his cause been a just one I had gone with him to +the gates of death or the chair of state. But could I, _I_, conspire +against a wise and great man like Juan Bautista Alvarado? No! not even +if Carillo had asked me so to do. But, by the stars of heaven, he +did not. I had been but the guest of his bounty for a month; and the +suspicious rascals who spied upon us, the poor brains who compose the +Departmental Junta, took it for granted that an Iturbi y Moncada could +not be blind to Carillo's plots and plans and intrigues, that, having +been the intimate of his house and table, I must perforce aid and abet +whatever schemes engrossed him. Ay, more often than frequently did +a dark surmise cross my mind, but I brushed it aside as one does the +prompting of evil desires. I would not believe that a Carillo would +plot, conspire, and rise again, after the terrible lesson he had +received in 1838. Alvarado holds California to his heart; Castro, the +Mars of the nineteenth century, hovers menacingly on the horizon. Who, +who, in sober reason, would defy that brace of frowning gods?" + +His eloquence was cut short by respiratory interference, but he +continued to stride from one end of the room to the other, his +face flushed with excitement. Prudencia's large eyes followed him, +admiration paralyzing her tongue. Doña Trinidad smiled upward with +the self-approval of the modest barn-yard lady who has raised a +magnificent bantam. Don Guillermo applauded loudly. Only Chonita +turned away, the truth smiting her for the first time. + +"Words! words!" she thought, bitterly. "_He_ would have said all that +in two sentences. Is it true--_ay, triste de mi!_--what he said of my +brother? I hate him, yet his brain has cut mine and wedged there. My +head bows to him, even while all the Iturbi y Moncada in me arises to +curse him. But my brother! my brother! he is so much younger. And if +he had had the same advantages--those years in Mexico and America and +Europe--would he not know as much as Diego Estenega? Oh, sure! sure!" + +"My son," Don Guillermo was saying, "God be thanked that thou didst +not merit thy imprisonment. I should have beaten thee with my cane and +locked thee in thy room for a month hadst thou disgraced my name. +But, as it happily is, thou must have compensation for unjust +treatment.--Prudencia, give me thy hand." + +The girl rose, trembling and blushing, but crossed the room with +stately step and stood beside her uncle. Don Guillermo took her hand +and placed it in Reinaldo's. "Thou shalt have her, my son," he said. +"I have divined thy wishes." + +Reinaldo kissed the small fingers fluttering in his, making a great +flourish. He was quite ready to marry, and his pliant little cousin +suited him better than any one he knew. "Day-star of my eyes!" he +exclaimed, "consolation of my soul! Memories of injustice, discomfort, +and sadness fall into the waters of oblivion rolling at thy feet. I +see neither past nor future. The rose-hued curtain of youth and hope +falls behind and before us." + +"Yes, yes," assented Prudencia, delightedly. "My Reinaldo! my +Reinaldo!" + +We congratulated them severally and collectively, and, when the +ceremony was over, Reinaldo cried, with even more enthusiasm than he +had yet shown, "My mother, for the love of Mary give me something to +eat,--tamales, salad, chicken, dulces. Don Juan and I are as empty as +hides." + +Doña Trinidad smiled with the pride of the Californian housewife. "It +is ready, my son. Come to the dining-room, no?" + +She led the way, followed by the family, Reinaldo and Prudencia +lingering. As the others crossed the threshold he drew her back. + +"A lump of tallow, dost thou hear, my Prudencia?" he whispered, +hurriedly. "Put it under the green bench. I must have it to-night." + +"Ay! Reinaldo--" + +"Do not refuse, my Prudencia, if thou lovest me. Wilt thou do it?" + +"Sure, my Reinaldo." + + + + +XIII. + + +The family retired early in its brief seasons of reclusion, and at ten +o'clock Casa Grande was dark and quiet. Reinaldo opened his door and +listened cautiously, then stepped softly to the green bench and felt +beneath for the lump of tallow. It was there. He returned to his room +and swung himself from his window into the yard, about which were +irregularly disposed the manufactories of the Indians, a high wall +protecting the small town. All was quiet here, and had been for hours. +He stole to the wooden tower and mounted a ladder, lifting it from +story to story until he reached the attic under the pointed roof. Then +he lit a candle, and, removing a board from the floor, peered down +into the room whose door was always so securely locked. The stars +shone through the uncurtained windows and were no yellower than the +gold coins heaped on the large table and overflowing the baskets. +Reinaldo took a long pole from a corner and applied to one end a piece +of the soft tallow. He lowered the pole and pressed it firmly into the +pile of gold on the table. The pole was withdrawn, and this ingenious +fisherman removed a large gold fish from the bait. He fished patiently +for an hour, then filled a bag he had brought for the purpose, and +returned as he had come. Not to his bed, however. Once more he opened +his door and stole forth, this time to the town, to hold high revel +around the gaming-table, where he was welcomed hilariously by his boon +companions. + +A wild fandango in a neighboring booth provided relaxation for the +gamblers. In an hour or two Reinaldo found his way to this well-known +haven. Black-eyed dancing-girls in short skirts of tawdry satin +trimmed with cotton lace, mock jewels on their bare necks and in their +coarse black hair, flew about the room and screamed with delight as +Reinaldo flung gold pieces among them. The excitement continued in all +its variations until morning. Men bet and lost all the gold they had +brought with them, then sold horse, serape, and sombrero to the +men who neither drank nor gambled, but came prepared for close and +profitable bargains. Reinaldo lost his purloins, won them again, stood +upon the table and spoke with torrential eloquence of his wrongs and +virtues, kissed all the girls, and when by easy and rapid stages he +had succeeded in converting himself into a tank of aguardiente, he was +carried home and put to bed by such of his companions as were sober +enough to make no noise. + + + + +XIV. + + +Chonita, clad in a black gown, walked slowly up and down the corridor +of Casa Grande. The rain should have dripped from the eaves, beaten +with heavy monotony upon the hard clay of the court-yard, to accompany +her mood, but it did not. The sky was blue without fleck of cloud, the +sun like the open mouth of a furnace of boiling gold, the air as warm +and sweet and drowsy as if it never had come in shock with human care. +Prudencia sat on the green bench, drawing threads in a fine linen +smock, her small face rosy with contentment. + +"Why dost thou wear that black gown this beautiful morning?" she +demanded, suddenly. "And why dost thou walk when thou canst sit down?" + +"I had a dream last night. Dost thou believe in dreams?" She had as +much regard for her cousin's opinion as for the twittering of a bird, +but she felt the necessity of speech at times, and at least this child +never remembered what she said. + +"Sure, my Chonita. Did not I dream that the good captain would bring +pink silk stockings? and are they not my own this minute?" And she +thrust a diminutive foot from beneath the hem of her gown, regarding +it with admiration. "And did not I dream that Tomaso and Liseta would +marry? What was thy dream, my Chonita?" + +"I do not know what the first part was; something very sad. All I +remember is the roar of the ocean and another roar like the wind +through high trees. Then a moment that shook and frightened me, but +sweeter than anything I know of, so I cannot define it. Then a swift +awful tragedy--I cannot recall the details of that, either. The whole +dream was like a black mass of clouds, cut now and again by a scythe +of lightning. But then, like a vision within a dream, I seemed to +stand there and see myself, clad in a black gown, walking up and +down this corridor, or one like it, up and down, up and down, never +resting, never daring to rest, lest I hear the ceaseless clatter of +a lonely fugitive's horse. When I awoke I was as cold as if I had +received the first shock of the surf. I cannot say why I put on this +black gown to-day. I make no haste to feel as I did when I wore it in +that dream,--the desolation,--the endlessness; but I did." + +"That was a strange dream, my Chonita," said Prudencia, threading her +needle. "Thou must have eaten too many dulces for supper: didst thou?" + +"No," said Chonita, shortly, "I did not." + +She continued her aimless walk, wondering at her depression of +spirits. All her life she had felt a certain mental loneliness, but +a healthy body rarely harbors an invalid soul, and she had only to +spring on a horse and gallop over the hills to feel as happy as a +young animal. Moreover, the world--all the world she knew--was at her +feet; nor had she ever known the novelty of an ungratified wish. Once +in a while her father arose in an obdurate mood, but she had only to +coax, or threaten tears,--never had she been seen to shed one,--or +stamp her foot, to bring that doting parent to terms. It is true +that she had had her morbid moments, an abrupt impatient desire for +something that was not all light and pleasure and gold and adulation; +but, being a girl of will and sense, she had turned resolutely from +the troublous demands of her deeper soul, regarding them as coals +fallen from a mind that burned too hotly at times. + +This morning, however, she let the blue waters rise, not so much +because they were stronger than her will, as because she wished to +understand what was the matter with her. She was filled with a dull +dislike of every one she had ever known, of every condition which +had surrounded her from birth. She felt a deep disgust of placid +contentment, of the mere enjoyment of sunshine and air. She recalled +drearily the clock-like revolutions of the year which brought +bull-fights, races, rodeos, church celebrations; her mother's +anecdotes of the Indians; her father's manifold interests, ever the +theme of his tongue; Reinaldo's grandiloquent accounts of his exploits +and intentions; Prudencia's infinite nothings. She hated the balls of +which she was La Favorita, the everlasting serenades, the whole life +of pleasure which made that period of California the most perfected +Arcadia the modern world has known. Some time during the past few +weeks the girl had crossed her hands over her breast and lain down in +her eternal tomb. The woman had arisen and come forth, blinded as yet +by the light, her hands thrust out gropingly. + +"It is that man," she told herself, with angry frankness. "I had +not talked with him ten minutes before I felt as I do when the scene +changes suddenly in one of Shakespeare's plays,--as if I had been +flung like a meteor into a new world. I felt the necessity for mental +alertness for the first time in my life; always, before, I had striven +to conceal what I knew. The natural consequences, of course, were +first the desire to feel that stimulation again and again, then to +realize the littleness of everything but mental companionship. I have +read that people who begin with hate sometimes end with love; and if I +were a book woman I suppose I should in time love this man whom I now +so hate, even while I admire. But I am no lump of wax in the hands +of a writer of dreams. I am Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, and he is Diego +Estenega. I could no more love him than could the equator kiss the +poles. Only, much as I hate him, I wish I could see him again. He +knows so much more than any one else. I should like to talk to him, +to ask him many things. He has sworn to marry me." Her lip curled +scornfully, but a sudden glow rushed over her. "Had he not been an +Estenega,--yes, I could have loved him,--that calm, clear-sighted +love that is born of regard; not a whirlwind and a collapse, like most +love. I should like to sit with my hands in my lap and hear him talk +forever. And we cannot even be friends. It is a pity." + +The girl's mind was like a splendid castle only one wing of which had +ever been illuminated. By the light of the books she had read, and +of acute observation in a little sphere, she strove to penetrate the +thick walls and carry the torch into broader halls and lofty towers. +But superstition, prejudice, bitter pride, inexperience of life, +conjoined their shoulders and barred the way. As Diego Estenega had +discerned, under the thick Old-World shell of inherited impressions +was a plastic being of all womanly possibilities. But so little did +she know of herself, so futile was her struggle in the dark with only +sudden flashes to blind her and distort all she saw, that with nothing +to shape that moulding kernel it would shrink and wither, and in a few +years she would be but a polished shell, perfect of proportion, hollow +at the core. + +But if strong intellectual juices sank into that sweet, pliant kernel, +developing it into the perfected form of woman, establishing the +current between the brain and the passions, finishing the work, or +leaving it half completed, as Circumstance vouchsafed?--what then? + +"Ay, Señor!" exclaimed Prudencia, as two people, mounted on horses +glistening with silver, galloped into the court-yard. "Valencia and +Adan!" + +I came out of the sala at that moment and watched them alight: Adan, +that faithful, dog-like adorer, of whose kind every beautiful woman +has a half-dozen or more, Valencia the bitter-hearted rival of +Chonita. She was a tall, dazzling creature, with flaming black eyes +large and heavily lashed, and a figure so lithe that she seemed to +sweep downward from her horse rather than spring to the ground. She +had the dark rich skin of Mexico--another source of envy and hatred, +for the Iturbi y Moncadas, like most of the aristocracy of the +country, were of pure Castilian blood and as white as porcelain in +consequence--and a red full mouth. + +"Welcome, my Chonita!" she cried. "_Valgame Dios!_ but I am glad to +see thee back!" She kissed Chonita effusively. "Ay, my poor brother!" +she whispered, hurriedly. "Tell him that thou art glad to see him." +And then she welcomed me with words that fell as softly as rose-leaves +in a zephyr, and patted Prudencia's head. + +Chonita, with a faint flush on her cheek, gave Adan her hand to kiss. +She had given this faithful suitor little encouragement, but his +unswerving and honest devotion had wrung from her a sort of careless +affection; and she told me that first night in Monterey that if she +ever made up her mind to marry she thought she would select Adan: he +was more tolerable than any one she knew. It is doubtful if he had +crossed her mind since; and now, with all a woman's unreason, she +conceived a sudden and violent dislike for him because she had treated +him too kindly in her thoughts. I liked Adan Menendez; there was +something manly and sure about him,--the latter a restful if not a +fascinating quality. And I liked his appearance. His clear brown eyes +had a kind direct regard. His chin was round, and his profile a little +thick; but the gray hair brushed up and away from his low forehead +gave dignity to his face. His figure was pervaded with the indolence +of the Californian. + +"At your feet, señorita mia," he murmured, his voice trembling. + +"It gives me pleasure to see thee again, Adan. Hast thou been well and +happy since I left?" + +It was a careless question, and he looked at her reproachfully. + +"I have been well, Chonita," he said. + +At this moment our attention was startled by a sharp exclamation from +Valencia. Prudencia had announced her engagement. Valencia had refused +many suitors, but she had intended to marry Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada. +Not that she loved him: he was the most brilliant match in three +hundred leagues. Within the last year he had bent the knee to the +famous coquette; but she had lost her temper one day,--or, rather, it +had found her,--and after a violent quarrel he had galloped away, and +gone almost immediately to Los Angeles, there to remain until Don +Juan went after him with a bushel of gold. She controlled herself in +a moment, and swayed her graceful body over Prudencia, kissing her +lightly on the cheek. + +"Thou baby, to marry!" she said, softly. "Thou didst take away my +breath. Thou dost look no more than fourteen years. I had forgotten +the grand merienda of thy eighteenth birthday." + +Prudencia's little bosom swelled with pride at the discomfiture of the +haughty beauty who had rarely remembered to notice her. Prudencia was +not poor; she owned a goodly rancho; but it was an hacienda to the +state of a Menendez. + +"Thou wilt be one of my bridesmaids, no, Doña Valencia?" she asked. + +"That will be the proud day of my life," said Valencia, graciously. + +"We have a ball to-night," said Chonita. + +"Thou wouldst have had word to-day. Thou wilt stay now, no? and not +ride those five leagues twice again? I will send for thy gown." + +"Truly, I will stay, my Chonita. And thou wilt tell me all about thy +visit to Monterey, no?" + +"All? Ay! sure!" + +Adan kissed both Prudencia's little hands in earnest congratulation. +As he did so, the door of Reinaldo's room opened, and the heir of the +Iturbi y Moncadas stepped forth, gorgeous in black silk embroidered +with gold. He had slept off the effects of the night's debauch, and +cold water had restored his freshness. He kissed Prudencia's hand, his +own to us, then bent over Valencia's with exaggerated homage. + +"At thy feet, O loveliest of California's daughters. In the immensity +of thought, going to and coming from Los Angeles, my imagination has +spread its wings like an eagle. Thou hast been a beautiful day-dream, +posing or reclining, dancing, or swaying with grace superlative on thy +restive steed. I have not greeted my good friend Adan. I can but look +and look and keep on looking at his incomparable sister, the rose of +roses, the queen of queens." + +"Thy tongue carols as easily as a lark's," said Valencia, with but +half-concealed bitterness. "Thou couldst sing all day,--and the next +forget." + +"I forget nothing, beautiful señorita,--neither the fair days of +spring nor the ugly storms of winter. And I love the sunshine and flee +from the tempest. Adan, brother of my heart, welcome as ever to Casa +Grande--Ay! here is my father. He looks like Sancho Panza." + +Don Guillermo's sturdy little mustang bore him into the court-yard, +shaking his stout master not a little. The old gentleman's black +silk handkerchief had fallen to his shoulders: his face was red, but +covered with a broad smile. + +"I have letters from Monterey," he said, as Reinaldo and Adan ran down +the steps to help him alight. "Alvarado goes by sea to Los Angeles +this month, but returns by land in the next, and will honor us with +a visit of a week. I shall write to him to arrive in time for the +wedding. Several members of the Junta come with him,--and of their +number is Diego Estenega." + +"Who?" cried Reinaldo. "An Estenega? Thou wilt not ask him to cross +the threshold of Casa Grande?" + +"I always liked Diego," said the old man, somewhat confusedly. "And he +is the friend of Alvarado. How can I avoid to ask him, when he is of +the party?" + +"Let him come," cried Reinaldo. "God of my life!--I am glad that he +comes, this lord of redwood forests and fog-bound cliffs. It is well +that he see the splendor of the Iturbi y Moncadas,--our pageants and +our gay diversions, our cavalcades of beauty and elegance under a +canopy of smiling blue. Glad I am that he comes. Once for all shall +he learn that, although his accursed family has beaten ours in war and +politics, he can never hope to rival our pomp and state." + +"Ah!" said Valencia to Chonita, "I have heard of this Diego Estenega. +I too am glad that he comes. I have the advantage of thee this time, +my friend. Thou and he must hate each other, and for once I am without +a rival. He shall be my slave." And she tossed her spirited head. + +"He shall not!" cried Chonita, then checked herself abruptly, the +blood rushing to her hair. "I hate him so," she continued hurriedly +to the astonished Valencia, "that I would see no woman show him favor. +Thou wilt not like him, Valencia. He is not handsome at all,--no color +in his skin, not even white, and eyes in the back of his head. No +mustache, no curls, and a mouth that looks,--oh, that mouth, so grim, +so hard!--no, it is not to be described. No one could; it makes you +hate him. And he has no respect for women; he thinks they were made to +please the eye, no more. I do not think he would look ten seconds at +an ugly woman. Thou wilt not like him, Valencia, sure." + +"Ay, but I think I shall. What thou hast said makes me wish to see him +the more. God of my life! but he must be different from the men of the +South. And I shall like that." + +"Perhaps," said Chonita, coldly. "At least he will not break thy +heart, for no woman could love him. But come and take thy siesta, +no? and refresh thyself for the dance. I will send thee a cup +of chocolate." And, bending her head to Adan, she swept down the +corridor, followed by Valencia. + + + + +XV. + + +Those were two busy months before Prudencia's wedding. Twenty girls, +sharply watched and directed by Doña Trinidad and the sometime +mistress of Casa Grande, worked upon the marriage wardrobe. Prudencia +would have no use for more house-linen; but enough fine linen was made +into underclothes to last her a lifetime. Five keen-eyed girls did +nothing but draw the threads for deshalados, and so elaborate was the +open-work that the wonder was the bride did not have bands and stripes +of rheumatism. Others fashioned crêpes and flowered silks and heavy +satins into gowns with long pointed waists and full flowing skirts, +some with sleeves of lace and high to the base of the throat, others +cut to display the plump whiteness of the owner. Twelve rebosos were +made for her; Doña Trinidad gave her one of her finest mantillas; +Chonita, the white satin embroidered with poppies, for which she had +conceived a capricious dislike. She also invited Prudencia to take +what she pleased from her wardrobe; and Prudencia, who was nothing if +not practical, helped herself to three gowns which had been made for +Chonita at great expense in the city of Mexico, four shawls of Chinese +crêpe, a roll of pineapple silk, and an American hat. + +The house until within two weeks of the wedding was full of +visitors,--neighbors whose ranchos lay ten leagues away or nearer, +and the people of the town; all of them come to offer congratulations, +chatter on the corridor by day and dance in the sala by night. The +court was never free of prancing horses pawing the ground for +eighteen hours at a time under their heavy saddles. Doña Trinidad's +cooking-girls were as thick in the kitchen as ants on an anthill, for +the good things of Casa Grande were as famous as its hospitality, and +not the least of the attractions to the merry visitors. When we did +not dance at home we danced at the neighbors' or at the Presidio. +During the last two weeks, however, every one went home to rest and +prepare for the festivities to succeed the wedding; and the old house +was as quiet as a canon in the mountains. + +Chonita took a lively concern in the preparations at first, but her +interest soon evaporated, and she spent more and more time in the +little library adjoining her bedroom. She did less reading than +thinking, however. Once she came to me and tried for fifteen minutes +to draw from me something in Estenega's dispraise; and when I finally +admitted that he had a fault or two I thought she would scalp me. +Still, at this time she was hardly more than fascinated, interested, +tantalized by a mind she could appreciate but not understand. If they +had never met again he would gradually have moved backward to +the horizon of her memory, growing dim and more dim, hovered in a +cloud-bank for a while, then disappeared into that limbo which must +exist somewhere for discarded impressions, and all would have been +well. + + + + +XVI. + + +The evening before the wedding Prudencia covered her demure self +with black gown and reboso, and, accompanied by Chonita, went to the +Mission to make her last maiden confession. Chonita did not go with +her into the church, but paced up and down the long corridor of the +wing, gazing absently upon the deep wild valley and peaceful ocean, +seeing little beyond the images in her own mind. + +That morning Alvarado and several members of the Junta had arrived, +but not Estenega. He had come as far as the Rancho Temblor, Alvarado +explained, and there, meeting some old friends, had decided to remain +over night and accompany them the next day to the ceremony. As Chonita +had stood on the corridor and watched the approach of the Governor's +cavalcade her heart had beaten violently, and she had angrily +acknowledged that her nervousness was due to the fact that she was +about to meet Diego Estenega again. When she discovered that he +was not of the party, she turned to me with pique, resentment, and +disappointment in her face. + +"Even if I cannot ever like him," she said, "at least I might have the +pleasure of hearing him talk. There is no harm in that, even if he is +an Estenega, a renegade, and the enemy of my brother. I can hate him +with my heart and like him with my mind. And he must have cared little +to see us again, that he could linger for another day." + +"I am mad to see Don Diego Estenega," said Valencia, her red lips +pouting. "Why did he, of all others, tarry?" + +"He is fickle and perverse," I said,--"the most uncertain man I know." + +"Perhaps he thought to make us wish to see him the more," suggested +Valencia. + +"No," I said: "he has no ridiculous vanities." + +Chonita wandered back and forth behind the arches, waiting for +Prudencia's long confession of sinless errors to conclude. + +"What has a baby like that to confess?" she thought, impatiently. "She +could not sin if she tried. She knows nothing of the dark storms +of rage and hatred and revenge which can gather in the breasts of +stronger and weaker beings. I never knew, either, until lately; but +the storm is so black I dare not face it and carry it to the priest. I +am a sort of human chaos, and I wish I were dead. I thought to forget +him, and I see him as plainly as on that morning when he told me that +it was he who would send my brother to prison----" + +She stopped short with a little cry. Diego Estenega stood before the +Mission in the broad swath of moonlight. She had heard a horse gallop +up the valley, but had paid no attention to the familiar sound. +Estenega had appeared as suddenly as if he had arisen from the earth. + +"It is I, señorita." He ascended the Mission steps. "Do not fear. May +I kiss your hand?" + +She gave him her hand, but withdrew it hurriedly. Of the tremendous +mystery of sex she knew almost nothing. Girls were brought up in such +ignorance in those days that many a bride ran home to her mother on +her wedding night; and books teach Innocence little. But she was fully +conscious that there was something in the touch of Estenega's lips and +hand that startled while it thrilled and enthralled. + +"I thought you stayed with the Ortegas to-night," she said. Oh, +blessed conventions! + +"I did,--for a few hours. Then I wanted to see you, and I left them +and came on. At Casa Grande I found no one but Eustaquia; every one +else had gone to the gardens; and she told me that you were here." + +Chonita's heart was beating as fast as it had beaten that morning; +even her hands shook a little. A glad wave of warmth rushed over her. +She turned to him impetuously. "Tell me?" she exclaimed. "Why do I +feel like this for you? I hate you: you know that. There are many +reasons,--five; you counted them. And yet I feel excited, almost glad, +at your coming. This morning I was disappointed when you did not. Tell +me,--you know everything, and I so little,--why is it?" + +Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes terrified and appealing. She looked +very lovely and natural. Probably for the first time in his life +Estenega resisted a temptation. He passionately wished to take her in +his arms and tell her the truth. But he was too clever a man; there +was too much at stake; if he frightened her now he might never even +see her again. Moreover, she appealed to his chivalry. And it suddenly +occurred to him that so sweet a heart would be warped in its waking if +passion bewildered and controlled her first. + +"Doña Chonita," he said, "like all women,--all beautiful and spoiled +women,--you demand variety. I happen to be made of harder stuff than +your caballeros, and you have not seen me for two months; that is +all." + +"And if I saw you every day for two months would I no longer care +whether you came or went?" + +"Undoubtedly. + +"Is it sweet or terrible to feel this way?" thought the girl. "Would I +regret if he no longer made me tremble, or would I go on my knees and +thank the Blessed Virgin?" Aloud she said, "It was strange for me to +ask you such questions; but it is as if you had something in your mind +separate from yourself, and that _it_ would tell me, and you could not +prevent its being truthful. I do not believe in _you_; you look as if +nothing were worth the while to lie or tell the truth about; but your +mind is quite different. It seems to me that it knows all things, that +it is as cold and clear as ice." + +"What a whimsical creature you are! My mind, like myself,--I feel as +if I were twins,--is at your service. Forget that I am Diego Estenega. +Regard me as a sort of archive of impressions which may amuse or serve +you as the poorest of your books do. That they happen to be catalogued +under the general title of Diego Estenega is a mere detail; an +accident, for that matter; they might be pigeon-holed in the skull of +a Bandini or a Pico. I happen to be the magnet, that is all." + +"If I could forget that you were an Estenega,--just for a week, while +you are here," she said, wistfully. + +"You are a woman of will and imagination,--also of variety. Make an +experiment; it will interest you. Of course there will be times when +you will be bitterly conscious that I am the enemy of your house; it +would be idle to expect otherwise; but when we happen to be apart from +disturbing influences, let us agree to forget that we are anything but +two human beings, deeply congenial. As for what I said in the garden +at Monterey, the last time we spoke together,--I shall not bother +you." + +"You no longer care?" she exclaimed. + +"I did not say that. I said I should not bother you,--recognizing +your hostility and your reasons. Be faithful to your traditions, my +beautiful doomswoman. No man is worth the sacrifice of those dear old +comrades. What presumption for a man to require you to abandon the +cause of your house, give up your brother, sacrifice one or more of +your religious principles; one, too, who would open his doors to the +Americans you hate! No man is worth such a sacrifice as that." + +"No," she said, "no man." But she said it without enthusiasm. + +"A man is but one; traditions are fivefold, and multiplied by duty. +Poor grain of sand--what can he give, comparable to the cold serene +happiness of fidelity to self? Love is sweet,--horribly sweet,--but so +common a madness can give but a tithe of the satisfaction of duty to +pure and lofty ideals." + +"I do not believe that." The woman in her arose in resentment. "A life +of duty must be empty, cold, and wrong. It was not that we were made +for." + +"Let us talk little of love, señorita: it is a dangerous subject." + +"But it interests me, and I should like to understand it." + +"I will explain the subject to you fully, some day. I have a fancy to +do that on my own territory,--up in the redwoods--" + +"Here is Prudencia." + +A small black figure swept down the steps of the church. She bowed +low to Estenega when he was presented, but uttered no word. The Indian +servants brought the horses to the door, and they rode down the valley +to Casa Grande. + + + + +XVII. + + +The guests of Casa Grande--there were many besides Alvarado and his +party; the house was full again--were gathered with the family on the +corridor as Estenega, Chonita, and Prudencia dismounted at the extreme +end of the court-yard. As Reinaldo saw the enemy of his house approach +he ran down the steps, advanced rapidly, and bowed low before him. + +"Welcome, Señor Don Diego Estenega," he said,--"welcome to Casa +Grande. The house is thine. Burn it if thou wilt. The servants are +thine; I myself am thy servant. This is the supreme moment of my life, +supremer even than when I learned of my acquittal of the foul +charges laid to my door by scheming and jealous enemies. It is +long--alas!--since an Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada have met in +the court-yard of the one or the other. Let this moment be the seal of +peace, the death of feud, the unification of the North and the South." + +"You have the hospitality of the true Californian, Don Reinaldo. It +gives me pleasure to accept it." + +"Would, then, thy pleasure could equal mine!" "Curse him!" he added to +Chonita, as Estenega went up the steps to greet Don Guillermo and Doña +Trinidad, "I have just received positive information that it was +he who kept me from distinguishing myself and my house in the +Departmental Junta, he who cast me in a dungeon. It poisons my +happiness to sleep under the same roof with him." + +"Ay!" exclaimed Chonita. "Why canst thou not be more sincere, my +brother? Hospitality did not compel thee to say so much to thine +enemy. Couldst thou not have spoken a few simple words like himself, +and not blackened thy soul?" + +"My sister! thou never spokest to me so harshly before. And on my +marriage eve!" + +"Forgive me, my most beloved brother. Thou knowest I love thee. But it +grieves me to think that even hospitality could make thee false." + +When they ascended the steps, not a woman was to be seen; all had +followed Prudencia to her chamber to see the _donas_ of the groom, +which had arrived that day from Mexico. Chonita tarried long enough to +see that her father had forgotten the family grievance in his revived +susceptibility to Estenega, then went to Prudencia's room. There +women, young and old, crowded each other, jabbering like monkeys. The +little iron bed, the chairs and tables, every article of furniture, +in fact, but the altar in the corner, displayed to advantage exquisite +materials for gowns, a mass of elaborate underclothing, a white lace +mantilla to be worn at the bridal, lace flounces fine and deep, crêpe +shawls, sashes from Rome, silk stockings by the dozen. On a large +table were the more delicate and valuable gifts: a rosary of topaz, +the cross a fine piece of carving; a jeweled comb; a string of +pearls; diamond hoops for the ears; a large pin painted with a head of +Guadalupe, the patron saint of California; and several fragile +fans. Quite apart, on a little table, was the crown and pride of the +_donas_,--six white cobweb-like smocks, embroidered, hemistitched, and +deshaladoed. Did any Californian bridegroom forget that dainty item he +would be repudiated on his wedding-eve. + +"God of my life!" murmured Valencia, "he has taste as well as gold. +And all to go on that round white doll!" + +There was little envy among the other girls. Their eyes sparkled with +good-nature as they kissed Prudencia and congratulated her. The older +women patted the things approvingly; and, between religion, a _donas_ +to satisfy an angel, and prospective bliss, Prudencia was the happiest +little bride-elect in all The Californias. + +"Never were such smocks!" cried one of the girls. "Ay! he will make a +good husband. That sign never fails." + +"Thou must wear long, long trains now, my Prudencia, and be as stately +as Chonita." + +"Ay!" exclaimed Prudencia. Did not every gown already made have a +train longer than herself? + +"Thou needst never wear a mended stocking with all these to last thee +for years," said another: never had silk stockings been brought to +the Californias in sufficient plenty for the dancing feet of its +daughters. + +"I shall always mend my stockings," said Prudencia, "I myself." + +"Yes," said one of the older women, "thou wilt be a good wife and +waste nothing." + +Valencia laid her arm about Chonita's waist. "I wish to meet Don Diego +Estenega," she said. "Wilt thou not present him to me?" + +"Thou art very forward," said Chonita, coldly. "Canst thou not wait +until he comes thy way?" + +"No, my Chonita; I wish to meet him now. My curiosity devours me." + +"Very well; come with me and thou shalt know him.--Wilt thou come too, +Eustaquia? There are only men on the corridor." + +We found Diego and Don Guillermo talking politics in a corner, both +deeply interested. Estenega rose at once. + +"Don Diego Estenega," said Chonita, "I would present you to the +Señorita Doña Valencia Menendez, of the Rancho del Fuego." + +Estenega bowed. "I have heard much of Doña Valencia, and am delighted +to meet her." + +Valencia was nonplussed for a moment; he had not given her the +customary salutation, and she could hardly murmur the customary reply. +She merely smiled and looked so handsome that she could afford to +dispense with words. + +"A superb type," said Estenega to me, as Don Guillermo claimed +the beauty's attention for a moment. "But only a type; nothing +distinctive." + +Nevertheless, ten minutes later, Valencia, with the manoeuvring of the +general of many a battle, had guided him to a seat in the sala under +Doña Trinidad's sleepy wing, and her eyes were flashing the language +of Spain to his. I saw Chonita watch them for a moment, in mingled +surprise and doubt, then saw a sudden look of fear spring to her eyes +as she turned hastily and walked away. + +Again I shared her room,--the thirty rooms and many in the +out-buildings were overflowing with guests who had come a hundred +leagues or less,--and after we had been in bed a half-hour, Chonita, +overcome by the insinuating power of that time-honored confessional, +told me of her meeting with Estenega at the Mission. I made few +comments, but sighed; I knew him so well. "It will be strange to even +seem to be friends with him," she added,--"to hate him in my heart and +yet delight to talk with him, and perhaps to regret when he leaves." + +"Are you sure that you still hate him?" + +She sat up in bed. The solid wooden shutters were closed, but over the +door was a small square aperture, and through this a stray moonbeam +drifted and fell on her. Her hair was tumbling about her shoulders, +and she looked decidedly less statuesque than usual. + +"Eustaquia," she said, solemnly, "I believe I can go to confession." + + + + +XVIII. + + +At sunrise the next morning the guests of Casa Grande were horsed and +ready to start for the Mission. The valley between the house and the +Mission was alive with the immediate rancheros and their families, and +the people of the town, aristocrats and populace. + +At Estenega's suggestion, I climbed with him to the attic of the +tower, much to the detriment of my frock. But I made no complaint +after Diego had removed the dusty little windows on both sides and +I looked through the apertures at the charming scene. The rising sun +gave added fire to the bright red tiles of the long white Mission, +and threw a pink glow on its noble arches and towers and on the white +massive aqueduct. The bells were crashing their welcome to the bride. +The deep valley, wooded and rocky, was pervaded by the soft glow of +the awakening, but was as lively as midday. There were horses of every +color the Lord has decreed that horses shall wear. The saddles upon +them were of embossed leather or rich embroidered silk heavily mounted +with silver. Above all this gorgeousness sat the caballeros and +the doñas, in velvet and silk, gold lace and Spanish, jewels and +mantillas, and silver-weighted sombreros; a confused mass of color and +motion; a living picture, shifting like a kaleidoscope. Nor was +this all: brown, soberly-dressed old men and women in satin-padded +carretas,--heavy ox-carts on wheels made from solid sections of trees, +and driven by a gañan seated on one of the animals; the populace in +cheap finery, some on foot, others astride old mules or broken-winded +horses, two or three on one lame old hack; all chattering, shouting, +eager, interested, impatiently awaiting the bride and a week of +pleasure. + +In the court-yard and plaza before it the guests of the house were +mounted on a caponera of palominas,--horses peculiar to the country; +beautiful creatures, golden-bronze, and burnished, with luxuriant +manes and tails which waved and shone like the sparkling silver of +a water-fall. A number were riderless, awaiting the pleasure of the +bridal party. One alone was white as a Californian fog. He lifted his +head and pranced as if aware of his proud distinction. The aquera and +saddle which embellished his graceful beauty were of pink silk worked +with delicate leaves in gold and silver thread. The stirrups, cut from +blocks of wood, were elaborately carved. The glistening reins were +made from the long crystal hairs of his mane, and linked with silver. +A strip of pink silk, joined at the ends with a huge rosette, was +hung from the high silver pommel of the saddle, depending on the left +side,--a stirrup for my lady's foot. + +A deeper murmur, a sudden lining of sombreros and waving of little +hands, proclaimed that the bridal party had appeared, and we hastened +down. + +Prudencia, the mantilla of the _donas_ depending from a comb six +inches high, was attired in a white satin gown with a train of +portentous length, and looked like a kitten with a long tail. Reinaldo +was dazzling. He wore white velvet embroidered with gold; his linen +and lace were more fragile than cobwebs; his white satin slippers +were clasped with diamond buckles, the same in which his father had +married; his jacket was buttoned with diamonds. His white velvet +sombrero was covered with plumes. Never have I seen so splendid +a bridegroom. I saw Estenega grin; but I maintain that, whatever +Reinaldo's deficiencies, he was a picture to be thankful for that +morning. + +Doña Trinadad was quietly gowned in gray satin, but Don Guillermo was +as picturesque in his way as his son. His black silk handkerchief had +been knotted hurriedly about his head, and the four corners hung upon +his neck. His short breeches were of red velvet, his jacket of blue +cloth trimmed with large silver buttons and gold lace; his vest was +of yellow damask, his linen embroidered. Attached to his slippers were +enormous silver spurs inlaid with gold, the rowels so long that they +scratched more trains than one that day. + +The bridesmaids stood in a group apart, a large bouquet: each wore +a gown of a different color. Valencia blazed forth in yellow, +and flashed triumphant glances at Estenega, now and again one of +irrepressible envy and resentment at Reinaldo. Chonita looked like a +water-witch in pale green covered with lace that stirred with every +breath of air; her mantilla was as delicate as sea-spray. About her +was something subtle, awakened, restive, that I noticed for the first +time. Once she intercepted one of Valencia's lavish glances, and her +own eyes were extremely wicked and dangerous for a moment. I looked at +Estenega. He was regarding her with a fierce intensity which made him +oblivious for the moment of his surroundings. I looked at Valencia. +Thunderclouds were those heavy brows, lowered to the lightning which +sprang from depths below. I looked again at Chonita. The pink color +was in her marble face; pinker were her carven lips. + +"God of my soul!" I said to Estenega. "Go home." + +"My Prudencia," said Don Guillermo. He lifted her to the pink saddle, +adjusted her foot in the pink ribbon, climbed up behind her, placed +one arm about her waist, took the bridle in his other hand, and +cantered out of the court-yard. Reinaldo sprang to his horse, lifted +his mother in front of him, and followed. Then went the bridesmaids; +and the rest of us fell into line as we listed. As we rode up the +valley, those awaiting us joined the cavalcade, the populace closing +it, spreading out like a fan attached to the tail of a snake. The +bells rang out a joyful discordant peal; the long undulating line of +many colors wound through the trees, passed the long corridor of the +Mission, to the stone steps of the church. + +The ceremony was a long one, for communion was given the bride and +groom; and during the greater part of it I do not think Estenega +removed his gaze from Chonita. I could not help observing her too, +although I was deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. +Her round womanly figure had never appeared to greater advantage than +in that close-fitting gown; her hips being rather wide, she wore fewer +gathers than was the fashion. Her faultless arms had a warmth in their +whiteness; the filmy lace of her mantilla caressed a throat so full +and round and white and firm that it seemed to invite other caresses; +even the black pearls clung lovingly about it. Her graceful head was +bent forward a little, and the soft black lashes brushed her cheeks. +The pink flush was still in her face, like the first tinge of color on +the chill desolation of dawn. + +"Is she not beautiful?" whispered Estenega, eagerly. "Is not that a +woman to make known to herself? Think of the infinite possibilities, +the sublimation of every----" + +Here I ordered him to keep quiet, reminding him that he was in church, +a fact he had quite forgotten. I inferred that he remembered it later, +for he moved restlessly more than once and looked longingly toward the +door. + +It was over at last, and as the bride and groom appeared in the door +of the church and descended the steps, a salute was fired from the +Presidio. On the long corridor a table had been built from end to +end and a goodly banquet provided by the padres. We took our seats +at once, the populace gathering about a feast spread for them on the +grass. + +Padre Jimeno, the priest who had officiated at the ceremony, sat at +the head of the table; the other priests were scattered among us, and +good company all of them were. We were a very lively party. Prudencia +was toasted until her calm important head whirled. Reinaldo made a +speech as full of flowers as the occasion demanded. Alvarado made +one also, five sentences of plain well-chosen words, to which the +bridegroom listened with scorn. Now and again a girl swept the strings +of a guitar or a caballero sang. The delighted shrieks of the people +came over to us; at regular intervals cannons were fired. + +Estenega found himself seated between Chonita and Valencia. I was +opposite, and beginning to feel profoundly fascinated by this drama +developing before my eyes. I saw that he was amused by the situation +and not in the least disconcerted. Valencia was nervous and eager. +Chonita, whose pride never failed her, had drawn herself up and looked +coldly indifferent. + +"Señor," murmured Valencia, "thou wilt tarry with us long, no? We have +much to show thee in Santa Barbara, and on our ranchos." + +"I fear that I can stay but a week, señorita. I must return to Los +Angeles." + +"Would nothing tempt thee to stay, Don Diego?" + +He looked into her rich Southern face and approved of it: when had he +ever failed to approve of a pretty woman? "Thine eyes, señorita, would +tempt a man to forget more than duty." + +"And thou wilt stay?" + +"When I leave Santa Barbara what I take of myself will not be worth +leaving." + +"Ay! and what thou leavest thou never shalt have again." + +"There is my hope of heaven, señorita." + +He turned from this glittering conversation to Chonita. + +"You are a little tired," he said, in a low voice. "Your color has +gone, and the shadows are coming about your eyes." + +The suspicion was borne home to her that he must have observed her +closely to detect those shades of difference which no one else had +noted. + +"A little, señor. I went to bed late and rose early. Such times as +these tax the endurance. But after a siesta I shall be refreshed." + +"You look strong and very healthy." + +"Ay, but I am! I am not delicate at all. I can ride all day, and +swim--which few of our women do. I even like to walk; and I can dance +every night for a week. Only, this is an unusual time." + +Her supple elastic figure and healthy whiteness of skin betokened +endurance and vitality, and he looked at her with pleasure. "Yes, you +are strong," he said. "You look as if you would _last_,--as if you +never would grow brown nor stout." + +"What difference, if the next generation be beautiful?" she said, +lightly. "Look at Don Juan de la Borrasca. See him gaze upon Panchita +Lopez, who is just sixteen. What does he care that the women of his +day are coffee-colored and stringy or fat? You will care as little +when you too are brown and dried up, afraid to eat dulces, and each +month seeking a new parting for your hair." + +"You are a hopeful seer! But you--are you resigned to the time when +even the withered old beau will not look at you,--you who are the +loveliest woman in the Californias?" + +It was the first compliment he had paid her, and she looked up with a +swift blush, then lowered her eyes again. "With truth, I never imagine +myself except as I am now; but I should have always my books, and no +husband to teach me that there were other women more fair." + +"And books will suffice, then?" + +"Sure." She said it a little wistfully. Then she added, abruptly, "I +shall go to confession this week." + +"Ah!" + +"Yes; for although I hate you still--that is, I do not like you--I +have forgiven you. I believe you to be kind and generous, although +the enemy of my brother; that if you did oppose him and cast him +into prison, you did so with a loyal motive; you cannot help making +mistakes, for you are but human. And I do not forget that if it were +not for you he would not be a bridegroom to-day. Also, you are not +responsible for being an Estenega; so, although I do not forgive the +blood in you,--how could I, and be worthy to bear the name of Iturbi y +Moncada?--I forgive you, yourself, for being what you cannot help, and +for what you have unwittingly and mistakenly done. Do you understand?" + +"I understand. Your subtleties are magnificent." + +"You must not laugh at me. Tell me, how do you like my friend +Valencia?" + +"Well enough. I want to hear more about your confession. You fall back +into the bosom of your Church with joy, I suppose?" + +"Ay!" + +"And you would never disobey one of her mandates?" + +"Holy God! no." + +"Why?" + +"Why? Because I am a Catholic." + +"That is not what I asked you. Why are you a Catholic? if I must make +myself more plain. Why are you afraid to disobey? Why do you cling to +the Church with your back braced against your intelligence? It is hope +of future reward, I suppose,--or fear?" + +"Sure. I want to go to the heaven of the good Catholic." + +"Do not waste this life, particularly the youth of it, preparing for +a legendary hereafter. Granting, for the sake of argument, that this +existence is supplemented by another: you have no knowledge of what +elements you will be composed when you lay aside your mortal part to +enter there. Your power of enjoyment may be very thin indeed, like the +music of a band without brass; the sort of happiness one can imagine a +human being to experience out of whose anatomy the nervous system has +by some surgical triumph been removed, and in whom love of the arts +alone exists, abnormally cultivated. But one thing we of earth do +know; you do not, but I will tell you; we have a slight capacity for +happiness and a large capacity for enjoyment. There is not much in +life, God knows, but there is something. One can get a reasonable +amount out of it with due exercise of philosophy. Of that we are sure. +Of what comes after we are absolutely unsure." + +She had endeavored to interrupt him once or twice, and did so now, her +eyes flashing. "Are you an atheist?" she demanded, abruptly. "Are you +not a Catholic?" + +"I am neither an atheist nor a Catholic. The question of religion has +no interest for me whatever. I wish it had none for you." + +She looked at him sternly. For a moment I thought the Doomswoman would +annihilate the renegade. But her face softened suddenly. "I will pray +for you," she said, and turned to the man at her right. + +Estenega's face turned the chalky hue I always dreaded, and he bent +his lips to her ear. + +"Pray for me many times a day; and at other times recall what I said +about the relative value of possible and improbable heavens. You are a +woman who thinks." + +"Don Diego," exclaimed Valencia, unable to control her impatience +longer, and turning sharply from the caballero who was talking to her +in a fiery undertone, "thou hast not spoken to me for ten minutes." + +"For ten hours, señorita. Thou hast treated me with the scorn and +indifference of one weary of homage." + +She blushed with gratification. "It is thou who hast forgotten me." + +"Would that I could!" + +"Dost thou wish to?" + +"When I am away from thee, or thou talkest to other men,--sure." + +"It is thy fault if I talk to other men." + +"You make me feel the Good Samaritan." + +"But I care not to talk to them." + +"Thy heart is a comb of honey, señorita. On my knees I accept the +little morsel the queen bee--thy swift messenger--brings me. Truly, +never was sweet so sweetly sweet." + +"It is thou who hast the honey on thy tongue, although I fear there +may be a stone in thy heart." + +"Ah! Why? No stone could sit so lightly in my breast as my heart when +those red lips smile to me." + +Chonita listened to this conversation with mingled amazement and +anger. She did not doubt Estenega's sincerity to herself; neither did +Valencia appear to doubt him. But his present levity was manifest to +her. Why should he care to talk so to another woman? How strange were +men! She gave up the problem. + +After the long banquet concluded, the cavalcade formed once more, and +we returned to the town. Prudencia rode her white horse alone this +time, her husband beside her. Leading the cavalcade was the Presidio +band. Its members wore red jackets trimmed with yellow cord, Turkish +trousers of white wool, and red Polish caps. With their music mingled +the regular detonations of the Presidio cannon. After we had wound +the length of the valley we made a progress through the town for the +benefit of the populace, who ran to the corridors to watch us, and +shouted with delight. But the sun was hot, and we were all glad to be +between the thick adobe walls once more. + +We took a long siesta that day, but hours before dark the populace +was crowded in the court-yard under the booth which had been erected +during the afternoon. After the early supper the guests of Casa +Grande, and our neighbors of the town, filled the sala, the large bare +rooms adjoining, and the corridors. The old people of both degrees +seated themselves in rows against the wall, the fiddles scraped, the +guitars twanged, the flutes cooed, and the dancing began. + +In the court-yard a small space was cleared, and changing couples +danced El Jarabe and La Jota,--two stately jigs,--whilst the +spectators applauded with wild and impartial enthusiasm, and Don +Guillermo from the corridor threw silver coins at the dancers' feet. +Now and again a pretty girl would dance alone, her gay skirt lifted +with the tips of her fingers, her eyes fixed upon the ground. A man +would approach from behind and place his hat on her head. Perhaps she +would toss it saucily aside, perhaps let it rest on her coquettish +braids,--a token that its owner was her accepted gallant for the +evening. + +Above, the slender men and women of the aristocracy, the former in +black and white, the latter in gowns of vivid richness, danced the +contradanza, the most graceful dance I have ever seen; and since those +Californian days I have lived in almost every capital of Europe. +The music is so monotonous and sweet, the figures so melting and +harmonious, that to both spectator and dancer comes a dreaming languid +contentment, as were the senses swimming on the brink of sleep. +Chonita and Valencia were famous rivals in its rendering, always the +sala-stars to those not dancing. Valencia was the perfection of grace, +but it was the grace now of the snake, again of the cat. She suggested +fangs and claws, a repressed propensity to sudden leaps. Chonita's +grace was that of rhythmical music imprisoned in a woman's form of +proportions so perfect that she seemed to dissolve from one figure +into another, swaying, bending, gliding. The soul of grace emanated +from her, too evanescent to be seen, but felt as one feels perfume or +the something that is not color in the heart of a rose. Her star-like +eyes were open, but the brain behind them was half asleep: she danced +by instinct. + +I was watching the dancing of these two,--the poetry of promise and +the poetry of death,--when suddenly Don Guillermo entered the room, +stamped his foot, pulled out his rosary, and instantly we all went +down on our knees. It was eight of the clock, and this ceremony was +never omitted in Casa Grande, be the occasion festive or domestic. +When we had told our beads, Don Guillermo rose, put his rosary in his +pocket, trotted out, and the dancing was resumed. + +As the contradanza and its ensuing waltz finished, Estenega went up to +Chonita. "You are too tired to dance any more to-night," he said. "Let +us sit here and talk. Besides, I do not like to see you whirling about +the room in men's arms." + +"It is nothing to you if I dance with other men," she said, +rebelliously, although she took the seat he indicated. "And to dance +is not wrong." + +"Nothing is wrong. In some countries the biggest liar is king. We +know as little of ethics--except, to be sure, the ethics of +civilization--as one sex knows of another. So we fall back on +instinct. I have not a prejudice, but I feel it disgusting to see a +woman who is somewhat more to me than other women, embraced by another +man. It would infuriate me if done in private; why should it not at +least disgust me in public? I care as little for the approving seal +of the conventions as I care whether other women--including my own +sisters--waltz or not." + +And, alas! from that night Chonita never waltzed again. "It is not +that I care for his opinion," she assured me later; "only he made me +feel that I never wanted a man to touch me again." + +Valencia used every art of flashing eyes and pouting lips and gay +sally--there was nothing subtle in her methods--to win Estenega to her +side; but the sofa on which he sat with Chonita might have been +the remotest star in the firmament. Then, prompted by pique and +determination to find ointment for her wounded vanity, she suddenly +opened her batteries upon Reinaldo. That beautiful young bridegroom +was bored to the verge of dissolution by his solemn and sleepy +Prudencia, who kept her wide eyes upon him with an expression of rapt +adoration, exactly as she regarded the Stations in the Mission when +performing the Via Crucis. Valencia, to his mind, was the handsomest +woman in the room, and he felt the flattery of her assault. Besides, +he was safely married. So he drifted to her side, danced with her, +flirted with her, devoted himself to her caprices, until every one was +noting, and I thought that Prudencia would bawl outright. Just in the +moment, however, when our nerves were humming, Don Guillermo thumped +on the door with his stick and ordered us all to go to bed. + + + + +XIX. + + +The next morning we started at an early hour for the Rancho de las +Rocas, three leagues from Santa Barbara. The populace remained in the +booth, but we were joined by all our friends of the town, and once +more were a large party. We were bound for a merienda and a carnesada, +where bullocks would be roasted whole on spits over a bed of coals in +a deep excavation. It took a Californian only a few hours to sleep +off fatigue, and we were as fresh and gay as if we had gone to bed at +eight the night before. + +Valencia managed to ride beside Estenega, and I wondered if she +would win him. Woman's persistence, allied to man's vanity, so often +accomplishes the result intended by the woman. It seemed to me the +simplest climax for the unfolding drama, although I should have been +sorry for Diego. + +It was Reinaldo's turn to look black, but he devoted himself +ostentatiously to Prudencia, who beamed like a child with a stick of +candy. Chonita rode between Don Juan de la Borrasca and Adan. Her face +was calm, but it occurred to me that she was growing careless of her +sovereignty, for her manner was abstracted and indifferent; she seemed +to have discarded those little coquetries which had sat so gracefully +upon her. Still, as long as she concealed the light of her mind under +a bushel, her beauty and Lorleian fascination would draw men to her +feet and keep them there. Every man but Estenega and Alvarado was +as gay of color as the wild flowers had been, and the girls, as they +cantered, looked like full-blown roses. Chonita wore a dark-blue gown +and reboso of thin silk, which became her fairness marvelously well. + +"Doña Chonita, light of my eyes," said Don Juan, "thou art not wont to +be so quiet when I am by thee." + +"Thou usually hast enough to say for two." + +"Ay, thou canst appreciate the art of speech. Hast thou ever known any +one who could converse with lighter ease than I and thy brother?" + +"I never have heard any one use more words." + +"Ay! they roll from my tongue--and from Reinaldo's--like wheels +downhill." + +She turned to Adan: "They will be happy, you think,--Reinaldo and +Prudencia?" + +"Ay!" + +"What a beautiful wedding, no?" + +"Ay!" + +"Life is always the same with thee, I suppose,--smoking, riding, +swinging in the hammock?" + +"Ay!" + +"Thou wouldst not exchange thy life for another? Thou dost not wish to +travel?" + +"No,--sure." + +She wheeled suddenly and galloped over to her father and Alvarado, her +caballeros staring helplessly after her. + +When we arrived at the rancho the bullocks were already swinging +in the pits, the smell of roast meat was in the air. We dismounted, +throwing our bridles to the vaqueros in waiting; and while Indian +servants spread the table, the girls joined hands and danced about the +pit, throwing flowers upon the bullocks, singing and laughing. The +men watched them, or amused themselves in various ways,--some with +cockfights and impromptu races; others began at once to gamble on a +large flat stone; a group stood about a greased pole and jeered at two +rival vaqueros endeavoring to mount it for the sake of the gold piece +on the top. One buried a rooster in the ground, leaving its head +alone exposed; others, mounting their horses, dashed by at full speed, +snatching at the head as they passed. Reinaldo distinguished himself +by twisting it off with facile wrist while urging his horse to the +swiftness of the east wind. + +"I am going to dare more than Californian has ever dared before," said +Estenega to me, as we gathered at length about the table-cloth. "I am +going to get Doña Chonita off by herself in that little canon and have +a talk with her. Now, do you stand guard." + +"I shall not!" I exclaimed. "It is understood that when Doña Trinidad +stays at home Chonita is in my charge. I will not permit such a +thing." + +"Thou wilt, my Eustaquia. Doña Chonita is no pudding-brained girl. She +needs no dueña." + +"I know that; but it is not that I am thinking of. Suppose some one +sees you; thou knowest the inflexibility of our conventions." + +"You forget that we are _comadre_ and _compadre_. Our privileges +are many." He abruptly dismissed the intimate "thou," with his usual +American perversity. + +"True; I had forgotten. But whither is all this tending, Diego? She +neither will nor can marry you." + +"She both can and will. Will you help me, or not? Because if not I +shall proceed without you. Only you can make it easier." + +I always gave way to him; everybody did. + +He was as good as his word. How he managed, Chonita never knew, but +not a half-hour after dinner she found herself alone in the canon with +him, seated among the huge stones cataclysms had hurled there. + +"Why have you brought me here?" she asked. + +"To talk with you." + +"But this would be severely censured." + +"Do you care?" + +"No." + +She looked at him with a curious feeling she had had before; there +was something inside of his head that she wanted to get at,--something +that baffled and teased and allured her. She wanted to understand him, +and she was oppressed by the weight of her ignorance; she had no key +to unlock a man like that. With one of her swift impulses she told him +of what she was thinking. + +He smiled, his eyes lighting. "I am more than willing you should +know all that you would be curious about," he said. "Ask me a hundred +questions; I will answer them." + +She meditated a moment. She never had taken sufficient interest in a +man before to desire to fathom him, and the arts of the Californian +belle were not those of the tactfully and impartially interested woman +of to-day. She did not know how to begin. + +"What have you read?" she asked, at length. + +He gave her some account of his library,--a large one,--and mentioned +many books of many nations, of which she had never heard. + +"You have read all those books?" + +"There are many long winter nights and days in the redwood forests of +the northern coast." + +"That does not tell me much,--what you have read. I feel that it is +but one of the many items which went to the making up of you. You have +traveled everywhere, no? Was it like living over again the books of +travel?" + +"Not in the least. Each man travels for himself." + +"Madame de Staël said that traveling was sad. Is it so?" + +"To the lover of history it is like food without salt: imagination has +painted an historical city with the panorama of a great time; it has +been to us a stage for great events. We find it a stage with familiar +paraphernalia, and actors as commonplace as ourselves." + +"It is more satisfactory to stay at home and read about it?" + +"Infinitely, though less expanding." + +"Then is anything worth while except reading? + +"Several things; the pursuit of glory, for one thing, and the active +occupied life necessary for its achievement." + +She leaned forward a little; she felt that she had stumbled nearer to +him. "Are you ambitious?" she asked. + +"For what it compels life to yield; abstractly, not. Ambition is the +looting of hell in chase of biting flames swirling above a desert of +ashes. As for posthumous fame, it must be about as satisfactory as a +draught of ice-water poured down the throat of a man who has died on +Sahara. And yet, even if in the end it all means nothing, if 'from +hour to hour we ripe and ripe and then from hour to hour we rot +and rot,' still for a quarter-century or so the nettle of ambition +flagellating our brain may serve to make life less uninteresting and +more satisfactory. The abstraction and absorption of the fight, the +stinging fear of rivals, the murmur of acknowledgment, the shout of +compelled applause,--they fill the blanks." + +"Tell me," she said, imperiously, "what do you want?" + +"Shall I tell you? I never have spoken of it to a living soul but +Alvarado. Shall I tell it to a woman,--and an Iturbi y Moncada? Could +the folly of man further go?" + +"If I am a woman I am an Iturbi y Moncada, and if I am an Iturbi y +Moncada I have the honor of its generations in my veins." + +"Very good. I believe you would not betray me, even in the interest of +your house. Would you?" + +"No." + +"And I love to talk to you, to tell you what I would tell no other. +Listen, then. An envoy goes to Mexico next week with letters from +Alvarado, desiring that I be the next governor of the Californias, and +containing the assurance that the Departmental Junta will endorse +me. I shall follow next month to see Santa Ana personally; I know him +well, and he was a friend of my father's. I wish to be invested with +peculiar powers; that is to say, I wish California to be practically +overlooked while I am governor and I wish it understood that I shall +be governor as long as I please. Alvarado will hold no office under +the Americans, and is as ready to retire now as a few years later. Of +course my predilection for the Americans must be carefully concealed +both from the Mexican government and the mass of the people here: +Santa Ana and Alvarado know what is bound to come; the Mexicans, +generally, retain enough interest in the Californias to wish to keep +them. I shall be the last governor of the Department, and I shall +employ that period to amalgamate the native population so closely that +they will make a strong contingent in the new order of things and +be completely under my domination. I shall establish a college with +American professors, so that our youth will be taught to think, and to +think in English. Alvarado has done something for education, but not +enough; he has not enforced it, and the methods are very primitive. +I intend to be virtually dictator. With as little delay as possible +I shall establish a newspaper,--a powerful weapon in the hands of a +ruler, as well as a factor of development. Then I shall organize a +superior court for the punishment of capital crimes. Not that I do not +recognize the right of a man to kill if his reasons satisfy himself, +but there can be no subservience to authority in a country where +murder is practically licensed. American immigration will be more than +encouraged, and it shall be distinctly understood by the Americans +that I encourage it. Everything, of course, will be done to promote +good-will between the Californians and the new-comers. Then, when the +United States make up their mind to take possession of us, I shall +waste no blood, but hand over a country worthy of capture. In the +meantime it will have been carefully drilled into the Californian mind +that American occupation will be for their ultimate good, and that I +shall go to Washington to protect their interests. There will then be +no foolish insurrections. Do you care to hear more?" + +Her face was flushed, her chest was rising rapidly. + +"I hardly know what to think,--how I feel. You interest me so much as +you talk that I wish you to succeed: I picture your success. And yet +it maddens me to hear you talk of the Americans in that way,--also +to know that your house will be greater than ours,--that we will be +forgotten. But--yes, tell me all. What will you do then?" + +"I shall have California, in the first place, scratched for the gold +that I believe lies somewhere within her. When that great resource +_is_ located and developed I shall publish in every American newspaper +the extraordinary agricultural advantages of the country. In a word, +my object is to make California a great State and its name synonymous +with my own. As I told you before, for fame as fame I care nothing; +I do not care if I am forgotten on my death-bed; but with my blood +biting my veins I must have action while living. Shall I say that +I have a worthier motive in wishing to aid in the development of +civilization? But why worthier? Merely a higher form of selfishness. +The best and the worst of motives are prompted by the same instinct." + +"I would advise you," she said, slowly, "never to marry. Your wife +would be very unhappy." + +"But no one has greater scorn than you for the man who spends his life +with his lips at the chalice of the poppy." + +"True, I had forgotten them." She rose abruptly. "Let us go back," she +said. "It is better not to stay too long." + +As they walked down the canon she looked at him furtively. The men of +her race were almost all tall and finely-proportioned, but they did +not suggest strength as this man did. And his face,--it was so +grimly determined at times that she shrank from it, then drew +near, fascinated. It had no beauty at all--according to Californian +standards; she could not know that it represented all that intellect, +refinement and civilization, generally, would do for the human +race for a century to come,--but it had a subtle power, an absolute +audacity, an almost contemptuous fearlessness in its bold, fine +outline, a dominating intelligence in the keen deeply-set eyes, and +a hint of weakness, where and what she could not determine, that +mystified and magnetized her. + +"I know you a little better," she said, "just a little,--enough to +make my curiosity ache and jump. At the same time, I know now what I +did not before,--that I might climb and mine and study and watch, and +you would always be beyond me. There is something subtle and evasive +about you--something I seem to be close to always, yet never can see +or grasp." + +"It is merely the barrier of sex. A man can know a woman fairly well, +because her life, consequently the interests which mould her mind and +conceive her thoughts, are more or less simple. A man's life is so +complex, his nature so inevitably the sum and work of it of it lies +so far outside of woman's sphere, his mind spiked with a thousand +magnets, each pointing to a different possibility,--that she would +need divine wisdom to comprehend him in his entirety, even if he made +her a diagram of every cell in his brain,--which he never would, out +of consideration for both her and his own vanity. But within certain +restrictions there can be a magnificent sense of comradeship." + +"But a woman, I think, would never be happy with that something in +the man always beyond her grasp,--that something which she could be +nothing to. She would be more jealous of that independence of her in +man than of another woman." + +"That was pure insight," he said. "You could not know that." + +"No," she said, "I had not thought of it before." + +I had made a martyr of myself on a three-cornered stone at the +entrance of the canon, waiting to dueña them out. "Never will I do +this again!" I exclaimed, with that virtue born of discomfort, as they +came in sight. + +"My dearest Eustaquia," said Diego, kissing my hand gallantly, "thou +hast given me pleasure so often, most charming and clever of women, +thou hast but added one new art to thy overflowing store." + +We mounted almost immediately upon returning, and I was alone with +Chonita for a moment. "Do you realize that you are playing with fire?" +I said, warningly. "Estenega is a dangerous man; the most successful +man with women I have ever known." + +"I do not deny his power," she said. "But I am safe, for the many +reasons thou knowest of. And, being safe, why should I deny myself the +pleasure of talking to him? I shall never meet his like again. Let me +live for a little while." + +"Ay, but do not live too hard! It hurts down into the core and +marrow." + + + + +XX. + + +While we were eating supper, a dozen Indian girls were gathered about +a table in one of the large rooms behind the house, busily engaged +in blowing out the contents of several hundred eggs and filling the +hollowed shells with cologne, flour, tinsel, bright scraps of paper. +Each egg-was then sealed with white wax, and ready for the cascaron +frolic of the evening. + +We had been dancing, singing, and talking for an hour after rosario, +when the eggs were brought in. In an instant every girl's hair was +unbound, a wild dive was made for the great trays, and eggs flew in +every direction. Dancing was forgotten. The girls and men chased each +other about the room, the air was filled with perfume and glittering +particles, the latter looking very pretty on black floating hair. +Etiquette demanded that only one egg should be thrown by the same hand +at a time, but quick turns of supple wrists followed each other very +rapidly. To really accomplish a feat the egg must crash on the back of +the head, and each occupied in attack was easy prey. + +Chonita was like a child. Two priests were of our party, and she made +a target of their shaven crowns, shrieking with delight. They vowed +revenge, and chased her all over the house; but not an egg had broken +on that golden mane. She was surrounded at one time by caballeros, but +she whirled and doubled so swiftly that every cascaron flew afield. + +The pelting grew faster and more furious; every room was invaded; we +chased each other up and down the corridors. The people in the court +had their cascarones also, and the noise must have been heard at the +Mission. Don Guillermo hobbled about delightedly, covered with tinsel +and flour. Estenega had tried a dozen times to hit Chonita, but as +if by instinct she faced him each time before the egg could leave his +hand. Finally he pursued her down the corridor to her library, where +I, fortunately, happened to be resting, and both threw themselves into +chairs, breathless. + +"Let us stay here," he said. "We have had enough of this." + +"Very well," she said. She bent her head to lift a book which had +fallen from a shelf, and felt the soft blow of the cascaron. + +"At last!" said Estenega, contentedly. "I was determined to conquer, +if I waited until morning." + +Chonita looked vexed for a moment,--she did not like to be +vanquished,--then shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her chair. +The little room was plainly furnished. Shelves covered three sides, +and the window-seat and the table were littered with books. There were +no curtains, no ornaments; but Chonita's hair, billowing to the floor, +her slender voluptuous form, her white skin and green irradiating +eyes, the candlelight half revealing, half concealing, made a picture +requiring no background. I caught the expression of Estenega's face, +and determined to remain if he murdered me. + +Peals of laughter, joyous shrieks, screams of mock terror, floated in +to us. I broke a silence which was growing awkward: + +"How happy they are! Creatures of air and sunshine! Life in this +Arcadia is an idyl." + +"They are not happy," said Estenega, contemptuously; "they are gay. +They are light of heart through absence of material cares and endless +sources of enjoyment, which in turn have bred a careless order of +mind. But did each pause long enough to look into his own heart, would +he not find a stone somewhere in its depths?--perhaps a skull graven +on the stone,--who knows?" + +"Oh, Diego!" I exclaimed, impatiently, "this is a party, not a +funeral." + +"Then is no one happy?" asked Chonita, wistfully. + +"How can he be, when in each moment of attainment he is pricked by the +knowledge that it must soon be over? The youth is not happy, because +the shadow of the future is on him. The man is not happy, because the +knowledge of life's incompleteness is with him." + +"Then of what use to live at all?" + +"No use. It is no use to die, neither, so we live. I will grant that +there may be ten completely happy moments in life,--the ten conscious +moments preceding certain death--and oblivion." + +"I will not discuss the beautiful hope of our religion with you, +because you do not believe, and I should only get angry. But what +are we to do with this life? You say nothing is wrong nor right. What +would you have the stumbling and unanchored do with what has been +thrust upon him?" + +"Man, in his gropings down through the centuries, has concocted, +shivered, and patched certain social conditions well enough calculated +to develop the best and the worst that is in us, making it easier for +us to be bad than good, that good might be the standard. We feel a +deeper satisfaction if we have conquered an evil impulse and done +what is accepted as right, because we have groaned and stumbled in +the doing,--that is all. Temptation is sweet only because the impulse +comes from the depths of our being, not because it is difficult to be +tempted. If we overcome, the satisfaction is deep and enduring,--which +only goes to show that man is but a petty egotist, always drawing +pictures of himself on a pedestal. The man who emancipates himself +from traditions and yields to his impulses is debarred from happiness +by the blunders of the blindfolded generations preceding him, which +arranged that to yield was easy and to resist difficult. Had they +reversed the conditions and conclusions, the majority of the human +race would have fought each other to death, but the selected remnant +would have had a better time of it. + +"Let us suppose a case as conditions now exist. Assume, for the sake +of argument, that you loved me and that you plucked from your nature +your religion, your fidelity to your house, your love for your +brother, and gave yourself to me. You would stand appalled at the +sacrifice until you realized that you had come to me only because +it would have been more difficult to stay away. You conquer the +passionate cry of love,--the strongest the human compound has ever +voiced,--and you are miserably happy for the rest of your life no +attitude being so pleasing to the soul as the attitude of martyrdom. +Many a man and woman looks with some impatience for the last good-bye +to be said, so sweet is the prospect of sadness, of suffering, of +resignation." + +I was aghast at his audacity, but I saw that Chonita was fascinated. +Her egotism was caressed, and her womanhood thrilled. "Are we all such +shams as that?" was what she said. "You make me despise myself." + +"Not yourself, but a great structure--of which you are but a +grain--with a faulty foundation. Don't despise yourself. Curse the +builders who shoveled those stones together." + +He left her then, and she told me to go to bed; she wanted to sit a +while and think. + +"He makes you think too much," I said. "Better forget what he says as +soon as you can. He is a very disturbing influence." + +But she made me no reply, and sat there staring at the floor. She +began to feel a sense of helplessness, like a creature caught in a +net. It was more the man's personality than his words which made her +feel as if he were pouring himself throughout her, taking possession +of brain and every sense, as though he were a sort of intellectual +drug. + +"I believe I was made from his rib," she thought, angrily, "else why +can he have this extraordinary power over me? I do not love him. I +have read somewhat of love, and seen more. This is different, quite. I +only feel that there is something in him that I want. Sometimes I feel +that I must dig my nails into him and tear him apart until I find +what I want,--something that belongs to me. Sometimes it is as if he +promised it, at others as if he were unconscious of its existence; +always it is evanescent. Is he going to make my mind his own?--and yet +he always seems to leave mine free. He has never snubbed me. He makes +me think: there is the danger." + +An hour later there was a tap on her door. Casa Grande was asleep. She +sat upright, her heart beating rapidly. Estenega was audacious enough +for anything. But it was her brother who entered. + +"Reinaldo!" she exclaimed, horrified to feel an unmistakable stab of +disappointment. + +"Yes, it is I. Art thou alone?" + +"Sure." + +"I have something to say to thee." + +He drew a chair close to her and sat down "Thou knowest, my sister," +he began, haltingly, "how I hate the house of Estenega. My hatred +is as loyal as thine: every drop of blood in my veins is true to the +honor of the house of Iturbi y Moncada. But, my sister, is it not so +that one can sacrifice himself, his mere personal feelings, upon the +altar of his country? Is it not so, my sister?" + +"What is it thou wishest me to understand, Reinaldo?" + +"Do not look so stern, my Chonita. Thou hast not yet heard me; and, +although thou mayest be angry then, thou wilt reason later. Thou art +devoted to thy house, no?" + +"Thou hast come here in the night to ask me such a question as that?" + +"And thou lovest thy brother?" + +"Reinaldo, thou hast drunken more mescal than Angelica. Go back to thy +bride." But, although she spoke lightly, she was uneasy. + +"My sister, I never drank a drop of mescal in my life! Listen. It +is our father's wish, thy wish, my wish, that I become a great and +distinguished man, an ornament to the house of Iturbi y Moncada, a +star on the brow of California. How can I accomplish this great +and desirable end? By the medium of politics only; our wars are so +insignificant. I have been debarred from the Departmental Junta by +the enemy of our house, else would it have rung with my eloquence, and +Mexico have known me to-day. Yet I care little for the Junta. I wish +to go as diputado to Mexico; it is a grander arena. Moreover, in that +great capital I shall become a man of the world,--which is necessary +to control men. That is _his_ power,--curse him! And he--he will not +let me go there. Even Alvarado listens to him. The Departmental Junta +is under his thumb. I will never be anything but a caballero of Santa +Barbara--I, an Iturbi y Moncada, the last scion of a line illustrious +in war, in diplomacy, in politics--until he is either dead--do not +jump, my sister; it is not my intention to murder him and ruin my +career--or becomes my friend." + +"Canst thou not put thy meaning in fewer words?" + +"My sister, he loves thee, and thou lovest thy brother and thy house." + +Chonita rose to her full height, and although he rose too, and was +taller, she seemed to look down upon him. + +"Thou wouldst have me marry him? Is that thy meaning?" + +"Ay." His voice trembled. Under his swagger he was always a little +afraid of the Doomswoman. + +"Thou askest perjury and disloyalty and dishonor of an Iturbi y +Moncada?" + +"An Iturbi y Moncada asks it of an Iturbi y Moncada. If the man is +ready to bend his neck in sacrifice to the glory of his house, is it +for the woman to think?" + +Chonita stood grasping the back of her chair convulsively; it was +the only sign of emotion she betrayed. She knew that what he said was +true: that Estenega, for public and personal reasons, never would +let him go to Mexico; he would permit no enemy at court. But this +knowledge drifted through her mind and out of it at the moment; she +was struggling to hold down a hot wave of contempt rushing upward +within her. She clung to her traditions as frantically as she clung to +her religion. + +"Go," she said, after a moment. + +"Thou wilt think of what I have said?" + +"I shall pray to forget it." + +"Chonita!" his voice rang out so loud that she placed her hand on his +mouth. He dashed it away. "Thou wilt!" he cried, like a spoilt child. +"Thou wilt! I shall go to the city of Mexico, and only thou canst send +me there. All my father's gold and leagues will not buy me a seat in +the Mexican Congress, unless this accursed Estenega lifts his hand +and says, 'Thou shalt.' Holy God! how I hate him! Would that I had +the chance to murder him! I would cut his heart out to-morrow. And +my father likes him, and has outlived rancor. And thou--thou art not +indifferent." + +"Go!" + +He threw his arms about her, kissing and caressing her. "My sister! My +sister! Thou wilt! Say that thou wilt!" But she flung him off as if he +were a snake. + +"Wilt thou go?" she asked. + +"Ay! I go. But he shall suffer. I swear it! I swear it!" And he rushed +from the room. + +Chonita sat there, staring more fixedly at the floor than when +Estenega had left her. + + + + +XXI. + + +Reinaldo did not go to his Prudencia. He went down to the booths in +the town and joined the late revelers. Don Guillermo, rising before +dawn, and walking up and down the corridor to conquer the pangs of +Doña Trinidad's dulces, noticed that the door of his son's room was +ajar. He paused before it and heard slow, regular, patient sobs. He +opened the door and went in. Prudencia, alone, curled up in a far +corner of her bed, the clothes over her head, was bemoaning many +things incidental to matrimony. As she heard the sound of heavy steps +she gave a little shriek. + +"It is I, Prudencia," said her uncle. "Where is Reinaldo?" + +"I--do--not--know." + +"Did he not come from the ball-room with thee?" + +"N-o-o-o-o." + +"Dost thou know where he has gone?" + +"N-o-o-o, señor." + +"Art thou afraid?" + +"Ay! God--of--my--life!" + +"Never mind," said the old gentleman. "Go to sleep. Thy uncle will +protect thee, and this will not happen again." + +He seated himself by the bedside. Prudencia's sobs ceased gradually, +and she fell asleep. An hour later the door opened softly, and +Reinaldo entered. In spite of the mescal in him, his knees shook as he +saw the indulgent but stern arbiter of the Iturbi y Moncada destinies +sitting in judgment at the bedside of his wife. + +"Where have you been, sir?" + +"To take a walk,--to see to--" + +"No lying! It makes no difference where you have been. What I want +to know is this: Is it your duty to gallivant about town? or is your +place at this hour beside your wife?" + +"Here, señor." + +The old man rose, and, seizing the bride-groom by the shoulders, shook +him until his teeth clattered together. "Then see that you stay here +with her hereafter, or you shall no longer be a married man." And he +stamped out and slammed the door behind him. + + + + +XXII. + + +We spent the next day at the race-field. Many of the caballeros had +brought their finest horses, and Reinaldo's were famous. The vaqueros +threw off their black glazed sombreros and black velvet jackets, +wearing only the short black trousers laced with silver, a shirt of +dazzling whiteness, a silk handkerchief twisted about the head, and +huge spurs on their bare brown heels. Some of us stood on a platform, +others remained on their horses; all were wild with excitement and +screamed themselves hoarse. The great dark eyes of the girls flashed, +their red mouths trembled with the flood of eager exclamations; the +lace mantilla or flowered reboso fluttered against hot cheeks, to be +torn off, perhaps, and waved in the enthusiasm of the moment. They +forgot the men, and the men forgot them. Even Chonita was oblivious to +all else for the hour. She was a famous horsewoman, and keenly alive +to the enchantment of the race-field. The men bet their ranchos, whole +caponeras of their finest horses, herds of cattle, their saddles and +their jewels. Estenega won largely, and, as it happened, from Reinaldo +particularly. Don Guillermo was rather pleased than otherwise, holding +his son to be in need of further punishment; but Reinaldo was obliged +to call upon all the courtesy of the Spaniard and all the falseness of +his nature to help him remember that his enemy was his guest. + +We went home to siesta and long gay supper, where the races were the +only topic of conversation; then to dance and sing and flirt +until midnight, the people in the booths as tireless as ourselves. +Valencia's attentions to Estenega were as conspicuous as usual, but he +managed to devote most of his time to Chonita. + + * * * * * + +That night Chonita had a dream. She dreamed that she awoke without +a soul. The sense of vacancy was awful, yet there was a singular +undercurrent consciousness that no soul ever had been within +her,--that it existed, but was yet to be found. + +She arose, trembling, and opened her door. Santa Barbara was as +quiet as all the world is in the chill last hours of night. She +half expected to see something hover before her, a will-o'-the-wisp, +alluring her over the rocky valleys and towering mountains until death +gave her weary feet rest. She remembered vaguely that she had read +legends of that purport. + +But there was nothing,--not even the glow of a late cigarito or the +flash of a falling star. Still she seemed to know where the soul +awaited her. She closed her door softly and walked swiftly down the +corridor, her bare feet making no sound on the boards. At a door on +the opposite side she paused, shaking violently, but unable to pass +it. She opened the door and went in. The room, like all the others in +that time of festivity, had more occupants than was its wont; a bed +was in each corner. The shutters and windows were open, the moonlight +streamed in, and she saw that all were asleep. She crossed the room +and looked down upon Diego Estenega. His night garment, low about the +throat, made his head, with its sharply-cut profile, look like the +heads on old Roman medallions. The pallor of night, the extreme +refinement of his face, the deep repose, gave him an unmortal +appearance. Chonita bent over him fearfully. Was he dead? His +breathing was regular, but very quiet. She stood gazing down upon him, +the instinct of seeking vanished. What did it mean? Was this her soul! +A man? How could it be? Even in poetry she had never read of a man +being a woman's soul,--a man with all his frailties and sins, for the +most part unrepented. She felt, rather than knew, that Estenega had +trampled many laws, and that he cared too little for any law but his +own will to repent. And yet, there he lay, looking, in the gray light +and the impersonality of sleep, as sinless as if he had been created +within the hour. He looked not like a man but a spirit,--a soul; and +the soul was hers. + +Again she asked herself, what did it mean? Was the soul but brain? She +and he were so alike in rudiments, yet he so immeasurably beyond her +in experience and knowledge and the stronger fiber of a man's mind-- + +He awoke suddenly and saw her. For a moment he stared incredulously, +then raised himself on his hand. + +"Chonita!" he whispered. + +But Chonita, with the long glide of the Californian woman, faded from +the room. + +When she awoke the next morning she was assailed by a distressing +fear. Had she been to Estenega's room the night before? The memory was +too vivid, the details too practical, for a sleep-vagary. At breakfast +she hardly dared to raise her eyes. She felt that he was watching her; +but he often watched her. After breakfast they were alone at one end +of the corridor for a moment, and she compelled herself to raise her +eyes and look at him steadily. He was regarding her searchingly. + +She was not a woman to endure uncertainty. + +"Tell me," she cried, trembling from head to foot, the blood rushing +over her face, "did I go to your room last night?" + +"Doña Chonita!" he exclaimed. "What an extraordinary question! You +have been dreaming." + + + + +XXIII. + + +We went to a bull-fight that day, danced that night, meriendaed and +danced again; a siesta in the afternoon, a few hours' sleep in the +night, refreshing us all. Chonita, alone, looked pale, but I knew that +her pallor was not due to weariness. And I knew that she was beginning +to fear Estenega; the time was almost come when she would fear herself +more. Estenega had several talks apart with her. He managed it without +any apparent maneuvering; but he always had the devil's methods. +Valencia avenged herself by flirting desperately with Reinaldo, and +Prudencia's honeymoon was seasoned with gall. + +On Saturday night Chonita stole from her guests, donned a black gown +and reboso, and, attended by two Indian servants, went up to the +Mission to confession. As she left the church a half-hour later, and +came down the steps, Estenega rose from a bench beneath the arches of +the corridor and joined her. + +"How did you know that I came?" she asked; and it was not the stars +that lit her face. + +"You do little that I do not know. Have you been to confession?" + +"Yes." + +They walked slowly down the valley. + +"And you forgave and were forgiven?" + +"Yes. Ay! but my penance is heavy!" + +"But when it is done you will be at rest, I suppose." + +"Oh, I hope! I hope!" + +"Have you begun to realize that your Church cannot satisfy you?" + +"No! I will not say that." + +"But you know it. Your intelligence has opened a window somewhere and +the truth has crept in." + +"Do not take my religion from me, señor!" Her eyes and voice appealed +to him, and he accepted her first confession of weakness with a throb +of exulting tenderness. + +"My love!" he said, "I would give you more than I took from you." + +"No! never!--Even if we were not enemies, and I had not made that +terrible vow, my religion has been all in all to me. Just now I have +many things that torment me; and I have asked so little of religion +before--my life has been so calm--that now I hardly know how to ask +for so much more. I shall learn. Leave me in peace." + +"Do you want me to go?" he asked. "If you did,--if I troubled you by +staying here,--I believe I would go. Only I know it would do no good: +I should come back." + +"No! no! I do not want you to go. I should feel--I will admit to +you--like a house without its foundation. And yet sometimes, I pray +that you will go. Ay! I do not like life. I used to have pride in my +intelligence. Where is my pride now? What good has the wisdom in my +books done me, when I confess my dependence upon a man, and that +man my enemy--and the acquaintance of a few weeks?" She was speaking +incoherently, and Estenega chafed at the restraint of the servants so +close behind them. "Tell me," she exclaimed, "what is it in you that I +want?--that I need? It is something that belongs to me. Give it to me, +and go away." + +"Chonita, I give it to you gladly, God knows. But you must take me, +too. You want in me what is akin to you and what you will find nowhere +else. But I cannot tear my soul out of my body. You must take both or +neither." + +"Ay! I cannot! You know that I cannot! + +"I ignore your reasons." + +"But I do not." + +"You shall, my beloved. Or if you do not ignore you shall forget +them." + +"When I am dead--would that I were!" She was excited and trembling. +The confession had been an ordeal, and Estenega was never +tranquillizing. She wished to cling to him, but was still mistress +of herself. He divined her impulse, and drew her arm through his and +across his breast. He opened her hand and pressed his lips to the +palm. Then he bent his face above hers. She was trembling violently; +her face was wild and white. His own was ashen, and the heart beneath +her arm beat rapidly. + +"I love you devotedly," he said. "You believe that, Chonita?" + +"Ah! Mother of God! do not! I cannot listen." + +"But you shall listen. Throw off your superstitions and come to me. +Keep the part of your religion that is not superstition; I would be +the last to take it from you; but I will not permit its petty dogmas +to stand between us. As for your traditions, you have not even the +excuse of filial duty; your father would not forbid you to become my +wife. And I love you very earnestly and passionately. Just how much, I +might convey to you if we were alone." + +He was obliged to exercise great self-restraint, but there was no +mistaking his seriousness. When such scientific triflers do find a +woman worth loving, they are too deeply sensible of the fact not to +be stirred to their depths; and their depths are apt to be in large +disproportion to the lightness of their ordinary mood. "Come to me," +he continued. "I need you; and I will be as tender and thoughtful +a husband as I will be ardent as a lover. You love me: don't blind +yourself any longer. Do you picture, in a life of solitude and cold +devotion to phantoms, any happiness equal to what you would find here +in my arms?" + +"Oh, hush! hush! You could make me do what you wished, I have no will. +I feel no longer myself. What is this terrible power?" + +"It is the magnetism of love; that is all. I am not exercising any +diabolical power over you. Listen: I will not trouble you any more +now. I am obliged to go to Los Angeles the day after to-morrow, and on +my way back to Monterey--in about two weeks--I shall come here again. +Then we will talk together; but I warn you, I will accept only one +answer. You are mine, and I shall have you." + +They reached Casa Grande a moment later, and she escaped from him and +ran to her room. But she dared not remain alone. Hastily changing her +black gown for the first her hand touched,--it happened to be vivid +red and made her look as white as wax,--she returned to the sala; +not to dance even the square contradanza, but to stand surrounded by +worshiping caballeros with curling hair tied with gay ribbons, and +jewels in their laces. Valencia regarded her with a bitter jealousy +that was rising from red heat to white. How dared a woman with hair of +gold wear the color of the brunette? It was a theft. It was the last +indignity. And once more she chained Reinaldo, in default of Estenega, +to her side. And deep in Prudencia's heart wove a scheme of vengeance; +the loom and warp had been presented unwittingly by her chivalrous +father-in-law. + +Estenega remained in the sala a few moments after Chonita's +reappearance, then left the house and wandered through the booth in +the court, where the people were dancing and singing and eating and +gambling as if with the morrow an eternal Lent would come, and thence +through the silent town to the pleasure-grounds of Casa Grande, which +lay about half a mile from the house. He had been there but a short +while when he heard a rustle, a light footfall; and, turning, he saw +Chonita, unattended, her bare neck and gold hair gleaming against the +dark, her train dragging. She was advancing swiftly toward him. His +pulses bounded, and he sprang toward her, his arms outstretched; but +she waved him back. + +"Have mercy," she said. "I am alone. I brought no one, because I have +that to tell you which no one else must hear." + +He stepped back and looked at the ground. + +"Listen," she said. "I could not wait until to-morrow, because a +moment lost might mean--might mean the ruin of your career, and you +say your envoy has not gone yet. Just now--I will tell you the other +first. Mother of God! that I should betray my brother to my enemy! But +it seems to me right, because you placed your confidence in me, and +I should feel that I betrayed you if I did not warn you. I do not +know--oh, Mary!--I do not know--but this seems to me right. The other +night my brother came to me and asked me--ay! do not look at me--to +marry you, that you would balk his ambition no further. He wishes to +go as diputado to Mexico, and he knows that you will not let him. I +thought my brain would crack,--an Iturbi y Moncada!--I made him no +answer,--there was no answer to a demand like that,--and he went from +me in a fury, vowing vengeance upon you. To-night, a few moments +ago, he whispered to me that he knew of your plans, your intentions +regarding the Americans: he had overheard a conversation between you +and Alvarado. He says that he will send letters to Mexico to-morrow, +warning the government against you. Then their suspicions will be +roused, and they will inquire--Ay, Mary!" + +Estenega brought his teeth together. "God!" he exclaimed. + +She saw that he had forgotten her. She turned and went back more +swiftly than she had come. + +Estenega was a man whose resources never failed him. He returned to +the house and asked Reinaldo to smoke a cigarito and drink a bottle of +wine in his room. Then, without a promise or a compromising word, he +so flattered that shallow youth, so allured his ambition and pampered +his vanity and watered his hopes, that fear and hatred wondered at +their existence, closed their eyes, and went to sleep. Reinaldo +poured forth his aspirations, which under the influence of the +truth-provoking vine proved to be an honest yearning for the pleasures +of Mexico. As he rose to go he threw his arm about Estenega's neck. + +"Ay! my friend! my friend!" he cried, "thou art all-powerful. Thou +alone canst give me what I want." + +"Why did you never ask me for what you wanted?" asked Estenega. And +he thought, "If it were not for Her, you would be on your way to Los +Angeles to-night under charge of high treason. I would not have taken +this much trouble with you." + + + + +XXIV. + + +A rodeo was held the next day,--the last of the festivities;--Don +Guillermo taking advantage of the gathering of the rancheros. It was +to take place on the Cerros Rancho, which adjoined the Rancho de +las Rocas. We went early, most of us dismounting and taking to the +platform on one side of the circular rodeo-ground. The vaqueros +were already galloping over the hills, shouting and screaming to the +cattle, who ran to them like dogs; soon a herd came rushing down into +the circle, where they were thrown down and branded, the stray cattle +belonging to neighbors separated and corralled. This happened again +and again, the interest and excitement growing with each round-up. + +Once a bull, seeing his chance, darted from his herd and down the +valley. A vaquero started after him; but Reinaldo, anxious to display +his skill in horsemanship, and being still mounted, called to the +vaquero to stop, dashed after the animal, caught it by its tail, +spurred his horse ahead, let go the tail at the right moment, and, +amidst shouts of "Coliar!" "Coliar!" the bull was ignominiously rolled +in the dust, then meekly preceded Reinaldo back to the rodeo-ground. + +After the dinner under the trees most of the party returned to the +platform, but Estenega, Adan, Chonita, Valencia, and myself strolled +about the rancho. Adan walked at Chonita's side, more faithful than +her shadow. Valencia's black eyes flashed their language so plainly to +Estenega's that he could not have deserted her without rudeness; and +Estenega never was rude. + +"Adan," said Chonita, abruptly, "I am tired of thee. Sit down under +that tree until I come back. I wish to walk alone with Eustaquia for +awhile." + +Adan sighed and did as he was bidden, consoling himself with a +cigarito. Taking a different path from the one the others followed, we +walked some distance, talking of ordinary matters, both avoiding the +subject of Diego Estenega by common consent. And yet I was convinced +that she carried on a substratum of thought of which he was the +subject, even while she talked coherently to me. On our way back the +conversation died for want of bone and muscle, and, as it happened, we +were both silent as we approached a small adobe hut. As we turned the +corner we came upon Estenega and Valencia. He had just bent his head +and kissed her. + +Valencia fled like a hare. Estenega turned the hue of chalk, and I +knew that blue lightning was flashing in his disconcerted brain. I +felt the chill of Chonita as she lifted herself to the rigidity of a +statue and swept slowly down the path. + +"Diego, you are a fool!" I exclaimed, when she was out of hearing. + +"You need not tell me that," he said, savagely. "But what in heaven's +name--Well, never mind. For God's sake straighten it out with her. +Tell her--explain to her--what men are. Tell her that the present +woman is omnipotently present--no, don't tell her that. Tell her +that history is full of instances of men who have given one woman the +devoted love of a lifetime and been unfaithful to her every week in +the year. Explain to her that a man to love one woman must love all +women. And she has sufficient proof that I love her and no other +woman: I want to marry her, not Valencia Menendez. Heaven knows I will +be true to her when I have her. I could not be otherwise. But I need +not explain to you. Set it right with her. She has brain, and can be +made to understand." + +I shook my head. "You cannot reason with inexperience; and when it +is allied to jealousy--God of my soul! Her ideal, of course, is +perfection, and does not take human weakness into account. You have +fallen short of it to-day. I fear your cause is lost." + +"It is not! Do you think I will give her up for a trifle like that?" + +"But why not accept this break? You cannot marry her--" + +"Oh, do not refer to that nonsense!" he exclaimed, harshly. "I shall +peel off her traditions when the time comes, as I would strip off the +outer hulls of a nut. Go! Go, Eustaquia!" + +Of course I went. Chonita was not at the rodeo-ground, but, escorted +by her father, had gone home. I followed immediately, and when I +reached Casa Grande I found her sitting in her library. I never saw +a statue look more like marble. Her face was locked: only the eyes +betrayed the soul in torment. But she looked as immutable as a fate. + +"Chonita," I exclaimed, hardly knowing where to begin, "be reasonable. +Men of Estenega's brain and passionate affectionate nature are always +weak with women, but it means nothing. He cares nothing for Valencia +Menendez. He is madly in love with you. And his weakness, my dear, +springs from the same source as his charm. He would not be the man +he is without it. His heart would be less kindly, his impulses less +generous, his brain less virile, his sympathies less instinctive and +true. The strong impregnable man, the man whom no vice tempts, no +weakness assails, who is loyal without effort,--such a man lacks +breadth and magnetism and the power to read the human heart and +sympathize with both its noble impulses and its terrible weaknesses. +Such men--I never have known it to fail--are full of petty vanities +and egoisms and contemptible weaknesses, the like of which Estenega +could not be capable of. No man can be perfect, and it is the man +of great strength and great weakness who alone understands and +sympathizes with human nature, who is lovable and magnetic, and who +has the power to rouse the highest as well as the most passionate love +of a woman. Such men cause infinite suffering, but they can give a +happiness that makes the suffering worth while. You never will meet +another man like Diego Estenega. Do not cast him lightly aside." + +"Do I understand," said Chonita, in a perfectly unmoved voice, "that +you are counseling me to marry an Estenega and the man who would send +me to Hell hereafter? Do you forget my vow?" + +I came to myself with a shock. In the enthusiasm of my defense I had +forgotten the situation. + +"At least forgive him," I said, lamely. + +"I have nothing to forgive," she said. "He is nothing to me." + +I knew that it was useless to argue with her. + +"I have a favor to ask of you," she said. "Most of our guests leave +this afternoon: will you let me sleep alone to-night?" + +I should have liked to put my arm about her and give her a woman's +sympathy, but I did not dare. All I could do was to leave her alone. + + + + +XXV. + + +Casa Grande held three jealous women. The situation had its comic +aspect, but was tragic enough to the actors. + +In the evening the lingering guests of the house and the neighbors +of the town assembled as usual for the dance. Only Estenega absented +himself. Valencia stood her ground: she would not go while Estenega +remained. Chonita moved proudly among her guests, and never had been +more gracious. Valencia dared not meet her eyes nor mine, but, seeing +that Prudencia was watching her, avenged her own disquiet by enhancing +that of the bride. Never did she flirt so imperiously with Reinaldo +as she did that fateful night; and Reinaldo, who was man's vanity +collected and compounded, devoted himself to the dashing beauty. Her +cheeks burned with excitement, her eyes were restless and flashing. + +The music stopped. The women were eating the dulces passed by the +Indian servants. The men had not yet gone into the dining-room. +Valencia dropped her handkerchief; Reinaldo, stooping to recover it, +kissed her hand behind its flimsy shelter. + +Then Prudencia arose. She trailed her long gown down the room between +the two rows of people staring at her grim eyes and pressed lips; her +little head, with its high comb, stiffly erect. She walked straight up +to Reinaldo and boxed his ears before the assembled company. + +"Thou wilt flirt no more with other women," she said, in a loud, clear +voice. "Thou art my husband, and thou wilt not forget it again. Come +with me." + +And, amidst the silence of mountain-tops in a snow-storm, he stumbled +to his feet and followed her from the room. + +I could not sleep that night. In spite of the amusement I had felt at +Prudencia's _coup-d'état_, I was oppressed by the chill and foreboding +which seemed to emanate from Chonita and pervade the house. I knew +that terrible calm was like the menacing stillness of the hours before +an earthquake. What would she do in the coming convulsion? I shuddered +and tormented myself with many imaginings. + +I became so nervous that I rose and dressed and went out upon the +corridor and walked up and down. It was very late, and the moon was +risen, but the corners were dark. Figures seemed to start from them, +but my nerves were strong; I never had given way to fear. + +My thoughts wandered to Estenega. Who shall judge the complex heart +of a man? the deep, intense, lasting devotion he may have for the one +woman he recognizes as his soul's own, and yet the strange wayward +wanderings of his fancy,--the nomadic assertion of the animal; the +passionate love he may feel for this woman of all women, yet the +reserve in which he always holds her, never knowing her quite as well +as he has known other women; the last test of highest love, passion +without sensuality? And yet the regret that she does not gratify every +side of his nature, even while he would not have her; regret for the +terrible incongruity of human nature, the mingling of the beast and +the divine, which cannot find satisfaction in the same woman; whatever +the fire in her, she cannot gratify the instincts which rage below +passion in man, without losing the purity of mind which he adores in +her. She, too, feels a vague regret that some portion of his nature +is a sealed book to her, forever beyond her ken. But her regret is +nothing to his: he knows, and she does not. + +My meditations were interrupted suddenly. I heard a door stealthily +opened. I knew before turning that the door was that of Chonita's +room, the last at the end of the right wing. It opened, and she came +out. It was as if a face alone came out. She was shrouded from head to +foot in black, and her face was as white as the moon. Possessed by a +nameless but overwhelming fear, I turned the knob of the door nearest +me and almost fell into the room. I closed the door behind me, but +there was no key. By the strip of white light which entered through +the crevice between the half-open shutters I saw that I was in the +room of Valencia Menendez; but she slept soundly and had not heard me. + +I stood still, listening, for many minutes. At first there was no +sound; I evidently had startled her, and she was waiting for the house +to be still again. At last I heard some one gliding down the corridor. +Then, suddenly, I knew that she was coming to this room, and, +possessed by a horrible curiosity and growing terror, I sank on my +knees in a corner. + +The door opened noiselessly, and Chonita entered. Again I saw only +her white face, rigid as death, but the eyes flamed with the terrible +passions that her soul had flung up from its depths at last. Then I +saw another white object,--her hand. But there was no knife in it. +Had there been, I think I should have shaken off the spell which +controlled me: I never would see murder done. It was the awe of the +unknown that paralyzed my muscles. She bent over Valencia, who moved +uneasily and cast her arms above her head. I saw her touch her finger +to the sleeping woman's mouth, inserting it between the lips. Then she +moved backward and stood by the head of the bed, facing the +window. She raised herself to her full height and extended her arms +horizontally. The position gave her the form of a cross--a black +cross, topped and pointed with malevolent white; one hand was spread +above Valencia's face. She was the most awful sight I ever beheld. She +uttered no sound; she scarcely breathed. Suddenly, with the curve of a +panther, her figure glided above the unconscious woman, her open hand +describing a strange motion; then she melted from the room. + +Valencia awoke, shrieking. + +"Some one has cursed me!" she cried. "Mother of God! Some one has +cursed me!" + +I fled from the room, to faint upon my own bed. + + + + +XXVI. + + +The next morning Casa Grande was thrown into consternation. Valencia +Menendez was in a raging fever, and had to be held in her bed. + +After breakfast I sent for Estenega and told him of what I had seen. +In the first place I had to tell some one, and in the second I thought +to end his infatuation and avert further trouble. "You firebrand!" I +exclaimed, in conclusion. "You see the mischief you have worked! You +will go, now, thank heaven--and go cured." + +"I will go,--for a time," he said. "This mood of hers must wear +itself out. But, if I loved her before, I worship her now. She is +magnificent!--a woman with the passions of hell and the sweetness of +an angel. She is the woman I have waited for all my life,--the only +woman I have ever known. Some day I will take her in my arms and tell +her that I understand her." + +"Diego," I said, divided between despair and curiosity, "you have +fancied many women: wherein does your feeling for Chonita differ? How +can you be sure that this is love? What is your idea of love?" + +He sat down and was silent for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully: +"Love is not passion, for one may feel that for many women; not +affection, for friendship demands that. Not even sympathy and +comradeship; one can find either with men. Nor all, for I have felt +all, yet something was lacking. Love is the mysterious turning of one +heart to another with the promise of a magnetic harmony, a strange +original delight, a deep satisfaction, a surety of permanence, which +did either heart roam the world it never would find again. It is the +knowledge that did the living body turn to corruption, the spirit +within would still hold and sway the steel which had rushed unerringly +to its magnet. It is the knowledge that weakness will only arouse +tenderness, never disgust, as when the fancy reigns and the heart +sleeps; that faults will clothe themselves in the individuality of the +owner and become treasures to the loving mind that sees, but worships. +It is the development of the highest form of selfishness, the +passionate and abiding desire to sacrifice one's self to the happiness +of one beloved. Above all, it is the impossibility to cease to love, +no matter what reason, or prudence, or jealousy, or disapproval, or +terrible discoveries, may dictate. Let the mind sit on high and argue +the soul's mate out of doors, it will rebound, when all is said and +done, like a rubber ball when the pressure of the finger is removed. +As for Chonita she is the lost part of me." + +He left that day, and without seeing Chonita again. Valencia was in +wildest delirium for a week; at the end of the second every hair on +her head, her brows, and her eyelashes had fallen. She looked like a +white mummy, a ghastly pitiful caricature of the beautiful woman whose +arrows quivered in so many hearts. They rolled her in a blanket and +took her home; and then I sought Chonita, who had barely left her +room and never gone to Valencia's. I told her that I had witnessed the +curse, and described the result. + +"Have you no remorse?" I asked. + +"None." + +"You have ruined the beauty, the happiness, the fortune, of another +woman." + +"I have done what I intended." + +"Do you realize that again you have raised a barrier between yourself +and your religion? You do not look very repentant." + +"Revenge is sweeter than religion." + +Then in a burst of anger I confessed that I had told Estenega. For a +moment I thought her terrible hatred was about to hurl its vengeance +at me; but she only asked,-- + +"What did he say?" + +Unwillingly, I repeated it, but word for word. And as I spoke, her +face softened, the austerity left her features, an expression of +passionate gratitude came into her eyes. + +"Did he say that, Eustaquia?" + +"He did." + +"Say it again, please." + +I did so. And then she put her hands to her face, and cried, and +cried, and cried. + + + + +XXVII. + + +At the end of the week Doña Trinidad died suddenly. She was sitting on +the green bench, dispensing charities, when her head fell back gently, +and the light went out. No death ever had been more peaceful, no soul +ever had been better prepared; but wailing grief went after her. Poor +Don Guillermo sank in a heap as if some one had felled him, Reinaldo +wept loudly, and Prudencia was not to be consoled. Chonita was away +on her horse when it happened, galloping over the hills. Servants were +sent for her immediately, and met her when she was within an hour or +two of home. As she entered the sala, Don Guillermo, Reinaldo, and +Prudencia literally flung themselves upon her; and she stood like a +rock, and supported them. She had loved her mother, but it had always +been her lot to prop other people; she never had had a chance to lean. + +All that night and next day she was closely engaged with the members +of the agonized household, even visiting the grief-stricken Indians at +times. On the second night she went to the room where her mother +lay with all the pomp of candles and crosses, and bade the Indian +watchers, crouching like buzzards about the corpse, to go for a time. +She sank into a chair beside the dead, and wondered at the calmness of +her heart. She was not conscious of any feeling stronger than regret. +She tried to realize the irrevocableness of death,--that the mother +who had been so kindly an influence in her life had gone out of it. +But the knowledge brought no grief. She felt only the necessity for +alleviating the grief of the others; that was her part. + +The door opened. She drew her breath suddenly. She knew that it +was Estenega. He sat down beside her and took her hand and held it, +without a word, for hours. Gradually she leaned toward him, although +without touching him. And after a time tears came. + +He went his way the next morning, but he wrote to her before he left, +and again from Monterey, and then from the North. She only answered +once, and then with only a line. + +But the line was this: + +"Write to me until you have forgotten me." + +One day she brought me a package and asked me to take it to Valencia. +"It is an ointment," she said,--"one of old Brigida's" (a witch who +lived on the cliffs and concocted wondrous specifics from herbs). +"Tell her to use it and her hair will grow again." + +And that was the only sign of penitence I was permitted to see. + +Then for a long interval there came no word from Estenega. + + + + +XXVIII. + + +Before going to Mexico, Estenega remained for some weeks at his +ranchos in the North, overlooking the slaughtering of his cattle, an +important yearly event, for the trade in hides and tallow with foreign +shippers was the chief source of the Californian's income. He also was +associated with the Russians at Fort Ross and Bodega in the fur-trade. +But he was far from being satisfied with these desultory gains. They +sufficed his private wants, but with the great schemes he had in mind +he needed gold by the bushel. How to obtain it was a problem which sat +on the throne of his mind side by side with Chonita Iturbi y Moncada. +He had reason to believe that gold lay under California; but where? He +determined that upon his return from Mexico he would take measures +to discover, although he objected to the methods which alone could be +employed. But, like all born rulers of men, he had an impatient scorn +for means with a great end in view. There was no intermediate way of +making the money. It would be a hundred years before the country would +be populous enough to give his vast ranchos a reasonable value; and, +although he had twenty thousand head of cattle, the market for their +disposal was limited, and barter was the principle of trade, rather +than coin. + +Toward the end of the month he hurried to Monterey to catch a bark +about to sail for Mexico. The important preliminaries of the future +he had planned could no longer be delayed; the treacherous revengeful +nature of Reinaldo might at any moment awake from the spell in which +he had locked it; had a ship sailed before, he would have left his +commercial interests with his mayor-domo and gone to the seat of +government at once. + +He arrived in Monterey one evening after hard riding. The city was +singularly quiet. It was the hour when the indefatigable dancers of +that gay town should have flitted past the open windows of the salas, +when the air should have been vocal with the flute and guitar, song +and light laughter. But the city might have been a living tomb. The +white rayless houses were heavy and silent as sepulchers. He rode +slowly down Alvarado Street, and saw the advancing glow of a cigar. +When the cigar was abreast of him he recognized Mr. Larkin. + +"What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Small-pox," replied the consul, succinctly. "Better get on board +at once. And steer clear of the lower quarter. Your vaquero +arrived yesterday, and I instructed him to put your baggage in the +custom-house. He dropped it and fled to the country." + +Estenega thanked him and proceeded on his way. He made a circuit to +avoid the lower quarter, but saw that it was not abandoned; lights +moved here and there. "Poor creatures!" he thought, "they are probably +dying like poisoned rats." + +On the side of the hill by the road was a solitary hut. He was obliged +to pass it. A candle burned beyond the open window, and he set his +lips and turned his head; not from fear of contagion, however. And his +eyes were drawn to the window in spite of his resolute will. He looked +once, and looked again, then checked his horse. On the bed lay a +girl in the middle stages of the disease, her eyes glittering with +delirium, her black hair matted and wet. She was evidently alone. +Estenega spurred his horse and galloped around to the back of the hut. +In the kitchen, the only other room, huddled an old crone, brown and +gnarled like an old apple. She was sleeping; by her side was a bottle +of aguardiente. Estenega called loudly to her. + +"Susana!" + +The creature stirred, but did not open her eyes. He called twice +again, and awakened her. She stared through the open door, her lower +jaw falling, showing the yellow stumps. + +"Who is?" + +"Is Anita alone with you?" + +"Ay, yi! Don Diego! Yes, yes. All run from the house like rats from +a ship that burns. Ay, yi! Ay, yi! and she so pretty before! A-y, +y-i!--" Her head fell forward; she relapsed into stupor. + +Estenega rode around to the window again. The girl was sitting on the +edge of the bed, mechanically pulling the long matted strands of her +hair. + +"Water! water!" she cried, faintly. "Ay, Mary!" She strove to rise, +but fell back, clutching at the bedclothing. + +Estenega rode to a deserted hut near by, concealed his saddle in +a corner under a heap of rubbish, and turned his horse loose. He +returned to the hut where the sick girl lay, and entered the room. She +recognized him in spite of her fever. + +"Don Diego! Is it you?--you?" she said, half raising herself. "Ay, +Mary! is it the delirium?" + +"It is I," he said. "I will take care of you. Do you want water?" + +"Ay, water. Ay, thou wert always kind, even though thy love did last +so little a while." + +He brought the water and did what he could to relieve her sufferings: +like all the rancheros, he had some knowledge of medicine. He held the +old crone under the pump, gave her an emetic, broke her bottle, and +ordered her to help him care for the girl. Between awe of him and +promise of gold, she gave him some assistance. + +Estenega watched the vessel sail the next morning, and battled with +the impulse to leap from the window, hire a boat, and overtake it. The +delay of a month might mean the death of his hopes. For all he knew, +the bark carried the letters of his undoing; Reinaldo himself might +be on it. He set his lips with an expression of bitter contempt--the +expression directed at his own impotence in the hands of +Circumstance,--and went to the bedside of the girl. She was hopelessly +ill; even medical skill, were there such a thing in the country, could +not save her; but he could not leave to die like a dog a woman who had +been his mistress, even if only the fancy of a week, as this poor +girl had been. She had loved him, and never annoyed him; they had +maintained friendly relations, and he had helped her whenever she had +appealed to him. But in this hour of her extremity she had further +rights, and he recognized them. He had cut her hair close to her head, +and she looked more comfortable, although an unpleasant sight. As he +regarded her, he thought of Chonita, and the tide of love rose in him +as it had not before. In the beginning he had been hardly more than +infatuated with her originality and her curious beauty; at Santa +Barbara her sweetness and kinship had stolen into him and the +momentous fusion of passion and spiritual love had given new birth +to a torpid soul and stirred and shaken his manhood as lust had +never done; now in her absence and exaltation above common mortals he +reverenced her as an ideal. Even in the bitterness of the knowledge +that months must elapse before he could see her again, the tenderness +she had drawn to herself from the serious depths of his nature +throbbed throughout him, and made him more than gentle to the poor +creature whose ignorance could not have comprehended the least of what +he felt for Chonita. + +She died within three days. The good priest, who stood to his post and +made each of his afflicted poor a brief daily visit, prayed by her +as she fell into stupor, but she was incapable of receiving extreme +unction. Estenega was alone with her when she died, but the priest +returned a few moments later. + +"Don Thomas Larkin wishes me to say to you, Don Diego Estenega," said +the Father, "that he would be glad to have you stay with him until the +next vessel arrives. As two members of his family have the disease, he +has nothing to fear from you. I will care for the body." + +Estenega handed him money for the burial, and looked at him +speculatively. The priest must have heard the girl's confessions, and +he wondered why he did not improve the opportunity to reprove a man +whose indifference to the Church was a matter of indignant comment +among the clergy. The priest appeared to divine his thoughts, for he +said: + +"Thou hast done more than thy duty, Don Diego. And to the frailties of +men I think the good God is merciful. He made them. Go in peace." + +Estenega accepted Mr. Larkin's invitation, but, in spite of the genial +society of the consul, he spent in his house the most wretched three +weeks of his life. He dared not leave Monterey until he had passed the +time of incubation, having no desire to spread the disease; he dared +not write to Chonita, for the same reason. What must she think? She +supposed him to have sailed, of course, but he had promised to write +her from Monterey, and again from San Diego. And the uncertainty +regarding his Mexican affairs was intolerable to a man of his active +mind and supertense nervous system. His only comfort lay in Mr. +Larkin's assurance that the national bark Joven Guipuzcoana was due +within the month and would return at once. Early in the fourth week +the assurance was fulfilled, and by the time he was ready to sail +again his danger from contagion was over. But he embarked without +writing to Chonita. + +The voyage lasted a month, tedious and monotonous, more trying than +his retardation on land, for there at least he could recover some +serenity by violent exercise. He divided his time between pacing +the deck, when the weather permitted, and writing to Chonita: long, +intimate, possessing letters, which would reveal her to herself as +nothing else, short of his own dominant contact, could do. At San Blas +he posted his letters and welcomed the rough journey overland to the +capital; but under a calm exterior he was possessed of the spirit of +disquiet. As so often happens, however, his fears proved to have been +vagaries of a morbid state of mind and of that habit of thought which +would associate with every cause an effect of similar magnitude. Santa +Ana welcomed him with friendly enthusiasm, and was ready to listen to +his plans. That wily and astute politician, who was always abreast of +progress and never in its lead, recognized in Estenega the coming man, +and, knowing that the seizure of the Californias by the United States +was only a question of time, was keenly willing to make an ally of +the man who he foresaw would control them as long as he chose, both +at home and in Washington. For the matter of that, he recognized +the impotence of Mexico to interfere, beyond bluster, with plans any +resolute Californian might choose to pursue; but it was important to +Estenega's purpose that the governorship should be assured to him by +the central government, and the eyes of the Mexican Congress directed +elsewhere. He knew the value of the moral effect which its apparent +sanction would have upon rebellious Southerners. + +"I am at your service," said Santa Ana; "and the governorship is +yours. But take heed that no rumor of your ultimate intentions reaches +the ears of Congress until you are firmly established. If it opposed +you relentlessly--and it keeps its teeth on California like a dog on +a bone bigger than himself--I should have to yield; I have too much +at stake myself. I will look out that any communications from enemies, +including Iturbi y Moncada, are opened first by me." + +Estenega wrote to Chonita again by the ship that left during his brief +stay in the capital, and it was his intention to go directly to +Santa Barbara upon arriving in California. But when he landed in +Monterey--disinfected and careless as of old--he learned that she was +about to start, perhaps already had done so, for Fort Ross, to pay a +visit to the Rotscheffs. The news gave him pleasure; it had been his +wish to say what he had yet to say in his own forests. + +And then the plan which had been stirring restlessly in his mind for +many months took imperative shape: he determined that if there was +gold in California he would wring the secret out of its keeper, by +gentle means or violent, and that within the next twenty-four hours. + + + + +XXIX. + + +Estenega drew rein the next night before the neglected Mission of San +Rafael. The valley, surrounded by hills dark with the silent +redwoods, bore not a trace of the populous life of the days before +secularization. The padre lived alone, lodge-keeper of a valley of +shadows. + +He opened the door of his room on the corridor as he heard the +approach of the traveler, squinting his bleared, yellow-spotted eyes. +He was surly by nature, but he bowed low to the man whose power was so +great in California, and whose generosity had sent him many a bullock. +He cooked him supper from his frugal store, piled the logs in the open +fireplace,--November was come,--and, after a bottle of wine, produced +from Estenega's saddle-bag, expanded into a hermit's imitation of +conviviality. Late in the night they still sat on either side of the +table in the dusty, desolate room. The Forgotten had been entertained +with vivid and shifting pictures of the great capital in which he had +passed his boyhood. He smiled occasionally; now and again he gave a +quick impatient sigh. Suddenly Estenega leaned forward and fixed him +with his powerful gaze. + +"Is there gold in these mountains?" he asked, abruptly. + +The priest was thrown off his guard for a moment; a look of meaning +flashed into his eyes, then one of cunning displaced it. + +"It may be, Señor Don Diego; gold is often in the earth. But had I the +unholy knowledge, I would lock it in my breast. Gold is the canker in +the heart of the world. It is not for the Church to scatter the evil +broadcast." + +Estenega shut his teeth. Fanaticism was a more powerful combatant than +avarice. + +"True, my father. But think of the good that gold has wrought. Could +these Missions have been built without gold?--these thousands of +Indians Christianized?" + +"What you say is not untrue; but for one good, ten thousand evils +are wrought with the metal which the devil mixed in hell and poured +through the veins of the earth." + +Estenega spent a half-hour representing in concrete and forcible +images the debt which civilization owed to the fact and circulation +of gold. The priest replied that California was a proof that commerce +could exist by barter; the money in the country was not worth speaking +of. + +"And no progress to speak of in a hundred years," retorted Estenega. +Then he expatiated upon the unique future of California did she have +gold to develop her wonderful resources. The priest said that to cut +California from her Arcadian simplicity would be to start her on her +journey to the devil along with the corrupt nations of the Old +World. Estenega demonstrated that if there was vice in the older +civilizations there was also a higher state of mental development, and +that Religion held her own. He might as well have addressed the walls +of the Mission. He tempted with the bait of one of the more central +Missions. The priest had only the dust of ambition in the cellar of +his brain. + +He lost his patience at last. "I must have gold," he said, shortly; +"and you shall show me where to find it. You once betrayed to my +father that you knew of its existence in these hills; and you shall +give me the key." + +The priest looked into the eyes of steel and contemptuously determined +face before him, and shut his lips. He was alone with a desperate man; +he had not even a servant; he could be murdered, and his murderer +go unsuspected; but the heart of the fanatic was in him. He made no +reply. + +"You know me," said Estenega. "I owe half my power in California to +the fact that I do not make a threat to-day and forget it to-morrow. +You will show me where that gold is, or I shall kill you." + +"The servant of God dies when his hour comes. If I am to die by the +hand of the assassin, so be it." + +Estenega leaned forward and placed his strong hand about the priest's +baggy throat, pushing the table against his chest. He pressed his +thumb against the throttle, his second finger hard against the +jugular, and the tongue rolled over the teeth, the congested eyes +bulged. "It may be that you scorn death, but may not fancy the mode +of it. I have no desire to kill you. Alive or dead, your life is of no +more value than that of a worm. But you shall die, and die with much +discomfort, unless you do as I wish." His hand relaxed its grasp, but +still pressed the rough dirty throat. + +"Accursed heretic!" said the priest. + +"Spare your curses for the superstitious." + +He saw a gleam of cunning come into the priest's eyes. "Very well; if +I must I must. Let me rise, and I will conduct you." + +Estenega took a piece of rope from his saddle-bag and tied it about +the priest's waist and his own. "If you have any holy pitfall in view +for me, I shall have the pleasure of your company. And if I am led +into labyrinths to die of starvation, you at least will have a meal: I +could not eat you." + +If the priest was disconcerted, he did not show it. He took a lantern +from a shelf, lit the fragment of candle, and, opening a door at the +back, walked through the long line of inner rooms. All were heaped +with rubbish. In one he found a trap-door with his foot, and descended +rough steps cut out of the earth. The air rose chill and damp, and +Estenega knew that the tunnel of the Mission was below, the secret +exit to the hills which the early Fathers built as a last resource in +case of defeat by savage tribes. When they reached the bottom of the +steps the tallow dip illuminated but a narrow circle; Estenega could +form no idea of the workmanship of the tunnel, except that it was not +more than six feet and a few inches high, for his hat brushed the top, +and that the floor and sides appeared to be of pressed clay. There was +ventilation somewhere, but no light. They walked a mile or more, +and then Estenega had a sense of stepping into a wider and higher +excavation. + +"We are no longer in the tunnel," said the priest. He lifted the +lantern and swung it above his head. Estenega saw that they were in a +circular room, hollowed probably out of the heart of a hill. He also +saw something else. + +"What is that?" he exclaimed, sharply. + +The priest handed him the lantern. "Look for yourself," he said. + +Estenega took the lantern, and, holding it just above his head and +close to the walls, slowly traversed the room. It was belted with +three strata of crystal-like quartz, sown thick with glittering yellow +specks and chunks. Each stratum was about three feet wide. + +"There is a fortune here," he said. He felt none of the greed of gold, +merely a recognition of its power. + +"Yes, señor; enough to pay the debt of a nation." + +"Where are we? Under what hill? I am sorry I had not a compass with +me. It was impossible to make any accurate guess of direction in that +slanting tunnel. Where is the outlet?" + +The priest made no reply. + +Estenega turned to him peremptorily. "Answer me. How can I find this +place from without?" + +"You never will find it from without. When the danger from Indians was +over, a pious Father closed the opening. This gold is not for you. You +could not find even the trap-door by yourself." + +"Then why have you brought me here?" + +"To tantalize you. To punish you for your insult to the Church through +me. Kill me now, if you wish. Better death than hell." + +Estenega made a rapid circuit of the room. There was no mode of +egress other than that by which they had entered, and no sign of any +previously existing. He sprang upon the priest and shook him until +the worn stumps rattled in their gums. "You dog!" he said, "to balk +me with your ignorant superstition! Take me out of this place by its +other entrance at once, that I may remain on the hill until morning. +I would not trust your word. You shall tell me, if I have to torture +you." + +The priest made a sudden spring and closed with Estenega, hugging +him like a bear. The lantern fell and went out. The two men stumbled +blindly in the blackness, striking the walls, wrestling desperately, +the priest using his teeth and panting like a beast. But he was no +match for the virility and science of his young opponent. Estenega +threw him in a moment and bound him with the rope. Then he found the +lantern and lit the candle again. He returned to the priest and stood +over him. The latter was conquered physically, but the dogged light +of bigotry still burned in his eyes, although Estenega's were not +agreeable to face. + +Estenega was furious. He had twisted Santa Ana, one of the most subtle +and self-seeking men of his time, around his finger as if he had +been a yard of ribbon; Alvarado, the wisest man ever born in the +Californias, was swayed by his judgment; yet all the arts of which his +intellect was master fell blunt and useless before this clay-brained +priest. He had more respect for the dogs in his kennels, but unless +he resorted to extreme measures the creature would defeat him through +sheer brute ignorance. Estenega was not a man to stop in sight of +victory or to give his sword to an enemy he despised. + +"You are at my mercy. You realize that now, I suppose. Will you show +me the other way out?" + +The priest drew down his under-lip like a snarling dog, revealing the +discolored stumps. But he made no other reply. + +Estenega lit a match, and, kneeling beside the priest, held it to his +stubbled beard. As the flame licked the flesh the man uttered a yell +like a kicked brute. Estenega sprang to his feet with an oath. "I +can't do it!" he exclaimed, with bitter disgust. "I haven't the iron +of cruelty in me. I am not fit to be a ruler of men." He untied the +rope about the prisoner's feet. "Get up," he said, "and conduct me +back as we came." The priest scrambled to his feet and hobbled down +the long tunnel. They ascended the steps beneath the Mission and +emerged into the room. Estenega turned swiftly to prevent the closing +of the trap-door, but only in time to hear it shut with a spring and +the priest kick rubbish above it. + +He cut the rope which bound the other's hands. "Go," he said, "I have +no further use for you. And if you report this, I need not explain to +you that it will fare worse with you than it will with me." + +The priest fled, and Estenega, hanging the lantern on a nail, pushed +aside the rubbish with his feet, purposing to pace the room until +dawn. In a few moments, however, he discovered that the despised +hermit was not without his allies; ten thousand fleas, the pest of the +country, assaulted every portion of his body they could reach. They +swarmed down the legs of his riding-boots, up his trousers, up his +sleeves, down his neck. "There is no such thing in life as tragedy," +he thought. He hung the lantern outside the door to mark the room, and +paced the yard until morning. But there were dark hours yet before the +dawn, and during one of them a figure, when his back was turned, +crept to the lantern and hung it before an adjoining room. When light +came,--and the fog came first,--all Estenega's efforts to find the +trap-door were unavailing, although the yard was littered with the +rubbish he flung into it from the room. He suspected the trick, but +there were ten rooms exactly alike, and although he cleared most of +them he could discover no trace of the trap-door. He looked at the +hills surrounding the Mission. They were many, and beyond there were +others. He mounted his horse and rode around the buildings, listening +carefully for hollow reverberation. The tunnel was too far below; he +heard nothing. + +He was defeated. For the first time in his life he was without +resource, overwhelmed by a force stronger than his own will; and his +spirit was savage within him. He had no authority to dig the floors +of the Mission, for the Mission and several acres about it were +the property of the Church. The priest never would take him on that +underground journey again, for he had learned the weak spot in his +armor, nor had he fear of death. Unless accident favored him, or some +one more fortunate, the golden heart of the San Rafael hill would +pulse unrifled forever. + + + + +XXX. + + +He turned his back upon the Mission and rode toward his home, sixty +miles in a howling November wind. At Bodega Bay he learned that +Governor Rotscheff had passed there two days before with a party of +guests that he had gone down to Sausalito to meet. Chonita awaited +him in the North. A softer mood pressed through the somberness of his +spirit, and the candle of hope burned again. Gold must exist elsewhere +in California, and he swore anew that it should yield itself to him. +The last miles of his ride lay along the cliffs. Sometimes the steep +hills covered with redwoods rose so abruptly from the trail that the +undergrowth brushed him as he passed; on the other side but a few +inches stood between himself and death amidst the surf pounding on the +rocks a thousand feet below. The sea-gulls screamed about his head, +the sea-lions barked with the hollow note of consumptives on the +outlying rocks. On the horizon was a bank of fog, outlined with the +crests and slopes and gulches of the mountain beside him. It sent an +advance wrack scudding gracefully across the ocean to puff among the +redwoods, capriciously clinging to some, ignoring others. Then came +the vast white mountain rushing over the roaring ocean, up the cliffs +and into the gloomy forests, blotting the lonely horseman from sight. + +He arrived at his house--a big structure of logs--late in the night. +His servants came out to meet him, and in a moment a fire leaped in +the great fireplace in his library. He lived alone; his parents and +brothers were dead, and his sisters married; but the fire made the low +long room, covered with bear-skins and lined with books, as cheerful +as a bachelor could expect. He found a note from the Princess Hélène +Rotscheff, the famous wife of the governor, asking him to spend the +following week at Fort Ross; but he was so tired that even the image +of Chonita was dim; the note barely caused a throb of anticipation. +After supper he flung himself on a couch before the fire and slept +until morning, then went to bed and slept until afternoon. By that +time he was himself again. He sent a vaquero ahead with his evening +clothes, and an hour or two later started for Fort Ross, spurring his +horse with a lighter heart over the cliffs. His ranchos adjoined +the Russian settlement; the journey from his house to the military +enclosure was not a long one. He soon rounded the point of a sloping +hill and entered the spreading core formed by the mountains receding +in a semicircle above the cliffs, and in whose shelter lay Fort Ross. +The fort was surrounded by a stockade of redwood beams, bastions in +the shape of hexagonal towers at diagonal corners. Cannon, mounted on +carriages, were at each of the four entrances, in the middle of the +enclosure, and in the bastions. Sentries paced the ramparts with +unremitting vigilance. + +Within were the long low buildings occupied by the governor and +officers, the barracks, and the Russian church, with its belfry and +cupola. Beyond was the "town," a collection of huts accommodating +about eight hundred Indians and Siberian convicts, the workingmen of +the company. All the buildings were of redwood logs or planed boards, +and made a very different picture from the white towns of the South. +The curving mountains were sombrous with redwoods, the ocean growled +unceasingly. + +Estenega threw his bridle to a soldier and went directly to the house. +A servant met him on the veranda and conducted him to his room; it +was late, and every one else was dressing for dinner. He changed his +riding-clothes for the evening dress of modern civilization, and went +at once to the drawing-room. Here all was luxury, nothing to suggest +the privations of a new country. A thick red carpet covered the floor, +red arras the walls; the music of Mozart and Beethoven was on the +grand piano. The furniture was rich and comfortable, the large carved +table was covered with French novels and European periodicals. + +The candles had not been brought in, but logs blazed in the open +fireplace. As Estenega crossed the room, a woman, dressed in black, +rose from a deep chair, and he recognized Chonita. He sprang forward +impetuously and held out his arms, but she waved him back. + +"No, no," she said, hurriedly. "I want to explain why I am here. I +came for two reasons. First, I could refuse the Princess Hélène no +longer; she goes so soon. And then--I wanted to see you once more +before I leave the world." + +"Before you do what?" + +"I am not going into a convent; I cannot leave my father. I am going +to retire to the most secluded of our ranchos, to see no more of the +world or its people. I shall take my father with me. Reinaldo and +Prudencia will remain at Casa Grande." + +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed, impatiently. "Do you suppose I shall let you +do anything of the sort? How little you know me, my love! But we will +discuss that question later. We shall be alone only a few moments now. +Tell me of yourself. How are you?" + +"I will tell you that, also, at another time." + +And at the moment a door opened, and the governor and his wife entered +and greeted Estenega with cordial hospitality. The governor was +a fine-looking Russian, with a spontaneous warmth of manner; the +princess a woman who possessed both elegance and vivacity, both +coquetry and dignity; she could sparkle and chill, allure and suppress +in the same moment. Even here, rough and wild as her surroundings +were, she gave much thought to her dress; to-night her blonde +harmonious loveliness was properly framed in a toilette of mignonette +greens, fresh from Paris. A moment later Reinaldo and Prudencia +appeared, the former as splendid a caballero as ever, although +wearing the chastened air of matrimony, the latter pre-maternally +consequential. Then came the officers and their wives, all brilliant +in evening dress; and a moment later dinner was announced. + +Estenega sat at the right of his hostess, and that trained daughter of +the salon kept the table in a light ripple of conversation, sparkling +herself, without striking terror to the hearts of her guests. She and +Estenega were old friends, and usually indulged in lively sallies, +ending some times in a sharp war of words, for she was a very clever +woman; but to-night he gave her absent attention: he watched Chonita +furtively, and thought of little else. + +Her eyes had darker shadows beneath them than those cast by her +lashes; her face was pale and slightly hollowed. She had suffered, and +not for her mother. "She shall suffer no more," he thought. + +"We hunt bear to-night," he heard the governor say at length. + +"I should like to go," said Chonita, quickly. "I should like to go out +to-night." + +Immediately there was a chorus from all the Other women, excepting the +Princess Hélène and Prudencia; they wanted to go too. Rotscheff, who +would much rather have left them at home, consented with good grace, +and Estenega's spirits rose at once. He would have a talk with Chonita +that night, something he had not dared to hope for, and he suspected +that she had promoted the opportunity. + +The men remained in the dining-room after the ladies had withdrawn, +and Estenega, restored to his normal condition, and in his natural +element among these people of the world, expanded into the high +spirits and convivial interest in masculine society which made him as +popular with men as he was fascinating, through the exercise of +more subtle faculties, to women. Reinaldo watched him with jealous +impatience; no one cared to hearken to his eloquence when Estenega +talked; and he had come to Fort Ross only to have a conversation +with his one-time enemy. As he listened to Estenega, shorn, for the +time-being, of his air of dictator and watchful ambition, a man of +the world taking an enthusiastic part in the hilarity of the hour, +but never sacrificing his dignity by assuming the rôle of chief +entertainer, there grew within him a dull sense of inferiority: he +felt, rather than knew, that neither the city of Mexico nor gratified +ambitions would give him that assured ease, that perfection of +breeding, that calm sense of power, concealing so gracefully the +relentless will and the infinite resource which made this most +un-Californian of Californians seem to his Arcadian eyes a being of a +higher star. And hatred blazed forth anew. + +As the men rose, finally, to go to the drawing-room, he asked Estenega +to remain for a moment. "Thou wilt keep thy promise soon, no?" he said +when they were alone. + +"What promise?" + +"Thy promise to send me as diputado to the next Mexican Congress." + +Estenega looked at him reflectively. He had little toleration for the +man of inferior brain, and, although he did not underrate his power +for mischief, he relied upon his own wit to circumvent him. He had +disposed of this one by warning Santa Ana, and he concluded to be +annoyed by him no further. Besides, as a brother-in-law, he would be +insupportable except at the long range of mutual unamiability. + +"I made you no promise," he said, deliberately; "and I shall make you +none. I do not wish you in the city of Mexico." + +Reinaldo's face grew livid. "Thou darest to say that to me, and yet +would marry my sister?" + +"I would, and I shall." + +"And yet thou wouldst not help her brother?" + +"Her brother is less to me than any man with whom I have sat to-night. +Build no hopes on that. You will stay at Santa Barbara and play the +grand seigneur, which suits you very well, or become a prisoner in +your own house." And he left the room. + + + + +XXXI. + + +An hour later they assembled in the plaza to start for the bear hunt. +Reinaldo was not of the party. + +Estenega lifted Chonita to her horse and stood beside her for a moment +while the others mounted. He touched her hand with his: + +"We could not have a more beautiful night," he said, significantly. +"And I have often wished that my father had included this spot when he +applied for his grant. I should like to live with you here. Even when +the winds rage and hurl the rain through the very window pane, I know +of no more enchanting spot than Fort Ross. The Russians are going; +some day I will buy it for you." + +She made no reply, but she did not withdraw her hand, and he held +it closely and glanced slowly about him. Always, despite his bitter +intimacy with life, in kinship with nature, perhaps in that moment it +had a deeper meaning, for he saw with double vision: She was there; +and, with him, sensible not only of the beauty of the night, but of +the indefinable mystery which broods over California the moment the +sun falls. Perhaps, too, he was troubled by a vague foreboding, such +as comes to mortals sometimes in spite of their limitations: he never +saw Fort Ross again. + +On the horizon the fog crouched and moved; marched like a battalion of +ocean's ghosts; suddenly cohered and sent out light puffs of smoke, as +from the crater of a spectral volcano. The moon, full and bright and +cold, hung low in the dark sky: one hardly noted the stars. The vast +sweep of water was as calm as a lake, dark and metallic like the sky, +barely reflecting the silver light between. But although calm it was +not quiet. It greeted the forbidding rocks beyond the shore, the long +irregular line of stark, storm-beaten cliffs, with ominous mutter, now +and again throwing a cloud of spray high in the air, as if in derisive +proof that even in sleep it was sensible of its power. Occasionally it +moaned, as if sounding a dirge along the mass of stones which storms +had hurled or waves had wrenched from the crags above,--a dirge for +beheaded Russians, for him who had walked the plank, or for the lover +of Natalie Ivanhoff. + +Here and there the cliffs were intersected by deep straggling gulches, +out of whose sides grew low woods of brush; but the three tables +rising successively from the ocean to the forest on the mountain, were +almost bare. On the highest, between two gulches, on a knoll so bare +and black and isolated that its destiny was surely taken into account +at creation, was a tall rude cross and a half hundred neglected +graves. The forest seemed blacker just behind it, the shadows thicker +in the gorges that embraced it, the ocean grayer and more illimitable +before it. "Natalie Ivanhoff is there in her copper coffin," said +Estenega, "forgotten already." + +The curve of the mountain was so perfect that it seemed to reach down +a long arm on either side and grasp the cliffs. The redwoods on its +crown and upper slopes were a mass of rigid shadows, the points, only, +sharply etched on the night sky. They might have been a wall about an +undiscovered country. + +"Come," cried Rotscheff, "we are ready to start." And Estenega sprang +to his horse. + +"I don't envy you," said the Princess Hélène from the veranda, her +silveren head barely visible above the furs which enveloped her. "I +prefer the fire." + +"You are warmly clad?" asked Estenega of Chonita. "But you have the +blood of the South in your veins." + +They climbed the steep road between the levels, slowly, the women +chattering and asking questions, the men explaining and advising. +Estenega and Chonita having much to say, said nothing. + +A cold volume of air, the muffled roar of a mountain torrent, rushed +out of the forest, startling with the suddenness of its impact. Once a +panther uttered its human cry. + +They entered the forest. It was so dark here that the horses wandered +from the trail and into the brush again and again. Conversation +ceased; except for the muffled footfalls of the horses and the speech +of the waters there was no sound. Chonita had never known a stillness +so profound; the giant trees crowding together seemed to resent +intrusion, to menace an eternal silence. She moved her horse close to +Estenega's and he took her hand. Occasionally there was an opening, a +well of blackness, for the moon had not yet come to the forest. + +They reached the summit, and descended. Half-way down the mountain +they rode into a farm in a valley formed by one of the many basins. + +The Indians were waiting, and killed a bullock at once, placing the +carcass in a conspicuous place. Then all retired to the shade of the +trees. In less than a half-hour a bear came prowling out of the forest +and began upon the meal so considerately provided for him. When his +attention was fully engaged, Rotscheff and the officers, mounted, +dashed down upon him, swinging their lassos. The bear showed fight and +stood his ground, but this was an occasion when the bear always got +the worst of it. One lasso caught his neck, another his hind foot, +and he was speedily strained and strangled to death. No sooner was +he despatched than another appeared, then another, and the sport grew +very exciting, absorbing the attention of the women as well as the +energies of the men. + +Estenega lifted Chonita from her horse. "Let us walk," he said. +"They will not miss us. A few yards farther, and you will be on my +territory. I want you there." + +She made no protest, and they entered the forest. The moon shone down +through the lofty redwoods that seemed to scrape its crystal; the +monotone of the distant sea blended with the faint roar of the +tree-tops. The vast gloomy aisles were unbroken by other sound. + +He took her hand and held it a moment, then drew it through his arm. +"Now tell me all," he said, "They will be occupied for a long while. +The night is ours." + +"I have come here to tell you that I love you," she said. "Ah, can _I_ +make _you_ tremble? It was impossible for me not to tell you this; I +could not rest in my retreat without having the last word with +you, without having you know me. And I want to tell you that I have +suffered horribly; you may care to know that, for no one else in the +world could have made me, no one else ever can. Only your fingers +could twist in my heart-strings and tear my heart out of my body. I +suffered first because I doubted you, then because I loved you, then +the torture of jealousy and the pangs of parting, then those dreadful +three months when I heard no word. I could not stay at Casa Grande; +everything associated with you drove me wild. Oh, I have gone through +all varieties! But the last was the worst, after I heard from you +again, and all other causes were removed, and I knew that you were +well and still loved me: the knowledge that I never could be anything +to you,--and I could be so much! The torment of this knowledge was so +bitter that there was but one refuge,--imagination. I shut my eyes to +my little world and lived with you; and it seemed to me that I grew +into absolute knowledge of you. Let me tell you what I divined. You +may tell me that I am wrong, but I do not believe that you will. I +think that in the little time we were together I absorbed you. + +"It seemed to me that your soul reached always for something just +above the attainable, restless in the moments which would satisfy +another, fretted with a perverse desire for something different when +an ardent wish was granted, steeped, under all wanton determined +enjoyment of life, with the bitter knowing of life's sure impotence +to satisfy. Could the dissatisfied darting mind loiter long enough to +give a woman more than the promise of happiness?--but never mind that. + +"With this knowledge of you my own resistless desire for variety left +me: my nature concentrated into one paramount wish,--to be all things +to you. What I had felt vaguely before and stifled--the nothingness +of life, the inevitableness of satiety--I repudiated utterly, now that +they were personified in you; I would not recognize the fact of their +existence. _I_ could make you happy. How could imagination shape such +scenes, such perfection of union, of companionship, if reality were +not? Imagination is the child of inherited and living impressions. I +might exaggerate; but, even stripped of its halo, the substance must +be sweeter and more fulfilling than anything else on this earth at +least. And I knew that you loved me. Oh, I had _felt_ that! And the +variousness of your nature and desires, although they might madden +me at times, would give an extraordinary zest to life. I was The +Doomswoman no longer. I was a supplementary being who could meet you +in every mood and complete it; who would so understand that I could +be man and woman and friend to you. A delusion? But so long as I shall +never know, let me believe. An extraordinary tumultuous desire that +rose in me like a wave and shook me often at first, had, in those last +sad weeks, less part in my musings. It seemed to me that that was the +expression, the poignant essence, of love; but there was so much else! +I do not understand that, however, and never shall. But I wanted to +tell you all. I could not rest until you knew me as I am and as +you had made me. And I will tell you this too," she cried, breaking +suddenly, "I wanted you so! Oh, I needed you so! It was not I, only, +who could give. And it is so terrible for a woman to stand alone!" + +He made no reply for a moment. But he forgot every other interest and +scheme and idea stored in his impatient brain. He was thrilled to his +soul, and filled with the exultant sense that he was about to take to +his heart the woman compounded for him out of his own elements. + +"Speak to me," she said. + +"My love, I have so much to say to you that it will take all the years +we shall spend together to say it in." + +"No, no! Do not speak of that. There I am firm. Although the misery of +the past months were to be multiplied ten hundred times in the future, +I would not marry you." + +Estenega, knowing that their hour of destiny was come, and that upon +him alone depended its issues, was not the man to hesitate between +such happiness as this woman alone could give him, and the gray +existence which she in her blindness would have meted to both: his +bold will had already taken the future in its relentless grasp. But, +knowing the mental habit of women, he thought it best to let Chonita +free her mind, that there might be the less in it to protest for +hearing while his heart and passion spoke to hers. + +"It seems absurd to argue the matter," he said, "but tell me the +reasons again, if you choose, and we will dispose of them once for +all. Do not think for a moment, my darling, that I do not respect your +reasons; but I respect them only because they are yours; in themselves +they are not worthy of consideration." + +"Ay, but they are. It has been an unwritten law for four generations +that an Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada should not marry; the enmity +began, as you should know, when a member of each family was an officer +in a detachment of troops sent to protect the Missions in their +building. And my father--he told me lately--loved your father's sister +for many years,--that was the reason he married so late in life,--and +would not ask her because of her blood and of cruel wrongs her father +had done his. Shall his daughter be weak where he was strong? You cast +aside traditions as if they were the seeds of an apple; but remember +that they are blood of my blood. And the vow I made,--do you forget +that? And the words of it? The Church stands between us. I will tell +you all: the priest has forbidden me to marry you; he forbade it every +time I confessed; not only because of my vow, but because you had +aroused in me a love so terrible that I almost took the life of +another woman. Could I bring you back to the Church it might be +different; but you rule others; no one could remould you. You see it +is hopeless. It is no use to argue." + +"I have no intention of arguing. Words are too good to waste on such +an absurd proposition that because our fathers hated, we, who are +independent and intelligent beings, should not marry when every drop +of heart's blood demands its rights. As for your vow,--what is a vow? +Hysterical egotism, nothing more. Were it the promise of man to man, +the subject would be worth discussing. But we will settle the matter +in our own way." He took her suddenly in his arms and kissed her. She +put her arms about him and clung to him, trembling, her lips pressed +to his. In that supreme moment he felt not happiness, but a bitter +desire to bear her out of the world into some higher sphere where the +conditions of happiness might possibly exist. "On the highest pinnacle +we reach," he thought, "we are granted the tormenting and chastening +glimpse of what might be, had God, when he compounded his victims, +been in a generous mood and completed them." + +And she? she was a woman. + +"You will resist no longer," he said, in a few moments. + +"Ay, more surely than ever, now." Her voice was faint, but crossed by +a note of terror. "In that moment I forgot my religion and my duty. +And what is so sweet,--it cannot be right." + +"Do you so despise your womanhood, the most perfect thing about you?" + +"Oh, let us return! I wanted to kiss you once. I meant to do that. But +I should not--Let us go! Oh, I love you so! I love you so!" + +He drew her closer and kissed her until her head fell forward and +her body grew heavy. "I shall think and act now, for both," he said, +unsteadily, although there was no lack of decision in his voice. "You +are mine. I claim you, and I shall run no further risk of losing you. +Oh, you will forgive me--my love--" + +Neither saw a man walking rapidly up the trail. Suddenly the man gave +a bound and ran toward them. It was Reinaldo. + +"Ah, I have found thee," he cried. "Listen, Don Diego Estenega, lord +of the North, American, and would-be dictator of the Californias. Two +hours ago I despatched a vaquero with a circular letter to the priests +of the Department of the Californias, warning them each and all +to write at once to the Archbishop of Mexico, and protest that the +success of your ambitions would mean the downfall of the Catholic +Church in California, and telling them your schemes. Thou art mighty, +O Don Diego Estenega, but thou art powerless against the enmity of +the Church. They are mightier than thou, and thou wilt never rule in +California. Unhand my sister! Thou shalt not have her either. Thou +shalt have nothing. Wilt thou unhand her?" he cried, enraged at +Estenega's cold reception of his damnatory news. "Thou shouldst not +have her if I tore thy heart from thy body." + +Estenega looked contemptuously across Chonita's shoulder, although +his heart was lead within him. "The last resource of the mean and +down-trodden is revenge," he said. "Go. To-morrow I shall horsewhip +you in the court-yard of Fort Ross." + +Reinaldo, hot with excitement and thirst for further vengeance, +uttered a shriek of rage and sprang upon him. Estenega saw the gleam +of a knife and flung Chonita aside, catching the driving arm, the +fury of his heart in his muscles. Reinaldo had the soft muscles of +the cabellero, and panted and writhed in the iron grasp of the man +who forgot that he grappled with the brother of a woman passionately +loved, remembered only that he rejoiced to fight to the death the man +who had ruined his life. Reinaldo tried to thrust the knife into his +back; Estenega suddenly threw his weight on the arm that held it, +nearly wrenching it from its socket, snatched the knife, and drove it +to the heart of his enemy. + +Then the hot blood in his body turned cold. He stood like a stone +regarding Chonita, whose eyes, fixed upon him, were expanded with +horror. Between them lay the dead body of her brother. + +He turned with a groan and sat down on a fallen log, supporting his +chin with his hand. His profile looked grim and worn and old. He +stared unseeingly at the ground. Chonita stood, still looking at him. +The last act of her brother's life had been to lay the foundation of +her lover's ruin; his death had completed it: all the South would +rise did the slayer of an Iturbi y Moncada seek to rule it. She felt +vaguely sorry for Reinaldo; but death was peace; this was hell +in living veins. The memory of the world beyond the forest grew +indistinct. She recalled her first dream and turned in loathing from +the bloodless selfishness of which it was the allegory. Superstition +and tradition slipped into some inner pocket of her memory, there to +rattle their dry bones together and fall to dust. She saw only the +figure, relaxed for the first time, the profile of a man with his +head on the block. She stepped across the body of her brother, and, +kneeling beside Estenega, drew his head to her breast. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Doomswoman, by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOOMSWOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 12270-8.txt or 12270-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/7/12270/ + +Produced by Leah Moser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Doomswoman + An Historical Romance of Old California + +Author: Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton + +Release Date: May 5, 2004 [EBook #12270] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOOMSWOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Leah Moser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: _Gertrude Atherton_ PHOTOGRAPHED BY MRS. LOUNSBERY] + +THE DOOMSWOMAN + +An Historical Romance of Old California + +By + +Gertrude Atherton + + +[Illustration] + + + +1900 + + + + +To + +STEPHEN FRANKLIN + + + + +THE DOOMSWOMAN. + + + +I. + + +It was at Governor Alvarado's house in Monterey that Chonita first +knew of Diego Estenega. I had told him much of her, but had never +cared to mention the name of Estenega in the presence of an Iturbi y +Moncada. + +Chonita came to Monterey to stand godmother to the child of Alvarado +and of her friend Dona Martina, his wife. She arrived the morning +before the christening, and no one thought to tell her that Estenega +was to be godfather. The house was full of girls, relatives of +the young mother, gathered for the ceremony and subsequent week of +festivities. Benicia, my little one, was at the rancho with Ysabel +Herrera, and I was staying with the Alvarados. So many were the guests +that Chonita and I slept together. We had not seen each other for a +year, and had so much to say that we did not sleep at all. She was +ten years younger than I, but we were as close friends as she with her +alternate frankness and reserve would permit. But I had spent several +months of each year since childhood at her home in Santa Barbara, +and I knew her better than she knew herself; when, later, I read her +journal, I found little in it to surprise me, but much to fill and +cover with shapely form the skeleton of the story which passed in +greater part before my eyes. + +We were discussing the frivolous mysteries of dress, if I remember +aright, when she laid her hand on my mouth suddenly. + +"Hush!" she said. + +A caballero serenaded his lady at midnight in Monterey. + +The tinkle of a guitar, the jingling of spurs, fell among the strong +tones of a man's voice. + +Chonita had been serenaded until she had fled to the mountains for +sleep, but she crept to the foot of the bed and knelt there, her +hand at her throat. A door opened, and, one by one, out of the black +beyond, five white-robed forms flitted into the room. They looked like +puffs of smoke from a burning moon. The heavy wooden shutters were +open, and the room was filled with cold light. + +The girls waltzed on the bare floor, grouped themselves in +mock-dramatic postures, then, overcome by the strange magnetism of the +singer, fell into motionless attitudes, listening intently. How well +I remember that picture, although I have almost forgotten the names of +the girls! + +In the middle of the room two slender figures embraced each other, +their black hair falling loosely over their white gowns. On the +window-step knelt a tall girl, her head pensively supported by her +hand, a black shawl draped gracefully about her; at her feet sat +a girl with head bowed to her knees. Between the two groups was a +solitary figure, kneeling with hand pressed to the wall and face +uplifted. + +When the voice ceased I struck a match, and five pairs of little hands +applauded enthusiastically. He sang them another song, then galloped +away. + +"It is Don Diego Estenega," said one of the girls. "He rarely sings, +but I have heard him before." + +"An Estenega!" exclaimed Chonita. + +"Yes; of the North, thou knowest. His Excellency thinks there is +no man in the Californias like him,--so bold and so smart. Thou +rememberest the books that were burned by the priests when the +governor was a boy, because he had dared to read them, no? Well, when +Diego Estenega heard of that, he made his father send to Boston and +Mexico for those books and many more, and took them up to his redwood +forests in the north, far away from the priests. And they say he had +read other books before, although such a lad; his father had brought +them from Spain, and never cared much for the priests. And he has been +to Mexico and America and Europe! God of my soul! it is said that he +knows more than his Excellency himself,--that his mind works faster. +Ay! but there was a time when he was wild,--when the mescal burnt +his throat like hornets and the aguardiente was like scorpions in +his brain; but that was long ago, before he was twenty; now he is +thirty-four. He amuses himself sometimes with the girls,--_valgame +Dios!_ he has made hot tears flow,--but I suppose we do not know +enough for him, for he marries none. Ay! but he has a charm." + +"Like what does he look? A beautiful caballero, I suppose, with eyes +that melt and a mouth that trembles like a woman in the palsy." + +"Ay, no, my Chonita; thou art wrong. He is not beautiful at all. He is +rather haggard, and wears no mustache, and he has the profile of the +great man, fine and aquiline and severe, excepting when he smiles, and +then sometimes he looks kind and sometimes he looks like a devil. He +has not the beauty of color; his hair is brown, I think, and his eyes +are gray, and set far back; but how they flash! I think they could +burn if they looked too long. He is tall and straight and very strong, +not so indolent as most of our men. They call him The American because +he moves so quickly and gets so cross when people do not think fast +enough. _He_ thinks like lightning strikes. Ay! they all say that he +will be governor in his time; that he would have been long ago, but he +has been away so much. It must be that he has seen and admired thee, +my Chonita, and discovered thy grating. Thou art happy that thou too +hast read the books. Thou and he will be great friends, I know!" + +"Yes!" exclaimed Chonita, scornfully. "It is likely. Thou hast +forgotten--perhaps--the enmity between the Capulets and the Montagues +was a sallow flame to the bitter hatred, born of jealousy in love, +politics, and social precedence, which exists between the Estenegas +and the Iturbi y Moncadas?" + + + + +II. + + +Delfina, the first child of Alvarado, born in the purple at the +governor's mansion in Monterey, was about to be baptized with all the +pomp and ceremony of the Church and time. Dona Martina, the wife of +a year, was unable to go to the church, but lay beneath her lace and +satin coverlet, her heavy black hair half covering the other side of +the bed. Beside her stood the nurse, a fat, brown, high-beaked old +crone, holding a mass of grunting lace. I stood at the foot of the +bed, admiring the picture. + +"Be careful for the sun, Tomasa," said the mother. "Her eyes must be +strong, like the Alvarados',--black and keen and strong." + +"Sure, senora." + +"And let her not smother, nor yet take cold. She must grow tall and +strong,--like the Alvarados." + +"Sure, senora." + +"Where is his Excellency?" + +"I am here." And Alvarado entered the room. He looked amused, and +probably had overheard the conversation. He justified, however, the +admiration of his young wife. His tall military figure had the perfect +poise and suggestion of power natural to a man whose genius had +been recognized by the Mexican government before he had entered his +twenties. The clean-cut face, with its calm profile and fiery +eyes, was not that of the Washington of his emulation, and I never +understood why he chose so tame a model. Perhaps because of the +meagerness of that early proscribed literature; or did the title +"Father of his Country" appeal irresistibly to that lofty and doomed +ambition? + +He passed his hand over his wife's long white fingers, but did not +offer her any other caress in my presence. + +"How dost thou feel?" + +"Well; but I shall be lonely. Do not stay long at the church, no? +How glad I am that Chonita came in time for the christening! What a +beautiful _comadre_ she will be! I have just seen her. Ay, poor Diego! +he will fall in love with her; and what then?" + +"It would have been better had she come too late, I think. To avoid +asking Diego to stand for my first child was impossible, for he is the +man of men to me. To avoid asking Dona Chonita was equally impossible, +I suppose, and it will be painful for both. He serenaded her last +night, not knowing who she was, but having seen her at her grating; he +only returned yesterday. I hope she plants no thorns in his heart." + +"Perhaps they will marry and bind the wounds," suggested the woman. + +"An Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada will not marry. He might forget, +for he is passionate and of a nature to break down barriers when a +wish is dear; but she has all the wrongs of all the Iturbi y Moncadas +on her white shoulders, and all their pride in the carriage of her +head; to say nothing of that brother whom she adores. She learned this +morning that it was Diego's determined opposition that kept Reinaldo +out of the Departmental Junta, and meets him in no tender frame of +mind----" + +Dona Martina raised her hand. Chonita stood in the door-way. She was +quite beautiful enough to plant thorns where she listed. Her tall +supple figure was clothed in white, and over her gold hair--lurid and +brilliant, but without a tinge of red--she wore a white lace mantilla. +Her straight narrow brows and heavy lashes were black; but her skin +was more purely white than her gown. Her nose was finely cut, the arch +almost indiscernible, and she had the most sculptured mouth I have +ever seen. Her long eyes were green, dark, and luminous. Sometimes +they had the look of a child, sometimes she allowed them to flash +with the fire of an animated spirit. But the expression she chose to +cultivate was that associated with crowned head and sceptered hand; +and sure no queen had ever looked so calm, so inexorable, so haughty, +so terribly clear of vision. She never posed--for any one, at least, +but herself. For some reason--a youthful reason probably--the iron in +her nature was most admired by her. Wherefore,--also, as she had the +power, as twin, to heal and curse,--I had named her the Doomswoman, +and by this name she was known far and wide. By the lower class of +Santa Barbara she was called The Golden Senorita, on account of her +hair and of her father's vast wealth. + +"Come," she said, "every one is waiting. Do not you hear the voices?" + +The windows were closed, but through them came a murmur like that of a +pine forest. + +The governor motioned to the nurse to follow Chonita and myself, and +she trotted after us, her ugly face beaming with pride of position. +Was not in her arms the oldest-born of a new generation of Alvarados? +the daughter of the governor of The Californias? Her smock, +embroidered with silk, was new, and looked whiter than fog against +her bare brown arms and face. Her short red satin skirt, a gift of her +happy lady's, was the finest ever worn by exultant nurse. About her +stringy old throat was a gold chain, bright red roses were woven +in her black reboso. I saw her admire Chonita's stately figure with +scornful reserve of the colorless gown. + +We were followed in a moment by the governor, adjusting his collar +and smoothing his hair. As he reached the door-way at the front of the +house he was greeted with a shout from assembled Monterey. The plaza +was gay with beaming faces and bright attire. The men, women, and +children of the people were on foot, a mass of color on the opposite +side of the plaza: the women in gaudy cotton frocks girt with silken +sashes, tawdry jewels, and spotless camisas, the coquettish reboso +draping with equal grace faces old and brown, faces round and olive; +the men in glazed sombreros, short calico jackets and trousers; +Indians wound up in gala blankets. In the foreground, on prancing +silver-trapped horses, were caballeros and donas, laughing and +coquetting, looking down in triumph upon the duenas and parents who +rode older and milder mustangs and shook brown knotted fingers at +heedless youth. The young men had ribbons twisted in their long black +hair, and silver eagles on their soft gray sombreros. Their velvet +serapes were embroidered with gold; the velvet knee-breeches were +laced with gold or silver cord over fine white linen; long deer-skin +botas were gartered with vivid ribbon; flaunting sashes bound their +slender waists, knotted over the hip. The girls and young married +women wore black or white mantillas, the silken lace of Spain, +regardless of the sun which might darken their Castilian fairness. +Their gowns were of flowered silk or red or yellow satin, the waist +long and pointed, the skirt full; jeweled buckles of tiny slippers +flashed beneath the hem. The old people were in rich dress of sober +color. A few Americans were there in the ugly garb of their country, a +blot on the picture. + +At the door, just in front of the cavalcade, stood General Vallejo's +carriage, the only one in California, sent from Sonoma for the +occasion. Beside it were three superbly-trapped horses. + +The governor placed the swelling nurse in the carriage, then glanced +about him. "Where is Estenega?--and the Castros?" he asked. + +"There are Don Jose and Dona Modeste Castro," said Chonita. + +The crowd had parted suddenly, and two men and a woman rode toward the +governor. One of the men was tall and dark, and his somber military +attire became the stern sadness of his face. Castro was not +Comandante-general of the army at that time, but his bearing was as +imperious in that year of 1840 as when six years later the American +Occupation closed forever the career of a man made in derision +for greatness. At his right rode his wife, one of the most queenly +beauties of her time, small as she was in stature. Every woman's +eye turned to her at once; she was our leader of fashion, and we all +copied the gowns that came to her from the city of Mexico. + +But Chonita gave no heed to the Castros. She fixed her cold direct +regard on the man who rode with them, and whom, she knew, must be +Diego Estenega, for he was their guest. She was curious to see this +enemy of her house, the political rival of her brother, the owner of +the voice which had given her the first thrill of her life. He was +dressed as plainly as Castro, and had none of the rich southern beauty +of the caballeros. His hair was cut short like Alvarado's, and his +face was thin and almost sallow. But the life that was in that face! +the passion, the intelligence, the kindness, the humor, the grim +determination! And what splendid vitality was in his tall thin figure, +and nervous activity under the repose of his carriage! I remember +I used to think in those days that Diego Estenega could conquer the +world if he wished, although I suspected that he lacked one quality of +the great rulers of men,--inexorable cruelty. + +From the moment his horse carried him into the plaza he did not remove +his eyes from Chonita's face. She lowered hers angrily after a +moment. As he reached the house he sprang to the ground, and Alvarado +presented the sponsors. He lifted his cap and bowed, but not as low as +the caballeros who were wont to prostrate themselves before her. They +murmured the usual form of salutation: + +"At your feet, senorita." + +"I appreciate the honor of your acquaintance." + +"It is my duty and pleasure to lift you to your horse." And, still +holding his cap in his hand, he led her to one of the three horses +which stood beside the carriage; with little assistance she sprang to +its back, and he mounted the one reserved for him. + +The cavalcade started. First the carriage, then Alvarado and myself, +followed by the sponsors, the Castros, the members of the Departmental +Junta and their wives, then the caballeros and the donas, the old +people and the Americans; the populace trudging gayly in the rear, +keeping good pace with the riders, who were held in check by a +fragment of pulp too young to be jolted. + +"You never have been in Monterey before, senorita, I understand," said +Estenega to Chonita. No situation could embarrass him. + +"No; once they thought to send me to the convent here,--to Dona +Concepcion Arguello,--but it was so far, and my mother does not like +to travel. So Dona Concepcion came to us for a year, and, after, I +studied with an instructor who came from Mexico to educate my brother +and me." She had no intention of being communicative with Diego +Estenega, but his keen reflective gaze confused her, and she took +refuge in words. + +"Dona Eustaquia tells me that, unlike most of our women, you have +read many books. Few Californian women care for anything but to look +beautiful and to marry,--not, however, being unique in that respect. +Would you not rather live in our capital? You are so far away down +there, and there are but few of the _gente de razon_, no?" + +"We are well satisfied, senor, and we are gay when we wish. There are +ten families in the town, and many rancheros within a hundred leagues. +They think nothing of coming to our balls. And we have grand religious +processions, and bull-fights, and races. We have beautiful canons for +meriendas; and I could dance every night if I wished. We are few, but +we are quite as gay and quite as happy as you in your capital." The +pride of the Iturbi y Moncadas and of the Barbarina flashed in her +eyes, then made way for anger under the amused glance of Estenega. + +"Oh, of course," he said, teasingly. "You are to Monterey what +Monterey is to the city of Mexico. But, pardon me, senorita; I would +not anger you for all the gold which is said to lie like rocks under +our Californias,--if it be true that certain padres hold that mighty +secret. (God! how I should like to get one by the throat and throttle +it out of him!) Pardon me again, senorita; I was going to say that +you may be pleased to know that there is little magnificence where my +ranchos are,--high on the coast, among the redwoods. I live in a house +made of big ugly logs, unpainted. There are no cavalcades in the cold +depths of those redwood forests, and the ocean beats against ragged +cliffs. Only at Fort Ross, in her log palace, does the beautiful +Russian, Princess Helene Rotscheff, strive occasionally to make +herself and others forget that the forest is not the Bois of her +beloved Paris, that in it the grizzly and the panther hunger for her, +and that an Indian Prince, mad with love for the only fair-haired +woman he has ever seen, is determined to carry her off----" + +"Tell me! tell me!" cried Chonita, eagerly, forgetting her role and +her enemy. "What is that? I do not know the princess, although she has +sent me word many times to visit her--Did an Indian try to carry her +off?" + +"It happened only the other day. Prince Solano, perhaps you have +heard, is chief of all the tribes of Sonoma, Valley of the Moon. He +is a handsome animal, with a strong will and remarkable organizing +abilities. One day I was entertaining the Rotscheffs at dinner when +Solano suddenly flung the door open and strode into the room: we are +old friends, and my servants do not stand on ceremony with him. As he +caught sight of the princess he halted abruptly, stared at her for a +moment, much as the first man may have stared at the first woman, then +turned and left the house, sprang on his mustang and galloped away. +The princess, you must know, is as blonde as only a Russian can be, +and an extremely pretty woman, small and dainty. No wonder the mighty +prince of darkness took fire. She was much amused. So was Rotscheff, +and he joked her the rest of the evening. Before he left, however, +I had a word with him alone, and warned him not to let the princess +stray beyond the walls of the fortress. That same night I sent a +courier to General Vallejo--who, fortunately, was at Sonoma--bidding +him watch Solano. And, sure enough--the day I left for Monterey +the Princess Helene was in hysterics, Rotscheff was swearing like a +madman, and a soldier was at every carronade: word had just come from +General Vallejo that he had that morning intercepted Solano in his +triumphant march, at the head of six tribes, upon Fort Ross, and sent +him flying back to his mountain-top in disorder and bitterness of +spirit." + +"That is very interesting!" cried Chonita. "I like that. What an +experience those Russians have had! That terrible tragedy!--Ah, I +remember, it was you who were to have aided Natalie Ivanhoff in her +escape--" + +"Hush!" said Estenega. "Do not speak of that. Here we are. At your +service, senorita." He sprang to the whaleboned pavement in front of +the little church facing the blue bay and surrounded by the gray ruins +of the old Presidio, and lifted her down. + +Chonita recalled, and angry with herself for having been beguiled +by her enemy, took the infant from the nurse's arms and carried it +fearfully up the aisle. Estenega, walking beside her, regarded her +meditatively. + +"What is she?" he thought, "this Californian woman with her hair of +gold and her unmistakable intellect, her marble face crossed now and +again by the animation of the clever American woman? What an +anomaly to find on the shores of the Pacific! All I had heard of The +Doomswoman, The Golden Senorita, gave me no idea of this. What a pity +that our houses are at war! She is not maternal, at all events; I +never saw a baby held so awkwardly. What a poise of head! She looks +better fitted for tragedy than for this little comedy of life in the +Californias. A sovereignty would suit her,--were it not for her eyes. +They are not quite so calm and just and inexorable as the rest of +her face. She would not even make a good household tyrant, like Dona +Jacoba Duncan. Unquestionably she is religious, and swaddled in all +the traditions of her race; but her eyes,--they are at odds with all +the rest of her. They are not lovely eyes; they lack softness and +languor and tractability; their expression changes too often, and they +mirror too much intelligence for loveliness, but they never will be +old eyes, and they never will cease to look. And they are the eyes +best worth looking into that I have ever seen. No, a sovereignty would +not suit her at all; a salon might. But, like a few of us, she is some +years ahead of her sphere. Glory be to the Californias--of the future, +when we are dirt, and our children have found the gold!" + +The baby was nearly baptized by the time he had finished his +soliloquy. She had kicked alarmingly when the salt was laid on her +tongue, and squalled under the deluge of water which gave her her name +and also wet Chonita's sleeve. The godmother longed for the ceremony +to be over; but it was more protracted than usual, owing to the +importance of the restless object on the pillow in her weary arms. +When the last word was said, she handed pillow and baby to the nurse +with a fervent sigh of relief which made her appear girlish and +natural. + +After Estenega had lifted her to her horse he dried her sleeve +with his handkerchief. He lingered over the task; the cavalcade and +populace went on without them, and when they started they were in the +rearward of the blithesome crowd. + +"Do you know what I thought as I stood by you in the church?" he +asked. + +"No," she said, indifferently. "I hope you prayed for the fortune of +the little one." + +"I did not; nor did you. You were too afraid you would drop it. I was +thinking how unmotherly, I had almost said unwomanly, you looked. You +were made for the great world,--the restless world, where people fly +faster from monotony than from a tidal wave." + +She looked at him with cold dignity, but flushed a little. "I am not +unwomanly, senor, although I confess I do not understand babies and do +detest to sew. But if I ever marry I shall be a good wife and mother. +No Spanish woman was ever otherwise, for every Spanish woman has had a +good mother for example." + +"You have said exactly what you should have said, voicing the inborn +principles and sentiments of the Spanish woman. I should be interested +to know what your individual sentiments are. But you misunderstand me. +I said that you were too good for the average lot of woman. You are a +woman, not a doll; an intelligence, not a bundle of shallow emotions +and transient desires. You should have a larger destiny." + +She gave him a swift sidelong flash from eyes that suddenly looked +childish and eager. + +"It is true," she said, frankly, "I have no desire to marry and have +many children. My father has never said to me, 'Thou must marry;' and +I have sometimes thought I would say 'No' when that time came. For the +present I am contented with my books and to ride about the country +on a wild horse; but perhaps--I do not know--I may not always be +contented with that. Sometimes when reading Shakespeare I have +imagined myself each of those women in turn. But generally, of course, +I have thought little of being any one but myself. What else could I +be here?" + +"Nothing; excepting a Joan of Arc when the Americans sweep down upon +us. But that would be only for a day; we should be such easy prey. +If I could put you to sleep and awaken you fifty years hence, when +California was a modern civilization! God speed the Americans: Therein +lies our only chance." + +"What!" she cried. "You--you would have the Americans? You--a +Californian! But you are an Estenega; that explains everything." + +"I am a Californian," he said, ignoring the scorn of the last words, +"but I hope I have acquired some common-sense in roving about the +world. The women of California are admirable in every way,--chaste, +strong of character, industrious, devoted wives and mothers, born +with sufficient capacity for small pleasures. But what are our men? +Idle, thriftless, unambitious, too lazy to walk across the street, but +with a horse for every step, sleeping all day in a hammock, gambling +and drinking all night. They are the natural followers of a race of +men who came here to force fortune out of an unbroken country with +little to help them but brains and will. The great effort produced +great results; therefore there is nothing for their sons to do, and +they luxuriously do nothing. What will the next generation be? Our +women will marry Americans,--respect for men who are men will overcome +prejudice,--the crossed blood will fight for a generation or two, then +a race will be born worthy of California. Why are our few great men so +very great to us? What have men of exceptional talent to fight down in +the Californias except the barriers to its development? In England or +the United States they still would be great men,--Alvarado and Castro, +at least,--but they would have to work harder." + +Chonita, in spite of her disapproval and her blood, looked at him +with interest. His ideas and language were strikingly unlike the +sentimental rhetoric of the caballeros. + +"It is as you say," she admitted; "but the Californian's highest duty +is loyalty to his country. Ours is a double duty, isolated as we are +on this far strip of land, away from all other civilization. We should +be more contemptible than Indians if we were not true to our flag." + +"No wonder that you and that famous patriot of ours, Dona Eustaquia +Ortega, are bonded friends. I doubt if you could hate as well as she. +You have no such violence in your nature; you could neither love nor +hate very hard. You would love (if you loved at all) with majesty and +serenity, and hate with chili severity." While he spoke he watched her +intently. + +She met his gaze unflinchingly. "True, senor; I am no 'bundle of +shallow emotions,' nor have I a lion in me, like Eustaquia. I am a +creature of deliberation, not of impulse: I love and hate as duty +dictates." + +"You are by nature the most impulsive woman I ever saw," he said, much +amused, "and Eustaquia's lion is a kitten to the one that sleeps in +you. You have cold deliberation enough, but it is manufactured, and +the result of pretty hard work at that. Like all edifices reared +without a foundation, it will fall with a crash some day, and +the fragments will be of very little use to you." And there the +conversation ended: they had reached the plaza, and a babel of voices +surrounded them. Governor Alvarado stood on the upper corridor of his +house, throwing handfuls of small gold coins among the people, who +were shrieking with delight. The girl guests mingled with them, seeing +that no palm went home empty. Beside the governor sat Dona Martina, +radiant with pride, and behind her stood the nurse, holding the infant +on its pillow. + +"We had better go to the house as soon as possible," said Estenega. +"It is nearly time for the bull-bear fight, and we must have good +seats." + +They forced their way through the crowd, dismounted at the door, and +went up to the corridor. The Castros and I were already there, with a +number of other invited guests. The women sat in chairs, close to the +corridor railing; several rows of men stood behind them. + +The plaza was a jagged circle surrounded by dwelling-houses, some one +story in height, others with overhanging balconies; from it radiated +five streets. All corridors were crowded with the elegantly-dressed +men and women of the aristocracy; large black fans were waving; every +eye was flashing expectantly; the people stood on platforms which had +been erected in four of the streets. + +Amidst the shouts of the spectators, two vaqueros, dressed in black +velvet short-clothes, dazzling linen, and stiff black sombreros, +tinkling bells attached to their trappings, jingling spurs on their +heels, galloped into the plaza, driving a large aggressive bull. +They chased him about in a circle, swinging their reatas, dodging +his onslaughts, then rode out, and four others entered, dragging an +unwilling bear by a reata tied to each of its legs. By means of a long +chain and much dexterity they fastened the two beasts together, freed +the legs of the bear, then retired to the entrance to await events. +But the bull and the bear would not fight. The latter arose on his +haunches and regarded his enemy warily; the bull appeared to disdain +the bear as too small game; he but lowered his horns and pawed the +ground. The spectators grew impatient. The brave caballeros and dainty +donas wanted blood. They tapped their feet and murmured ominously. As +for the populace, it howled for slaughter. Governor Alvarado made a +sign to one of the vaqueros; the man rushed abruptly upon the bull and +hit him a sharp blow across the nose with the cruel quirto. The +bull's dignity vanished. With the quadrupedian capacity for measuring +distance, he inferred that the blow had been inflicted by the bear, +who sat some twenty feet away, mildly licking his paws. He made a +savage onset. The bear, with the dexterity of a vaquero, leaped +aside and sprang upon the assailant's neck, his teeth meeting +argumentatively in the rope-like tendons. The bull roared with pain +and rage and attempted to shake him off, but he hung on; both lost +their footing and rolled over and over amidst clouds of dust, a mighty +noise, and enough blood to satisfy the early thirst of the beholders. +Then the bull wrenched himself free; before the mountain visitor could +scramble to his feet, he fixed him with his horns and tossed him on +high. As the bear came down on his back with a thud and a snap which +would have satisfied a bull less anxious to show what a bull could do, +the victor rushed upon the corpse, kicked and stamped and bit +until the blood spouted into his eyes, and pulp and dust were +indistinguishable. Then how the delighted spectators clapped their +hands and cried "Brava!" to the bull, who pranced about the plaza, +dragging the carcass of the bear after him, his head high, his big +eyes red and rolling! The women tore off their rebosos and waved them +like banners, smashed their fans, and stamped their little feet; the +men whirled their sombreros with supple wrists. But the bull was not +satisfied; he pawed the ground with demanding hoofs; and the vaqueros +galloped into the ring with another bear. Nor had they time to detach +their reatas before the bull was upon the second antagonist; and they +were obliged to retire in haste. + +Estenega, who stood between Chonita and myself, watched The Doomswoman +attentively. Her lips were compressed fiercely: for a moment they +bore a strange resemblance to his own as I had seen them at times. +Her nostrils were expanded, her lids half covered her eyes. "She has +cruelty in her," he murmured to me as the first battle finished; "and +it was her imperious wish that the bull should win, because he is the +more lordly animal. She has no sympathy for the poor bundle of hair +and quivering flesh that bounded on the mountain yesterday. Has she +brutality in her?--just enough--" + +"Brava! Brava!" The women were on their feet; even Chonita for the +moment forgot herself, and beat the railing with her small fist. +Another bear had been impaled and tossed and trampled. The bull, +panting from his exertions, dashed about the plaza, still dragging his +first victim after him. Suddenly he stopped; the blood gushed from his +nostrils; he shivered like a skeleton hanging in the wind, then fell +in an ignominious heap--dead. + +"A warning, Diego," I said, rising and shaking my fan at him. "Be not +too ambitious, else wilt thou die of thy victories. And do not love +the polar star," I murmured in his ear, "lest thou set fire to it and +fall to ashes thyself." + + + + +III. + + +In the long dining-room, opening upon the large high-walled garden at +the back of the Governor's house, a feast was spread for fifty people. +Dona Martina sat for a little time at the head of the table, her +yellow gown almost hidden by the masses of hair which her small head +could not support. Castro was on one side of her, Estenega on the +other, Chonita by her arch-enemy. A large bunch of artificial flowers +was at each plate, and the table was loaded with yellowed chickens +sitting proudly in scarlet gravy, tongues covered with walnut sauce, +grilled meats, tamales, mounds of tortillas, and dulces. + +Alvarado, at the lower end of the table, sat between Dona Modeste +Castro and myself; and between the extremes of the board were faces +glowing, beautiful, ugly, but without exception fresh and young. From +all, the mantilla and serape had been removed, jewels sparkled in the +lace shirts of the men, white throats were encircled by the invariable +necklace of Baja Californian pearls. Chonita alone wore a string of +black pearls. I never saw her without it. + +Dona Martina took little part in the talk and laughter, and after +a time slipped away, motioning to Chonita to take her place. The +conversation turned upon war and politics, and in its course Estenega, +looking from Chonita to Castro with a smile of good-natured irony +said,-- + +"Dona Chonita is of your opinion, coronel, that California was the +direct gift of heaven to the Spaniards, and that the Americans cannot +have us." + +Castro raised his glass to the _comadre_. "Dona Chonita has the loyal +bosom of all Californian women. Our men love better the olive of peace +than the flavor of discord; but did the bandoleros dare to approach +our peaceful shores with dastardly intent to rob, then, thanks be +to God, I know that every man among them would fight for this virgin +land. Thou, too, Diego, thou wouldst unsheathe thy sword, in spite of +thy pretended admiration of the Americans." + +Estenega raised his shoulders. "Possibly. But in American occupation +lies the hope of California. What have we done with it in our +seventy years of possession? Built a few missions, which are rotting, +terrorized or cajoled few thousand worthless Indians into civilized +imbecility, and raised a respectable number of horses and cattle. Our +hide and tallow trade is only good; the Russians have monopolized the +fur trade; we continue to raise cattle and horses because it would be +an exertion to suppress them; and meanwhile we dawdle away our lives +very pleasurably, whilst a magnificent territory, filled with gold and +richer still in soil, lies idle beneath our feet. Nature never works +without a plan. She compounded a wonderful country, and she created a +wonderful people to develop it. She has allowed us to drone on it +for a little time, but it was not made for us; and I am sufficiently +interested in California to wish to see her rise from her sleep and +feel and live in every part of her." He turned suddenly to Chonita. +"If I were a sculptor," he said, "I should use you as a model for a +statue of California. I have the somewhat whimsical idea that you are +the human embodiment of her." + +Before she could muster her startled and angry faculties for reply, +before Estenega had finished speaking, in fact, Castro brought his +open palm down on the table, his eyes blazing. + +"Oh, execrable profanation!" he cried. "Oh, unheard-of perfidy! Is it +possible that a man calling himself a Californian could give utterance +to such sentiments? Oh, abomination! You would invite, welcome, +uphold, the American adventurer? You would tear apart the bosom of +your country under pretense of doctoring its evils? You would cast +this fair gift of Almighty God at the feet of American swine? Oh, +Diego! Diego! This comes of the heretic books thou hast read. It is +better to have heart than brain." + +"True: the palpitations do not last as long. We have had proof which I +need not recapitulate that to preserve California to itself it must be +tied fast to Mexico, otherwise would it die of anarchy or fall a prey +to the first invader. So far so good. But what has Mexico done for +California? Nothing; and she will do less. She is a mother who has +forgotten the child she put out to nurse. England and France and +Russia would do as little. But the United States, young and +ambitious, will give her greedy attention, and out of their greed +will California's good be wrought. And although they sweep us from the +earth, they will plant fruit where they found weeds." + +Don Jose pushed back his chair violently and left the table. Estenega +turned to Chonita and found her pallid, her nostrils tense, her eyes +flashing. + +"Traitor!" she articulated. "I hate you! And it was you--_you_--who +kept my loyal brother from serving his country in the Departmental +Junta. He is as full of fire and patriotism as Castro; and yet you, +whose blood is ice, could be a member of the Electoral College and +defeat the election of a man who is as much an honor to his country as +you are a shame." + +He smiled a little cruelly, but without anger or shame in his face. +"Senorita," he said, "I defeated your brother because I did not +believe him to be of any use to his country. He would only have been +in the way as a member of the Junta, and an older man wanted the +place. Your brother has Don Jose's enthusiasm without his magnetism +and remarkable executive power. He is too young to have had +experience, and has done neither reading nor thinking. Therefore I +did my best to defeat him. Pardon my rudeness, senorita; ascribe it to +revenge for calling me a traitor." + +"You--you----" she stammered, then bent her head over her plate, +her Spanish dignity aghast at the threatening tears. Her hand hung +clinched at her side. Diego took it in spite of resistance, and, +opening the rigid fingers, bent his head beneath the board and kissed +them. + +"I believe you are somewhat of a woman, after all," he said. + + + + +IV. + + +The party deserted the table for the garden, there to idle until +evening should give them the dance. All of the men and most of the +women smoked cigaritos, the latter using the gold or silver holder, +supporting it between the thumb and finger. The high walls of the +garden were covered with the delicate fragrant pink Castilian roses, +and the girls plucked them and laid them in their hair. + +"Does it look well, Don Diego?" asked one girl, holding her head +coquettishly on one side. + +"It looked better on its vine," he said, absently. He was looking for +Chonita, who had disappeared. "Roses are like women: they lose their +subtler fragrance when plucked; but, like women, their heads always +droop invitingly." + +"I do not understand thee, Don Diego," said the girl, fixing her wide +innocent eyes on the young man's inscrutable face. "What dost thou +mean?" + +"That thou art sweeter than Castilian roses," he said and passed on. +"And how is, thy little one?" he asked a young matron whose lithe +beauty had won his admiration a year ago, but to whom maternity had +been too generous. She raised her soft brown eyes out of which the +coquettish sparkle had gone. + +"Beautiful! Beautiful!" she cried. "And so smart, Don Diego. He beats +the air with his little fists, and--Holy Mary, I swear it!--he winks +one eye when I tickle him." + +Estenega sauntered down the garden endeavoring to imagine Chonita fat +and classified. He could not. He paused beside a woman who did not +raise her eyes at once, but coquettishly pretended to be absorbed in +the conversation of those about her. She too had been married a year +and more, but her figure had not lost its elegance, and she was very +handsome. Her coquetry was partly fear. Estenega's power was felt +alike by innocent girls and chaste matrons. There were few scandals in +those days; the women of the aristocracy were virtuous by instinct +and rigid social laws; but, how it would be hard to tell, Estenega +had acquired the reputation of being a dangerous man. Perhaps it had +followed him back from the city of Mexico, where at one time, he had +spent three years as diputado, and whence returned with a brilliant +and startling record of gallantry. A woman had followed on the next +ship, and, unless I am much mistaken, Diego passed many uneasy +hours before he persuaded her to return to Mexico. Then old Don Jose +Briones' beautiful young wife was found dead in her bed one morning, +and the old women who dressed the body swore that there were marks of +hard skinny fingers on her throat. Estenega had made no secret of his +admiration of her. At different times girls of the people had left +Monterey suddenly, and vague rumors had floated down from the North +that they had been seen in the redwood forests where Estenega's +ranchos lay. I asked him, point-blank, one day, if these stories were +true, prepared to scold him as he deserved; and he remarked coolly +that stories of that sort were always exaggerated, as well as a man's +success with women. But one had only to look at that face, with its +expression of bitter-humorous knowledge, its combination of strength +and weakness, to feel sure that there were chapters in his life that +no woman outside of them would ever read. I always felt, when with +Diego Estenega, that I was in the presence of a man who had little +left to learn of life's phases and sensations. + +"The sun will freckle thy white neck," he said to the matron who would +not raise her eyes. + +"Shall I bring thy mantilla, Dona Carmen?" + +She looked up with a swift blush, then lowered her soft black eyes +suddenly before the penetrating gaze of the man who was so different +from the caballeros. + +"It is not well to be too vain, senor. We must think less of those +things and more of--our Church." + +"True; the Church may be a surer road to heaven than a good +complexion, if less of a talisman on earth. Still I doubt if a +freckled Virgin would have commanded the admiration of the centuries, +or even of the Holy Ghost." + +"Don Diego! Don Diego!" cried a dozen horrified voices. + +"Diego Estenega, if it were any man but thou," I exclaimed, "I would +have thee excommunicated. Thou blasphemer! How couldst thou?" + +Diego raised my threatening hand to his lips. "My dear Eustaquia, it +was merely a way of saying that woman should be without blemish. And +is not the Virgin the model for all women?" + +"Oh," I exclaimed, impatiently, "thou canst plant an idea in people's +minds, then pluck it out before their very eyes and make them believe +it never was there. That is thy power,--but not over me. I know thee." +We were standing apart, and I had dropped my voice. "But come and talk +to me awhile. I cannot stand those babies," and I indicated with a +sweep of my fan the graceful, richly-dressed caballeros whose soft +drooping eyes and sensuous mouths were more promising of compliments +than conversation. "Neither Alvarado nor Castro is here. Thou too +wouldst have gone in a moment had I not captured thee." + +"On the contrary, I should have captured you. If we were not too old +friends for flirting I should say that your handsome-ugly face is the +most attractive in the garden. It is a pretty picture, though," +he went on, meditatively,--"those women in their gay soft gowns, +coquetting demurely with the caballeros. Their eyes and mouths are +like flowers; and their skins are so white, and their hair so black. +The high wall, covered with green and Castilian roses, was purposely +designed by Nature for them. Sometimes I have a passing regret that +it is all doomed, and a half-century hence will have passed out of +memory." + +"What do you mean?" I asked, sharply. + +"Oh, we will not discuss the question of the future. I sent Castro +away from the table in a towering rage, and it is too hot to excite +you. Even the impassive Doomswoman became so angry that she could not +eat her dinner." + +"It is your old wish for American occupation--the bandoleros! No; I +will not discuss it with you: I have gone to bed with my head bursting +when we have talked of it before. You might have spared poor Jose. But +let us talk of something else--Chonita. What do you think of her?" + +"A thousand things more than one usually thinks of a woman after the +first interview." + +"But do you think her beautiful?" + +"She is better than beautiful. She is original." + +"I often wonder if she would be La Favorita of the South if it were +not for her father's great wealth and position. The men who profess to +be her slaves must have absorbed the knowledge that she has the +brains they have not, although she conceals her superiority from them +admirably: her pride and love of power demand that she shall be La +Favorita, although her caballeros must weary her. If she made them +feel their insignificance for a moment they would fly to the standard +of her rival, Valencia Menendez, and her regalities would be gone +forever. A few men have gone honestly wild over her, but I doubt if +any one has ever really loved her. Such women receive a surfeit of +admiration, but little love. If she were an unintellectual woman she +would have an extraordinary power over men, with her beauty and her +subtle charm; but now she is isolated. What a pity that your houses +are at war!" + +He had been looking away from me. As I finished speaking he turned +his face slowly toward me, first the profile, which looked as if cut +rapidly with a sharp knife out of ivory, then the full face, with its +eyes set so deeply under the scraggy brows, its mouth grimly humorous. +He looked somewhat sardonic and decidedly selfish. Well I knew what +that expression meant. He had the kindest heart I had ever known, but +it never interfered with a most self-indulgent nature. Many times I +had begged him to be considerate of some girl who I knew charmed him +for the moment only; but one secret of his success with women was his +unfeigned if brief enthusiasm. + +"Let her alone!" I exclaimed. "You cannot marry her. She would go into +a convent before she would sacrifice the traditions of her house. And +if you were not at war, and she married you, you would only make her +miserably happy." + +He merely smiled and continued to look me straight in the eyes. + + + + +V. + + +I went upstairs and found Chonita reading Landor's "Imaginary +Conversations." (When Chonita was eighteen,--she was now +twenty-four--Don Alfredo Robinson, one of the American residents, +had at her father's request sent to Boston for a library of several +hundred books, a birthday gift for the ambitious daughter of the +Iturbi y Moncadas. The selection was an admirable one, and a rancho +would not have pleased her as well. She read English and French with +ease, although she spoke both languages brokenly.) As I entered she +laid down the book and clasped her hands behind her head. She looked +tranquil, but less amiable than was her wont. + +"Thou hast been far away from the caballeros and the donas of +Monterey," I said. + +"Not even among Spanish ghosts." + +"I think thou carest at heart for nothing but thy books." + +"And a few people, and my religion." + +"But they come second, although thou wilt not acknowledge it even to +thyself. Suppose thou hadst to sacrifice thy religion or thy books, +never to read another? Which wouldst thou choose?" + +"God of my soul! what a question! No Spanish woman was ever a truer +Catholic; but to read is my happiness, the only happiness I want on +earth." + +"Art thou sure that to train the intellect means happiness?" + +"Sure. Does it not give us the power to abstract ourselves from life +when we are tired of it?" + +"True, but there is another result you have not thought of. The more +the intellect is developed, the more acute and aggressive is the +nervous system; the more tenacious is the memory, the more has one to +live with, and the higher the ideals. When the time comes for you to +live you will suffer with double the intensity and depth of the woman +whose nerves are dull or stunted." + +"To suffer you must love, and I never shall love. Who is there to +love? Books always suffice me, and I suppose there are enough in the +world to make the time pass as long as I live." + +I did not continue the argument, knowing the placid superiority of +inexperience. + +"But thou hast not yet told me which thou wouldst give up." + +"The books, of course. I hope I know my duty. I would sacrifice all +things to my religion. But the priests do not interfere now as they +did in the last generation." + +I was very religious in those days, and my heart beat with approval. +"I have always said that the Church may let women read what they +choose. The good principles they are born with they will adhere to." + +"We are by nature conservatives, that is all. And we have need of +religion. We must have something to lean on, and men are poor props, +as far as I have observed. Sometimes after having read a long while in +an absorbing book, particularly one that seemed to put something with +a living hand into my brain and make it feel larger, I find that I am +miles away from the Church; I have forgotten its existence. I always +_run_ back." + +"_Dios!_ I should think so. Yes, it is well we do need our religion. +Men do not; for that reason they drop it the moment the wings on their +minds grow fast--as they would, when the warm sun came out, drop the +thick blanket of the Indian, borrowed and gratefully worn in dark +uncertain weather. I do not dare ask Diego Estenega what he believes, +lest he tell me he believes nothing and I should have to hear it. How +dost thou like my friend, Chonita?" + +"Art thou asking me how I like the enemy of my house? I hate him." + +"If he goes to Santa Barbara with Alvarado this summer wilt thou ask +him to be thy guest?" + +"Of course. The enmity has always been veiled with much courtesy; and +I would have him see that we know how to entertain." + +I watched her covertly; I could detect no sign of interest. Presently +she took up the volume of Landor and read aloud to me, the stately +English sounding oddly with her Spanish accent. + + + + +VI. + + +At ten o'clock the large sala of the Governor's house was thronged +with guests, and the music of the flute, harp, and guitar floated +through the open windows: the musicians sat on the corridor. How +harmonious was the Monterey ball-room of that day!--the women in their +white gowns of every rich material, the men in white trousers, black +silk jackets, and low morocco shoes; no color except in the jewels +and the rich Southern faces. The bare ugly sala, from which the uglier +furniture had been removed, needed no ornaments with that moving +beauty; and even the coffee-colored, high-stomached old people were +picturesque. I wander through those deserted salas sometimes, and, +as the tears blister my eyes, imagination and memory people the cold +rooms, and I forget that the dashing caballeros and lovely donas who +once called Monterey their own and made it a living picture-book are +dust beneath the wild oats and thistles of the deserted cemetery on +the hill. The Americans hardly know that such a people once existed. + +Chonita entered the sala at eleven o'clock, looking like a snow queen. +Her gold hair, which always glittered like metal, was arranged to +simulate a crown; she wore a gown of Spanish lace, and no jewels but +the string of black pearls. I never had seen her look so cold and so +regal. + +Estenega stepped out upon the corridor. "Play El Son," he said, +peremptorily. Then as the vivacious music began he walked over to +Chonita and clapped his hands in front of her as authoritatively as +he had bidden the musicians. What he did was of frequent occurrence +in the Californian ball-room, but she looked haughtily rebellious. He +continued to strike his hands together, and looked down upon her +with an amused smile which brought the angry color to her face. Her +hesitation aroused the eagerness of the other men, and they cried +loudly-- + +"El Son! El Son! senorita." + +She could no longer refuse, and, passing Estenega with head erect, +she bent it slightly to the caballeros and passed to the middle of the +room, the other guests retreating to the wall. She stood for a moment, +swaying her body slightly; then, raising her gown high enough for +the lace to sweep the instep of her small arched feet, she tapped +the floor in exact time to the music for a few moments, then glided +dreamily along the sala, her willowy body falling in lovely lines, +unfolding every detail of El Son, unheeding the low ripple of +approval. Then, dropping her gown, she spun the length of the room +like a white cloud caught in a cyclone; her garments whirred, +her heels clicked, her motion grew faster and swifter, until the +spectators panted for breath. Then, unmindful of the lively melody, +she drifted slowly down, swaying languidly, her long round arms now +lolling in the lace of her gown, now lifted to graceful sweep and +curve. The caballeros shouted their appreciation, flinging gold and +silver at her feet; never had El Son been given with such variations +before. Never did I see greater enthusiasm until the night which +culminated the tragedy of Ysabel Herrera. Estenega stood enraptured, +watching every motion of her body, every expression of her face. +The blood blazed in her cheeks, her eyes were like green stars and +sparkled wickedly. The cold curves of her statuesque mouth were warm +and soft, her chin was saucily uplifted, her heavy waving hair fell +over her shoulders to her knees, a glittering veil. Where had The +Doomswoman, the proud daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas, gone? + +The girls were a little frightened: this was not the Son to which they +were accustomed. The young matrons frowned. The old people exclaimed, +"Caramba!" "Mother of God!" "Holy Mary!" I was aghast; well as I knew +her, this was a piece of audacity for which I was unprepared. + +As the dance went on and she grew more and more like an untamed +wood-nymph, even the caballeros became vaguely uneasy, hotly as they +admired the beautiful wild thing enchaining their gaze. I looked again +at Estenega and knew that his heart beat in passionate sympathy. + +"I have found _her_," he murmured, exultantly. "She is California, +magnificent, audacious, incomprehensible, a creature of storms and +convulsions and impregnable calm; the germs of all good and all bad in +her; a woman sublimated. Every husk of tradition has fallen from her." + +Once, as she passed Estenega, her eyes met his. They lit with a glance +of recognition, then the lids drooped and she floated on. He left the +room; and when he returned she sat on a window-seat, surrounded by +caballeros, as calm and as pale as when he had commanded her to dance. +He did not approach her, but, joined me at the upper end of the sala, +where I stood with Alvarado, the Castros, Don Thomas Larkin, the +United States Consul, and a half-dozen others. We were discussing +Chonita's interpretation of El Son. + +"That was a strange outbreak for a Spanish girl," said Senor Larkin. + +"She is Chonita Iturbi y Moncada," said Castro, severely. "She is like +no other woman, and what she does is right." + +The consul bowed. "True, coronel. I have seen no one here like Dona +Chonita. There is a delicious uniformity about the Californian women: +so reserved, shrinking yet dignified, ever on their guard. Dona +Chonita changed so swiftly from the typical woman of her race to an +houri, almost a bacchante,--only an extraordinary refinement of nature +kept her this side of the line,--that an American would be tempted to +call her eccentric." + +Alvarado lifted his hand and pointed through the window to the stars. +"The golden coals in the blue fire of heaven are not higher above +censure," he said. + +Dona Modeste raised her eyebrows. "Coals are safest when burned on +the domestic hearth and carefully watched; safer still when they have +fallen to ashes." + +"What is this rumor of pirates on the coast?" demanded Alvarado, +abruptly. + +I put my hand through Estenega's arm and drew him aside. The music of +the contradanza was playing, and we stood against the wall. + +"Well, you know Chonita better since that dance," I said to him. +"Polar stars are not unlikely to have volcanoes. Better let the deeps +alone, my friend; the lava might scorch you badly. Women of complex +natures are interesting studies, but dangerous to love. They wear the +nerves to a point, and the tired brain and heart turn gratefully to +the crystalline, idle-minded woman. She is too much like yourself, +Diego. And you,--how long could you love anybody? Love with you means +curiosity." + +His face looked like chalk for a moment, an indication with him of +suppressed and violent emotion. Then he turned his head and regarded +me with a slight smile. "Not altogether. You forget that the most +faithless men have been the most faithful when they have found the +one woman. Curiosity and fickleness are merely parts of a restless +seeking,--nothing more." + +"I was sure you would acquit yourself with credit! But you have an +unholy charm, and you never hesitate to exert it." + +He laughed outright. "One would think I was a rattlesnake. My unholy +charm consists of a reasonable amount of address born of a great +weakness for women and some personal magnetism,--the latter the +offspring of the habit of mental concentration--" + +"And an inexorable will--" + +"Perhaps. As to the exercise of it--why not? _Vive la bagatelle!_" + +"It is useless to argue with you. Are you going to let that girl +alone?" + +"She is the only girl in the Californias whom I shall not let alone." + +I could have shaken him. "To what end? And her brother? I have +often wondered which would rule you in a crisis, your head or your +passions." + +"It would depend upon the crisis. I am afraid you are right,--that +altiloquent Reinaldo will give trouble." + +"Is it true that he has been conspiring with Carillo, and that an +extraordinary and secret session of the Departmental Junta has been +called?" + +He looked down upon me with his grimmest smile. "You curious little +woman! You must not put your white fingers into the Departmental pie. +If you had been a man, with as good a brain as you have for a woman, +you would have been an ornament to our politics. But as it is--pardon +me--the better for our balancing country the less you have to do with +it." + +I could feel my eyes snap. "You respect no woman's mind," I said, +savagely; "nothing but the woman in her. But I will not quarrel with +you. Tell that baby over there to come and waltz with me." + +At dawn, as we entered our room, I seized Chonita by the shoulders and +shook her. "What did you mean by such a performance?" I demanded. "It +was unprecedented!" + +She threw back her head and laughed. "I could not help it," she said. +"First I felt an irresistible desire to show Monterey that I dared +do anything I chose. And then I have a wild something in me which has +often threatened to break loose before; and to-night it did. It was +that man. He made me." + +"_Ay, Dios!"_ I thought, "it has begun already." + + + + +VII. + + +The festivities were to last a week, every one taking part but +Alvarado and Dona Martina. The latter was not strong enough, the +governor cared more for duty than for pleasure. + +The next day we had a merienda on the hills behind the town. The green +pine woods were gay with the bright colors of the young people. Here +and there a caballero dashed up and down to show his horsemanship and +the silver and embroidered silk of his saddle. Silver, too, were +his jingling spurs, the eagles on his sombrero, the buttons on his +colorous silken jacket. Horses, without exception handsomely trapped, +were tethered everywhere, pawing the ground or nibbling the grass. The +girls wore white or flowered silk or muslin gowns, and rebosos about +their heads; the brown ugly duenas, ever at their sides, were foils +they would gladly have dispensed with. The tinkle of the guitar never +ceased, and the sweet voices of the girls and the rich voices of the +men broke forth with the joyous spontaneity of the birds' songs about +them. + +Chonita wore a white silk gown, I remember flowered with blue,--large +blue lilies. The reboso matched the gown. As soon as we arrived--we +were a little late--she was surrounded by caballeros who hardly knew +whether to like her or not, but who adhered to the knowledge that she +was Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, the most famous beauty of the South. + +"_Dios!_ but thou art beautiful," murmured one, his dreamy eyes +dwelling on her shining hair. + +"_Gracias_, senor." She whispered it as bashfully as the maidens to +whom he was accustomed, her eyes fixed upon a rose she held. + +"Wilt thou not stay with us here in Monterey?" + +She raised her eyes slowly,--he could not but feel the effort,--gave +him one bewildering glance, half appealing, half protesting, then +dropped them suddenly. + +"Wilt thou stay with me?" panted the caballero. + +"Ay, senor! thou must not speak like that. Some one will hear thee." + +"I care not! God of my life! I care not! Wilt thou marry me?" + +"Thou must not speak to me of marriage, senor. It is to my father thou +must speak. Would I, a Californian maiden, betroth myself without his +knowledge?" + +"Holy heaven! I will! But give me one word that thou lovest me,--one +word!" + +She lifted her chin saucily and turned to another caballero, who, I +doubt not, proposed also. Estenega, who had watched her, laughed. + +"She acts the part to perfection," he said to me. "Either natural or +acquired coquetry has more to do with saving her from the solitary +plane of the intellectual woman than her beauty or her father's +wealth. I am inclined to think that it is acquired. I do not believe +that she is a coquette at heart, any more than that she is the marble +doomswoman she fondly believes herself." + +"You will tell her that," I exclaimed, angrily; "and she will end +by loving you because you understand her; all women want to be +understood. Why don't you go to Paris again? You have not been there +for a long time." + +Not deeming this suggestion worthy of answer, he left me and walked to +Chonita, who was glancing over the top of her fan into the ardent eyes +of a third caballero. + +"You will step on a bunch of nettles in a moment," he said, +practically. "Your slippers are very thin; you had better stand over +here on the path." And he dexterously separated her from the other +men. "Will you walk to that opening over there with me? I want to show +you a better view of Monterey." + +His manner had not a touch of gallantry, and she was tired of the +caballeros. + +"Very well," she said. "I will look at the view." + +As she followed him she noted that he led her where the bushes were +thinnest, and kicked the stones from her path. She also remarked the +nervous energy of his thin figure. "It comes from his love of the +Americans," she thought, angrily. "He must even walk like them. The +Americans!" And she brought her teeth together with a sharp click. + +He turned, smiling. "You look very disapproving," he said. "What have +I done?" + +"You look like an American! You even wear their clothes, and they are +the color of smoke; and you wear no lace. How cold and uninteresting a +scene would this be if all the men were dressed as you are!" + +"We cannot all be made for decorative purposes. And you are as unlike +those girls, in all but your dress, as I am unlike the men. I will not +incur your wrath by saying that you are American: but you are modern. +Our lovely compatriots were the same three hundred years ago. Will +Dona California be pleased to observe that whale spouting in the bay? +There is the tree beneath which Junipero Serra said his first mass in +this part of the country. What a sanctimonious old fraud he must have +been, if he looked anything like his pictures! Did you ever see bay +bluer than that? or sand whiter? or a more perfect semicircle of hills +than this? or a more straggling town? There is the Custom-house on the +rocks. You will go to a ball there to-night, and hear the boom of +the surf as you dance." He turned with one of his sudden impatient +motions. "Suppose we ride. The air is too sharp to lie about under the +trees. This white horse mates your gown. Let us go over to Carmelo." + +"I should like to go," she said, doubtfully; he had made her throb +with indignation once or twice, but his conversation interested her +and her free spirit approved of a ride over the hills unattended by +duena. "But--you know--I do not like you." + +"Oh, never mind that; the ride will interest you just the same." And +he lifted her to the horse, sprang on another, caught her bridle, +lest she should rebel, and galloped up the road. When they were on the +other side of hill he slackened speed and looked at her with a smile. +She was inclined to be angry, but found herself watching the varying +expressions of his mouth, which diverted her mind. It was a baffling +mouth, even to experienced women, and Chonita could make nothing of +it. It had neither sweetness nor softness, but she had never felt +impelled to study the mouth of a caballero. And then she wondered how +a man with a mouth like that could have manners so gentle. + +"Are you aware," he said, abruptly, "that your brother is accused of +conspiracy?" + +"What?" She looked at him as if she inferred that this was the order +of badinage that an Iturbi y Moncada might expect from an Estenega. + +"I am not joking. It is quite true." + +"It is not true! Reinaldo conspire against his government? Some one +has lied. And you are ready to believe!" + +"I hope some one has lied. The news is very direct, however." He +looked at her speculatively. "The more obstacles the better," he +thought; "and we may as well declare war on this question at once. +Besides, it is no use to begin as a hypocrite, when every act would +tell her what I thought of him. Moreover, he will have more or less +influence over her until her eyes are opened to his true worth. She +will not believe me, of course, but she is a woman who only needs an +impetus to do a good deal of thinking and noting." "I am going to make +you angry," he said. "I am going to tell you that I do not share your +admiration of your brother. He has ten thousand words for every idea, +and although, God knows, we have more time than anything else in this +land of the poppy where only the horses run, still there are more +profitable ways of employing it than to listen to meaningless and +bombastic words. Moreover, your brother is a dangerous man. No man is +so safe in seclusion as the one of large vanities and small ambitions. +He is not big enough to conceive a revolution, but is ready to be the +tool of any unscrupulous man who is, and, having too much egotism to +follow orders, will ruin a project at the last moment by attempting to +think for himself. I do not say these things to wantonly insult you, +senorita, only to let you know at once how I regard your brother, that +you may not accuse me of treachery or hypocrisy later." + +He had expected and hoped that she would turn upon him with a burst of +fury; but she had drawn herself up to her most stately height, and +was looking at him with cold hauteur. Her mouth was as hard as a pink +jewel, and her eyes had the glitter of ice in them. + +"Senor," she said, "it seems to me that you, too, waste many words--in +speaking of my brother; for what you say of him cannot interest me. +I have known him for twenty-two years; you have seen him four or six +times. What can you tell me of him? Not only is he my brother and the +natural object of my love and devotion, but he is Reinaldo Iturbi y +Moncada, the last male descendant of his house, and as such I hold him +in a regard only second to that which I bear to my father. And with +the blood in him he could not be otherwise than a great and good man." + +Estenega looked at her with the first stab of doubt he had felt. "She +is Spanish in her marrow," he thought,--"the steadfast unreasoning +child of traditions. I could not well be at greater disadvantage. But +she is magnificent." + +"Another thing which was unnecessary," she added, "was to defend +yourself to me or to tell me how you felt toward my brother, and why. +We are enemies by tradition and instinct. We shall rarely meet, and +shall probably never talk together again." + +"We shall talk together more times than you will care to count. I +have much to say to you, and you shall listen. But we will discuss the +matter no further at present. Shall we gallop?" + +He spurred his horse, and once more they fled through the pine woods. +Before long they entered the valley of Carmelo. The mountains were +massive and gloomy, the little bay was blue and quiet, the surf of +the ocean roared about Point Lobos, Carmelo River crawled beneath +its willows. In the middle of the valley stood the impressive yellow +church, with its Roman tower and rose-window; about it were the +crumbling brown hovels of the deserted Mission. Once as they rode +Estenega thought he heard voices, but could not be sure, so loud was +the clatter of the horses' hoofs. As they reached the square they drew +rein swiftly, the horses standing upright at the sudden halt. Then +strange sounds came to them through the open doors of the church: +ribald shouts and loud laughter, curses and noise of smashing glass, +such songs as never were sung in Carmelo before; an infernal clash of +sound which mingled incongruously with the solemn mass of the surf. +Chonita's eyes flashed. Even Estenega's face darkened: the traditions +planted in plastic youth arose and rebelled at the desecration. + +"Some drunken sailors," he said. "There--do you see that?" A craft +rounded Point Lobos. "Pirates!" + +"Holy Mary!" exclaimed Chonita. + +"Let down your hair," he said, peremptorily; "and follow all that I +suggest. We will drive them out." + +She obeyed him without question, excited and interested. Then they +rode to the doors and threw them wide. + +The upper end of the long church was swarming with pirates; there was +no mistaking those bold, cruel faces, blackened by sun and wind, half +covered with ragged hair. They stood on the benches, they bestrode +the railing, they swarmed over the altar, shouting and carousing in +riotous wassail. Their coarse red shirts were flung back from hairy +chests, their faces were distorted with rum and sacrilegious delight. +Every station, every candlestick, had been hurled to the floor and +trampled upon. The crucifix stood on its head. Sitting high on the +altar, reeling and waving a communion goblet, was the drunken chief, +singing a blasphemous song of the pirate seas. The voices rumbled +strangely down the hollow body of the church; to perfect the scene +flames should have leaped among the swinging arms and bounding forms. + +"Come," said Estenega. He spurred his horse, and together they +galloped down the stone pavement of the edifice. The men turned at +the loud sound of horses' hoofs; but the riders were in their +midst, scattering them right and left, before they realized what was +happening. + +The horses were brought to sudden halt. Estenega rose in his stirrups, +his fine bold face looking down impassively upon the demoniacal gang +who could have rent him apart, but who stood silent and startled, +gazing from him to the beautiful woman, whose white gown looked part +of the white horse she rode. Estenega raised his hand and pointed to +Chonita. + +"The Virgin," he said, in a hollow, impressive voice. "The Mother of +God. She has come to defend her church. Go." + +Chonita's face blanched to the lips, but she looked at the +sacrilegists sternly. Fortune favored the audacity of Estenega. The +sunlight, drifting through the star-window above the doors at the +lower end of the church, smote the uplifted golden head of Chonita, +wreathing it with a halo, gifting the face with unearthly beauty. + +"Go!" repeated Estenega, "lest she weep. With every tear a heart will +cease to beat." + +The chief scrambled down from the altar and ran like a rat past +Chonita, his swollen mouth dropping. The others crouched and followed, +stumbling one over the other, their dark evil faces bloodless, their +knees knocking together with superstitious terror. They fled from +the church and down to the bay, and swam to their craft. Estenega and +Chonita rode out. They watched the ugly vessel scurry around Point +Lobos; then Chonita spoke for the first time. + +"Blasphemer!" she exclaimed. "Mother of God, wilt thou ever forgive +me?" + +"Why not call me a Jesuit? It was a case where mind or matter must +triumph. And you can confess your enforced sin, say a hundred aves or +so, and be whiter than snow again; whereas, had our Mission of Carmelo +been razed to the ground, as it was in a fair way to be, California +would have lost an historical monument." + +"And Junipero Serra's bones are there, and it was his favorite +Mission," said the girl, unwillingly. + +"Exactly. And now that you are reasonably sure of being forgiven, will +not you forgive me? I shall ask no priest's forgiveness." + +She looked at him a moment, then shook her head. "No: I cannot forgive +you for having made me commit what may be a mortal sin. But, Holy +Heaven!--I cannot help saying it--you are very quick!" + +"For each idea is a moment born. Upon whether we wed the two or think +too late depends the success or the failure of our lives." + +"Suppose," she said, suddenly,--"suppose you had failed, and those men +had seized me and made me captive: what then?" + +"I should have killed you. Not one of them should have touched you. +But I had no doubts, or I should not have made the attempt. I know the +superstitious nature of sailors, especially when they are drunk. Shall +we gallop back? They will have eaten all the dulces." + + + +VIII. + + +Monterey danced every night and all night of that week, either at +Alvarado's or at the Custom-house, and every afternoon met at the +races, the bull-fight, a merienda, or to climb the greased pole, +catch the greased pig by its tail as it ran, or exhibit skill in +horsemanship. Chonita, at times an imperious coquette, at others, +indifferent, perverse, or coy, was La Favorita without appeal, and +the girls alternately worshipped her--she was abstractedly kind to +them--or heartily wished her back in Santa Barbara. Estenega rarely +attended the socialities, being closeted with Alvarado and Castro most +of the time, and when he did she avoided him if she could. The pirates +had fled and were seen no more; but their abrupt retreat, as described +by Chonita, continued to be an exciting topic of discussion. There +were few of us who did not openly or secretly approve of Estenega's +Jesuitism and admire the nimbleness of his mind. The clergy did not +express itself. + +On the last night of the festivities, when the women, weary with the +unusually late hours of the past week, had left the ball-room early +and sought their beds, and the men, being at loss for other amusement, +had gone in a body to a saloon, there to drink and gamble and set fire +to each other's curls and trouser-seats, the Departmental Junta met in +secret session. The night was warm, the plaza deserted; all who were +not in the saloon at the other end of the town were asleep; and after +the preliminary words in Alvarado's office the Junta picked up their +chairs and went forth to hold conclave where bulls and bears had +fought and the large indulgent moon gave clearer light than adamantine +candles. They drew close together, and, after rolling the cigarito, +solemnly regarded the sky for a few moments without speaking. Their +purpose was a grave one. They met to try Pio Pico for contempt of +government and annoying insistence in behalf of his pet project to +remove the capital from Monterey to Los Angeles; Jose Antonio Carillo +and Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada for conspiracy; and General Vallejo for +evil disposition and unwarrantable comments upon the policy of the +administration. None of the offenders was present. + +With the exception of Alvarado, Castro, and Estenega, the members +of the Junta were men of middle age, and represented the talent of +California,--Jimeno, Gonzales, Arguello, Requena, Del Valle. Their +dark, bearded faces, upturned to the stars, made a striking set of +profiles, but the effect was marred by the silk handkerchiefs they had +tied about their heads. + +Alvarado spoke, finally, and, after presenting the charges in due +form, continued: + +"The individual enemy to the government is like the fly to the lion; +it cannot harm, but it can annoy. We must brush away the fly as a +vindication of our dignity, and take precaution that he does not +return, even if we have to bend our heads to tie his little legs. I +do not purpose to be annoyed by these blistering midgets we are met +to consider, nor to have my term of administration spotted with their +gall. I leave it to you, my compatriots and friends, to advise me what +is best to do." + +Jimeno put his feet on the side rung of Castro's chair, puffed a large +gray cloud, and half closed his eyes. He then, for three-quarters of +an hour, in a low, musical voice, discoursed upon the dignity of the +administration and the depravity of the offenders. When his brethren +were beginning to drop their heads and breathe heavily, Alvarado +politely interrupted him and referred the matter to Castro. + +"Imprison them!" exclaimed the impetuous General, suddenly alert. +"With such a Governor and such a people, this should be a land white +as the mountain-tops, unblemished by the tracks of mean ambitions +and sinful revolutions. Let us be summary, although not cruel; let no +man's blood flow while there are prisons in the Californias; but we +must pluck up the roots of conspiracy and disquiet, lest a thousand +suckers grow about them, as about the half-cut trunks of our +redwood-trees, and our Californias be no better than any degenerate +country of the Old World. Let us cast them into prison without further +debate." + +"The law, my dear Jose, gives them a trial," drawled Gonzales. And +then for a half-hour he quoted such law as was known in the country. +When he finished, the impatient and suppressed members of the Junta +delivered their opinions simultaneously; only Estenega had nothing +to say. They argued and suggested, cited evidence, defended and +denounced, lashing themselves into a mighty excitement. At length they +were all on their feet, gesticulating and prancing. + +"Mother of God!" cried Requena. "Let us give Vallejo a taste of his +own cruelty. Let us put him in a temascal and set those of his Indian +victims who are still alive to roast him out--" + +"No! no! Vallejo is maligned. He had no hand in that massacre. His +heart is whiter than an angel's----" + +"It is his liver that is white. His heart is black as a black snake's. +To the devil with him!" + +"Make a law that Pio Pico can never put foot out of Los Angeles again, +since he loves it so well--" + +"His ugly face would spoil the next generation--" + +"Death to Carillo and Iturbi y Moncada! Death to all! Let the poison +out of the veins of California!" + +"No! no! As little blood in California as possible. Put them in +prison, and keep them on frijoles and water for a year. That will cure +rebellion: no chickens, no dulces, no aguardiente--" + +Alvarado brought his staff of office down sharply upon a board he had +provided for the purpose. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "will you not sit down and smoke another +cigarito? We must be calm." + +The Junta took to its chairs at once. Alvarado never failed to command +respect. + +"Don Diego Estenega," said the Governor, "will you tell us what you +have thought whilst the others have talked?" + +Estenega, who had been star-gazing, turned to Alvarado, ignoring the +Junta. His keen brilliant eyes gave the Governor a thrill of relief; +his mouth expressed a mind made up and intolerant of argument. + +"Vallejo," he said, "is like a horse that will neither run nor back +into his stall: he merely stands still and kicks. His kicking makes +a noise and raises a dust, but does no harm. In other words, he will +irritate, but never take a responsibility. Send him an official notice +that if he does not keep quiet an armed force will march upon Sonoma +and imprison him in his own house, humiliating him before the eyes of +his soldiers and retainers. + +"As for Pio Pico, threaten to fine and punish him. He will apologize +at once and be quiet for six months, when you can call another secret +session and issue another threat. It would prolong the term of his +submission to order him to appear before the Junta and make it an +apology with due humility. + +"Now for Carillo and Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada." He paused a moment +and glanced at Chonita's grating. He had the proofs of her brother's +rascality in his pocket; no one but himself had seen them. He +hesitated the fraction of another moment, then smiled grimly. "Oh, +Helen!" he thought, "the same old story." + +"That Carillo is guilty," he said aloud, "is proven to us beyond +doubt. He has incited rebellion against the government in behalf of +Carlos Carillo. He is dangerous to the peace of the country. Iturbi +y Moncada is young and heedless, hardly to be considered seriously; +furthermore, it is impossible to obtain proof of his complicity. His +intimacy with Carillo gives him the appearance of guilt. It would be +well to frighten him a little by a short term of imprisonment. He is +restless and easily led; a lesson in time may save his honored house +from disaster. But to Carillo no quarter." He rose and stood over +them. "The best thing in Machiavelli's 'Prince,'" he said, "is the +author's advice to Caesar Borgia to exterminate every member of +the reigning house of a conquered country, in order to avoid future +revolutions and their infinitely greater number of dead. Do not let +the water in your blood whimper for mercy. You are not here to protect +an individual, but a country." + +"You are right," said Alvarado. + +The others looked at the young man who had merely given them the +practical advice of statecraft as if he had opened his chest and +displayed the lamp of wisdom burning. His freedom from excitement in +all ordeals which animated them to madness had long ago inspired +the suspicion that he was rather more than human. They uttered not a +protest. Alvarado's one-eyed secretary made notes of their approval; +and the Junta, after another friendly smoke, adjourned, well pleased +with itself. + +"Would I sacrifice my country for her a year hence?" thought Estenega, +as he sauntered home. "But, after all, little harm is done. He is not +worth killing, and fright and discomfort will probably cure him." + + + + +IX. + + +Chonita and Estenega faced each other among the Castilian roses of the +garden behind the Governor's house. The duena was nodding in a corner; +the first-born of the Alvarados, screaming within, absorbed the +attention of every member of the household, from the frantic young +mother to the practical nurse. + +"My brother is to be arrested, you say?" + +"Yes." + +"And at your suggestion?" + +"Yes." + +"And he may die?" + +"Possibly." + +"Nothing would have been done if it had not been for you?" + +"Nothing." + +"God of my life! Mother of God! how I hate you!" + +"It is war, then?" + +"I would kill you if I were not a Catholic." + +"I will make you forget that you are a Catholic." + +"You have made me remember it to my bitterest sorrow. I hate you so +mortally that I cannot go to confession: I cannot forgive." + +"I hope you will continue to hate for a time. Now listen to me. You +have several reasons for hating me. My house is the enemy of yours. +I am to all intents and purposes an American; you can consider me +as such. I have that indifference for religious superstition and +intolerance for religion's thraldom which all minds larger of +circumference than a napkin-ring must come to in time. I have +endangered the life of your brother, and I have opposed and shall +oppose him in his political aspirations; he has my unequivocal +contempt. Nevertheless, I tell you here that I should marry you were +there five hundred reasons for your hatred of me instead of a paltry +five. I shall take pleasure in demonstrating to you that there is a +force in the universe a good deal stronger than traditions, religion, +or even family ties." + +His eyes were not those of a lover; they shone like steel. His mouth +was forbidding. She drew back from him in terror, then struck her +hands together passionately. + +"I marry you!" she cried. "An Estenega! A renegade? May God cast me +out of heaven if I do! There, I have sworn! I have sworn! Do you think +a Catholic would break that vow? I swear it by the Church,--and I put +the whole Church between us!" + +"I told you just now that I would make you forget your Church." He +caught her hand and held it firmly. "A last word," he said "Your +brother's life is safe: I promise you that." + +"Let me go!" she said. "Let me go! I fear you." She was trembling; his +warmth and magnetism had sprung to her shoulder. + +He gave her back her hand. "Go," he said: "so ends the first chapter." + + + + +X. + + +Casa Grande,[A] the mansion of the Iturbi y Moncadas in Santa Barbara, +stood at the right of the Presidio, facing the channel. A mile behind, +under the shadow of the gaunt rocky hills curving about the valley, +was the long white Mission, with its double towers, corridor of many +arches, and sloping roof covered with red tiles. Between was the wild +valley where cattle grazed among the trees and the massive bowlders. +The red-tiled white adobe houses of the Presidio and of the little +town clustered under its wing, the brown mud huts of the Indians, were +grouped in the foreground of the deep valley. + +The great house of the Iturbi y Moncadas, erected in the first years +of the century, was built about three sides of a court, measuring one +hundred feet each way. Like most of the adobes of its time, it had +but one story. A wide pillared corridor, protected by a sloping +roof, faced the court, which was as bare and hard as the floor of a +ball-room. Behind the dwelling were the manufactories and huts of the +Indian retainers. Don Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada was the magnate of +the South. His ranchos covered four hundred thousand acres; his +horses and cattle were unnumbered. His Indians, carpenters, coopers, +saddlers, shoemakers, weavers, manufacturers of household staples, +supplied the garrison and town with the necessaries of life; he also +did a large trading business in hides and tallow. Rumor had it that in +the wooden tower built against the back of the house he kept gold by +the bushel-basketful; but no one called him miser, for he gave the +poor of the town all they ate and wore, and kept a supply of drugs for +their sick. So beloved and revered was he that when earthquakes shook +the town, or fires threatened it from the hills, the poor ran in a +body to the court-yard of Casa Grande and besought his protection. +They never passed him without saluting to the ground, nor his house +without bending their heads. And yet they feared him, for he was an +irascible old gentleman at times, and thumped unmercifully when in a +temper. Chonita, alone, could manage him always. + +When I returned to Santa Barbara with Chonita after her visit to +Monterey, the yellow fruit hung in the padres' orchard, the grass was +burning brown, sky and water were the hard blue of metal. + +The afternoon of our arrival, Don Guillermo, Chonita, and I were on +the long middle corridor of the house: in Santa Barbara one lived in +the air. The old don sat on the long green bench by the sala door. His +heavy, flabby, leathery face had no wrinkles but those which curved +from the corners of the mouth to the chin. The thin upper lip was +habitually pressed hard against the small protruding under one, the +mouth ending in straight lines which seemed no part of the lips. His +small slanting eyes, usually stern, could snap with anger, as they did +to-day. The nose rose suddenly from the middle of his face; it might +have been applied by a child sculpturing with putty; the flat bridge +was crossed by erratic lines. A bang of grizzled hair escaped from the +black silk handkerchief wound as tightly as a turban about his head. +He wore short clothes of dark brown cloth, the jacket decorated +with large silver buttons, a red damask vest, shoes of embroidered +deer-skin, and a cravat of fine linen. + +Chonita, in a white gown, a pale-green reboso about her shoulders, her +arms crossed, her head thoughtfully bent forward, walked slowly up and +down before him. + +"Holy God!" cried the old man, pounding the floor with his stick. +"That they have dared to arrest my son!--the son of Guillermo Iturbi y +Moncada! That Alvarado, my friend and thy host, should have permitted +it!" + +"Do not blame Alvarado, my father. Remember, he must listen to the +Departmental Junta; and this is their work." "Fool that I am!" she +added to herself, "why do I not tell who alone is to blame? But I need +no one to help me hate him!" + +"Is it true that this Estenega of whom I hear so much is a member of +the Junta?" + +"It may be." + +"If so, it is he, he alone, who has brought dishonor upon my house. +Again they have conquered!" + +"This Estenega I met--and who was _compadre_ with me for the baby--is +little in California, my father. If it be he who is a member of the +Junta, he could hardly rule such men as Alvarado, Jimeno, and Castro. +I saw no other Estenega." + +"True! I must have other enemies in the North; but I had not known +of it. But they shall learn of my power in the South. Don Juan de la +Borrasca went to-day to Los Angeles with a bushel of gold to bail my +son, and both will be with us the day after to-morrow. A curse upon +Carillo--but I will speak of it no more. Tell me, my daughter,--God +of my soul, but I am glad to have thee back!--what thoughtest thou of +this son of the Estenegas? Is it Ramon, Esteban, or Diego? I have seen +none of them since they were little ones. I remember Diego well. He +had lightning in his little tongue, and the devil in his brain. I +liked him, although he was the son of my enemy; and if he had been an +Iturbi y Moncada I would have made a great man of him. Ay! but he was +quick. One day in Monterey, he got under my feet and I fell flat, much +imperilling my dignity, for it was on Alvarado Street, and I was a +member of the Territorial Deputation. I could have beaten him, I was +so angry; but he scrambled to his little feet, and, helping me to +mine, he said, whilst dodging my stick, 'Be not angry, senor. I gave +my promise to the earth that thou shouldst kiss her, for all the world +has prayed that she should not embrace thee for ninety years to come.' +What could I do? I gave him a cake. Thou smilest, my daughter; but +thou wilt not commend the enemy of thy house, no? Ah, well, we grow +less bitter as we grow old; and although I hated his father I liked +Diego. Again, I remember, I was in Monterey, and he was there; his +father and I were both members of the Deputation. Caramba! what hot +words passed between us! But I was thinking of Diego. I took a volume +of Shakespeare from him one day. 'Thou art too young to read such +books,' I said. 'A baby reading what the good priests allow not men +to read. I have not read this heretic book of plays, and yet thou dost +lie there on thy stomach and drink in its wickedness.' 'It is true,' +he said, and how his steel eyes did flash; 'but when I am as old as +you, senor, my stomach will be flat and my head will be big. Thou +art the enemy of my father, but--hast thou noticed?--thy stomach is +bigger than his, and he has conquered thee in speech and in politics +more times than thou hast found vengeance for. Ay!--and thy ranchos +have richer soil and many more cattle, but he has a library, Don +Guillermo, and thou hast not.' I spanked him then and there; but I +never forgot what he said, and thou hast read what thou listed. I +would not that the children of Alejandro Estenega should know more +than those of Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada." + +"Thou hast cause to be proud of Reinaldo, for he sparkles like the +spray of the fountain, and words are to him like a shower of leaves in +autumn. And yet, and yet," she added, with angry candor, "he has not a +brain like Diego Estenega. _He_ is not a man, but a devil." + +"A good brain has always a devil at the wheel; sharp eyes have sharper +nerves behind; and lightning from a big soul flashes fear into a +little one. Diego is not a devil,--I remember once I had a headache, +and he bathed my head, and the water ran down my neck and gave me a +cold which put me to bed for a week,--but he is the devil's godson, +and were he not the son of my enemy I should love him. His father was +cruel and vicious--but smart, Holy Mary! Diego has his brain; but he +has, too, the kind heart and gentle manner--Ay! Holy God!--Come, come: +here are the horses. Call Prudencia, and we will go to the bark and +see what the good captain has brought to tempt us." + +Four horses led by vaqueros, had entered the court-yard. + +"Prudencia," called Chonita. + +A door opened, and a girl of small figure, with solemn dark eyes and +cream-like skin, her hair hanging in heavy braids to her feet, stepped +upon the corridor, draping a pink reboso about her head. + +"I am here, my cousin," she said, walking with all the dignity of the +Spanish woman, despite her plump and inconsiderable person. "Thou art +rested, Dona Eustaquia? Do we go to the ship, my uncle? and shall we +buy this afternoon? God of my life! I wonder has he a high comb to +make me look tall, and flesh-colored stockings. My own are gone with +holes. I do not like white--" + +"Hush thy chatter," said her uncle. "How can I tell what the captain +has until I see? Come, my children." + +We sprang to our saddles, Don Guillermo mounted heavily, and we +cantered to the beach, followed by the ox-cart which would carry the +fragile cargo home. A boat took us to the bark, which sat motionless +on the placid channel. The captain greeted us with the lively welcome +due to eager and frequent purchasers. + +"Now, curb thy greed," cried Don Guillermo, as the girls dropped down +the companion-way, "for thou hast more now than thou canst wear in +five years. God of my soul! if a bark came every day they would want +every shred on board. My daughter could tapestry the old house with +the shawls she has." + +When I reached the cabin I found the table covered with silks, +satins, crepe, shawls, combs, articles of lacquer-ware, jewels, silk +stockings, slippers, spangled tulle, handkerchiefs, lace, fans. The +girls' eyes were sparkling. Chonita clapped her hands and ran around +the table, pressing to her lips the beautiful white things she quickly +segregated, running her hand eagerly over the little slippers, hanging +the lace about her shoulders, twisting a rope of garnets in her yellow +hair. + +"Never have they been so beautiful, Eustaquia! Is it not so, my +Prudencia?" she cried to the girl, who was curled on one corner of +the table, gloating over the treasures she knew her uncle's generosity +would make her own. "Look, how these little diamonds flash! And the +embroidery on this crepe!--a dozen eyes went out ay! yi! This satin +is like a tile! These fans were made in Spain! This is as big as a +windmill. God of my soul!"--she threw a handful of yellow sewing-silk +upon a piece of white satin; "Ana shall embroider this gown,--the +golden poppies of California on a bank of mountain snow." She suddenly +seized a case of topaz and a piece of scarlet silk and ran over to +me: I being a Monterena, etiquette forbade me to purchase in Santa +Barbara. "Thou must have these, my Eustaquia. They will become thee +well. And wouldst thou like any of my white things? Mary! but I am +selfish. Take what thou wilt, my friend." + +To refuse would be to spoil her pleasure and insult her hospitality: +so I accepted the topaz--of which I had six sets already--and the +silk,--whose color prevailed in my wardrobe,--and told her that I +detested white, which did not suit my weather-dark skin, and she was +as blind and as pleased as a child. + +"But come, come," she cried. "My father is not so generous when he has +to wait too long." + +She gathered the mass of stuff in her arms and staggered up the +companion-way. I followed, leaving Prudencia raking the trove her +short arms would not hold. + +"Ay, my Chonita!" she wailed, "I cannot carry that big piece of pink +satin and that vase. And I have only two pairs of slippers and one +fan. Ay, Cho-n-i-i-ta, look at those shawls! Mother of God, suppose +Valencia Menendez comes--" + +"Do not weep on the silk and spoil what thou hast," called down +Chonita from the top step. "Thou shalt have all thou canst wear for a +year." + +She reached the deck and stood panting and imperious before her +father. "All! All! I must have all!" she cried. "Never have they been +so fine, so rich." + +"Holy Mary!" shrieked Don Guillermo. "Dost thou think I am made of +doubloons, that thou wouldst buy a whole ship's cargo? Thou shalt have +a quarter; no more,--not a yard!" + +"I will have all!" And the stately daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas +stamped her little foot upon the deck. + +"A third,--not a yard more. And diamonds! Holy Heaven! There is +not gold enough in the Californias to feed the extravagance of the +Senorita Dona Chonita Iturbi y Moncada." + +She managed to bend her body in spite of her burden, her eyes flashing +saucily above the mass of tulle which covered the rest of her face. + +"And not fine raiment enough in the world to accord with the state +of the only daughter of the Senor Don Guillermo Iturbi y Moncada, the +delight and the pride of his old age. Wilt thou send these things to +the North, to be worn by an Estenega? Thy Chonita will cry her eyes +so red that she will be known as the ugly witch of Santa Barbara, and +Casa Grande will be like a tomb." + +"Oh, thou spoilt baby! Thou wilt have thy way--" At this moment +Prudencia appeared. Nothing whatever could be seen of her small person +but her feet; she looked like an exploded bale of goods. "What! what!" +gasped Don Guillermo. "Thou little rat! Thou wouldst make a Christmas +doll of thyself with satin that is too heavy for thy grandmother, and +eke out thy dumpy inches with a train? Oh, Mother of God!" He turned +to the captain, who was smoking complacently, assured of the issue. +"I will let them carry these things home; but to-morrow one-half, at +least, comes back." And he stamped wrathfully down the deck. + +"Send the rest," said Chonita to the captain, "and thou shalt have a +bag of gold to-night." + +[Footnote A: In writing of Casa Grande and its inmates, no reference +to the distinguished De la Guerra family of Santa Barbara is intended, +beyond the description of their house and state and of the general +characteristics of the founder of the family fortunes in California.] + + + + +XI. + + +The next morning Chonita, clad in a long gown of white wool, a silver +cross at her throat, her hair arranged like a coronet, sat in a large +chair in the dispensary. Her father stood beside a table, parcelling +drugs. The sick-poor of Santa Barbara passed them in a long line. + +The Doomswoman exercised her power to heal, the birthright of the +twin. + +"I wonder if I can," she said to me, laying her white fingers on a +knotted arm, "or if it is my father's medicines. I have no right to +question this beautiful faith of my country, but I really don't see +how I do it. Still, I suppose it is like many things in our religion, +not for mere human beings to understand. This pleases my vanity, at +least. I wonder if I shall have cause to exercise my other endowment." + +"To curse?" + +"Yes: I think I might do that with something more of sincerity." + +The men, women, and children, native Californians and Indians, +scrubbed for the occasion, filed slowly past her, and she touched all +kindly and bade them be well. They regarded her with adoring eyes and +bent almost to the ground. + +"Perhaps they will help me out of purgatory," she said; "and it is +something to be on a pedestal; I should not like to come down. It is +a cheap victory, but so are most of the victories that the world knows +of." + +When she had touched nearly a hundred, they gathered about her, and +she spoke a few words to them. + +"My friends, go, and say, 'I shall be well.' Does not the Bible say +that faith shall make ye whole? Cling to your faith! Believe! Believe! +Else will you feel as if the world crumbled beneath your feet! +And there is nothing, nothing to take its place. What folly, what +presumption, to suggest that anything can--a mortal passion--" She +stopped suddenly, and continued coldly, "Go, my friends; words do not +come easily to me to-day. Go, and God grant that you may be well and +happy." + + + + +XII. + + +We sat in the sala the next evening, awaiting the return of the +prodigal and his deliverer. The night was cool, and the doors were +closed; coals burned in a roof-tile. The room, unlike most Californian +salas, boasted a carpet, and the furniture was covered with green rep, +instead of the usual black horse-hair. + +Don Guillermo patted the table gently with his open palm, accompanying +the tinkle of Prudencia's guitar and her light monotonous voice. She +sat on the edge of a chair, her solemn eyes fixed on a painting of +Reinaldo which hung on the wall. Dona Trinidad was sewing as usual, +and dressed as simply as if she looked to her daughter to maintain the +state of the Iturbi y Moncadas. Above a black silk skirt she wore a +black shawl, one end thrown over her shoulder. About her head was a +close black silk turban, concealing, with the exception of two soft +gray locks on either side of her face, what little hair she may still +have possessed. Her white face was delicately cut: the lines of time +indicated spiritual sweetness rather than strength. + +Chonita roved between the sala and an adjoining room where four Indian +girls embroidered the yellow poppies on the white satin. I was reading +one of her books,--the "Vicar of Wakefield." + +"Wilt thou be glad to see Reinaldo, my Prudencia?" asked Don +Guillermo, as the song finished. + +"Ay!" and the girl blushed. + +"Thou wouldst make a good wife for Reinaldo, and it is well that he +marry. It is true that he has a gay spirit and loves company, but you +shall live here in this house, and if he is not a devoted husband he +shall have no money to spend. It is time he became a married man and +learned that life was not made for dancing and flirting; then, too, +would his restless spirit get him into fewer broils. I have heard +him speak twice of no other woman, excepting Valencia Menendez, and I +would not have her for a daughter; and I think he loves thee." + +"Sure!" said Dona Trinidad. + +"That is love, I suppose," said Chonita, leaning back in her chair and +forgetting the poppies. "With her a placid contented hope, with him a +calm preference for a malleable woman. If he left her for another she +would cry for a week, then serenely marry whom my father bade her, and +forget Reinaldo in the _donas_ of the bridegroom. The birds do almost +as well." + +Don Guillermo smiled indulgently. Prudencia did not know whether +to cry or not. Dona Trinidad, who never thought of replying to her +daughter, said,-- + +"Chonita mia, Liseta and Tomaso wish to marry, and thy father will +give them the little house by the creek." + +"Yes, mamacita?" said Chonita, absently: she felt no interest in the +loves of the Indians. + +"We have a new Father in the Mission," continued her mother, +remembering that she had not acquainted her daughter with all the +important events of her absence. "And Don Rafael Guzman's son was +drafted. That was a judgment for not marrying when his father bade +him. For that I shall be glad to have Reinaldo marry. I would not have +him go to the war to be killed." + +"No," said Don Guillermo. "He must be a diputado to Mexico. I would +not lose my only son in battle. I am ambitious for him; and so art +thou, Chonita, for thy brother? Is it not so?" + +"Yes. I have it in me to stab the heart of any man who rolls a stone +in his way." + +"My daughter," said Don Guillermo, with the accent of duty rather than +of reproof, "thou must love without vengeance. Sustain thy brother, +but harm not his enemy. I would not have thee hate even an Estenega, +although I cannot love them myself. But we will not talk of the +Estenegas. Dost thou realize that our Reinaldo will be with us this +night? We must all go to confession to-morrow,--thy mother and myself, +Eustaquia, Reinaldo, Prudencia, and thyself." + +Chonita's face became rigid. "I cannot go to confession," she said. +"It may be months before I can: perhaps never." + +"What?" + +"Can one go to confession with a hating and an unforgiving heart? Ay! +that I never had gone to Monterey! At least I had the consolation of +my religion before. Now I fight the darkness by myself. Do not ask +me questions, for I shall not answer them. But taunt me no more with +confession." + +Even Don Guillermo was dumb. In all the twenty-four years of her life +she never had betrayed violence of spirit before: even her hatred of +the Estenegas had been a religion rather than a personal feeling. It +was the first glimpse of her soul that she had accorded them, and they +were aghast. What--what had happened to this proud, reserved, careless +daughter of the Iturbi y Moncadas? + +Dona Trinidad drew down her mouth. Prudencia began to cry. Then, +for the moment, Chonita was forgotten. Two horses galloped into the +court-yard. + +"Reinaldo!" + +The door had but an inside knob: Don Guillermo threw it open as a +young man sprang up the three steps of the corridor, followed by a +little man who carefully picked his way. + +"Yes, I am here, my father, my mother, my sister, my Prudencia! Ay, +Eustaquia, thou too." And the pride of the house kissed each in turn, +his dark eyes wandering absently about the room. He was a dashing +caballero, and as handsome as any ever born in the Californias. The +dust of travel had been removed--at a saloon--from his blue velvet +gold-embroidered serape, which he immediately flung on the floor. His +short jacket and trousers were also of dark-blue velvet, the former +decorated with buttons of silver filigree, the latter laced with +silver cord over spotless linen. The front of his shirt was covered +with costly lace. His long botas were of soft yellow leather stamped +with designs in silver and gartered with blue ribbon. The clanking +spurs were of silver inlaid with gold. The sash, knotted gracefully +over his hip, was of white silk. His curled black hair was tied with a +blue ribbon, and clung, clustering and damp, about a low brow. He bore +a strange resemblance to Chonita, in spite of the difference of color, +but his eyes were merely large and brilliant: they had no stars in +their shallows. His mouth was covered by a heavy silken mustache, and +his profile was bold. At first glance he impressed one as a perfect +type of manly strength, aggressively decided of character. It was only +when he cast aside the wide sombrero--which, when worn a little +back, most becomingly framed his face--that one saw the narrow, +insignificant head. + +For a time there was no conversation, only a series of exclamations. +Chonita alone was calm, smiling a loving welcome. In the excitement of +the first moments little notice was taken of the devoted bailer, who +ardently regarded Chonita. + +Don Juan de la Borrasca was flouting his sixties, fighting for his +youth as a parent fights for its young. His withered little face wore +the complacent smile of vanity; his arched brows furnished him with a +supercilious expression which atoned for his lack of inches,--he was +barely five feet two. His large curved nose was also a compensating +gift from the godmother of dignity, and he carried himself so erectly +that he looked like a toy general. His small black eyes were bright +as glass beads, and his hair was ribboned as bravely as Reinaldo's. He +was clad in silk attire,--red silk embroidered with butterflies. His +little hands were laden with rings; carbuncles glowed in the lace of +his shirt. He was moderately wealthy, but a stanch retainer of the +house of Iturbi y Moncada, the devoted slave of Chonita. + +She was the first to remember him, and held out her hand for him to +kiss. "Thou hast the gratitude of my heart, dear friend," she said, +as the little dandy curved over it. "I thank thee a thousand times for +bringing my brother back to me." + +"Ay, Dona Chonita, thanks be to God and Mary that I was enabled so to +do. Had my mission proved unsuccessful I should have committed a crime +and gone to prison with him. Never would I have returned here. Dueno +adorado, ever at thy feet." + +Chonita smiled kindly, but she was listening to her brother, who was +now expatiating upon his wrongs to a sympathetic audience. + +"Holy heaven!" he exclaimed, striding up and down the room, "that an +Iturbi y Moncada, the descendant of twenty generations, should be put +to shame, to disgrace and humiliation, by being cast into a common +prison! That an ardent patriot, a loyal subject of Mexico, should be +accused of conspiring against the judgment of an Alvarado! Carillo was +my friend, and had his cause been a just one I had gone with him to +the gates of death or the chair of state. But could I, _I_, conspire +against a wise and great man like Juan Bautista Alvarado? No! not even +if Carillo had asked me so to do. But, by the stars of heaven, he +did not. I had been but the guest of his bounty for a month; and the +suspicious rascals who spied upon us, the poor brains who compose the +Departmental Junta, took it for granted that an Iturbi y Moncada could +not be blind to Carillo's plots and plans and intrigues, that, having +been the intimate of his house and table, I must perforce aid and abet +whatever schemes engrossed him. Ay, more often than frequently did +a dark surmise cross my mind, but I brushed it aside as one does the +prompting of evil desires. I would not believe that a Carillo would +plot, conspire, and rise again, after the terrible lesson he had +received in 1838. Alvarado holds California to his heart; Castro, the +Mars of the nineteenth century, hovers menacingly on the horizon. Who, +who, in sober reason, would defy that brace of frowning gods?" + +His eloquence was cut short by respiratory interference, but he +continued to stride from one end of the room to the other, his +face flushed with excitement. Prudencia's large eyes followed him, +admiration paralyzing her tongue. Dona Trinidad smiled upward with +the self-approval of the modest barn-yard lady who has raised a +magnificent bantam. Don Guillermo applauded loudly. Only Chonita +turned away, the truth smiting her for the first time. + +"Words! words!" she thought, bitterly. "_He_ would have said all that +in two sentences. Is it true--_ay, triste de mi!_--what he said of my +brother? I hate him, yet his brain has cut mine and wedged there. My +head bows to him, even while all the Iturbi y Moncada in me arises to +curse him. But my brother! my brother! he is so much younger. And if +he had had the same advantages--those years in Mexico and America and +Europe--would he not know as much as Diego Estenega? Oh, sure! sure!" + +"My son," Don Guillermo was saying, "God be thanked that thou didst +not merit thy imprisonment. I should have beaten thee with my cane and +locked thee in thy room for a month hadst thou disgraced my name. +But, as it happily is, thou must have compensation for unjust +treatment.--Prudencia, give me thy hand." + +The girl rose, trembling and blushing, but crossed the room with +stately step and stood beside her uncle. Don Guillermo took her hand +and placed it in Reinaldo's. "Thou shalt have her, my son," he said. +"I have divined thy wishes." + +Reinaldo kissed the small fingers fluttering in his, making a great +flourish. He was quite ready to marry, and his pliant little cousin +suited him better than any one he knew. "Day-star of my eyes!" he +exclaimed, "consolation of my soul! Memories of injustice, discomfort, +and sadness fall into the waters of oblivion rolling at thy feet. I +see neither past nor future. The rose-hued curtain of youth and hope +falls behind and before us." + +"Yes, yes," assented Prudencia, delightedly. "My Reinaldo! my +Reinaldo!" + +We congratulated them severally and collectively, and, when the +ceremony was over, Reinaldo cried, with even more enthusiasm than he +had yet shown, "My mother, for the love of Mary give me something to +eat,--tamales, salad, chicken, dulces. Don Juan and I are as empty as +hides." + +Dona Trinidad smiled with the pride of the Californian housewife. "It +is ready, my son. Come to the dining-room, no?" + +She led the way, followed by the family, Reinaldo and Prudencia +lingering. As the others crossed the threshold he drew her back. + +"A lump of tallow, dost thou hear, my Prudencia?" he whispered, +hurriedly. "Put it under the green bench. I must have it to-night." + +"Ay! Reinaldo--" + +"Do not refuse, my Prudencia, if thou lovest me. Wilt thou do it?" + +"Sure, my Reinaldo." + + + + +XIII. + + +The family retired early in its brief seasons of reclusion, and at ten +o'clock Casa Grande was dark and quiet. Reinaldo opened his door and +listened cautiously, then stepped softly to the green bench and felt +beneath for the lump of tallow. It was there. He returned to his room +and swung himself from his window into the yard, about which were +irregularly disposed the manufactories of the Indians, a high wall +protecting the small town. All was quiet here, and had been for hours. +He stole to the wooden tower and mounted a ladder, lifting it from +story to story until he reached the attic under the pointed roof. Then +he lit a candle, and, removing a board from the floor, peered down +into the room whose door was always so securely locked. The stars +shone through the uncurtained windows and were no yellower than the +gold coins heaped on the large table and overflowing the baskets. +Reinaldo took a long pole from a corner and applied to one end a piece +of the soft tallow. He lowered the pole and pressed it firmly into the +pile of gold on the table. The pole was withdrawn, and this ingenious +fisherman removed a large gold fish from the bait. He fished patiently +for an hour, then filled a bag he had brought for the purpose, and +returned as he had come. Not to his bed, however. Once more he opened +his door and stole forth, this time to the town, to hold high revel +around the gaming-table, where he was welcomed hilariously by his boon +companions. + +A wild fandango in a neighboring booth provided relaxation for the +gamblers. In an hour or two Reinaldo found his way to this well-known +haven. Black-eyed dancing-girls in short skirts of tawdry satin +trimmed with cotton lace, mock jewels on their bare necks and in their +coarse black hair, flew about the room and screamed with delight as +Reinaldo flung gold pieces among them. The excitement continued in all +its variations until morning. Men bet and lost all the gold they had +brought with them, then sold horse, serape, and sombrero to the +men who neither drank nor gambled, but came prepared for close and +profitable bargains. Reinaldo lost his purloins, won them again, stood +upon the table and spoke with torrential eloquence of his wrongs and +virtues, kissed all the girls, and when by easy and rapid stages he +had succeeded in converting himself into a tank of aguardiente, he was +carried home and put to bed by such of his companions as were sober +enough to make no noise. + + + + +XIV. + + +Chonita, clad in a black gown, walked slowly up and down the corridor +of Casa Grande. The rain should have dripped from the eaves, beaten +with heavy monotony upon the hard clay of the court-yard, to accompany +her mood, but it did not. The sky was blue without fleck of cloud, the +sun like the open mouth of a furnace of boiling gold, the air as warm +and sweet and drowsy as if it never had come in shock with human care. +Prudencia sat on the green bench, drawing threads in a fine linen +smock, her small face rosy with contentment. + +"Why dost thou wear that black gown this beautiful morning?" she +demanded, suddenly. "And why dost thou walk when thou canst sit down?" + +"I had a dream last night. Dost thou believe in dreams?" She had as +much regard for her cousin's opinion as for the twittering of a bird, +but she felt the necessity of speech at times, and at least this child +never remembered what she said. + +"Sure, my Chonita. Did not I dream that the good captain would bring +pink silk stockings? and are they not my own this minute?" And she +thrust a diminutive foot from beneath the hem of her gown, regarding +it with admiration. "And did not I dream that Tomaso and Liseta would +marry? What was thy dream, my Chonita?" + +"I do not know what the first part was; something very sad. All I +remember is the roar of the ocean and another roar like the wind +through high trees. Then a moment that shook and frightened me, but +sweeter than anything I know of, so I cannot define it. Then a swift +awful tragedy--I cannot recall the details of that, either. The whole +dream was like a black mass of clouds, cut now and again by a scythe +of lightning. But then, like a vision within a dream, I seemed to +stand there and see myself, clad in a black gown, walking up and +down this corridor, or one like it, up and down, up and down, never +resting, never daring to rest, lest I hear the ceaseless clatter of +a lonely fugitive's horse. When I awoke I was as cold as if I had +received the first shock of the surf. I cannot say why I put on this +black gown to-day. I make no haste to feel as I did when I wore it in +that dream,--the desolation,--the endlessness; but I did." + +"That was a strange dream, my Chonita," said Prudencia, threading her +needle. "Thou must have eaten too many dulces for supper: didst thou?" + +"No," said Chonita, shortly, "I did not." + +She continued her aimless walk, wondering at her depression of +spirits. All her life she had felt a certain mental loneliness, but +a healthy body rarely harbors an invalid soul, and she had only to +spring on a horse and gallop over the hills to feel as happy as a +young animal. Moreover, the world--all the world she knew--was at her +feet; nor had she ever known the novelty of an ungratified wish. Once +in a while her father arose in an obdurate mood, but she had only to +coax, or threaten tears,--never had she been seen to shed one,--or +stamp her foot, to bring that doting parent to terms. It is true +that she had had her morbid moments, an abrupt impatient desire for +something that was not all light and pleasure and gold and adulation; +but, being a girl of will and sense, she had turned resolutely from +the troublous demands of her deeper soul, regarding them as coals +fallen from a mind that burned too hotly at times. + +This morning, however, she let the blue waters rise, not so much +because they were stronger than her will, as because she wished to +understand what was the matter with her. She was filled with a dull +dislike of every one she had ever known, of every condition which +had surrounded her from birth. She felt a deep disgust of placid +contentment, of the mere enjoyment of sunshine and air. She recalled +drearily the clock-like revolutions of the year which brought +bull-fights, races, rodeos, church celebrations; her mother's +anecdotes of the Indians; her father's manifold interests, ever the +theme of his tongue; Reinaldo's grandiloquent accounts of his exploits +and intentions; Prudencia's infinite nothings. She hated the balls of +which she was La Favorita, the everlasting serenades, the whole life +of pleasure which made that period of California the most perfected +Arcadia the modern world has known. Some time during the past few +weeks the girl had crossed her hands over her breast and lain down in +her eternal tomb. The woman had arisen and come forth, blinded as yet +by the light, her hands thrust out gropingly. + +"It is that man," she told herself, with angry frankness. "I had +not talked with him ten minutes before I felt as I do when the scene +changes suddenly in one of Shakespeare's plays,--as if I had been +flung like a meteor into a new world. I felt the necessity for mental +alertness for the first time in my life; always, before, I had striven +to conceal what I knew. The natural consequences, of course, were +first the desire to feel that stimulation again and again, then to +realize the littleness of everything but mental companionship. I have +read that people who begin with hate sometimes end with love; and if I +were a book woman I suppose I should in time love this man whom I now +so hate, even while I admire. But I am no lump of wax in the hands +of a writer of dreams. I am Chonita Iturbi y Moncada, and he is Diego +Estenega. I could no more love him than could the equator kiss the +poles. Only, much as I hate him, I wish I could see him again. He +knows so much more than any one else. I should like to talk to him, +to ask him many things. He has sworn to marry me." Her lip curled +scornfully, but a sudden glow rushed over her. "Had he not been an +Estenega,--yes, I could have loved him,--that calm, clear-sighted +love that is born of regard; not a whirlwind and a collapse, like most +love. I should like to sit with my hands in my lap and hear him talk +forever. And we cannot even be friends. It is a pity." + +The girl's mind was like a splendid castle only one wing of which had +ever been illuminated. By the light of the books she had read, and +of acute observation in a little sphere, she strove to penetrate the +thick walls and carry the torch into broader halls and lofty towers. +But superstition, prejudice, bitter pride, inexperience of life, +conjoined their shoulders and barred the way. As Diego Estenega had +discerned, under the thick Old-World shell of inherited impressions +was a plastic being of all womanly possibilities. But so little did +she know of herself, so futile was her struggle in the dark with only +sudden flashes to blind her and distort all she saw, that with nothing +to shape that moulding kernel it would shrink and wither, and in a few +years she would be but a polished shell, perfect of proportion, hollow +at the core. + +But if strong intellectual juices sank into that sweet, pliant kernel, +developing it into the perfected form of woman, establishing the +current between the brain and the passions, finishing the work, or +leaving it half completed, as Circumstance vouchsafed?--what then? + +"Ay, Senor!" exclaimed Prudencia, as two people, mounted on horses +glistening with silver, galloped into the court-yard. "Valencia and +Adan!" + +I came out of the sala at that moment and watched them alight: Adan, +that faithful, dog-like adorer, of whose kind every beautiful woman +has a half-dozen or more, Valencia the bitter-hearted rival of +Chonita. She was a tall, dazzling creature, with flaming black eyes +large and heavily lashed, and a figure so lithe that she seemed to +sweep downward from her horse rather than spring to the ground. She +had the dark rich skin of Mexico--another source of envy and hatred, +for the Iturbi y Moncadas, like most of the aristocracy of the +country, were of pure Castilian blood and as white as porcelain in +consequence--and a red full mouth. + +"Welcome, my Chonita!" she cried. "_Valgame Dios!_ but I am glad to +see thee back!" She kissed Chonita effusively. "Ay, my poor brother!" +she whispered, hurriedly. "Tell him that thou art glad to see him." +And then she welcomed me with words that fell as softly as rose-leaves +in a zephyr, and patted Prudencia's head. + +Chonita, with a faint flush on her cheek, gave Adan her hand to kiss. +She had given this faithful suitor little encouragement, but his +unswerving and honest devotion had wrung from her a sort of careless +affection; and she told me that first night in Monterey that if she +ever made up her mind to marry she thought she would select Adan: he +was more tolerable than any one she knew. It is doubtful if he had +crossed her mind since; and now, with all a woman's unreason, she +conceived a sudden and violent dislike for him because she had treated +him too kindly in her thoughts. I liked Adan Menendez; there was +something manly and sure about him,--the latter a restful if not a +fascinating quality. And I liked his appearance. His clear brown eyes +had a kind direct regard. His chin was round, and his profile a little +thick; but the gray hair brushed up and away from his low forehead +gave dignity to his face. His figure was pervaded with the indolence +of the Californian. + +"At your feet, senorita mia," he murmured, his voice trembling. + +"It gives me pleasure to see thee again, Adan. Hast thou been well and +happy since I left?" + +It was a careless question, and he looked at her reproachfully. + +"I have been well, Chonita," he said. + +At this moment our attention was startled by a sharp exclamation from +Valencia. Prudencia had announced her engagement. Valencia had refused +many suitors, but she had intended to marry Reinaldo Iturbi y Moncada. +Not that she loved him: he was the most brilliant match in three +hundred leagues. Within the last year he had bent the knee to the +famous coquette; but she had lost her temper one day,--or, rather, it +had found her,--and after a violent quarrel he had galloped away, and +gone almost immediately to Los Angeles, there to remain until Don +Juan went after him with a bushel of gold. She controlled herself in +a moment, and swayed her graceful body over Prudencia, kissing her +lightly on the cheek. + +"Thou baby, to marry!" she said, softly. "Thou didst take away my +breath. Thou dost look no more than fourteen years. I had forgotten +the grand merienda of thy eighteenth birthday." + +Prudencia's little bosom swelled with pride at the discomfiture of the +haughty beauty who had rarely remembered to notice her. Prudencia was +not poor; she owned a goodly rancho; but it was an hacienda to the +state of a Menendez. + +"Thou wilt be one of my bridesmaids, no, Dona Valencia?" she asked. + +"That will be the proud day of my life," said Valencia, graciously. + +"We have a ball to-night," said Chonita. + +"Thou wouldst have had word to-day. Thou wilt stay now, no? and not +ride those five leagues twice again? I will send for thy gown." + +"Truly, I will stay, my Chonita. And thou wilt tell me all about thy +visit to Monterey, no?" + +"All? Ay! sure!" + +Adan kissed both Prudencia's little hands in earnest congratulation. +As he did so, the door of Reinaldo's room opened, and the heir of the +Iturbi y Moncadas stepped forth, gorgeous in black silk embroidered +with gold. He had slept off the effects of the night's debauch, and +cold water had restored his freshness. He kissed Prudencia's hand, his +own to us, then bent over Valencia's with exaggerated homage. + +"At thy feet, O loveliest of California's daughters. In the immensity +of thought, going to and coming from Los Angeles, my imagination has +spread its wings like an eagle. Thou hast been a beautiful day-dream, +posing or reclining, dancing, or swaying with grace superlative on thy +restive steed. I have not greeted my good friend Adan. I can but look +and look and keep on looking at his incomparable sister, the rose of +roses, the queen of queens." + +"Thy tongue carols as easily as a lark's," said Valencia, with but +half-concealed bitterness. "Thou couldst sing all day,--and the next +forget." + +"I forget nothing, beautiful senorita,--neither the fair days of +spring nor the ugly storms of winter. And I love the sunshine and flee +from the tempest. Adan, brother of my heart, welcome as ever to Casa +Grande--Ay! here is my father. He looks like Sancho Panza." + +Don Guillermo's sturdy little mustang bore him into the court-yard, +shaking his stout master not a little. The old gentleman's black +silk handkerchief had fallen to his shoulders: his face was red, but +covered with a broad smile. + +"I have letters from Monterey," he said, as Reinaldo and Adan ran down +the steps to help him alight. "Alvarado goes by sea to Los Angeles +this month, but returns by land in the next, and will honor us with +a visit of a week. I shall write to him to arrive in time for the +wedding. Several members of the Junta come with him,--and of their +number is Diego Estenega." + +"Who?" cried Reinaldo. "An Estenega? Thou wilt not ask him to cross +the threshold of Casa Grande?" + +"I always liked Diego," said the old man, somewhat confusedly. "And he +is the friend of Alvarado. How can I avoid to ask him, when he is of +the party?" + +"Let him come," cried Reinaldo. "God of my life!--I am glad that he +comes, this lord of redwood forests and fog-bound cliffs. It is well +that he see the splendor of the Iturbi y Moncadas,--our pageants and +our gay diversions, our cavalcades of beauty and elegance under a +canopy of smiling blue. Glad I am that he comes. Once for all shall +he learn that, although his accursed family has beaten ours in war and +politics, he can never hope to rival our pomp and state." + +"Ah!" said Valencia to Chonita, "I have heard of this Diego Estenega. +I too am glad that he comes. I have the advantage of thee this time, +my friend. Thou and he must hate each other, and for once I am without +a rival. He shall be my slave." And she tossed her spirited head. + +"He shall not!" cried Chonita, then checked herself abruptly, the +blood rushing to her hair. "I hate him so," she continued hurriedly +to the astonished Valencia, "that I would see no woman show him favor. +Thou wilt not like him, Valencia. He is not handsome at all,--no color +in his skin, not even white, and eyes in the back of his head. No +mustache, no curls, and a mouth that looks,--oh, that mouth, so grim, +so hard!--no, it is not to be described. No one could; it makes you +hate him. And he has no respect for women; he thinks they were made to +please the eye, no more. I do not think he would look ten seconds at +an ugly woman. Thou wilt not like him, Valencia, sure." + +"Ay, but I think I shall. What thou hast said makes me wish to see him +the more. God of my life! but he must be different from the men of the +South. And I shall like that." + +"Perhaps," said Chonita, coldly. "At least he will not break thy +heart, for no woman could love him. But come and take thy siesta, +no? and refresh thyself for the dance. I will send thee a cup +of chocolate." And, bending her head to Adan, she swept down the +corridor, followed by Valencia. + + + + +XV. + + +Those were two busy months before Prudencia's wedding. Twenty girls, +sharply watched and directed by Dona Trinidad and the sometime +mistress of Casa Grande, worked upon the marriage wardrobe. Prudencia +would have no use for more house-linen; but enough fine linen was made +into underclothes to last her a lifetime. Five keen-eyed girls did +nothing but draw the threads for deshalados, and so elaborate was the +open-work that the wonder was the bride did not have bands and stripes +of rheumatism. Others fashioned crepes and flowered silks and heavy +satins into gowns with long pointed waists and full flowing skirts, +some with sleeves of lace and high to the base of the throat, others +cut to display the plump whiteness of the owner. Twelve rebosos were +made for her; Dona Trinidad gave her one of her finest mantillas; +Chonita, the white satin embroidered with poppies, for which she had +conceived a capricious dislike. She also invited Prudencia to take +what she pleased from her wardrobe; and Prudencia, who was nothing if +not practical, helped herself to three gowns which had been made for +Chonita at great expense in the city of Mexico, four shawls of Chinese +crepe, a roll of pineapple silk, and an American hat. + +The house until within two weeks of the wedding was full of +visitors,--neighbors whose ranchos lay ten leagues away or nearer, +and the people of the town; all of them come to offer congratulations, +chatter on the corridor by day and dance in the sala by night. The +court was never free of prancing horses pawing the ground for +eighteen hours at a time under their heavy saddles. Dona Trinidad's +cooking-girls were as thick in the kitchen as ants on an anthill, for +the good things of Casa Grande were as famous as its hospitality, and +not the least of the attractions to the merry visitors. When we did +not dance at home we danced at the neighbors' or at the Presidio. +During the last two weeks, however, every one went home to rest and +prepare for the festivities to succeed the wedding; and the old house +was as quiet as a canon in the mountains. + +Chonita took a lively concern in the preparations at first, but her +interest soon evaporated, and she spent more and more time in the +little library adjoining her bedroom. She did less reading than +thinking, however. Once she came to me and tried for fifteen minutes +to draw from me something in Estenega's dispraise; and when I finally +admitted that he had a fault or two I thought she would scalp me. +Still, at this time she was hardly more than fascinated, interested, +tantalized by a mind she could appreciate but not understand. If they +had never met again he would gradually have moved backward to +the horizon of her memory, growing dim and more dim, hovered in a +cloud-bank for a while, then disappeared into that limbo which must +exist somewhere for discarded impressions, and all would have been +well. + + + + +XVI. + + +The evening before the wedding Prudencia covered her demure self +with black gown and reboso, and, accompanied by Chonita, went to the +Mission to make her last maiden confession. Chonita did not go with +her into the church, but paced up and down the long corridor of the +wing, gazing absently upon the deep wild valley and peaceful ocean, +seeing little beyond the images in her own mind. + +That morning Alvarado and several members of the Junta had arrived, +but not Estenega. He had come as far as the Rancho Temblor, Alvarado +explained, and there, meeting some old friends, had decided to remain +over night and accompany them the next day to the ceremony. As Chonita +had stood on the corridor and watched the approach of the Governor's +cavalcade her heart had beaten violently, and she had angrily +acknowledged that her nervousness was due to the fact that she was +about to meet Diego Estenega again. When she discovered that he +was not of the party, she turned to me with pique, resentment, and +disappointment in her face. + +"Even if I cannot ever like him," she said, "at least I might have the +pleasure of hearing him talk. There is no harm in that, even if he is +an Estenega, a renegade, and the enemy of my brother. I can hate him +with my heart and like him with my mind. And he must have cared little +to see us again, that he could linger for another day." + +"I am mad to see Don Diego Estenega," said Valencia, her red lips +pouting. "Why did he, of all others, tarry?" + +"He is fickle and perverse," I said,--"the most uncertain man I know." + +"Perhaps he thought to make us wish to see him the more," suggested +Valencia. + +"No," I said: "he has no ridiculous vanities." + +Chonita wandered back and forth behind the arches, waiting for +Prudencia's long confession of sinless errors to conclude. + +"What has a baby like that to confess?" she thought, impatiently. "She +could not sin if she tried. She knows nothing of the dark storms +of rage and hatred and revenge which can gather in the breasts of +stronger and weaker beings. I never knew, either, until lately; but +the storm is so black I dare not face it and carry it to the priest. I +am a sort of human chaos, and I wish I were dead. I thought to forget +him, and I see him as plainly as on that morning when he told me that +it was he who would send my brother to prison----" + +She stopped short with a little cry. Diego Estenega stood before the +Mission in the broad swath of moonlight. She had heard a horse gallop +up the valley, but had paid no attention to the familiar sound. +Estenega had appeared as suddenly as if he had arisen from the earth. + +"It is I, senorita." He ascended the Mission steps. "Do not fear. May +I kiss your hand?" + +She gave him her hand, but withdrew it hurriedly. Of the tremendous +mystery of sex she knew almost nothing. Girls were brought up in such +ignorance in those days that many a bride ran home to her mother on +her wedding night; and books teach Innocence little. But she was fully +conscious that there was something in the touch of Estenega's lips and +hand that startled while it thrilled and enthralled. + +"I thought you stayed with the Ortegas to-night," she said. Oh, +blessed conventions! + +"I did,--for a few hours. Then I wanted to see you, and I left them +and came on. At Casa Grande I found no one but Eustaquia; every one +else had gone to the gardens; and she told me that you were here." + +Chonita's heart was beating as fast as it had beaten that morning; +even her hands shook a little. A glad wave of warmth rushed over her. +She turned to him impetuously. "Tell me?" she exclaimed. "Why do I +feel like this for you? I hate you: you know that. There are many +reasons,--five; you counted them. And yet I feel excited, almost glad, +at your coming. This morning I was disappointed when you did not. Tell +me,--you know everything, and I so little,--why is it?" + +Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes terrified and appealing. She looked +very lovely and natural. Probably for the first time in his life +Estenega resisted a temptation. He passionately wished to take her in +his arms and tell her the truth. But he was too clever a man; there +was too much at stake; if he frightened her now he might never even +see her again. Moreover, she appealed to his chivalry. And it suddenly +occurred to him that so sweet a heart would be warped in its waking if +passion bewildered and controlled her first. + +"Dona Chonita," he said, "like all women,--all beautiful and spoiled +women,--you demand variety. I happen to be made of harder stuff than +your caballeros, and you have not seen me for two months; that is +all." + +"And if I saw you every day for two months would I no longer care +whether you came or went?" + +"Undoubtedly. + +"Is it sweet or terrible to feel this way?" thought the girl. "Would I +regret if he no longer made me tremble, or would I go on my knees and +thank the Blessed Virgin?" Aloud she said, "It was strange for me to +ask you such questions; but it is as if you had something in your mind +separate from yourself, and that _it_ would tell me, and you could not +prevent its being truthful. I do not believe in _you_; you look as if +nothing were worth the while to lie or tell the truth about; but your +mind is quite different. It seems to me that it knows all things, that +it is as cold and clear as ice." + +"What a whimsical creature you are! My mind, like myself,--I feel as +if I were twins,--is at your service. Forget that I am Diego Estenega. +Regard me as a sort of archive of impressions which may amuse or serve +you as the poorest of your books do. That they happen to be catalogued +under the general title of Diego Estenega is a mere detail; an +accident, for that matter; they might be pigeon-holed in the skull of +a Bandini or a Pico. I happen to be the magnet, that is all." + +"If I could forget that you were an Estenega,--just for a week, while +you are here," she said, wistfully. + +"You are a woman of will and imagination,--also of variety. Make an +experiment; it will interest you. Of course there will be times when +you will be bitterly conscious that I am the enemy of your house; it +would be idle to expect otherwise; but when we happen to be apart from +disturbing influences, let us agree to forget that we are anything but +two human beings, deeply congenial. As for what I said in the garden +at Monterey, the last time we spoke together,--I shall not bother +you." + +"You no longer care?" she exclaimed. + +"I did not say that. I said I should not bother you,--recognizing +your hostility and your reasons. Be faithful to your traditions, my +beautiful doomswoman. No man is worth the sacrifice of those dear old +comrades. What presumption for a man to require you to abandon the +cause of your house, give up your brother, sacrifice one or more of +your religious principles; one, too, who would open his doors to the +Americans you hate! No man is worth such a sacrifice as that." + +"No," she said, "no man." But she said it without enthusiasm. + +"A man is but one; traditions are fivefold, and multiplied by duty. +Poor grain of sand--what can he give, comparable to the cold serene +happiness of fidelity to self? Love is sweet,--horribly sweet,--but so +common a madness can give but a tithe of the satisfaction of duty to +pure and lofty ideals." + +"I do not believe that." The woman in her arose in resentment. "A life +of duty must be empty, cold, and wrong. It was not that we were made +for." + +"Let us talk little of love, senorita: it is a dangerous subject." + +"But it interests me, and I should like to understand it." + +"I will explain the subject to you fully, some day. I have a fancy to +do that on my own territory,--up in the redwoods--" + +"Here is Prudencia." + +A small black figure swept down the steps of the church. She bowed +low to Estenega when he was presented, but uttered no word. The Indian +servants brought the horses to the door, and they rode down the valley +to Casa Grande. + + + + +XVII. + + +The guests of Casa Grande--there were many besides Alvarado and his +party; the house was full again--were gathered with the family on the +corridor as Estenega, Chonita, and Prudencia dismounted at the extreme +end of the court-yard. As Reinaldo saw the enemy of his house approach +he ran down the steps, advanced rapidly, and bowed low before him. + +"Welcome, Senor Don Diego Estenega," he said,--"welcome to Casa +Grande. The house is thine. Burn it if thou wilt. The servants are +thine; I myself am thy servant. This is the supreme moment of my life, +supremer even than when I learned of my acquittal of the foul +charges laid to my door by scheming and jealous enemies. It is +long--alas!--since an Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada have met in +the court-yard of the one or the other. Let this moment be the seal of +peace, the death of feud, the unification of the North and the South." + +"You have the hospitality of the true Californian, Don Reinaldo. It +gives me pleasure to accept it." + +"Would, then, thy pleasure could equal mine!" "Curse him!" he added to +Chonita, as Estenega went up the steps to greet Don Guillermo and Dona +Trinidad, "I have just received positive information that it was +he who kept me from distinguishing myself and my house in the +Departmental Junta, he who cast me in a dungeon. It poisons my +happiness to sleep under the same roof with him." + +"Ay!" exclaimed Chonita. "Why canst thou not be more sincere, my +brother? Hospitality did not compel thee to say so much to thine +enemy. Couldst thou not have spoken a few simple words like himself, +and not blackened thy soul?" + +"My sister! thou never spokest to me so harshly before. And on my +marriage eve!" + +"Forgive me, my most beloved brother. Thou knowest I love thee. But it +grieves me to think that even hospitality could make thee false." + +When they ascended the steps, not a woman was to be seen; all had +followed Prudencia to her chamber to see the _donas_ of the groom, +which had arrived that day from Mexico. Chonita tarried long enough to +see that her father had forgotten the family grievance in his revived +susceptibility to Estenega, then went to Prudencia's room. There +women, young and old, crowded each other, jabbering like monkeys. The +little iron bed, the chairs and tables, every article of furniture, +in fact, but the altar in the corner, displayed to advantage exquisite +materials for gowns, a mass of elaborate underclothing, a white lace +mantilla to be worn at the bridal, lace flounces fine and deep, crepe +shawls, sashes from Rome, silk stockings by the dozen. On a large +table were the more delicate and valuable gifts: a rosary of topaz, +the cross a fine piece of carving; a jeweled comb; a string of +pearls; diamond hoops for the ears; a large pin painted with a head of +Guadalupe, the patron saint of California; and several fragile +fans. Quite apart, on a little table, was the crown and pride of the +_donas_,--six white cobweb-like smocks, embroidered, hemistitched, and +deshaladoed. Did any Californian bridegroom forget that dainty item he +would be repudiated on his wedding-eve. + +"God of my life!" murmured Valencia, "he has taste as well as gold. +And all to go on that round white doll!" + +There was little envy among the other girls. Their eyes sparkled with +good-nature as they kissed Prudencia and congratulated her. The older +women patted the things approvingly; and, between religion, a _donas_ +to satisfy an angel, and prospective bliss, Prudencia was the happiest +little bride-elect in all The Californias. + +"Never were such smocks!" cried one of the girls. "Ay! he will make a +good husband. That sign never fails." + +"Thou must wear long, long trains now, my Prudencia, and be as stately +as Chonita." + +"Ay!" exclaimed Prudencia. Did not every gown already made have a +train longer than herself? + +"Thou needst never wear a mended stocking with all these to last thee +for years," said another: never had silk stockings been brought to +the Californias in sufficient plenty for the dancing feet of its +daughters. + +"I shall always mend my stockings," said Prudencia, "I myself." + +"Yes," said one of the older women, "thou wilt be a good wife and +waste nothing." + +Valencia laid her arm about Chonita's waist. "I wish to meet Don Diego +Estenega," she said. "Wilt thou not present him to me?" + +"Thou art very forward," said Chonita, coldly. "Canst thou not wait +until he comes thy way?" + +"No, my Chonita; I wish to meet him now. My curiosity devours me." + +"Very well; come with me and thou shalt know him.--Wilt thou come too, +Eustaquia? There are only men on the corridor." + +We found Diego and Don Guillermo talking politics in a corner, both +deeply interested. Estenega rose at once. + +"Don Diego Estenega," said Chonita, "I would present you to the +Senorita Dona Valencia Menendez, of the Rancho del Fuego." + +Estenega bowed. "I have heard much of Dona Valencia, and am delighted +to meet her." + +Valencia was nonplussed for a moment; he had not given her the +customary salutation, and she could hardly murmur the customary reply. +She merely smiled and looked so handsome that she could afford to +dispense with words. + +"A superb type," said Estenega to me, as Don Guillermo claimed +the beauty's attention for a moment. "But only a type; nothing +distinctive." + +Nevertheless, ten minutes later, Valencia, with the manoeuvring of the +general of many a battle, had guided him to a seat in the sala under +Dona Trinidad's sleepy wing, and her eyes were flashing the language +of Spain to his. I saw Chonita watch them for a moment, in mingled +surprise and doubt, then saw a sudden look of fear spring to her eyes +as she turned hastily and walked away. + +Again I shared her room,--the thirty rooms and many in the +out-buildings were overflowing with guests who had come a hundred +leagues or less,--and after we had been in bed a half-hour, Chonita, +overcome by the insinuating power of that time-honored confessional, +told me of her meeting with Estenega at the Mission. I made few +comments, but sighed; I knew him so well. "It will be strange to even +seem to be friends with him," she added,--"to hate him in my heart and +yet delight to talk with him, and perhaps to regret when he leaves." + +"Are you sure that you still hate him?" + +She sat up in bed. The solid wooden shutters were closed, but over the +door was a small square aperture, and through this a stray moonbeam +drifted and fell on her. Her hair was tumbling about her shoulders, +and she looked decidedly less statuesque than usual. + +"Eustaquia," she said, solemnly, "I believe I can go to confession." + + + + +XVIII. + + +At sunrise the next morning the guests of Casa Grande were horsed and +ready to start for the Mission. The valley between the house and the +Mission was alive with the immediate rancheros and their families, and +the people of the town, aristocrats and populace. + +At Estenega's suggestion, I climbed with him to the attic of the +tower, much to the detriment of my frock. But I made no complaint +after Diego had removed the dusty little windows on both sides and +I looked through the apertures at the charming scene. The rising sun +gave added fire to the bright red tiles of the long white Mission, +and threw a pink glow on its noble arches and towers and on the white +massive aqueduct. The bells were crashing their welcome to the bride. +The deep valley, wooded and rocky, was pervaded by the soft glow of +the awakening, but was as lively as midday. There were horses of every +color the Lord has decreed that horses shall wear. The saddles upon +them were of embossed leather or rich embroidered silk heavily mounted +with silver. Above all this gorgeousness sat the caballeros and +the donas, in velvet and silk, gold lace and Spanish, jewels and +mantillas, and silver-weighted sombreros; a confused mass of color and +motion; a living picture, shifting like a kaleidoscope. Nor was +this all: brown, soberly-dressed old men and women in satin-padded +carretas,--heavy ox-carts on wheels made from solid sections of trees, +and driven by a ganan seated on one of the animals; the populace in +cheap finery, some on foot, others astride old mules or broken-winded +horses, two or three on one lame old hack; all chattering, shouting, +eager, interested, impatiently awaiting the bride and a week of +pleasure. + +In the court-yard and plaza before it the guests of the house were +mounted on a caponera of palominas,--horses peculiar to the country; +beautiful creatures, golden-bronze, and burnished, with luxuriant +manes and tails which waved and shone like the sparkling silver of +a water-fall. A number were riderless, awaiting the pleasure of the +bridal party. One alone was white as a Californian fog. He lifted his +head and pranced as if aware of his proud distinction. The aquera and +saddle which embellished his graceful beauty were of pink silk worked +with delicate leaves in gold and silver thread. The stirrups, cut from +blocks of wood, were elaborately carved. The glistening reins were +made from the long crystal hairs of his mane, and linked with silver. +A strip of pink silk, joined at the ends with a huge rosette, was +hung from the high silver pommel of the saddle, depending on the left +side,--a stirrup for my lady's foot. + +A deeper murmur, a sudden lining of sombreros and waving of little +hands, proclaimed that the bridal party had appeared, and we hastened +down. + +Prudencia, the mantilla of the _donas_ depending from a comb six +inches high, was attired in a white satin gown with a train of +portentous length, and looked like a kitten with a long tail. Reinaldo +was dazzling. He wore white velvet embroidered with gold; his linen +and lace were more fragile than cobwebs; his white satin slippers +were clasped with diamond buckles, the same in which his father had +married; his jacket was buttoned with diamonds. His white velvet +sombrero was covered with plumes. Never have I seen so splendid +a bridegroom. I saw Estenega grin; but I maintain that, whatever +Reinaldo's deficiencies, he was a picture to be thankful for that +morning. + +Dona Trinadad was quietly gowned in gray satin, but Don Guillermo was +as picturesque in his way as his son. His black silk handkerchief had +been knotted hurriedly about his head, and the four corners hung upon +his neck. His short breeches were of red velvet, his jacket of blue +cloth trimmed with large silver buttons and gold lace; his vest was +of yellow damask, his linen embroidered. Attached to his slippers were +enormous silver spurs inlaid with gold, the rowels so long that they +scratched more trains than one that day. + +The bridesmaids stood in a group apart, a large bouquet: each wore +a gown of a different color. Valencia blazed forth in yellow, +and flashed triumphant glances at Estenega, now and again one of +irrepressible envy and resentment at Reinaldo. Chonita looked like a +water-witch in pale green covered with lace that stirred with every +breath of air; her mantilla was as delicate as sea-spray. About her +was something subtle, awakened, restive, that I noticed for the first +time. Once she intercepted one of Valencia's lavish glances, and her +own eyes were extremely wicked and dangerous for a moment. I looked at +Estenega. He was regarding her with a fierce intensity which made him +oblivious for the moment of his surroundings. I looked at Valencia. +Thunderclouds were those heavy brows, lowered to the lightning which +sprang from depths below. I looked again at Chonita. The pink color +was in her marble face; pinker were her carven lips. + +"God of my soul!" I said to Estenega. "Go home." + +"My Prudencia," said Don Guillermo. He lifted her to the pink saddle, +adjusted her foot in the pink ribbon, climbed up behind her, placed +one arm about her waist, took the bridle in his other hand, and +cantered out of the court-yard. Reinaldo sprang to his horse, lifted +his mother in front of him, and followed. Then went the bridesmaids; +and the rest of us fell into line as we listed. As we rode up the +valley, those awaiting us joined the cavalcade, the populace closing +it, spreading out like a fan attached to the tail of a snake. The +bells rang out a joyful discordant peal; the long undulating line of +many colors wound through the trees, passed the long corridor of the +Mission, to the stone steps of the church. + +The ceremony was a long one, for communion was given the bride and +groom; and during the greater part of it I do not think Estenega +removed his gaze from Chonita. I could not help observing her too, +although I was deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. +Her round womanly figure had never appeared to greater advantage than +in that close-fitting gown; her hips being rather wide, she wore fewer +gathers than was the fashion. Her faultless arms had a warmth in their +whiteness; the filmy lace of her mantilla caressed a throat so full +and round and white and firm that it seemed to invite other caresses; +even the black pearls clung lovingly about it. Her graceful head was +bent forward a little, and the soft black lashes brushed her cheeks. +The pink flush was still in her face, like the first tinge of color on +the chill desolation of dawn. + +"Is she not beautiful?" whispered Estenega, eagerly. "Is not that a +woman to make known to herself? Think of the infinite possibilities, +the sublimation of every----" + +Here I ordered him to keep quiet, reminding him that he was in church, +a fact he had quite forgotten. I inferred that he remembered it later, +for he moved restlessly more than once and looked longingly toward the +door. + +It was over at last, and as the bride and groom appeared in the door +of the church and descended the steps, a salute was fired from the +Presidio. On the long corridor a table had been built from end to +end and a goodly banquet provided by the padres. We took our seats +at once, the populace gathering about a feast spread for them on the +grass. + +Padre Jimeno, the priest who had officiated at the ceremony, sat at +the head of the table; the other priests were scattered among us, and +good company all of them were. We were a very lively party. Prudencia +was toasted until her calm important head whirled. Reinaldo made a +speech as full of flowers as the occasion demanded. Alvarado made +one also, five sentences of plain well-chosen words, to which the +bridegroom listened with scorn. Now and again a girl swept the strings +of a guitar or a caballero sang. The delighted shrieks of the people +came over to us; at regular intervals cannons were fired. + +Estenega found himself seated between Chonita and Valencia. I was +opposite, and beginning to feel profoundly fascinated by this drama +developing before my eyes. I saw that he was amused by the situation +and not in the least disconcerted. Valencia was nervous and eager. +Chonita, whose pride never failed her, had drawn herself up and looked +coldly indifferent. + +"Senor," murmured Valencia, "thou wilt tarry with us long, no? We have +much to show thee in Santa Barbara, and on our ranchos." + +"I fear that I can stay but a week, senorita. I must return to Los +Angeles." + +"Would nothing tempt thee to stay, Don Diego?" + +He looked into her rich Southern face and approved of it: when had he +ever failed to approve of a pretty woman? "Thine eyes, senorita, would +tempt a man to forget more than duty." + +"And thou wilt stay?" + +"When I leave Santa Barbara what I take of myself will not be worth +leaving." + +"Ay! and what thou leavest thou never shalt have again." + +"There is my hope of heaven, senorita." + +He turned from this glittering conversation to Chonita. + +"You are a little tired," he said, in a low voice. "Your color has +gone, and the shadows are coming about your eyes." + +The suspicion was borne home to her that he must have observed her +closely to detect those shades of difference which no one else had +noted. + +"A little, senor. I went to bed late and rose early. Such times as +these tax the endurance. But after a siesta I shall be refreshed." + +"You look strong and very healthy." + +"Ay, but I am! I am not delicate at all. I can ride all day, and +swim--which few of our women do. I even like to walk; and I can dance +every night for a week. Only, this is an unusual time." + +Her supple elastic figure and healthy whiteness of skin betokened +endurance and vitality, and he looked at her with pleasure. "Yes, you +are strong," he said. "You look as if you would _last_,--as if you +never would grow brown nor stout." + +"What difference, if the next generation be beautiful?" she said, +lightly. "Look at Don Juan de la Borrasca. See him gaze upon Panchita +Lopez, who is just sixteen. What does he care that the women of his +day are coffee-colored and stringy or fat? You will care as little +when you too are brown and dried up, afraid to eat dulces, and each +month seeking a new parting for your hair." + +"You are a hopeful seer! But you--are you resigned to the time when +even the withered old beau will not look at you,--you who are the +loveliest woman in the Californias?" + +It was the first compliment he had paid her, and she looked up with a +swift blush, then lowered her eyes again. "With truth, I never imagine +myself except as I am now; but I should have always my books, and no +husband to teach me that there were other women more fair." + +"And books will suffice, then?" + +"Sure." She said it a little wistfully. Then she added, abruptly, "I +shall go to confession this week." + +"Ah!" + +"Yes; for although I hate you still--that is, I do not like you--I +have forgiven you. I believe you to be kind and generous, although +the enemy of my brother; that if you did oppose him and cast him +into prison, you did so with a loyal motive; you cannot help making +mistakes, for you are but human. And I do not forget that if it were +not for you he would not be a bridegroom to-day. Also, you are not +responsible for being an Estenega; so, although I do not forgive the +blood in you,--how could I, and be worthy to bear the name of Iturbi y +Moncada?--I forgive you, yourself, for being what you cannot help, and +for what you have unwittingly and mistakenly done. Do you understand?" + +"I understand. Your subtleties are magnificent." + +"You must not laugh at me. Tell me, how do you like my friend +Valencia?" + +"Well enough. I want to hear more about your confession. You fall back +into the bosom of your Church with joy, I suppose?" + +"Ay!" + +"And you would never disobey one of her mandates?" + +"Holy God! no." + +"Why?" + +"Why? Because I am a Catholic." + +"That is not what I asked you. Why are you a Catholic? if I must make +myself more plain. Why are you afraid to disobey? Why do you cling to +the Church with your back braced against your intelligence? It is hope +of future reward, I suppose,--or fear?" + +"Sure. I want to go to the heaven of the good Catholic." + +"Do not waste this life, particularly the youth of it, preparing for +a legendary hereafter. Granting, for the sake of argument, that this +existence is supplemented by another: you have no knowledge of what +elements you will be composed when you lay aside your mortal part to +enter there. Your power of enjoyment may be very thin indeed, like the +music of a band without brass; the sort of happiness one can imagine a +human being to experience out of whose anatomy the nervous system has +by some surgical triumph been removed, and in whom love of the arts +alone exists, abnormally cultivated. But one thing we of earth do +know; you do not, but I will tell you; we have a slight capacity for +happiness and a large capacity for enjoyment. There is not much in +life, God knows, but there is something. One can get a reasonable +amount out of it with due exercise of philosophy. Of that we are sure. +Of what comes after we are absolutely unsure." + +She had endeavored to interrupt him once or twice, and did so now, her +eyes flashing. "Are you an atheist?" she demanded, abruptly. "Are you +not a Catholic?" + +"I am neither an atheist nor a Catholic. The question of religion has +no interest for me whatever. I wish it had none for you." + +She looked at him sternly. For a moment I thought the Doomswoman would +annihilate the renegade. But her face softened suddenly. "I will pray +for you," she said, and turned to the man at her right. + +Estenega's face turned the chalky hue I always dreaded, and he bent +his lips to her ear. + +"Pray for me many times a day; and at other times recall what I said +about the relative value of possible and improbable heavens. You are a +woman who thinks." + +"Don Diego," exclaimed Valencia, unable to control her impatience +longer, and turning sharply from the caballero who was talking to her +in a fiery undertone, "thou hast not spoken to me for ten minutes." + +"For ten hours, senorita. Thou hast treated me with the scorn and +indifference of one weary of homage." + +She blushed with gratification. "It is thou who hast forgotten me." + +"Would that I could!" + +"Dost thou wish to?" + +"When I am away from thee, or thou talkest to other men,--sure." + +"It is thy fault if I talk to other men." + +"You make me feel the Good Samaritan." + +"But I care not to talk to them." + +"Thy heart is a comb of honey, senorita. On my knees I accept the +little morsel the queen bee--thy swift messenger--brings me. Truly, +never was sweet so sweetly sweet." + +"It is thou who hast the honey on thy tongue, although I fear there +may be a stone in thy heart." + +"Ah! Why? No stone could sit so lightly in my breast as my heart when +those red lips smile to me." + +Chonita listened to this conversation with mingled amazement and +anger. She did not doubt Estenega's sincerity to herself; neither did +Valencia appear to doubt him. But his present levity was manifest to +her. Why should he care to talk so to another woman? How strange were +men! She gave up the problem. + +After the long banquet concluded, the cavalcade formed once more, and +we returned to the town. Prudencia rode her white horse alone this +time, her husband beside her. Leading the cavalcade was the Presidio +band. Its members wore red jackets trimmed with yellow cord, Turkish +trousers of white wool, and red Polish caps. With their music mingled +the regular detonations of the Presidio cannon. After we had wound +the length of the valley we made a progress through the town for the +benefit of the populace, who ran to the corridors to watch us, and +shouted with delight. But the sun was hot, and we were all glad to be +between the thick adobe walls once more. + +We took a long siesta that day, but hours before dark the populace +was crowded in the court-yard under the booth which had been erected +during the afternoon. After the early supper the guests of Casa +Grande, and our neighbors of the town, filled the sala, the large bare +rooms adjoining, and the corridors. The old people of both degrees +seated themselves in rows against the wall, the fiddles scraped, the +guitars twanged, the flutes cooed, and the dancing began. + +In the court-yard a small space was cleared, and changing couples +danced El Jarabe and La Jota,--two stately jigs,--whilst the +spectators applauded with wild and impartial enthusiasm, and Don +Guillermo from the corridor threw silver coins at the dancers' feet. +Now and again a pretty girl would dance alone, her gay skirt lifted +with the tips of her fingers, her eyes fixed upon the ground. A man +would approach from behind and place his hat on her head. Perhaps she +would toss it saucily aside, perhaps let it rest on her coquettish +braids,--a token that its owner was her accepted gallant for the +evening. + +Above, the slender men and women of the aristocracy, the former in +black and white, the latter in gowns of vivid richness, danced the +contradanza, the most graceful dance I have ever seen; and since those +Californian days I have lived in almost every capital of Europe. +The music is so monotonous and sweet, the figures so melting and +harmonious, that to both spectator and dancer comes a dreaming languid +contentment, as were the senses swimming on the brink of sleep. +Chonita and Valencia were famous rivals in its rendering, always the +sala-stars to those not dancing. Valencia was the perfection of grace, +but it was the grace now of the snake, again of the cat. She suggested +fangs and claws, a repressed propensity to sudden leaps. Chonita's +grace was that of rhythmical music imprisoned in a woman's form of +proportions so perfect that she seemed to dissolve from one figure +into another, swaying, bending, gliding. The soul of grace emanated +from her, too evanescent to be seen, but felt as one feels perfume or +the something that is not color in the heart of a rose. Her star-like +eyes were open, but the brain behind them was half asleep: she danced +by instinct. + +I was watching the dancing of these two,--the poetry of promise and +the poetry of death,--when suddenly Don Guillermo entered the room, +stamped his foot, pulled out his rosary, and instantly we all went +down on our knees. It was eight of the clock, and this ceremony was +never omitted in Casa Grande, be the occasion festive or domestic. +When we had told our beads, Don Guillermo rose, put his rosary in his +pocket, trotted out, and the dancing was resumed. + +As the contradanza and its ensuing waltz finished, Estenega went up to +Chonita. "You are too tired to dance any more to-night," he said. "Let +us sit here and talk. Besides, I do not like to see you whirling about +the room in men's arms." + +"It is nothing to you if I dance with other men," she said, +rebelliously, although she took the seat he indicated. "And to dance +is not wrong." + +"Nothing is wrong. In some countries the biggest liar is king. We +know as little of ethics--except, to be sure, the ethics of +civilization--as one sex knows of another. So we fall back on +instinct. I have not a prejudice, but I feel it disgusting to see a +woman who is somewhat more to me than other women, embraced by another +man. It would infuriate me if done in private; why should it not at +least disgust me in public? I care as little for the approving seal +of the conventions as I care whether other women--including my own +sisters--waltz or not." + +And, alas! from that night Chonita never waltzed again. "It is not +that I care for his opinion," she assured me later; "only he made me +feel that I never wanted a man to touch me again." + +Valencia used every art of flashing eyes and pouting lips and gay +sally--there was nothing subtle in her methods--to win Estenega to her +side; but the sofa on which he sat with Chonita might have been +the remotest star in the firmament. Then, prompted by pique and +determination to find ointment for her wounded vanity, she suddenly +opened her batteries upon Reinaldo. That beautiful young bridegroom +was bored to the verge of dissolution by his solemn and sleepy +Prudencia, who kept her wide eyes upon him with an expression of rapt +adoration, exactly as she regarded the Stations in the Mission when +performing the Via Crucis. Valencia, to his mind, was the handsomest +woman in the room, and he felt the flattery of her assault. Besides, +he was safely married. So he drifted to her side, danced with her, +flirted with her, devoted himself to her caprices, until every one was +noting, and I thought that Prudencia would bawl outright. Just in the +moment, however, when our nerves were humming, Don Guillermo thumped +on the door with his stick and ordered us all to go to bed. + + + + +XIX. + + +The next morning we started at an early hour for the Rancho de las +Rocas, three leagues from Santa Barbara. The populace remained in the +booth, but we were joined by all our friends of the town, and once +more were a large party. We were bound for a merienda and a carnesada, +where bullocks would be roasted whole on spits over a bed of coals in +a deep excavation. It took a Californian only a few hours to sleep +off fatigue, and we were as fresh and gay as if we had gone to bed at +eight the night before. + +Valencia managed to ride beside Estenega, and I wondered if she +would win him. Woman's persistence, allied to man's vanity, so often +accomplishes the result intended by the woman. It seemed to me the +simplest climax for the unfolding drama, although I should have been +sorry for Diego. + +It was Reinaldo's turn to look black, but he devoted himself +ostentatiously to Prudencia, who beamed like a child with a stick of +candy. Chonita rode between Don Juan de la Borrasca and Adan. Her face +was calm, but it occurred to me that she was growing careless of her +sovereignty, for her manner was abstracted and indifferent; she seemed +to have discarded those little coquetries which had sat so gracefully +upon her. Still, as long as she concealed the light of her mind under +a bushel, her beauty and Lorleian fascination would draw men to her +feet and keep them there. Every man but Estenega and Alvarado was +as gay of color as the wild flowers had been, and the girls, as they +cantered, looked like full-blown roses. Chonita wore a dark-blue gown +and reboso of thin silk, which became her fairness marvelously well. + +"Dona Chonita, light of my eyes," said Don Juan, "thou art not wont to +be so quiet when I am by thee." + +"Thou usually hast enough to say for two." + +"Ay, thou canst appreciate the art of speech. Hast thou ever known any +one who could converse with lighter ease than I and thy brother?" + +"I never have heard any one use more words." + +"Ay! they roll from my tongue--and from Reinaldo's--like wheels +downhill." + +She turned to Adan: "They will be happy, you think,--Reinaldo and +Prudencia?" + +"Ay!" + +"What a beautiful wedding, no?" + +"Ay!" + +"Life is always the same with thee, I suppose,--smoking, riding, +swinging in the hammock?" + +"Ay!" + +"Thou wouldst not exchange thy life for another? Thou dost not wish to +travel?" + +"No,--sure." + +She wheeled suddenly and galloped over to her father and Alvarado, her +caballeros staring helplessly after her. + +When we arrived at the rancho the bullocks were already swinging +in the pits, the smell of roast meat was in the air. We dismounted, +throwing our bridles to the vaqueros in waiting; and while Indian +servants spread the table, the girls joined hands and danced about the +pit, throwing flowers upon the bullocks, singing and laughing. The +men watched them, or amused themselves in various ways,--some with +cockfights and impromptu races; others began at once to gamble on a +large flat stone; a group stood about a greased pole and jeered at two +rival vaqueros endeavoring to mount it for the sake of the gold piece +on the top. One buried a rooster in the ground, leaving its head +alone exposed; others, mounting their horses, dashed by at full speed, +snatching at the head as they passed. Reinaldo distinguished himself +by twisting it off with facile wrist while urging his horse to the +swiftness of the east wind. + +"I am going to dare more than Californian has ever dared before," said +Estenega to me, as we gathered at length about the table-cloth. "I am +going to get Dona Chonita off by herself in that little canon and have +a talk with her. Now, do you stand guard." + +"I shall not!" I exclaimed. "It is understood that when Dona Trinidad +stays at home Chonita is in my charge. I will not permit such a +thing." + +"Thou wilt, my Eustaquia. Dona Chonita is no pudding-brained girl. She +needs no duena." + +"I know that; but it is not that I am thinking of. Suppose some one +sees you; thou knowest the inflexibility of our conventions." + +"You forget that we are _comadre_ and _compadre_. Our privileges +are many." He abruptly dismissed the intimate "thou," with his usual +American perversity. + +"True; I had forgotten. But whither is all this tending, Diego? She +neither will nor can marry you." + +"She both can and will. Will you help me, or not? Because if not I +shall proceed without you. Only you can make it easier." + +I always gave way to him; everybody did. + +He was as good as his word. How he managed, Chonita never knew, but +not a half-hour after dinner she found herself alone in the canon with +him, seated among the huge stones cataclysms had hurled there. + +"Why have you brought me here?" she asked. + +"To talk with you." + +"But this would be severely censured." + +"Do you care?" + +"No." + +She looked at him with a curious feeling she had had before; there +was something inside of his head that she wanted to get at,--something +that baffled and teased and allured her. She wanted to understand him, +and she was oppressed by the weight of her ignorance; she had no key +to unlock a man like that. With one of her swift impulses she told him +of what she was thinking. + +He smiled, his eyes lighting. "I am more than willing you should +know all that you would be curious about," he said. "Ask me a hundred +questions; I will answer them." + +She meditated a moment. She never had taken sufficient interest in a +man before to desire to fathom him, and the arts of the Californian +belle were not those of the tactfully and impartially interested woman +of to-day. She did not know how to begin. + +"What have you read?" she asked, at length. + +He gave her some account of his library,--a large one,--and mentioned +many books of many nations, of which she had never heard. + +"You have read all those books?" + +"There are many long winter nights and days in the redwood forests of +the northern coast." + +"That does not tell me much,--what you have read. I feel that it is +but one of the many items which went to the making up of you. You have +traveled everywhere, no? Was it like living over again the books of +travel?" + +"Not in the least. Each man travels for himself." + +"Madame de Stael said that traveling was sad. Is it so?" + +"To the lover of history it is like food without salt: imagination has +painted an historical city with the panorama of a great time; it has +been to us a stage for great events. We find it a stage with familiar +paraphernalia, and actors as commonplace as ourselves." + +"It is more satisfactory to stay at home and read about it?" + +"Infinitely, though less expanding." + +"Then is anything worth while except reading? + +"Several things; the pursuit of glory, for one thing, and the active +occupied life necessary for its achievement." + +She leaned forward a little; she felt that she had stumbled nearer to +him. "Are you ambitious?" she asked. + +"For what it compels life to yield; abstractly, not. Ambition is the +looting of hell in chase of biting flames swirling above a desert of +ashes. As for posthumous fame, it must be about as satisfactory as a +draught of ice-water poured down the throat of a man who has died on +Sahara. And yet, even if in the end it all means nothing, if 'from +hour to hour we ripe and ripe and then from hour to hour we rot +and rot,' still for a quarter-century or so the nettle of ambition +flagellating our brain may serve to make life less uninteresting and +more satisfactory. The abstraction and absorption of the fight, the +stinging fear of rivals, the murmur of acknowledgment, the shout of +compelled applause,--they fill the blanks." + +"Tell me," she said, imperiously, "what do you want?" + +"Shall I tell you? I never have spoken of it to a living soul but +Alvarado. Shall I tell it to a woman,--and an Iturbi y Moncada? Could +the folly of man further go?" + +"If I am a woman I am an Iturbi y Moncada, and if I am an Iturbi y +Moncada I have the honor of its generations in my veins." + +"Very good. I believe you would not betray me, even in the interest of +your house. Would you?" + +"No." + +"And I love to talk to you, to tell you what I would tell no other. +Listen, then. An envoy goes to Mexico next week with letters from +Alvarado, desiring that I be the next governor of the Californias, and +containing the assurance that the Departmental Junta will endorse +me. I shall follow next month to see Santa Ana personally; I know him +well, and he was a friend of my father's. I wish to be invested with +peculiar powers; that is to say, I wish California to be practically +overlooked while I am governor and I wish it understood that I shall +be governor as long as I please. Alvarado will hold no office under +the Americans, and is as ready to retire now as a few years later. Of +course my predilection for the Americans must be carefully concealed +both from the Mexican government and the mass of the people here: +Santa Ana and Alvarado know what is bound to come; the Mexicans, +generally, retain enough interest in the Californias to wish to keep +them. I shall be the last governor of the Department, and I shall +employ that period to amalgamate the native population so closely that +they will make a strong contingent in the new order of things and +be completely under my domination. I shall establish a college with +American professors, so that our youth will be taught to think, and to +think in English. Alvarado has done something for education, but not +enough; he has not enforced it, and the methods are very primitive. +I intend to be virtually dictator. With as little delay as possible +I shall establish a newspaper,--a powerful weapon in the hands of a +ruler, as well as a factor of development. Then I shall organize a +superior court for the punishment of capital crimes. Not that I do not +recognize the right of a man to kill if his reasons satisfy himself, +but there can be no subservience to authority in a country where +murder is practically licensed. American immigration will be more than +encouraged, and it shall be distinctly understood by the Americans +that I encourage it. Everything, of course, will be done to promote +good-will between the Californians and the new-comers. Then, when the +United States make up their mind to take possession of us, I shall +waste no blood, but hand over a country worthy of capture. In the +meantime it will have been carefully drilled into the Californian mind +that American occupation will be for their ultimate good, and that I +shall go to Washington to protect their interests. There will then be +no foolish insurrections. Do you care to hear more?" + +Her face was flushed, her chest was rising rapidly. + +"I hardly know what to think,--how I feel. You interest me so much as +you talk that I wish you to succeed: I picture your success. And yet +it maddens me to hear you talk of the Americans in that way,--also +to know that your house will be greater than ours,--that we will be +forgotten. But--yes, tell me all. What will you do then?" + +"I shall have California, in the first place, scratched for the gold +that I believe lies somewhere within her. When that great resource +_is_ located and developed I shall publish in every American newspaper +the extraordinary agricultural advantages of the country. In a word, +my object is to make California a great State and its name synonymous +with my own. As I told you before, for fame as fame I care nothing; +I do not care if I am forgotten on my death-bed; but with my blood +biting my veins I must have action while living. Shall I say that +I have a worthier motive in wishing to aid in the development of +civilization? But why worthier? Merely a higher form of selfishness. +The best and the worst of motives are prompted by the same instinct." + +"I would advise you," she said, slowly, "never to marry. Your wife +would be very unhappy." + +"But no one has greater scorn than you for the man who spends his life +with his lips at the chalice of the poppy." + +"True, I had forgotten them." She rose abruptly. "Let us go back," she +said. "It is better not to stay too long." + +As they walked down the canon she looked at him furtively. The men of +her race were almost all tall and finely-proportioned, but they did +not suggest strength as this man did. And his face,--it was so +grimly determined at times that she shrank from it, then drew +near, fascinated. It had no beauty at all--according to Californian +standards; she could not know that it represented all that intellect, +refinement and civilization, generally, would do for the human +race for a century to come,--but it had a subtle power, an absolute +audacity, an almost contemptuous fearlessness in its bold, fine +outline, a dominating intelligence in the keen deeply-set eyes, and +a hint of weakness, where and what she could not determine, that +mystified and magnetized her. + +"I know you a little better," she said, "just a little,--enough to +make my curiosity ache and jump. At the same time, I know now what I +did not before,--that I might climb and mine and study and watch, and +you would always be beyond me. There is something subtle and evasive +about you--something I seem to be close to always, yet never can see +or grasp." + +"It is merely the barrier of sex. A man can know a woman fairly well, +because her life, consequently the interests which mould her mind and +conceive her thoughts, are more or less simple. A man's life is so +complex, his nature so inevitably the sum and work of it of it lies +so far outside of woman's sphere, his mind spiked with a thousand +magnets, each pointing to a different possibility,--that she would +need divine wisdom to comprehend him in his entirety, even if he made +her a diagram of every cell in his brain,--which he never would, out +of consideration for both her and his own vanity. But within certain +restrictions there can be a magnificent sense of comradeship." + +"But a woman, I think, would never be happy with that something in +the man always beyond her grasp,--that something which she could be +nothing to. She would be more jealous of that independence of her in +man than of another woman." + +"That was pure insight," he said. "You could not know that." + +"No," she said, "I had not thought of it before." + +I had made a martyr of myself on a three-cornered stone at the +entrance of the canon, waiting to duena them out. "Never will I do +this again!" I exclaimed, with that virtue born of discomfort, as they +came in sight. + +"My dearest Eustaquia," said Diego, kissing my hand gallantly, "thou +hast given me pleasure so often, most charming and clever of women, +thou hast but added one new art to thy overflowing store." + +We mounted almost immediately upon returning, and I was alone with +Chonita for a moment. "Do you realize that you are playing with fire?" +I said, warningly. "Estenega is a dangerous man; the most successful +man with women I have ever known." + +"I do not deny his power," she said. "But I am safe, for the many +reasons thou knowest of. And, being safe, why should I deny myself the +pleasure of talking to him? I shall never meet his like again. Let me +live for a little while." + +"Ay, but do not live too hard! It hurts down into the core and +marrow." + + + + +XX. + + +While we were eating supper, a dozen Indian girls were gathered about +a table in one of the large rooms behind the house, busily engaged +in blowing out the contents of several hundred eggs and filling the +hollowed shells with cologne, flour, tinsel, bright scraps of paper. +Each egg-was then sealed with white wax, and ready for the cascaron +frolic of the evening. + +We had been dancing, singing, and talking for an hour after rosario, +when the eggs were brought in. In an instant every girl's hair was +unbound, a wild dive was made for the great trays, and eggs flew in +every direction. Dancing was forgotten. The girls and men chased each +other about the room, the air was filled with perfume and glittering +particles, the latter looking very pretty on black floating hair. +Etiquette demanded that only one egg should be thrown by the same hand +at a time, but quick turns of supple wrists followed each other very +rapidly. To really accomplish a feat the egg must crash on the back of +the head, and each occupied in attack was easy prey. + +Chonita was like a child. Two priests were of our party, and she made +a target of their shaven crowns, shrieking with delight. They vowed +revenge, and chased her all over the house; but not an egg had broken +on that golden mane. She was surrounded at one time by caballeros, but +she whirled and doubled so swiftly that every cascaron flew afield. + +The pelting grew faster and more furious; every room was invaded; we +chased each other up and down the corridors. The people in the court +had their cascarones also, and the noise must have been heard at the +Mission. Don Guillermo hobbled about delightedly, covered with tinsel +and flour. Estenega had tried a dozen times to hit Chonita, but as +if by instinct she faced him each time before the egg could leave his +hand. Finally he pursued her down the corridor to her library, where +I, fortunately, happened to be resting, and both threw themselves into +chairs, breathless. + +"Let us stay here," he said. "We have had enough of this." + +"Very well," she said. She bent her head to lift a book which had +fallen from a shelf, and felt the soft blow of the cascaron. + +"At last!" said Estenega, contentedly. "I was determined to conquer, +if I waited until morning." + +Chonita looked vexed for a moment,--she did not like to be +vanquished,--then shrugged her shoulders and leaned back in her chair. +The little room was plainly furnished. Shelves covered three sides, +and the window-seat and the table were littered with books. There were +no curtains, no ornaments; but Chonita's hair, billowing to the floor, +her slender voluptuous form, her white skin and green irradiating +eyes, the candlelight half revealing, half concealing, made a picture +requiring no background. I caught the expression of Estenega's face, +and determined to remain if he murdered me. + +Peals of laughter, joyous shrieks, screams of mock terror, floated in +to us. I broke a silence which was growing awkward: + +"How happy they are! Creatures of air and sunshine! Life in this +Arcadia is an idyl." + +"They are not happy," said Estenega, contemptuously; "they are gay. +They are light of heart through absence of material cares and endless +sources of enjoyment, which in turn have bred a careless order of +mind. But did each pause long enough to look into his own heart, would +he not find a stone somewhere in its depths?--perhaps a skull graven +on the stone,--who knows?" + +"Oh, Diego!" I exclaimed, impatiently, "this is a party, not a +funeral." + +"Then is no one happy?" asked Chonita, wistfully. + +"How can he be, when in each moment of attainment he is pricked by the +knowledge that it must soon be over? The youth is not happy, because +the shadow of the future is on him. The man is not happy, because the +knowledge of life's incompleteness is with him." + +"Then of what use to live at all?" + +"No use. It is no use to die, neither, so we live. I will grant that +there may be ten completely happy moments in life,--the ten conscious +moments preceding certain death--and oblivion." + +"I will not discuss the beautiful hope of our religion with you, +because you do not believe, and I should only get angry. But what +are we to do with this life? You say nothing is wrong nor right. What +would you have the stumbling and unanchored do with what has been +thrust upon him?" + +"Man, in his gropings down through the centuries, has concocted, +shivered, and patched certain social conditions well enough calculated +to develop the best and the worst that is in us, making it easier for +us to be bad than good, that good might be the standard. We feel a +deeper satisfaction if we have conquered an evil impulse and done +what is accepted as right, because we have groaned and stumbled in +the doing,--that is all. Temptation is sweet only because the impulse +comes from the depths of our being, not because it is difficult to be +tempted. If we overcome, the satisfaction is deep and enduring,--which +only goes to show that man is but a petty egotist, always drawing +pictures of himself on a pedestal. The man who emancipates himself +from traditions and yields to his impulses is debarred from happiness +by the blunders of the blindfolded generations preceding him, which +arranged that to yield was easy and to resist difficult. Had they +reversed the conditions and conclusions, the majority of the human +race would have fought each other to death, but the selected remnant +would have had a better time of it. + +"Let us suppose a case as conditions now exist. Assume, for the sake +of argument, that you loved me and that you plucked from your nature +your religion, your fidelity to your house, your love for your +brother, and gave yourself to me. You would stand appalled at the +sacrifice until you realized that you had come to me only because +it would have been more difficult to stay away. You conquer the +passionate cry of love,--the strongest the human compound has ever +voiced,--and you are miserably happy for the rest of your life no +attitude being so pleasing to the soul as the attitude of martyrdom. +Many a man and woman looks with some impatience for the last good-bye +to be said, so sweet is the prospect of sadness, of suffering, of +resignation." + +I was aghast at his audacity, but I saw that Chonita was fascinated. +Her egotism was caressed, and her womanhood thrilled. "Are we all such +shams as that?" was what she said. "You make me despise myself." + +"Not yourself, but a great structure--of which you are but a +grain--with a faulty foundation. Don't despise yourself. Curse the +builders who shoveled those stones together." + +He left her then, and she told me to go to bed; she wanted to sit a +while and think. + +"He makes you think too much," I said. "Better forget what he says as +soon as you can. He is a very disturbing influence." + +But she made me no reply, and sat there staring at the floor. She +began to feel a sense of helplessness, like a creature caught in a +net. It was more the man's personality than his words which made her +feel as if he were pouring himself throughout her, taking possession +of brain and every sense, as though he were a sort of intellectual +drug. + +"I believe I was made from his rib," she thought, angrily, "else why +can he have this extraordinary power over me? I do not love him. I +have read somewhat of love, and seen more. This is different, quite. I +only feel that there is something in him that I want. Sometimes I feel +that I must dig my nails into him and tear him apart until I find +what I want,--something that belongs to me. Sometimes it is as if he +promised it, at others as if he were unconscious of its existence; +always it is evanescent. Is he going to make my mind his own?--and yet +he always seems to leave mine free. He has never snubbed me. He makes +me think: there is the danger." + +An hour later there was a tap on her door. Casa Grande was asleep. She +sat upright, her heart beating rapidly. Estenega was audacious enough +for anything. But it was her brother who entered. + +"Reinaldo!" she exclaimed, horrified to feel an unmistakable stab of +disappointment. + +"Yes, it is I. Art thou alone?" + +"Sure." + +"I have something to say to thee." + +He drew a chair close to her and sat down "Thou knowest, my sister," +he began, haltingly, "how I hate the house of Estenega. My hatred +is as loyal as thine: every drop of blood in my veins is true to the +honor of the house of Iturbi y Moncada. But, my sister, is it not so +that one can sacrifice himself, his mere personal feelings, upon the +altar of his country? Is it not so, my sister?" + +"What is it thou wishest me to understand, Reinaldo?" + +"Do not look so stern, my Chonita. Thou hast not yet heard me; and, +although thou mayest be angry then, thou wilt reason later. Thou art +devoted to thy house, no?" + +"Thou hast come here in the night to ask me such a question as that?" + +"And thou lovest thy brother?" + +"Reinaldo, thou hast drunken more mescal than Angelica. Go back to thy +bride." But, although she spoke lightly, she was uneasy. + +"My sister, I never drank a drop of mescal in my life! Listen. It +is our father's wish, thy wish, my wish, that I become a great and +distinguished man, an ornament to the house of Iturbi y Moncada, a +star on the brow of California. How can I accomplish this great +and desirable end? By the medium of politics only; our wars are so +insignificant. I have been debarred from the Departmental Junta by +the enemy of our house, else would it have rung with my eloquence, and +Mexico have known me to-day. Yet I care little for the Junta. I wish +to go as diputado to Mexico; it is a grander arena. Moreover, in that +great capital I shall become a man of the world,--which is necessary +to control men. That is _his_ power,--curse him! And he--he will not +let me go there. Even Alvarado listens to him. The Departmental Junta +is under his thumb. I will never be anything but a caballero of Santa +Barbara--I, an Iturbi y Moncada, the last scion of a line illustrious +in war, in diplomacy, in politics--until he is either dead--do not +jump, my sister; it is not my intention to murder him and ruin my +career--or becomes my friend." + +"Canst thou not put thy meaning in fewer words?" + +"My sister, he loves thee, and thou lovest thy brother and thy house." + +Chonita rose to her full height, and although he rose too, and was +taller, she seemed to look down upon him. + +"Thou wouldst have me marry him? Is that thy meaning?" + +"Ay." His voice trembled. Under his swagger he was always a little +afraid of the Doomswoman. + +"Thou askest perjury and disloyalty and dishonor of an Iturbi y +Moncada?" + +"An Iturbi y Moncada asks it of an Iturbi y Moncada. If the man is +ready to bend his neck in sacrifice to the glory of his house, is it +for the woman to think?" + +Chonita stood grasping the back of her chair convulsively; it was +the only sign of emotion she betrayed. She knew that what he said was +true: that Estenega, for public and personal reasons, never would +let him go to Mexico; he would permit no enemy at court. But this +knowledge drifted through her mind and out of it at the moment; she +was struggling to hold down a hot wave of contempt rushing upward +within her. She clung to her traditions as frantically as she clung to +her religion. + +"Go," she said, after a moment. + +"Thou wilt think of what I have said?" + +"I shall pray to forget it." + +"Chonita!" his voice rang out so loud that she placed her hand on his +mouth. He dashed it away. "Thou wilt!" he cried, like a spoilt child. +"Thou wilt! I shall go to the city of Mexico, and only thou canst send +me there. All my father's gold and leagues will not buy me a seat in +the Mexican Congress, unless this accursed Estenega lifts his hand +and says, 'Thou shalt.' Holy God! how I hate him! Would that I had +the chance to murder him! I would cut his heart out to-morrow. And +my father likes him, and has outlived rancor. And thou--thou art not +indifferent." + +"Go!" + +He threw his arms about her, kissing and caressing her. "My sister! My +sister! Thou wilt! Say that thou wilt!" But she flung him off as if he +were a snake. + +"Wilt thou go?" she asked. + +"Ay! I go. But he shall suffer. I swear it! I swear it!" And he rushed +from the room. + +Chonita sat there, staring more fixedly at the floor than when +Estenega had left her. + + + + +XXI. + + +Reinaldo did not go to his Prudencia. He went down to the booths in +the town and joined the late revelers. Don Guillermo, rising before +dawn, and walking up and down the corridor to conquer the pangs of +Dona Trinidad's dulces, noticed that the door of his son's room was +ajar. He paused before it and heard slow, regular, patient sobs. He +opened the door and went in. Prudencia, alone, curled up in a far +corner of her bed, the clothes over her head, was bemoaning many +things incidental to matrimony. As she heard the sound of heavy steps +she gave a little shriek. + +"It is I, Prudencia," said her uncle. "Where is Reinaldo?" + +"I--do--not--know." + +"Did he not come from the ball-room with thee?" + +"N-o-o-o-o." + +"Dost thou know where he has gone?" + +"N-o-o-o, senor." + +"Art thou afraid?" + +"Ay! God--of--my--life!" + +"Never mind," said the old gentleman. "Go to sleep. Thy uncle will +protect thee, and this will not happen again." + +He seated himself by the bedside. Prudencia's sobs ceased gradually, +and she fell asleep. An hour later the door opened softly, and +Reinaldo entered. In spite of the mescal in him, his knees shook as he +saw the indulgent but stern arbiter of the Iturbi y Moncada destinies +sitting in judgment at the bedside of his wife. + +"Where have you been, sir?" + +"To take a walk,--to see to--" + +"No lying! It makes no difference where you have been. What I want +to know is this: Is it your duty to gallivant about town? or is your +place at this hour beside your wife?" + +"Here, senor." + +The old man rose, and, seizing the bride-groom by the shoulders, shook +him until his teeth clattered together. "Then see that you stay here +with her hereafter, or you shall no longer be a married man." And he +stamped out and slammed the door behind him. + + + + +XXII. + + +We spent the next day at the race-field. Many of the caballeros had +brought their finest horses, and Reinaldo's were famous. The vaqueros +threw off their black glazed sombreros and black velvet jackets, +wearing only the short black trousers laced with silver, a shirt of +dazzling whiteness, a silk handkerchief twisted about the head, and +huge spurs on their bare brown heels. Some of us stood on a platform, +others remained on their horses; all were wild with excitement and +screamed themselves hoarse. The great dark eyes of the girls flashed, +their red mouths trembled with the flood of eager exclamations; the +lace mantilla or flowered reboso fluttered against hot cheeks, to be +torn off, perhaps, and waved in the enthusiasm of the moment. They +forgot the men, and the men forgot them. Even Chonita was oblivious to +all else for the hour. She was a famous horsewoman, and keenly alive +to the enchantment of the race-field. The men bet their ranchos, whole +caponeras of their finest horses, herds of cattle, their saddles and +their jewels. Estenega won largely, and, as it happened, from Reinaldo +particularly. Don Guillermo was rather pleased than otherwise, holding +his son to be in need of further punishment; but Reinaldo was obliged +to call upon all the courtesy of the Spaniard and all the falseness of +his nature to help him remember that his enemy was his guest. + +We went home to siesta and long gay supper, where the races were the +only topic of conversation; then to dance and sing and flirt +until midnight, the people in the booths as tireless as ourselves. +Valencia's attentions to Estenega were as conspicuous as usual, but he +managed to devote most of his time to Chonita. + + * * * * * + +That night Chonita had a dream. She dreamed that she awoke without +a soul. The sense of vacancy was awful, yet there was a singular +undercurrent consciousness that no soul ever had been within +her,--that it existed, but was yet to be found. + +She arose, trembling, and opened her door. Santa Barbara was as +quiet as all the world is in the chill last hours of night. She +half expected to see something hover before her, a will-o'-the-wisp, +alluring her over the rocky valleys and towering mountains until death +gave her weary feet rest. She remembered vaguely that she had read +legends of that purport. + +But there was nothing,--not even the glow of a late cigarito or the +flash of a falling star. Still she seemed to know where the soul +awaited her. She closed her door softly and walked swiftly down the +corridor, her bare feet making no sound on the boards. At a door on +the opposite side she paused, shaking violently, but unable to pass +it. She opened the door and went in. The room, like all the others in +that time of festivity, had more occupants than was its wont; a bed +was in each corner. The shutters and windows were open, the moonlight +streamed in, and she saw that all were asleep. She crossed the room +and looked down upon Diego Estenega. His night garment, low about the +throat, made his head, with its sharply-cut profile, look like the +heads on old Roman medallions. The pallor of night, the extreme +refinement of his face, the deep repose, gave him an unmortal +appearance. Chonita bent over him fearfully. Was he dead? His +breathing was regular, but very quiet. She stood gazing down upon him, +the instinct of seeking vanished. What did it mean? Was this her soul! +A man? How could it be? Even in poetry she had never read of a man +being a woman's soul,--a man with all his frailties and sins, for the +most part unrepented. She felt, rather than knew, that Estenega had +trampled many laws, and that he cared too little for any law but his +own will to repent. And yet, there he lay, looking, in the gray light +and the impersonality of sleep, as sinless as if he had been created +within the hour. He looked not like a man but a spirit,--a soul; and +the soul was hers. + +Again she asked herself, what did it mean? Was the soul but brain? She +and he were so alike in rudiments, yet he so immeasurably beyond her +in experience and knowledge and the stronger fiber of a man's mind-- + +He awoke suddenly and saw her. For a moment he stared incredulously, +then raised himself on his hand. + +"Chonita!" he whispered. + +But Chonita, with the long glide of the Californian woman, faded from +the room. + +When she awoke the next morning she was assailed by a distressing +fear. Had she been to Estenega's room the night before? The memory was +too vivid, the details too practical, for a sleep-vagary. At breakfast +she hardly dared to raise her eyes. She felt that he was watching her; +but he often watched her. After breakfast they were alone at one end +of the corridor for a moment, and she compelled herself to raise her +eyes and look at him steadily. He was regarding her searchingly. + +She was not a woman to endure uncertainty. + +"Tell me," she cried, trembling from head to foot, the blood rushing +over her face, "did I go to your room last night?" + +"Dona Chonita!" he exclaimed. "What an extraordinary question! You +have been dreaming." + + + + +XXIII. + + +We went to a bull-fight that day, danced that night, meriendaed and +danced again; a siesta in the afternoon, a few hours' sleep in the +night, refreshing us all. Chonita, alone, looked pale, but I knew that +her pallor was not due to weariness. And I knew that she was beginning +to fear Estenega; the time was almost come when she would fear herself +more. Estenega had several talks apart with her. He managed it without +any apparent maneuvering; but he always had the devil's methods. +Valencia avenged herself by flirting desperately with Reinaldo, and +Prudencia's honeymoon was seasoned with gall. + +On Saturday night Chonita stole from her guests, donned a black gown +and reboso, and, attended by two Indian servants, went up to the +Mission to confession. As she left the church a half-hour later, and +came down the steps, Estenega rose from a bench beneath the arches of +the corridor and joined her. + +"How did you know that I came?" she asked; and it was not the stars +that lit her face. + +"You do little that I do not know. Have you been to confession?" + +"Yes." + +They walked slowly down the valley. + +"And you forgave and were forgiven?" + +"Yes. Ay! but my penance is heavy!" + +"But when it is done you will be at rest, I suppose." + +"Oh, I hope! I hope!" + +"Have you begun to realize that your Church cannot satisfy you?" + +"No! I will not say that." + +"But you know it. Your intelligence has opened a window somewhere and +the truth has crept in." + +"Do not take my religion from me, senor!" Her eyes and voice appealed +to him, and he accepted her first confession of weakness with a throb +of exulting tenderness. + +"My love!" he said, "I would give you more than I took from you." + +"No! never!--Even if we were not enemies, and I had not made that +terrible vow, my religion has been all in all to me. Just now I have +many things that torment me; and I have asked so little of religion +before--my life has been so calm--that now I hardly know how to ask +for so much more. I shall learn. Leave me in peace." + +"Do you want me to go?" he asked. "If you did,--if I troubled you by +staying here,--I believe I would go. Only I know it would do no good: +I should come back." + +"No! no! I do not want you to go. I should feel--I will admit to +you--like a house without its foundation. And yet sometimes, I pray +that you will go. Ay! I do not like life. I used to have pride in my +intelligence. Where is my pride now? What good has the wisdom in my +books done me, when I confess my dependence upon a man, and that +man my enemy--and the acquaintance of a few weeks?" She was speaking +incoherently, and Estenega chafed at the restraint of the servants so +close behind them. "Tell me," she exclaimed, "what is it in you that I +want?--that I need? It is something that belongs to me. Give it to me, +and go away." + +"Chonita, I give it to you gladly, God knows. But you must take me, +too. You want in me what is akin to you and what you will find nowhere +else. But I cannot tear my soul out of my body. You must take both or +neither." + +"Ay! I cannot! You know that I cannot! + +"I ignore your reasons." + +"But I do not." + +"You shall, my beloved. Or if you do not ignore you shall forget +them." + +"When I am dead--would that I were!" She was excited and trembling. +The confession had been an ordeal, and Estenega was never +tranquillizing. She wished to cling to him, but was still mistress +of herself. He divined her impulse, and drew her arm through his and +across his breast. He opened her hand and pressed his lips to the +palm. Then he bent his face above hers. She was trembling violently; +her face was wild and white. His own was ashen, and the heart beneath +her arm beat rapidly. + +"I love you devotedly," he said. "You believe that, Chonita?" + +"Ah! Mother of God! do not! I cannot listen." + +"But you shall listen. Throw off your superstitions and come to me. +Keep the part of your religion that is not superstition; I would be +the last to take it from you; but I will not permit its petty dogmas +to stand between us. As for your traditions, you have not even the +excuse of filial duty; your father would not forbid you to become my +wife. And I love you very earnestly and passionately. Just how much, I +might convey to you if we were alone." + +He was obliged to exercise great self-restraint, but there was no +mistaking his seriousness. When such scientific triflers do find a +woman worth loving, they are too deeply sensible of the fact not to +be stirred to their depths; and their depths are apt to be in large +disproportion to the lightness of their ordinary mood. "Come to me," +he continued. "I need you; and I will be as tender and thoughtful +a husband as I will be ardent as a lover. You love me: don't blind +yourself any longer. Do you picture, in a life of solitude and cold +devotion to phantoms, any happiness equal to what you would find here +in my arms?" + +"Oh, hush! hush! You could make me do what you wished, I have no will. +I feel no longer myself. What is this terrible power?" + +"It is the magnetism of love; that is all. I am not exercising any +diabolical power over you. Listen: I will not trouble you any more +now. I am obliged to go to Los Angeles the day after to-morrow, and on +my way back to Monterey--in about two weeks--I shall come here again. +Then we will talk together; but I warn you, I will accept only one +answer. You are mine, and I shall have you." + +They reached Casa Grande a moment later, and she escaped from him and +ran to her room. But she dared not remain alone. Hastily changing her +black gown for the first her hand touched,--it happened to be vivid +red and made her look as white as wax,--she returned to the sala; +not to dance even the square contradanza, but to stand surrounded by +worshiping caballeros with curling hair tied with gay ribbons, and +jewels in their laces. Valencia regarded her with a bitter jealousy +that was rising from red heat to white. How dared a woman with hair of +gold wear the color of the brunette? It was a theft. It was the last +indignity. And once more she chained Reinaldo, in default of Estenega, +to her side. And deep in Prudencia's heart wove a scheme of vengeance; +the loom and warp had been presented unwittingly by her chivalrous +father-in-law. + +Estenega remained in the sala a few moments after Chonita's +reappearance, then left the house and wandered through the booth in +the court, where the people were dancing and singing and eating and +gambling as if with the morrow an eternal Lent would come, and thence +through the silent town to the pleasure-grounds of Casa Grande, which +lay about half a mile from the house. He had been there but a short +while when he heard a rustle, a light footfall; and, turning, he saw +Chonita, unattended, her bare neck and gold hair gleaming against the +dark, her train dragging. She was advancing swiftly toward him. His +pulses bounded, and he sprang toward her, his arms outstretched; but +she waved him back. + +"Have mercy," she said. "I am alone. I brought no one, because I have +that to tell you which no one else must hear." + +He stepped back and looked at the ground. + +"Listen," she said. "I could not wait until to-morrow, because a +moment lost might mean--might mean the ruin of your career, and you +say your envoy has not gone yet. Just now--I will tell you the other +first. Mother of God! that I should betray my brother to my enemy! But +it seems to me right, because you placed your confidence in me, and +I should feel that I betrayed you if I did not warn you. I do not +know--oh, Mary!--I do not know--but this seems to me right. The other +night my brother came to me and asked me--ay! do not look at me--to +marry you, that you would balk his ambition no further. He wishes to +go as diputado to Mexico, and he knows that you will not let him. I +thought my brain would crack,--an Iturbi y Moncada!--I made him no +answer,--there was no answer to a demand like that,--and he went from +me in a fury, vowing vengeance upon you. To-night, a few moments +ago, he whispered to me that he knew of your plans, your intentions +regarding the Americans: he had overheard a conversation between you +and Alvarado. He says that he will send letters to Mexico to-morrow, +warning the government against you. Then their suspicions will be +roused, and they will inquire--Ay, Mary!" + +Estenega brought his teeth together. "God!" he exclaimed. + +She saw that he had forgotten her. She turned and went back more +swiftly than she had come. + +Estenega was a man whose resources never failed him. He returned to +the house and asked Reinaldo to smoke a cigarito and drink a bottle of +wine in his room. Then, without a promise or a compromising word, he +so flattered that shallow youth, so allured his ambition and pampered +his vanity and watered his hopes, that fear and hatred wondered at +their existence, closed their eyes, and went to sleep. Reinaldo +poured forth his aspirations, which under the influence of the +truth-provoking vine proved to be an honest yearning for the pleasures +of Mexico. As he rose to go he threw his arm about Estenega's neck. + +"Ay! my friend! my friend!" he cried, "thou art all-powerful. Thou +alone canst give me what I want." + +"Why did you never ask me for what you wanted?" asked Estenega. And +he thought, "If it were not for Her, you would be on your way to Los +Angeles to-night under charge of high treason. I would not have taken +this much trouble with you." + + + + +XXIV. + + +A rodeo was held the next day,--the last of the festivities;--Don +Guillermo taking advantage of the gathering of the rancheros. It was +to take place on the Cerros Rancho, which adjoined the Rancho de +las Rocas. We went early, most of us dismounting and taking to the +platform on one side of the circular rodeo-ground. The vaqueros +were already galloping over the hills, shouting and screaming to the +cattle, who ran to them like dogs; soon a herd came rushing down into +the circle, where they were thrown down and branded, the stray cattle +belonging to neighbors separated and corralled. This happened again +and again, the interest and excitement growing with each round-up. + +Once a bull, seeing his chance, darted from his herd and down the +valley. A vaquero started after him; but Reinaldo, anxious to display +his skill in horsemanship, and being still mounted, called to the +vaquero to stop, dashed after the animal, caught it by its tail, +spurred his horse ahead, let go the tail at the right moment, and, +amidst shouts of "Coliar!" "Coliar!" the bull was ignominiously rolled +in the dust, then meekly preceded Reinaldo back to the rodeo-ground. + +After the dinner under the trees most of the party returned to the +platform, but Estenega, Adan, Chonita, Valencia, and myself strolled +about the rancho. Adan walked at Chonita's side, more faithful than +her shadow. Valencia's black eyes flashed their language so plainly to +Estenega's that he could not have deserted her without rudeness; and +Estenega never was rude. + +"Adan," said Chonita, abruptly, "I am tired of thee. Sit down under +that tree until I come back. I wish to walk alone with Eustaquia for +awhile." + +Adan sighed and did as he was bidden, consoling himself with a +cigarito. Taking a different path from the one the others followed, we +walked some distance, talking of ordinary matters, both avoiding the +subject of Diego Estenega by common consent. And yet I was convinced +that she carried on a substratum of thought of which he was the +subject, even while she talked coherently to me. On our way back the +conversation died for want of bone and muscle, and, as it happened, we +were both silent as we approached a small adobe hut. As we turned the +corner we came upon Estenega and Valencia. He had just bent his head +and kissed her. + +Valencia fled like a hare. Estenega turned the hue of chalk, and I +knew that blue lightning was flashing in his disconcerted brain. I +felt the chill of Chonita as she lifted herself to the rigidity of a +statue and swept slowly down the path. + +"Diego, you are a fool!" I exclaimed, when she was out of hearing. + +"You need not tell me that," he said, savagely. "But what in heaven's +name--Well, never mind. For God's sake straighten it out with her. +Tell her--explain to her--what men are. Tell her that the present +woman is omnipotently present--no, don't tell her that. Tell her +that history is full of instances of men who have given one woman the +devoted love of a lifetime and been unfaithful to her every week in +the year. Explain to her that a man to love one woman must love all +women. And she has sufficient proof that I love her and no other +woman: I want to marry her, not Valencia Menendez. Heaven knows I will +be true to her when I have her. I could not be otherwise. But I need +not explain to you. Set it right with her. She has brain, and can be +made to understand." + +I shook my head. "You cannot reason with inexperience; and when it +is allied to jealousy--God of my soul! Her ideal, of course, is +perfection, and does not take human weakness into account. You have +fallen short of it to-day. I fear your cause is lost." + +"It is not! Do you think I will give her up for a trifle like that?" + +"But why not accept this break? You cannot marry her--" + +"Oh, do not refer to that nonsense!" he exclaimed, harshly. "I shall +peel off her traditions when the time comes, as I would strip off the +outer hulls of a nut. Go! Go, Eustaquia!" + +Of course I went. Chonita was not at the rodeo-ground, but, escorted +by her father, had gone home. I followed immediately, and when I +reached Casa Grande I found her sitting in her library. I never saw +a statue look more like marble. Her face was locked: only the eyes +betrayed the soul in torment. But she looked as immutable as a fate. + +"Chonita," I exclaimed, hardly knowing where to begin, "be reasonable. +Men of Estenega's brain and passionate affectionate nature are always +weak with women, but it means nothing. He cares nothing for Valencia +Menendez. He is madly in love with you. And his weakness, my dear, +springs from the same source as his charm. He would not be the man +he is without it. His heart would be less kindly, his impulses less +generous, his brain less virile, his sympathies less instinctive and +true. The strong impregnable man, the man whom no vice tempts, no +weakness assails, who is loyal without effort,--such a man lacks +breadth and magnetism and the power to read the human heart and +sympathize with both its noble impulses and its terrible weaknesses. +Such men--I never have known it to fail--are full of petty vanities +and egoisms and contemptible weaknesses, the like of which Estenega +could not be capable of. No man can be perfect, and it is the man +of great strength and great weakness who alone understands and +sympathizes with human nature, who is lovable and magnetic, and who +has the power to rouse the highest as well as the most passionate love +of a woman. Such men cause infinite suffering, but they can give a +happiness that makes the suffering worth while. You never will meet +another man like Diego Estenega. Do not cast him lightly aside." + +"Do I understand," said Chonita, in a perfectly unmoved voice, "that +you are counseling me to marry an Estenega and the man who would send +me to Hell hereafter? Do you forget my vow?" + +I came to myself with a shock. In the enthusiasm of my defense I had +forgotten the situation. + +"At least forgive him," I said, lamely. + +"I have nothing to forgive," she said. "He is nothing to me." + +I knew that it was useless to argue with her. + +"I have a favor to ask of you," she said. "Most of our guests leave +this afternoon: will you let me sleep alone to-night?" + +I should have liked to put my arm about her and give her a woman's +sympathy, but I did not dare. All I could do was to leave her alone. + + + + +XXV. + + +Casa Grande held three jealous women. The situation had its comic +aspect, but was tragic enough to the actors. + +In the evening the lingering guests of the house and the neighbors +of the town assembled as usual for the dance. Only Estenega absented +himself. Valencia stood her ground: she would not go while Estenega +remained. Chonita moved proudly among her guests, and never had been +more gracious. Valencia dared not meet her eyes nor mine, but, seeing +that Prudencia was watching her, avenged her own disquiet by enhancing +that of the bride. Never did she flirt so imperiously with Reinaldo +as she did that fateful night; and Reinaldo, who was man's vanity +collected and compounded, devoted himself to the dashing beauty. Her +cheeks burned with excitement, her eyes were restless and flashing. + +The music stopped. The women were eating the dulces passed by the +Indian servants. The men had not yet gone into the dining-room. +Valencia dropped her handkerchief; Reinaldo, stooping to recover it, +kissed her hand behind its flimsy shelter. + +Then Prudencia arose. She trailed her long gown down the room between +the two rows of people staring at her grim eyes and pressed lips; her +little head, with its high comb, stiffly erect. She walked straight up +to Reinaldo and boxed his ears before the assembled company. + +"Thou wilt flirt no more with other women," she said, in a loud, clear +voice. "Thou art my husband, and thou wilt not forget it again. Come +with me." + +And, amidst the silence of mountain-tops in a snow-storm, he stumbled +to his feet and followed her from the room. + +I could not sleep that night. In spite of the amusement I had felt at +Prudencia's _coup-d'etat_, I was oppressed by the chill and foreboding +which seemed to emanate from Chonita and pervade the house. I knew +that terrible calm was like the menacing stillness of the hours before +an earthquake. What would she do in the coming convulsion? I shuddered +and tormented myself with many imaginings. + +I became so nervous that I rose and dressed and went out upon the +corridor and walked up and down. It was very late, and the moon was +risen, but the corners were dark. Figures seemed to start from them, +but my nerves were strong; I never had given way to fear. + +My thoughts wandered to Estenega. Who shall judge the complex heart +of a man? the deep, intense, lasting devotion he may have for the one +woman he recognizes as his soul's own, and yet the strange wayward +wanderings of his fancy,--the nomadic assertion of the animal; the +passionate love he may feel for this woman of all women, yet the +reserve in which he always holds her, never knowing her quite as well +as he has known other women; the last test of highest love, passion +without sensuality? And yet the regret that she does not gratify every +side of his nature, even while he would not have her; regret for the +terrible incongruity of human nature, the mingling of the beast and +the divine, which cannot find satisfaction in the same woman; whatever +the fire in her, she cannot gratify the instincts which rage below +passion in man, without losing the purity of mind which he adores in +her. She, too, feels a vague regret that some portion of his nature +is a sealed book to her, forever beyond her ken. But her regret is +nothing to his: he knows, and she does not. + +My meditations were interrupted suddenly. I heard a door stealthily +opened. I knew before turning that the door was that of Chonita's +room, the last at the end of the right wing. It opened, and she came +out. It was as if a face alone came out. She was shrouded from head to +foot in black, and her face was as white as the moon. Possessed by a +nameless but overwhelming fear, I turned the knob of the door nearest +me and almost fell into the room. I closed the door behind me, but +there was no key. By the strip of white light which entered through +the crevice between the half-open shutters I saw that I was in the +room of Valencia Menendez; but she slept soundly and had not heard me. + +I stood still, listening, for many minutes. At first there was no +sound; I evidently had startled her, and she was waiting for the house +to be still again. At last I heard some one gliding down the corridor. +Then, suddenly, I knew that she was coming to this room, and, +possessed by a horrible curiosity and growing terror, I sank on my +knees in a corner. + +The door opened noiselessly, and Chonita entered. Again I saw only +her white face, rigid as death, but the eyes flamed with the terrible +passions that her soul had flung up from its depths at last. Then I +saw another white object,--her hand. But there was no knife in it. +Had there been, I think I should have shaken off the spell which +controlled me: I never would see murder done. It was the awe of the +unknown that paralyzed my muscles. She bent over Valencia, who moved +uneasily and cast her arms above her head. I saw her touch her finger +to the sleeping woman's mouth, inserting it between the lips. Then she +moved backward and stood by the head of the bed, facing the +window. She raised herself to her full height and extended her arms +horizontally. The position gave her the form of a cross--a black +cross, topped and pointed with malevolent white; one hand was spread +above Valencia's face. She was the most awful sight I ever beheld. She +uttered no sound; she scarcely breathed. Suddenly, with the curve of a +panther, her figure glided above the unconscious woman, her open hand +describing a strange motion; then she melted from the room. + +Valencia awoke, shrieking. + +"Some one has cursed me!" she cried. "Mother of God! Some one has +cursed me!" + +I fled from the room, to faint upon my own bed. + + + + +XXVI. + + +The next morning Casa Grande was thrown into consternation. Valencia +Menendez was in a raging fever, and had to be held in her bed. + +After breakfast I sent for Estenega and told him of what I had seen. +In the first place I had to tell some one, and in the second I thought +to end his infatuation and avert further trouble. "You firebrand!" I +exclaimed, in conclusion. "You see the mischief you have worked! You +will go, now, thank heaven--and go cured." + +"I will go,--for a time," he said. "This mood of hers must wear +itself out. But, if I loved her before, I worship her now. She is +magnificent!--a woman with the passions of hell and the sweetness of +an angel. She is the woman I have waited for all my life,--the only +woman I have ever known. Some day I will take her in my arms and tell +her that I understand her." + +"Diego," I said, divided between despair and curiosity, "you have +fancied many women: wherein does your feeling for Chonita differ? How +can you be sure that this is love? What is your idea of love?" + +He sat down and was silent for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully: +"Love is not passion, for one may feel that for many women; not +affection, for friendship demands that. Not even sympathy and +comradeship; one can find either with men. Nor all, for I have felt +all, yet something was lacking. Love is the mysterious turning of one +heart to another with the promise of a magnetic harmony, a strange +original delight, a deep satisfaction, a surety of permanence, which +did either heart roam the world it never would find again. It is the +knowledge that did the living body turn to corruption, the spirit +within would still hold and sway the steel which had rushed unerringly +to its magnet. It is the knowledge that weakness will only arouse +tenderness, never disgust, as when the fancy reigns and the heart +sleeps; that faults will clothe themselves in the individuality of the +owner and become treasures to the loving mind that sees, but worships. +It is the development of the highest form of selfishness, the +passionate and abiding desire to sacrifice one's self to the happiness +of one beloved. Above all, it is the impossibility to cease to love, +no matter what reason, or prudence, or jealousy, or disapproval, or +terrible discoveries, may dictate. Let the mind sit on high and argue +the soul's mate out of doors, it will rebound, when all is said and +done, like a rubber ball when the pressure of the finger is removed. +As for Chonita she is the lost part of me." + +He left that day, and without seeing Chonita again. Valencia was in +wildest delirium for a week; at the end of the second every hair on +her head, her brows, and her eyelashes had fallen. She looked like a +white mummy, a ghastly pitiful caricature of the beautiful woman whose +arrows quivered in so many hearts. They rolled her in a blanket and +took her home; and then I sought Chonita, who had barely left her +room and never gone to Valencia's. I told her that I had witnessed the +curse, and described the result. + +"Have you no remorse?" I asked. + +"None." + +"You have ruined the beauty, the happiness, the fortune, of another +woman." + +"I have done what I intended." + +"Do you realize that again you have raised a barrier between yourself +and your religion? You do not look very repentant." + +"Revenge is sweeter than religion." + +Then in a burst of anger I confessed that I had told Estenega. For a +moment I thought her terrible hatred was about to hurl its vengeance +at me; but she only asked,-- + +"What did he say?" + +Unwillingly, I repeated it, but word for word. And as I spoke, her +face softened, the austerity left her features, an expression of +passionate gratitude came into her eyes. + +"Did he say that, Eustaquia?" + +"He did." + +"Say it again, please." + +I did so. And then she put her hands to her face, and cried, and +cried, and cried. + + + + +XXVII. + + +At the end of the week Dona Trinidad died suddenly. She was sitting on +the green bench, dispensing charities, when her head fell back gently, +and the light went out. No death ever had been more peaceful, no soul +ever had been better prepared; but wailing grief went after her. Poor +Don Guillermo sank in a heap as if some one had felled him, Reinaldo +wept loudly, and Prudencia was not to be consoled. Chonita was away +on her horse when it happened, galloping over the hills. Servants were +sent for her immediately, and met her when she was within an hour or +two of home. As she entered the sala, Don Guillermo, Reinaldo, and +Prudencia literally flung themselves upon her; and she stood like a +rock, and supported them. She had loved her mother, but it had always +been her lot to prop other people; she never had had a chance to lean. + +All that night and next day she was closely engaged with the members +of the agonized household, even visiting the grief-stricken Indians at +times. On the second night she went to the room where her mother +lay with all the pomp of candles and crosses, and bade the Indian +watchers, crouching like buzzards about the corpse, to go for a time. +She sank into a chair beside the dead, and wondered at the calmness of +her heart. She was not conscious of any feeling stronger than regret. +She tried to realize the irrevocableness of death,--that the mother +who had been so kindly an influence in her life had gone out of it. +But the knowledge brought no grief. She felt only the necessity for +alleviating the grief of the others; that was her part. + +The door opened. She drew her breath suddenly. She knew that it +was Estenega. He sat down beside her and took her hand and held it, +without a word, for hours. Gradually she leaned toward him, although +without touching him. And after a time tears came. + +He went his way the next morning, but he wrote to her before he left, +and again from Monterey, and then from the North. She only answered +once, and then with only a line. + +But the line was this: + +"Write to me until you have forgotten me." + +One day she brought me a package and asked me to take it to Valencia. +"It is an ointment," she said,--"one of old Brigida's" (a witch who +lived on the cliffs and concocted wondrous specifics from herbs). +"Tell her to use it and her hair will grow again." + +And that was the only sign of penitence I was permitted to see. + +Then for a long interval there came no word from Estenega. + + + + +XXVIII. + + +Before going to Mexico, Estenega remained for some weeks at his +ranchos in the North, overlooking the slaughtering of his cattle, an +important yearly event, for the trade in hides and tallow with foreign +shippers was the chief source of the Californian's income. He also was +associated with the Russians at Fort Ross and Bodega in the fur-trade. +But he was far from being satisfied with these desultory gains. They +sufficed his private wants, but with the great schemes he had in mind +he needed gold by the bushel. How to obtain it was a problem which sat +on the throne of his mind side by side with Chonita Iturbi y Moncada. +He had reason to believe that gold lay under California; but where? He +determined that upon his return from Mexico he would take measures +to discover, although he objected to the methods which alone could be +employed. But, like all born rulers of men, he had an impatient scorn +for means with a great end in view. There was no intermediate way of +making the money. It would be a hundred years before the country would +be populous enough to give his vast ranchos a reasonable value; and, +although he had twenty thousand head of cattle, the market for their +disposal was limited, and barter was the principle of trade, rather +than coin. + +Toward the end of the month he hurried to Monterey to catch a bark +about to sail for Mexico. The important preliminaries of the future +he had planned could no longer be delayed; the treacherous revengeful +nature of Reinaldo might at any moment awake from the spell in which +he had locked it; had a ship sailed before, he would have left his +commercial interests with his mayor-domo and gone to the seat of +government at once. + +He arrived in Monterey one evening after hard riding. The city was +singularly quiet. It was the hour when the indefatigable dancers of +that gay town should have flitted past the open windows of the salas, +when the air should have been vocal with the flute and guitar, song +and light laughter. But the city might have been a living tomb. The +white rayless houses were heavy and silent as sepulchers. He rode +slowly down Alvarado Street, and saw the advancing glow of a cigar. +When the cigar was abreast of him he recognized Mr. Larkin. + +"What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Small-pox," replied the consul, succinctly. "Better get on board +at once. And steer clear of the lower quarter. Your vaquero +arrived yesterday, and I instructed him to put your baggage in the +custom-house. He dropped it and fled to the country." + +Estenega thanked him and proceeded on his way. He made a circuit to +avoid the lower quarter, but saw that it was not abandoned; lights +moved here and there. "Poor creatures!" he thought, "they are probably +dying like poisoned rats." + +On the side of the hill by the road was a solitary hut. He was obliged +to pass it. A candle burned beyond the open window, and he set his +lips and turned his head; not from fear of contagion, however. And his +eyes were drawn to the window in spite of his resolute will. He looked +once, and looked again, then checked his horse. On the bed lay a +girl in the middle stages of the disease, her eyes glittering with +delirium, her black hair matted and wet. She was evidently alone. +Estenega spurred his horse and galloped around to the back of the hut. +In the kitchen, the only other room, huddled an old crone, brown and +gnarled like an old apple. She was sleeping; by her side was a bottle +of aguardiente. Estenega called loudly to her. + +"Susana!" + +The creature stirred, but did not open her eyes. He called twice +again, and awakened her. She stared through the open door, her lower +jaw falling, showing the yellow stumps. + +"Who is?" + +"Is Anita alone with you?" + +"Ay, yi! Don Diego! Yes, yes. All run from the house like rats from +a ship that burns. Ay, yi! Ay, yi! and she so pretty before! A-y, +y-i!--" Her head fell forward; she relapsed into stupor. + +Estenega rode around to the window again. The girl was sitting on the +edge of the bed, mechanically pulling the long matted strands of her +hair. + +"Water! water!" she cried, faintly. "Ay, Mary!" She strove to rise, +but fell back, clutching at the bedclothing. + +Estenega rode to a deserted hut near by, concealed his saddle in +a corner under a heap of rubbish, and turned his horse loose. He +returned to the hut where the sick girl lay, and entered the room. She +recognized him in spite of her fever. + +"Don Diego! Is it you?--you?" she said, half raising herself. "Ay, +Mary! is it the delirium?" + +"It is I," he said. "I will take care of you. Do you want water?" + +"Ay, water. Ay, thou wert always kind, even though thy love did last +so little a while." + +He brought the water and did what he could to relieve her sufferings: +like all the rancheros, he had some knowledge of medicine. He held the +old crone under the pump, gave her an emetic, broke her bottle, and +ordered her to help him care for the girl. Between awe of him and +promise of gold, she gave him some assistance. + +Estenega watched the vessel sail the next morning, and battled with +the impulse to leap from the window, hire a boat, and overtake it. The +delay of a month might mean the death of his hopes. For all he knew, +the bark carried the letters of his undoing; Reinaldo himself might +be on it. He set his lips with an expression of bitter contempt--the +expression directed at his own impotence in the hands of +Circumstance,--and went to the bedside of the girl. She was hopelessly +ill; even medical skill, were there such a thing in the country, could +not save her; but he could not leave to die like a dog a woman who had +been his mistress, even if only the fancy of a week, as this poor +girl had been. She had loved him, and never annoyed him; they had +maintained friendly relations, and he had helped her whenever she had +appealed to him. But in this hour of her extremity she had further +rights, and he recognized them. He had cut her hair close to her head, +and she looked more comfortable, although an unpleasant sight. As he +regarded her, he thought of Chonita, and the tide of love rose in him +as it had not before. In the beginning he had been hardly more than +infatuated with her originality and her curious beauty; at Santa +Barbara her sweetness and kinship had stolen into him and the +momentous fusion of passion and spiritual love had given new birth +to a torpid soul and stirred and shaken his manhood as lust had +never done; now in her absence and exaltation above common mortals he +reverenced her as an ideal. Even in the bitterness of the knowledge +that months must elapse before he could see her again, the tenderness +she had drawn to herself from the serious depths of his nature +throbbed throughout him, and made him more than gentle to the poor +creature whose ignorance could not have comprehended the least of what +he felt for Chonita. + +She died within three days. The good priest, who stood to his post and +made each of his afflicted poor a brief daily visit, prayed by her +as she fell into stupor, but she was incapable of receiving extreme +unction. Estenega was alone with her when she died, but the priest +returned a few moments later. + +"Don Thomas Larkin wishes me to say to you, Don Diego Estenega," said +the Father, "that he would be glad to have you stay with him until the +next vessel arrives. As two members of his family have the disease, he +has nothing to fear from you. I will care for the body." + +Estenega handed him money for the burial, and looked at him +speculatively. The priest must have heard the girl's confessions, and +he wondered why he did not improve the opportunity to reprove a man +whose indifference to the Church was a matter of indignant comment +among the clergy. The priest appeared to divine his thoughts, for he +said: + +"Thou hast done more than thy duty, Don Diego. And to the frailties of +men I think the good God is merciful. He made them. Go in peace." + +Estenega accepted Mr. Larkin's invitation, but, in spite of the genial +society of the consul, he spent in his house the most wretched three +weeks of his life. He dared not leave Monterey until he had passed the +time of incubation, having no desire to spread the disease; he dared +not write to Chonita, for the same reason. What must she think? She +supposed him to have sailed, of course, but he had promised to write +her from Monterey, and again from San Diego. And the uncertainty +regarding his Mexican affairs was intolerable to a man of his active +mind and supertense nervous system. His only comfort lay in Mr. +Larkin's assurance that the national bark Joven Guipuzcoana was due +within the month and would return at once. Early in the fourth week +the assurance was fulfilled, and by the time he was ready to sail +again his danger from contagion was over. But he embarked without +writing to Chonita. + +The voyage lasted a month, tedious and monotonous, more trying than +his retardation on land, for there at least he could recover some +serenity by violent exercise. He divided his time between pacing +the deck, when the weather permitted, and writing to Chonita: long, +intimate, possessing letters, which would reveal her to herself as +nothing else, short of his own dominant contact, could do. At San Blas +he posted his letters and welcomed the rough journey overland to the +capital; but under a calm exterior he was possessed of the spirit of +disquiet. As so often happens, however, his fears proved to have been +vagaries of a morbid state of mind and of that habit of thought which +would associate with every cause an effect of similar magnitude. Santa +Ana welcomed him with friendly enthusiasm, and was ready to listen to +his plans. That wily and astute politician, who was always abreast of +progress and never in its lead, recognized in Estenega the coming man, +and, knowing that the seizure of the Californias by the United States +was only a question of time, was keenly willing to make an ally of +the man who he foresaw would control them as long as he chose, both +at home and in Washington. For the matter of that, he recognized +the impotence of Mexico to interfere, beyond bluster, with plans any +resolute Californian might choose to pursue; but it was important to +Estenega's purpose that the governorship should be assured to him by +the central government, and the eyes of the Mexican Congress directed +elsewhere. He knew the value of the moral effect which its apparent +sanction would have upon rebellious Southerners. + +"I am at your service," said Santa Ana; "and the governorship is +yours. But take heed that no rumor of your ultimate intentions reaches +the ears of Congress until you are firmly established. If it opposed +you relentlessly--and it keeps its teeth on California like a dog on +a bone bigger than himself--I should have to yield; I have too much +at stake myself. I will look out that any communications from enemies, +including Iturbi y Moncada, are opened first by me." + +Estenega wrote to Chonita again by the ship that left during his brief +stay in the capital, and it was his intention to go directly to +Santa Barbara upon arriving in California. But when he landed in +Monterey--disinfected and careless as of old--he learned that she was +about to start, perhaps already had done so, for Fort Ross, to pay a +visit to the Rotscheffs. The news gave him pleasure; it had been his +wish to say what he had yet to say in his own forests. + +And then the plan which had been stirring restlessly in his mind for +many months took imperative shape: he determined that if there was +gold in California he would wring the secret out of its keeper, by +gentle means or violent, and that within the next twenty-four hours. + + + + +XXIX. + + +Estenega drew rein the next night before the neglected Mission of San +Rafael. The valley, surrounded by hills dark with the silent +redwoods, bore not a trace of the populous life of the days before +secularization. The padre lived alone, lodge-keeper of a valley of +shadows. + +He opened the door of his room on the corridor as he heard the +approach of the traveler, squinting his bleared, yellow-spotted eyes. +He was surly by nature, but he bowed low to the man whose power was so +great in California, and whose generosity had sent him many a bullock. +He cooked him supper from his frugal store, piled the logs in the open +fireplace,--November was come,--and, after a bottle of wine, produced +from Estenega's saddle-bag, expanded into a hermit's imitation of +conviviality. Late in the night they still sat on either side of the +table in the dusty, desolate room. The Forgotten had been entertained +with vivid and shifting pictures of the great capital in which he had +passed his boyhood. He smiled occasionally; now and again he gave a +quick impatient sigh. Suddenly Estenega leaned forward and fixed him +with his powerful gaze. + +"Is there gold in these mountains?" he asked, abruptly. + +The priest was thrown off his guard for a moment; a look of meaning +flashed into his eyes, then one of cunning displaced it. + +"It may be, Senor Don Diego; gold is often in the earth. But had I the +unholy knowledge, I would lock it in my breast. Gold is the canker in +the heart of the world. It is not for the Church to scatter the evil +broadcast." + +Estenega shut his teeth. Fanaticism was a more powerful combatant than +avarice. + +"True, my father. But think of the good that gold has wrought. Could +these Missions have been built without gold?--these thousands of +Indians Christianized?" + +"What you say is not untrue; but for one good, ten thousand evils +are wrought with the metal which the devil mixed in hell and poured +through the veins of the earth." + +Estenega spent a half-hour representing in concrete and forcible +images the debt which civilization owed to the fact and circulation +of gold. The priest replied that California was a proof that commerce +could exist by barter; the money in the country was not worth speaking +of. + +"And no progress to speak of in a hundred years," retorted Estenega. +Then he expatiated upon the unique future of California did she have +gold to develop her wonderful resources. The priest said that to cut +California from her Arcadian simplicity would be to start her on her +journey to the devil along with the corrupt nations of the Old +World. Estenega demonstrated that if there was vice in the older +civilizations there was also a higher state of mental development, and +that Religion held her own. He might as well have addressed the walls +of the Mission. He tempted with the bait of one of the more central +Missions. The priest had only the dust of ambition in the cellar of +his brain. + +He lost his patience at last. "I must have gold," he said, shortly; +"and you shall show me where to find it. You once betrayed to my +father that you knew of its existence in these hills; and you shall +give me the key." + +The priest looked into the eyes of steel and contemptuously determined +face before him, and shut his lips. He was alone with a desperate man; +he had not even a servant; he could be murdered, and his murderer +go unsuspected; but the heart of the fanatic was in him. He made no +reply. + +"You know me," said Estenega. "I owe half my power in California to +the fact that I do not make a threat to-day and forget it to-morrow. +You will show me where that gold is, or I shall kill you." + +"The servant of God dies when his hour comes. If I am to die by the +hand of the assassin, so be it." + +Estenega leaned forward and placed his strong hand about the priest's +baggy throat, pushing the table against his chest. He pressed his +thumb against the throttle, his second finger hard against the +jugular, and the tongue rolled over the teeth, the congested eyes +bulged. "It may be that you scorn death, but may not fancy the mode +of it. I have no desire to kill you. Alive or dead, your life is of no +more value than that of a worm. But you shall die, and die with much +discomfort, unless you do as I wish." His hand relaxed its grasp, but +still pressed the rough dirty throat. + +"Accursed heretic!" said the priest. + +"Spare your curses for the superstitious." + +He saw a gleam of cunning come into the priest's eyes. "Very well; if +I must I must. Let me rise, and I will conduct you." + +Estenega took a piece of rope from his saddle-bag and tied it about +the priest's waist and his own. "If you have any holy pitfall in view +for me, I shall have the pleasure of your company. And if I am led +into labyrinths to die of starvation, you at least will have a meal: I +could not eat you." + +If the priest was disconcerted, he did not show it. He took a lantern +from a shelf, lit the fragment of candle, and, opening a door at the +back, walked through the long line of inner rooms. All were heaped +with rubbish. In one he found a trap-door with his foot, and descended +rough steps cut out of the earth. The air rose chill and damp, and +Estenega knew that the tunnel of the Mission was below, the secret +exit to the hills which the early Fathers built as a last resource in +case of defeat by savage tribes. When they reached the bottom of the +steps the tallow dip illuminated but a narrow circle; Estenega could +form no idea of the workmanship of the tunnel, except that it was not +more than six feet and a few inches high, for his hat brushed the top, +and that the floor and sides appeared to be of pressed clay. There was +ventilation somewhere, but no light. They walked a mile or more, +and then Estenega had a sense of stepping into a wider and higher +excavation. + +"We are no longer in the tunnel," said the priest. He lifted the +lantern and swung it above his head. Estenega saw that they were in a +circular room, hollowed probably out of the heart of a hill. He also +saw something else. + +"What is that?" he exclaimed, sharply. + +The priest handed him the lantern. "Look for yourself," he said. + +Estenega took the lantern, and, holding it just above his head and +close to the walls, slowly traversed the room. It was belted with +three strata of crystal-like quartz, sown thick with glittering yellow +specks and chunks. Each stratum was about three feet wide. + +"There is a fortune here," he said. He felt none of the greed of gold, +merely a recognition of its power. + +"Yes, senor; enough to pay the debt of a nation." + +"Where are we? Under what hill? I am sorry I had not a compass with +me. It was impossible to make any accurate guess of direction in that +slanting tunnel. Where is the outlet?" + +The priest made no reply. + +Estenega turned to him peremptorily. "Answer me. How can I find this +place from without?" + +"You never will find it from without. When the danger from Indians was +over, a pious Father closed the opening. This gold is not for you. You +could not find even the trap-door by yourself." + +"Then why have you brought me here?" + +"To tantalize you. To punish you for your insult to the Church through +me. Kill me now, if you wish. Better death than hell." + +Estenega made a rapid circuit of the room. There was no mode of +egress other than that by which they had entered, and no sign of any +previously existing. He sprang upon the priest and shook him until +the worn stumps rattled in their gums. "You dog!" he said, "to balk +me with your ignorant superstition! Take me out of this place by its +other entrance at once, that I may remain on the hill until morning. +I would not trust your word. You shall tell me, if I have to torture +you." + +The priest made a sudden spring and closed with Estenega, hugging +him like a bear. The lantern fell and went out. The two men stumbled +blindly in the blackness, striking the walls, wrestling desperately, +the priest using his teeth and panting like a beast. But he was no +match for the virility and science of his young opponent. Estenega +threw him in a moment and bound him with the rope. Then he found the +lantern and lit the candle again. He returned to the priest and stood +over him. The latter was conquered physically, but the dogged light +of bigotry still burned in his eyes, although Estenega's were not +agreeable to face. + +Estenega was furious. He had twisted Santa Ana, one of the most subtle +and self-seeking men of his time, around his finger as if he had +been a yard of ribbon; Alvarado, the wisest man ever born in the +Californias, was swayed by his judgment; yet all the arts of which his +intellect was master fell blunt and useless before this clay-brained +priest. He had more respect for the dogs in his kennels, but unless +he resorted to extreme measures the creature would defeat him through +sheer brute ignorance. Estenega was not a man to stop in sight of +victory or to give his sword to an enemy he despised. + +"You are at my mercy. You realize that now, I suppose. Will you show +me the other way out?" + +The priest drew down his under-lip like a snarling dog, revealing the +discolored stumps. But he made no other reply. + +Estenega lit a match, and, kneeling beside the priest, held it to his +stubbled beard. As the flame licked the flesh the man uttered a yell +like a kicked brute. Estenega sprang to his feet with an oath. "I +can't do it!" he exclaimed, with bitter disgust. "I haven't the iron +of cruelty in me. I am not fit to be a ruler of men." He untied the +rope about the prisoner's feet. "Get up," he said, "and conduct me +back as we came." The priest scrambled to his feet and hobbled down +the long tunnel. They ascended the steps beneath the Mission and +emerged into the room. Estenega turned swiftly to prevent the closing +of the trap-door, but only in time to hear it shut with a spring and +the priest kick rubbish above it. + +He cut the rope which bound the other's hands. "Go," he said, "I have +no further use for you. And if you report this, I need not explain to +you that it will fare worse with you than it will with me." + +The priest fled, and Estenega, hanging the lantern on a nail, pushed +aside the rubbish with his feet, purposing to pace the room until +dawn. In a few moments, however, he discovered that the despised +hermit was not without his allies; ten thousand fleas, the pest of the +country, assaulted every portion of his body they could reach. They +swarmed down the legs of his riding-boots, up his trousers, up his +sleeves, down his neck. "There is no such thing in life as tragedy," +he thought. He hung the lantern outside the door to mark the room, and +paced the yard until morning. But there were dark hours yet before the +dawn, and during one of them a figure, when his back was turned, +crept to the lantern and hung it before an adjoining room. When light +came,--and the fog came first,--all Estenega's efforts to find the +trap-door were unavailing, although the yard was littered with the +rubbish he flung into it from the room. He suspected the trick, but +there were ten rooms exactly alike, and although he cleared most of +them he could discover no trace of the trap-door. He looked at the +hills surrounding the Mission. They were many, and beyond there were +others. He mounted his horse and rode around the buildings, listening +carefully for hollow reverberation. The tunnel was too far below; he +heard nothing. + +He was defeated. For the first time in his life he was without +resource, overwhelmed by a force stronger than his own will; and his +spirit was savage within him. He had no authority to dig the floors +of the Mission, for the Mission and several acres about it were +the property of the Church. The priest never would take him on that +underground journey again, for he had learned the weak spot in his +armor, nor had he fear of death. Unless accident favored him, or some +one more fortunate, the golden heart of the San Rafael hill would +pulse unrifled forever. + + + + +XXX. + + +He turned his back upon the Mission and rode toward his home, sixty +miles in a howling November wind. At Bodega Bay he learned that +Governor Rotscheff had passed there two days before with a party of +guests that he had gone down to Sausalito to meet. Chonita awaited +him in the North. A softer mood pressed through the somberness of his +spirit, and the candle of hope burned again. Gold must exist elsewhere +in California, and he swore anew that it should yield itself to him. +The last miles of his ride lay along the cliffs. Sometimes the steep +hills covered with redwoods rose so abruptly from the trail that the +undergrowth brushed him as he passed; on the other side but a few +inches stood between himself and death amidst the surf pounding on the +rocks a thousand feet below. The sea-gulls screamed about his head, +the sea-lions barked with the hollow note of consumptives on the +outlying rocks. On the horizon was a bank of fog, outlined with the +crests and slopes and gulches of the mountain beside him. It sent an +advance wrack scudding gracefully across the ocean to puff among the +redwoods, capriciously clinging to some, ignoring others. Then came +the vast white mountain rushing over the roaring ocean, up the cliffs +and into the gloomy forests, blotting the lonely horseman from sight. + +He arrived at his house--a big structure of logs--late in the night. +His servants came out to meet him, and in a moment a fire leaped in +the great fireplace in his library. He lived alone; his parents and +brothers were dead, and his sisters married; but the fire made the low +long room, covered with bear-skins and lined with books, as cheerful +as a bachelor could expect. He found a note from the Princess Helene +Rotscheff, the famous wife of the governor, asking him to spend the +following week at Fort Ross; but he was so tired that even the image +of Chonita was dim; the note barely caused a throb of anticipation. +After supper he flung himself on a couch before the fire and slept +until morning, then went to bed and slept until afternoon. By that +time he was himself again. He sent a vaquero ahead with his evening +clothes, and an hour or two later started for Fort Ross, spurring his +horse with a lighter heart over the cliffs. His ranchos adjoined +the Russian settlement; the journey from his house to the military +enclosure was not a long one. He soon rounded the point of a sloping +hill and entered the spreading core formed by the mountains receding +in a semicircle above the cliffs, and in whose shelter lay Fort Ross. +The fort was surrounded by a stockade of redwood beams, bastions in +the shape of hexagonal towers at diagonal corners. Cannon, mounted on +carriages, were at each of the four entrances, in the middle of the +enclosure, and in the bastions. Sentries paced the ramparts with +unremitting vigilance. + +Within were the long low buildings occupied by the governor and +officers, the barracks, and the Russian church, with its belfry and +cupola. Beyond was the "town," a collection of huts accommodating +about eight hundred Indians and Siberian convicts, the workingmen of +the company. All the buildings were of redwood logs or planed boards, +and made a very different picture from the white towns of the South. +The curving mountains were sombrous with redwoods, the ocean growled +unceasingly. + +Estenega threw his bridle to a soldier and went directly to the house. +A servant met him on the veranda and conducted him to his room; it +was late, and every one else was dressing for dinner. He changed his +riding-clothes for the evening dress of modern civilization, and went +at once to the drawing-room. Here all was luxury, nothing to suggest +the privations of a new country. A thick red carpet covered the floor, +red arras the walls; the music of Mozart and Beethoven was on the +grand piano. The furniture was rich and comfortable, the large carved +table was covered with French novels and European periodicals. + +The candles had not been brought in, but logs blazed in the open +fireplace. As Estenega crossed the room, a woman, dressed in black, +rose from a deep chair, and he recognized Chonita. He sprang forward +impetuously and held out his arms, but she waved him back. + +"No, no," she said, hurriedly. "I want to explain why I am here. I +came for two reasons. First, I could refuse the Princess Helene no +longer; she goes so soon. And then--I wanted to see you once more +before I leave the world." + +"Before you do what?" + +"I am not going into a convent; I cannot leave my father. I am going +to retire to the most secluded of our ranchos, to see no more of the +world or its people. I shall take my father with me. Reinaldo and +Prudencia will remain at Casa Grande." + +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed, impatiently. "Do you suppose I shall let you +do anything of the sort? How little you know me, my love! But we will +discuss that question later. We shall be alone only a few moments now. +Tell me of yourself. How are you?" + +"I will tell you that, also, at another time." + +And at the moment a door opened, and the governor and his wife entered +and greeted Estenega with cordial hospitality. The governor was +a fine-looking Russian, with a spontaneous warmth of manner; the +princess a woman who possessed both elegance and vivacity, both +coquetry and dignity; she could sparkle and chill, allure and suppress +in the same moment. Even here, rough and wild as her surroundings +were, she gave much thought to her dress; to-night her blonde +harmonious loveliness was properly framed in a toilette of mignonette +greens, fresh from Paris. A moment later Reinaldo and Prudencia +appeared, the former as splendid a caballero as ever, although +wearing the chastened air of matrimony, the latter pre-maternally +consequential. Then came the officers and their wives, all brilliant +in evening dress; and a moment later dinner was announced. + +Estenega sat at the right of his hostess, and that trained daughter of +the salon kept the table in a light ripple of conversation, sparkling +herself, without striking terror to the hearts of her guests. She and +Estenega were old friends, and usually indulged in lively sallies, +ending some times in a sharp war of words, for she was a very clever +woman; but to-night he gave her absent attention: he watched Chonita +furtively, and thought of little else. + +Her eyes had darker shadows beneath them than those cast by her +lashes; her face was pale and slightly hollowed. She had suffered, and +not for her mother. "She shall suffer no more," he thought. + +"We hunt bear to-night," he heard the governor say at length. + +"I should like to go," said Chonita, quickly. "I should like to go out +to-night." + +Immediately there was a chorus from all the Other women, excepting the +Princess Helene and Prudencia; they wanted to go too. Rotscheff, who +would much rather have left them at home, consented with good grace, +and Estenega's spirits rose at once. He would have a talk with Chonita +that night, something he had not dared to hope for, and he suspected +that she had promoted the opportunity. + +The men remained in the dining-room after the ladies had withdrawn, +and Estenega, restored to his normal condition, and in his natural +element among these people of the world, expanded into the high +spirits and convivial interest in masculine society which made him as +popular with men as he was fascinating, through the exercise of +more subtle faculties, to women. Reinaldo watched him with jealous +impatience; no one cared to hearken to his eloquence when Estenega +talked; and he had come to Fort Ross only to have a conversation +with his one-time enemy. As he listened to Estenega, shorn, for the +time-being, of his air of dictator and watchful ambition, a man of +the world taking an enthusiastic part in the hilarity of the hour, +but never sacrificing his dignity by assuming the role of chief +entertainer, there grew within him a dull sense of inferiority: he +felt, rather than knew, that neither the city of Mexico nor gratified +ambitions would give him that assured ease, that perfection of +breeding, that calm sense of power, concealing so gracefully the +relentless will and the infinite resource which made this most +un-Californian of Californians seem to his Arcadian eyes a being of a +higher star. And hatred blazed forth anew. + +As the men rose, finally, to go to the drawing-room, he asked Estenega +to remain for a moment. "Thou wilt keep thy promise soon, no?" he said +when they were alone. + +"What promise?" + +"Thy promise to send me as diputado to the next Mexican Congress." + +Estenega looked at him reflectively. He had little toleration for the +man of inferior brain, and, although he did not underrate his power +for mischief, he relied upon his own wit to circumvent him. He had +disposed of this one by warning Santa Ana, and he concluded to be +annoyed by him no further. Besides, as a brother-in-law, he would be +insupportable except at the long range of mutual unamiability. + +"I made you no promise," he said, deliberately; "and I shall make you +none. I do not wish you in the city of Mexico." + +Reinaldo's face grew livid. "Thou darest to say that to me, and yet +would marry my sister?" + +"I would, and I shall." + +"And yet thou wouldst not help her brother?" + +"Her brother is less to me than any man with whom I have sat to-night. +Build no hopes on that. You will stay at Santa Barbara and play the +grand seigneur, which suits you very well, or become a prisoner in +your own house." And he left the room. + + + + +XXXI. + + +An hour later they assembled in the plaza to start for the bear hunt. +Reinaldo was not of the party. + +Estenega lifted Chonita to her horse and stood beside her for a moment +while the others mounted. He touched her hand with his: + +"We could not have a more beautiful night," he said, significantly. +"And I have often wished that my father had included this spot when he +applied for his grant. I should like to live with you here. Even when +the winds rage and hurl the rain through the very window pane, I know +of no more enchanting spot than Fort Ross. The Russians are going; +some day I will buy it for you." + +She made no reply, but she did not withdraw her hand, and he held +it closely and glanced slowly about him. Always, despite his bitter +intimacy with life, in kinship with nature, perhaps in that moment it +had a deeper meaning, for he saw with double vision: She was there; +and, with him, sensible not only of the beauty of the night, but of +the indefinable mystery which broods over California the moment the +sun falls. Perhaps, too, he was troubled by a vague foreboding, such +as comes to mortals sometimes in spite of their limitations: he never +saw Fort Ross again. + +On the horizon the fog crouched and moved; marched like a battalion of +ocean's ghosts; suddenly cohered and sent out light puffs of smoke, as +from the crater of a spectral volcano. The moon, full and bright and +cold, hung low in the dark sky: one hardly noted the stars. The vast +sweep of water was as calm as a lake, dark and metallic like the sky, +barely reflecting the silver light between. But although calm it was +not quiet. It greeted the forbidding rocks beyond the shore, the long +irregular line of stark, storm-beaten cliffs, with ominous mutter, now +and again throwing a cloud of spray high in the air, as if in derisive +proof that even in sleep it was sensible of its power. Occasionally it +moaned, as if sounding a dirge along the mass of stones which storms +had hurled or waves had wrenched from the crags above,--a dirge for +beheaded Russians, for him who had walked the plank, or for the lover +of Natalie Ivanhoff. + +Here and there the cliffs were intersected by deep straggling gulches, +out of whose sides grew low woods of brush; but the three tables +rising successively from the ocean to the forest on the mountain, were +almost bare. On the highest, between two gulches, on a knoll so bare +and black and isolated that its destiny was surely taken into account +at creation, was a tall rude cross and a half hundred neglected +graves. The forest seemed blacker just behind it, the shadows thicker +in the gorges that embraced it, the ocean grayer and more illimitable +before it. "Natalie Ivanhoff is there in her copper coffin," said +Estenega, "forgotten already." + +The curve of the mountain was so perfect that it seemed to reach down +a long arm on either side and grasp the cliffs. The redwoods on its +crown and upper slopes were a mass of rigid shadows, the points, only, +sharply etched on the night sky. They might have been a wall about an +undiscovered country. + +"Come," cried Rotscheff, "we are ready to start." And Estenega sprang +to his horse. + +"I don't envy you," said the Princess Helene from the veranda, her +silveren head barely visible above the furs which enveloped her. "I +prefer the fire." + +"You are warmly clad?" asked Estenega of Chonita. "But you have the +blood of the South in your veins." + +They climbed the steep road between the levels, slowly, the women +chattering and asking questions, the men explaining and advising. +Estenega and Chonita having much to say, said nothing. + +A cold volume of air, the muffled roar of a mountain torrent, rushed +out of the forest, startling with the suddenness of its impact. Once a +panther uttered its human cry. + +They entered the forest. It was so dark here that the horses wandered +from the trail and into the brush again and again. Conversation +ceased; except for the muffled footfalls of the horses and the speech +of the waters there was no sound. Chonita had never known a stillness +so profound; the giant trees crowding together seemed to resent +intrusion, to menace an eternal silence. She moved her horse close to +Estenega's and he took her hand. Occasionally there was an opening, a +well of blackness, for the moon had not yet come to the forest. + +They reached the summit, and descended. Half-way down the mountain +they rode into a farm in a valley formed by one of the many basins. + +The Indians were waiting, and killed a bullock at once, placing the +carcass in a conspicuous place. Then all retired to the shade of the +trees. In less than a half-hour a bear came prowling out of the forest +and began upon the meal so considerately provided for him. When his +attention was fully engaged, Rotscheff and the officers, mounted, +dashed down upon him, swinging their lassos. The bear showed fight and +stood his ground, but this was an occasion when the bear always got +the worst of it. One lasso caught his neck, another his hind foot, +and he was speedily strained and strangled to death. No sooner was +he despatched than another appeared, then another, and the sport grew +very exciting, absorbing the attention of the women as well as the +energies of the men. + +Estenega lifted Chonita from her horse. "Let us walk," he said. +"They will not miss us. A few yards farther, and you will be on my +territory. I want you there." + +She made no protest, and they entered the forest. The moon shone down +through the lofty redwoods that seemed to scrape its crystal; the +monotone of the distant sea blended with the faint roar of the +tree-tops. The vast gloomy aisles were unbroken by other sound. + +He took her hand and held it a moment, then drew it through his arm. +"Now tell me all," he said, "They will be occupied for a long while. +The night is ours." + +"I have come here to tell you that I love you," she said. "Ah, can _I_ +make _you_ tremble? It was impossible for me not to tell you this; I +could not rest in my retreat without having the last word with +you, without having you know me. And I want to tell you that I have +suffered horribly; you may care to know that, for no one else in the +world could have made me, no one else ever can. Only your fingers +could twist in my heart-strings and tear my heart out of my body. I +suffered first because I doubted you, then because I loved you, then +the torture of jealousy and the pangs of parting, then those dreadful +three months when I heard no word. I could not stay at Casa Grande; +everything associated with you drove me wild. Oh, I have gone through +all varieties! But the last was the worst, after I heard from you +again, and all other causes were removed, and I knew that you were +well and still loved me: the knowledge that I never could be anything +to you,--and I could be so much! The torment of this knowledge was so +bitter that there was but one refuge,--imagination. I shut my eyes to +my little world and lived with you; and it seemed to me that I grew +into absolute knowledge of you. Let me tell you what I divined. You +may tell me that I am wrong, but I do not believe that you will. I +think that in the little time we were together I absorbed you. + +"It seemed to me that your soul reached always for something just +above the attainable, restless in the moments which would satisfy +another, fretted with a perverse desire for something different when +an ardent wish was granted, steeped, under all wanton determined +enjoyment of life, with the bitter knowing of life's sure impotence +to satisfy. Could the dissatisfied darting mind loiter long enough to +give a woman more than the promise of happiness?--but never mind that. + +"With this knowledge of you my own resistless desire for variety left +me: my nature concentrated into one paramount wish,--to be all things +to you. What I had felt vaguely before and stifled--the nothingness +of life, the inevitableness of satiety--I repudiated utterly, now that +they were personified in you; I would not recognize the fact of their +existence. _I_ could make you happy. How could imagination shape such +scenes, such perfection of union, of companionship, if reality were +not? Imagination is the child of inherited and living impressions. I +might exaggerate; but, even stripped of its halo, the substance must +be sweeter and more fulfilling than anything else on this earth at +least. And I knew that you loved me. Oh, I had _felt_ that! And the +variousness of your nature and desires, although they might madden +me at times, would give an extraordinary zest to life. I was The +Doomswoman no longer. I was a supplementary being who could meet you +in every mood and complete it; who would so understand that I could +be man and woman and friend to you. A delusion? But so long as I shall +never know, let me believe. An extraordinary tumultuous desire that +rose in me like a wave and shook me often at first, had, in those last +sad weeks, less part in my musings. It seemed to me that that was the +expression, the poignant essence, of love; but there was so much else! +I do not understand that, however, and never shall. But I wanted to +tell you all. I could not rest until you knew me as I am and as +you had made me. And I will tell you this too," she cried, breaking +suddenly, "I wanted you so! Oh, I needed you so! It was not I, only, +who could give. And it is so terrible for a woman to stand alone!" + +He made no reply for a moment. But he forgot every other interest and +scheme and idea stored in his impatient brain. He was thrilled to his +soul, and filled with the exultant sense that he was about to take to +his heart the woman compounded for him out of his own elements. + +"Speak to me," she said. + +"My love, I have so much to say to you that it will take all the years +we shall spend together to say it in." + +"No, no! Do not speak of that. There I am firm. Although the misery of +the past months were to be multiplied ten hundred times in the future, +I would not marry you." + +Estenega, knowing that their hour of destiny was come, and that upon +him alone depended its issues, was not the man to hesitate between +such happiness as this woman alone could give him, and the gray +existence which she in her blindness would have meted to both: his +bold will had already taken the future in its relentless grasp. But, +knowing the mental habit of women, he thought it best to let Chonita +free her mind, that there might be the less in it to protest for +hearing while his heart and passion spoke to hers. + +"It seems absurd to argue the matter," he said, "but tell me the +reasons again, if you choose, and we will dispose of them once for +all. Do not think for a moment, my darling, that I do not respect your +reasons; but I respect them only because they are yours; in themselves +they are not worthy of consideration." + +"Ay, but they are. It has been an unwritten law for four generations +that an Estenega and an Iturbi y Moncada should not marry; the enmity +began, as you should know, when a member of each family was an officer +in a detachment of troops sent to protect the Missions in their +building. And my father--he told me lately--loved your father's sister +for many years,--that was the reason he married so late in life,--and +would not ask her because of her blood and of cruel wrongs her father +had done his. Shall his daughter be weak where he was strong? You cast +aside traditions as if they were the seeds of an apple; but remember +that they are blood of my blood. And the vow I made,--do you forget +that? And the words of it? The Church stands between us. I will tell +you all: the priest has forbidden me to marry you; he forbade it every +time I confessed; not only because of my vow, but because you had +aroused in me a love so terrible that I almost took the life of +another woman. Could I bring you back to the Church it might be +different; but you rule others; no one could remould you. You see it +is hopeless. It is no use to argue." + +"I have no intention of arguing. Words are too good to waste on such +an absurd proposition that because our fathers hated, we, who are +independent and intelligent beings, should not marry when every drop +of heart's blood demands its rights. As for your vow,--what is a vow? +Hysterical egotism, nothing more. Were it the promise of man to man, +the subject would be worth discussing. But we will settle the matter +in our own way." He took her suddenly in his arms and kissed her. She +put her arms about him and clung to him, trembling, her lips pressed +to his. In that supreme moment he felt not happiness, but a bitter +desire to bear her out of the world into some higher sphere where the +conditions of happiness might possibly exist. "On the highest pinnacle +we reach," he thought, "we are granted the tormenting and chastening +glimpse of what might be, had God, when he compounded his victims, +been in a generous mood and completed them." + +And she? she was a woman. + +"You will resist no longer," he said, in a few moments. + +"Ay, more surely than ever, now." Her voice was faint, but crossed by +a note of terror. "In that moment I forgot my religion and my duty. +And what is so sweet,--it cannot be right." + +"Do you so despise your womanhood, the most perfect thing about you?" + +"Oh, let us return! I wanted to kiss you once. I meant to do that. But +I should not--Let us go! Oh, I love you so! I love you so!" + +He drew her closer and kissed her until her head fell forward and +her body grew heavy. "I shall think and act now, for both," he said, +unsteadily, although there was no lack of decision in his voice. "You +are mine. I claim you, and I shall run no further risk of losing you. +Oh, you will forgive me--my love--" + +Neither saw a man walking rapidly up the trail. Suddenly the man gave +a bound and ran toward them. It was Reinaldo. + +"Ah, I have found thee," he cried. "Listen, Don Diego Estenega, lord +of the North, American, and would-be dictator of the Californias. Two +hours ago I despatched a vaquero with a circular letter to the priests +of the Department of the Californias, warning them each and all +to write at once to the Archbishop of Mexico, and protest that the +success of your ambitions would mean the downfall of the Catholic +Church in California, and telling them your schemes. Thou art mighty, +O Don Diego Estenega, but thou art powerless against the enmity of +the Church. They are mightier than thou, and thou wilt never rule in +California. Unhand my sister! Thou shalt not have her either. Thou +shalt have nothing. Wilt thou unhand her?" he cried, enraged at +Estenega's cold reception of his damnatory news. "Thou shouldst not +have her if I tore thy heart from thy body." + +Estenega looked contemptuously across Chonita's shoulder, although +his heart was lead within him. "The last resource of the mean and +down-trodden is revenge," he said. "Go. To-morrow I shall horsewhip +you in the court-yard of Fort Ross." + +Reinaldo, hot with excitement and thirst for further vengeance, +uttered a shriek of rage and sprang upon him. Estenega saw the gleam +of a knife and flung Chonita aside, catching the driving arm, the +fury of his heart in his muscles. Reinaldo had the soft muscles of +the cabellero, and panted and writhed in the iron grasp of the man +who forgot that he grappled with the brother of a woman passionately +loved, remembered only that he rejoiced to fight to the death the man +who had ruined his life. Reinaldo tried to thrust the knife into his +back; Estenega suddenly threw his weight on the arm that held it, +nearly wrenching it from its socket, snatched the knife, and drove it +to the heart of his enemy. + +Then the hot blood in his body turned cold. He stood like a stone +regarding Chonita, whose eyes, fixed upon him, were expanded with +horror. Between them lay the dead body of her brother. + +He turned with a groan and sat down on a fallen log, supporting his +chin with his hand. His profile looked grim and worn and old. He +stared unseeingly at the ground. Chonita stood, still looking at him. +The last act of her brother's life had been to lay the foundation of +her lover's ruin; his death had completed it: all the South would +rise did the slayer of an Iturbi y Moncada seek to rule it. She felt +vaguely sorry for Reinaldo; but death was peace; this was hell +in living veins. The memory of the world beyond the forest grew +indistinct. She recalled her first dream and turned in loathing from +the bloodless selfishness of which it was the allegory. Superstition +and tradition slipped into some inner pocket of her memory, there to +rattle their dry bones together and fall to dust. She saw only the +figure, relaxed for the first time, the profile of a man with his +head on the block. She stepped across the body of her brother, and, +kneeling beside Estenega, drew his head to her breast. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Doomswoman, by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DOOMSWOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 12270.txt or 12270.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/2/7/12270/ + +Produced by Leah Moser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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