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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dona Perfecta, by B. Perez Galdos
+
+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: Dona Perfecta
+
+Author: B. Perez Galdos
+
+Commentator: W. D. Howells
+
+Translator: Mary J. Serrano
+
+Release Date: March 31, 2006 [EBook #2462]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DONA PERFECTA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny; John Bickers
+
+
+
+
+
+DONA PERFECTA
+
+by B. PEREZ GALDOS
+
+
+Translated from the Spanish by Mary J. Serrano
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+The very acute and lively Spanish critic who signs himself Clarin, and
+is known personally as Don Leopoldo Alas, says the present Spanish novel
+has no yesterday, but only a day-before-yesterday. It does not derive
+from the romantic novel which immediately preceded that: the novel,
+large or little, as it was with Cervantes, Hurtado de Mendoza, Quevedo,
+and the masters of picaresque fiction.
+
+Clarin dates its renascence from the political revolution of 1868,
+which gave Spanish literature the freedom necessary to the fiction that
+studies to reflect modern life, actual ideas, and current aspirations;
+and though its authors were few at first, "they have never been
+adventurous spirits, friends of Utopia, revolutionists, or impatient
+progressists and reformers." He thinks that the most daring, the most
+advanced, of the new Spanish novelists, and the best by far, is Don
+Benito Perez Galdos.
+
+I should myself have made my little exception in favor of Don Armando
+Palacio Valdes, but Clarin speaks with infinitely more authority, and I
+am certainly ready to submit when he goes on to say that Galdos is not
+a social or literary insurgent; that he has no political or religious
+prejudices; that he shuns extremes, and is charmed with prudence;
+that his novels do not attack the Catholic dogmas--though they deal so
+severely with Catholic bigotry--but the customs and ideas cherished
+by secular fanaticism to the injury of the Church. Because this is
+so evident, our critic holds, his novels are "found in the bosom of
+families in every corner of Spain." Their popularity among all classes
+in Catholic and prejudiced Spain, and not among free-thinking students
+merely, bears testimony to the fact that his aim and motive are
+understood and appreciated, although his stories are apparently so often
+anti-Catholic.
+
+
+I
+
+Dona Perfecta is, first of all, a story, and a great story, but it is
+certainly also a story that must appear at times potently, and even
+bitterly, anti-Catholic. Yet it would be a pity and an error to read it
+with the preoccupation that it was an anti-Catholic tract, for really it
+is not that. If the persons were changed in name and place, and
+modified in passion to fit a cooler air, it might equally seem an
+anti-Presbyterian or anti-Baptist tract; for what it shows in the light
+of their own hatefulness and cruelty are perversions of any religion,
+any creed. It is not, however, a tract at all; it deals in artistic
+largeness with the passion of bigotry, as it deals with the passion of
+love, the passion of ambition, the passion of revenge. But Galdos
+is Spanish and Catholic, and for him the bigotry wears a Spanish and
+Catholic face. That is all.
+
+Up to a certain time, I believe, Galdos wrote romantic or idealistic
+novels, and one of these I have read, and it tired me very much. It was
+called "Marianela," and it surprised me the more because I was already
+acquainted with his later work, which is all realistic. But one does not
+turn realist in a single night, and although the change in Galdos was
+rapid it was not quite a lightning change; perhaps because it was
+not merely an outward change, but artistically a change of heart. His
+acceptance in his quality of realist was much more instant than his
+conversion, and vastly wider; for we are told by the critic whom I have
+been quoting that Galdos's earlier efforts, which he called _Episodios
+Nacionales_, never had the vogue which his realistic novels have
+enjoyed.
+
+These were, indeed, tendencious, if I may Anglicize a very necessary
+word from the Spanish _tendencioso_. That is, they dealt with very
+obvious problems, and had very distinct and poignant significations,
+at least in the case of "Dona Perfecta," "Leon Roch," and "Gloria." In
+still later novels, Emilia Pardo-Bazan thinks, he has comprehended that
+"the novel of to-day must take note of the ambient truth, and realize
+the beautiful with freedom and independence." This valiant lady, in
+the campaign for realism which she made under the title of "La Cuestion
+Palpitante"--one of the best and strongest books on the subject--counts
+him first among Spanish realists, as Clarin counts him first among
+Spanish novelists. "With a certain fundamental humanity," she says,
+"a certain magisterial simplicity in his creations, with the natural
+tendency of his clear intelligence toward the truth, and with the
+frankness of his observation, the great novelist was always disposed
+to pass over to realism with arms and munitions; but his aesthetic
+inclinations were idealistic, and only in his latest works has he
+adopted the method of the modern novel, fathomed more and more the human
+heart, and broken once for all with the picturesque and with the typical
+personages, to embrace the earth we tread."
+
+For her, as I confess for me, "Dona Perfecta" is not realistic
+enough--realistic as it is; for realism at its best is not tendencious.
+It does not seek to grapple with human problems, but is richly content
+with portraying human experiences; and I think Senora Pardo-Bazan is
+right in regarding "Dona Perfecta" as transitional, and of a period when
+the author had not yet assimilated in its fullest meaning the faith he
+had imbibed.
+
+
+II
+
+Yet it is a great novel, as I said; and perhaps because it is
+transitional it will please the greater number who never really arrive
+anywhere, and who like to find themselves in good company _en route_. It
+is so far like life that it is full of significations which pass beyond
+the persons and actions involved, and envelop the reader, as if he too
+were a character of the book, or rather as if its persons were men
+and women of this thinking, feeling, and breathing world, and he must
+recognize their experiences as veritable facts. From the first moment
+to the last it is like some passage of actual events in which you cannot
+withhold your compassion, your abhorrence, your admiration, any more
+than if they took place within your personal knowledge. Where they
+transcend all facts of your personal knowledge, you do not accuse them
+of improbability, for you feel their potentiality in yourself, and
+easily account for them in the alien circumstance. I am not saying that
+the story has no faults; it has several. There are tags of romanticism
+fluttering about it here and there; and at times the author permits
+himself certain old-fashioned literary airs and poses and artifices,
+which you simply wonder at. It is in spite of these, and with all these
+defects, that it is so great and beautiful a book.
+
+
+III
+
+What seems to be so very admirable in the management of the story is the
+author's success in keeping his own counsel. This may seem a very
+easy thing; but, if the reader will think over the novelists of his
+acquaintance, he will find that it is at least very uncommon. They
+mostly give themselves away almost from the beginning, either by their
+anxiety to hide what is coming, or their vanity in hinting what great
+things they have in store for the reader. Galdos does neither the one
+nor the other. He makes it his business to tell the story as it grows;
+to let the characters unfold themselves in speech and action; to permit
+the events to happen unheralded. He does not prophesy their course, he
+does not forecast the weather even for twenty-four hours; the atmosphere
+becomes slowly, slowly, but with occasional lifts and reliefs, of such a
+brooding breathlessness, of such a deepening density, that you feel the
+wild passion-storm nearer and nearer at hand, till it bursts at last;
+and then you are astonished that you had not foreseen it yourself from
+the first moment.
+
+Next to this excellent method, which I count the supreme characteristic
+of the book merely because it represents the whole, and the other
+facts are in the nature of parts, is the masterly conception of the
+characters. They are each typical of a certain side of human nature,
+as most of our personal friends and enemies are; but not exclusively of
+this side or that. They are each of mixed motives, mixed qualities; none
+of them is quite a monster; though those who are badly mixed do such
+monstrous things.
+
+Pepe Rey, who is such a good fellow--so kind, and brave, and upright,
+and generous, so fine a mind, and so high a soul--is tactless and
+imprudent; he even condescends to the thought of intrigue; and though
+he rejects his plots at last, his nature has once harbored deceit. Don
+Inocencio, the priest, whose control of Dona Perfecta's conscience has
+vitiated the very springs of goodness in her, is by no means bad, aside
+from his purposes. He loves his sister and her son tenderly, and wishes
+to provide for them by the marriage which Pepe's presence threatens to
+prevent. The nephew, though selfish and little, has moments of almost
+being a good fellow; the sister, though she is really such a lamb of
+meekness, becomes a cat, and scratches Don Inocencio dreadfully when he
+weakens in his design against Pepe.
+
+Rosario, one of the sweetest and purest images of girlhood that I know
+in fiction, abandons herself with equal passion to the love she feels
+for her cousin Pepe, and to the love she feels for her mother, Dona
+Perfecta. She is ready to fly with him, and yet she betrays him to her
+mother's pitiless hate.
+
+But it is Dona Perfecta herself who is the transcendent figure, the
+most powerful creation of the book. In her, bigotry and its fellow-vice,
+hypocrisy, have done their perfect work, until she comes near to being
+a devil, and really does some devil's deeds. Yet even she is not without
+some extenuating traits. Her bigotry springs from her conscience, and
+she is truly devoted to her daughter's eternal welfare; she is of such
+a native frankness that at a certain point she tears aside her mask of
+dissimulation and lets Pepe see all the ugliness of her perverted soul.
+She is wonderfully managed. At what moment does she begin to hate him,
+and to wish to undo her own work in making a match between him and
+her daughter? I could defy anyone to say. All one knows is that at one
+moment she adores her brother's son, and at another she abhors him, and
+has already subtly entered upon her efforts to thwart the affection she
+has invited in him for her daughter.
+
+Caballuco, what shall I say of Caballuco? He seems altogether bad, but
+the author lets one imagine that this cruel, this ruthless brute must
+have somewhere about him traits of lovableness, of leniency, though
+he never lets one see them. His gratitude to Dona Perfecta, even his
+murderous devotion, is not altogether bad; and he is certainly worse
+than nature made him, when wrought upon by her fury and the suggestion
+of Don Inocencio. The scene where they work him up to rebellion and
+assassination is a compendium of the history of intolerance; as the
+mean little conceited city of Orbajosas is the microcosm of bigoted and
+reactionary Spain.
+
+
+IV
+
+I have called, or half-called, this book tendencious; but in a certain
+larger view it is not so. It is the eternal interest of passion working
+upon passion, not the temporary interest of condition antagonizing
+condition, which renders "Dona Perfecta" so poignantly interesting, and
+which makes its tragedy immense. But there is hope as well as despair in
+such a tragedy. There is the strange support of a bereavement in it,
+the consolation of feeling that for those who have suffered unto death,
+nothing can harm them more; that even for those who have inflicted their
+suffering this peace will soon come.
+
+"Is Perez Galdos a pessimist?" asks the critic Clarin. "No, certainly;
+but if he is not, why does he paint us sorrows that seem inconsolable?
+Is it from love of paradox? Is it to show that his genius, which can do
+so much, can paint the shadow lovelier than the light? Nothing of this.
+Nothing that is not serious, honest, and noble, is to be found in this
+novelist. Are they pessimistic, those ballads of the North, that always
+end with vague resonances of woe? Are they pessimists, those singers of
+our own land, who surprise us with tears in the midst of laughter? Is
+Nature pessimistic, who is so sad at nightfall that it seems as if day
+were dying forever? . . . The sadness of art, like that of nature, is
+a form of hope. Why is Christianity so artistic? Because it is the
+religion of sadness."
+
+
+W. D. HOWELLS.
+
+
+
+
+DONA PERFECTA
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+VILLAHORRENDA! FIVE MINUTES!
+
+When the down train No. 65--of what line it is unnecessary to
+say--stopped at the little station between kilometres 171 and 172,
+almost all the second-and third-class passengers remained in the cars,
+yawning or asleep, for the penetrating cold of the early morning did
+not invite to a walk on the unsheltered platform. The only first-class
+passenger on the train alighted quickly, and addressing a group of the
+employes asked them if this was the Villahorrenda station.
+
+"We are in Villahorrenda," answered the conductor whose voice was
+drowned by the cackling of the hens which were at that moment being
+lifted into the freight car. "I forgot to call you, Senor de Rey. I
+think they are waiting for you at the station with the beasts."
+
+"Why, how terribly cold it is here!" said the traveller, drawing his
+cloak more closely about him. "Is there no place in the station where
+I could rest for a while, and get warm, before undertaking a journey on
+horseback through this frozen country?"
+
+Before he had finished speaking the conductor, called away by the
+urgent duties of his position, went off, leaving our unknown cavalier's
+question unanswered. The latter saw that another employe was coming
+toward him, holding a lantern in his right hand, that swung back and
+forth as he walked, casting the light on the platform of the station
+in a series of zigzags, like those described by the shower from a
+watering-pot.
+
+"Is there a restaurant or a bedroom in the station of Villahorrenda?"
+said the traveller to the man with the lantern.
+
+"There is nothing here," answered the latter brusquely, running toward
+the men who were putting the freight on board the cars, and assuaging
+them with such a volley of oaths, blasphemies, and abusive epithets that
+the very chickens, scandalized by his brutality, protested against it
+from their baskets.
+
+"The best thing I can do is to get away from this place as quickly as
+possible," said the gentlemen to himself. "The conductor said that the
+beasts were here."
+
+Just as he had come to this conclusion he felt a thin hand pulling him
+gently and respectfully by the cloak. He turned round and saw a figure
+enveloped in a gray cloak, and out of whose voluminous folds peeped the
+shrivelled and astute countenance of a Castilian peasant. He looked at
+the ungainly figure, which reminded one of the black poplar among trees;
+he observed the shrewd eyes that shone from beneath the wide brim of the
+old velvet hat; the sinewy brown hand that grasped a green switch, and
+the broad foot that, with every movement, made the iron spur jingle.
+
+"Are you Senor Don Jose de Rey?" asked the peasant, raising his hand to
+his hat.
+
+"Yes; and you, I take it," answered the traveller joyfully, "are Dona
+Perfecta's servant, who have come to the station to meet me and show me
+the way to Orbajosa?"
+
+"The same. Whenever you are ready to start. The pony runs like the
+wind. And Senor Don Jose, I am sure, is a good rider. For what comes by
+race--"
+
+"Which is the way out?" asked the traveller, with impatience. "Come, let
+us start, senor--What is your name?"
+
+"My name is Pedro Lucas," answered the man of the gray cloak, again
+making a motion to take off his hat; "but they call me Uncle Licurgo.
+Where is the young gentleman's baggage?"
+
+"There it is--there under the cloak. There are three pieces--two
+portmanteaus and a box of books for Senor Don Cayetano. Here is the
+check."
+
+A moment later cavalier and squire found themselves behind the barracks
+called a depot, and facing a road which, starting at this point,
+disappeared among the neighboring hills, on whose naked slopes could be
+vaguely distinguished the miserable hamlet of Villahorrenda. There were
+three animals to carry the men and the luggage. A not ill-looking nag
+was destined for the cavalier; Uncle Licurgo was to ride a venerable
+hack, somewhat loose in the joints, but sure-footed; and the mule, which
+was to be led by a stout country boy of active limbs and fiery blood,
+was to carry the luggage.
+
+Before the caravan had put itself in motion the train had started, and
+was now creeping along the road with the lazy deliberation of a way
+train, awakening, as it receded in the distance, deep subterranean
+echoes. As it entered the tunnel at kilometre 172, the steam issued from
+the steam whistle with a shriek that resounded through the air. From the
+dark mouth of the tunnel came volumes of whitish smoke, a succession of
+shrill screams like the blasts of a trumpet followed, and at the sound
+of its stentorian voice villages, towns, the whole surrounding country
+awoke. Here a cock began to crow, further on another. Day was beginning
+to dawn.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A JOURNEY IN THE HEART OF SPAIN
+
+When they had proceeded some distance on their way and had left behind
+them the hovels of Villahorrenda, the traveller, who was young and
+handsome spoke thus:
+
+"Tell me, Senor Solon--"
+
+"Licurgo, at your service."
+
+"Senor Licurgo, I mean. But I was right in giving you the name of a wise
+legislator of antiquity. Excuse the mistake. But to come to the point.
+Tell me, how is my aunt?"
+
+"As handsome as ever," answered the peasant, pushing his beast forward
+a little. "Time seems to stand still with Senora Dona Perfecta. They say
+that God gives long life to the good, and if that is so that angel of
+the Lord ought to live a thousand years. If all the blessings that are
+showered on her in this world were feathers, the senora would need no
+other wings to go up to heaven with."
+
+"And my cousin, Senorita Rosario?"
+
+"The senora over again!" said the peasant. "What more can I tell you of
+Dona Rosarito but that that she is the living image of her mother? You
+will have a treasure, Senor Don Jose, if it is true, as I hear, that you
+have come to be married to her. She will be a worthy mate for you, and
+the young lady will have nothing to complain of, either. Between Pedro
+and Pedro the difference is not very great."
+
+"And Senor Don Cayetano?"
+
+"Buried in his books as usual. He has a library bigger than the
+cathedral; and he roots up the earth, besides, searching for stones
+covered with fantastical scrawls, that were written, they say, by the
+Moors."
+
+"How soon shall we reach Orbajosa?"
+
+"By nine o'clock, God willing. How delighted the senora will be when she
+sees her nephew! And yesterday, Senorita Rosario was putting the room
+you are to have in order. As they have never seen you, both mother and
+daughter think of nothing else but what Senor Don Jose is like, or is
+not like. The time has now come for letters to be silent and tongues
+to talk. The young lady will see her cousin and all will be joy and
+merry-making. If God wills, all will end happily, as the saying is."
+
+"As neither my aunt nor my cousin has yet seen me," said the traveller
+smiling, "it is not wise to make plans."
+
+"That's true; for that reason it was said that the bay horse is of one
+mind and he who saddles him of another," answered the peasant. "But
+the face does not lie. What a jewel you are getting! and she, what a
+handsome man!"
+
+The young man did not hear Uncle Licurgo's last words, for he was
+preoccupied with his own thoughts. Arrived at a bend in the road, the
+peasant turned his horse's head in another direction, saying:
+
+"We must follow this path now. The bridge is broken, and the river can
+only be forded at the Hill of the Lilies."
+
+"The Hill of the Lilies," repeated the cavalier, emerging from his
+revery. "How abundant beautiful names are in these unattractive
+localities! Since I have been travelling in this part of the country
+the terrible irony of the names is a constant surprise to me. Some place
+that is remarkable for its barren aspect and the desolate sadness of
+the landscape is called Valleameno (Pleasant Valley). Some wretched
+mud-walled village stretched on a barren plain and proclaiming its
+poverty in diverse ways has the insolence to call itself Villarica (Rich
+Town); and some arid and stony ravine, where not even the thistles
+can find nourishment, calls itself, nevertheless, Valdeflores (Vale of
+Flowers). That hill in front of us is the Hill of the Lilies? But where,
+in Heaven's name, are the lilies? I see nothing but stones and withered
+grass. Call it Hill of Desolation, and you will be right. With the
+exception of Villahorrenda, whose appearance corresponds with its name,
+all is irony here. Beautiful words, a prosaic and mean reality. The
+blind would be happy in this country, which for the tongue is a Paradise
+and for the eyes a hell."
+
+Senor Licurgo either did not hear the young man's words, or, hearing, he
+paid no attention to them. When they had forded the river, which, turbid
+and impetuous, hurried on with impatient haste, as if fleeing from its
+own hands, the peasant pointed with outstretched arm to some barren and
+extensive fields that were to be seen on the left, and said:
+
+"Those are the Poplars of Bustamante."
+
+"My lands!" exclaimed the traveller joyfully, gazing at the melancholy
+fields illumined by the early morning light. "For the first time, I see
+the patrimony which I inherited from my mother. The poor woman used to
+praise this country so extravagantly, and tell me so many marvellous
+things about it when I was a child, that I thought that to be here was
+to be in heaven. Fruits, flowers, game, large and small; mountains,
+lakes, rivers, romantic streams, pastoral hills, all were to be found
+in the Poplars of Bustamante; in this favored land, the best and most
+beautiful on the earth. But what is to be said? The people of this place
+live in their imaginations. If I had been brought here in my youth, when
+I shared the ideas and the enthusiasm of my dear mother, I suppose that
+I, too, would have been enchanted with these bare hills, these arid or
+marshy plains, these dilapidated farmhouses, these rickety norias,
+whose buckets drip water enough to sprinkle half a dozen cabbages, this
+wretched and barren desolation that surrounds me."
+
+"It is the best land in the country," said Senor Licurgo; "and for the
+chick-pea, there is no other like it."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it, for since they came into my possession these
+famous lands have never brought me a penny."
+
+The wise legislator of Sparta scratched his ear and gave a sigh.
+
+"But I have been told," continued the young man, "that some of the
+neighboring proprietors have put their ploughs in these estates of mine,
+and that, little by little, they are filching them from me. Here
+there are neither landmarks nor boundaries, nor real ownership, Senor
+Licurgo."
+
+The peasant, after a pause, during which his subtle intellect seemed to
+be occupied in profound disquisitions, expressed himself as follows:
+
+"Uncle Paso Largo, whom, for his great foresight, we call the
+Philosopher, set his plough in the Poplars, above the hermitage, and bit
+by bit, he has gobbled up six fanegas."
+
+"What an incomparable school!" exclaimed the young man, smiling. "I
+wager that he has not been the only--philosopher?"
+
+"It is a true saying that one should talk only about what one knows, and
+that if there is food in the dove-cote, doves won't be wanting. But you,
+Senor Don Jose, can apply to your own cause the saying that the eye of
+the master fattens the ox, and now that you are here, try and recover
+your property."
+
+"Perhaps that would not be so easy, Senor Licurgo," returned the young
+man, just as they were entering a path bordered on either side by
+wheat-fields, whose luxuriance and early ripeness gladdened the eye.
+"This field appears to be better cultivated. I see that all is not
+dreariness and misery in the Poplars."
+
+The peasant assumed a melancholy look, and, affecting something of
+disdain for the fields that had been praised by the traveller, said in
+the humblest of tones:
+
+"Senor, this is mine."
+
+"I beg your pardon," replied the gentleman quickly; "now I was going to
+put my sickle in your field. Apparently the philosophy of this place is
+contagious."
+
+They now descended into a canebrake, which formed the bed of a shallow
+and stagnant brook, and, crossing it, they entered a field full of
+stones and without the slightest trace of vegetation.
+
+"This ground is very bad," said the young man, turning round to look
+at his companion and guide, who had remained a little behind. "You
+will hardly be able to derive any profit from it, for it is all mud and
+sand."
+
+Licurgo, full of humility, answered:
+
+"This is yours."
+
+"I see that all the poor land is mine," declared the young man, laughing
+good-humoredly.
+
+As they were thus conversing, they turned again into the high-road. The
+morning sunshine, pouring joyously through all the gates and balconies
+of the Spanish horizon, had now inundated the fields with brilliant
+light. The wide sky, undimmed by a single cloud, seemed to grow wider
+and to recede further from the earth, in order to contemplate it, and
+rejoice in the contemplation, from a greater height. The desolate,
+treeless land, straw-colored at intervals, at intervals of the color
+of chalk, and all cut up into triangles and quadrilaterals, yellow or
+black, gray or pale green, bore a fanciful resemblance to a beggar's
+cloak spread out in the sun. On that miserable cloak Christianity and
+Islamism had fought with each other epic battles. Glorious fields, in
+truth, but the combats of the past had left them hideous!
+
+"I think we shall have a scorching day, Senor Licurgo," said the young
+man, loosening his cloak a little. "What a dreary road! Not a single
+tree to be seen, as far as the eye can reach. Here everything is in
+contradiction. The irony does not cease. Why, when there are no poplars
+here, either large or small, should this be called The Poplars?"
+
+Uncle Licurgo did not answer this question because he was listening
+with his whole soul to certain sounds which were suddenly heard in the
+distance, and with an uneasy air he stopped his beast, while he explored
+the road and the distant hills with a gloomy look.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked the traveller, stopping his horse also.
+
+"Do you carry arms, Don Jose?"
+
+"A revolver--ah! now I understand. Are there robbers about?"
+
+"Perhaps," answered the peasant, with visible apprehension. "I think I
+heard a shot."
+
+"We shall soon see. Forward!" said the young man, putting spurs to his
+nag. "They are not very terrible, I dare say."
+
+"Keep quiet, Senor Don Jose," exclaimed the peasant, stopping him.
+"Those people are worse than Satan himself. The other day they murdered
+two gentlemen who were on their way to take the train. Let us leave off
+jesting. Gasparon el Fuerte, Pepito Chispillas, Merengue, and Ahorca
+Suegras shall not see my face while I live. Let us turn into the path."
+
+"Forward, Senor Licurgo!"
+
+"Back, Senor Don Jose," replied the peasant, in distressed accents.
+"You don't know what kind of people those are. They are the same men
+who stole the chalice, the Virgin's crown, and two candlesticks from the
+church of the Carmen last month; they are the men who robbed the Madrid
+train two years ago."
+
+Don Jose, hearing these alarming antecedents, felt his courage begin to
+give way.
+
+"Do you see that great high hill in the distance? Well, that is where
+those rascals hide themselves; there in some caves which they call the
+Retreat of the Cavaliers."
+
+"Of the Cavaliers?"
+
+"Yes, senor. They come down to the high-road when the Civil Guards are
+not watching, and rob all they can. Do you see a cross beyond the bend
+of the road? Well, that was erected in remembrance of the death of the
+Alcalde of Villahorrenda, whom they murdered there at the time of the
+elections."
+
+"Yes, I see the cross."
+
+"There is an old house there, in which they hide themselves to wait for
+the carriers. They call that place The Pleasaunce."
+
+"The Pleasaunce?"
+
+"If all the people who have been murdered and robbed there were to be
+restored they would form an army."
+
+While they were thus talking shots were again heard, this time nearer
+than before, which made the valiant hearts of the travellers quake a
+little, but not that of the country lad, who, jumping about for joy,
+asked Senor Licurgo's permission to go forward to watch the conflict
+which was taking place so near them. Observing the courage of the boy
+Don Jose felt a little ashamed of having been frightened, or at least
+a little disturbed, by the proximity of the robbers, and cried, putting
+spurs to his nag:
+
+"We will go forward, then. Perhaps we may be able to lend assistance to
+the unlucky travellers who find themselves in so perilous a situation,
+and give a lesson besides to those cavaliers."
+
+The peasant endeavored to convince the young man of the rashness of his
+purpose, as well as of the profitlessness of his generous design, since
+those who had been robbed were robbed and perhaps dead also, and not in
+a condition to need the assistance of any one.
+
+The gentleman insisted, in spite of these sage counsels; the peasant
+reiterated his objections more strongly than before; when the appearance
+of two or three carters, coming quietly down the road driving a wagon,
+put an end to the controversy. The danger could not be very great when
+these men were coming along so unconcernedly, singing merry songs; and
+such was in fact the case, for the shots, according to what the carters
+said, had not been fired by the robbers, but by the Civil Guards, who
+desired in this way to prevent the escape of half a dozen thieves whom
+they were taking, bound together, to the town jail.
+
+"Yes, I know now what it was," said Licurgo, pointing to a light cloud
+of smoke which was to be seen some distance off, to the right of the
+road. "They have peppered them there. That happens every other day."
+
+The young man did not understand.
+
+"I assure you, Senor Don Jose," added the Lacedaemonian legislator, with
+energy, "that it was very well done; for it is of no use to try those
+rascals. The judge cross-questions them a little and then lets them go.
+If at the end of a trial dragged out for half a dozen years one of them
+is sent to jail, at the moment least expected he escapes, and returns to
+the Retreat of the Cavaliers. That is the best thing to do--shoot them!
+Take them to prison, and when you are passing a suitable place--Ah, dog,
+so you want to escape, do you? pum! pum! The indictment is drawn up, the
+witnesses summoned, the trial ended, the sentence pronounced--all in
+a minute. It is a true saying that the fox is very cunning, but he who
+catches him is more cunning still."
+
+"Forward, then, and let us ride faster, for this road, besides being a
+long one, is not at all a pleasant one," said Rey.
+
+As they passed The Pleasaunce, they saw, a little in from the road, the
+guards who a few minutes before had executed the strange sentence
+with which the reader has been made acquainted. The country boy was
+inconsolable because they rode on and he was not allowed to get a
+nearer view of the palpitating bodies of the robbers, which could be
+distinguished forming a horrible group in the distance. But they had not
+proceeded twenty paces when they heard the sound of a horse galloping
+after them at so rapid a pace that he gained upon them every moment. Our
+traveller turned round and saw a man, or rather a Centaur, for the most
+perfect harmony imaginable existed between horse and rider. The latter
+was of a robust and plethoric constitution, with large fiery eyes,
+rugged features, and a black mustache. He was of middle age and had a
+general air of rudeness and aggressiveness, with indications of strength
+in his whole person. He was mounted on a superb horse with a muscular
+chest, like the horses of the Parthenon, caparisoned in the picturesque
+fashion of the country, and carrying on the crupper a great leather bag
+on the cover of which was to be seen, in large letters, the word Mail.
+
+"Hello! Good-day, Senor Caballuco," said Licurgo, saluting the horseman
+when the latter had come up with them. "How is it that we got so far
+ahead of you? But you will arrive before us, if you set your mind to
+it."
+
+"I will rest a little," answered Senor Caballuco, adapting his horse's
+pace to that of our travellers' beasts, and attentively observing the
+most distinguished of the three, "since there is such good company."
+
+"This gentleman," said Licurgo, smiling, "is the nephew of Dona
+Perfecta."
+
+"Ah! At your service, senor."
+
+The two men saluted each other, it being noticeable that Caballuco
+performed his civilities with an expression of haughtiness and
+superiority that revealed, at the very least, a consciousness of great
+importance, and of a high standing in the district. When the arrogant
+horseman rode aside to stop and talk for a moment with two Civil Guards
+who passed them on the road, the traveller asked his guide:
+
+"Who is that odd character?"
+
+"Who should it be? Caballuco."
+
+"And who is Caballuco?"
+
+"What! Have you never heard of Caballuco?" said the countryman, amazed
+at the crass ignorance of Dona Perfecta's nephew. "He is a very brave
+man, a fine rider, and the best connoisseur of horses in all the
+surrounding country. We think a great deal of him in Orbajosa; and he is
+well worthy of it. Just as you see him, he is a power in the place, and
+the governor of the province takes off his hat to him."
+
+"When there is an election!"
+
+"And the Governor of Madrid writes official letters to him with a
+great many titles in the superscription. He throws the bar like a St.
+Christopher, and he can manage every kind of weapon as easily as we
+manage our fingers. When there was market inspection here, they could
+never get the best of him, and shots were to be heard every night at
+the city gates. He has a following that is worth any money, for they are
+ready for anything. He is good to the poor, and any stranger who should
+come here and attempt to touch so much as a hair of the head of any
+native of Orbajosa would have him to settle with. It is very seldom that
+soldiers come here from Madrid, but whenever they do come, not a day
+passes without blood being shed, for Caballuco would pick a quarrel with
+them, if not for one thing for another. At present it seems that he
+is fallen into poverty and he is employed to carry the mail. But he is
+trying hard to persuade the Town Council to have a market-inspector's
+office here again and to put him in charge of it. I don't know how it is
+that you have never heard him mentioned in Madrid, for he is the son of
+a famous Caballuco who was in the last rebellion, and who was himself
+the son of another Caballuco, who was also in the rebellion of that
+day. And as there is a rumor now that there is going to be another
+insurrection--for the whole country is in a ferment--we are afraid that
+Caballuco will join that also, following in the illustrious footsteps of
+his father and his grandfather, who, to our glory be it said, were born
+in our city."
+
+Our traveller was surprised to see the species of knight-errantry that
+still existed in the regions which he had come to visit, but he had no
+opportunity to put further questions, for the man who was the object of
+them now joined them, saying with an expression of ill-humor:
+
+"The Civil Guard despatched three. I have already told the commander to
+be careful what he is about. To-morrow we will speak to the governor of
+the province, and I----"
+
+"Are you going to X.?"
+
+"No; but the governor is coming here, Senor Licurgo; do you know that
+they are going to send us a couple of regiments to Orbajosa?"
+
+"Yes," said the traveller quickly, with a smile. "I heard it said in
+Madrid that there was some fear of a rising in this place. It is well to
+be prepared for what may happen."
+
+"They talk nothing but nonsense in Madrid," exclaimed the
+Centaur violently, accompanying his affirmation with a string of
+tongue-blistering vocables. "In Madrid there is nothing but rascality.
+What do they send us soldiers for? To squeeze more contributions out of
+us and a couple of conscriptions afterward. By all that's holy! if there
+isn't a rising there ought to be. So you"--he ended, looking banteringly
+at the young man--"so you are Dona Perfecta's nephew?"
+
+This abrupt question and the insolent glance of the bravo annoyed the
+young man.
+
+"Yes, senor, at your service."
+
+"I am a friend of the senora's, and I love her as I do the apple of my
+eye," said Caballuco. "As you are going to Orbajosa we shall see each
+other there."
+
+And without another word he put spurs to his horse, which, setting off
+at a gallop, soon disappeared in a cloud of dust.
+
+After half an hour's ride, during which neither Senor Don Jose nor Senor
+Licurgo manifested much disposition to talk, the travellers came in
+sight of an ancient-looking town seated on the slope of a hill, from the
+midst of whose closely clustered houses arose many dark towers, and,
+on a height above it, the ruins of a dilapidated castle. Its base was
+formed by a mass of shapeless walls, of mud hovels, gray and dusty
+looking as the soil, together with some fragments of turreted walls, in
+whose shelter about a thousand humble huts raised their miserable
+adobe fronts, like anaemic and hungry faces demanding an alms from the
+passer-by. A shallow river surrounded the town, like a girdle of tin,
+refreshing, in its course, several gardens, the only vegetation that
+cheered the eye. People were going into and coming out of the town, on
+horseback and on foot, and the human movement, although not great, gave
+some appearance of life to that great dwelling place whose architectural
+aspect was rather that of ruin and death than of progress and life.
+The innumerable and repulsive-looking beggars who dragged themselves on
+either side of the road, asking the obolus from the passer-by, presented
+a pitiful spectacle. It would be impossible to see beings more in
+harmony with, or better suited to the fissures of that sepulchre in
+which a city was not only buried but gone to decay. As our travellers
+approached the town, a discordant peal of bells gave token, with their
+expressive sound, that that mummy had still a soul.
+
+It was called Orbajosa, a city that figures, not in the Chaldean
+or Coptic geography, but in that of Spain, with 7324 inhabitants, a
+town-hall, an episcopal seat, a court-house, a seminary, a stock farm, a
+high school, and other official prerogatives.
+
+"The bells are ringing for high mass in the cathedral," said Uncle
+Licurgo. "We have arrived sooner than I expected."
+
+"The appearance of your native city," said the young man, examining the
+panorama spread out before him, "could not be more disagreeable. The
+historic city of Orbajosa, whose name is no doubt a corruption of Urbs
+Augusta, looks like a great dunghill."
+
+"All that can be seen from here is the suburbs," said the guide, in
+an offended tone. "When you enter the Calle Real and the Calle de
+Condestable, you will see handsome buildings, like the cathedral."
+
+"I don't want to speak ill of Orbajosa before seeing it," said the young
+man. "And you must not take what I have said as a mark of contempt, for
+whether humble and mean, or stately and handsome, that city will always
+be very dear to me, not only is it my mother's native place, but because
+there are persons living in it whom I love without seeing them. Let us
+enter the august city, then."
+
+They were now ascending a road on the outskirts of the town, and passing
+close to the walls of the gardens.
+
+"Do you see that great house at the end of this large garden whose
+wall we are now passing?" said Uncle Licurgo, pointing to a massive,
+whitewashed wall belonging to the only dwelling in view which had the
+appearance of a cheerful and comfortable habitation.
+
+"Yes; that is my aunt's house?"
+
+"Exactly so! What we are looking at is the rear of the house. The front
+faces the Calle del Condestable, and it has five iron balconies that
+look like five castles. The fine garden behind the wall belongs to the
+house, and if you rise up in your stirrups you will be able to see it
+all from here."
+
+"Why, we are at the house, then!" cried the young man. "Can we not enter
+from here?"
+
+"There is a little door, but the senora had it condemned."
+
+The young man raised himself in his stirrups and, stretching his neck as
+far as he could, looked over the wall.
+
+"I can see the whole of the garden," he said. "There, under the trees,
+there is a woman, a girl, a young lady."
+
+"That is Senorita Rosario," answered Licurgo.
+
+And at the same time he also raised himself in his stirrups to look over
+the wall.
+
+"Eh! Senorita Rosario!" he cried, making energetic signs with his right
+hand. "Here we are; I have brought your cousin with me."
+
+"She has seen us," said the young man, stretching out his neck as far as
+was possible. "But if I am not mistaken, there is an ecclesiastic with
+her--a priest."
+
+"That is the Penitentiary," answered the countryman, with naturalness.
+
+"My cousin has seen us--she has left the priest, and is running toward
+the house. She is beautiful."
+
+"As the sun!"
+
+"She has turned redder than a cherry. Come, come, Senor Licurgo."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PEPE REY
+
+Before proceeding further, it will be well to tell who Pepe Rey was, and
+what were the affairs which had brought him to Orbajosa.
+
+When Brigadier Rey died in 1841, his two children, Juan and Perfecta,
+had just married: the latter the richest land-owner of Orbajosa, the
+former a young girl of the same city. The husband of Perfecta was
+called Don Manuel Maria Jose de Polentinos, and the wife of Juan, Maria
+Polentinos; but although they had the same surname, their relationship
+was somewhat distant and not very easy to make out. Juan Rey was a
+distinguished jurisconsult who had been graduated in Seville and had
+practised law in that city for thirty years with no less honor than
+profit. In 1845 he was left a widower with a son who was old enough
+to play mischievous pranks; he would sometimes amuse himself by
+constructing viaducts, mounds, ponds, dikes, and trenches of earth, in
+the yard of the house, and then flooding those fragile works with water.
+His father let him do so, saying, "You will be an engineer."
+
+Perfecta and Juan had ceased to see each other from the time of their
+marriage, because the sister had gone to Madrid with her husband, the
+wealthy Polentinos, who was as rich as he was extravagant. Play and
+women had so completely enslaved Manuel Maria Jose that he would have
+dissipated all his fortune, if death had not been beforehand with him
+and carried him off before he had had time to squander it. In a night of
+orgy the life of the rich provincial, who had been sucked so voraciously
+by the leeches of the capital and the insatiable vampire of play, came
+to a sudden termination. His sole heir was a daughter a few months old.
+With the death of Perfecta's husband the terrors of the family were
+at an end, but the great struggle began. The house of Polentinos was
+ruined; the estates were in danger of being seized by the money-lenders;
+all was in confusion: enormous debts, lamentable management in Orbajosa,
+discredit and ruin in Madrid.
+
+Perfecta sent for her brother, who, coming to the distressed widow's
+assistance, displayed so much diligence and skill that in a short time
+the greater part of the dangers that threatened her had disappeared. He
+began by obliging his sister to live in Orbajosa, managing herself her
+vast estates, while he faced the formidable pressure of the creditors in
+Madrid. Little by little the house freed itself from the enormous burden
+of its debts, for the excellent Don Juan Rey, who had the best way
+in the world for managing such matters, pleaded in the court, made
+settlements with the principal creditors and arranged to pay them by
+instalments, the result of this skilful management being that the rich
+patrimony of Polentinos was saved from ruin and might continue, for many
+years to come, to bestow splendor and glory on that illustrious family.
+
+Perfecta's gratitude was so profound that in writing to her brother from
+Orbajosa, where she determined to reside until her daughter should be
+grown up, she said to him, among other affectionate things: "You have
+been more than a brother to me, more than a father to my daughter.
+How can either of us ever repay you for services so great? Ah, my dear
+brother? from the moment in which my daughter can reason and pronounce a
+name I will teach her to bless yours. My gratitude will end only with my
+life. Your unworthy sister regrets only that she can find no opportunity
+of showing you how much she loves you and of recompensing you in a
+manner suited to the greatness of your soul and the boundless goodness
+of your heart."
+
+At the same time when these words were written Rosarito was two years
+old. Pepe Rey, shut up in a school in Seville, was making lines on
+paper, occupied in proving that "the sum of all the interior angles of
+any polygon is equal to twice as many right angles, wanting four, as the
+figure has sides." These vexatious commonplaces of the school kept him
+very busy. Year after year passed. The boy grew up, still continuing
+to make lines. At last, he made one which is called "From Tarragona to
+Montblanch." His first serious toy was the bridge, 120 metres in length,
+over the River Francoli.
+
+During all this time Dona Perfecta continued to live in Orbajosa. As her
+brother never left Seville, several years passed without their seeing
+each other. A quarterly letter, as punctually written as it was
+punctually answered, kept in communication these two hearts, whose
+affection neither time nor distance could cool. In 1870, when Don Juan
+Rey, satisfied with having fulfilled his mission in society, retired
+from it and went to live in his fine house in Puerto Real, Pepe, who had
+been employed for several years in the works of various rich building
+companies, set out on a tour through Germany and England, for the
+purpose of study. His father's fortune, (as large as it is possible for
+a fortune which has only an honorable law-office for its source to be in
+Spain), permitted him to free himself in a short time from the yoke
+of material labor. A man of exalted ideas and with an ardent love for
+science, he found his purest enjoyment in the observation and study of
+the marvels by means of which the genius of the age furthers at the same
+time the culture and material comfort and the moral progress of man.
+
+On returning from his tour his father informed him that he had an
+important project to communicate to him. Pepe supposed that it concerned
+some bridge, dockyard, or, at the least, the draining of some marsh,
+but Don Juan soon dispelled his error, disclosing to him his plan in the
+following words:
+
+"This is March, and Perfecta's quarterly letter has not failed to
+come. Read it, my dear boy, and if you can agree to what that holy
+and exemplary woman, my dear sister, says in it, you will give me the
+greatest happiness I could desire in my old age. If the plan does not
+please you, reject it without hesitation, for, although your refusal
+would grieve me, there is not in it the shadow of constraint on my part.
+It would be unworthy of us both that it should be realized through the
+coercion of an obstinate father. You are free either to accept or to
+reject it, and if there is in your mind the slightest repugnance to it,
+arising either from your inclinations or from any other cause, I do not
+wish you to do violence to your feelings on my account."
+
+Pepe laid the letter on the table after he had glanced through it, and
+said quietly:
+
+"My aunt wishes me to marry Rosario!"
+
+"She writes accepting joyfully my idea," said his father, with emotion.
+"For the idea was mine. Yes, it is a long time, a very long time since
+it occurred to me; but I did not wish to say anything to you until
+I knew what your sister might think about it. As you see, Perfecta
+receives my plan with joy; she says that she too had thought of it, but
+that she did not venture to mention it to me, because you are--you have
+seen what she says--because you are a young man of very exceptional
+merit and her daughter is a country girl, without either a brilliant
+education or worldly attractions. Those are her words. My poor sister!
+How good she is! I see that you are not displeased; I see that this
+project of mine, resembling a little the officious prevision of the
+fathers of former times who married their children without consulting
+their wishes in the matter, and making generally inconsiderate and
+unwise matches, does not seem absurd to you. God grant that this may be,
+as it seems to promise, one of the happiest. It is true that you have
+never seen your cousin, but we are both aware of her virtue, of her
+discretion, of her modest and noble simplicity. That nothing may be
+wanting, she is even beautiful. My opinion is," he added gayly, "that
+you should at once start for that out-of-the-way episcopal city, that
+Urbs Augusta, and there, in the presence of my sister and her charming
+Rosarito, decide whether the latter is to be something more to me or
+not, than my niece."
+
+Pepe took up the letter again and read it through carefully. His
+countenance expressed neither joy nor sorrow. He might have been
+examining some plan for the junction of two railroads.
+
+"In truth," said Don Juan, "in that remote Orbajosa, where, by the way,
+you have some land that you might take a look at now, life passes with
+the tranquillity and the sweetness of an idyl. What patriarchal customs!
+What noble simplicity! What rural and Virgilian peace! If, instead of
+being a mathematician, you were a Latinist, you would repeat, as you
+enter it, the _ergo tua rura manebunt_. What an admirable place in which
+to commune with one's own soul and to prepare one's self for good works.
+There all is kindness and goodness; there the deceit and hypocrisy of
+our great cities are unknown; there the holy inclinations which the
+turmoil of modern life stifles spring into being again; there dormant
+faith reawakens and one feels within the breast an impulse, vague but
+keen, like the impatience of youth, that from the depths of the soul
+cries out: 'I wish to live!'"
+
+A few days after this conference Pepe left Puerto Real. He had refused,
+some months before, a commission from the government to survey, in its
+mineralogical aspects, the basin of the River Nahara, in the valley
+of Orbajosa; but the plans to which the conference above recorded gave
+rise, caused him to say to himself: "It will be as well to make use of
+the time. Heaven only knows how long this courtship may last, or what
+hours of weariness it may bring with it." He went, then, to Madrid,
+solicited the commission to explore the basin of the Nahara, which he
+obtained without difficulty, although he did not belong officially to
+the mining corps, set out shortly afterward, and, after a second change
+of trains, the mixed train No. 65 bore him, as we have seen, to the
+loving arms of Uncle Licurgo.
+
+The age of our hero was about thirty-four years. He was of a robust
+constitution, of athletic build, and so admirably proportioned and of so
+commanding an appearance that, if he had worn a uniform, he would
+have presented the most martial air and figure that it is possible to
+imagine. His hair and beard were blond in color, but in his countenance
+there was none of the phlegmatic imperturbability of the Saxon, but, on
+the contrary, so much animation that his eyes, although they were not
+black, seemed to be so. His figure would have served as a perfect and
+beautiful model for a statue, on the pedestal of which the sculptor
+might engrave the words: "Intellect, strength." If not in visible
+characters, he bore them vaguely expressed in the brilliancy of his
+glance, in the potent attraction with which his person was peculiarly
+endowed, and in the sympathy which his cordial manners inspired.
+
+He was not very talkative--only persons of inconstant ideas and unstable
+judgment are prone to verbosity. His profound moral sense made him
+sparing of words in the disputes in which the men of the day are prone
+to engage on any and every subject, but in polite conversation he
+displayed an eloquence full of wit and intelligence, emanating always
+from good sense and a temperate and just appreciation of worldly
+matters. He had no toleration for those sophistries, and mystifications,
+and quibbles of the understanding with which persons of intelligence,
+imbued with affected culture, sometimes amuse themselves; and in defence
+of the truth Pepe Rey employed at times, and not always with moderation,
+the weapon of ridicule. This was almost a defect in the eyes of many
+people who esteemed him, for our hero thus appeared wanting in respect
+for a multitude of things commonly accepted and believed. It must be
+acknowledged, although it may lessen him in the opinion of many, that
+Rey did not share the mild toleration of the compliant age which has
+invented strange disguises of words and of acts to conceal what to the
+general eye might be disagreeable.
+
+Such was the man, whatever slanderous tongues may say to the contrary,
+whom Uncle Licurgo introduced into Orbajosa just as the cathedral bells
+were ringing for high mass. When, looking over the garden wall, they saw
+the young girl and the Penitentiary, and then the flight of the former
+toward the house, they put spurs to their beasts and entered the Calle
+Real, where a great many idlers stood still to gaze at the traveller, as
+if he were a stranger and an intruder in the patriarchal city. Turning
+presently to the right and riding in the direction of the cathedral,
+whose massive bulk dominated the town, they entered the Calle del
+Condestable, in which, being narrow and paved, the hoofs of the animals
+clattered noisily, alarming the people of the neighborhood, who came to
+the windows and to the balconies to satisfy their curiosity. Shutters
+opened with a grating sound and various faces, almost all feminine,
+appeared above and below. By the time Pepe Rey had reached the threshold
+of the house of Polentinos many and diverse comments had been already
+made on his person.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE ARRIVAL OF THE COUSIN
+
+When Rosarito left him so abruptly the Penitentiary looked toward the
+garden wall, and seeing the faces of Licurgo and his companion, said to
+himself:
+
+"So the prodigy is already here, then."
+
+He remained thoughtful for some moments, his cloak, grasped with both
+hands, folded over his abdomen, his eyes fixed on the ground, his
+gold-rimmed spectacles slipping gently toward the point of his nose, his
+under-lip moist and projecting, and his iron-gray eyebrows gathered in
+a slight frown. He was a pious and holy man, of uncommon learning and of
+irreproachable clerical habits, a little past his sixtieth year, affable
+in his manners, courteous and kind, and greatly addicted to giving
+advice and counsel to both men and women. For many years past he
+had been master of Latin and rhetoric in the Institute, which noble
+profession had supplied him with a large fund of quotations from Horace
+and of florid metaphors, which he employed with wit and opportuneness.
+Nothing more need be said regarding this personage, but that, as soon as
+he heard the trot of the animals approaching the Calle del Condestable,
+he arranged the folds of his cloak, straightened his hat, which was not
+altogether correctly placed upon his venerable head, and, walking toward
+the house, murmured:
+
+"Let us go and see this paragon."
+
+Meanwhile Pepe was alighting from his nag, and Dona Perfecta, her face
+bathed in tears and barely able to utter a few trembling words, the
+sincere expression of her affection, was receiving him at the gate
+itself in her loving arms.
+
+"Pepe--but how tall you are! And with a beard. Why, it seems only
+yesterday that I held you in my lap. And now you are a man, a grown-up
+man. Well, well! How the years pass! This is my daughter Rosario."
+
+As she said this they reached the parlor on the ground floor, which
+was generally used as a reception-room, and Dona Perfecta presented her
+daughter to Pepe.
+
+Rosario was a girl of delicate and fragile appearance, that revealed
+a tendency to pensive melancholy. In her delicate and pure countenance
+there was something of the soft, pearly pallor which most novelists
+attribute to their heroines, and without which sentimental varnish it
+appears that no Enriquieta or Julia can be interesting. But what chiefly
+distinguished Rosario was that her face expressed so much sweetness and
+modesty that the absence of the perfections it lacked was not observed.
+This is not to say that she was plain; but, on the other hand, it is
+true that it would be an exaggeration to call her beautiful in the
+strictest meaning of the word. The real beauty of Dona Perfecta's
+daughter consisted in a species of transparency, different from that
+of pearl, alabaster, marble, or any of the other substances used in
+descriptions of the human countenance; a species of transparency through
+which the inmost depths of her soul were clearly visible; depths not
+cavernous and gloomy, like those of the sea, but like those of a clear
+and placid river. But the material was wanting there for a complete
+personality. The channel was wanting, the banks were wanting. The vast
+wealth of her spirit overflowed, threatening to wash away the narrow
+borders. When her cousin saluted her she blushed crimson, and uttered
+only a few unintelligible words.
+
+"You must be fainting with hunger," said Dona Perfecta to her nephew.
+"You shall have your breakfast at once."
+
+"With your permission," responded the traveller, "I will first go and
+get rid of the dust of the journey."
+
+"That is a sensible idea," said the senora. "Rosario, take your cousin
+to the room that we have prepared for him. Don't delay, nephew. I am
+going to give the necessary orders."
+
+Rosario took her cousin to a handsome apartment situated on the ground
+floor. The moment he entered it Pepe recognized in all the details of
+the room the diligent and loving hand of a woman. All was arranged
+with perfect taste, and the purity and freshness of everything in this
+charming nest invited to repose. The guest observed minute details that
+made him smile.
+
+"Here is the bell," said Rosario, taking in her hand the bell-rope, the
+tassel of which hung over the head of the bed. "All you have to do is to
+stretch out your hand. The writing-table is placed so that you will have
+the light from the left. See, in this basket you can throw the waste
+papers. Do you smoke?"
+
+"Unfortunately, yes," responded Pepe Rey.
+
+"Well, then, you can throw the ends of your cigars here," she said,
+touching with the tip of her shoe a utensil of gilt-brass filled with
+sand. "There is nothing uglier than to see the floor covered with
+cigar-ends. Here is the washstand. For your clothes you have a wardrobe
+and a bureau. I think this is a bad place for the watch-case; it would
+be better beside the bed. If the light annoys you, all you have to do is
+to lower the shade with this cord; see, this way."
+
+The engineer was enchanted.
+
+Rosarito opened one of the windows.
+
+"Look," she said, "this window opens into the garden. The sun comes in
+here in the afternoon. Here we have hung the cage of a canary that sings
+as if he was crazy. If his singing disturbs you we will take it away."
+
+She opened another window on the opposite side of the room.
+
+"This other window," she continued, "looks out on the street. Look;
+from here you can see the cathedral; it is very handsome, and full of
+beautiful things. A great many English people come to see it. Don't open
+both windows at the same time, because draughts are very bad."
+
+"My dear cousin," said Pepe, his soul inundated with an inexplicable
+joy; "in all that is before my eyes I see an angel's hand that can be
+only yours. What a beautiful room this is! It seems to me as if I had
+lived in it all my life. It invites to peace."
+
+Rosarito made no answer to these affectionate expressions, and left the
+room, smiling.
+
+"Make no delay," she said from the door; "the dining-room too is down
+stairs--in the centre of this hall."
+
+Uncle Licurgo came in with the luggage. Pepe rewarded him with a
+liberality to which the countryman was not accustomed, and the latter,
+after humbly thanking the engineer, raised his hand to his head with a
+hesitating movement, and in an embarrassed tone, and mumbling his words,
+he said hesitatingly:
+
+"When will it be most convenient for me to speak to Senor Don Jose about
+a--a little matter of business?"
+
+"A little matter of business? At once," responded Pepe, opening one of
+his trunks.
+
+"This is not a suitable time," said the countryman. "When Senor Don Jose
+has rested it will be time enough. There are more days than sausages,
+as the saying is; and after one day comes another. Rest now, Senor
+Don Jose. Whenever you want to take a ride--the nag is not bad.
+Well, good-day, Senor Don Jose. I am much obliged to you. Ah! I had
+forgotten," he added, returning a few moments later. "If you have any
+message for the municipal judge--I am going now to speak to him about
+our little affair."
+
+"Give him my compliments," said Pepe gayly, no better way of getting rid
+of the Spartan legislator occurring to him.
+
+"Good-by, then, Senor Don Jose."
+
+"Good-by."
+
+The engineer had not yet taken his clothes out of the trunk when for the
+third time the shrewd eyes and the crafty face of Uncle Licurgo appeared
+in the door-way.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Senor Don Jose," he said, displaying his brilliantly
+white teeth in an affected smile, "but--I wanted to say that if you wish
+to settle the matter by means of friendly arbitrations---- Although, as
+the saying is, 'Ask other people's opinion of something that concerns
+only yourself, and some will say it is white and others black.'"
+
+"Will you get away from here, man?"
+
+"I say that, because I hate the law. I don't want to have anything to
+do with the law. Well, good-by, again, Senor Don Jose. God give you long
+life to help the poor!"
+
+"Good-by, man, good-by."
+
+Pepe turned the key in the lock of the door, saying to himself:
+
+"The people of this town appear to be very litigious."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+WILL THERE BE DISSENSION?
+
+A little later Pepe made his appearance in the dining-room.
+
+"If you eat a hearty breakfast," said Dona Perfecta to him, in
+affectionate accents, "you will have no appetite for dinner. We dine
+here at one. Perhaps you may not like the customs of the country."
+
+"I am enchanted with them, aunt."
+
+"Say, then, which you prefer--to eat a hearty breakfast now, or to take
+something light, and keep your appetite for dinner."
+
+"I prefer to take something light now, in order to have the pleasure
+of dining with you. But not even if I had found anything to eat in
+Villahorrenda, would I have eaten any thing at this early hour."
+
+"Of course, I need not tell you that you are to treat us with perfect
+frankness. You may give your orders here as if you were in your own
+house."
+
+"Thanks, aunt."
+
+"But how like your father you are!" said the senora, regarding the young
+man, as he ate, with real delight. "I can fancy I am looking now at my
+dear brother Juan. He sat just as you are sitting and ate as you are
+eating. In your expression, especially, you are as like as two drops of
+water."
+
+Pepe began his frugal breakfast. The words, as well as the manner
+and the expression, of his aunt and cousin inspired him with so much
+confidence that he already felt as if he were in his own house.
+
+"Do you know what Rosario was saying to me this morning?" said Dona
+Perfecta, looking at her nephew. "Well, she was saying that, as a man
+accustomed to the luxuries and the etiquette of the capital and to
+foreign ways, you would not be able to put up with the somewhat rustic
+simplicity and the lack of ceremony of our manner of life; for here
+every thing is very plain."
+
+"What a mistake!" responded Pepe, looking at his cousin. "No one abhors
+more than I do the falseness and the hypocrisy of what is called high
+society. Believe me, I have long wished to give myself a complete
+bath in nature, as some one has said; to live far from the turmoil
+of existence in the solitude and quiet of the country. I long for
+the tranquillity of a life without strife, without anxieties; neither
+envying nor envied, as the poet has said. For a long time my studies at
+first, and my work afterward, prevented me from taking the rest which
+I need, and which my mind and my body both require; but ever since I
+entered this house, my dear aunt, my dear cousin, I have felt myself
+surrounded by the peaceful atmosphere which I have longed for. You must
+not talk to me, then, of society, either high or low; or of the world,
+either great or small, for I would willingly exchange them all for this
+peaceful retreat."
+
+While he was thus speaking, the glass door which led from the
+dining-room into the garden was obscured by the interposition between
+it and the light of a dark body. The glasses of a pair of spectacles,
+catching a sunbeam, sent forth a fugitive gleam; the latch creaked, the
+door opened, and the Penitentiary gravely entered the room. He saluted
+those present, taking off his broad-brimmed hat and bowing until its
+brim touched the floor.
+
+"It is the Senor Penitentiary, of our holy cathedral," said Dona
+Perfecta: "a person whom we all esteem greatly, and whose friend you
+will, I hope, be. Take a seat, Senor Don Inocencio."
+
+Pepe shook hands with the venerable canon, and both sat down.
+
+"If you are accustomed to smoke after meals, pray do so," said Dona
+Perfecta amiably; "and the Senor Penitentiary also."
+
+The worthy Don Inocencio drew from under his cassock a large leather
+cigar-case, which showed unmistakable signs of long use, opened it, and
+took from it two long cigarettes, one of which he offered to our friend.
+Rosario took a match from a little leaf-shaped matchbox, which the
+Spaniards ironically call a wagon, and the engineer and the canon were
+soon puffing their smoke over each other.
+
+"And what does Senor Don Jose think of our dear city of Orbajosa?" asked
+the canon, shutting his left eye tightly, according to his habit when he
+smoked.
+
+"I have not yet been able to form an idea of the town," said Pepe. "From
+the little I have seen of it, however, I think that half a dozen large
+capitalists disposed to invest their money here, a pair of intelligent
+heads to direct the work of renovating the place, and a couple of
+thousands of active hands to carry it out, would not be a bad thing
+for Orbajosa. Coming from the entrance to the town to the door of this
+house, I saw more than a hundred beggars. The greater part of them are
+healthy, and even robust men. It is a pitiable army, the sight of which
+oppresses the heart."
+
+"That is what charity is for," declared Don Inocencio. "Apart from that,
+Orbajosa is not a poor town. You are already aware that the best garlic
+in all Spain is produced here. There are more than twenty rich families
+living among us."
+
+"It is true," said Dona Perfecta, "that the last few years have been
+wretched, owing to the drought; but even so, the granaries are not
+empty, and several thousands of strings of garlic were recently carried
+to market."
+
+"During the many years that I have lived in Orbajosa," said the priest,
+with a frown, "I have seen innumerable persons come here from the
+capital, some brought by the electoral hurly-burly, others to visit some
+abandoned site, or to see the antiquities of the cathedral, and they
+all talk to us about the English ploughs and threshing-machines and
+water-power and banks, and I don't know how many other absurdities. The
+burden of their song is that this place is very backward, and that it
+could be improved. Let them keep away from us, in the devil's name!
+We are well enough as we are, without the gentlemen from the capital
+visiting us; a great deal better off without hearing that continual
+clamor about our poverty and the grandeurs and the wonders of other
+places. The fool in his own house is wiser than the wise man in
+another's. Is it not so, Senor Don Jose? Of course, you mustn't imagine,
+even remotely, that I say this on your account. Not at all! Of course
+not! I know that we have before us one of the most eminent young men of
+modern Spain, a man who would be able to transform into fertile lands
+our arid wastes. And I am not at all angry because you sing us the same
+old song about the English ploughs and arboriculture and silviculture.
+Not in the least. Men of such great, such very great merit, may be
+excused for the contempt which they manifest for our littleness. No, no,
+my friend; no, no, Senor Don Jose! you are entitled to say any thing you
+please, even to tell us that we are not much better than Kaffirs."
+
+This philippic, concluded in a marked tone of irony, and all of it
+impertinent enough, did not please the young man; but he refrained from
+manifesting the slightest annoyance and continued the conversation,
+endeavoring to avoid as far as possible the subjects in which the
+over-sensitive patriotism of the canon might find cause of offence. The
+latter rose when Dona Perfecta began to speak to her nephew about family
+matters, and took a few turns about the room.
+
+This was a spacious and well-lighted apartment, the walls of which were
+covered with an old-fashioned paper whose flowers and branches, although
+faded, preserved their original pattern, thanks to the cleanliness which
+reigned in each and every part of the dwelling. The clock, from the
+case of which hung, uncovered, the apparently motionless weights and
+the voluble pendulum, perpetually repeating No, no, occupied, with its
+variegated dial, the most prominent place among the solid pieces of
+furniture of the dining-room, the adornment of the walls being completed
+by a series of French engravings representing the exploits of the
+conqueror of Mexico, with prolix explanations at the foot of each
+concerning a Ferdinand Cortez, and a Donna Marine, as little true to
+nature as were the figures delineated by the ignorant artist. In the
+space between the two glass doors which communicated with the garden
+was an apparatus of brass, which it is not necessary to describe further
+than to say that it served to support a parrot, which maintained itself
+on it with the air of gravity and circumspection peculiar to those
+animals, taking note of everything that went on. The hard and ironical
+expression of the parrot tribe, their green coats, their red caps,
+their yellow boots, and finally, the hoarse, mocking words which they
+generally utter, give them a strange and repulsive aspect, half serious,
+half-comic. There is in their air an indescribable something of the
+stiffness of diplomats. At times they remind one of buffoons, and they
+always resemble those absurdly conceited people who, in their desire to
+appear very superior, look like caricatures.
+
+The Penitentiary was very fond of the parrot. When he left Dona Perfecta
+and Rosario conversing with the traveller, he went over to the bird,
+and, allowing it to bite his forefinger with the greatest good humor,
+said to it:
+
+"Rascal, knave, why don't you talk? You would be of little account if
+you weren't a prater. The world of birds, as well as men, is full of
+praters."
+
+Then, with his own venerable hand, he took some peas from the dish
+beside him, and gave them to the bird to eat. The parrot began to call
+to the maid, asking her for some chocolate, and its words diverted the
+two ladies and the young man from a conversation which could not have
+been very engrossing.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH IT IS SEEN THAT DISAGREEMENT MAY ARISE WHEN LEAST EXPECTED
+
+Suddenly Don Cayetano Polentinos, Dona Perfecta's brother-in-law,
+appeared at the door, and entering the room with outstretched arms,
+cried:
+
+"Let me embrace you, my dear Don Jose."
+
+They embraced each other cordially. Don Cayetano and Pepe were already
+acquainted with each other, for the eminent scholar and bibliophile was
+in the habit of making a trip to Madrid whenever an executor's sale of
+the stock of some dealer in old books was advertised. Don Cayetano was
+tall and thin, of middle age, although constant study or ill-health
+had given him a worn appearance; he expressed himself with a refined
+correctness which became him admirably, and he was affectionate and
+amiable in his manners, at times to excess. With respect to his vast
+learning, what can be said but that he was a real prodigy? In Madrid his
+name was always mentioned with respect, and if Don Cayetano had lived
+in the capital, he could not have escaped becoming a member, in spite of
+his modesty, of every academy in it, past, present, and to come. But he
+was fond of quiet and retirement, and the place which vanity occupies
+in the souls of others, a pure passion for books, a love of solitary and
+secluded study, without any other aim or incentive than the books and
+the study themselves, occupied in his.
+
+He had formed in Orbajosa one of the finest libraries that is to be
+found in all Spain, and among his books he passed long hours of the day
+and of the night, compiling, classifying, taking notes, and selecting
+various sorts of precious information, or composing, perhaps, some
+hitherto unheard-of and undreamed-of work, worthy of so great a mind.
+His habits were patriarchal; he ate little, drank less, and his only
+dissipations consisted of a luncheon in the Alamillos on very great
+occasions, and daily walks to a place called Mundogrande, where were
+often disinterred from the accumulated dust of twenty centuries, medals,
+bits of architecture, and occasionally an amphora or cubicularia of
+inestimable value.
+
+Don Cayetano and Dona Perfecta lived in such perfect harmony that the
+peace of Paradise was not to be compared to it. They never disagreed. It
+is true that Don Cayetano never interfered in the affairs of the house
+nor Dona Perfecta in those of the library, except to have it swept and
+dusted every Saturday, regarding with religious respect the books and
+papers that were in use on the table or anywhere else in the room.
+
+After the questions and answers proper to the occasion had been
+interchanged Don Cayetano said:
+
+"I have already looked at the books. I am very sorry that you did not
+bring me the edition of 1527. I shall have to make a journey to Madrid
+myself. Are you going to remain with us long? The longer the better,
+my dear Pepe. How glad I am to have you here! Between us both we will
+arrange a part of my library and make an index of the writers on the Art
+of Horsemanship. It is not always one has at hand a man of your talents.
+You shall see my library. You can take your fill of reading there--as
+often as you like. You will see marvels, real marvels, inestimable
+treasures, rare works that no one but myself has a copy of. But I think
+it must be time for dinner, is it not, Jose? Is it not, Perfecta? Is it
+not, Rosarito? Is it not, Senor Don Inocencio? To-day you are doubly a
+Penitentiary--I mean because you will accompany us in doing penance."
+
+The canon bowed and smiled, manifesting his pleased acquiescence. The
+dinner was substantial, and in all the dishes there was noticeable the
+excessive abundance of country banquets, realized at the expense of
+variety. There was enough to surfeit twice as many persons as sat down
+to table. The conversation turned on various subjects.
+
+"You must visit our cathedral as soon as possible," said the canon.
+"There are few cathedrals like ours, Senor Don Jose! But of course you,
+who have seen so many wonders in foreign countries, will find nothing
+remarkable in our old church. We poor provincials of Orbajosa, however,
+think it divine. Master Lopez of Berganza, one of the prebendaries
+of the cathedral, called it in the sixteenth century _pulchra
+augustissima_. But perhaps for a man of your learning it would
+possess no merit, and some market constructed of iron would seem more
+beautiful."
+
+The ironical remarks of the wily canon annoyed Pepe Rey more and more
+every moment, but, determined to control himself and to conceal his
+anger, he answered only with vague words. Dona Perfecta then took up the
+theme and said playfully:
+
+"Take care, Pepito; I warn you that if you speak ill of our holy church
+we shall cease to be friends. You know a great deal, you are a man
+eminent for your knowledge on every subject, but if you are going to
+discover that that grand edifice is not the eighth wonder of the world
+you will do well to keep your knowledge to yourself and leave us in our
+ignorance."
+
+"Far from thinking that the building is not handsome," responded Pepe,
+"the little I have seen of its exterior has seemed to me of imposing
+beauty. So there is no need for you to be alarmed, aunt. And I am very
+far from being a savant."
+
+"Softly; softly," said the canon, extending his hand and giving his
+mouth a truce from eating in order to talk. "Stop there--don't come now
+pretending modesty, Senor Don Jose; we are too well aware of your great
+merit, of the high reputation you enjoy and the important part you play
+wherever you are, for that. Men like you are not to be met with every
+day. But now that I have extolled your merits in this way----"
+
+He stopped to eat a mouthful, and when his tongue was once more at
+liberty he continued thus:
+
+"Now that I have extolled your merits in this way, permit me to express
+a different opinion with the frankness which belongs to my character.
+Yes, Senor Don Jose, yes, Senor Don Cayetano; yes, senora and senorita,
+science, as the moderns study and propagate it, is the death of
+sentiment and of every sweet illusion. Under its influence the life of
+the spirit declines, every thing is reduced to fixed rules, and even the
+sublime charms of nature disappear. Science destroys the marvellous in
+the arts, as well as faith in the soul. Science says that every thing
+is a lie, and would reduce every thing to figures and lines, not only
+_maria ac terras_, where we are, but _coelumque profundum_, where God
+is. The wonderful visions of the soul, its mystic raptures, even the
+inspiration of the poets, are all a lie. The heart is a sponge; the
+brain, a place for breeding maggots."
+
+Every one laughed, while the canon took a draught of wine.
+
+"Come, now, will Senor Don Jose deny," continued the ecclesiastic, "that
+science, as it is taught and propagated to-day, is fast making of the
+world and of the human race a great machine?"
+
+"That depends," said Don Cayetano. "Every thing has its _pro_ and its
+_contra_."
+
+"Take some more salad, Senor Penitentiary," said Dona Perfecta; "it is
+just as you like it--with a good deal of mustard."
+
+Pepe Rey was not fond of engaging in useless discussions; he was not a
+pedant, nor did he desire to make a display of his learning, and still
+less did he wish to do so in the presence of women, and in a private
+re-union; but the importunate and aggressive verbosity of the canon
+required, in his opinion, a corrective. To flatter his vanity by
+agreeing with his views would, he thought, be a bad way to give it to
+him, and he determined therefore to express only such opinions as should
+be most directly opposed to those of the sarcastic Penitentiary and most
+offensive to him.
+
+"So you wish to amuse yourself at my expense," he said to himself.
+"Wait, and you will see what a fine dance I will lead you."
+
+Then he said aloud:
+
+"All that the Senor Penitentiary has said ironically is the truth. But
+it is not our fault if science overturns day after day the vain idols
+of the past: its superstitions, its sophisms, its innumerable
+fables--beautiful, some of them, ridiculous others--for in the vineyard
+of the Lord grow both good fruit and bad. The world of illusions, which
+is, as we might say, a second world, is tumbling about us in ruins.
+Mysticism in religion, routine in science, mannerism in art, are
+falling, as the Pagan gods fell, amid jests. Farewell, foolish dreams!
+the human race is awakening and its eyes behold the light. Its vain
+sentimentalism, its mysticism, its fevers, its hallucination, its
+delirium are passing away, and he who was before sick is now well
+and takes an ineffable delight in the just appreciation of things.
+Imagination, the terrible madwoman, who was the mistress of the house,
+has become the servant. Look around you, Senor Penitentiary, and you
+will see the admirable aggregation of truths which has taken the place
+of fable. The sky is not a vault; the stars are not little lamps; the
+moon is not a sportive huntress, but an opaque mass of stone; the sun is
+not a gayly adorned and vagabond charioteer but a fixed fire; Scylla and
+Charybdis are not nymphs but sunken rocks; the sirens are seals; and in
+the order of personages, Mercury is Manzanedo; Mars is a clean-shaven
+old man, the Count von Moltke; Nestor may be a gentleman in an overcoat,
+who is called M. Thiers; Orpheus is Verdi; Vulcan is Krupp; Apollo is
+any poet. Do you wish more? Well, then, Jupiter, a god who, if he
+were living now, would deserve to be put in jail, does not launch the
+thunderbolt, but the thunderbolt falls when electricity wills it. There
+is no Parnassus; there is no Olympus; there is no Stygian lake; nor are
+there any other Elysian Fields than those of Paris. There is no other
+descent to hell than the descents of Geology, and this traveller, every
+time he returns from it, declares that there are no damned souls in the
+centre of the earth. There are no other ascents to heaven than those of
+Astronomy, and she, on her return, declares that she has not seen the
+six or seven circles of which Dante and the mystical dreamers of the
+Middle Ages speak. She finds only stars and distances, lines, vast
+spaces, and nothing more. There are now no false computations of the age
+of the earth, for paleontology and prehistoric research have counted the
+teeth of this skull in which we live and discovered the true age. Fable,
+whether it be called paganism or Christian idealism, exists no longer,
+and imagination plays only a secondary part. All the miracles possible
+are such as I work, whenever I desire to do so, in my laboratory, with
+my Bunsen pile, a conducting wire, and a magnetized needle. There are
+now no other multiplications of loaves and fishes than those which
+Industry makes, with her moulds and her machines, and those of the
+printing press, which imitates Nature, taking from a single type
+millions of copies. In short, my dear canon, orders have been given to
+put on the retired list all the absurdities, lies, illusions, dreams,
+sentimentalities, and prejudices which darken the understanding of man.
+Let us rejoice at the fact."
+
+When Pepe finished speaking, a furtive smile played upon the canon's
+lips and his eyes were extraordinarily animated. Don Cayetano busied
+himself in giving various forms--now rhomboidal, now prismatic--to a
+little ball of bread. But Dona Perfecta was pale and kept her eyes fixed
+on the canon with observant insistence. Rosarito looked with amazement
+at her cousin. The latter, bending toward her, whispered under his
+breath:
+
+"Don't mind me, little cousin; I am talking all this nonsense only to
+enrage the canon."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE DISAGREEMENT INCREASES
+
+"Perhaps you think," said Dona Perfecta, with a tinge of conceit in her
+tones, "that Senor Don Inocencio is going to remain silent and not give
+you an answer to each and every one of those points."
+
+"Oh, no!" exclaimed the canon, arching his eyebrows. "I will not attempt
+to measure my poor abilities with a champion so valiant and at the same
+time so well armed. Senor Don Jose knows every thing; that is to say, he
+has at his command the whole arsenal of the exact sciences. Of course
+I know that the doctrines he upholds are false; but I have neither the
+talent nor the eloquence to combat them. I would employ theological
+arguments, drawn from revelation, from faith, from the Divine Word; but
+alas! Senor Don Jose, who is an eminent savant, would laugh at theology,
+at faith, at revelation, at the holy prophets, at the gospel. A poor
+ignorant priest, an unhappy man who knows neither mathematics, nor
+German philosophy with its _ego_ and its _non ego_, a poor dominie, who
+knows only the science of God and something of the Latin poets, cannot
+enter into combat with so valiant a champion."
+
+Pepe Rey burst into a frank laugh.
+
+"I see that Senor Don Inocencio," he said, "has taken seriously all the
+nonsense I have been talking. Come, Senor Canon, regard the whole matter
+as a jest, and let it end there. I am quite sure that my opinions do not
+in reality differ greatly from yours. You are a pious and learned man;
+it is I who am ignorant. If I have allowed myself to speak in jest,
+pardon me, all of you--that is my way."
+
+"Thanks!" responded the presbyter, visibly annoyed. "Is that the way you
+want to get out of it now? I am well aware, we are all well aware, that
+the views you have sustained are your own. It could not be otherwise.
+You are the man of the age. It cannot be denied that you have a
+wonderful, a truly wonderful intellect. While you were talking, at the
+same time that I inwardly deplored errors so great, I could not but
+admire, I will confess it frankly, the loftiness of expression, the
+prodigious fluency, the surprising method of your reasoning, the force
+of your arguments. What a head, Senora Dona Perfecta, what a head your
+young nephew has! When I was in Madrid and they took me to the Atheneum,
+I confess that I was amazed to see the wonderful talent which God has
+bestowed on the atheists and the Protestants."
+
+"Senor Don Inocencio," said Dona Perfecta, looking alternately at her
+nephew and her friend, "I think that in judging this boy you are more
+than benevolent. Don't get angry, Pepe, or mind what I say, for I am
+neither a savante, nor a philosopher, nor a theologian; but it seems to
+me that Senor Don Inocencio has just given a proof of his great modesty
+and Christian charity in not crushing you as he could have done if he
+had wished."
+
+"Oh, senora!" said the ecclesiastic.
+
+"That is the way with him," continued Dona Perfecta, "always pretending
+to know nothing. And he knows more than the seven doctors put together.
+Ah, Senor Don Inocencio, how well the name you have suits you! But don't
+affect an unseasonable humility now. Why, my nephew has no pretensions.
+All he knows is what he has been taught. If he has been taught error,
+what more can he desire than that you should enlighten him and take him
+out of the limbo of his false doctrines?"
+
+"Just so; I desire nothing more than that the Senor Penitentiary should
+take me out,"--murmured Pepe, comprehending that without intending it,
+he had got himself into a labyrinth.
+
+"I am a poor priest, whose only learning is some knowledge of the
+ancients," responded Don Inocencio. "I recognize the immense value, from
+a worldly point of view, of Senor Don Jose's scientific knowledge, and
+before so brilliant an oracle I prostrate myself and am silent."
+
+So saying, the canon folded his hands across his breast and bent his
+head. Pepe Rey was somewhat disturbed because of the turn which his mind
+had chosen to give to an idle discussion jestingly followed up, and
+in which he had engaged only to enliven the conversation a little. He
+thought that the most prudent course to pursue would be to end at once
+so dangerous a debate, and for this purpose he addressed a question to
+Senor Don Cayetano when the latter, shaking off the drowsiness which
+had overcome him after the dessert, offered the guests the indispensable
+toothpicks stuck in a china peacock with outspread tail.
+
+"Yesterday I discovered a hand grasping the handle of an amphora, on
+which there are a number of hieratic characters. I will show it to you,"
+said Don Cayetano, delighted to introduce a favorite theme.
+
+"I suppose that Senor de Rey is very expert in archaeological matters
+also," said the canon, who, still implacable, pursued his victim to his
+last retreat.
+
+"Of course," said Dona Perfecta. "What is there that these clever
+children of our day do not understand? They have all the sciences at
+their fingers' ends. The universities and the academics teach them every
+thing in a twinkling, giving them a patent of learning."
+
+"Oh, that is unjust!" responded the canon, observing the pained
+expression of the engineer's countenance.
+
+"My aunt is right," declared Pepe. "At the present day we learn a little
+of every thing, and leave school with the rudiments of various studies."
+
+"I was saying," continued the canon, "that you are no doubt a great
+archaeologist."
+
+"I know absolutely nothing of that science," responded the young man.
+"Ruins are ruins, and I have never cared to cover myself with dust going
+among them."
+
+Don Cayetano made an expressive grimace.
+
+"That is not to say that I condemn archaeology," said Dona Perfecta's
+nephew quickly, observing with pain that he could not utter a word
+without wounding some one. "I know that from that dust issues history.
+Those studies are delightful and very useful."
+
+"You," said the Penitentiary, putting his toothpick into the last of
+his back teeth, "are no doubt more inclined to controversial studies. An
+excellent idea has just occurred to me, Senor Don Jose; you ought to be
+a lawyer."
+
+"Law is a profession which I abhor," replied Pepe Rey. "I know many
+estimable lawyers, among them my father, who is the best of men; but,
+in spite of so favorable a specimen, I could never had brought myself to
+practise a profession which consists in defending with equal readiness
+the _pro_ and the _contra_ of a question. I know of no greater
+misjudgment, no greater prejudice, no greater blindness, than parents
+show in their eagerness to dedicate their sons to the law. The chief and
+the most terrible plague of Spain is the crowd of our young lawyers, for
+whose existence a fabulous number of lawsuits are necessary. Lawsuits
+multiply in proportion to the demand. And even thus, numbers are left
+without employment, and, as a jurisconsult cannot put his hand to
+the plough or seat himself at the loom, the result is that brilliant
+squadron of idlers full of pretensions, who clamor for places, embarrass
+the administration, agitate public opinion, and breed revolutions. In
+some way they must make a living. It would be a greater misfortune if
+there were lawsuits enough for all of them."
+
+"Pepe, for Heaven's sake, take care what you say," said Dona Perfecta,
+in a tone of marked severity. "But excuse him, Senor Don Inocencio, for
+he is not aware that you have a nephew who, although he has only lately
+left the university, is a prodigy in the law."
+
+"I speak in general terms," said Pepe, with firmness. "Being, as I am,
+the son of a distinguished lawyer, I cannot be ignorant of the fact
+that there are many men who practise that noble profession with honor to
+themselves."
+
+"No; my nephew is only a boy yet," said the canon, with affected
+humility. "Far be it from me to assert that he is a prodigy of learning,
+like Senor de Rey. In time, who can tell? His talents are neither
+brilliant nor seductive. Of course, Jacinto's ideas are solid and his
+judgment is sound. What he knows he knows thoroughly. He is unacquainted
+with sophistries and hollow phrases."
+
+Pepe Rey appeared every moment more and more disturbed. The idea that,
+without desiring it, his opinions should be in opposition to those of
+the friends of his aunt, vexed him, and he resolved to remain silent
+lest he and Don Inocencio should end by throwing the plates at each
+other's heads. Fortunately the cathedral bell, calling the canon to the
+important duties of the choir, extricated him from his painful position.
+The venerable ecclesiastic rose and took leave of every one, treating
+Rey with as much amiability and kindness as if they had been old and
+dear friends. The canon, after offering his services to Pepe for all
+that he might require, promised to present his nephew to him in order
+that the young man might accompany him to see the town, speaking in the
+most affectionate terms and deigning, on leaving the room, to pat him
+on the shoulder. Pepe Rey, accepting with pleasure these formulas of
+concord, nevertheless felt indescribably relieved when the priest had
+left the dining-room and the house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN ALL HASTE
+
+A little later the scene had changed. Don Cayetano, finding rest from
+his sublime labors in a gentle slumber that had overcome him after
+dinner, reclined comfortably in an arm-chair in the dining-room.
+Rosarito, seated at one of the windows that opened into the garden,
+glanced at her cousin, saying to him with the mute eloquence of her
+eyes:
+
+"Cousin, sit down here beside me and tell me every thing you have to say
+to me."
+
+Her cousin, mathematician though he was, understood.
+
+"My dear cousin," said Pepe, "how you must have been bored this
+afternoon by our disputes! Heaven knows that for my own pleasure I would
+not have played the pedant as I did; the canon was to blame for it. Do
+you know that that priest appears to me to be a singular character?"
+
+"He is an excellent person!" responded Rosarito, showing the delight she
+felt at being able to give her cousin all the data and the information
+that he might require.
+
+"Oh, yes! An excellent person. That is very evident!"
+
+"When you know him a little better, you will see that."
+
+"That he is beyond all price! But it is enough for him to be your friend
+and your mamma's to be my friend also," declared the young man. "And
+does he come here often?"
+
+"Every day. He spends a great deal of his time with us," responded
+Rosarito ingenuously. "How good and kind he is! And how fond he is of
+me!"
+
+"Come! I begin to like this gentleman."
+
+"He comes in the evening, besides, to play tresillo," continued the
+young girl; "for every night some friends meet here--the judge of the
+lower court, the attorney-general, the dean, the bishop's secretary, the
+alcalde, the collector of taxes, Don Inocencio's nephew----"
+
+"Ah! Jacintito, the lawyer."
+
+"Yes; he is a simple-hearted boy, as good as gold. His uncle adores him.
+Since he returned from the university with his doctor's tassel--for he
+is a doctor in two sciences, and he took honors besides--what do you
+think of that?--well, as I was saying, since his return, he has come
+here very often with his uncle. Mamma too is very fond of him. He is a
+very sensible boy. He goes home early with his uncle; he never goes at
+night to the Casino, nor plays nor squanders money, and he is employed
+in the office of Don Lorenzo Ruiz, who is the best lawyer in Orbajosa.
+They say Jacinto will be a great lawyer, too."
+
+"His uncle did not exaggerate when he praised him, then," said Pepe. "I
+am very sorry that I talked all that nonsense I did about lawyers. I was
+very perverse, was I not, my dear cousin?"
+
+"Not at all; for my part, I think you were quite right."
+
+"But, really, was I not a little--"
+
+"Not in the least, not in the least!"
+
+"What a weight you have taken off my mind! The truth is that I found
+myself constantly, and without knowing why, in distressing opposition to
+that venerable priest. I am very sorry for it."
+
+"What I think," said Rosarito, looking at him with eyes full of
+affection, "is that you will not find yourself at home among us."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I don't know whether I can make myself quite clear, cousin. I mean that
+it will not be easy for you to accustom yourself to the society and the
+ideas of the people of Orbajosa. I imagine so--it is a supposition."
+
+"Oh, no! I think you are mistaken."
+
+"You come from a different place, from another world, where the people
+are very clever, and very learned, and have refined manners, and a witty
+way of talking, and an air--perhaps I am not making myself clear. I mean
+that you are accustomed to live among people of refinement; you know
+a great deal. Here there is not what you need; here the people are not
+learned or very polished. Every thing is plain, Pepe. I imagine you will
+be bored, terribly bored, and that in the end you will have to go away."
+
+The expression of sadness which was natural in Rosarito's countenance
+here became so profound that Pepe Rey was deeply moved.
+
+"You are mistaken, my dear cousin. I did not come here with the ideas
+you fancy, nor is there between my character and my opinions and the
+character and opinions of the people here the want of harmony you
+imagine. But let us suppose for a moment that there were."
+
+"Let us suppose it."
+
+"In that case I have the firm conviction that between you and me,
+between us two, dear Rosarito, perfect harmony would still exist.
+On this point I cannot be mistaken. My heart tells me that I am not
+mistaken."
+
+Rosarito blushed deeply, but making an effort to conceal her
+embarrassment under smiles and fugitive glances, she said:
+
+"Come, now, no pretences. But if you mean that I shall always approve of
+what you say, you are right."
+
+"Rosario," exclaimed the young man, "the moment I saw you my soul was
+filled with gladness; I felt at the same time a regret that I had not
+come before to Orbajosa."
+
+"Now, that I am not going to believe," she said, affecting gayety
+to conceal her emotion. "So soon? Don't begin to make protestations
+already. See, Pepe, I am only a country girl, I can talk only about
+common things; I don't know French; I don't dress with elegance; all I
+know is how to play the piano; I----"
+
+"Oh, Rosario!" cried the young man, with ardor; "I believed you to be
+perfect before; now I am sure you are so."
+
+Her mother at this moment entered the room. Rosarito, who did not
+know what to say in answer to her cousin's last words, was conscious,
+however, of the necessity of saying something, and, looking at her
+mother, she cried:
+
+"Ah! I forgot to give the parrot his dinner."
+
+"Don't mind that now. But why do you stay in here? Take your cousin for
+a walk in the garden."
+
+Dona Perfecta smiled with maternal kindness at her nephew, as she
+pointed toward the leafy avenue which was visible through the glass
+door.
+
+"Let us go there," said Pepe, rising.
+
+Rosarito darted, like a bird released from its cage, toward the glass
+door.
+
+"Pepe, who knows so much and who must understand all about trees," said
+Dona Perfecta, "will teach you how to graft. Let us see what he thinks
+of those young pear-trees that they are going to transplant."
+
+"Come, come!" called Rosarito to her cousin impatiently from the garden.
+
+Both disappeared among the foliage. Dona Perfecta watched them until
+they were out of sight and then busied herself with the parrot. As she
+changed its food she said to herself with a contemplative air:
+
+"How different he is! He has not even given a caress to the poor bird."
+
+Then, thinking it possible that she had been overheard by her
+brother-in-law, she said aloud:
+
+"Cayetano, what do you think of my nephew? Cayetano!"
+
+A low grunt gave evidence that the antiquary was returning to the
+consciousness of this miserable world.
+
+"Cayetano!"
+
+"Just so, just so!" murmured the scientist in a sleepy voice. "That
+young gentleman will maintain, as every one does, that the statues
+of Mundogrande belong to the first Phoenician immigration. But I will
+convince him--"
+
+"But, Cayetano!"
+
+"But, Perfecta! There! Now you will insist upon it again that I have
+been asleep."
+
+"No, indeed; how could I insist upon any thing so absurd! But you
+haven't told me what you think about that young man."
+
+Don Cayetano placed the palm of his hand before his mouth to conceal a
+yawn; then he and Dona Perfecta entered upon a long conversation. Those
+who have transmitted to us the necessary data for a compilation of
+this history omit this dialogue, no doubt because it was entirely
+confidential. As for what the engineer and Rosarito said in the garden
+that afternoon, it is evident that it was not worthy of mention.
+
+On the afternoon of the following day, however, events took place which,
+being of the gravest importance, ought not to be passed over in silence.
+Late in the afternoon the two cousins found themselves alone, after
+rambling through different parts of the garden in friendly companionship
+and having eyes and ears only for each other.
+
+"Pepe," Rosario was saying, "all that you have been telling me is pure
+fancy, one of those stories that you clever men know so well how to put
+together. You think that because I am a country girl I believe every
+thing I am told."
+
+"If you understood me as well as I think I understand you, you would
+know that I never say any thing I do not mean. But let us have done
+with foolish subtleties and lovers' sophistries, that lead only to
+misunderstandings. I will speak to you only in the language of truth.
+Are you by chance a young lady whose acquaintance I have made on the
+promenade or at a party, and with whom I propose to spend a pleasant
+hour or two? No, you are my cousin. You are something more. Rosario,
+let us at once put things on their proper footing. Let us drop
+circumlocutions. I have come here to marry you."
+
+Rosario felt her face burning, and her heart was beating violently.
+
+"See, my dear cousin," continued the young man. "I swear to you that
+if you had not pleased me I should be already far away from this place.
+Although politeness and delicacy would have obliged me to make an effort
+to conceal my disappointment, I should have found it hard to do so. That
+is my character."
+
+"Cousin, you have only just arrived," said Rosarito laconically, trying
+to laugh.
+
+"I have only just arrived, and I already know all that I wanted to know;
+I know that I love you; that you are the woman whom my heart has long
+been announcing to me, saying to me night and day, 'Now she is coming,
+now she is near; now you are burning.'"
+
+These words served Rosario as an excuse for breaking into the laugh
+that had been dimpling her lips. Her soul swelled with happiness; she
+breathed an atmosphere of joy.
+
+"You persist in depreciating yourself," continued Pepe, "but for me you
+possess every perfection. You have the admirable quality of radiating
+on all around you the divine light of your soul. The moment one sees you
+one feels instinctively the nobility of your mind and the purity of
+your heart. To see you is to see a celestial being who, through the
+forgetfulness of Heaven, remains upon the earth; you are an angel, and I
+adore you."
+
+When he had said this it seemed as if he had fulfilled an important
+mission. Rosarito, overcome by the violence of her emotion, felt her
+scant strength suddenly fail her; and, half-fainting, she sank on a
+stone that in those pleasant solitudes served as a seat. Pepe bent over
+her. Her eyes were closed, her forehead rested on the palm of her hand.
+A few moments later the daughter of Dona Perfecta Polentinos gave her
+cousin, amid happy tears, a tender glance followed by these words:
+
+"I loved you before I had ever seen you."
+
+Placing her hands in those of the young man she rose to her feet, and
+their forms disappeared among the leafy branches of an oleander walk.
+Night was falling and soft shadows enveloped the lower end of the
+garden, while the last rays of the setting sun crowned the tree-tops
+with fleeting splendors. The noisy republic of the birds kept up a
+deafening clamor in the upper branches. It was the hour in which, after
+flitting about in the joyous regions of the sky, they were all going
+to rest, and they were disputing with one another the branches they
+had selected for sleeping-places. Their chatter at times had a sound
+of recrimination and controversy, at times of mockery and merriment. In
+their voluble twitter the little rascals said the most insulting things
+to each other, pecking at each other and flapping their wings, as
+orators wave their arms when they want to make their hearers believe
+the lies they are telling them. But words of love were to be heard there
+too, for the peace of the hour and the beauty of the spot invited to it.
+A sharp ear might have distinguished the following:
+
+"I loved you before I had even seen you, and if you had not come I
+should have died of grief. Mamma used to give me your father's letters
+to read, and he praised you so much in them that I used to say, 'That
+is the man who ought to be my husband.' For a long time your father said
+nothing about our marrying, which seemed to me great negligence. Uncle
+Cayetano, whenever he spoke of you, would say, 'There are not many men
+like him in the world. The woman who gets him for a husband may think
+herself fortunate.' At last your father said what he could not avoid
+saying. Yes, he could not avoid saying it--I was expecting it every
+day."
+
+Shortly after these words the same voice added uneasily: "Some one is
+following us."
+
+Emerging from among the oleanders, Pepe, turning round, saw two men
+approaching them, and touching the leaves of a young tree near by, he
+said aloud to his companion:
+
+"It is not proper to prune young trees like this for the first time
+until they have taken firm root. Trees recently planted have not
+sufficient strength to bear the operation. You know that the roots can
+grow only by means of the leaves, so that if you take the leaves from a
+tree--"
+
+"Ah, Senor Don Jose," cried the Penitentiary, with a frank laugh,
+approaching the two young people and bowing to them, "are you giving
+lessons in horticulture? _Insere nunc Meliboee piros; pone ordine
+vites_, as the great singer of the labors of the field said. 'Graft the
+pear-tree, dear Meliboeus, trim the vines.' And how are we now, Senor
+Don Jose?"
+
+The engineer and the canon shook hands. Then the latter turned round,
+and indicating by a gesture a young man who was behind him, said,
+smiling:
+
+"I have the pleasure of presenting to you my dear Jacintillo--a great
+rogue, a feather-head, Senor Don Jose."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE DISAGREEMENT CONTINUES TO INCREASE, AND THEREAFTER TO BECOME DISCORD
+
+Close beside the black cassock was a fresh and rosy face, that seemed
+fresher and rosier from the contrast. Jacinto saluted our hero, not
+without some embarrassment.
+
+He was one of those precocious youths whom the indulgent university
+sends prematurely forth into the arena of life, making them fancy that
+they are men because they have received their doctor's degree. Jacinto
+had a round, handsome face with rosy cheeks, like a girl's, and without
+any beard save the down which announced its coming. In person he was
+plump and below the medium height. His age was a little over twenty. He
+had been educated from childhood under the direction of his excellent
+and learned uncle, which is the same as saying that the twig had not
+become crooked in the growing. A severe moral training had kept him
+always straight, and in the fulfilment of his scholastic duties he
+had been almost above reproach. Having concluded his studies at the
+university with astonishing success, for there was scarcely a class in
+which he did not take the highest honors, he entered on the practice of
+his profession, promising, by his application and his aptitude for
+the law, to maintain fresh and green in the forum the laurels of the
+lecture-hall.
+
+At times he was as mischievous as a boy, at times as sedate as a man.
+In very truth, if Jacinto had not had a little, and even a great deal of
+liking for pretty girls, his uncle would have thought him perfect. The
+worthy man preached to him unceasingly on this point, hastening to
+clip the wings of every audacious fancy. But not even this mundane
+inclination of the young man could cool the great affection which
+our worthy canon bore the charming offspring of his dear niece, Maria
+Remedios. Where the young lawyer was concerned, every thing else
+must give way. Even the grave and methodical habits of the worthy
+ecclesiastic were altered when they interfered with the affairs of his
+precocious pupil. That order and regularity, apparently as fixed as the
+laws of a planetary system, were interrupted whenever Jacinto was ill
+or had to take a journey. Useless celibacy of the clergy! The Council of
+Trent prohibits them from having children of their own, but God--and not
+the Devil, as the proverb says--gives them nephews and nieces in order
+that they may know the tender anxieties of paternity.
+
+Examining impartially the qualities of this clever boy, it was
+impossible not to recognize that he was not wanting in merit. His
+character was in the main inclined to uprightness, and noble
+actions awakened a frank admiration in his soul. With respect to his
+intellectual endowments and his social knowledge, they were sufficient
+to enable him to become in time one of those notabilities of whom
+there are so many in Spain; he might be what we take delight in calling
+hyperbolically a distinguished patrician, or an eminent public man;
+species which, owing to their great abundance, are hardly appreciated
+at their just value. In the tender age in which the university degree
+serves as a sort of solder between boyhood and manhood, few young
+men--especially if they have been spoiled by their masters--are free
+from an offensive pedantry, which, if it gives them great importance
+beside their mamma's arm-chair, makes them very ridiculous when they
+are among grave and experienced men. Jacinto had this defect, which was
+excusable in him, not only because of his youth, but also because his
+worthy uncle stimulated his puerile vanity by injudicious praise.
+
+When the introduction was over they resumed their walk. Jacinto was
+silent. The canon, returning to the interrupted theme of the _pyros_
+which were to be grafted and the _vites_ which were to be trimmed, said:
+
+"I am already aware that Senor Don Jose is a great agriculturist."
+
+"Not at all; I know nothing whatever about the subject," responded
+the young man, observing with no little annoyance the canon's mania of
+supposing him to be learned in all the sciences.
+
+"Oh, yes! a great agriculturist," continued the Penitentiary; "but on
+agricultural subjects, don't quote the latest treatises to me. For me
+the whole of that science, Senor de Rey, is condensed in what I call the
+Bible of the Field, in the 'Georgics' of the immortal Roman. It is all
+admirable, from that grand sentence, _Nec vero terroe ferre omnes omnia
+possunt_--that is to say, that not every soil is suited to every tree,
+Senor Don Jose--to the exhaustive treatise on bees, in which the poet
+describes the habits of those wise little animals, defining the drone in
+these words:
+
+     "'Ille horridus alter
+     Desidia, latamque trahens inglorius alvum.'
+
+"'Of a horrible and slothful figure, dragging along the ignoble weight of
+the belly,' Senor Don Jose."
+
+"You do well to translate it for me," said Pepe, "for I know very little
+Latin."
+
+"Oh, why should the men of the present day spend their time in studying
+things that are out of date?" said the canon ironically. "Besides,
+only poor creatures like Virgil and Cicero and Livy wrote in Latin. I,
+however, am of a different way of thinking; as witness my nephew, to
+whom I have taught that sublime language. The rascal knows it better
+than I do. The worst of it is, that with his modern reading he is
+forgetting it; and some fine day, without ever having suspected it, he
+will find out that he is an ignoramus. For, Senor Don Jose, my nephew
+has taken to studying the newest books and the most extravagant
+theories, and it is Flammarion here and Flammarion there, and nothing
+will do him but that the stars are full of people. Come, I fancy that
+you two are going to be very good friends. Jacinto, beg this gentleman
+to teach you the higher mathematics, to instruct you concerning the
+German philosophers, and then you will be a man."
+
+The worthy ecclesiastic laughed at his own wit, while Jacinto, delighted
+to see the conversation turn on a theme so greatly to his taste, after
+excusing himself to Pepe Rey, suddenly hurled this question at him:
+
+"Tell me, Senor Don Jose, what do you think of Darwinism?"
+
+Our hero smiled at this inopportune pedantry, and he felt almost tempted
+to encourage the young man to continue in this path of childish vanity;
+but, judging it more prudent to avoid intimacy, either with the nephew
+or the uncle, he answered simply:
+
+"I can think nothing at all about the doctrines of Darwin, for I know
+scarcely any thing about him. My professional labors have not permitted
+me to devote much of my time to those studies."
+
+"Well," said the canon, laughing, "it all reduces itself to this, that
+we are descended from monkeys. If he had said that only in the case of
+certain people I know, he would have been right."
+
+"The theory of natural selection," said Jacinto emphatically, "has, they
+say, a great many partisans in Germany."
+
+"I do not doubt it," said the ecclesiastic. "In Germany they would have
+no reason to be sorry if that theory were true, as far as Bismarck is
+concerned."
+
+Dona Perfecta and Senor Don Cayetano at this moment made their
+appearance.
+
+"What a beautiful evening!" said the former. "Well, nephew, are you
+getting terribly bored?"
+
+"I am not bored in the least," responded the young man.
+
+"Don't try to deny it. Cayetano and I were speaking of that as we came
+along. You are bored, and you are trying to hide it. It is not every
+young man of the present day who would have the self-denial to spend
+his youth, like Jacinto, in a town where there are neither theatres,
+nor opera bouffe, nor dancers, nor philosophers, nor athenaeums,
+nor magazines, nor congresses, nor any other kind of diversions or
+entertainments."
+
+"I am quite contented here," responded Pepe. "I was just now saying to
+Rosario that I find this city and this house so pleasant that I would
+like to live and die here."
+
+Rosario turned very red and the others were silent. They all sat down
+in a summer-house, Jacinto hastening to take the seat on the left of the
+young girl.
+
+"See here, nephew, I have a piece of advice to give you," said Dona
+Perfecta, smiling with that expression of kindness that seemed to
+emanate from her soul, like the aroma from the flower. "But don't
+imagine that I am either reproving you or giving you a lesson--you are
+not a child, and you will easily understand what I mean."
+
+"Scold me, dear aunt, for no doubt I deserve it," replied Pepe, who was
+beginning to accustom himself to the kindnesses of his father's sister.
+
+"No, it is only a piece of advice. These gentlemen, I am sure, will
+agree that I am in the right."
+
+Rosario was listening with her whole soul.
+
+"It is only this," continued Dona Perfecta, "that when you visit our
+beautiful cathedral again, you will endeavor to behave with a little
+more decorum while you are in it."
+
+"Why, what have I done?"
+
+"It does not surprise me that you are not yourself aware of your fault,"
+said his aunt, with apparent good humor. "It is only natural; accustomed
+as you are to enter athenaeums and clubs, and academies and congresses
+without any ceremony, you think that you can enter a temple in which the
+Divine Majesty is in the same manner."
+
+"But excuse me, senora," said Pepe gravely, "I entered the cathedral
+with the greatest decorum."
+
+"But I am not scolding you, man; I am not scolding you. If you take it
+in that way I shall have to remain silent. Excuse my nephew, gentlemen.
+A little carelessness, a little heedlessness on his part is not to be
+wondered at. How many years is it since you set foot in a sacred place
+before?"
+
+"Senora, I assure you----But, in short, let my religious ideas be what
+they may, I am in the habit of observing the utmost decorum in church."
+
+"What I assure you is----There, if you are going to be offended I won't
+go on. What I assure you is that a great many people noticed it this
+morning. The Senores de Gonzalez, Dona Robustiana, Serafinita--in short,
+when I tell you that you attracted the attention of the bishop----His
+lordship complained to me about it this afternoon when I was at my
+cousin's. He told me that he did not order you to be put out of the
+church only because you were my nephew."
+
+Rosario looked anxiously at her cousin, trying to read in his
+countenance, before he uttered it, the answer he would make to these
+charges.
+
+"No doubt they mistook me for some one else."
+
+"No, no! it was you. But there, don't get angry! We are talking here
+among friends and in confidence. It was you. I saw you myself."
+
+"You saw me!"
+
+"Just so. Will you deny that you went to look at the pictures, passing
+among a group of worshippers who were hearing mass? I assure you that my
+attention was so distracted by your comings and goings that--well, you
+must not do it again. Then you went into the chapel of San Gregorio. At
+the elevation of the Host at the high altar you did not even turn around
+to make a gesture of reverence. Afterward you traversed the whole length
+of the church, you went up to the tomb of the Adelantado, you touched
+the altar with your hands, then you passed a second time among a group
+of worshippers, attracting the notice of every one. All the girls looked
+at you, and you seemed pleased at disturbing so finely the devotions of
+those good people."
+
+"Good Heavens! How many things I have done!" exclaimed Pepe, half angry,
+half amused. "I am a monster, it seems, without ever having suspected
+it."
+
+"No, I am very well aware that you are a good boy," said Dona Perfecta,
+observing the canon's expression of unalterable gravity, which gave his
+face the appearance of a pasteboard mask. "But, my dear boy, between
+thinking things and showing them in that irreverent manner, there is a
+distance which a man of good sense and good breeding should never cross.
+I am well aware that your ideas are----Now, don't get angry! If you
+get angry, I will be silent. I say that it is one thing to have certain
+ideas about religion and another thing to express them. I will take good
+care not to reproach you because you believe that God did not create us
+in his image and likeness, but that we are descended from the monkeys;
+nor because you deny the existence of the soul, asserting that it is a
+drug, like the little papers of rhubarb and magnesia that are sold at
+the apothecary's--"
+
+"Senora, for Heaven's sake!" exclaimed Pepe, with annoyance. "I see that
+I have a very bad reputation in Orbajosa."
+
+The others remained silent.
+
+"As I said, I will not reproach you for entertaining those ideas. And,
+besides, I have not the right to do so. If I should undertake to argue
+with you, you, with your wonderful talents, would confute me a thousand
+times over. No, I will not attempt any thing of that kind. What I say
+is that these poor and humble inhabitants of Orbajosa are pious and
+good Christians, although they know nothing about German philosophy, and
+that, therefore, you ought not publicly to manifest your contempt for
+their beliefs."
+
+"My dear aunt," said the engineer gravely, "I have shown no contempt for
+any one, nor do I entertain the ideas which you attribute to me. Perhaps
+I may have been a little wanting in reverence in the church. I am
+somewhat absent-minded. My thoughts and my attention were engaged
+with the architecture of the building and, frankly speaking, I did not
+observe----But this was no reason for the bishop to think of putting me
+out of the church, nor for you to suppose me capable of attributing to
+a paper from the apothecary's the functions of the soul. I may tolerate
+that as a jest, but only as a jest."
+
+The agitation of Pepe Rey's mind was so great that, notwithstanding his
+natural prudence and moderation, he was unable to conceal it.
+
+"There! I see that you are angry," said Dona Perfecta, casting down her
+eyes and clasping her hands. "I am very sorry. If I had known that you
+would have taken it in that way, I should not have spoken to you. Pepe,
+I ask your pardon."
+
+Hearing these words and seeing his kind aunt's deprecating attitude,
+Pepe felt ashamed of the sternness of his last words, and he made an
+effort to recover his serenity. The venerable Penitentiary extricated
+him from his embarrassing position, saying with his accustomed
+benevolent smile:
+
+"Senora Dona Perfecta, we must be tolerant with artists. Oh, I have
+known a great many of them! Those gentlemen, when they have before them
+a statue, a piece of rusty armor, a mouldy painting, or an old wall,
+forget every thing else. Senor Don Jose is an artist, and he has visited
+our cathedral as the English visit it, who would willingly carry it away
+with them to their museums, to its last tile, if they could. That the
+worshippers were praying, that the priest was elevating the Sacred Host,
+that the moment of supreme piety and devotion had come--what of that?
+What does all that matter to an artist? It is true that I do not know
+what art is worth, apart from the sentiments which it expresses, but,
+in fine, at the present day, it is the custom to adore the form, not
+the idea. God preserve me from undertaking to discuss this question with
+Senor Don Jose, who knows so much, and who, reasoning with the admirable
+subtlety of the moderns, would instantly confound my mind, in which
+there is only faith."
+
+"The determination which you all have to regard me as the most learned
+man on earth annoys me exceedingly," said Pepe, speaking in his former
+hard tone. "Hold me for a fool; for I would rather be regarded as a fool
+than as the possessor of that Satanic knowledge which is here attributed
+to me."
+
+Rosarito laughed, and Jacinto thought that a highly opportune moment had
+now arrived to make a display of his own erudition.
+
+"Pantheism or panentheism," he said, "is condemned by the Church, as
+well as by the teachings of Schopenhauer and of the modern Hartmann."
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," said the canon gravely, "men who pay so fervent
+a worship to art, though it be only to its form, deserve the greatest
+respect. It is better to be an artist, and delight in the contemplation
+of beauty, though this be only represented by nude nymphs, than to be
+indifferent and incredulous in every thing. The mind that consecrates
+itself to the contemplation of beauty, evil will not take complete
+possession of. _Est Deus in nobis_. _Deus_, be it well understood. Let
+Senor Don Jose, then, continue to admire the marvels of our church; I,
+for one, will willingly forgive him his acts of irreverence, with all
+due respect for the opinions of the bishop."
+
+"Thanks, Senor Don Inocencio," said Pepe, feeling a bitter and
+rebellious sentiment of hostility springing up within him toward the
+canon, and unable to conquer his desire to mortify him. "But let none
+of you imagine, either, that it was the beauties of art, of which
+you suppose the temple to be full, that engaged my attention. Those
+beauties, with the exception of the imposing architecture of a portion
+of the edifice and of the three tombs that are in the chapel of the
+apse, I do not see. What occupied my mind was the consideration of
+the deplorable decadence of the religious arts; and the innumerable
+monstrosities, of which the cathedral is full, caused me not
+astonishment, but disgust."
+
+The amazement of all present was profound.
+
+"I cannot endure," continued Pepe, "those glazed and painted images
+that resemble so much--God forgive me for the comparison--the dolls that
+little girls pay with. And what am I to say of the theatrical robes that
+cover them? I saw a St. Joseph with a mantle whose appearance I will not
+describe, out of respect for the holy patriarch and for the church of
+which he is the patron. On the altar are crowded together images in
+the worst possible taste; and the innumerable crowns, branches, stars,
+moons, and other ornaments of metal or gilt paper have an air of an
+ironmongery that offends the religious sentiment and depresses the soul.
+Far from lifting itself up to religious contemplation, the soul sinks,
+and the idea of the ludicrous distracts it. The great works of art which
+give sensible form to ideas, to dogmas, to religious faith, to mystic
+exaltation, fulfil a noble mission. The caricatures, the aberrations of
+taste, the grotesque works with which a mistaken piety fills the church,
+also fulfil their object; but this is a sad one enough: They encourage
+superstition, cool enthusiasm, oblige the eyes of the believer to turn
+away from the altar, and, with the eyes, the souls that have not a very
+profound and a very firm faith turn away also."
+
+"The doctrine of the iconoclasts, too," said Jacinto, "has, it seems,
+spread widely in Germany."
+
+"I am not an iconoclast, although I would prefer the destruction of
+all the images to the exhibition of buffooneries of which I speak,"
+continued the young man. "Seeing it, one may justly advocate a return of
+religious worship to the august simplicity of olden times. But no; let
+us not renounce the admirable aid which all the arts, beginning with
+poetry and ending with music, lend to the relations between man and
+God. Let the arts live; let the utmost pomp be displayed in religious
+ceremonies. I am a partisan of pomp."
+
+"An artist, an artist, and nothing more than an artist!" exclaimed
+the canon, shaking his head with a sorrowful air. "Fine pictures, fine
+statues, beautiful music; pleasure for the senses, and let the devil
+take the soul!"
+
+"Apropos of music," said Pepe Rey, without observing the deplorable
+effect which his words produced on both mother and daughter, "imagine
+how disposed my mind would be to religious contemplation on entering the
+cathedral, when just at that moment, and precisely at the offertory at
+high mass, the organist played a passage from 'Traviata.'"
+
+"Senor de Rey is right in that," said the little lawyer emphatically.
+"The organist played the other day the whole of the drinking song and
+the waltz from the same opera, and afterward a rondeau from the 'Grande
+Duchesse.'"
+
+"But when I felt my heart sink," continued the engineer implacably,
+"was when I saw an image of the Virgin, which seems to be held in great
+veneration, judging from the crowd before it and the multitude of tapers
+which lighted it. They have dressed her in a puffed-out garment of
+velvet, embroidered with gold, of a shape so extraordinary that it
+surpasses the most extravagant of the fashions of the day. Her face
+is almost hidden under a voluminous frill, made of innumerable rows
+of lace, crimped with a crimping-iron, and her crown, half a yard in
+height, surrounded by golden rays, looks like a hideous catafalque
+erected over her head. Of the same material, and embroidered in the same
+manner, are the trousers of the Infant Jesus. I will not go on, for to
+describe the Mother and the Child might perhaps lead me to commit some
+irreverence. I will only say that it was impossible for me to keep from
+smiling, and for a short time I contemplated the profaned image, saying
+to myself: 'Mother and Lady mine, what a sight they have made of you!'"
+
+As he ended Pepe looked at his hearers, and although, owing to the
+gathering darkness, he could not see their countenances distinctly, he
+fancied that in some of them he perceived signs of angry consternation.
+
+"Well, Senor Don Jose!" exclaimed the canon quickly, smiling with
+a triumphant expression, "that image, which to your philosophy and
+pantheism appears so ridiculous, is Our Lady of Help, patroness
+and advocate of Orbajosa, whose inhabitants regard her with so much
+veneration that they would be quite capable of dragging any one through
+the streets who should speak ill of her. The chronicles and history,
+Senor Don Jose, are full of the miracles which she has wrought, and even
+at the present day we receive constantly incontrovertible proofs of her
+protection. You must know also that your aunt, Dona Perfecta, is chief
+lady in waiting to the Most Holy Virgin of Help, and that the dress
+that to you appears so grotesque--went out from this house, and that the
+trousers of the Infant are the work of the skilful needle and the ardent
+piety combined of your cousin Rosarito, who is now listening to us."
+
+Pepe Rey was greatly disconcerted. At the same instant Dona Perfecta
+rose abruptly from her seat, and, without saying a word, walked
+toward the house, followed by the Penitentiary. The others rose also.
+Recovering from his stupefaction, the young man was about to beg his
+cousin's pardon for his irreverence, when he observed that Rosarito was
+weeping. Fixing on her cousin a look of friendly and gentle reproof, she
+said:
+
+"What ideas you have!"
+
+The voice of Dona Perfecta was heard crying in an altered accent:
+
+"Rosario! Rosario!"
+
+The latter ran toward the house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE EVIDENCE OF DISCORD IS EVIDENT
+
+Pepe Rey was disturbed and perplexed, enraged with himself and every one
+else; he tried in vain to imagine what could be the conflict that had
+arisen, in spite of himself, between his ideas and the ideas of his
+aunt's friends. Thoughtful and sad, foreseeing future discord, he
+remained for a short time sitting on the bench in the summer-house, his
+chin resting on his breast, his forehead gathered in a frown, his hands
+clasped. He thought himself alone.
+
+Suddenly he heard a gay voice humming the refrain of a song from a
+zarzuela. He looked up and saw Don Jacinto sitting in the opposite
+corner of the summer-house.
+
+"Ah, Senor de Rey!" said the youth abruptly, "one does not offend with
+impunity the religious sentiments of the great majority of a nation. If
+you doubt it, consider what happened in the first French revolution."
+
+When Pepe heard the buzzing of this insect his irritation increased.
+Nevertheless there was no anger in his soul toward the youthful doctor
+of laws. The latter annoyed him, as a fly might annoy him, but nothing
+more. Rey felt the irritation which every importunate being inspires,
+and with the air of one who brushes away a buzzing drone, he answered:
+
+"What has the French revolution to do with the robe of the Virgin?"
+
+He got up and walked toward the house, but he had not taken half a dozen
+steps before he heard again beside him the buzzing of the mosquito,
+saying:
+
+"Senor Don Jose, I wish to speak to you about an affair in which you are
+greatly interested and which may cause you some trouble."
+
+"An affair?" said the young man, drawing back. "Let us hear what affair
+is that."
+
+"You suspect what it is, perhaps," said Jacinto, approaching Pepe,
+and smiling with the air of a man of business who has some unusually
+important matter on hand; "I want to speak to you about the lawsuit."
+
+"The lawsuit! My friend, I have no lawsuits. You, as a good lawyer,
+dream of lawsuits and see stamped paper everywhere."
+
+"What! You have not heard of your lawsuit?" exclaimed the youth, with
+amazement.
+
+"Of my lawsuit! But I have no lawsuits, nor have I ever had any."
+
+"Well, if you have not heard of it, I am all the better pleased to have
+spoken to you about it, so that you may be on your guard. Yes, senor,
+you are going to have a suit at law."
+
+"And with whom?"
+
+"With Uncle Licurgo and other land-owners whose property borders on the
+estate called The Poplars."
+
+Pepe Rey was astounded.
+
+"Yes, senor," continued the little lawyer. "To-day Uncle Licurgo and I
+had a long conference. As I am such a friend of the family, I wanted to
+let you know about it, so that, if you think well of it, you may hasten
+to arrange the matter."
+
+"But what have I to arrange? What do those rascals claim from me?"
+
+"It seems that a stream of water which rises in your property has
+changed its course and flows over some tile-works of the aforesaid Uncle
+Licurgo and the mill of another person, occasioning considerable
+damage. My client--for he is determined that I shall get him out of this
+difficulty--my client, as I said, demands that you shall restore the
+water to its former channel, so as to avoid fresh injuries, and that
+you shall indemnify him for the damage which his works have already
+sustained through the neglect of the superior proprietor."
+
+"And I am the superior proprietor! If I engage in a lawsuit, that will
+be the first fruit that those famous Poplars, which were mine and which
+now, as I understand, belong to everybody, will have ever produced me,
+for Licurgo, as well as some of the other farmers of the district, have
+been filching from me, little by little, year after year, pieces of
+land, and it will be very difficult to re-establish the boundaries of my
+property."
+
+"That is a different question."
+
+"That is not a different question. The real suit," exclaimed the
+engineer, unable to control his anger, "will be the one that I will
+bring against that rabble who no doubt propose to themselves to tire me
+out and drive me to desperation--so that I may abandon every thing and
+let them continue in possession of what they have stolen. We shall see
+if there are lawyers and judges who will uphold the infamous conduct of
+those village legists, who are forever at law, and who waste and consume
+the property of others. I am obliged to you, young gentleman, for having
+informed me of the villanous intentions of those boors, who are more
+perverse than Satan himself. When I tell you that that very tile-yard
+and that very mill on which Licurgo bases his claim are mine--"
+
+"The title-deeds of the property ought to be examined, to see if
+possession may not constitute a title in this case."
+
+"Possession! Those scoundrels are not going to have the pleasure of
+laughing at me in that way. I suppose that justice is honestly and
+faithfully administered in the city of Orbajosa."
+
+"Oh, as to that!" exclaimed the little lawyer, with an approving look,
+"the judge is an excellent person! He comes here every evening. But it
+is strange that you should have received no notice of Senor Licurgo's
+claims. Have you not yet been summoned to appear before the tribunal of
+arbitration?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It will be to-morrow, then. Well, I am very sorry that Senor Licurgo's
+precipitation has deprived me of the pleasure and honor of defending
+you, but what is to be done? Licurgo was determined that I should take
+him out of his troubles. I will study the matter with the greatest care.
+This vile slavery is the great drawback of jurisprudence."
+
+Pepe entered the dining-room in a deplorable state of mind. Dona
+Perfecta was talking with the Penitentiary, as he entered, and Rosarito
+was sitting alone, with her eyes fixed on the door. She was no doubt
+waiting for her cousin.
+
+"Come here, you rascal," said his aunt, smiling with very little
+spontaneity. "You have insulted us, you great atheist! but we forgive
+you. I am well aware that my daughter and myself are two rustics who are
+incapable of soaring to the regions of mathematics where you dwell, but
+for all that it is possible that you may one day get down on your knees
+to us and beg us to teach you the Christian doctrine."
+
+Pepe answered with vague phrases and formulas of politeness and
+repentance.
+
+"For my part," said Don Inocencio, with an affected air of meekness and
+amiability, "if in the course of these idle disputes I have said any
+thing that could offend Senor Don Jose, I beg his pardon for it. We are
+all friends here."
+
+"Thanks. It is of no consequence."
+
+"In spite of every thing," said Dona Perfecta, smiling with more
+naturalness than before, "I shall always be the same for my dear nephew;
+in spite of his extravagant and anti-religious ideas. In what way do you
+suppose I am going to spend this evening? Well, in trying to make Uncle
+Licurgo give up those obstinate notions which would otherwise cause you
+annoyance. I sent for him, and he is waiting for me now in the hall.
+Make yourself easy, I will arrange the matter; for although I know that
+he is not altogether without right on his side--"
+
+"Thanks, dear aunt," responded the young man, his whole being invaded by
+a wave of the generous emotion which was so easily aroused in his soul.
+
+Pepe Rey looked in the direction of his cousin, intending to join her,
+but some wily questions of the canon retained him at Dona Perfecta's
+side. Rosario looked dejected, and was listening with an air of
+melancholy indifference to the words of the little lawyer, who, having
+installed himself at her side, kept up a continuous stream of fulsome
+flatteries, seasoned with ill-timed jests and fatuous remarks in the
+worst possible taste.
+
+"The worst of it is," said Dona Perfecta to her nephew--surprising the
+glance which he cast in the direction of the ill-assorted pair--"the
+worst of it is, that you have offended poor Rosario. You must do all in
+your power to make your peace with her. The poor child is so good!"
+
+"Oh, yes! so good," added the canon, "that I have no doubt that she will
+forgive her cousin."
+
+"I think that Rosario has already forgiven me," affirmed Rey.
+
+"And if not, angelic breasts do not harbor resentment long," said Don
+Inocencio mellifluously. "I have a great deal of influence with the
+child, and I will endeavor to dissipate in her generous soul whatever
+prejudice may exist there against you. As soon as I say a word or two to
+her----"
+
+Pepe Rey felt a cloud darken his soul and he said with meaning:
+
+"Perhaps it may not be necessary."
+
+"I will not speak to her now," added the capitular, "because she is
+listening entranced to Jacinto's nonsense. Ah, those children! When they
+once begin there is no stopping them."
+
+The judge of the lower court, the alcalde's lady, and the dean of the
+cathedral now made their appearance. They all saluted the engineer,
+manifesting in their words and manner, on seeing him, the satisfaction
+of gratified curiosity. The judge was one of those clever and
+intelligent young men who every day spring into notice in official
+circles; aspiring, almost before they are out of the shell, to the
+highest political and administrative positions. He gave himself airs of
+great importance, and in speaking of himself and of his juvenile toga,
+he seemed indirectly to manifest great offence because he had not been
+all at once made president of the supreme court. In such inexpert hands,
+in a brain thus swollen with vanity, in this incarnation of conceit, had
+the state placed the most delicate and the most difficult functions
+of human justice. His manners were those of a perfect courtier, and
+revealed a scrupulous and minute attention to all that concerned his own
+person. He had the insufferable habit of taking off and putting on every
+moment his gold eye-glasses, and in his conversation he manifested with
+frequency the strong desire which he had to be transferred to Madrid,
+in order that he might give his invaluable services to the Department of
+Grace and Justice.
+
+The alcalde's lady was a good-natured woman, whose only weakness was to
+fancy that she had a great many acquaintances at the court. She asked
+Pepe Rey various questions about the fashions, mentioning establishments
+in which she had had a mantle or a skirt made on her last journey to
+the capital, contemporaneous with the visit of Muley-Abbas, and she also
+mentioned the names of a dozen duchesses and marchionesses; speaking
+of them with as much familiarity as if they had been friends of her
+school-days. She said also that the Countess of M. (famous for her
+parties) was a friend of hers and that in '60 she had paid her a visit,
+when the countess had invited her to her box at the Teatro Real, where
+she saw Muley-Abbas in Moorish dress and accompanied by his retinue
+of Moors. The alcalde's wife talked incessantly and was not wanting in
+humor.
+
+The dean was a very old man, corpulent and red-faced, plethoric and
+apoplectic looking, a man so obese that he seemed bursting out of his
+skin. He had belonged to one of the suppressed religious orders; he
+talked only of religious matters; and from the very first manifested the
+most profound contempt for Pepe Rey. The latter appeared every moment
+more unable to accommodate himself to a society so little to his
+taste. His disposition--not at all malleable, hard, and very little
+flexible--rejected the duplicities and the compromises of language to
+simulate concord when it did not exist. He remained, then, very grave
+during the whole of the tiresome evening, obliged as he was to endure
+the oratorical vehemence of the alcalde's wife, who, without being Fame,
+had the privilege of fatiguing with a hundred tongues the ears of men.
+If, in some brief respite which this lady gave her hearers, Pepe Rey
+made an attempt to approach his cousin, the Penitentiary attached
+himself to him instantly, like the mollusk to the rock; taking him apart
+with a mysterious air to propose to him an excursion with Senor Don
+Cayetano to Mundogrande, or a fishing party on the clear waters of the
+Nahara.
+
+At last the evening came to an end, as every thing does in this world.
+The dean retired, leaving the house, as it seemed, empty, and very soon
+there remained of the alcalde's wife only an echo, like the buzz
+which remains in the air after a storm has passed away. The judge also
+deprived the company of his presence, and at last Don Inocencio gave his
+nephew the signal for departure.
+
+"Come, boy, come; for it is late," he said, smiling. "How you have
+tormented poor Rosarito, has he not, child? Home, you rogue, home,
+without delay."
+
+"It is time to go to bed," said Dona Perfecta.
+
+"Time to go to work," responded the little lawyer.
+
+"I am always telling him that he ought to get through with his business
+in the day-time, but he will not mind me."
+
+"There is so much, so very much business to be got through."
+
+"No, say rather, that confounded work which you have undertaken. He does
+not wish to say it, Senor Don Jose, but the truth is that he is writing
+a book on 'The Influence of Woman in Christian Society,' and, in
+addition to that, 'A Glance at the Catholic Movement in'--somewhere or
+other. What do you know about glances or influences? But these youths of
+the present day have audacity enough for any thing. Oh, what boys! Well,
+let us go home. Good-night, Senora Dona Perfecta--good-night, Senor Don
+Jose--Rosarito."
+
+"I will wait for Senor Don Cayetano," said Jacinto, "to ask him to give
+me the Augusto Nicolas."
+
+"Always carrying books. Why, sometimes you come into the house laden
+like a donkey. Very well, then, let us wait."
+
+"Senor Don Jacinto does not write hastily," said Pepe Rey; "he prepares
+himself well for his work, so that his books may be treasures of
+learning."
+
+"But that boy will injure his brain," objected Dona Perfecta. "For
+Heaven's sake be careful! I would set a limit to his reading."
+
+"Since we are going to wait," said the little doctor, in a tone of
+insufferable conceit, "I will take with me also the third volume of
+Concilios. What do you think, uncle?"
+
+"Take that, of course. It would never do to leave that behind you."
+
+Fortunately Senor Don Cayetano (who generally spent his evenings at the
+house of Don Lorenzo Ruiz) soon arrived, and the books being received,
+uncle and nephew left the house.
+
+Rey read in his cousin's sad countenance a keen desire to speak to him.
+He approached her while Dona Perfecta and Don Cayetano were discussing
+some domestic matter apart.
+
+"You have offended mamma," said Rosarito.
+
+Her features expressed something like terror.
+
+"It is true," responded the young man; "I have offended your mamma--I
+have offended you."
+
+"No, not me. I already imagined that the Infant Jesus ought not to wear
+trousers."
+
+"But I hope that you will both forgive me. Your mamma was so kind to me
+a little while ago."
+
+Dona Perfecta's voice suddenly vibrated through the dining-room, with
+so discordant a tone that her nephew started as if he had heard a cry of
+alarm. The voice said imperiously:
+
+"Rosario, go to bed!"
+
+Startled, her mind filled with anxious fears, the girl lingered in the
+room, going here and there as if she was looking for something. As she
+passed her cousin she whispered softly and cautiously these words:
+
+"Mamma is angry."
+
+"But--"
+
+"She is angry--be on your guard, be on your guard."
+
+Then she left the room. Her mother, for whom Uncle Licurgo was waiting,
+followed her, and for some time the voices of Dona Perfecta and the
+countryman were heard mingled together in familiar conference. Pepe was
+left with Don Cayetano, who, taking a light, said;
+
+"Good-night, Pepe. But don't suppose that I am going to sleep, I am
+going to work. But why are you so thoughtful? What is the matter
+with you?--Just as I say, to work. I am making notes for a 'Memorial
+Discourse on the Genealogies of Orbajosa.' I have already found data and
+information of the utmost value. There can be no dispute about it. In
+every period of our history the Orbajosans have been distinguished
+for their delicate sense of honor, their chivalry, their valor, their
+intellectuality. The conquest of Mexico, the wars of the Emperor, the
+wars of Philip against the heretics, testify to this. But are you ill?
+What is the matter with you? As I say, eminent theologians, valiant
+warriors, conquerors, saints, bishops, statesmen--all sorts of
+illustrious men--have flourished in this humble land of the garlic.
+No, there is not in Christendom a more illustrious city than ours. Its
+virtues and its glories are in themselves enough and more than enough
+to fill all the pages of our country's history. Well, I see that it is
+sleepy you are--good-night. As I say, I would not exchange the glory of
+being a son of this noble city for all the gold in the world. Augusta,
+the ancients called it; Augustissima, I call it now; for now, as then,
+high-mindedness, generosity, valor, magnanimity, are the patrimony of
+all. Well, good-night, dear Pepe. But I fancy you are not well. Has the
+supper disagreed with you?--Alonzo Gonzalez de Bustamante was right when
+he said in his 'Floresta Amena' that the people of Orbajosa suffice in
+themselves to confer greatness and honor on a kingdom. Don't you think
+so?"
+
+"Oh, yes, senor; undoubtedly," responded Pepe Rey, going abruptly toward
+his room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE DISCORD GROWS
+
+During the following days Pepe Rey made the acquaintance of several of
+the people of the place; he visited the Casino, and formed friendships
+with some of the individuals who spend their lives in the rooms of that
+corporation.
+
+But the youth of Orbajosa did not spend all their time in the Casino,
+as evil-minded people might imagine. In the afternoons there were to be
+seen at the corner of the cathedral, and in the little plaza formed
+by the intersection of the Calle del Condestable and the Calle de la
+Triperia, several gentlemen who, gracefully enveloped in their cloaks,
+stood there like sentinels, watching the people as they passed by. If
+the weather was fine, those shining lights of the Urbs Augustan culture
+bent their steps, still enveloped in the indispensable cloak, toward
+the promenade called the Paseo de las Descalzas, which was formed by
+a double row of consumptive-looking elms and some withered bushes
+of broom. There the brilliant Pleiad watched the daughters of this
+fellow-townsman or that, who had also come there for a walk, and the
+afternoon passed tolerably. In the evening, the Casino filled up again;
+and while some of the members gave their lofty minds to the delights of
+monte, others read the newspapers, while the majority discussed in the
+coffee-room subjects of the various kinds, such as the politics, horses,
+bulls, or the gossip of the place. The result of every discussion was
+the renewed conviction of the supremacy of Orbajosa and its inhabitants
+over all the other towns and peoples on the face of the earth.
+
+These distinguished men were the cream of the illustrious city; some
+rich landowners, others very poor, but all alike free from lofty
+aspirations. They had the imperturbable tranquillity of the beggar who
+desires nothing more so long as he has a crust of bread with which to
+cheat hunger, and the sun to warm him. What chiefly distinguished the
+Orbajosans of the Casino was a sentiment of bitter hostility toward
+all strangers, and whenever any stranger of note appeared in its august
+halls, they believed that he had come there to call in question the
+superiority of the land of the garlic, or to dispute with it, through
+envy, the incontestable advantages which nature had bestowed upon it.
+
+When Pepe Rey presented himself in the Casino, they received him with
+something of suspicion, and as facetious persons abounded in it, before
+the new member had been there a quarter of an hour, all sorts of jokes
+had been made about him. When in answer to the reiterated questions of
+the members he said that he had come to Orbajosa with a commission to
+explore the basin of the Nahara for coal, and to survey a road, they
+all agreed that Senor Don Jose was a conceited fellow who wished to
+give himself airs, discovering coalbeds and planning railroads. Some one
+added:
+
+"He has come to a bad place for that, then. Those gentlemen imagine that
+here we are all fools, and that they can deceive us with fine words. He
+has come to marry Dona Perfecta's daughter, and all that he says about
+coalbeds is only for the sake of appearances."
+
+"Well, this morning," said another, a merchant who had failed, "they
+told me at the Dominguez' that the gentleman has not a peseta, and that
+he has come here in order to be supported by his aunt and to see if he
+can catch Rosarito."
+
+"It seems that he is no engineer at all," added an olive-planter, whose
+plantations were mortgaged for double their value. "But it is as you
+say: those starvelings from Madrid think they are justified in deceiving
+poor provincials, and as they believe that here we all wear tails--"
+
+"It is plain to be seen that he is penniless--"
+
+"Well, half-jest and the whole earnest, he told us last night that we
+were lazy barbarians."
+
+"That we spent our time sunning ourselves, like the Bedouins."
+
+"That we lived with the imagination."
+
+"That's it; that we lived with the imagination."
+
+"And that this city was precisely like a city in Morocco."
+
+"Well! one has no patience to listen to those things. Where else
+could he see (unless it might be in Paris) a street like the Calle
+del Condestable, that can show seven houses in a row, all of them
+magnificent, from Dona Perfecta's house to that of Nicolasita Hernandez?
+Does that fellow suppose that one has never seen any thing, or has never
+been in Paris?"
+
+"He also said, with a great deal of delicacy, that Orbajosa was a city
+of beggars; and he gave us to understand that in his opinion we live in
+the meanest way here without being ourselves aware of it."
+
+"What insolence! If he ever says that to me, there will be a scene in
+the Casino," exclaimed the collector of taxes. "Why didn't they tell him
+how many arrobas of oil Orbajosa produced last year? Doesn't the fool
+know that in good years Orbajosa produces wheat enough to supply all
+Spain, and even all Europe, with bread? It is true that the crops have
+been bad for several years past, but that is not the rule. And the
+crop of garlic! I wager the gentleman doesn't know that the garlic of
+Orbajosa made the gentleman of the jury in the Exposition of London
+stare!"
+
+These and other conversations of a similar kind were to be heard in the
+rooms of the Casino in those days. Notwithstanding this boastful talk,
+so common in small towns, which, for the very reason that they are
+small, are generally arrogant, Rey was not without finding sincere
+friends among the members of the learned corporation, for they were not
+all gossips, nor were there wanting among them persons of good sense.
+But our hero had the misfortune--if misfortune it can be called--to be
+unusually frank in the manifestation of his feelings, and this awakened
+some antipathy toward him.
+
+Days passed. In addition to the natural disgust which the social customs
+of the episcopal city produced in him, various causes, all of them
+disagreeable, began to develop in his mind a profound sadness, chief
+among these causes being the crowd of litigants that swarmed about him
+like voracious ants. Many others of the neighboring landowners besides
+Uncle Licurgo claimed damages from him, or asked him to render accounts
+for lands managed by his grandfather. A claim was also brought against
+him because of a certain contract of partnership entered into by his
+mother and which, as it appeared, had not been fulfilled; and he was
+required in the same way to acknowledge a mortgage on the estate of
+The Poplars executed in an irregular form by his uncle. Claims swarmed
+around him, multiplying with ant-like rapidity. He had come to the
+determination to renounce the ownership of his lands, but meanwhile his
+dignity required that he should not yield to the wily manoeuvres of the
+artful rustics; and as the town-council brought a claim against him also
+on account of a pretended confusion of the boundary lines of his
+estate with those of an adjoining wood belonging to the town-lands, the
+unfortunate young man found himself at every step obliged to prove his
+rights, which were being continually called in question. His honor
+was engaged, and he had no alternative but to defend his rights to the
+death.
+
+Dona Perfecta had promised in her magnanimity to help him to
+free himself from these disgraceful plots by means of an amicable
+arrangement; but the days passed, and the good offices of the exemplary
+lady had produced no result whatever. The claims multiplied with the
+dangerous swiftness of a violent disease. Pepe Rey passed hour after
+hour at court, making declarations and answering the same questions
+over and over again, and when he returned home tired and angry, there
+appeared before him the sharp features and grotesque face of the notary,
+who had brought him a thick bundle of stamped papers full of horrible
+formulas--that he might be studying the question.
+
+It will be easily understood that Pepe Rey was not a man to endure
+such annoyances when he might escape from them by leaving the town. His
+mother's noble city appeared to his imagination like a horrible monster
+which had fastened its ferocious claws in him and was drinking his
+blood. To free himself from this monster nothing more was necessary, he
+believed, than flight. But a weighty interest--an interest in which his
+heart was concerned--kept him where he was; binding him to the rock of
+his martyrdom with very strong bonds. Nevertheless, he had come to feel
+so dissatisfied with his position; he had come to regard himself as
+so utterly a stranger, so to say, in that gloomy city of lawsuits,
+of old-fashioned customs and ideas, of envy and of slander, that he
+resolved to leave it without further delay, without, however, abandoning
+the project which had brought him to it. One morning, finding a
+favorable occasion, he opened his mind to Dona Perfecta on this point.
+
+"Nephew," responded that lady, with her accustomed gentleness, "don't be
+rash. Why! you are like fire. Your father was just the same--what a man
+he was! You are like a flash--I have already told you that I will be
+very glad to call you my son. Even if you did not possess the good
+qualities and the talents which distinguish you (in spite of some little
+defects, for you have those, too); even if you were not as good as you
+are; it is enough that this union has been proposed by your father, to
+whom both my daughter and myself owe so much, for me to accept it. And
+Rosarito will not oppose it since I wish it. What is wanting, then?
+Nothing; there is nothing wanting but a little time. The marriage cannot
+be concluded with the haste you desire and which might, perhaps,
+give ground for interpretations discreditable to my dear daughter's
+reputation. But as you think of nothing but machines, you want every
+thing done by steam. Wait, man, wait; what hurry are you in? This hatred
+that you have taken to our poor Orbajosa is nothing but a caprice. But
+of course you can only live among counts and marquises and orators and
+diplomats--all you want is to get married and separate me forever from
+my daughter," she added, wiping away a tear. "Since that is the case,
+inconsiderate boy, at least have the charity to delay for a little this
+marriage, for which you are so eager. What impatience! What ardent
+love! I did not suppose that a poor country girl like my daughter could
+inspire so violent a passion."
+
+The arguments of his aunt did not convince Pepe Rey, but he did not
+wish to contradict her. A fresh cause of anxiety was soon added to those
+which already embittered his existence. He had now been in Orbajosa
+for two weeks, and during that time he had received no letter from his
+father. This could not be attributed to carelessness on the part of the
+officials of the post-office of Orbajosa, for the functionary who had
+charge of that service being the friend and _protege_ of Dona Perfecta,
+the latter every day recommended him to take the greatest care that the
+letters addressed to her nephew did not go astray. The letter-carrier,
+named Cristoval Ramos, and nicknamed Caballuco--a personage whose
+acquaintance we have already made--also visited the house, and to him
+Dona Perfecta was accustomed to address warnings and reprimands as
+energetic as the following:
+
+"A pretty mail service you have! How is it that my nephew has not
+received a single letter since he has been in Orbajosa? When the
+carrying of the mail is entrusted to such a giddy-pate, how can things
+be expected to go well? I will speak to the governor of the province so
+that he may be careful what kind of people he puts in the post-office."
+
+Caballuco, shrugging his shoulders, looked at Rey with the most complete
+indifference.
+
+One day he entered the house with a letter in his hand.
+
+"Thank Heaven!" said Dona Perfecta to her nephew. "Here are letters
+from your father. Rejoice, man! A pretty fright we have had through
+my brother's laziness about writing. What does he say? He is well, no
+doubt," she added, seeing that Pepe Rey opened the letter with feverish
+impatience.
+
+The engineer turned pale as he glanced over the first lines.
+
+"Good Heavens! Pepe, what is the matter?" exclaimed Dona Perfecta,
+rising in alarm. "Is your father ill?"
+
+"This letter is not from my father," responded Pepe, revealing in his
+countenance the greatest consternation.
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"An order from the Minister of Public Works, relieving me from the
+charge which was confided to me."
+
+"What! Can it be possible!"
+
+"A dismissal pure and simple, expressed in terms very little flattering
+to me."
+
+"Was there ever any thing so unjust!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, when she
+had recovered from her amazement.
+
+"What a humiliation!" exclaimed the young man. "It is the first time in
+my life that I have received an affront like this."
+
+"But the Government is unpardonable! To put such a slight upon you! Do
+you wish me to write to Madrid? I have very good friends there, and
+I may be able to obtain satisfaction for you from the Government and
+reparation for this brutal affront."
+
+"Thanks, senora, I desire no recommendations," said the young man, with
+ill-humor.
+
+"But what a piece of injustice! what a high-handed proceeding! To
+discharge in this way a young man of your merit, an eminent scientist.
+Why, I cannot contain my anger!"
+
+"I will find out," said Pepe, with energy, "who it is that occupies
+himself in injuring me."
+
+"That minister--but what is to be expected from those infamous
+politicasters?"
+
+"In this there is the hand of some one who is determined to drive me to
+desperation," declared the young man, visibly disturbed. "This is
+not the act of the minister; this and other contrarieties that I am
+experiencing are the result of a revengeful plot, of a secret and
+well-laid plan of some implacable enemy, and this enemy is here in
+Orbajosa, this plot has been hatched in Orbajosa, doubt it not, dear
+aunt."
+
+"You are out of your mind," replied Dona Perfecta, with a look of
+compassion. "You have enemies in Orbajosa, you say? Some one wishes to
+revenge himself upon you? Come, Pepillo, you have lost your senses.
+The reading of those books in which they say that we have for ancestors
+monkeys or parrots has turned your brain."
+
+She smiled sweetly as she uttered the last words, and taking a tone of
+familiar and affectionate admonition, she added:
+
+"My dear boy, the people of Orbajosa may be rude and boorish rustics,
+without learning, or polish, or fine manners; but in loyalty and good
+faith we yield to no one--to no one, I say, no one."
+
+"Don't suppose," said the young man, "that I accuse any one in this
+house. But that my implacable and cruel enemy is in this city, I am
+persuaded."
+
+"I wish you would show me that stage villain," responded Dona Perfecta,
+smiling again. "I suppose you will not accuse Uncle Licurgo, nor any
+of the others who have brought suits against you; for the poor people
+believe they are only defending their rights. And between ourselves,
+they are not altogether wanting in reason in this case. Besides, Uncle
+Licurgo likes you greatly. He has told me so himself. From the moment he
+saw you, you took his fancy, and the poor old man has conceived such an
+affection for you--"
+
+"Oh, yes--a profound affection!" murmured Pepe.
+
+"Don't be foolish," continued his aunt, putting her hand on his shoulder
+and looking at him closely. "Don't imagine absurdities; convince
+yourself that your enemy, if you have one, is in Madrid, in that centre
+of corruption, of envy and rivalry, not in this peaceful and tranquil
+corner, where all is good-will and concord. Some one, no doubt, who is
+envious of your merit----There is one thing I wish to say now--and that
+is, that if you desire to go there to learn the cause of this affront
+and ask an explanation of it from the Government, you must not neglect
+doing so on our account."
+
+Pepe Rey fixed his eyes on his aunt's countenance, as if he wished to
+penetrate with his glance the inmost depths of her soul.
+
+"I say that if you wish to go, do so," repeated Dona Perfecta, with
+admirable serenity, while her countenance expressed the most complete
+and unaffected sincerity.
+
+"No, senora: I do not wish to go."
+
+"So much the better; I think you are right. You are more tranquil here,
+notwithstanding the suspicions with which you are tormenting yourself.
+Poor Pepillo! We poor rustics of Orbajosa live happy in our ignorance. I
+am very sorry that you are not contented here. But is it my fault if you
+vex and worry yourself without a cause? Do I not treat you like a son?
+Have I not received you as the hope of my house? Can I do more for
+you? If in spite of all this you do not like us, if you show so much
+indifference toward us, if you ridicule our piety, if you insult our
+friends, is it by chance because we do not treat you well?"
+
+Dona Perfecta's eyes grew moist.
+
+"My dear aunt," said Pepe, feeling his anger vanish, "I too have
+committed some faults since I have been a guest in this house."
+
+"Don't be foolish. Don't talk about committing faults. Among the persons
+of the same family every thing is forgiven."
+
+"But Rosarito--where is she?" asked the young man, rising. "Am I not to
+see her to-day, either?"
+
+"She is better. Do you know that she did not wish to come down stairs?"
+
+"I will go up to her then."
+
+"No, it would be of no use. That girl has some obstinate notions--to-day
+she is determined not to leave her room. She has locked herself in."
+
+"What a strange idea!"
+
+"She will get over it. Undoubtedly she will get over it. We will see
+to-night if we cannot put these melancholy thoughts out of her head. We
+will get up a party to amuse her. Why don't you go to Don Inocencio's
+and ask him to come here to-night and bring Jacintillo with him?"
+
+"Jacintillo!"
+
+"Yes, when Rosarito has these fits of melancholy, the only one who can
+divert her is that young man."
+
+"But I will go upstairs----"
+
+"No, you must not."
+
+"What etiquette there is in this house!"
+
+"You are ridiculing us. Do as I ask you."
+
+"But I wish to see her."
+
+"But you cannot see her. How little you know the girl!"
+
+"I thought I knew her well. I will stay here, then. But this solitude is
+horrible."
+
+"There comes the notary."
+
+"Maledictions upon him!"
+
+"And I think the attorney-general has just come in too--he is an
+excellent person."
+
+"He be hanged with his goodness!"
+
+"But business affairs, when they are one's own, serve as a distraction.
+Some one is coming. I think it is the agricultural expert. You will have
+something to occupy you now for an hour or two."
+
+"An hour or two of hell!"
+
+"Ah, ha! if I am not mistaken Uncle Licurgo and Uncle Paso Largo have
+just entered. Perhaps they have come to propose a compromise to you."
+
+"I would throw myself into the pond first!"
+
+"How unnatural you are! For they are all very fond of you. Well, so that
+nothing may be wanting, there comes the constable too. He is coming to
+serve a summons on you."
+
+"To crucify me."
+
+All the individuals named were now entering the parlor one by one.
+
+"Good-by, Pepe; amuse yourself," said Dona Perfecta.
+
+"Earth, open and swallow me!" exclaimed the young man desperately.
+
+"Senor Don Jose."
+
+"My dear Don Jose."
+
+"Esteemed Don Jose."
+
+"My dearest Don Jose."
+
+"My respected friend, Don Jose."
+
+Hearing these honeyed and insinuating preliminaries, Pepe Rey exhaled a
+deep sigh and gave himself up. He gave himself up, soul and body, to the
+executioners, who brandished horrible leaves of stamped paper while the
+victim, raising his eyes to heaven with a look of Christian meekness,
+murmured:
+
+"Father, why hast thou forsaken me?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+HERE WAS TROY
+
+Love, friendship, a wholesome moral atmosphere, spiritual light,
+sympathy, an easy interchange of ideas and feelings, these were what
+Pepe Rey's nature imperatively demanded. Deprived of them, the darkness
+that shrouded his soul grew deeper, and his inward gloom imparted a
+tinge of bitterness and discontent to his manner. On the day following
+the scenes described in the last chapter, what vexed him more than any
+thing was the already prolonged and mysterious seclusion of his cousin,
+accounted for at first by a trifling indisposition and then by caprices
+and nervous feelings difficult of explanation.
+
+Rey was surprised by conduct so contrary to the idea which he had formed
+of Rosarito. Four days had passed during which he had not seen her; and
+certainly it was not because he did not desire to be at her side; and
+his situation threatened soon to become humiliating and ridiculous, if,
+by boldly taking the initiative, he did not at once put an end to it.
+
+"Shall I not see my cousin to-day, either?" he said to his aunt, with
+manifest ill-humor, when they had finished dining.
+
+"No, not to-day, either. Heaven knows how sorry I am for it. I gave her
+a good talking to this morning. This afternoon we will see what can be
+done."
+
+The suspicion that in this unreasonable seclusion his adorable cousin
+was rather the helpless victim than the free and willing agent, induced
+him to control himself and to wait. Had it not been for this suspicion
+he would have left Orbajosa that very day. He had no doubt whatever that
+Rosario loved him, but it was evident that some unknown influence was
+at work to separate them, and it seemed to him to be the part of an
+honorable man to discover whence that malign influence proceeded and to
+oppose it, as far as it was in his power to do so.
+
+"I hope that Rosarito's obstinacy will not continue long," he said to
+Dona Perfecta, disguising his real sentiments.
+
+On this day he received a letter from his father in which the latter
+complained of having received none from Orbajosa, a circumstance which
+increased the engineer's disquietude, perplexing him still further.
+Finally, after wandering about alone in the garden for a long time, he
+left the house and went to the Casino. He entered it with the desperate
+air of a man about to throw himself into the sea.
+
+In the principal rooms he found various people talking and discussing
+different subjects. In one group they were solving with subtle logic
+difficult problems relating to bulls; in another, they were discussing
+the relative merits of different breeds of donkeys of Orbajosa and
+Villahorrenda. Bored to the last degree, Pepe Rey turned away from these
+discussions and directed his steps toward the reading-room, where he
+looked through various reviews without finding any distraction in the
+reading, and a little later, passing from room to room, he stopped,
+without knowing why, at the gaming-table. For nearly two hours he
+remained in the clutches of the horrible yellow demon, whose shining
+eyes of gold at once torture and charm. But not even the excitement of
+play had power to lighten the gloom of his soul, and the same tedium
+which had impelled him toward the green cloth sent him away from
+it. Shunning the noise, he found himself in an apartment used as an
+assembly-room, in which at the time there was not a living soul, and
+here he seated himself wearily at a window overlooking the street.
+
+This was very narrow, with more corners and salient angles than houses,
+and was overshaded throughout its whole extent by the imposing mass of
+the cathedral that lifted its dark and time-corroded walls at one end
+of it. Pepe Rey looked up and down and in every direction; no sign
+of life--not a footstep, not a voice, not a glance, disturbed the
+stillness, peaceful as that of a tomb, that reigned everywhere. Suddenly
+strange sounds, like the whispering of feminine voices, fell on his ear,
+and then the rustling of curtains that were being drawn, a few words,
+and finally the humming of a song, the bark of a lap-dog, and other
+signs of social life, which seemed very strange in such a place.
+Observing attentively, Pepe Rey perceived that these noises proceeded
+from an enormous balcony with blinds which displayed its corpulent bulk
+in front of the window at which he was sitting. Before he had concluded
+his observations, a member of the Casino suddenly appeared beside him,
+and accosted him laughingly in this manner:
+
+"Ah, Senor Don Pepe! what a rogue you are! So you have shut yourself in
+here to ogle the girls, eh?"
+
+The speaker was Don Juan Tafetan, a very amiable man, and one of the few
+members of the Casino who had manifested for Pepe Rey cordial friendship
+and genuine admiration. With his red cheeks, his little dyed mustache,
+his restless laughing eyes, his insignificant figure, his hair carefully
+combed to hide his baldness, Don Juan Tafetan was far from being an
+Antinous in appearance, but he was very witty and very agreeable and
+he had a happy gift for telling a good story. He was much given to
+laughter, and when he laughed his face, from his forehead to his chin,
+became one mass of grotesque wrinkles. In spite of these qualities, and
+of the applause which might have stimulated his taste for spicy jokes,
+he was not a scandal-monger. Every one liked him, and Pepe Rey spent
+with him many pleasant hours. Poor Tafetan, formerly an employe in the
+civil department of the government of the capital of the province, now
+lived modestly on his salary as a clerk in the bureau of charities;
+eking out his income by gallantly playing the clarionet in the
+processions, in the solemnities of the cathedral, and in the theatre,
+whenever some desperate company of players made their appearance in
+those parts with the perfidious design of giving representations in
+Orbajosa.
+
+But the most curious thing about Don Juan Tafetan was his liking for
+pretty girls. He himself, in the days when he did not hide his baldness
+with half a dozen hairs plastered down with pomade, when he did not
+dye his mustache, when, in the freedom from care of youthful years, he
+walked with shoulders unstooped and head erect, had been a formidable
+_Tenorio_. To hear him recount his conquests was something to make one
+die laughing; for there are _Tenorios_ and _Tenorios_, and he was one of
+the most original.
+
+"What girls? I don't see any girls," responded Pepe Rey.
+
+"Yes, play the anchorite!"
+
+One of the blinds of the balcony was opened, giving a glimpse of a
+youthful face, lovely and smiling, that disappeared instantly, like a
+light extinguished by the wind.
+
+"Yes, I see now."
+
+"Don't you know them?"
+
+"On my life I do not."
+
+"They are the Troyas--the Troya girls. Then you don't know something
+good. Three lovely girls, the daughters of a colonel of staff, who died
+in the streets of Madrid in '54."
+
+The blind opened again, and two faces appeared.
+
+"They are laughing at me," said Tafetan, making a friendly sign to the
+girls.
+
+"Do you know them?"
+
+"Why, of course I know them. The poor things are in the greatest want.
+I don't know how they manage to live. When Don Francisco Troya died a
+subscription was raised for them, but that did not last very long."
+
+"Poor girls! I imagine they are not models of virtue."
+
+"And why not? I do not believe what they say in the town about them."
+
+Once more the blinds opened.
+
+"Good-afternoon, girls!" cried Don Juan Tafetan to the three girls, who
+appeared, artistically grouped, at the window. "This gentleman says that
+good things ought not to hide themselves, and that you should throw open
+the blinds."
+
+But the blind was closed and a joyous concert of laughter diffused a
+strange gayety through the gloomy street. One might have fancied that a
+flock of birds was passing.
+
+"Shall we go there?" said Tafetan suddenly.
+
+His eyes sparkled and a roguish smile played on his discolored lips.
+
+"But what sort of people are they, then?"
+
+"Don't be afraid, Senor de Rey. The poor things are honest. Bah! Why,
+they live upon air, like the chameleons. Tell me, can any one who
+doesn't eat sin? The poor girls are virtuous enough. And even if they
+did sin, they fast enough to make up for it."
+
+"Let us go, then."
+
+A moment later Don Juan Tafetan and Pepe Rey were entering the parlor of
+the Troyas. The poverty he saw, that struggled desperately to disguise
+itself, afflicted the young man. The three girls were very lovely,
+especially the two younger ones, who were pale and dark, with large
+black eyes and slender figures. Well-dressed and well shod they would
+have seemed the daughters of a duchess, and worthy to ally themselves
+with princes.
+
+When the visitors entered, the three girls were for a moment abashed:
+but very soon their naturally gay and frivolous dispositions became
+apparent. They lived in poverty, as birds live in confinement, singing
+behind iron bars as they would sing in the midst of the abundance of
+the forest. They spent the day sewing, which showed at least honorable
+principles; but no one in Orbajosa, of their own station in life, held
+any intercourse with them. They were, to a certain extent, proscribed,
+looked down upon, avoided, which also showed that there existed some
+cause for scandal. But, to be just, it must be said that the bad
+reputation of the Troyas consisted, more than in any thing else, in
+the name they had of being gossips and mischief-makers, fond of
+playing practical jokes, and bold and free in their manners. They wrote
+anonymous letters to grave personages; they gave nicknames to every
+living being in Orbajosa, from the bishop down to the lowest vagabond;
+they threw pebbles at the passers-by; they hissed behind the window
+bars, in order to amuse themselves with the perplexity and annoyance of
+the startled passer-by; they found out every thing that occurred in the
+neighborhood; to which end they made constant use of every window and
+aperture in the upper part of the house; they sang at night in the
+balcony; they masked themselves during the Carnival, in order to obtain
+entrance into the houses of the highest families; and they played many
+other mischievous pranks peculiar to small towns. But whatever its
+cause, the fact was that on the Troya triumvirate rested one of those
+stigmas that, once affixed on any one by a susceptible community,
+accompanies that person implacably even beyond the tomb.
+
+"This is the gentleman they say has come to discover the gold-mines?"
+said one of the girls.
+
+"And to do away with the cultivation of garlic in Orbajosa to plant
+cotton or cinnamon trees in its stead?"
+
+Pepe could not help laughing at these absurdities.
+
+"All he has come for is to make a collection of pretty girls to take
+back with him to Madrid," said Tafetan.
+
+"Ah! I'll be very glad to go!" cried one.
+
+"I will take the three of you with me," said Pepe. "But I want to know
+one thing; why were you laughing at me when I was at the window of the
+Casino?"
+
+These words were the signal for fresh bursts of laughter.
+
+"These girls are silly things," said the eldest.
+
+"It was because we said you deserved something better than Dona
+Perfecta's daughter."
+
+"It was because this one said that you are only losing your time, for
+Rosarito cares only for people connected with the Church."
+
+"How absurd you are! I said nothing of the kind! It was you who said
+that the gentleman was a Lutheran atheist, and that he enters the
+cathedral smoking and with his hat on."
+
+"Well, I didn't invent it; that is what Suspiritos told me yesterday."
+
+"And who is this Suspiritos who says such absurd things about me?"
+
+"Suspiritos is--Suspiritos."
+
+"Girls," said Tafetan, with smiling countenance, "there goes the
+orange-vender. Call him; I want to invite you to eat oranges."
+
+One of the girls called the orange-vender.
+
+The conversation started by the Troyas displeased Pepe Rey not a little,
+dispelling the slight feeling of contentment which he had experienced
+at finding himself in such gay and communicative company. He could not,
+however, refrain from smiling when he saw Don Juan Tafetan take down
+a guitar and begin to play upon it with all the grace and skill of his
+youthful years.
+
+"I have been told that you sing beautifully," said Rey to the girls.
+
+"Let Don Juan Tafetan sing."
+
+"I don't sing."
+
+"Nor I," said the second of the girls, offering the engineer some pieces
+of the skin of the orange she had just peeled.
+
+"Maria Juana, don't leave your sewing," said the eldest of the Troyas.
+"It is late, and the cassock must be finished to-night."
+
+"There is to be no work to-day. To the devil with the needles!"
+exclaimed Tafetan.
+
+And he began to sing a song.
+
+"The people are stopping in the street," said the second of the girls,
+going out on the balcony. "Don Juan Tafetan's shouts can be heard in the
+Plaza--Juana, Juana!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Suspiritos is walking down the street."
+
+"Throw a piece of orange-peel at her."
+
+Pepe Rey looked out also; he saw a lady walking down the street at whom
+the youngest of the Troyas, taking a skilful aim, threw a large piece
+of orange-peel, which struck her straight on the back of the head. Then
+they hastily closed the blinds, and the three girls tried to stifle
+their laughter so that it might not be heard in the street.
+
+"There is no work to-day," cried one, overturning the sewing-basket with
+the tip of her shoe.
+
+"That is the same as saying, to-morrow there is to be no eating," said
+the eldest, gathering up the sewing implements.
+
+Pepe Rey instinctively put his hand into his pocket. He would gladly
+have given them an alms. The spectacle of these poor orphans, condemned
+by the world because of their frivolity, saddened him beyond measure.
+If the only sin of the Troyas, if the only pleasure which they had
+to compensate them for solitude, poverty, and neglect, was to throw
+orange-peels at the passers-by, they might well be excused for doing
+it. The austere customs of the town in which they lived had perhaps
+preserved them from vice, but the unfortunate girls lacked decorum and
+good-breeding, the common and most visible signs of modesty, and
+it might easily be supposed that they had thrown out of the window
+something more than orange-peels. Pepe Rey felt profound pity for
+them. He noted their shabby dresses, made over, mended, trimmed, and
+retrimmed, to make them look like new; he noted their broken shoes--and
+once more he put his hand in his pocket.
+
+"Vice may reign here," he said to himself, "but the faces, the
+furniture, all show that this is the wreck of a respectable family. If
+these poor girls were as bad as it is said they are, they would not
+live in such poverty and they would not work. In Orbajosa there are rich
+men."
+
+The three girls went back and forward between him and the window,
+keeping up a gay and sprightly conversation, which indicated, it must
+be said, a species of innocence in the midst of all their frivolity and
+unconventionality.
+
+"Senor Don Jose, what an excellent lady Dona Perfecta is!"
+
+"She is the only person in Orbajosa who has no nickname, the only person
+in Orbajosa who is not spoken ill of."
+
+"Every one respects her."
+
+"Every one adores her."
+
+To these utterances the young man responded by praises of his aunt, but
+he had no longer any inclination to take money from his pocket and say,
+"Maria Juana, take this for a pair of boots." "Pepa, take this to buy a
+dress for yourself." "Florentina, take this to provide yourself with a
+week's provisions," as he had been on the point of doing. At a moment
+when the three girls had run out to the balcony to see who was passing,
+Don Juan Tafetan approached Rey and whispered to him:
+
+"How pretty they are! Are they not? Poor things! It seems impossible
+that they should be so gay when it may be positively affirmed that they
+have not dined to-day."
+
+"Don Juan, Don Juan!" cried Pepilla. "Here comes a friend of yours,
+Nicolasito Hernandez, in other words, Cirio Pascual, with this
+three-story hat. He is praying to himself, no doubt, for the souls of
+those whom he has sent to the grave with his extortion."
+
+"I wager that neither of you will dare to call him by his nickname."
+
+"It is a bet."
+
+"Juana, shut the blinds, wait until he passes, and when he is turning
+the corner, I will call out, 'Cirio, Cirio Pascual!'"
+
+Don Juan Tafetan ran out to the balcony.
+
+"Come here, Don Jose, so that you may know this type," he called.
+
+Pepe Rey, availing himself of the moment in which the three girls and
+Don Juan were making merry in the balcony, calling Nicolasito Hernandez
+the nickname which so greatly enraged him, stepped cautiously to one of
+the sewing baskets in the room and placed in it a half ounce which he
+had left after his losses at play.
+
+Then he hurried out to the balcony just as the two youngest cried in the
+midst of wild bursts of laughter, "Cirio, Cirio Pascual!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A CASUS BELLI
+
+After this prank the Troyas commenced a conversation with their visitors
+about the people and the affairs of the town. The engineer, fearing
+that his exploit might be discovered while he was present, wished to go,
+which displeased the Troyas greatly. One of them who had left the room
+now returned, saying:
+
+"Suspiritos is now in the yard; she is hanging out the clothes."
+
+"Don Jose will wish to see her," said another of the girls.
+
+"She is a fine-looking woman. And now she arranges her hair in the
+Madrid fashion. Come, all of you."
+
+They took their visitors to the dining-room--an apartment very little
+used--which opened on a terrace, where there were a few flowers in
+pots and many broken and disused articles of furniture. The terrace
+overlooked the yard of an adjoining house, with a piazza full of green
+vines and plants in pots carefully cultivated. Every thing about it
+showed it to be the abode of neat and industrious people of modest
+means.
+
+The Troyas, approaching the edge of the roof, looked attentively at
+the neighboring house, and then, imposing silence by a gesture on their
+cavaliers, retreated to a part of the terrace from which they could not
+see into the yard, and where there was no danger of their being seen
+from it.
+
+"She is coming out of the kitchen now with a pan of peas," said Maria
+Juana, stretching out her neck to look.
+
+"There goes!" cried another, throwing a pebble into the yard.
+
+The noise of the projectile striking against the glass of the piazza was
+heard, and then an angry voice crying:
+
+"Now they have broken another pane of glass!"
+
+The girls, hidden, close beside the two men, in a corner of the terrace,
+were suffocating with laughter.
+
+"Senora Suspiritos is very angry," said Rey. "Why do they call her by
+that name?"
+
+"Because, when she is talking, she sighs after every word, and although
+she has every thing she wants, she is always complaining."
+
+There was a moment's silence in the house below. Pepita Troya looked
+cautiously down.
+
+"There she comes again," she whispered, once more imposing silence by a
+gesture. "Maria, give me a pebble. Give it here--bang! there it goes!"
+
+"You didn't hit her. It struck the ground."
+
+"Let me see if I can. Let us wait until she comes out of the pantry
+again."
+
+"Now, now she is coming out. Take care, Florentina."
+
+"One, two, three! There it goes!"
+
+A cry of pain was heard from below, a malediction, a masculine
+exclamation, for it was a man who uttered it. Pepe Rey could distinguish
+clearly these words:
+
+"The devil! They have put a hole in my head, the----Jacinto, Jacinto!
+But what an abominable neighborhood this is!"
+
+"Good Heavens! what have I done!" exclaimed Florentina, filled with
+consternation. "I have struck Senor Don Inocencio on the head."
+
+"The Penitentiary?" said Pepe Rey.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Does he live in that house?"
+
+"Why, where else should he live?"
+
+"And the lady of the sighs----"
+
+"Is his niece, his housekeeper, or whatever else she may be. We
+amuse ourselves with her because she is very tiresome, but we are not
+accustomed to play tricks on his reverence, the Penitentiary."
+
+While this dialogue was being rapidly carried on, Pepe Rey saw, in front
+of the terrace and very near him, a window belonging to the bombarded
+house open; he saw a smiling face appear at it--a familiar face--a face
+the sight of which stunned him, terrified him, made him turn pale and
+tremble. It was that of Jacinto, who, interrupted in his grave studies,
+appeared at it with his pen behind his ear. His modest, fresh, and
+smiling countenance, appearing in this way, had an auroral aspect.
+
+"Good-afternoon, Senor Don Jose," he said gayly.
+
+"Jacinto, Jacinto, I say!"
+
+"I am coming. I was saluting a friend."
+
+"Come away, come away!" cried Florentina, in alarm. "The Penitentiary is
+going up to Don Nominative's room and he will give us a blessing."
+
+"Yes, come away; let us close the door of the dining-room."
+
+They rushed pell-mell from the terrace.
+
+"You might have guessed that Jacinto would see you from his temple of
+learning," said Tafetan to the Troyas.
+
+"Don Nominative is our friend," responded one of the girls. "From his
+temple of science he says a great many sweet things to us on the sly,
+and he blows us kisses besides."
+
+"Jacinto?" asked the engineer. "What the deuce is that name you gave
+him?"
+
+"Don Nominative."
+
+The three girls burst out laughing.
+
+"We call him that because he is very learned."
+
+"No, because when we were little he was little too. But, yes, now I
+remember. We used to play on the terrace, and we could hear him studying
+his lessons aloud."
+
+"Yes, and the whole blessed day he used to spend singling."
+
+"Declining, girl! That is what it was. He would go like this:
+'Nominative, rosa, Genitive, Dative, Accusative.'"
+
+"I suppose that I have my nickname too," said Pepe Rey.
+
+"Let Maria Juana tell you what it is," said Florentina, hiding herself.
+
+"I? Tell it to him you, Pepa."
+
+"You haven't any name yet, Don Jose."
+
+"But I shall have one. I promise you that I will come to hear what it is
+and to receive confirmation," said the young man, making a movement to
+go.
+
+"What, are you going?"
+
+"Yes. You have lost time enough already. To work, girls! Throwing stones
+at the neighbors and the passers-by is not the most suitable occupation
+for girls as pretty and as clever as you are. Well, good-by."
+
+And without waiting for further remonstrances, or answering the
+civilities of the girls, he left the house hastily, leaving Don Juan
+Tafetan behind him.
+
+The scene which he had just witnessed, the indignity suffered by the
+canon, the unexpected appearance of the little doctor of laws, added
+still further to the perplexities, the anxieties, and the disagreeable
+presentiments that already disturbed the soul of the unlucky engineer.
+He regretted with his whole soul having entered the house of the Troyas,
+and, resolving to employ his time better while his hypochondriasm
+lasted, he made a tour of inspection through the town.
+
+He visited the market, the Calle de la Triperia, where the principal
+stores were; he observed the various aspects presented by the industry
+and commerce of the great city of Orbajosa, and, finding only new
+motives of weariness, he bent his steps in the direction of the Paseo de
+las Descalzas; but he saw there only a few stray dogs, for, owing to the
+disagreeable wind which prevailed, the usual promenaders had remained
+at home. He went to the apothecary's, where various species of ruminant
+friends of progress, who chewed again and again the cud of the same
+endless theme, were accustomed to meet, but there he was still more
+bored. Finally, as he was passing the cathedral, he heard the strains
+of the organ and the beautiful chanting of the choir. He entered, knelt
+before the high altar, remembering the warnings which his aunt had given
+him about behaving with decorum in church; then visited a chapel, and
+was about to enter another when an acolyte, warden, or beadle approached
+him, and with the rudest manner and in the most discourteous tone said
+to him:
+
+"His lordship says that you are to get out of the church."
+
+The engineer felt the blood rush to his face. He obeyed without a
+word. Turned out everywhere, either by superior authority or by his own
+tedium, he had no resource but to return to his aunt's house, where he
+found waiting for him:
+
+First, Uncle Licurgo, to announce a second lawsuit to him; second, Senor
+Don Cayetano, to read him another passage from his discourse on the
+"Genealogies of Orbajosa"; third, Caballuco, on some business which he
+had not disclosed; fourth, Dona Perfecta and her affectionate smile, for
+what will appear in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE DISCORD CONTINUES TO INCREASE
+
+A fresh attempt to see his cousin that evening failed, and Pepe Rey shut
+himself up in his room to write several letters, his mind preoccupied
+with one thought.
+
+"To-night or to-morrow," he said to himself, "this will end one way or
+another."
+
+When he was called to supper Dona Perfecta, who was already in the
+dining-room, went up to him and said, without preface:
+
+"Dear Pepe, don't distress yourself, I will pacify Senor Don Inocencio.
+I know every thing already. Maria Remedios, who has just left the house,
+has told me all about it."
+
+Dona Perfecta's countenance radiated such satisfaction as an artist,
+proud of his work, might feel.
+
+"About what?"
+
+"Set your mind at rest. I will make an excuse for you. You took a few
+glasses too much in the Casino, that was it, was it not? There you
+have the result of bad company. Don Juan Tafetan, the Troyas! This is
+horrible, frightful. Did you consider well?"
+
+"I considered every thing," responded Pepe, resolved not to enter into
+discussions with his aunt.
+
+"I shall take good care not to write to your father what you have done."
+
+"You may write whatever you please to him."
+
+"You will exculpate yourself by denying the truth of this story, then?"
+
+"I deny nothing."
+
+"You confess then that you were in the house of those----"
+
+"I was."
+
+"And that you gave them a half ounce; for, according to what Maria
+Remedios has told me, Florentina went down to the shop of the
+Extramaduran this afternoon to get a half ounce changed. They could
+not have earned it with their sewing. You were in their house to-day;
+consequently--"
+
+"Consequently I gave it to her. You are perfectly right."
+
+"You do not deny it?"
+
+"Why should I deny it? I suppose I can do whatever I please with my
+money?"
+
+"But you will surely deny that you threw stones at the Penitentiary."
+
+"I do not throw stones."
+
+"I mean that those girls, in your presence--"
+
+"That is another matter."
+
+"And they insulted poor Maria Remedios, too."
+
+"I do not deny that, either."
+
+"And how do you excuse your conduct! Pepe in Heaven's name, have you
+nothing to say? That you are sorry, that you deny--"
+
+"Nothing, absolutely nothing, senora!"
+
+"You don't even give me any satisfaction."
+
+"I have done nothing to offend you."
+
+"Come, the only thing there is left for you to do now is--there, take
+that stick and beat me!"
+
+"I don't beat people."
+
+"What a want of respect! What, don't you intend to eat any supper?"
+
+"I intend to take supper."
+
+For more than a quarter of an hour no one spoke. Don Cayetano, Dona
+Perfecta, and Pepe Rey ate in silence. This was interrupted when Don
+Inocencio entered the dining-room.
+
+"How sorry I was for it, my dear Don Jose! Believe me, I was truly sorry
+for it," he said, pressing the young man's hand and regarding him with a
+look of compassion.
+
+The engineer was so perplexed for a moment that he did not know what to
+answer.
+
+"I refer to the occurrence of this afternoon."
+
+"Ah, yes!"
+
+"To your expulsion from the sacred precincts of the cathedral."
+
+"The bishop should consider well," said Pepe Rey, "before he turns a
+Christian out of the church."
+
+"That is very true. I don't know who can have put it into his lordship's
+head that you are a man of very bad habits; I don't know who has told
+him that you make a boast of your atheism everywhere; that you ridicule
+sacred things and persons, and even that you are planning to pull down
+the cathedral to build a large tar factory with the stones. I tried my
+best to dissuade him, but his lordship is a little obstinate."
+
+"Thanks for so much kindness."
+
+"And it is not because the Penitentiary has any reason to show you these
+considerations. A little more, and they would have left him stretched on
+the ground this afternoon."
+
+"Bah!" said the ecclesiastic, laughing. "But have you heard of that
+little prank already? I wager Maria Remedios came with the story. And I
+forbade her to do it--I forbade her positively. The thing in itself is
+of no consequence, am I not right, Senor de Rey?"
+
+"Since you think so----"
+
+"That is what I think. Young people's pranks! Youth, let the moderns
+say what they will, is inclined to vice and to vicious actions. Senor
+de Rey, who is a person of great endowments, could not be altogether
+perfect--why should it be wondered at that those pretty girls should
+have captivated him, and, after getting his money out of him, should
+have made him the accomplice of their shameless and criminal insults to
+their neighbors? My dear friend, for the painful part that I had in this
+afternoon's sport," he added, raising his hand to the wounded spot,
+"I am not offended, nor will I distress you by even referring to so
+disagreeable an incident. I am truly sorry to hear that Maria Remedios
+came here to tell all about it. My niece is so fond of gossiping! I
+wager she told too about the half ounce, and your romping with the girls
+on the terrace, and your chasing one another about, and the pinches and
+the capers of Don Juan Tafetan. Bah! those things ought not to be told."
+
+Pepe Rey did not know which annoyed him most--his aunt's severity or the
+hypocritical condescension of the canon.
+
+"Why should they not be told?" said Dona Perfecta. "He does not seem
+ashamed of his conduct himself. I assure you all that I keep this from
+my dear daughter only because, in her nervous condition, a fit of anger
+might be dangerous to her."
+
+"Come, it is not so serious as all that, senora," said the Penitentiary.
+"I think the matter should not be again referred to, and when the one
+who was stoned says that, the rest may surely be satisfied. And the blow
+was no joke, Senor Don Jose. I thought they had split my head open and
+that my brains were oozing out."
+
+"I am truly sorry for the occurrence!" stammered Pepe Rey. "It gives me
+real pain, although I had no part in it--"
+
+"Your visit to those Senoras Troyas will be talked about all over
+the town," said the canon. "We are not in Madrid, in that centre of
+corruption, of scandal--"
+
+"There you can visit the vilest places without any one knowing it," said
+Dona Perfecta.
+
+"Here we are very observant of one another," continued Don Inocencio.
+"We take notice of everything our neighbors do, and with such a system
+of vigilance public morals are maintained at a proper height. Believe
+me, my friend, believe me,--and I do not say this to mortify you,--you
+are the first gentleman of your position who, in the light of day--the
+first, yes, senor--_Trojoe qui primus ab oris_."
+
+And bursting into a laugh, he clapped the engineer on the back in token
+of amity and good-will.
+
+"How grateful I ought to be," said the young man, concealing his anger
+under the sarcastic words which he thought the most suitable to answer
+the covert irony of his interlocutors, "to meet with so much generosity
+and tolerance, when my criminal conduct would deserve--"
+
+"What! Is a person of one's own blood, one who bears one's name," said
+Dona Perfecta, "to be treated like a stranger? You are my nephew, you
+are the son of the best and the most virtuous of men, of my dear brother
+Juan, and that is sufficient. Yesterday afternoon the secretary of the
+bishop came here to tell me that his lordship is greatly displeased
+because I have you in my house."
+
+"And that too?" murmured the canon.
+
+"And that too. I said that in spite of the respect which I owe the
+bishop, and the affection and reverence which I bear him, my nephew is
+my nephew, and I cannot turn him out of my house."
+
+"This is another singularity which I find in this place," said Pepe Rey,
+pale with anger. "Here, apparently, the bishop governs other people's
+houses."
+
+"He is a saint. He is so fond of me that he imagines--he imagines that
+you are going to contaminate us with your atheism, your disregard for
+public opinion, your strange ideas. I have told him repeatedly that, at
+bottom, you are an excellent young man."
+
+"Some concession must always be made to superior talent," observed Don
+Inocencio.
+
+"And this morning, when I was at the Cirujedas'--oh, you cannot imagine
+in what a state they had my head! Was it true that you had come to
+pull down the cathedral; that you were commissioned by the English
+Protestants to go preaching heresy throughout Spain; that you spent the
+whole night gambling in the Casino; that you were drunk in the streets?
+'But, senoras,' I said to them, 'would you have me send my nephew to
+the hotel?' Besides, they are wrong about the drunkenness, and as for
+gambling--I have never yet heard that you gambled."
+
+Pepe Rey found himself in that state of mind in which the calmest man is
+seized by a sudden rage, by a blind and brutal impulse to strangle some
+one, to strike some one in the face, to break some one's head, to crush
+some one's bones. But Dona Perfecta was a woman and was, besides, his
+aunt; and Don Inocencio was an old man and an ecclesiastic. In addition
+to this, physical violence is in bad taste and unbecoming a person of
+education and a Christian. There remained the resource of giving vent
+to his suppressed wrath in dignified and polite language; but this last
+resource seemed to him premature, and only to be employed at the moment
+of his final departure from the house and from Orbajosa. Controlling his
+fury, then, he waited.
+
+Jacinto entered as they were finishing supper.
+
+"Good-evening, Senor Don Jose," he said, pressing the young man's hand.
+"You and your friends kept me from working this afternoon. I was not
+able to write a line. And I had so much to do!"
+
+"I am very sorry for it, Jacinto. But according to what they tell me,
+you accompany them sometimes in their frolics."
+
+"I!" exclaimed the boy, turning scarlet. "Why, you know very well that
+Tafetan never speaks a word of truth. But is it true, Senor de Rey, that
+you are going away?"
+
+"Is that the report in the town?"
+
+"Yes. I heard it in the Casino and at Don Lorenzo Ruiz's."
+
+Rey contemplated in silence for a few moments the fresh face of Don
+Nominative. Then he said:
+
+"Well, it is not true; my aunt is very well satisfied with me; she
+despises the calumnies with which the Orbajosans are favoring me--and
+she will not turn me out of her house, even though the bishop himself
+should try to make her do so."
+
+"As for turning you out of the house--never. What would your father
+say?"
+
+"Notwithstanding all your kindness, dearest aunt, notwithstanding the
+cordial friendship of the reverend canon, it is possible that I may
+myself decide to go away."
+
+"To go away!"
+
+"To go away--you!"
+
+A strange light shone in Dona Perfecta's eyes. The canon, experienced
+though he was in dissimulation, could not conceal his joy.
+
+"Yes, and perhaps this very night."
+
+"Why, man, how impetuous you are; Why don't you at least wait until
+morning? Here--Juan, let some one go for Uncle Licurgo to get the nag
+ready. I suppose you will take some luncheon with you. Nicolasa, that
+piece of veal that is on the sideboard! Librada, the senorito's linen."
+
+"No, I cannot believe that you would take so rash a resolution,"
+said Don Cayetano, thinking himself obliged to take some part in the
+question.
+
+"But you will come back, will you not?" asked the canon.
+
+"At what time does the morning train pass?" asked Dona Perfecta, in
+whose eyes was clearly discernible the feverish impatience of her
+exaltation.
+
+"I am going away to-night."
+
+"But there is no moon."
+
+In the soul of Dona Perfecta, in the soul of the Penitentiary, in the
+little doctor's youthful soul echoed like a celestial harmony the word,
+"To-night!"
+
+"Of course, dear Pepe, you will come back. I wrote to-day to your
+father, your excellent father," exclaimed Dona Perfecta, with all the
+physiognomic signs that make their appearance when a tear is about to be
+shed.
+
+"I will trouble you with a few commissions," said the savant.
+
+"A good opportunity to order the volume that is wanting in my copy of
+the Abbe Gaume's work," said the youthful lawyer.
+
+"You take such sudden notions, Pepe; you are so full of caprices,"
+murmured Dona Perfecta, smiling, with her eyes fixed on the door of
+the dining-room. "But I forgot to tell you that Caballuco is waiting to
+speak to you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+DISCORD CONTINUES TO GROW UNTIL WAR IS DECLARED
+
+Every one looked toward the door, at which appeared the imposing figure
+of the Centaur, serious-looking and frowning; embarrassed by his anxiety
+to salute the company politely; savagely handsome, but disfigured by the
+violence which he did himself in smiling civilly and treading softly and
+holding his herculean arms in a correct posture.
+
+"Come in, Senor Ramos," said Pepe Rey.
+
+"No, no!" objected Dona Perfecta. "What he has to say to you is an
+absurdity."
+
+"Let him say it."
+
+"I ought not to allow such ridiculous questions to be discussed in my
+house."
+
+"What is Senor Ramos' business with me?"
+
+Caballuco uttered a few words.
+
+"Enough, enough!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta. "Don't trouble my nephew any
+more. Pepe, don't mind this simpleton. Do you wish me to tell you the
+cause of the great Caballuco's anger?" she said, turning to the others.
+
+"Anger? I think I can imagine," said the Penitentiary, leaning back in
+his chair and laughing with boisterous hilarity.
+
+"I wanted to say to Senor Don Jose--" growled the formidable horseman.
+
+"Hold your tongue, man, for Heaven's sake! And don't tire us any more
+with that nonsense."
+
+"Senor Caballuco," said the canon, "it is not to be wondered at that
+gentlemen from the capital should cut out the rough riders of this
+savage country."
+
+"In two words, Pepe, the question is this: Caballuco is--"
+
+She could not go on for laughing.
+
+"Is--I don't know just what," said Don Inocencio, "of one of the Troya
+girls, of Mariquita Juana, if I am not mistaken."
+
+"And he is jealous! After his horse, the first thing in creation for him
+is Mariquilla Troya."
+
+"A pretty insinuation that!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta. "Poor Cristobal!
+Did you suppose that a person like my nephew--let us hear, what were you
+going to say to him? Speak."
+
+"Senor Don Jose and I will talk together presently," responded the bravo
+of the town brusquely.
+
+And without another word he left the room.
+
+Shortly afterward Pepe Rey left the dining-room to retire to his
+own room. In the hall he found himself face to face with his Trojan
+antagonist, and he could not repress a smile at the sight of the fierce
+and gloomy countenance of the offended lover.
+
+"A word with you," said the latter, planting himself insolently in front
+of the engineer. "Do you know who I am?"
+
+As he spoke he laid his heavy hand on the young man's shoulder with
+such insolent familiarity that the latter, incensed, flung him off with
+violence, saying:
+
+"It is not necessary to crush one to say that."
+
+The bravo, somewhat disconcerted, recovered himself in a moment, and
+looking at Rey with provoking boldness, repeated his refrain:
+
+"Do you know who I am?"
+
+"Yes; I know now that you are a brute."
+
+He pushed the bully roughly aside and went into his room. As traced on
+the excited brain of our unfortunate friend at this moment, his plan of
+action might be summed up briefly and definitely as follows: To break
+Caballuco's head without loss of time; then to take leave of his aunt in
+severe but polite words which should reach her soul; to bid a cold adieu
+to the canon and give an embrace to the inoffensive Don Cayetano;
+to administer a thrashing to Uncle Licurgo, by way of winding up the
+entertainment, and leave Orbajosa that very night, shaking the dust from
+his shoes at the city gates.
+
+But in the midst of all these mortifications and persecutions the
+unfortunate young man had not ceased to think of another unhappy being,
+whom he believed to be in a situation even more painful and distressing
+than his own. One of the maid-servants followed the engineer into his
+room.
+
+"Did you give her my message?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, senor, and she gave me this."
+
+Rey took from the girl's hand a fragment of a newspaper, on the margin
+of which he read these words:
+
+"They say you are going away. I shall die if you do."
+
+When he returned to the dining-room Uncle Licurgo looked in at the door
+and asked:
+
+"At what hour do you want the horse?"
+
+"At no hour," answered Rey quickly.
+
+"Then you are not going to-night?" said Dona Perfecta. "Well, it is
+better to wait until to-morrow."
+
+"I am not going to-morrow, either."
+
+"When are you going, then?"
+
+"We will see presently," said the young man coldly, looking at his aunt
+with imperturbable calmness. "For the present I do not intend to go
+away."
+
+His eyes flashed forth a fierce challenge.
+
+Dona Perfecta turned first red, then pale. She looked at the canon, who
+had taken off his gold spectacles to wipe them, and then fixed her
+eyes successively on each of the other persons in the room, including
+Caballuco, who, entering shortly before, had seated himself on the
+edge of a chair. Dona Perfecta looked at them as a general looks at
+his trusty body-guard. Then she studied the thoughtful and serene
+countenance of her nephew--of that enemy, who, by a strategic movement,
+suddenly reappeared before her when she believed him to be in shameful
+flight.
+
+Alas! Bloodshed, ruin, and desolation! A great battle was about to be
+fought.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+NIGHT
+
+Orbajosa slept. The melancholy street-lamps were shedding their last
+gleams at street-corners and in by-ways, like tired eyes struggling in
+vain against sleep. By their dim light, wrapped in their cloaks, glided
+past like shadows, vagabonds, watchmen, and gamblers. Only the hoarse
+shout of the drunkard or the song of the serenader broke the peaceful
+silence of the historic city. Suddenly the "Ave Maria Purisima" of some
+drunken watchman would be heard, like a moan uttered in its sleep by the
+town.
+
+In Dona Perfecta's house also silence reigned, unbroken but for a
+conversation which was taking place between Don Cayetano and Pepe Rey,
+in the library of the former. The savant was seated comfortably in
+the arm-chair beside his study table, which was covered with papers
+of various kinds containing notes, annotations, and references, all
+arranged in the most perfect order. Rey's eyes were fixed on the heap of
+papers, but his thoughts were doubtless far away from this accumulated
+learning.
+
+"Perfecta," said the antiquary, "although she is an excellent woman, has
+the defect of allowing herself to be shocked by any little act of folly.
+In these provincial towns, my dear friend, the slightest slip is dearly
+paid for. I see nothing particular in your having gone to the Troyas'
+house. I fancy that Don Inocencio, under his cloak of piety, is
+something of a mischief-maker. What has he to do with the matter?"
+
+"We have reached a point, Senor Don Cayetano, in which it is necessary
+to take a decisive resolution. I must see Rosario and speak with her."
+
+"See her, then!"
+
+"But they will not let me," answered the engineer, striking the table
+with his clenched hand. "Rosario is kept a prisoner."
+
+"A prisoner!" repeated the savant incredulously. "The truth is that I do
+not like her looks or her hair, and still less the vacant expression
+in her beautiful eyes. She is melancholy, she talks little, she
+weeps--friend Don Jose, I greatly fear that the girl may be attacked by
+the terrible malady to which so many of the members of my family have
+fallen victims."
+
+"A terrible malady! What is it?"
+
+"Madness--or rather mania. Not a single member of my family has been
+free from it. I alone have escaped it."
+
+"You! But leaving aside the question of madness," said Rey, with
+impatience, "I wish to see Rosario."
+
+"Nothing more natural. But the isolation in which her mother keeps
+her is a hygienic measure, dear Pepe, and the only one that has been
+successfully employed with the various members of my family. Consider
+that the person whose presence and voice would make the strongest
+impression on Rosarillo's delicate nervous system is the chosen of her
+heart."
+
+"In spite of all that," insisted Pepe, "I wish to see her."
+
+"Perhaps Perfecta will not oppose your doing so," said the savant,
+giving his attention to his notes and papers. "I don't want to take any
+responsibility in the matter."
+
+The engineer, seeing that he could obtain nothing from the good
+Polentinos, rose to retire.
+
+"You are going to work," he said, "and I will not trouble you any
+longer."
+
+"No, there is time enough. See the amount of precious information that
+I collected to-day. Listen: 'In 1537 a native of Orbajosa, called
+Bartolome del Hoyo, went to Civita-Vecchia in one of the galleys of
+the Marquis of Castel Rodrigo.' Another: 'In the same year two brothers
+named Juan and Rodrigo Gonzalez del Arco embarked in one of the six
+ships which sailed from Maestricht on the 20th of February, and which
+encountered in the latitude of Calais an English vessel and the Flemish
+fleet commanded by Van Owen.' That was truly an important exploit of
+our navy. I have discovered that it was an Orbajosan, one Mateo Diaz
+Coronel, an ensign in the guards, who, in 1709, wrote and published
+in Valencia the 'Metrical Encomium, Funeral Chant, Lyrical Eulogy,
+Numerical Description, Glorious Sufferings, and Sorrowful Glories of the
+Queen of the Angels.' I possess a most precious copy of this work, which
+is worth the mines of Peru. Another Orbajosan was the author of that
+famous 'Treatise on the Various Styles of Horsemanship' which I
+showed you yesterday; and, in short, there is not a step I take in the
+labyrinth of unpublished history that I do not stumble against some
+illustrious compatriot. It is my purpose to draw all these names out of
+the unjust obscurity and oblivion in which they have so long lain. How
+pure a joy, dear Pepe, to restore all their lustre to the glories, epic
+and literary, of one's native place! And how could a man better employ
+the scant intellect with which Heaven has endowed him, the fortune which
+he has inherited, and the brief period of time on earth allowed to even
+the longest life. Thanks to me it will be seen that Orbajosa is the
+illustrious cradle of Spanish genius. But what do I say? Is not its
+illustrious ancestry evident in the nobleness and high-mindedness of
+the present Urbs Augustan generation? We know few places where all the
+virtues, unchoked by the malefic weeds of vice, grow more luxuriantly.
+Here all is peace, mutual respect, Christian humility. Charity is
+practised here as it was in Biblical times; here envy is unknown; here
+the criminal passions are unknown, and if you hear thieves and murderers
+spoken of, you may be sure that they are not the children of this
+noble soil; or, that if they are, they belong to the number of unhappy
+creatures perverted by the teachings of demagogues. Here you will see
+the national character in all its purity--upright, noble, incorruptible,
+pure, simple, patriarchal, hospitable, generous. Therefore it is that
+I live so happy in this solitude far from the turmoil of cities where,
+alas! falsehood and vice reign. Therefore it is that the many friends
+whom I have in Madrid have not been able to tempt me from this place;
+therefore it is that I spend my life in the sweet companionship of my
+faithful townspeople and my books, breathing the wholesome atmosphere of
+integrity, which is gradually becoming circumscribed in our Spain to the
+humble and Christian towns that have preserved it with the emanations of
+their virtues. And believe me, my dear Pepe, this peaceful isolation has
+greatly contributed to preserve me from the terrible malady connatural
+in my family. In my youth I suffered, like my brothers and my father,
+from a lamentable propensity to the most absurd manias; but here you
+have me so miraculously cured that all I know of the malady is what I
+see of it in others. And it is for that reason that I am so uneasy about
+my little niece."
+
+"I am rejoiced that the air of Orbajosa has proved so beneficial to
+you," said Rey, unable to resist the jesting mood that, by a strange
+contradiction, came over him in the midst of his sadness. "With me it
+has agreed so badly that I think I shall soon become mad if I remain in
+it. Well, good-night, and success to your labors."
+
+"Good-night."
+
+Pepe went to his room, but feeling neither a desire for sleep or the
+need of physical repose,--on the contrary, a violent excitation of mind
+which impelled him to move, to act,--he walked up and down the room,
+torturing himself with useless cavilling. After a time he opened the
+window which overlooked the garden and, leaning his elbows on the
+parapet, he gazed out on the limitless darkness of the night. Nothing
+could be seen, but he who is absorbed in his own thoughts sees with the
+mental vision, and Pepe Rey, his eyes fixed on the darkness, saw the
+varied panorama of his misfortunes unroll itself upon it before him. The
+obscurity did not permit him to see the flowers of the earth, nor those
+of the heavens, which are the stars. The very absence of light produced
+the effect of an illusory movement in the masses of foliage, which
+seemed to stretch away, to recede slowly, and come curling back like the
+waves of a shadowy sea. A vast flux and reflux, a strife between forces
+vaguely comprehended, agitated the silent sky. The mathematician,
+contemplating this strange projection of his soul upon the night, said
+to himself:
+
+"The battle will be terrible. Let us see who will come out of it
+victorious."
+
+The nocturnal insects whispered in his ear mysterious words. Here
+a shrill chirp; there a click, like the click made with the tongue;
+further on, plaintive murmurs; in the distance a tinkle like that of
+the bell on the neck of the wandering ox. Suddenly Rey heard a strange
+sound, a rapid note, that could be produced only by the human tongue and
+lips. This sibilant breathing passed through the young man's brain like
+a flash of lightning. He felt that swift "s-s-s" dart snake-like through
+him, repeated again and then again, with augmented intensity. He looked
+all around, then he looked toward the upper part of the house, and he
+fancied that in one of the windows he could distinguish an object like
+a white bird flapping its wings. Through Pepe Rey's excited mind flashed
+instantly the idea of the phoenix, of the dove, of the regal heron, and
+yet the bird he saw was noting more than a handkerchief.
+
+The engineer sprang from the balcony into the garden. Observing
+attentively, he saw the hand and the face of his cousin. He thought
+he could perceive the gesture commonly employed of imposing silence by
+laying the finger on the lips. Then the dear shade pointed downward and
+disappeared. Pepe Rey returned quickly to this room, entered the hall
+noiselessly, and walked slowly forward. He felt his heart beat with
+violence. He waited for a few moments, and at last he heard distinctly
+light taps on the steps of the stairs. One, two, three--the sounds were
+produced by a pair of little shoes.
+
+He walked in the direction whence they proceeded, and stretched out
+his hands in the obscurity to assist the person who was descending the
+stairs. In his soul there reigned an exalted and profound tenderness,
+but--why seek to deny it--mingling with this tender feeling, there
+suddenly arose within him, like an infernal inspiration, another
+sentiment, a fierce desire for revenge. The steps continued to descend,
+coming nearer and nearer. Pepe Rey went forward, and a pair of hands,
+groping in the darkness, came in contact with his own. The two pairs of
+hands were united in a close clasp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
+
+The hall was long and broad. At one end of it was the door of the room
+occupied by the engineer, in the centre that of the dining-room, and at
+the other end were the staircase and a large closed door reached by a
+step. This door opened into a chapel in which the Polentinos performed
+their domestic devotions. Occasionally the holy sacrifice of the mass
+was celebrated in it.
+
+Rosario led her cousin to the door of the chapel and then sank down on
+the doorstep.
+
+"Here?" murmured Pepe Rey.
+
+From the movements of Rosarito's right hand he comprehended that she was
+blessing herself.
+
+"Rosario, dear cousin, thanks for allowing me to see you!" he exclaimed,
+embracing her ardently.
+
+He felt the girl's cold fingers on his lips, imposing silence. He kissed
+them rapturously.
+
+"You are frozen. Rosario, why do you tremble so?"
+
+Her teeth were chattering, and her whole frame trembled convulsively.
+Rey felt the burning heat of his cousin's face against his own, and he
+cried in alarm:
+
+"Your forehead is burning! You are feverish."
+
+"Very."
+
+"Are you really ill?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you have left your room----"
+
+"To see you."
+
+The engineer wrapped his arms around her to protect her from the cold,
+but it was not enough.
+
+"Wait," he said quickly, rising. "I am going to my room to bring my
+travelling rug."
+
+"Put out the light, Pepe."
+
+Rey had left the lamp burning in his room, through the door of which
+issued a faint streak of light, illuminating the hall. He returned in an
+instant. The darkness was now profound. Groping his way along the wall
+he reached the spot where his cousin was sitting, and wrapped the rug
+carefully around her.
+
+"You are comfortable now, my child."
+
+"Yes, so comfortable! With you!"
+
+"With me--and forever!" exclaimed the young man, with exaltation.
+
+But he observed that she was releasing herself from his arms and was
+rising.
+
+"What are you doing?"
+
+A metallic sound was heard. Rosario had put the key into the invisible
+lock and was cautiously opening the door on the threshold of which they
+had been sitting. The faint odor of dampness, peculiar to rooms that
+have been long shut up, issued from the place, which was as dark as a
+tomb. Pepe Rey felt himself being guided by the hand, and his cousin's
+voice said faintly:
+
+"Enter!"
+
+They took a few steps forward. He imagined himself being led to an
+unknown Elysium by the angel of night. Rosario groped her way. At last
+her sweet voice sounded again, murmuring:
+
+"Sit down."
+
+They were beside a wooden bench. Both sat down. Pepe Rey embraced
+Rosario again. As he did so, his head struck against a hard body.
+
+"What is this?" he asked.
+
+"The feet."
+
+"Rosario--what are you saying?"
+
+"The feet of the Divine Jesus, of the image of Christ crucified, that we
+adore in my house."
+
+Pepe Rey felt a cold chill strike through him.
+
+"Kiss them," said the young girl imperiously.
+
+The mathematician kissed the cold feet of the holy image.
+
+"Pepe," then cried the young girl, pressing her cousin's hand ardently
+between her own, "do you believe in God?"
+
+"Rosario! What are you saying? What absurdities are you imagining?"
+responded her cousin, perplexed.
+
+"Answer me."
+
+Pepe Rey felt drops of moisture on his hands.
+
+"Why are you crying?" he said, greatly disturbed. "Rosario, you are
+killing me with your absurd doubts. Do I believe in God? Do you doubt
+it?"
+
+"I do not doubt it; but they all say that you are an atheist."
+
+"You would suffer in my estimation, you would lose your aureole of
+purity--your charm--if you gave credit to such nonsense."
+
+"When I heard them accuse you of being an atheist, although I could
+bring no proof to the contrary, I protested from the depths of my soul
+against such a calumny. You cannot be an atheist. I have within me as
+strong and deep a conviction of your faith as of my own."
+
+"How wisely you speak! Why, then, do you ask me if I believe in God?"
+
+"Because I wanted to hear it from your own lips, and rejoice in hearing
+you say it. It is so long since I have heard the sound of your voice!
+What greater happiness than to hear it again, saying: 'I believe in
+God?'"
+
+"Rosario, even the wicked believe in him. If there be atheists, which I
+doubt, they are the calumniators, the intriguers with whom the world is
+infested. For my part, intrigues and calumnies matter little to me; and
+if you rise superior to them and close your heart against the discord
+which a perfidious hand would sow in it, nothing shall interfere with
+our happiness."
+
+"But what is going on around us? Pepe, dear Pepe, do you believe in the
+devil?"
+
+The engineer was silent. The darkness of the chapel prevented Rosario
+from seeing the smile with which her cousin received this strange
+question.
+
+"We must believe in him," he said at last.
+
+"What is going on? Mamma forbids me to see you; but, except in regard
+to the atheism, she does not say any thing against you. She tells me to
+wait, that you will decide; that you are going away, that you are coming
+back----Speak to me with frankness--have you formed a bad opinion of my
+mother?"
+
+"Not at all," replied Rey, urged by a feeling of delicacy.
+
+"Do you not believe, as I do, that she loves us both, that she desires
+only our good, and that we shall in the end obtain her consent to our
+wishes?"
+
+"If you believe it, I do too. Your mama adores us both. But, dear
+Rosario, it must be confessed that the devil has entered this house."
+
+"Don't jest!" she said affectionately. "Ah! Mamma is very good. She has
+not once said to me that you were unworthy to be my husband. All she
+insists upon is the atheism. They say, besides, that I have manias, and
+that I have the mania now of loving you with all my soul. In our family
+it is a rule not to oppose directly the manias that are hereditary in
+it, because to oppose them aggravates them."
+
+"Well, I believe that there are skilful physicians at your side who
+have determined to cure you, and who will, in the end, my adored girl,
+succeed in doing so."
+
+"No, no; a thousand times no!" exclaimed Rosario, leaning her forehead
+on her lover's breast. "I am willing to be mad if I am with you. For
+you I am suffering, for you I am ill; for you I despise life and I risk
+death. I know it now--to-morrow I shall be worse, I shall be dangerously
+ill, I shall die. What does it matter to me?"
+
+"You are not ill," he responded, with energy; "there is nothing the
+matter with you but an agitation of mind which naturally brings with it
+some slight nervous disturbances; there is nothing the matter with you
+but the suffering occasioned by the horrible coercion which they are
+using with you. Your simple and generous soul does not comprehend it.
+You yield; you forgive those who injure you; you torment yourself,
+attributing your suffering to baleful, supernatural influences; you
+suffer in silence; you give your innocent neck to the executioner, you
+allow yourself to be slain, and the very knife which is plunged into
+your breast seems to you the thorn of a flower that has pierced you in
+passing. Rosario, cast those ideas from your mind; consider our real
+situation, which is serious; seek its cause where it really is, and
+do not give way to your fears; do not yield to the tortures which are
+inflicted upon you, making yourself mentally and physically ill. The
+courage which you lack would restore you to health, because you are not
+really ill, my dear girl, you are--do you wish me to say it?--you are
+frightened, terrified. You are under what the ancients, not knowing how
+to express it, called an evil spell. Courage, Rosario, trust in me! Rise
+and follow me. That is all I will say."
+
+"Ah, Pepe--cousin! I believe that you are right," exclaimed Rosario,
+drowned in tears. "Your words resound within my heart, arousing in it
+new energy, new life. Here in this darkness, where we cannot see each
+other's faces, an ineffable light emanates from you and inundates my
+soul. What power have you to transform me in this way? The moment I
+saw you I became another being. In the days when I did not see you I
+returned to my former insignificance, my natural cowardice. Without you,
+my Pepe, I live in Limbo. I will do as you tell me, I will arise and
+follow you. We will go together wherever you wish. Do you know that I
+feel well? Do you know that I have no fever: that I have recovered my
+strength; that I want to run about and cry out; that my whole being is
+renewed and enlarged, and multiplied a hundred-fold in order to adore
+you? Pepe, you are right. I am not sick, I am only afraid; or rather,
+bewitched."
+
+"That is it, bewitched."
+
+"Bewitched! Terrible eyes look at me, and I remain mute and trembling.
+I am afraid, but of what? You alone have the strange power of calling me
+back to life. Hearing you, I live again. I believe if I were to die and
+you were to pass by my grave, that deep under the ground I should feel
+your footsteps. Oh, if I could see you now! But you are here beside me,
+and I cannot doubt that it is you. So many days without seeing you! I
+was mad. Each day of solitude appeared to me a century. They said to
+me, to-morrow and to-morrow, and always to-morrow. I looked out of
+the window at night, and the light of the lamp in your room served
+to console me. At times your shadow on the window was for me a divine
+apparition. I stretched out my arms to you, I shed tears and cried out
+inwardly, without daring to do so with my voice. When I received the
+message you sent me with the maid, when I received your letter telling
+me that you were going away, I grew very sad, I thought my soul was
+leaving my body and that I was dying slowly. I fell, like the bird
+wounded as it flies, that falls and, falling, dies. To-night, when I
+saw that you were awake so late, I could not resist the longing I had to
+speak to you; and I came down stairs. I believe that all the courage of
+my life has been used up in this single act, and that now I can never
+be any thing again but a coward. But you will give me courage; you will
+give me strength; you will help me, will you not? Pepe, my dear cousin,
+tell me that you will; tell me that I am strong, and I will be strong;
+tell me that I am not ill, and I will not be ill. I am not ill now. I
+feel so well that I could laugh at my ridiculous maladies."
+
+As she said this she felt herself clasped rapturously in her cousin's
+arms. An "Oh!" was heard, but it came, not from her lips, but from his,
+for in bending his head, he had struck it violently against the feet of
+the crucifix. In the darkness it is that the stars are seen.
+
+In the exalted state of his mind, by a species of hallucination natural
+in the darkness, it seemed to Pepe Rey not that his head had struck
+against the sacred foot, but that this had moved, warning him in the
+briefest and most eloquent manner. Raising his head he said, half
+seriously, half gayly:
+
+"Lord, do not strike me; I will do nothing wrong."
+
+At the same moment Rosario took the young man's hand and pressed it
+against her heart. A voice was heard, a pure, grave, angelic voice, full
+of feeling, saying:
+
+"Lord whom I adore, Lord God of the world, and guardian of my house and
+of my family; Lord whom Pepe also adores; holy and blessed Christ who
+died on the cross for our sins; before thee, before thy wounded body,
+before thy forehead crowned with thorns, I say that this man is my
+husband, and that, after thee, he is the being whom my heart loves most;
+I say that I declare him to be my husband, and that I will die before
+I belong to another. My heart and my soul are his. Let not the world
+oppose our happiness, and grant me the favor of this union, which I
+swear to be true and good before the world, as it is in my conscience."
+
+"Rosario, you are mine!" exclaimed Pepe Rey, with exaltation. "Neither
+your mother nor any one else shall prevent it."
+
+Rosario sank powerless into her cousin's arms. She trembled in his manly
+embrace, as the dove trembles in the talons of the eagle.
+
+Through the engineer's mind the thought flashed that the devil existed;
+but the devil then was he. Rosario made a slight movement of fear; she
+felt the thrill of surprise, so to say, that gives warning that danger
+is near.
+
+"Swear to me that you will not yield to them," said Pepe Rey, with
+confusion, observing the movement.
+
+"I swear it to you by my father's ashes that are--"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Under our feet."
+
+The mathematician felt the stone rise under his feet--but no, it was not
+rising; he only fancied, mathematician though he was, that he felt it
+rise.
+
+"I swear it to you," repeated Rosario, "by my father's ashes, and by the
+God who is looking at us----May our bodies, united as they are, repose
+under those stones when God wills to take us out of this world."
+
+"Yes," repeated the Pepe Rey, with profound emotion, feeling his soul
+filled with an inexplicable trouble.
+
+Both remained silent for a short time. Rosario had risen.
+
+"Already?" he said.
+
+She sat down again.
+
+"You are trembling again," said Pepe. "Rosario, you are ill; your
+forehead is burning."
+
+"I think I am dying," murmured the young girl faintly. "I don't know
+what is the matter with me."
+
+She fell senseless into her cousin's arms. Caressing her, he noticed
+that her face was covered with a cold perspiration.
+
+"She is really ill," he said to himself. "It was a piece of great
+imprudence to have come down stairs."
+
+He lifted her up in his arms, endeavoring to restore her to
+consciousness, but neither the trembling that had seized her nor her
+insensibility passed away; and he resolved to carry her out of the
+chapel, in the hope that the fresh air would revive her. And so it was.
+When she recovered consciousness Rosario manifested great disquietude
+at finding herself at such an hour out of her own room. The clock of the
+cathedral struck four.
+
+"How late it is!" exclaimed the young girl. "Release me, cousin. I think
+I can walk. I am really very ill."
+
+"I will go upstairs with you."
+
+"Oh, no; on no account! I would rather drag myself to my room on my
+hands and feet. Don't you hear a noise?"
+
+Both were silent. The anxiety with which they listened made the silence
+intense.
+
+"Don't you hear any thing, Pepe?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing."
+
+"Pay attention. There, there it is again. It is a noise that sounds as
+if it might be either very, very distant, or very near. It might either
+be my mother's breathing or the creaking of the vane on the tower of the
+cathedral. Ah! I have a very fine ear."
+
+"Too fine! Well, dear cousin, I will carry you upstairs in my arms."
+
+"Very well; carry me to the head of the stairs. Afterward I can go
+alone. As soon as I rest a little I shall be as well as ever. But don't
+you hear?"
+
+They stopped on the first step.
+
+"It is a metallic sound."
+
+"Your mother's breathing?"
+
+"No, it is not that. The noise comes from a great distance. Perhaps it
+is the crowing of a cock?"
+
+"Perhaps so."
+
+"It sounds like the words, 'I am going there, I am going there!'"
+
+"Now, now I hear," murmured Pepe Rey.
+
+"It is a cry."
+
+"It is a cornet."
+
+"A cornet!"
+
+"Yes. Let us hurry. Orbajosa is going to wake up. Now I hear it clearly.
+It is not a trumpet but a clarionet. The soldiers are coming."
+
+"Soldiers!"
+
+"I don't know why I imagine that this military invasion is going to be
+advantageous to me. I feel glad. Up, quickly, Rosario!"
+
+"I feel glad, too. Up, up!"
+
+In an instant he had carried her upstairs, and the lovers took a
+whispered leave of each other.
+
+"I will stand at the window overlooking the garden, so that you may know
+I have reached my room safely. Good-by."
+
+"Good-by, Rosario. Take care not to stumble against the furniture."
+
+"I can find my way here perfectly, cousin. We shall soon see each
+other again. Stand at your window if you wish to receive my telegraphic
+despatch."
+
+Pepe Rey did as he was bade; but he waited a long time, and Rosario did
+not appear at the window. The engineer fancied he heard agitated voices
+on the floor above him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE SOLDIERS
+
+The inhabitants of Orbajosa heard in the twilight vagueness of their
+morning slumbers the same sonorous clarionet, and they opened their
+eyes, saying:
+
+"The soldiers!"
+
+Some murmured to themselves between sleeping and waking:
+
+"At last they have sent us that rabble."
+
+Others got out of bed hastily, growling:
+
+"Let us go take a look at those confounded soldiers."
+
+Some soliloquized in this way:
+
+"It will be necessary to hurry up matters. They say drafts and
+contributions; we will say blows and more blows."
+
+In another house were heard these words uttered joyfully:
+
+"Perhaps my son is coming! Perhaps my brother is coming!"
+
+Everywhere people were springing out of bed, dressing hastily, opening
+the windows to see the regiment that caused all this excitement entering
+the city in the early dawn. The city was gloom, silence, age; the army
+gayety, boisterousness, youth. As the army entered the city it seemed as
+if the mummy received by some magic art the gift of life and sprang
+with noisy gayety from its damp sarcophagus to dance around it. What
+movement, what shouting, what laughter, what merriment! There is nothing
+so interesting as a regiment. It is our country in its youthful and
+vigorous aspect. All the ineptitude, the turbulence, the superstition
+at times, and at times the impiety of the country as represented in the
+individual, disappears under the iron rule of discipline, which of so
+many insignificant figures makes an imposing whole. The soldier, or so
+to say, the corpuscle, separating at the command "Break ranks!" from
+the mass in which he has led a regular and at times a sublime life,
+occasionally preserves some of the qualities peculiar to the army. But
+this is not the general rule. The separation is most often accompanied
+by a sudden deterioration, with the result that if an army is the glory
+and honor of a nation, an assemblage of soldiers may be an insupportable
+calamity; and the towns that shed tears of joy and enthusiasm when they
+see a victorious battalion enter their precincts, groan with terror and
+tremble with apprehension when they see the same soldiers separate and
+off duty.
+
+This last was what happened in Orbajosa, for in those days there were
+no glorious deeds to celebrate, nor was there any motive for weaving
+wreaths or tracing triumphal inscriptions, or even for making mention
+of the exploits of our brave soldiers, for which reason all was fear
+and suspicion in the episcopal city, which, although poor, did not lack
+treasures in chickens, fruits, money, and maidenhood, all of which
+ran great risk from the moment when the before-mentioned sons of Mars
+entered it. In addition to this, the native town of Polentinos, as a
+city remote from the movement and stir brought with them by traffic, the
+newspapers, railroads, and other agents which it is unnecessary now to
+specify, did not wish to be disturbed in its tranquil existence.
+
+Besides which, it manifested on every favorable occasion a strong
+aversion to submitting to the central authority which, badly or well,
+governs us; and calling to mind its former privileges and ruminating
+upon them anew, as the camel chews the cud of the grass which it
+ate yesterday, it would occasionally display a certain rebellious
+independence, and vicious tendencies much to be deplored, which at times
+gave no little anxiety to the governor of the province.
+
+It must also be taken into account that Orbajosa had rebellious
+antecedents, or rather ancestry. Doubtless it still retained some
+of those energetic fibres which, in remote ages, according to the
+enthusiastic opinion of Don Cayetano, impelled it to unexampled epic
+deeds; and, even in its decadence, occasionally felt an eager desire to
+do great things, although they might be only barbarities and follies.
+As it had given to the world so many illustrious sons, it desired,
+no doubt, that its actual scions, the Caballucos, Merengues, and
+Pelosmalos, should renew the glorious _Gesta_ of their predecessors.
+
+Whenever there was disaffection in Spain, Orbajosa gave proof that it
+was not in vain that it existed on the face of the earth, although it
+is true that it was never the theatre of a real war. The spirit of the
+town, its situation, its history, all reduced it to the secondary part
+of raising guerillas. It bestowed upon the country this national product
+in 1827, at the time of the Apostolics, during the Seven Years' War, in
+1848, and at other epochs of less resonance in the national history. The
+guerillas and their chiefs were always popular, a fatal circumstance due
+to the War of Independence, one of those good things which have been
+the origin of an infinite number of detestable things. _Corruptio optimi
+pessima_. And with the popularity of the guerillas and their chiefs
+coincided, in ever-increasing proportion, the unpopularity of every one
+who entered Orbajosa in the character of a delegate or instrument of
+the central power. The soldiers were held in such disrepute there that,
+whenever the old people told of any crime, any robbery, assassination,
+or the like atrocity, they added: "This happened when the soldiers were
+here."
+
+And now that these important observations have been made, it will be
+well to add that the battalions sent there during the days in which the
+events of our story took place did not go to parade through the streets,
+but for another purpose which will be clearly and minutely set forth
+later on. As a detail of no little interest, it may be noted that the
+events here related took place at a period neither very remote nor very
+recent. It may also be said that Orbajosa (called by the Romans Urbs
+Augusta, although some learned moderns, enquiring into the etymology of
+the termination _ajosa_[*] are of the opinion that it comes by it from
+being the richest garlic-growing country in the world) is neither very
+near Madrid nor very far from it; nor can we say whether its glorious
+foundations are laid toward the north or toward the south, toward the
+east or toward the west; but that it may be supposed to be in any part
+of Spain where the pungent odor of its garlic is to be perceived.
+
+     [*] Rich in garlic.
+
+The billets of residence being distributed by the authorities, each
+soldier went to seek his borrowed home. They were received by
+their hosts with a very ill grace and assigned the most atrociously
+uninhabitable parts of the houses. The girls of the city were not indeed
+among those who were most dissatisfied, but a strict watch was kept over
+them, and it was considered not decent to show pleasure at the visit of
+such rabble. The few soldiers who were natives of the district only were
+treated like kings. The others were regarded as invaders.
+
+At eight in the morning a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry entered the
+house of Dona Perfecta Polentinos with his billet. He was received by
+the servants, by order of its mistress, who, being at the time in a
+deplorable state of mind, did not wish to go down stairs to meet the
+soldier, and by them he was shown to the only room in the house which,
+it seemed, was disposable, the room occupied by Pepe Rey.
+
+"Let them settle themselves as best they can," said Dona Perfecta, with
+an expression of gall and vinegar. "And if they have not room enough,
+let them go into the street."
+
+Was it her intention to annoy in this way her detested nephew, or was
+there really no other unoccupied room in the house? This we do not know,
+nor do the chronicles from which this true history is taken say a word
+on this important point. What we know positively is that, far from
+displeasing the two guests to be thus boxed up together, it gave them
+great pleasure, as they happened to be old friends. They were greatly
+surprised and delighted when they met, and they were never tired of
+asking each other questions and uttering exclamations, dwelling on the
+strange chance that had brought them together in such a place and on
+such an occasion.
+
+"Pinzon--you here! Why, what is this? I had no suspicion that you were
+in this neighborhood."
+
+"I heard that you were in this part of the country, Pepe; but I had no
+idea, either, that I should meet you in this horrible, this barbarous
+Orbajosa."
+
+"But what a fortunate chance! For this chance is most
+fortunate--providential. Pinzon, between us both we are going to do a
+great thing in this wretched town."
+
+"And we shall have time enough to consult about it," answered the other,
+seating himself on the bed in which the engineer was lying, "for it
+appears that we are both to occupy this room. What the devil sort of a
+house is this?"
+
+"Why, man, it is my aunt's. Speak with more respect about it. Have you
+not met my aunt? But I am going to get up."
+
+"I am very glad of it, for then I can lie down and rest; and badly I
+need it. What a road, friend Pepe, what a road, and what a town!"
+
+"Tell me, have you come to set fire to Orbajosa?"
+
+"Fire!"
+
+"I ask you because, in that case, I might help you."
+
+"What a town! But what a town!" exclaimed the soldier, removing his
+shako, and laying aside sword and shoulder-belt, travelling case and
+cloak. "This is the second time they have sent us here. I swear to you
+that the third time I will ask my discharge."
+
+"Don't talk ill of these good people! But you have come in the nick of
+time. It seems as if Providence has sent you to my aid, Pinzon. I have a
+terrible project on hand, an adventure,--a plot, if you wish to call
+it so, my friend,--and it would have been difficult for me to carry
+it through without you. A moment ago I was in despair, wondering how I
+should manage, and saying to myself anxiously, 'If I only had a friend
+here, a good friend!'"
+
+"A project, a plot, an adventure! One of two things, Senor
+Mathematician: it is either the discovery of aerial navigation, or else
+some love affair."
+
+"It is serious, very serious. Go to bed, sleep a while, and afterward we
+will talk about it."
+
+"I will go to bed, but I will not sleep. You may say all you wish to
+me. All that I ask is that you will say as little as possible about
+Orbajosa."
+
+"It is precisely about Orbajosa that I wish to speak to you. But have
+you also an antipathy to this cradle of illustrious men?"
+
+"These garlic-venders--we call them the garlic-venders--may be as
+illustrious as you choose, but to me they are as irritating as the
+product of the country. This is a town ruled by people who teach
+distrust, superstition, and hatred of the whole human race. When we have
+leisure I will relate to you an occurrence--an adventure, half-comic,
+half-tragic--that happened to me here last year. When I tell it to you,
+you will laugh and I shall be fuming. But, in fine, what is past is
+past."
+
+"In what is happening to me there is nothing comic."
+
+"But I have various reasons for hating this wretched place. You must
+know that my father was assassinated here in '48 by a party of barbarous
+guerillas. He was a brigadier, and he had left the service. The
+Government sent for him, and he was passing through Villahorrenda on his
+way to Madrid, when he was captured by half a dozen ruffians. Here there
+are several dynasties of guerilla chiefs--the Aceros, the Caballucos,
+the Pelosmalos--a periodical eruption, as some one has said who knew
+very well what he was talking about."
+
+"I suppose that two infantry regiments and some cavalry have not come
+here solely for the pleasure of visiting these delightful regions."
+
+"Certainly not! We have come to survey the country. There are many
+deposits of arms here. The Government does not venture, as it desires,
+to remove from office the greater number of the municipal councils
+without first distributing a few companies of soldiers through these
+towns. As there is so much disturbance in this part of the country,
+as two of the neighboring provinces are already infested, and as this
+municipal district of Orbajosa has, besides, so brilliant a record in
+all the civil wars, there are fears that the bravos of the place may
+take to the roads and rob all they can lay hands on."
+
+"A good precaution! But I am firmly convinced that not until these
+people die and are born over again, not until the very stones have
+changed their form, will there be peace in Orbajosa."
+
+"That is my opinion too," said the officer, lighting a cigarette. "Don't
+you see that the guerilla chiefs are the pets of this place? Those who
+desolated the district in 1848 and at other epochs, or, if not they,
+their sons, are employed in the market inspector's office, at the town
+gates, in the town-hall, in the post-office; among them are constables,
+sacristans, bailiffs. Some have become powerful party leaders and they
+are the ones who manage the elections, have influence in Madrid, bestow
+places--in short, this is terrible."
+
+"And tell me, is there no hope of the guerilla chiefs performing some
+exploit in these days? If that should happen, you could destroy the
+town, and I would help you."
+
+"If it depended upon me----They will play their usual pranks no doubt,"
+said Pinzon, "for the insurrection in the two neighboring provinces is
+spreading like wildfire. And between ourselves, friend Rey, I think
+this is going to last for a long time. Some people smile and say that it
+would be impossible that there should be another insurrection like the
+last one. They don't know the country; they don't know Orbajosa and
+its inhabitants. I believe that the war that is now beginning will have
+serious consequences, and that we shall have another cruel and bloody
+struggle, that will last Heaven knows how long. What is your opinion?"
+
+"Well, in Madrid I laughed at any one who spoke of the possibility of a
+civil war as long and as terrible as the Seven Years' War; but since I
+have been here----"
+
+"One must come to the heart of this enchanting country, see the people
+at home, and hear them talk, to know what the real state of affairs is."
+
+"Just so. Without knowing precisely on what I base my opinion, the fact
+is that here I see things in a different light, and I now believe that
+it is possible that there may be a long and bloody war."
+
+"Exactly so."
+
+"But at present my thoughts are occupied less by the public war than by
+a private war in which I am engaged and which I declared a short time
+ago."
+
+"You said this was your aunt's house. What is her name?"
+
+"Dona Perfecta Rey de Polentinos."
+
+"Ah! I know her by reputation. She is an excellent person, and the only
+one of whom I have not heard the garlic-venders speak ill. When I was
+here before I heard her goodness, her charity, her innumerable virtues,
+everywhere extolled."
+
+"Yes, my aunt is very kind, very amiable," said Rey.
+
+Then he fell into a thoughtful silence.
+
+"But now I remember!" exclaimed Pinzon suddenly. "How one thing fits in
+with another! Yes, I heard in Madrid that you were going to be married
+to a cousin of yours. All is clear now. Is it that beautiful and
+heavenly Rosario?"
+
+"Pinzon, we must have a long talk together."
+
+"I imagine that there are difficulties."
+
+"There is something more; there is violent opposition. I have need of a
+determined friend--a friend who is prompt to act, fruitful in resource,
+of great experience in emergencies, astute and courageous."
+
+"Why, this is even more serious than a challenge."
+
+"A great deal more serious. It would be easy to fight with another man.
+With women, with unseen enemies who work in the dark, it is impossible."
+
+"Come, I am all ears."
+
+Lieutenant-colonel Pinzon lay stretched at full length upon the bed.
+Pepe Rey drew a chair up to the bedside and, leaning his elbow on
+the bed and his head on his hand, began his conference, consultation,
+exposition of plan, or whatever else it might be called, and continued
+talking for a long time. Pinzon listened to him with profound attention
+and without interrupting him, except to ask an occasional question for
+the purpose of obtaining further details or additional light upon some
+obscure point. When Pepe Rey ended, Pinzon looked grave. He stretched
+himself, yawning with the satisfaction of one who has not slept for
+three nights, and then said:
+
+"You plan is dangerous and difficult."
+
+"But not impossible."
+
+"Oh, no! for nothing is impossible. Reflect well about it."
+
+"I have reflected."
+
+"And you are resolved to carry it through? Consider that these things
+are not now in fashion. They generally turn out badly and throw
+discredit on those who undertake them."
+
+"I am resolved."
+
+"For my part, then, although the business is dangerous and serious--very
+serious--I am ready to aid you in all things and for all things."
+
+"Can I rely upon you?"
+
+"To the death."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A TERRIBLE BATTLE-STRATEGY
+
+The opening of hostilities could not long be delayed. When the hour of
+dinner arrived, after coming to an agreement with Pinzon regarding the
+plan to be pursued, the first condition of which was that the friends
+should pretend not to know each other, Pepe Rey went to the dining-room.
+There he found his aunt, who had just returned from the cathedral where
+she had spent the morning as was her habit. She was alone, and appeared
+to be greatly preoccupied. The engineer observed that on that pale and
+marble-like countenance, not without a certain beauty, there rested
+a mysterious shadow. When she looked up it recovered its sinister
+calmness, but she looked up seldom, and after a rapid examination of her
+nephew's countenance, that of the amiable lady would again take on its
+studied gloom.
+
+They awaited dinner in silence. They did not wait for Don Cayetano, for
+he had gone to Mundogrande. When they sat down to table Dona Perfecta
+said:
+
+"And that fine soldier whom the Government has sent us, is he not coming
+to dinner?"
+
+"He seems to be more sleepy than hungry," answered the engineer, without
+looking at his aunt.
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"I have never seen him in all my life before."
+
+"We are nicely off with the guests whom the Government sends us. We have
+beds and provisions in order to keep them ready for those vagabonds of
+Madrid, whenever they may choose to dispose of them."
+
+"There are fears of an insurrection," said Pepe Rey, with sudden heat,
+"and the Government is determined to crush the Orbajosans--to crush
+them, to grind them to powder."
+
+"Stop, man, stop, for Heaven's sake; don't crush us!" cried Dona
+Perfecta sarcastically. "Poor we! Be merciful, man, and allow us unhappy
+creatures to live. And would you, then, be one of those who would aid
+the army in the grand work of crushing us?"
+
+"I am not a soldier. I will do nothing but applaud when I see the germs
+of civil war; of insubordination, of discord, of disorder, of robbery,
+and of barbarism that exist here, to the shame of our times and of our
+country, forever extirpated."
+
+"All will be as God wills."
+
+"Orbajosa, my dear aunt, has little else than garlic and bandits; for
+those who in the name of some political or religious idea set out in
+search of adventures every four or five years are nothing but bandits."
+
+"Thanks, thanks, my dear nephew!" said Dona Perfecta, turning pale. "So
+Orbajosa has nothing more than that? Yet there must be something else
+here--something that you do not possess, since you have come to look for
+it among us."
+
+Rey felt the cut. His soul was on fire. He found it very difficult to
+show his aunt the consideration to which her sex, her rank, and her
+relation to himself entitled her. He was on the verge of a violent
+outbreak, and a force that he could not resist was impelling him against
+his interlocutor.
+
+"I came to Orbajosa," he said, "because you sent for me; you arranged
+with my father--"
+
+"Yes, yes; it is true," she answered, interrupting him quickly and
+making an effort to recover her habitual serenity. "I do not deny it. I
+am the one who is really to blame. I am to blame for your ill-humor, for
+the slights you put upon us, for every thing disagreeable that has been
+happening in my house since you entered it."
+
+"I am glad that you are conscious of it."
+
+"In exchange, you are a saint. Must I also go down on my knees to your
+grace and ask your pardon?"
+
+"Senora," said Pepe Rey gravely, laying down his knife and fork, "I
+entreat you not to mock me in so pitiless a manner. I cannot meet you
+on equal ground. All I have said is that I came to Orbajosa at your
+invitation."
+
+"And it is true. Your father and I arranged that you should marry
+Rosario. You came in order to become acquainted with her. I accepted you
+at once as a son. You pretended to love Rosario--"
+
+"Pardon me," objected Pepe; "I loved and I love Rosario; you pretended
+to accept me as a son; receiving me with deceitful cordiality, you
+employed from the very beginning all the arts of cunning to thwart me
+and to prevent the fulfilment of the proposals made to my father; you
+determined from the first day to drive me to desperation, to tire me
+out; and with smiles and affectionate words on your lips you have been
+killing me, roasting me at the slow fire; you have let loose upon me
+in the dark and from behind an ambush a swarm of lawsuits; you have
+deprived me of the official commission which I brought to Orbajosa; you
+have brought me into disrepute in the town; you have had me turned out
+of the cathedral; you have kept me constantly separated from the chosen
+of my heart; you have tortured your daughter with an inquisitorial
+imprisonment which will cause her death, unless God interposes to
+prevent it."
+
+Dona Perfecta turned scarlet. But the flush of offended pride passed
+away quickly, leaving her face of a greenish pallor. Her lips trembled.
+Throwing down the knife and fork with which she had been eating, she
+rose swiftly to her feet. Her nephew rose also.
+
+"My God! Holy Virgin of Succor!" she cried, raising both her hands to
+her head and pressing it between them with the gesture indicative of
+desperation, "is it possible that I deserve such atrocious insults?
+Pepe, my son, is it you who speak to me in this way? If I have done what
+you say, I am indeed very wicked."
+
+She sank on the sofa and covered her face with her hands. Pepe,
+approaching her slowly, saw that his aunt was sobbing bitterly and
+shedding abundant tears. In spite of his conviction he could not
+altogether conquer the feeling of compassion which took possession of
+him; and while he condemned himself for his cowardice he felt something
+of remorse for the severity and the frankness with which he had spoken.
+
+"My dear aunt," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "if you
+answer me with tears and sighs, you will not convince me. Proofs, not
+emotions, are what I require. Speak to me, tell me that I am mistaken
+in thinking what I think; then prove it to me, and I will acknowledge my
+error."
+
+"Leave me, you are not my brother's son! If you were, you would not
+insult me as you have insulted me. So, then, I am an intriguer, an
+actress, a hypocritical harpy, a domestic plotter?"
+
+As she spoke, Dona Perfecta uncovered her face and looked at her nephew
+with a martyr-like expression. Pepe was perplexed. The tears as well
+as the gentle voice of his father's sister could not be insignificant
+phenomena for the mathematician's soul. Words crowded to his lips to
+ask her pardon. A man of great firmness generally, any appeal to his
+emotions, any thing which touched his heart, converted him at once into
+a child. Weaknesses of a mathematician! It is said that Newton was the
+same.
+
+"I will give you the proofs you ask," said Dona Perfecta, motioning
+him to a seat beside her. "I will give you satisfaction. You shall see
+whether I am kind, whether I am indulgent, whether I am humble. Do you
+think that I am going to contradict you; to deny absolutely the acts of
+which you have accused me? Well, then, no; I do not deny them."
+
+The engineer was astounded.
+
+"I do not deny them," continued Dona Perfecta. "What I deny is the evil
+intention which you attribute to them. By what right do you undertake to
+judge of what you know only from appearances and by conjecture? Have you
+the supreme intelligence which is necessary to judge justly the actions
+of others and pronounce sentence upon them? Are you God, to know the
+intentions?"
+
+Pepe was every moment more amazed.
+
+"Is it not allowable at times to employ indirect means to attain a good
+and honorable end? By what right do you judge actions of mine that you
+do not clearly understand? I, my dear nephew, manifesting a sincerity
+which you do not deserve, confess to you that I have indeed employed
+subterfuges to attain a good end, to attain what was at the same time
+beneficial to you and to my daughter. You do not comprehend? You look
+bewildered. Ah! your great mathematician's and German philosopher's
+intellect is not capable of comprehending these artifices of a prudent
+mother."
+
+"I am more and more astounded every moment," said the engineer.
+
+"Be as astounded as you choose, but confess your barbarity," said the
+lady, with increasing spirit; "acknowledge your hastiness and your
+brutal conduct toward me in accusing me as you have done. You are a
+young man without any experience or any other knowledge than that which
+is derived from books, which teach nothing about the world or the
+human heart. All you know is how to make roads and docks. Ah, my young
+gentleman! one does not enter into the human heart through the tunnel of
+a railroad, or descend into its depths through the shaft of a mine.
+You cannot read in the conscience of another with the microscope of a
+naturalist, nor decide the question of another's culpability measuring
+ideas with a theodolite."
+
+"For God's sake, dear aunt!"
+
+"Why do you pronounce the name of God when you do not believe in him?"
+said Dona Perfecta, in solemn accents. "If you believed in him, if you
+were a good Christian, you would not dare to form evil judgments about
+my conduct. I am a devout woman, do you understand? I have a tranquil
+conscience, do you understand? I know what I am doing and why I do it,
+do you understand?"
+
+"I understand, I understand, I understand!"
+
+"God in whom you do not believe, sees what you do not see and what you
+cannot see--the intention. I will say no more; I do not wish to enter
+into minute explanations, for I do not need to do so. Nor would you
+understand me if I should tell you that I desired to attain my object
+without scandal, without offending your father, without offending you,
+without giving cause for people to talk by an explicit refusal--I will
+say nothing of all this to you, for you would not understand it, either,
+Pepe. You are a mathematician. You see what is before your eyes, and
+nothing more; brute matter and nothing more. You see the effect, and not
+the cause. God is the supreme intention of the world. He who does not
+know this must necessarily judge things as you judge them--foolishly.
+In the tempest, for instance, he sees only destruction; in the
+conflagration, ruin; in the drought, famine; in the earthquake,
+desolation; and yet, arrogant young man, in all those apparent
+calamities we are to seek the good intentions--yes, senor, the
+intention, always good, of Him who can do nothing evil."
+
+This confused, subtle, and mystic logic did not convince Pepe Rey; but
+he did not wish to follow his aunt in the tortuous path of such a method
+of reasoning, and he said simply:
+
+"Well, I respect intentions."
+
+"Now that you seem to recognize your error," continued the pious lady,
+with ever-increasing confidence, "I will make another confession to you,
+and that is that I see now that I did wrong in adopting the course
+I did, although my object was excellent. In view of your impetuous
+disposition, in view of your incapacity to comprehend me, I should have
+faced the situation boldly and said to you, 'Nephew, I do not wish that
+you should be my daughter's husband.'"
+
+"That is the language you should have used to me from the beginning,"
+said the engineer, drawing a deep breath, as if his mind had been
+relieved from an enormous weight. "I am greatly obliged to you for those
+words. After having been stabbed in the dark, this blow on the face in
+the light of day is a great satisfaction to me."
+
+"Well, I will repeat the blow, nephew," declared Dona Perfecta, with as
+much energy as displeasure. "You know it now--I do not wish you to marry
+Rosario!"
+
+Pepe was silent. There was a long pause, during which the two regarded
+each other attentively, as if the face of each was for the other the
+most perfect work of art.
+
+"Don't you understand what I have said to you?" she repeated. "That
+every thing is at an end, that there is to be no marriage."
+
+"Permit me, dear aunt," said the young man, with composure, "not to be
+terrified by the intimation. In the state at which things have arrived
+your refusal has little importance for me."
+
+"What are you saying?" cried Dona Perfecta violently.
+
+"What you hear. I will marry Rosario!"
+
+Dona Perfecta rose to her feet, indignant, majestic, terrible. Her
+attitude was that of anathema incarnated in a woman. Rey remained
+seated, serene, courageous, with the passive courage of a profound
+conviction and an immovable resolve. The whole weight of his aunt's
+wrath, threatening to overwhelm him, did not make him move an eyelash.
+This was his character.
+
+"You are mad. Marry my daughter, you! Marry her against my will!"
+
+Dona Perfecta's trembling lips articulated these words in a truly tragic
+tone.
+
+"Against your will! She is of a different way of thinking."
+
+"Against my will!" repeated Dona Perfecta. "Yes, and I repeat it again
+and again. I do not wish it, I do not wish it!"
+
+"She and I wish it."
+
+"Fool! Is nothing else in the world to be considered but her and you?
+Are there not parents; is there not society; is there not a conscience;
+is there not a God?"
+
+"Because there is society, because there is a conscience, because there
+is a God," affirmed Rey gravely, rising to his feet, and pointing with
+outstretched arm to the heavens, "I say and I repeat that I will marry
+her."
+
+"Wretch! arrogant man! And if you would dare to trample every thing
+under your feet, do you think there are not laws to prevent your
+violence?"
+
+"Because there are laws, I say and I repeat that I will marry her."
+
+"You respect nothing!"
+
+"Nothing that is unworthy of respect."
+
+"And my authority, my will, I--am I nothing?"
+
+"For me your daughter is every thing--the rest is nothing."
+
+Pepe Rey's composure was, so to say, the arrogant display of invincible
+and conscious strength. The blows he gave were hard and crushing in
+their force, without any thing to mitigate their severity. His words,
+if the comparison may be allowed, were like a pitiless discharge of
+artillery.
+
+Dona Perfecta sank again on the sofa; but she shed no tears, and a
+convulsive tremor agitated her frame.
+
+"So that for this infamous atheist," she exclaimed, with frank rage,
+"there are no social conventionalities, there is nothing but caprice.
+This is base avarice. My daughter is rich!"
+
+"If you think to wound me with that treacherous weapon, evading the
+question and giving a distorted meaning to my sentiments in order to
+offend my dignity, you are mistaken, dear aunt. Call me mercenary, if
+you choose. God knows what I am."
+
+"You have no dignity!"
+
+"That is an opinion, like any other. The world may hold you to be
+infallible. I do not. I am far from believing that from your judgments
+there is no appeal to God."
+
+"But is what you say true? But do you persist in your purpose, after my
+refusal? You respect nothing, you are a monster, a bandit."
+
+"I am a man."
+
+"A wretch! Let us end this at once. I refuse to give my daughter to you;
+I refuse her to you!"
+
+"I will take her then! I shall take only what is mine."
+
+"Leave my presence!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, rising suddenly to her
+feet. "Coxcomb, do you suppose that my daughter thinks of you?"
+
+"She loves me, as I love her."
+
+"It is a lie! It is a lie!"
+
+"She herself has told me so. Excuse me if, on this point, I put more
+faith in her words than in her mother's."
+
+"How could she have told you so, when you have not seen her for several
+days?"
+
+"I saw her last night, and she swore to me before the crucifix in the
+chapel that she would be my wife."
+
+"Oh, scandal; oh, libertinism! But what is this? My God, what a
+disgrace!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, pressing her head again between
+her hands and walking up and down the room. "Rosario left her room last
+night?"
+
+"She left it to see me. It was time."
+
+"What vile conduct is yours! You have acted like a thief; you have acted
+like a vulgar seducer!"
+
+"I have acted in accordance with the teachings of your school. My
+intention was good."
+
+"And she came down stairs! Ah, I suspected it! This morning at daybreak
+I surprised her, dressed, in her room. She told me she had gone out,
+I don't know for what. You were the real criminal, then. This is a
+disgrace! Pepe, I expected any thing from you rather than an outrage
+like this. Every thing is at an end! Go away! You are dead to me. I
+forgive you, provided you go away. I will not say a word about this to
+your father. What horrible selfishness! No, there is no love in you. You
+do not love my daughter!"
+
+"God knows that I love her, and that is sufficient for me."
+
+"Be silent, blasphemer! and don't take the name of God upon your lips!"
+exclaimed Dona Perfecta. "In the name of God, whom I can invoke, for I
+believe in him, I tell you that my daughter will never be your wife. My
+daughter will be saved, Pepe; my daughter shall not be condemned to a
+living hell, for a union with you would be a hell!"
+
+"Rosario will be my wife," repeated the mathematician, with pathetic
+calmness.
+
+The pious lady was still more exasperated by her nephew's calm energy.
+In a broken voice she said:
+
+"Don't suppose that your threats terrify me. I know what I am saying.
+What! are a home and a family to be outraged like this? Are human and
+divine authority to be trampled under foot in this way?"
+
+"I will trample every thing under foot," said the engineer, beginning to
+lose his composure and speaking with some agitation.
+
+"You will trample every thing under foot! Ah! it is easy to see that you
+are a barbarian, a savage, a man who lives by violence."
+
+"No, dear aunt; I am mild, upright, honorable, and an enemy to violence;
+but between you and me--between you who are the law and I who am to
+honor it--is a poor tormented creature, one of God's angels, subjected
+to iniquitous tortures. The spectacle of this injustice, this unheard-of
+violence, is what has converted my rectitude into barbarity; my reason
+into brute force; my honor into violence, like an assassin's or a
+thief's; this spectacle, senora, is what impels me to disregard your
+law, what impels me to trample it under foot, braving every thing. This
+which appears to you lawlessness is obedience to an unescapable law. I
+do what society does when a brutal power, as illogical as irritating,
+opposes its progress. It tramples it under foot and destroys it in an
+outburst of frenzy. Such am I at this moment--I do not recognize myself.
+I was reasonable, and now I am a brute; I was respectful, and now I am
+insolent; I was civilized, and now I am a savage. You have brought me to
+this horrible extremity; infuriating me and driving me from the path of
+rectitude which I was tranquilly pursuing. Who is to blame--I or you?"
+
+"You, you!"
+
+"Neither you nor I can decide the question. I think we are both to
+blame: you for your violence and injustice, I for my injustice and
+violence. We have both become equally barbarous, and we struggle with
+and wound each other without compassion. God has permitted that it
+should be so; my blood will be upon your conscience, yours will be upon
+mine. Enough now, senora. I do not wish to trouble you with useless
+words. We will now proceed to acts."
+
+"To acts, very well!" said Dona Perfecta, roaring rather than speaking.
+"Don't suppose that in Orbajosa there is no civil guard!"
+
+"Good-by, senora. I will now leave this house. I think we shall meet
+again."
+
+"Go, go! go now!" she cried, pointing with an energetic gesture to the
+door.
+
+Pepe Rey left the room. Dona Perfecta, after pronouncing a few
+incoherent words, which were the clearest expression of her anger, sank
+into a chair, with indications of fatigue, or of a coming attack of
+nerves. The maids came running in.
+
+"Go for Senor Don Inocencio!" she cried. "Instantly--hurry! Ask him to
+come here!"
+
+Then she tore her handkerchief with her teeth.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+RUMORS--FEARS
+
+On the day following that of this lamentable quarrel, various rumors
+regarding Pepe Rey and his conduct spread through Orbajosa, going from
+house to house, from club to club, from the Casino to the apothecary's
+and from the Paseo de las Descalzes to the Puerta de Baidejos. They were
+repeated by every body, and so many were the comments made that, if Don
+Cayetano had collected and compiled them, he might have formed with
+them a rich "Thesaurus" of Orbajosan benevolence. In the midst of the
+diversity of the reports circulated, there was agreement in regard to
+certain important particulars, one of which was the following:
+
+That the engineer, enraged at Dona Perfecta's refusal to marry Rosario
+to an atheist, had raised his hand to his aunt.
+
+The young man was living in the widow De Cusco's hotel, an establishment
+mounted, as they say now, not at the height, but at the depth of the
+superlative backwardness of the town. Lieutenant-colonel Pinzon visited
+him with frequency, in order that they might discuss together the plot
+which they had on hand, and for the successful conduct of which the
+soldier showed the happiest dispositions. New artifices and stratagems
+occurred to him at every instant, and he hastened to put them into
+effect with excellent humor, although he would often say to his friend:
+
+"The role I am playing, dear Pepe, is not a very dignified one; but to
+give an annoyance to the Orbajosans I would walk on my hands and feet."
+
+We do not know what cunning stratagems the artful soldier, skilled in
+the wiles of the world, employed; but certain it is that before he had
+been in the house three days he had succeeded in making himself greatly
+liked by every body in it. His manners were very pleasing to Dona
+Perfecta, who could not hear unmoved his flattering praises of
+the elegance of the house, and of the nobility, piety, and august
+magnificence of its mistress. With Don Inocencio he was hand and glove.
+Neither her mother nor the Penitentiary placed any obstacle in the way
+of his speaking with Rosario (who had been restored to liberty on the
+departure of her ferocious cousin); and, with his delicate compliments,
+his skilful flattery, and great address, he had acquired in the house
+of Polentinos considerable ascendency, and he had even succeeded in
+establishing himself in it on a footing of familiarity. But the object
+of all his arts was a servant maid named Librada, whom he had seduced
+(chastely speaking) that she might carry messages and notes to Rosario,
+of whom he pretended to be enamored. The girl allowed herself to be
+bribed with persuasive words and a good deal of money, because she
+was ignorant of the source of the notes and of the real meaning of the
+intrigue, for had she known that it was all a diabolical plot of Don
+Jose, although she liked the latter greatly, she would not have acted
+with treachery toward her mistress for all the money in the world.
+
+One day Dona Perfecta, Don Inocencio, Jacinto, and Pinzon were
+conversing together in the garden. They were talking about the soldiers
+and the purpose for which they had been sent to Orbajosa, in which the
+Penitentiary found motive for condemning the tyrannical conduct of the
+Government; and, without knowing how it came about, Pepe Rey's name was
+mentioned.
+
+"He is still at the hotel," said the little lawyer. "I saw him
+yesterday, and he gave me remembrances for you, Dona Perfecta."
+
+"Was there ever seen such insolence! Ah, Senor Pinzon! do not be
+surprised at my using this language, speaking of my own nephew--that
+young man, you remember, who had the room which you occupy."
+
+"Yes, I know. I am not acquainted with him, but I know him by sight and
+by reputation. He is an intimate friend of our brigadier."
+
+"An intimate friend of the brigadier?"
+
+"Yes, senor; of the commander of the brigade that has just arrived in
+this district, and which is quartered in the neighboring villages."
+
+"And where is he?" asked the lady.
+
+"In Orbajosa."
+
+"I think he is stopping at Polavieja's," observed Jacinto.
+
+"Your nephew and Brigadier Batalla are intimate friends," continued
+Pinzon; "they are always to be seen together in the streets."
+
+"Well, my friend, that gives me a bad idea of your chief," said Dona
+Perfecta.
+
+"He is--he is very good-natured," said Pinzon, in the tone of one who,
+through motives of respect, did not venture to use a harsher word.
+
+"With your permission, Senor Pinzon, and making an honorable exception
+in your favor, it must be said that in the Spanish army there are some
+curious types----"
+
+"Our brigadier was an excellent soldier before he gave himself up to
+spiritualism."
+
+"To spiritualism!"
+
+"That sect that calls up ghosts and goblins by means of the legs of a
+table!" said the canon, laughing.
+
+"From curiosity, only from curiosity," said Jacintillo, with emphasis,
+"I ordered Allan Kardec's book from Madrid. It is well to know something
+about every thing."
+
+"But is it possible that such follies--Heavens! Tell me, Pinzon, does my
+nephew too belong to that sect of table-tippers?"
+
+"I think it was he who indoctrinated our valiant Brigadier Batalla."
+
+"Good Heavens!"
+
+"Yes; and whenever he chooses," said Don Inocencio, unable to contain
+his laughter, "he can speak to Socrates, St. Paul, Cervantes, or
+Descartes, as I speak to Librada to ask her for a match. Poor Senor de
+Rey! I was not mistaken in saying that there was something wrong in his
+head."
+
+"Outside that," continued Pinzon, "our brigadier is a good soldier. If
+he errs at all, it is on the side of severity. He takes the orders
+of the Government so literally that, if he were to meet with much
+opposition here, he would be capable of not leaving one stone upon
+another in Orbajosa. Yes, I advise you all to be on your guard."
+
+"But is that monster going to cut all our heads off, then? Ah, Senor Don
+Inocencio! these visits of the army remind me of what I have read in
+the lives of the martyrs about the visits of the Roman proconsuls to a
+Christian town."
+
+"The comparison is not wanting in exactness," said the Penitentiary,
+looking at the soldier over his spectacles.
+
+"It is not very agreeable, but if it is the truth, why should it not be
+said?" observed Pinzon benevolently. "Now you all are at our mercy."
+
+"The authorities of the place," objected Jacinto, "still exercise their
+functions as usual."
+
+"I think you are mistaken," responded the soldier, whose countenance
+Dona Perfecta and the Penitentiary were studying with profound interest.
+"The alcalde of Orbajosa was removed from office an hour ago."
+
+"By the governor of the province?"
+
+"The governor of the province has been replaced by a delegate from the
+Government, who was to arrive this morning. The municipal councils will
+all be removed from office to-day. The minister has so ordered
+because he suspected, I don't know on what grounds, that they were not
+supporting the central authority."
+
+"This is a pretty state of things!" murmured the canon, frowning and
+pushing out his lower lip.
+
+Dona Perfecta looked thoughtful.
+
+"Some of the judges of the primary court, among them the judge of
+Orbajosa, have been deprived of office."
+
+"The judge! Periquito--Periquito is no longer judge!" exclaimed Dona
+Perfecta, in a voice and with the manner of a person who has just been
+stung by a snake.
+
+"The person who was judge in Orbajosa is judge no longer," said Pinzon.
+"To-morrow the new judge will arrive."
+
+"A stranger!"
+
+"A stranger."
+
+"A rascal, perhaps. The other was so honorable!" said Dona Perfecta,
+with alarm. "I never asked any thing from him that he did not grant it
+to me at once. Do you know who will be the new alcalde?"
+
+"They say a corregidor is coming."
+
+"There, say at once that the Deluge is coming, and let us be done with
+it," said the canon, rising.
+
+"So that we are at the brigadier's mercy!"
+
+"For a few days only. Don't be angry with me. In spite of my uniform I
+am an enemy of militarism; but we are ordered to strike--and we strike.
+There could not be a viler trade than ours."
+
+"That it is, that it is!" said Dona Perfecta, with difficulty concealing
+her fury. "Now that you have confessed it----So, then, neither alcalde
+nor judge----"
+
+"Nor governor of the province."
+
+"Let them take the bishop from us also and send us a choir boy in his
+stead."
+
+"That is all that is wanting--if the people here will allow them to
+do it," murmured Don Inocencio, lowering his eyes. "They won't stop at
+trifles."
+
+"And it is all because they are afraid of an insurrection in Orbajosa,"
+exclaimed Dona Perfecta, clasping her hands and waving them up and down.
+"Frankly, Pinzon, I don't know why it is that even the very stones
+don't rise up in rebellion. I wish you no harm; but it would be a just
+judgment on you if the water you drink turned into mud. You say that my
+nephew is the intimate friend of the brigadier?"
+
+"So intimate that they are together all day long; they were
+school-fellows. Batalla loves him like a brother, and would do anything
+to please him. In your place, senora, I would be uneasy."
+
+"Oh, my God! I fear there will be an attack on the house!"
+
+"Senora," declared the canon, with energy, "before I would consent
+that there should be an attack on this honorable house--before I would
+consent that the slightest harm should be done to this noble family--I,
+my nephew, all the people of Orbajosa----"
+
+Don Inocencio did not finish. His anger was so great that the words
+refused to come. He took a few steps forward with a martial air, then
+returned to his seat.
+
+"I think that your fears are not idle," said Pinzon. "If it should be
+necessary, I----"
+
+"And I----" said Jacinto.
+
+Dona Perfecta had fixed her eyes on the glass door of the dining-room,
+through which could be seen a graceful figure. As she looked at it, it
+seemed as if the cloud of apprehension which rested on her countenance
+grew darker.
+
+"Rosario! come in here, Rosario!" she said, going to meet the young
+girl. "I fancy you look better to-day, and that you are more cheerful.
+Don't you think that Rosario looks better? She seems a different being."
+
+They all agreed that the liveliest happiness was depicted on her
+countenance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+"DESPERTA FERRO"
+
+About this time the following items of news appeared in the Madrid
+newspapers:
+
+"There is no truth whatever in the report that there has been an
+insurrection in the neighborhood of Orbajosa. Our correspondent in that
+place informs us that the country is so little disposed for adventures
+that the further presence of the Batalla brigade in that locality is
+considered unnecessary."
+
+"It is said that the Batalla brigade will leave Orbajosa, as troops are
+not required there, to go to Villajuan de Nahara, where guerillas have
+made their appearance."
+
+"The news has been confirmed that the Aceros, with a number of mounted
+followers, are ranging the district of Villajuan, adjacent to the
+judicial district of Orbajosa. The governor of the province of X. has
+telegraphed to the Government that Francisco Acero entered Las Roquetas,
+where he demanded provisions and money. Domingo Acero (Faltriquera), was
+ranging the Jubileo mountains, actively pursued by the Civil Guards, who
+killed one of his men and captured another. Bartolome Acero is the man
+who burned the registry office of Lugarnoble and carried away with him
+as hostages the alcalde and two of the principal landowners."
+
+"Complete tranquillity reigns in Orbajosa, according to a letter which
+we have before us, and no one there thinks of anything but cultivating
+the garlic fields, which promise to yield a magnificent crop. The
+neighboring districts, however, are infested with guerillas, but the
+Batalla brigade will make short work of these."
+
+
+
+Orbajosa was, in fact, tranquil. The Aceros, that warlike dynasty,
+worthy, in the opinion of some, of figuring in the "Romancero," had
+taken possession of the neighboring province; but the insurrection
+was not spreading within the limits of the episcopal city. It might be
+supposed that modern culture had at last triumphed in its struggle with
+the turbulent habits of the great city of disorder, and that the latter
+was tasting the delights of a lasting peace. So true is this that
+Caballuco himself, one of the most important figures of the historic
+rebellion of Orbajosa, said frankly to every one that he did not wish
+to quarrel with the Government nor involve himself in a business which
+might cost him dear.
+
+Whatever may be said to the contrary, the impetuous nature of Ramos had
+quieted down with years, and the fiery temper which he had received with
+life from the ancestral Caballucos, the most valiant race of warriors
+that had ever desolated the earth, had grown cooler. It is also related
+that in those days the new governor of the province held a conference
+with this important personage, and received from his lips the most
+solemn assurances that he would contribute as far as in him lay to the
+tranquillity of the country, and would avoid doing any thing that might
+give rise to disturbances. Reliable witnesses declare that he was to be
+seen in friendly companionship with the soldiers, hobnobbing with
+this sergeant or the other in the tavern, and it was even said that an
+important position in the town-hall of the capital of the province was
+to be given him. How difficult it is for the historian who tries to be
+impartial to arrive at the exact truth in regard to the sentiments and
+opinions of the illustrious personages who have filled the world
+with their fame! He does not know what to hold by, and the absence of
+authentic records often gives rise to lamentable mistakes. Considering
+events of such transcendent importance as that of the 18th Brumaire, the
+sack of Rome by Bourbon, or the destruction of Jerusalem--where is the
+psychologist or the historian who would be able to determine what were
+the thoughts which preceded or followed them in the minds of Bonaparte,
+of Charles V., and of Titus? Ours is an immense responsibility. To
+discharge it in part we will report words, phrases, and even discourses
+of the Orbajosan emperor himself; and in this way every one will be able
+to form the opinion which may seem to him most correct.
+
+It is beyond a doubt that Cristobal Ramos left his house just after
+dark, crossed the Calle del Condestable, and, seeing three countrymen
+mounted on powerful mules coming toward him, asked them where they
+were going, to which they answered that they were going to Senora Dona
+Perfecta's house to take her some of the first fruits of their gardens
+and a part of the rent that had fallen due. They were Senor Paso Largo,
+a young man named Frasquito Gonzales, and a third, a man of medium
+stature and robust make, who was called Vejarruco, although his real
+name was Jose Esteban Romero. Caballuco turned back, tempted by the
+agreeable society of these persons, who were old and intimate friends
+of his, and accompanied them to Dona Perfecta's house. This took place,
+according to the most reliable accounts, at nightfall, and two days
+after the day on which Dona Perfecta and Pinzon held the conversation
+which those who have read the preceding chapter will have seen recorded
+there. The great Ramos stopped for a moment to give Librada certain
+messages of trifling importance, which a neighbor had confided to his
+good memory, and when he entered the dining-room he found the three
+before-mentioned countrymen and Senor Licurgo, who by a singular
+coincidence was also there, conversing about domestic matters and the
+crops. The Senora was in a detestable humor; she found fault with every
+thing, and scolded them harshly for the drought of the heavens and the
+barrenness of the earth, phenomena for which they, poor men! were in
+no wise to blame. The Penitentiary was also present. When Caballuco
+entered, the good canon saluted him affectionately and motioned him to a
+seat beside himself.
+
+"Here is the individual," said the mistress of the house disdainfully.
+"It seems impossible that a man of such little account should be so much
+talked about. Tell me, Caballuco, is it true that one of the soldiers
+slapped you on the face this morning?"
+
+"Me! me!" said the Centaur, rising indignantly, as if he had received
+the grossest insult.
+
+"That is what they say," said Dona Perfecta. "Is it not true? I believed
+it; for any one who thinks so little of himself--they might spit in
+your face and you would think yourself honored with the saliva of the
+soldiers."
+
+"Senora!" vociferated Ramos with energy, "saving the respect which I
+owe you, who are my mother, my mistress, my queen--saving the respect,
+I say, which I owe to the person who has given me all that I
+possess--saving the respect--"
+
+"Well? One would think you were going to say something."
+
+"I say then, that saving the respect, that about the slap is a slander,"
+he ended, expressing himself with extraordinary difficulty. "My affairs
+are in every one's mouth--whether I come in or whether I go out, where
+I am going and where I have come from--and why? All because they want
+to make me a tool to raise the country. Pedro is contented in his own
+house, ladies and gentlemen. The troops have come? Bad! but what are we
+going to do about it? The alcalde and the secretary and the judge have
+been removed from office? Very bad! I wish the very stones of Orbajosa
+might rise up against them; but I have given my word to the governor,
+and up to the present---"
+
+He scratched his head, gathered his gloomy brows in a frown, and with
+ever-increasing difficulty of speech continued:
+
+"I may be brutal, disagreeable, ignorant, quarrelsome, obstinate, and
+every thing else you choose, but in honor I yield to no one."
+
+"What a pity of the Cid Campeador!" said Dona Perfecta contemptuously.
+"Don't you agree with me, Senor Penitentiary, that there is not a single
+man left in Orbajosa who has any shame in him?"
+
+"That is a serious view to take of the case," responded the capitular,
+without looking at his friend, or removing from his chin the hand on
+which he rested his thoughtful face; "but I think this neighborhood has
+accepted with excessive submission the heavy yoke of militarism."
+
+Licurgo and the three countrymen laughed boisterously.
+
+"When the soldiers and the new authorities," said Dona Perfecta, "have
+taken from us our last real, when the town has been disgraced, we will
+send all the valiant men of Orbajosa in a glass case to Madrid to be put
+in the museum there or exhibited in the streets."
+
+"Long life to the mistress!" cried the man called Vejarruco
+demonstratively. "What she says is like gold. It won't be said on my
+account that there are no brave men here, for if I am not with the
+Aceros it is only because I have a wife and three children, and if any
+thing was to happen--if it wasn't for that--"
+
+"But haven't you given your word to the governor, too?" said Dona
+Perfecta.
+
+"To the governor?" cried the man named Frasquito Gonzalez. "There is not
+in the whole country a scoundrel who better deserves a bullet. Governor
+and Government, they are all of a piece. Last Sunday the priest said so
+many rousing things in his sermon about the heresies and the profanities
+of the people of Madrid--oh! it was worth while hearing him! Finally, he
+shouted out in the pulpit that religion had no longer any defenders."
+
+"Here is the great Cristobal Ramos!" said Dona Perfecta, clapping the
+Centaur on the back. "He mounts his horse and rides about in the Plaza
+and up and down the high-road to attract the attention of the soldiers;
+when they see him they are terrified at the fierce appearance of the
+hero, and they all run away, half-dead with fright."
+
+Dona Perfecta ended with an exaggerated laugh, which the profound
+silence of her hearers made still more irritating. Caballuco was pale.
+
+"Senor Paso Largo," continued the lady, becoming serious, "when you go
+home to-night, send me your son Bartolome to stay here. I need to have
+brave people in the house; and even with that it may very well happen
+that, some fine morning, my daughter and myself will be found murdered
+in our beds."
+
+"Senora!" exclaimed every one.
+
+"Senora!" cried Caballuco, rising to his feet, "is that a jest, or what
+is it?"
+
+"Senor Vejarruco, Senor Paso Largo," continued Dona Perfecta, without
+looking at the bravo of the place, "I am not safe in my own house. No
+one in Orbajosa is, and least of all, I. I live with my heart in my
+mouth. I cannot close my eyes in the whole night."
+
+"But who, who would dare----"
+
+"Come," exclaimed Licurgo with fire, "I, old and sick as I am, would be
+capable of fighting the whole Spanish army if a hair of the mistress'
+head should be touched!"
+
+"Senor Caballuco," said Frasquito Gonzalez, "will be enough and more
+than enough."
+
+"Oh, no," responded Dona Perfecta, with cruel sarcasm, "don't you see
+that Ramos has given his word to the governor?"
+
+Caballuco sat down again, and, crossing one leg over the other, clasped
+his hands on them.
+
+"A coward will be enough for me," continued the mistress of the house
+implacably, "provided he has not given his word to any one. Perhaps I
+may come to see my house assaulted, my darling daughter torn from my
+arms, myself trampled under foot and insulted in the vilest manner----"
+
+She was unable to continue. Her voice died away in her throat, and she
+burst into tears.
+
+"Senora, for Heaven's sake calm yourself! Come, there is no cause yet!"
+said Don Inocencio hastily, and manifesting the greatest distress in his
+voice and his countenance. "Besides, we must have a little resignation
+and bear patiently the calamities which God sends us."
+
+"But who, senora, who would dare to commit such outrages?" asked one
+of the four countrymen. "Orbajosa would rise as one man to defend the
+mistress."
+
+"But who, who would do it?" they all repeated.
+
+"There, don't trouble yourselves asking useless questions," said the
+Penitentiary officiously. "You may go."
+
+"No, no, let them stay," said Dona Perfecta quickly, drying her tears.
+"The company of my loyal servants is a great consolation to me."
+
+"May my race be accursed!" said Uncle Licurgo, striking his knee with
+his clenched hand, "if all this mess is not the work of the mistress'
+own nephew."
+
+"Of Don Juan Rey's son?"
+
+"From the moment I first set eyes on him at the station at
+Villahorrenda, and he spoke to me with his honeyed voice and his mincing
+manners," declared Licurgo, "I thought him a great--I will not say what,
+through respect for the mistress. But I knew him--I put my mark upon him
+from that moment, and I make no mistakes. A thread shows what the ball
+is, as the saying goes; a sample tells what the cloth is, and a claw
+what the lion is."
+
+"Let no one speak ill of that unhappy young man in my presence," said
+Senora de Polentinos severely. "No matter how great his faults may be,
+charity forbids our speaking of them and giving them publicity."
+
+"But charity," said Don Inocencio, with some energy, "does not forbid us
+protecting ourselves against the wicked, and that is what the question
+is. Since character and courage have sunk so low in unhappy Orbajosa;
+since our town appears disposed to hold up its face to be spat upon by
+half a dozen soldiers and a corporal, let us find protection in union
+among ourselves."
+
+"I will protect myself in whatever way I can," said Dona Perfecta
+resignedly, clasping her hands. "God's will be done!"
+
+"Such a stir about nothing! By the Lord! In this house they are all
+afraid of their shadows," exclaimed Caballuco, half seriously, half
+jestingly. "One would think this Don Pepito was a legion of devils.
+Don't be frightened, senora. My little nephew Juan, who is thirteen,
+will guard the house, and we shall see, nephew for nephew, which is the
+best man."
+
+"We all know already what your boasting and bragging signify," replied
+Dona Perfecta. "Poor Ramos! You want to pretend to be very brave when we
+have already had proof that you are not worth any thing."
+
+Ramos turned slightly pale, while he fixed on Dona Perfecta a strange
+look in which terror and respect were blended.
+
+"Yes, man; don't look at me in that way. You know already that I am not
+afraid of bugaboos. Do you want me to speak plainly to you now? Well,
+you are a coward."
+
+Ramos, moving about restlessly in his chair, like one who is troubled
+with the itch, seemed greatly disturbed. His nostrils expelled and drew
+in the air, like those of a horse. Within that massive frame a storm
+of rage and fury, roaring and destroying, struggled to escape. After
+stammering a few words and muttering others under his breath, he rose to
+his feet and bellowed:
+
+"I will cut off the head of Senor Rey!"
+
+"What folly! You are as brutal as you are cowardly," said Dona Perfecta,
+turning pale. "Why do you talk about killing? I want no one killed, much
+less my nephew--a person whom I love, in spite of his wickedness."
+
+"A homicide! What an atrocity!" exclaimed Don Inocencio, scandalized.
+"The man is mad!"
+
+"To kill! The very idea of killing a man horrifies me, Caballuco," said
+Dona Perfecta, closing her mild eyes. "Poor man! Ever since you have
+been wanting to show your bravery, you have been howling like a ravening
+wolf. Go away, Ramos; you terrify me."
+
+"Doesn't the mistress say she is afraid? Doesn't she say that they will
+attack the house; that they will carry off the young lady?"
+
+"Yes, I fear so."
+
+"And one man is going to do that," said Ramos contemptuously, sitting
+down again, "Don Pepe Poquita Cosa, with his mathematics, is going to do
+that. I did wrong in saying I would slit his throat. A doll of that kind
+one takes by the ear and ducks in the river."
+
+"Yes, laugh now, you fool! It is not my nephew alone who is going to
+commit the outrages you have mentioned and which I fear; if it were he
+alone I should not fear him. I would tell Librada to stand at the door
+with a broom--and that would be sufficient. It is not he alone, no!"
+
+"Who then?"
+
+"Pretend you don't understand! Don't you know that my nephew and the
+brigadier who commands that accursed troop have been confabulating?"
+
+"Confabulating!" repeated Caballuco, as if puzzled by the word.
+
+"That they are bosom friends," said Licurgo. "Confabulate means to be
+like bosom friends. I had my suspicions already of what the mistress
+says."
+
+"It all amounts to this--that the brigadier and the officers are hand
+and glove with Don Jose, and what he wants those brave soldiers
+want; and those brave soldiers will commit all kinds of outrages and
+atrocities, because that is their trade."
+
+"And we have no alcalde to protect us."
+
+"Nor judge."
+
+"Nor governor. That is to say that we are at the mercy of that infamous
+rabble."
+
+"Yesterday," said Vejarruco, "some soldiers enticed away Uncle Julian's
+youngest daughter, and the poor thing was afraid to go back home;
+they found her standing barefooted beside the old fountain, crying and
+picking up the pieces of her broken jar."
+
+"Poor Don Gregorio Palomeque, the notary of Naharilla Alta!" said
+Frasquito. "Those rascals robbed him of all the money he had in his
+house. And all the brigadier said, when he was told about it, was it was
+a lie."
+
+"Tyrants! greater tyrants were never born," said the other. "When I say
+that it is through punctilio that I am not with the Aceros!"
+
+"And what news is there of Francisco Acero?" asked Dona Perfecta gently.
+"I should be sorry if any mischance were to happen to him. Tell me, Don
+Inocencio, was not Francisco Acero born in Orbajosa?"
+
+"No; he and his brother are from Villajuan."
+
+"I am sorry for it, for Orbajosa's sake," said Dona Perfecta. "This poor
+city has fallen into misfortune. Do you know if Francisco Acero gave
+his word to the governor not to trouble the poor soldiers in their
+abductions, in their impious deeds, in their sacrilegious acts, in their
+villanies?"
+
+Caballuco sprang from his chair. He felt himself now not stung, but
+cut to the quick by a cruel stroke, like that of a sabre. With his face
+burning and his eyes flashing fire he cried:
+
+"I gave my word to the governor because the governor told me that they
+had come for a good purpose."
+
+"Barbarian, don't shout! Speak like other people, and we will listen to
+you."
+
+"I promised that neither I nor any of my friends would raise guerillas
+in the neighborhood of Orbajosa. To those who wanted to take up arms
+because they were itching to fight I said: 'Go to the Aceros, for here
+we won't stir.' But I have a good many honest men, yes, senora; and true
+men, yes, senora; and valiant men, yes, senora; scattered about in the
+hamlets and villages and in the suburbs and the mountains, each in his
+own house, eh? And so soon as I say a quarter of a word to them, eh?
+they will be taking down their guns, eh? and setting out on horseback
+or on foot, for whatever place I tell them. And don't keep harping on
+words, for if I gave my word it was because I don't wish to fight; and
+if I want guerillas there will be guerillas; and if I don't there won't,
+for I am who I am, the same man that I always was, as every one knows
+very well. And I say again don't keep harping on words, eh? and don't
+let people say one thing to me when they mean another, eh? and if people
+want me to fight, let them say so plainly, eh? for that is what God has
+given us tongues for, to say this thing or that. The mistress knows very
+well who I am, as I know that I owe to her the shirt on my back, and the
+bread I eat to-day, and the first pea I sucked after I was weaned, and
+the coffin in which my father was buried when he died, and the medicines
+and the doctor that cured me when I was sick; and the mistress knows
+very well that if she says to me, 'Caballuco, break your head,' I will
+go there to the corner and dash it against the wall; the mistress knows
+very well that if she tells me now that it is day, although I see that
+it is night, I will believe that I am mistaken, and that it is broad
+day; the mistress knows very well that she and her interests are for me
+before my own life, and that if a mosquito stings her in my presence, I
+pardon it, because it is a mosquito; the mistress knows very well that
+she is dearer to me than all there is besides under the sun. To a man
+of heart like me one says, 'Caballuco, you stupid fellow, do this or do
+that.' And let there be an end to sarcasms, and beating about the bush,
+and preaching one thing and meaning another, and a stab here and a pinch
+there."
+
+"There, man, calm yourself," said Dona Perfecta kindly. "You have worked
+yourself into a heat like those republican orators who came here to
+preach free religion, free love, and I don't know how many other free
+things. Let them bring you a glass of water."
+
+Caballuco, twisting his handkerchief into a ball, wiped with it his
+broad forehead and his neck, which were bathed in perspiration. A glass
+of water was brought to him and the worthy canon, with a humility that
+was in perfect keeping with his sacerdotal character, took it from the
+servant's hand to give it to him himself, and held the plate while he
+drank. Caballuco gulped down the water noisily.
+
+"Now bring another glass for me, Senora Librada," said Don Inocencio. "I
+have a little fire inside me too."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+"DESPERTA!"
+
+"With regard to the guerillas," said Dona Perfecta, when they had
+finished drinking, "all I will say is--do as your conscience dictates to
+you."
+
+"I know nothing about dictations," cried Ramos. "I will do whatever the
+mistress pleases!"
+
+"I can give you no advice on so important a matter," answered Dona
+Perfecta with the cautiousness and moderation which so well became her.
+"This is a very serious business, and I can give you no advice about
+it."
+
+"But your opinion----"
+
+"My opinion is that you should open your eyes and see, that you should
+open your ears and hear. Consult your own heart--I will grant that you
+have a great heart. Consult that judge, that wise counsellor, and do as
+it bids you."
+
+Caballuco reflected; he meditated as much as a sword can meditate.
+
+"We counted ourselves yesterday in Naharilla Alta," said Vejarruco,
+"and we were thirteen--ready for any little undertaking. But as we were
+afraid the mistress might be vexed, we did nothing. It is time now for
+the shearing."
+
+"Don't mind about the shearing," said Dona Perfecta. "There will be time
+enough for it. It won't be left undone for that."
+
+"My two boys quarrelled with each other yesterday," said Licurgo,
+"because one of them wanted to join Francisco Acero and the other
+didn't. 'Easy, boys, easy,' I said to them; 'all in good time. Wait; we
+know how to fight here as well as they do anywhere else.'"
+
+"Last night," said Uncle Paso Largo, "Roque Pelosmalos told me that the
+moment Senor Ramos said half a word they would all be ready, with their
+arms in their hands. What a pity that the two Burguillos brothers went
+to work in the fields in Lugarnoble!"
+
+"Go for them you," said the mistress quickly. "Senor Lucas, do you
+provide Uncle Paso Largo with a horse."
+
+"And if the mistress tells me to do so, and Senor Ramos agrees," said
+Frasquito Gonzalez, "I will go to Villahorrenda to see if Robustiano,
+the forester, and his brother Pedro will also--"
+
+"I think that is a good idea. Robustiano will not venture to come to
+Orbajosa, because he owes me a trifle. You can tell him that I forgive
+him the six dollars and a half. These poor people who sacrifice
+themselves with so little. Is it not so, Senor Don Inocencio?"
+
+"Our good Ramos here tells me," answered the canon, "that his friends
+are displeased with him for his lukewarmness; but that, as soon as they
+see that he has decided, they will all put the cartridge-box in their
+belts."
+
+"What, have you decided to take to the roads?" said the mistress. "I
+have not advised you to do any such thing, and if you do it, it is of
+your own free-will. Neither has Senor Don Inocencio said a word to you
+to that effect. But if that is your decision, you have no doubt strong
+reasons for coming to it. Tell me, Cristobal, will you have some supper?
+Will you take something--speak frankly."
+
+"As far as my advising Senor Ramos to take the field is concerned,"
+said Don Inocencio, looking over his spectacles, "Dona Perfecta is quite
+right. I, as an ecclesiastic, could advise nothing of the kind. I know
+that some priests do so, and even themselves take up arms; but that
+seems to me improper, very improper, and I for one will not follow their
+example. I carry my scrupulosity so far as not to say a word to Senor
+Ramos about the delicate question of his taking up arms. I know that
+Orbajosa desires it; I know that all the inhabitants of this noble city
+would bless him for it; I know that deeds are going to be done here
+worthy of being recorded in history; but notwithstanding, let me be
+allowed to maintain a discreet silence."
+
+"Very well said," said Dona Perfecta. "I don't approve of ecclesiastics
+taking any part in such matters. That is the way an enlightened priest
+ought to act. Of course we know that on serious and solemn occasions, as
+when our country and our faith are in danger, for instance, it is within
+the province of an ecclesiastic to incite men to the conflict and even
+to take a part in it. Since God himself has taken part in celebrated
+battles, under the form of angels and saints, his ministers may very
+well do so also. During the wars against the infidels how many bishops
+headed the Castilian troops!"
+
+"A great many, and some of them were illustrious warriors. But these
+times are not like those senora. It is true that, if we examine the
+matter closely, the faith is in greater danger now than it was then.
+For what do the troops that occupy our city and the surrounding villages
+represent? What do they represent? Are they any thing else but the vile
+instruments of which the atheists and Protestants who infest Madrid make
+use for their perfidious conquests and the extermination of the faith?
+In that centre of corruption, of scandal, of irreligion and unbelief,
+a few malignant men, bought by foreign gold, occupy themselves in
+destroying in our Spain the deeds of faith. Why, what do you suppose?
+They allow us to say mass and you to hear it through the remnant of
+consideration, for shame's sake--but, the day least expected--For my
+part, I am tranquil. I am not a man to disturb myself about any worldly
+and temporal interest. Dona Perfecta is well aware of that; all who know
+me are aware of it. My mind is at rest, and the triumph of the wicked
+does not terrify me. I know well that terrible days are in store for us;
+that all of us who wear the sacerdotal garb have our lives hanging by
+a hair, for Spain, doubt it not, will witness scenes like those of the
+French Revolution, in which thousands of pious ecclesiastics perished
+in a single day. But I am not troubled. When the hour to kill strikes, I
+will present my neck. I have lived long enough. Of what use am I? None,
+none!"
+
+"May I be devoured by dogs," exclaimed Vejarruco, shaking his fist,
+which had all the hardness and the strength of a hammer, "if we do not
+soon make an end of that thievish rabble!"
+
+"They say that next week they will begin to pull down the cathedral,"
+observed Frasquito.
+
+"I suppose they will pull it down with pickaxes and hammers," said the
+canon, smiling. "There are artificers who, without those implements, can
+build more rapidly than they can pull down. You all know that, according
+to holy tradition, our beautiful chapel of the Sagrario was pulled down
+by the Moors in a month, and immediately afterward rebuilt by the angels
+in a single night. Let them pull it down; let them pull it down!"
+
+"In Madrid, as the curate of Naharilla told us the other night," said
+Vejarruco, "there are so few churches left standing that some of the
+priests say mass in the middle of the street, and as they are beaten and
+insulted and spat upon, there are many who don't wish to say it."
+
+"Fortunately here, my children," observed Don Inocencio, "we have not
+yet had scenes of that nature. Why? Because they know what kind of
+people you are; because they have heard of your ardent piety and your
+valor. I don't envy the first ones who lay hands on our priests and our
+religion. Of course it is not necessary to say that, if they are not
+stopped in time, they will commit atrocities. Poor Spain, so holy and so
+meek and so good! Who would have believed she would ever arrive at such
+extremities! But I maintain that impiety will not triumph, no. There are
+courageous people still; there are people still like those of old. Am I
+not right, Senor Ramos?"
+
+"Yes, senor, that there are," answered the latter.
+
+"I have a blind faith in the triumph of the law of God. Some one must
+stand up in defence of it. If not one, it will be another. The palm of
+victory, and with it eternal glory, some one must bear. The wicked will
+perish, if not to-day, to-morrow. That which goes against the law of
+God will fall irremediably. Let it be in this manner or in that, fall it
+must. Neither its sophistries, nor its evasions, nor its artifices will
+save it. The hand of God is raised against it and will infallibly
+strike it. Let us pity them and desire their repentance. As for you, my
+children, do not expect that I shall say a word to you about the step
+which you are no doubt going to take. I know that you are good; I know
+that your generous determination and the noble end which you have in
+view will wash away from you all the stain of the sin of shedding blood.
+I know that God will bless you; that your victory, the same as your
+death, will exalt you in the eyes of men and in the eyes of God. I know
+that you deserve palms and glory and all sorts of honors; but in spite
+of this, my children, my lips will not incite you to the combat. They
+have never done it, and they will not do it now. Act according to the
+impulse of your own noble hearts. If they bid you to remain in your
+houses, remain in them; if they bid you to leave them--why, then, leave
+them. I will resign myself to be a martyr and to bow my neck to the
+executioner, if that vile army remains here. But if a noble and ardent
+and pious impulse of the sons of Orbajosa contributes to the great
+work of the extirpation of our country's ills, I shall hold myself the
+happiest of men, solely in being your fellow-townsman; and all my
+life of study, of penitence, of resignation, will seem to me less
+meritorious, less deserving of heaven, than a single one of your heroic
+days."
+
+"Impossible to say more or to say it better!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta,
+in a burst of enthusiasm.
+
+Caballuco had leaned forward in his chair and was resting his elbows
+on his knees; when the canon ended he took his hand and kissed it with
+fervor.
+
+"A better man was never born," said Uncle Licurgo, wiping, or pretending
+to wipe away a tear.
+
+"Long life to the Senor Penitentiary!" cried Frasquito Gonzalez, rising
+to his feet and throwing his cap up to the ceiling.
+
+"Silence!" said Dona Perfecta. "Sit down, Frasquito! You are one of
+those with whom it is always much cry and little wool."
+
+"Blessed be God who gave you that eloquent tongue!" exclaimed Cristobal,
+inflamed with admiration. "What a pair I have before me! While these two
+live what need is there of any one else? All the people in Spain ought
+to be like them. But how could that be, when there is nothing in it but
+roguery! In Madrid, which is the capital where the law and the mandarins
+come from, every thing is robbery and cheating. Poor religion, what a
+state they have brought it to! There is nothing to be seen but crimes.
+Senor Don Inocencio, Senora Dona Perfecta, by my father's soul, by the
+soul of my grandfather, by the salvation of my own soul, I swear that I
+wish to die!"
+
+"To die!"
+
+"That I wish those rascally dogs may kill me, and I say that I wish they
+may kill me, because I cannot cut them in quarters. I am very little."
+
+"Ramos, you are great," said Dona Perfecta solemnly.
+
+"Great? Great? Very great, as far as my courage is concerned; but have I
+fortresses, have I cavalry, have I artillery?"
+
+"That is a thing, Ramos," said Dona Perfecta, smiling, "about which I
+would not concern myself. Has not the enemy what you lack?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Take it from him, then."
+
+"We will take it from him, yes, senora. When I say that we will take it
+from him--"
+
+"My dear Ramos," exclaimed Don Inocencio, "yours is an enviable
+position. To distinguish yourself, to raise yourself above the base
+multitude, to put yourself on an equality with the greatest heroes of
+the earth, to be able to say that the hand of God guides your hand--oh,
+what grandeur and honor! My friend, this is not flattery. What dignity,
+what nobleness, what magnanimity! No; men of such a temper cannot die.
+The Lord goes with them, and the bullet and the steel of the enemy are
+arrested in their course; they do not dare--how should they dare--to
+touch them, coming from the musket and the hand of heretics? Dear
+Caballuco, seeing you, seeing your bravery and your nobility, there come
+to my mind involuntarily the verses of that ballad on the conquest of
+the Empire of Trebizond:
+
+     "'Came the valiant Roland
+     Armed at every point,
+     On his war-horse mounted,
+     The gallant Briador;
+     His good sword Durlindana
+     Girded to his side,
+     Couched for the attack his lance,
+     On his arm his buckler stout,
+     Through his helmet's visor
+     Flashing fire he came;
+     Quivering like a slender reed
+     Shaken by the wind his lance,
+     And all the host united
+     Defying haughtily.'"
+
+"Very good," exclaimed Licurgo, clapping his hands. "And I say like Don
+Renialdos:
+
+     "'Let none the wrath of Don Renialdos
+     Dare brave and hope to escape unscathed;
+     For he who seeks with him a quarrel,
+     Shall pay so dearly for his rashness
+     That he, and all his cause who champion,
+     Shall at my hand or meet destruction
+     Or chastisement severe shall suffer.'"
+
+"Ramos, you will take some supper, you will eat something; won't you?"
+said the mistress of the house.
+
+"Nothing, nothing;" answered the Centaur. "Or if you give me any thing,
+let it be a plate of gunpowder."
+
+And bursting into a boisterous laugh, he walked up and down the room
+several times, attentively observed by every one; then, stopping beside
+the group, he looked fixedly at Dona Perfecta and thundered forth these
+words:
+
+"I say that there is nothing more to be said. Long live Orbajosa! death
+to Madrid!"
+
+And he brought his hand down on the table with such violence that the
+floor shook.
+
+"What a valiant spirit!" said Don Inocencio.
+
+"What a fist you have!"
+
+Every one was looking at the table, which had been split in two by the
+blow.
+
+Then they looked at the never-enough-to-be-admired Renialdos or
+Caballuco. Undoubtedly there was in his handsome countenance, in his
+green eyes animated by a strange, feline glow, in his black hair, in his
+herculean frame, a certain expression and air of grandeur--a trace, or
+rather a memory, of the grand races that dominated the world. But his
+general aspect was one of pitiable degeneration, and it was difficult to
+discover the noble and heroic filiation in the brutality of the present.
+He resembled Don Cayetano's great men as the mule resembles the horse.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+MYSTERY
+
+The conference lasted for some time longer, but we omit what followed as
+not being necessary to a clear understanding of our story. At last they
+separated, Senor Don Inocencio remaining to the last, as usual. Before
+the canon and Dona Perfecta had had time to exchange a word, an elderly
+woman, Dona Perfecta's confidential servant and her right hand, entered
+the dining-room, and her mistress, seeing that she looked disturbed and
+anxious, was at once filled with disquietude, suspecting that something
+wrong was going on in the house.
+
+"I can't find the senorita anywhere," said the servant, in answer to her
+mistress' questions.
+
+"Good Heavens--Rosario! Where is my daughter?"
+
+"Virgin of Succor protect us!" cried the Penitentiary, taking up his hat
+and preparing to hurry out with Dona Perfecta.
+
+"Search for her well. But was she not with you in her room?"
+
+"Yes, senora," answered the old woman, trembling, "but the devil tempted
+me, and I fell asleep."
+
+"A curse upon your sleep! What is this? Rosario, Rosario! Librada!"
+
+They went upstairs and came down again, they went up a second time
+and came down again; carrying a light and looking carefully in all the
+rooms. At last the voice of the Penitentiary was heard saying joyfully
+from the stairs:
+
+"Here she is, here she is! She has been found."
+
+A moment later mother and daughter were standing face to face in the
+hall.
+
+"Where were you?" asked Dona Perfecta, in a severe voice, scrutinizing
+her daughter's face closely.
+
+"In the garden," answered the girl, more dead than alive.
+
+"In the garden at this hour? Rosario!"
+
+"I was warm, I went to the window, my handkerchief dropped out, and I
+came down stairs for it!"
+
+"Why didn't you ask Librada to get it for you? Librada! Where is that
+girl? Has she fallen asleep too?"
+
+Librada at last made her appearance. Her pale face revealed the
+consternation and the apprehension of the delinquent.
+
+"What is this? Where were you?" asked her mistress, with terrible anger.
+
+"Why, senora, I came down stairs to get the clothes out of the front
+room--and I fell asleep."
+
+"Every one here seems to have fallen asleep to-night. Some of you, I
+fancy, will not sleep in my house to-morrow night. Rosario, you may go."
+
+Comprehending that it was necessary to act with promptness and energy,
+Dona Perfecta and the canon began their investigations without delay.
+Questions, threats, entreaties, promises, were skilfully employed to
+discover the truth regarding what had happened. Not even the shadow
+of guilt was found to attach to the old servant; but Librada confessed
+frankly between tears and sighs all her delinquencies, which we will sum
+up as follows:
+
+Shortly after his arrival in the house Senor Pinzon had begun to cast
+loving glances at Senorita Rosario. He had given money to Librada,
+according to what the latter said, to carry messages and love-letters to
+her. The young lady had not seemed angry, but, on the contrary, pleased,
+and several days had passed in this manner. Finally, the servant
+declared that Rosario and Senor Pinzon had agreed to meet and talk with
+each other on this night at the window of the room of the latter, which
+opened on the garden. They had confided their design to the maid, who
+promised to favor it, in consideration of a sum which was at once given
+her. It had been agreed that Senor Pinzon was to leave the house at his
+usual hour and return to it secretly at nine o'clock, go to his room,
+and leave it and the house again, clandestinely also, a little later,
+to return, without concealment, at his usual late hour. In this way no
+suspicion would fall upon him. Librada had waited for Pinzon, who had
+entered the house closely enveloped in his cloak, without speaking a
+word. He had gone to his room at the same moment in which the young
+lady descended to the garden. During the interview, at which she was not
+present, Librada had remained on guard in the hall to warn Pinzon, if
+any danger should threaten; and at the end of an hour the latter had
+left the house enveloped in his cloak, as before, and without speaking
+a word. When the confession was ended Don Inocencio said to the wretched
+girl:
+
+"Are you sure that the person who came into and went out of the house
+was Senor Pinzon?"
+
+The culprit answered nothing, but her features expressed the utmost
+perplexity.
+
+Her mistress turned green with anger.
+
+"Did you see his face?"
+
+"But who else could it be but he?" answered the maid. "I am certain that
+it was he. He went straight to his room--he knew the way to it perfectly
+well."
+
+"It is strange," said the canon. "Living in the house there was no
+need for him to use such mystery. He might have pretended illness and
+remained in the house. Does it not seem so to you, senora?"
+
+"Librada," exclaimed the latter, in a paroxysm of anger, "I vow that you
+shall go to prison."
+
+And clasping her hands, she dug the nails of the one into the other with
+such force as almost to draw blood.
+
+"Senor Don Inocencio," she exclaimed, "let us die--there is no remedy
+but to die."
+
+Then she burst into a fit of inconsolable weeping.
+
+"Courage, senora," said the priest, in a moved voice. "Courage--now it
+is necessary to be very brave. This requires calmness and a great deal
+of courage.
+
+"Mine is immense," said Senora de Polentinos, in the midst of her sobs.
+
+"Mine is very small," said the canon; "but we shall see, we shall see."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE CONFESSION
+
+Meanwhile Rosario--with her heart torn and bleeding, unable to shed
+tears, unable to be at peace or rest, transpierced by grief as by a
+sharp sword, with her thoughts passing swiftly from the world to God and
+from God to the world, bewildered and half-crazed, her hands clasped,
+her bare feet resting on the floor--was kneeling, late in the evening,
+in her own room, beside her bed, on the edge of which she rested her
+burning forehead, in darkness, in solitude, and in silence. She was
+careful not to make the slightest noise, in order not to attract the
+attention of her mother, who was asleep, or seemed to be asleep, in the
+adjoining room. She lifted up her distracted thoughts to Heaven in this
+form:
+
+"Lord, my God, why is it that before I did not know how to lie, and now
+I know? Why did I not know before how to deceive, and now I deceive? Am
+I a vile woman? Is this that I feel, is this that is happening to me,
+a fall from which there can be no arising? Have I ceased to be virtuous
+and good? I do not recognize myself. Is it I or is it some one else
+who is in this place? How many terrible things in a few days! How many
+different sensations! My heart is consumed with all it has felt. Lord,
+my God, dost thou hear my voice, or am I condemned to pray eternally
+without being heard? I am good, nothing will convince me that I am not
+good. To love, to love boundlessly, is that wickedness? But no--it is
+no illusion, no error--I am worse than the worst woman on earth. A great
+serpent is within me, and has fastened his poisonous fangs in my heart.
+What is this that I feel? My God, why dost thou not kill me? Why dost
+thou not plunge me forever into the depths of hell? It is frightful,
+but I confess it to the priest--I hate my mother. Why is this? I cannot
+explain it to myself. He has not said a word to me against my mother. I
+do not know how this is come to pass. How wicked I am! The demons have
+taken possession of me. Lord, come to my help, for with my own strength
+alone I cannot vanquish myself. A terrible impulse urges me to leave
+this house. I wish to escape, to fly from it. If he does not take me, I
+will drag myself after him through the streets. What divine joy is this
+that mingles in my breast with so cruel a grief? Lord God, my father,
+illumine me. I desire only to love. I was not born for this hatred that
+is consuming me. I was not born to deceive, to lie, to cheat. To-morrow
+I will go out into the streets and cry aloud to all the passers-by: 'I
+love! I hate!' My heart will relieve itself in this way. What happiness
+it would be to be able to reconcile every thing, to love and respect
+every one! May the Most Holy Virgin protect me. Again that terrible
+idea! I don't wish to think it, and I think it. Ah! I cannot deceive
+myself in regard to this. I can neither destroy it nor diminish it--but
+I can confess it; and I confess it, saying to thee: 'Lord, I hate my
+mother!'"
+
+At last she fell into a doze. In her uneasy sleep her imagination
+reproduced in her mind all she had done that night, distorting it,
+without altering it in substance. She heard again the clock of the
+cathedral striking nine; she saw with joy the old servant fall into a
+peaceful sleep; and she left the room very slowly, in order to make no
+noise; she descended the stairs softly, step by step and on tiptoe, in
+order to avoid making the slightest sound. She went into the garden,
+going around through the servants' quarters and the kitchen; in the
+garden she paused for a moment to look up at the sky, which was dark
+and studded with stars. The wind was hushed. Not a breath disturbed
+the profound stillness of the night. It seemed to maintain a fixed and
+silent attention--the attention of eyes that look without winking and
+ears that listen attentively, awaiting a great event. The night was
+watching.
+
+She then approached the glass door of the dining-room and looked
+cautiously through it, from a little distance, fearing that those within
+might perceive her. By the light of the dining-room lamp she saw her
+mother sitting with her back toward her. The Penitentiary was on her
+right, and his profile seemed to undergo a strange transformation, his
+nose grew larger and larger, seeming like the beak of some fabulous
+bird; and his whole face became a black silhouette with angles here and
+there, sharp derisive, irritating. In front of him sat Caballuco, who
+resembled a dragon rather than a man. Rosario could see his green eyes,
+like two lanterns of convex glass. This glow, and the imposing figure
+of the animal, inspired her with fear. Uncle Licurgo and the other three
+men appeared to her imagination like grotesque little figures. She had
+seen somewhere, doubtless in some of the clay figures at the fairs, that
+foolish smile, those coarse faces, that stupid look. The dragon moved
+his arms which, instead of gesticulating, turned round, like the arms of
+a windmill, and the green globes, like the lights of a pharmacy, moved
+from side to side. His glance was blinding. The conversation appeared
+to be interesting. The Penitentiary was flapping his wings. He was a
+presumptuous bird, who tried to fly and could not. His beak lengthened
+itself, twisting round and round. His feathers stood out, as if with
+rage; and then, collecting himself and becoming pacified, he hid his
+bald head under his wings. Then the little clay figures began to move,
+wishing to be persons, and Frasquito Gonzalez was trying to pass for a
+man.
+
+Rosario felt an inexplicable terror, witnessing this friendly
+conference. She went away from the door and advanced, step by step,
+looking around her to see if she was observed. Although she saw no one,
+she fancied that a million eyes were fastened upon her. But suddenly her
+fears and her shame were dispelled. At the window of the room occupied
+by Senor Pinzon appeared a man, dressed in blue; the buttons on his coat
+shone like rows of little lights. She approached. At the same instant
+she felt a pair of arms with galloons lift her up as if she were
+a feather and with a swift movement place her in the room. All was
+changed. Suddenly a crash was heard, a violent blow that shook the house
+to its foundations. Neither knew the cause of the noise. They trembled
+and were silent.
+
+It was the moment in which the dragon had broken the table in the
+dining-room.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+UNFORESEEN EVENTS--A PASSING DISAGREEMENT
+
+The scene changes. We see before us a handsome room, bright, modest,
+gay, comfortable, and surprisingly clean. A fine matting covers the
+floor, and the white walls are covered with good prints of saints and
+some sculptures of doubtful artistic value. The old mahogany of the
+furniture shines with the polish of many Saturday rubbings, and the
+altar, on which a magnificent Virgin, dressed in blue and silver,
+receives domestic worship, is covered with innumerable pretty trifles,
+half sacred, half profane. There are on it, besides, little pictures in
+beads, holy-water fonts, a watch-case with an Agnes Dei, a Palm Sunday
+palm-branch, and not a few odorless artificial flowers. A number of
+oaken bookshelves contain a rich and choice library, in which Horace,
+the Epicurean and Sybarite, stands side by side with the tender Virgil,
+in whose verses we see the heart of the enamored Dido throbbing
+and melting; Ovid the large-nosed, as sublime as he is obscene and
+sycophantic, side by side with Martial, the eloquent and witty vagabond;
+Tibullus the impassioned, with Cicero the grand; the severe Titus Livius
+with the terrible Tacitus, the scourge of the Caesars; Lucretius the
+pantheist; Juvenal, who flayed with his pen; Plautus, who composed
+the best comedies of antiquity while turning a mill-wheel; Seneca the
+philosopher, of whom it is said that the noblest act of his life was his
+death; Quintilian the rhetorician; the immoral Sallust, who speaks so
+eloquently of virtue; the two Plinys; Suetonius and Varro--in a word,
+all the Latin letters from the time when they stammered their first word
+with Livius Andronicus until they exhaled their last sigh with Rutilius.
+
+But while making this unnecessary though rapid enumeration, we have not
+observed that two women have entered the room. It is very early, but
+the Orbajosans are early risers. The birds are singing to burst their
+throats in their cages; the church-bells are ringing for mass, and the
+goats, going from house to house to be milked, are tinkling their bells
+gayly.
+
+The two ladies whom we see in the room that we have described have just
+come back from hearing mass. They are dressed in black, and each of them
+carries in her right hand her little prayer-book, and the rosary twined
+around her fingers.
+
+"Your uncle cannot delay long now," said one of them. "We left him
+beginning mass; but he gets through quickly, and by this time he will
+be in the sacristy, taking off his chasuble. I would have stayed to hear
+him say mass, but to-day is a very busy day for me."
+
+"I heard only the prebendary's mass to-day," said the other, "and he
+says mass in a twinkling; and I don't think it has done me any good, for
+I was greatly preoccupied. I could not get the thought of the terrible
+things that are happening to us out of my head."
+
+"What is to be done? We must only have patience. Let us see what advice
+your uncle will give us."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the other, heaving a deep and pathetic sigh; "I feel my
+blood on fire."
+
+"God will protect us."
+
+"To think that a person like you should be threatened by a ----. And he
+persists in his designs! Last night Senora Dona Perfecta, I went back
+to the widow De Cuzco's hotel, as you told me, and asked her for
+later news. Don Pepito and the brigadier Batalla are always consulting
+together--ah, my God! consulting about their infernal plans, and
+emptying bottle after bottle of wine. They are a pair of rakes, a pair
+of drunkards. No doubt they are plotting some fine piece of villany
+together. As I take such an interest in you, last night, seeing Don
+Pepito having the hotel while I was there, I followed him----"
+
+"And where did you go?"
+
+"To the Casino; yes, senora, to the Casino," responded the other, with
+some confusion. "Afterward he went back to his hotel. And how my uncle
+scolded me because I remained out so late, playing the spy in that way!
+But I can't help it, and to see a person like you threatened by such
+dangers makes me wild. For there is no use in talking; I foresee that
+the day we least expect it those villains will attack the house and
+carry off Rosarito."
+
+Dona Perfecta, for she it was, bending her eyes on the floor, remained
+for a long time wrapped in thought. She was pale, and her brows were
+gathered in a frown. At last she exclaimed:
+
+"Well, I see no way of preventing it!"
+
+"But I see a way," quickly said the other woman, who was the niece of
+the Penitentiary and Jacinto's mother; "I see a very simple way, that
+I explained to you, and that you do not like. Ah, senora! you are
+too good. On occasions like this it is better to be a little less
+perfect--to lay scruples aside. Why, would that be an offence to God?"
+
+"Maria Remedios," said Dona Perfecta haughtily, "don't talk nonsense."
+
+"Nonsense! You, with all your wisdom, cannot make your nephew do as
+you wish. What could be simpler than what I propose? Since there is no
+justice now to protect us, let us do a great act of justice ourselves.
+Are there not men in your house who are ready for any thing? Well, call
+them and say to them: 'Look, Caballuco, Paso Largo,' or whoever it may
+be, 'to-night disguise yourself well, so that you may not be recognized;
+take with you a friend in whom you have confidence, and station yourself
+at the corner of the Calle de Santa Faz. Wait a while, and when Don
+Jose Rey passes through the Calle de la Triperia on his way to
+the Casino,--for he will certainly go to the Casino, understand me
+well,--when he is passing you will spring out on him and give him a
+fright.'"
+
+"Maria Remedios, don't be a fool!" said Dona Perfecta with magisterial
+dignity.
+
+"Nothing more than a fright, senora; attend well to what I say, a
+fright. Why! Do you suppose I would advise a crime? Good God! the very
+idea fills me with horror, and I fancy I can see before my eyes blood
+and fire! Nothing of the sort, senora. A fright--nothing but a fright,
+which will make that ruffian understand that we are well protected. He
+goes alone to the Casino, senora, entirely alone; and there he meets his
+valiant friends, those of the sabre and the helmet. Imagine that he gets
+the fright and that he has a few bones broken, in addition--without any
+serious wounds, of course. Well, in that case, either his courage will
+fail him and he will leave Orbajosa, or he will be obliged to keep his
+bed for a fortnight. But they must be told to make the fright a good
+one. No killing, of course; they must take care of that, but just a good
+beating."
+
+"Maria," said Dona Perfecta haughtily, "you are incapable of a lofty
+thought, of a great and saving resolve. What you advise me is an
+unworthy piece of cowardice."
+
+"Very well, I will be silent. Poor me! what a fool I am!" exclaimed the
+Penitentiary's niece with humility. "I will keep my follies to console
+you after you have lost your daughter."
+
+"My daughter! Lose my daughter!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, with a sudden
+access of rage. "Only to hear you puts me out of my senses. No, they
+shall not take her from me! If Rosario does not abhor that ruffian as I
+wish her to do, she shall abhor him. For a mother's authority must have
+some weight. We will tear this passion, or rather this caprice, from
+her heart, as a tender plant is torn out of the ground before it has
+had time to cast roots. No, this cannot be, Remedios. Come what may,
+it shall not be! Not even the most infamous means he could employ will
+avail that madman. Rather than see her my nephew's wife, I would accept
+any evil that might happen to her, even death!"
+
+"Better dead, better buried and food for worms," affirmed Remedios,
+clasping her hands as if she were saying a prayer--"than see her in the
+power of--ah, senora, do not be offended if I say something to you,
+and that is, that it would be a great weakness to yield merely because
+Rosarito has had a few secret interviews with that audacious man. The
+affair of the night before last, as my uncle related it to me, seems to
+me a vile trick on Don Jose to obtain his object by means of a scandal.
+A great many men do that. Ah, Divine Saviour, I don't know how there are
+women who can look any man in the face unless it be a priest."
+
+"Be silent, be silent!" said Dona Perfecta, with vehemence. "Don't
+mention the occurrence of the night before last to me. What a horrible
+affair! Maria Remedios, I understand now how anger can imperil the
+salvation of a soul. I am burning with rage--unhappy that I am, to see
+such things and not to be a man! But to speak the truth in regard to
+the occurrence of the night before last--I still have my doubts. Librada
+vows and declares that Pinzon was the man who came into the house. My
+daughter denies every thing; my daughter has never told me a lie!
+I persist in my suspicions. I think that Pinzon is a hypocritical
+go-between, but nothing more."
+
+"We come back to the same thing--that the author of all the trouble is
+the blessed mathematician. Ah! my heart did not deceive me when I first
+saw him. Well, then senora! resign yourself to see something still more
+terrible, unless you make up your mind to call Caballuco and say to him,
+'Caballuco, I hope that--'"
+
+"The same thing again; what a simpleton you are!"
+
+"Oh yes! I know I am a great simpleton; but how can I help it if I am
+not any wiser? I say what comes into my head, without any art."
+
+"What you think of--that silly and vulgar idea of the beating and the
+fright--is what would occur to any one. You have not an ounce of brains,
+Remedios; to solve a serious question you can think of nothing better
+than a piece of folly like that. I have thought of a means more worthy
+of noble-minded and well-bred persons. A beating! What stupidity!
+Besides, I would not on any account have my nephew receive even so
+much as a scratch by an order of mine. God will send him his punishment
+through some one of the wonderful ways which he knows how to choose. All
+we have to do is to work in order that the designs of God may find no
+obstacle. Maria Remedios, it is necessary in matters of this kind to go
+directly to the causes of things. But you know nothing about causes--you
+can see only trifles."
+
+"That may be so," said the priest's niece, with humility. "I wonder why
+God made me so foolish that I can understand nothing of those sublime
+ideas!"
+
+"It is necessary to go to the bottom--to the bottom, Remedios. Don't you
+understand yet?"
+
+"No."
+
+"My nephew is not my nephew, woman; he is blasphemy, sacrilege, atheism,
+demagogy. Do you know what demagogy is?"
+
+"Something relating to those people who burned Paris with petroleum;
+and those who pull down the churches and fire on the images. So far I
+understand very well."
+
+"Well, my nephew is all that! Ah! if he were alone in Orbajosa--but no,
+child. My nephew, through a series of fatalities, which are trials, the
+transitory evils that God permits for our chastisement, is equivalent to
+an army; is equivalent to the authority of the government; equivalent to
+the alcalde; equivalent to the judge. My nephew is not my nephew; he
+is the official nation, Remedios--that second nation composed of the
+scoundrels who govern in Madrid, and who have made themselves masters of
+its material strength; of that apparent nation--for the real nation is
+the one that is silent, that pays and suffers; of that fictitious
+nation that signs decrees and pronounces discourses and makes a farce of
+government, and a farce of authority, and a farce of every thing. That
+is what my nephew is to-day; you must accustom yourself to look under
+the surface of things. My nephew is the government, the brigadier, the
+new alcalde, the new judge--for they all protect him, because of the
+unanimity of their ideas; because they are chips of the same block,
+birds of a feather. Understand it well; we must defend ourselves against
+them all, for they are all one, and one is all; we must attack them
+all together; and not by beating a man as he turns a corner, but as our
+forefathers attacked the Moors--the Moors, Remedios. Understand this
+well, child; open your understanding and allow an idea that is
+not vulgar to enter it--rise above yourself; think lofty thoughts,
+Remedios!"
+
+Don Inocencio's niece was struck dumb by so much loftiness of soul. She
+opened her mouth to say something that should be in consonance with so
+sublime an idea, but she only breathed a sigh.
+
+"Like the Moors," repeated Dona Perfecta. "It is a question of Moors and
+Christians. And did you suppose that by giving a fright to my nephew
+all would be ended? How foolish you are! Don't you see that his friends
+support him? Don't you see that you are at the mercy of that rabble?
+Don't you see that any little lieutenant can set fire to my house, if
+he takes it into his head to do so? But don't you know this? Don't you
+comprehend that it is necessary to go to the bottom of things? Don't you
+comprehend how vast, how tremendous is the power of my enemy, who is not
+a man, but a sect? Don't you comprehend that my nephew, as he confronts
+me to-day, is not a calamity, but a plague? Against this plague,
+dear Remedios, we shall have here a battalion sent by God that will
+annihilate the infernal militia from Madrid. I tell you that this is
+going to be great and glorious."
+
+"If it were at last so!"
+
+"But do you doubt it? To-day we shall see terrible things here," said
+Dona Perfecta, with great impatience. "To-day, to-day! What o'clock is
+it? Seven? So late, and nothing has happened!"
+
+"Perhaps my uncle has heard something; he is here now, I hear him coming
+upstairs."
+
+"Thank God!" said Dona Perfecta, rising to receive the Penitentiary. "He
+will have good news for us."
+
+Don Inocencio entered hastily. His altered countenance showed that his
+soul, consecrated to religion and to the study of the classics, was not
+as tranquil as usual.
+
+"Bad news!" he said, laying his hat on a chair and loosening the cords
+of his cloak.
+
+Dona Perfecta turned pale.
+
+"They are arresting people," added Don Inocencio, lowering his voice,
+as if there was a soldier hidden under every chair. "They suspect, no
+doubt, that the people here would not put up with their high-handed
+measures, and they have gone from house to house, arresting all who have
+a reputation for bravery."
+
+Dona Perfecta threw herself into an easy chair and clutched its arms
+convulsively.
+
+"It remains to be seen whether they have allowed themselves to be
+arrested," observed Remedios.
+
+"Many of them have--a great many of them," said Don Inocencio, with an
+approving look, addressing Dona Perfecta, "have had time to escape, and
+have gone with arms and horses to Villahorrenda."
+
+"And Ramos?"
+
+"They told me in the cathedral that he is the one they are looking for
+most eagerly. Oh, my God! to arrest innocent people in that way, who
+have done nothing yet. Well, I don't know how good Spaniards can have
+patience under such treatment. Senora Dona Perfecta, when I was telling
+you about the arrests, I forgot to say that you ought to go home at
+once."
+
+"Yes, I will go at once. Have those bandits searched my house?"
+
+"It is possible. Senora, we have fallen upon evil days," said Don
+Inocencio, in solemn and feeling accents. "May God have pity upon us!"
+
+"There are half a dozen well-armed men in my house," responded the lady,
+greatly agitated. "What iniquity! Would they be capable of wanting to
+carry them off too?"
+
+"Assuredly Senor Pinzon will not have neglected to denounce them.
+Senora, I repeat that we have fallen upon evil days. But God will
+protect the innocent."
+
+"I am going now. Don't fail to stop in at the house."
+
+"Senora, as soon as the lesson is over--though I imagine that with the
+excitement that there is in the town, all the boys will play truant
+to-day----But in any case I will go to the house after class hours.
+I don't wish you to go out alone, senora. Those vagabond soldiers are
+strutting about the streets with such insolent airs. Jacinto, Jacinto!"
+
+"It is not necessary. I will go alone."
+
+"Let Jacinto go with you," said the young man's mother. "He must be up
+by this time."
+
+They heard the hurried footsteps of the little doctor, who was coming
+down the stairs in the greatest haste. He entered the room with flushed
+face and panting for breath.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked his uncle.
+
+"In the Troyas' house," said the young man, "in the house of
+those--those girls--"
+
+"Finish at once!"
+
+"Caballuco is there!"
+
+"Up there? In the house of the Troyas?"
+
+"Yes, senor. He spoke to me from the terrace, and he told me he was
+afraid they were coming there to arrest him."
+
+"Oh, what a fool! That idiot is going to allow himself to be arrested!"
+exclaimed Dona Perfecta, tapping the floor impatiently with her foot.
+
+"He wants to come down and let us hide him in the house."
+
+"Here?"
+
+The canon and his niece exchanged a glance.
+
+"Let him come down!" said Dona Perfecta vehemently.
+
+"Here?" repeated Don Inocencio, with a look of ill-humor.
+
+"Here," answered the lady. "I don't know of any house where he would be
+more secure."
+
+"He can let himself down easily from the window of my room," said
+Jacinto.
+
+"Well, if it is necessary----"
+
+"Maria Remedios," said Dona Perfecta, "if they take that man, all is
+lost."
+
+"I am a fool and a simpleton," answered the canon's niece, laying her
+hand on her breast and stifling the sigh that was doubtless about to
+escape from it; "but they shall not take him."
+
+Dona Perfecta went out quickly, and shortly afterward the Centaur was
+making himself comfortable in the arm-chair in which Don Inocencio was
+accustomed to sit when he was writing his sermons.
+
+We do not know how it reached the ears of Brigadier Batalla, but certain
+it is that this active soldier had had notice that the Orbajosans had
+changed their intentions; and on the morning of this day he had ordered
+the arrest of those whom in our rich insurrectional language we are
+accustomed to call marked. The great Caballuco escaped by a miracle,
+taking refuge in the house of the Troyas, but not thinking himself safe
+there he descended, as we have seen, to the holy and unsuspected mansion
+of the good canon.
+
+At night the soldiers, established at various points of the town, kept
+a strict watch on all who came in and went out, but Ramos succeeded in
+making his escape, cheating or perhaps without cheating the vigilance of
+the military. This filled the measure of the rage of the Orbajosans,
+and numbers of people were conspiring in the hamlets near Villahorrenda;
+meeting at night to disperse in the morning and prepare in this way
+the arduous business of the insurrection. Ramos scoured the surrounding
+country, collecting men and arms; and as the flying columns followed
+the Aceros into the district of Villajuan de Nahara, our chivalrous hero
+made great progress in a very short time.
+
+At night he ventured boldly into Orbajosa, employing stratagems and
+perhaps bribery. His popularity and the protection which he received in
+the town served him, to a certain extent, as a safeguard; and it would
+not be rash to affirm that the soldiers did not manifest toward
+this daring leader of the insurrection the same rigor as toward the
+insignificant men of the place. In Spain, and especially in time of war,
+which is here always demoralizing, these unworthy considerations toward
+the great are often seen, while the little are persecuted pitilessly.
+Favored then by his boldness, by bribery, or by we know not what,
+Caballuco entered Orbajosa, gained new recruits, and collected arms and
+money. Either for the great security of his person or in order to save
+appearances, he did not set foot in his own house; he entered Dona
+Perfecta's only for the purpose of treating of important affairs, and
+he usually supped in the house of some friend, preferring always the
+respected domicile of some priest, and especially that of Don Inocencio,
+where he had taken refuge on the fateful morning of the arrests.
+
+Meanwhile Batalla had telegraphed to the Government the information
+that a plot of the rebels having been discovered its authors had been
+imprisoned, and the few who had succeeded in escaping had fled in
+various directions and were being actively pursued by the military.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+MARIA REMEDIOS
+
+There is nothing more entertaining than to search for the cause of
+some interesting event which surprises or agitates us, and nothing more
+satisfactory than to discover it. When, seeing violent passions in open
+or concealed conflict, and led by the natural intuitive impulse which
+always accompanies human observation we succeed in discovering the
+hidden source from which that turbulent river had derived its waters,
+we experience a sensation very similar to the delight of the explorer or
+the discoverer of an unknown land.
+
+This delight Providence has now bestowed upon us; for, exploring
+the hidden recesses of the hearts which beat in this story, we have
+discovered an event that is assuredly the source of the most important
+events that we have narrated; a passion which is the first drop of water
+of the impetuous current whose course we are observing.
+
+Let us go on with our story, then. To do so, let us leave Senora de
+Polentinos, without concerning ourselves in regard to what may have
+happened to her on the morning of her conversation with Maria Remedios.
+Returning to her house, full of anxiety, she found herself obliged to
+endure the apologies and the civilities of Senor Pinzon, who assured
+her that while he lived her house should not be searched. Dona Perfecta
+responded haughtily, without deigning to look at him, for which reason
+he asked her politely for an explanation of her coldness, to which
+she replied requesting Senor Pinzon to leave her house, deferring to a
+future occasion the explanation which she would require from him of his
+perfidious conduct while in it. Don Cayetano arriving at this moment,
+words were exchanged between the two gentlemen, as between man and man;
+but as we are more interested at present in another matter, we will
+leave the Polentinos and the lieutenant-colonel to settle matters
+between them as best they can, and proceed to examine the question of
+the sources above mentioned.
+
+Let us fix our attention on Maria Remedios, an estimable woman, to whom
+it is indispensably necessary to devote a few words. She was a lady, a
+real lady--for, notwithstanding her humble origin, the virtues of her
+uncle, Senor Don Inocencio, also of low origin, but elevated by his
+learning and his estimable qualities, had shed extraordinary lustre over
+the whole family.
+
+The love of Remedios for Jacinto was one of the strongest passions of
+which the maternal heart is capable. She loved him with delirium; her
+son's welfare was her first earthly consideration; she regarded him as
+the most perfect type of beauty and talent ever created by God, and to
+see him happy and great and powerful she would have given her whole life
+and even a part of the life to come. The maternal sentiment is the
+only one which, because of its nobility and its sanctity, will admit
+of exaggeration; the only one which the delirium of passion does not
+debase. Nevertheless it is a singular phenomenon, frequently observed,
+that this exaltation of maternal affection, if not accompanied with
+absolute purity of heart and with perfect uprightness is apt to become
+perverted and transformed into a lamentable frenzy, which may lead, like
+any other ungoverned passion, to great errors and catastrophies.
+
+In Orbajosa Maria Remedios passed for a model of virtue and a model
+niece--perhaps she was so in reality. She served with affection all who
+needed her services; she never gave occasion for gossip or for scandal;
+she never mixed herself up in intrigues. She carried her religion to the
+extreme of an offensive fanaticism; she practised charity; she managed
+her uncle's house with the utmost ability; she was well received,
+admired and kindly treated everywhere, in spite of the almost
+intolerable annoyance produced by her persistent habit of sighing and
+speaking always in a complaining voice.
+
+But in Dona Perfecta's house this excellent lady suffered a species of
+_capitis diminutio_. In times far distant and very bitter for the family
+of the good Penitentiary, Maria Remedios (since it is the truth, why
+should it not be told?) had been a laundress in the house of Polentinos.
+And let it not be supposed that Dona Perfecta looked down upon her
+on this account--nothing of the kind. She behaved to her without any
+haughtiness; she felt a real sisterly affection for her; they ate
+together; they prayed together; they confided their troubles to each
+other; they aided each other in their charities and in their devotions
+as well as in domestic matters; but, truth to say, there was always a
+something, there was always a line, invisible but which could not be
+crossed between the improvised lady and the lady by birth and ancestry.
+Dona Perfecta addressed Maria as "thou," while the latter could never
+lay aside certain ceremonial forms. Maria Remedios always felt herself
+so insignificant in the presence of her uncle's friend that her natural
+humility had acquired through this feeling a strange tinge of sadness.
+She saw that the good canon was a species of perpetual Aulic councillor
+in the house; she saw her idolized Jacintillo mingling on terms of
+almost lover-like familiarity with the young lady, and nevertheless the
+poor mother and niece visited the house as little as possible. It is to
+be observed that Maria Remedios' dignity as a lady suffered not a little
+in Dona Perfecta's house, and this was disagreeable to her; for in this
+sighing spirit, too, there was, as there is in every living thing, a
+little pride. To see her son married to Rosarito, to see him rich and
+powerful; to see him related to Dona Perfecta, to the senora--ah! this
+was for Maria Remedios earth and heaven, this life and the next, the
+present and the future, the supreme totality of existence. For years
+her mind and her heart had been filled by the light of this sweet hope.
+Because of this hope she was good and she was bad; because of it she
+was religious and humble, or fierce and daring; because of it she was
+whatever she was--for without this idea Maria, who was the incarnation
+of her project, would not exist.
+
+In person, Maria Remedios could not be more insignificant than she was.
+She was remarkable for a surprising freshness and robustness which made
+her look much younger than she really was, and she always dressed in
+mourning, although her widowhood was now of long standing.
+
+Five days had passed since the entrance of Caballuco into the
+Penitentiary's house. It was evening. Remedios entered her uncle's room
+with the lighted lamp, which she placed on the table. She then seated
+herself in front of the old man, who, for a great part of the afternoon,
+had been sitting motionless and thoughtful in his easy chair. His
+fingers supported his chin, wrinkling up the brown skin, unshaven for
+the past three days.
+
+"Did Caballuco say he would come here to supper to-night?" he asked his
+niece.
+
+"Yes, senor, he will come. It is in a respectable house like this that
+the poor fellow is most secure."
+
+"Well, I am not altogether easy in my mind, in spite of the
+respectability of the house," answered the Penitentiary. "How the brave
+Ramos exposes himself! And I am told that in Villahorrenda and the
+surrounding country there are a great many men. I don't know how many
+men----What have you heard?"
+
+"That the soldiers are committing atrocities."
+
+"It is a miracle that those Hottentots have not searched the house! I
+declare that if I see one of the red-trousered gentry enter the house, I
+shall fall down speechless."
+
+"This is a nice condition of things!" said Remedios, exhaling half her
+soul in a sigh. "I cannot get out of my head the idea of the tribulation
+in which Senora Dona Perfecta finds herself. Uncle, you ought to go
+there."
+
+"Go there to-night? The military are parading the streets! Imagine that
+some insolent soldier should take it into his head to----The senora is
+well protected. The other day they searched the house and they carried
+off the six armed men she had there; but afterward they sent them back
+to her. We have no one to protect us in case of an attack."
+
+"I sent Jacinto to the senora's, to keep her company for a while. If
+Caballuco comes, we will tell him to stop in there, too. No one can
+put it out of my head but that those rascals are plotting some piece of
+villany against our friend. Poor senora, poor Rosarito! When one thinks
+that this might have been avoided by what I proposed to Dona Perfecta
+two days ago----"
+
+"My dear niece," said the Penitentiary phlegmatically, "we have done all
+that it was in human power to do to carry out our virtuous purpose.
+More we cannot do. Convince yourself of this, and do not be obstinate.
+Rosarito cannot be the wife of our idolized Jacintillo. Your golden
+dream, your ideal of happiness, that at one time seemed attainable,
+and to which like a good uncle, I devoted all the powers of my
+understanding, has become chimerical, has vanished into smoke. Serious
+obstructions, the wickedness of a man, the indubitable love of the girl,
+and other things, regarding which I am silent, have altered altogether
+the condition of affairs. We were in a fair way to conquer, and suddenly
+we are conquered. Ah, niece! convince yourself of one thing. As matters
+are now, Jacinto deserves something a great deal better than that crazy
+girl."
+
+"Caprices and obstinate notions!" responded Maria, with an ill-humor
+that was far from respectful. "That's a pretty thing to say now, uncle!
+The great minds are outshining themselves, now. Dona Perfecta with her
+lofty ideas, and you with your doubts and fears--of much use either
+of you is. It is a pity that God made me such a fool and gave me an
+understanding of brick and mortar, as the senora says, for if that
+wasn't the case I would soon settle the question."
+
+"You?"
+
+"If she and you had allowed me, it would be settled already."
+
+"By the beating?"
+
+"There's no occasion for you to be frightened or to open your eyes like
+that. There is no question of killing any body. What an idea!"
+
+"Beating," said the canon, smiling, "is like scratching--when one begins
+one doesn't know when to leave off."
+
+"Bah! say too that I am cruel and blood-thirsty. I wouldn't have the
+courage to kill a fly; it's not very likely that I should desire the
+death of a man."
+
+"In fine, child, no matter what objections you may make, Senor Don Pepe
+Rey will carry off the girl. It is not possible now to prevent it. He
+is ready to employ every means, including dishonor. If Rosarito--how
+she deceived us with that demure little face and those heavenly eyes,
+eh!--if Rosarito, I say, did not herself wish it, then all might be
+arranged, but alas! she loves him as the sinner loves Satan; she is
+consumed with a criminal passion; she has fallen, niece, into the snares
+of the Evil One. Let us be virtuous and upright; let us turn our eyes
+away from the ignoble pair, and think no more about either of them."
+
+"You know nothing about women, uncle," said Remedios, with flattering
+hypocrisy; "you are a holy man; you do not understand that Rosario's
+feeling is only a passing caprice, one of those caprices that are cured
+by a sound whipping."
+
+"Niece," said Don Inocencio gravely and sententiously, "when serious
+things have taken place, caprices are not called caprices, but by
+another name."
+
+"Uncle, you don't know what you are talking about," responded Maria
+Remedios, her face flushing suddenly. "What! would you be capable of
+supposing that Rosarito--what an atrocity! I will defend her; yes, I
+will defend her. She is as pure as an angel. Why, uncle, those things
+bring a blush to my cheek, and make me indignant with you."
+
+As she spoke the good priest's face was darkened by a cloud of sadness
+that made him look ten years older.
+
+"My dear Remedios," he said, "we have done all that is humanly possible,
+and all that in conscience we can or ought to do. Nothing could be more
+natural than our desire to see Jacintillo connected with that great
+family, the first in Orbajosa; nothing more natural than our desire
+to see him master of the seven houses in the town, the meadow of
+Mundogrande, the three gardens of the upper farm, La Encomienda, and the
+other lands and houses which that girl owns. Your son has great merit,
+every one knows it well. Rosarito liked him, and he liked Rosarito.
+The matter seemed settled. Dona Perfecta herself, without being very
+enthusiastic, doubtless on account of our origin, seemed favorably
+disposed toward it, because of her great esteem and veneration for
+me, as her confessor and friend. But suddenly this unlucky young man
+presents himself. The senora tells me that she has given her word to
+her brother, and that she cannot reject the proposal made by him. A
+difficult situation! But what do I do in view of all this? Ah, you don't
+know every thing! I will be frank with you. If I had found Senor de
+Rey to be a man of good principles, calculated to make Rosario happy, I
+would not have interfered in the matter; but the young man appeared to
+me to be a wretch, and, as the spiritual director of the house, it was
+my duty to take a hand in the business, and I took it. You know already
+that I determined to unmask him. I exposed his vices; I made manifest
+his atheism; I laid bare to the view of all the rottenness of that
+materialistic heart, and the senora was convinced that in giving her
+daughter to him, she would be delivering her up to vice. Ah, what
+anxieties I endured! The senora vacillated; I strengthened her wavering
+mind; I advised her concerning the means she might lawfully employ to
+send her nephew away without scandal. I suggested ingenious ideas to
+her; and as she often spoke to me of the scruples that troubled her
+tender conscience, I tranquillized her, pointing out to her how far
+it was allowable for us to go in our fight against that lawless enemy.
+Never did I counsel violent or sanguinary measures or base outrages, but
+always subtle artifices, in which there was no sin. My mind is tranquil,
+my dear niece. But you know that I struggled hard, that I worked like a
+negro. Ah! when I used to come home every night and say, 'Mariquilla, we
+are getting on well, we are getting on very well,' you used to be wild
+with delight, and you would kiss my hands again and again, and say I was
+the best man on earth. Why do you fly into a passion now, disfiguring
+your noble character and peaceable disposition? Why do you scold me? Why
+do you say that you are indignant, and tell me in plain terms that I am
+nothing better than an idiot?"
+
+"Because," said the woman, without any diminution of her rage, "because
+you have grown faint-hearted all of a sudden."
+
+"The thing is that every thing is going against us, woman. That
+confounded engineer, protected as he is by the army, is resolved to dare
+every thing. The girl loves him, the girl--I will say no more. It cannot
+be; I tell you that it cannot be."
+
+"The army! But do you believe, like Dona Perfecta, that there is
+going to be a war, and that to drive Don Pepe from the town it will be
+necessary for one half of the nation to rise up against the other
+half? The senora has lost her senses, and you are in a fair way to lose
+yours."
+
+"I believe as she does. In view of the intimate connection of Rey with
+the soldiers the personal question assumes larger proportions. But, ah,
+niece! if two days ago I entertained the hope that our valiant townsmen
+would kick the soldiers out of the town, since I have seen the turn
+things have taken, since I have seen that most of them have been
+surprised before fighting, and that Caballuco is in hiding and that
+the insurrection is going to the devil, I have lost confidence in every
+thing. The good doctrines have not yet acquired sufficient material
+force to tear in pieces the ministers and the emissaries of error. Ah,
+niece! resignation, resignation!"
+
+And Don Inocencio, employing the method of expression which
+characterized his niece, heaved two or three profound sighs. Maria,
+contrary to what might have been expected, maintained absolute silence.
+She showed now neither anger nor the superficial sentimentality of her
+ordinary life; but only a profound and humble grief. Shortly after the
+good canon had ended his peroration two tears rolled down his niece's
+rosy cheeks; before long were heard a few half-suppressed sighs, and
+gradually, as the swell and tumult of a sea that is beginning to be
+stormy rise higher and higher and become louder and louder, so the surge
+of Maria Remedios' grief rose and swelled, until it at last broke forth
+in a flood of tears.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+A CANON'S TORTURE
+
+"Resignation, resignation!" repeated Don Inocencio.
+
+"Resignation, resignation!" repeated his niece, drying her tears. "If my
+dear son is doomed to be always a beggar, well, then, be it so. Lawsuits
+are becoming scarce; the day will soon come when the practice of the law
+will be the same as nothing. What is the use of all his talent? What is
+the use of his tiring his brain with so much study? Ah! We are poor.
+A day will come, Senor Don Inocencio, when my poor boy will not have a
+pillow on which to lay his head."
+
+"Woman!"
+
+"Man! can you deny it? Tell me, then, what inheritance are you going
+to leave him when you close your eyes on this world? A couple of rooms,
+half a dozen big books, poverty, and nothing more. What times are before
+us, uncle; what times! My poor boy is growing very delicate in his
+health, and he won't be able to work--it makes him dizzy now to read a
+book; he gets a headache and nausea whenever he works at night! He will
+have to beg a paltry situation; I shall have to take in sewing, and who
+knows, who knows but we may have to beg our bread!"
+
+"Woman!"
+
+"Oh, I know very well what I am talking about! Fine times before us!"
+added the excellent woman, forcing still more the lachrymose note in
+her diatribe. "My God! What is going to become of us? Ah, it is only a
+mother's heart that can feel these things! Only a mother is capable
+of suffering so much anxiety about a son's welfare. How should you
+understand it? No; it is one thing to have children and to suffer
+anxiety on their account and another to sing the _gori gori_ in the
+cathedral and to teach Latin in the institute. Of great use is it for
+my son to be your nephew and to have taken so many honors and to be
+the pride and ornament of Orbajosa. He will die of starvation, for we
+already know what law brings; or else he will have to ask the deputies
+for a situation in Havana, where the yellow fever will kill him."
+
+"But, niece--"
+
+"No, I am not grieving, I am silent now; I won't annoy you any more.
+I am very troublesome, always crying and sighing; and I am not to be
+endured because I am a fond mother and I will look out for the good of
+my beloved son. I will die, yes, I will die in silence, and stifle my
+grief. I will swallow my tears, in order not to annoy his reverence the
+canon. But my idolized son will comprehend me and he won't put his hands
+to his ears as you are doing now. Woe is me! Poor Jacinto knows that
+I would die for him, and that I would purchase his happiness at the
+sacrifice of my life. Darling child of my soul! To be so deserving and
+to be forever doomed to mediocrity, to a humble station, for--don't get
+indignant, uncle--no matter what airs we put on, you will always be the
+son of Uncle Tinieblas, the sacristan of San Bernardo, and I shall
+never be any thing more than the daughter of Ildefonso Tinieblas, your
+brother, who used to sell crockery, and my son will be the grandson of
+the Tinieblas--for obscure we were born, and we shall never emerge from
+our obscurity, nor own a piece of land of which we can say, 'This is
+mine'; nor shall I ever plunge my arms up to the elbows in a sack of
+wheat threshed and winnowed on our own threshing-floor--all because of
+your cowardice, your folly, your soft-heartedness."
+
+"But--but, niece!"
+
+The canon's voice rose higher every time he repeated this phrase, and,
+with his hands to his ears, he shook his head from side to side with
+a look of mingled grief and desperation. The shrill complaint of Maria
+Remedios grew constantly shriller, and pierced the brain of the unhappy
+and now dazed priest like an arrow. But all at once the woman's face
+became transformed; her plaintive wail was changed to a hard, shrill
+scream; she turned pale, her lips trembled, she clenched her hands,
+a few locks of her disordered hair fell over her forehead, her eyes
+glittered, dried by the heat of the anger that glowed in her breast; she
+rose from her seat and, not like a woman, but like a harpy, cried:
+
+"I am going away from here! I am going away from here with my son! We
+will go to Madrid; I don't want my son to fret himself to death in
+this miserable town! I am tired now of seeing that my son, under the
+protection of the cassock, neither is nor ever will be any thing. Do you
+hear, my reverend uncle? My son and I are going away! You will never see
+us again--never!"
+
+Don Inocencio had clasped his hands and was receiving the thunderbolts
+of his niece's wrath with the consternation of a criminal whom the
+presence of the executioner has deprived of his last hope.
+
+"In Heaven's name, Remedios," he murmured, in a pained voice; "in the
+name of the Holy Virgin----"
+
+These fits of range of his niece, who was usually so meek, were as
+violent as they were rare, and five or six years would sometimes pass
+without Don Inocencio seeing Remedios transformed into a fury.
+
+"I am a mother! I am a mother! and since no one else will look out for
+my son, I will look out for him myself!" roared the improvised lioness.
+
+"In the name of the Virgin, niece, don't let your passion get the best
+of you! Remember that you are committing a sin. Let us say the Lord's
+Prayer and an Ave Maria, and you will see that this will pass away."
+
+As he said this the Penitentiary trembled, and the perspiration stood on
+his forehead. Poor dove in the talons of the vulture! The furious woman
+completed his discomfiture with these words:
+
+"You are good for nothing; you are a poltroon! My son and I will go away
+from this place forever, forever! I will get a position for my son, I
+will find him a good position, do you understand? Just as I would be
+willing to sweep the streets with my tongue if I could gain a living for
+him in no other way, so I will move heaven and earth to find a position
+for my boy in order that he may rise in the world and be rich, and a
+person of consequence, and a gentleman, and a lord and great, and all
+that there is to be--all, all!"
+
+"Heaven protect me!" cried Don Inocencio, sinking into a chair and
+letting his head fall on his breast.
+
+There was a pause during which the agitated breathing of the furious
+woman could be heard.
+
+"Niece," said Don Inocencio at last, "you have shortened my life by ten
+years; you have set my blood on fire; you have put me beside myself.
+God give me the calmness that I need to bear with you! Lord,
+patience--patience is what I ask. And you, niece, do me the favor to
+sigh and cry to your heart's content for the next ten years; for your
+confounded mania of sniveling, greatly as it annoys me, is preferable
+to these mad fits of rage. If I did not know that you are good at
+heart----Well, for one who confessed and received communion this morning
+you are behaving--"
+
+"Yes, but you are the cause of it--you!"
+
+"Because in the matter of Rosario and Jacinto I say to you,
+resignation?"
+
+"Because when every thing is going on well you turn back and allow Senor
+de Rey to get possession of Rosario."
+
+"And how am I going to prevent it? Dona Perfecta is right in saying that
+you have an understanding of brick. Do you want me to go about the town
+with a sword, and in the twinkling of an eye to make mincemeat of the
+whole regiment, and then confront Rey and say to him, 'Leave the girl in
+peace or I will cut your throat'?"
+
+"No, but when I advised the senora to give her nephew a fright, you
+opposed my advice, instead of supporting it."
+
+"You are crazy with your talk about a fright."
+
+"Because when the dog is dead the madness is at an end."
+
+"I cannot advise what you call a fright, and what might be a terrible
+thing."
+
+"Yes; because I am a cut-throat, am I not, uncle?"
+
+"You know that practical jokes are vulgar. Besides, do you suppose that
+man would allow himself to be insulted? And his friends?"
+
+"At night he goes out alone."
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"I know every thing; he does not take a step that I am not aware of; do
+you understand? The widow De Cuzco keeps me informed of every thing."
+
+"There, don't set me crazy. And who is going to give him that fright?
+Let us hear."
+
+"Caballuco."
+
+"So that he is disposed--"
+
+"No, but he will be if you command him."
+
+"Come, niece, leave me in peace. I cannot command such an atrocity. A
+fright! And what is that? Have you spoken to him already?"
+
+"Yes, senor; but he paid no attention to me, or rather he refused. There
+are only two people in Orbajosa who can make him do what they wish by a
+simple order--you and Dona Perfecta."
+
+"Let Dona Perfecta order him to do it if she wishes, then. I will never
+advise the employment of violent and brutal measures. Will you believe
+that when Caballuco and some of his followers were talking of rising
+up in arms they could not draw a single word from me inciting them to
+bloodshed. No, not that. If Dona Perfecta wishes to do it--"
+
+"She will not do it, either. I talked with her for two hours this
+afternoon and she said that she would preach war, and help it by every
+means in her power; but that she would not bid one man stab another in
+the back. She would be right in opposing it if anything serious were
+intended, but I don't want any wounds; all I want is to give him a
+fright."
+
+"Well, if Dona Perfecta doesn't want to order a fright to be given to
+the engineer, I don't either, do you understand? My conscience is before
+every thing."
+
+"Very well," returned his niece. "Tell Caballuco to come with me
+to-night--that is all you need say to him."
+
+"Are you going out to-night?"
+
+"Yes, senor, I am going out. Why, didn't I go out last night too?"
+
+"Last night? I didn't know it; if I had known it I should have been
+angry; yes, senora."
+
+"All you have to say to Caballuco is this: 'My dear Ramos, I will be
+greatly obliged to you if you will accompany my niece on an errand
+which she has to do to-night, and if you will protect her, if she should
+chance to be in any danger.'"
+
+"I can do that. To accompany you, to protect you. Ah, rogue! you want to
+deceive me and make me your accomplice in some piece of villany."
+
+"Of course--what do you suppose?" said Maria Remedios ironically.
+"Between Ramos and me we are going to slaughter a great many people
+to-night."
+
+"Don't jest! I tell you again that I will not advise Ramos to do any
+thing that has the appearance of evil--I think he is outside."
+
+A noise at the street-door was heard, then the voice of Caballuco
+speaking to the servant, and a little later the hero of Orbajosa entered
+the room.
+
+"What is the news? Give us the news, Senor Ramos," said the priest.
+"Come! If you don't give us some hope in exchange for your supper and
+our hospitality----What is going on in Villahorrenda?"
+
+"Something," answered the bravo, seating himself with signs of fatigue.
+"You shall soon see whether we are good for anything or not."
+
+Like all persons who wish to make themselves appear important, Caballuco
+made a show of great reserve.
+
+"To-night, my friend, you shall take with you, if you wish, the money
+they have given me for--"
+
+"There is good need of it. If the soldiers should get scent of it,
+however, they won't let me pass," said Ramos, with a brutal laugh.
+
+"Hold your tongue, man. We know already that you pass whenever you
+please. Why, that would be a pretty thing! The soldiers are not
+strait-laced gentry, and if they should become troublesome, with a
+couple of dollars, eh? Come, I see that you are not badly armed. All you
+want now is an eight-pounder. Pistols, eh? And a dagger too."
+
+"For any thing that might happen," said Caballuco, taking the weapon
+from his belt and displaying its horrible blade.
+
+"In the name of God and of the Virgin!" exclaimed Maria Remedios,
+closing her eyes and turning her face in terror, "put away that thing.
+The very sight of it terrifies me."
+
+"If you won't take it ill of me," said Ramos, shutting the weapon, "let
+us have supper."
+
+Maria Remedios prepared every thing quickly, in order that the hero
+might not become impatient.
+
+"Listen to me a moment, Senor Ramos," said Don Inocencio to his
+guest, when they had sat down to supper. "Have you a great deal to do
+to-night?"
+
+"Something there is to be done," responded the bravo. "This is the last
+night I shall come to Orbajosa--the last. I have to look up some
+boys who remained in the town, and we are going to see how we can get
+possession of the saltpetre and the sulphur that are in the house of
+Cirujeda."
+
+"I asked you," said the curate amiably, filling his friend's plate,
+"because my niece wishes you to accompany her a short distance. She has
+some business or other to attend to, and it is a little late to be out
+alone."
+
+"Is she going to Dona Perfecta's?" asked Ramos. "I was there a few
+moments ago, but I did not want to make any delay."
+
+"How is the senora?"
+
+"A little frightened. To-night I took away the six young men I had in
+the house."
+
+"Why! don't you think they will be wanted there?" said Remedios, with
+alarm.
+
+"They are wanted more in Villahorrenda. Brave men chafe at being kept in
+the house; is it not so, Senor Canon?"
+
+"Senor Ramos, that house ought not to be left unprotected," said the
+Penitentiary.
+
+"The servants are enough, and more than enough. But do you suppose,
+Senor Don Inocencio, that the brigadier employs himself in attacking the
+people's houses?"
+
+"Yes, but you know very well that that diabolical engineer----"
+
+"For that--there are not wanting brooms in the house," said Cristobal
+jovially. "For in the end, there will be no help for it but to marry
+them. After what has passed----"
+
+"Senor Ramos," said Remedios, with sudden anger, "I imagine that all you
+know about marrying people is very little."
+
+"I say that because a little while ago, when I was at the house, the
+mother and daughter seemed to be having a sort of reconciliation. Dona
+Perfecta was kissing Rosarito over and over again, and there was no end
+to their caresses and endearments."
+
+"Reconciliation! With all these preparations for the war you have lost
+your senses. But, finally, are you coming with me or not?"
+
+"It is not to Dona Perfecta's she wants to go," said the priest, "but to
+the hotel of the widow De Cuzco. She was saying that she does not dare
+to go alone, because she is afraid of being insulted."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"It is easily understood. By that infernal engineer. Last night my niece
+met him there, and she gave him some plain talk; and for that reason
+she is not altogether easy in her mind to-night. The young fellow is
+revengeful and insolent."
+
+"I don't know whether I can go," said Caballuco. "As I am in hiding now
+I cannot measure my strength against Don Jose Poquita Cosa. If I were
+not as I am--with half my face hidden, and the other half uncovered--I
+would have broken his back for him already twenty times over. But what
+happens if I attack him? He discovers who I am, he falls upon me with
+the soldiers, and good-bye to Caballuco. As for giving him a treacherous
+blow, that is something I couldn't do; nor would Dona Perfecta consent
+to it, either. For a stab in the dark Cristobal Ramos is not the man."
+
+"But are you crazy, man? What are you thinking about?" said the
+Penitentiary, with unmistakable signs of astonishment. "Not even in
+thought would I advise you to do an injury to that gentleman. I would
+cut my tongue out before I would advise such a piece of villany. The
+wicked will fall, it is true; but it is God who will fix the moment,
+not I. And the question is not to give a beating, either. I would rather
+receive a hundred blows myself than advise the administration of such a
+medicine to any Christian. One thing only will I say to you," he ended,
+looking at the bravo over his spectacles, "and that is, that as my
+niece is going there; and as it is probable, very probable, is it not,
+Remedios? that she may have to say a few plain words to that man,
+I recommend you not to leave her unprotected, in case she should be
+insulted."
+
+"I have something to do to-night," answered Caballuco, laconically and
+dryly.
+
+"You hear what he says, Remedios. Leave your business for to-morrow."
+
+"I can't do that. I will go alone."
+
+"No, you shall not go alone, niece. Now let us hear no more about the
+matter. Senor Ramos has something to do, and he cannot accompany you.
+Fancy if you were to be insulted by that rude man!"
+
+"Insulted! A lady insulted by that fellow!" exclaimed Caballuco. "Come
+that must not be."
+
+"If you had not something to do--bah! I should be quite easy in my mind,
+then."
+
+"I have something to do," said the Centaur, rising from the table, "but
+if you wish it----"
+
+There was a pause. The Penitentiary had closed his eyes and was
+meditating.
+
+"I wish it, Senor Ramos," he said at last.
+
+"There is no more to be said then. Let us go, Senora Dona Maria."
+
+"Now, my dear niece," said Don Inocencio, half seriously, half
+jestingly, "since we have finished supper bring me the basin."
+
+He gave his niece a penetrating glance, and accompanying it with the
+corresponding action, pronounced these words:
+
+"I wash my hands of the matter."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+FROM PEPE REY TO DON JUAN REY
+
+
+"ORBAJOSA, April 12.
+
+"MY DEAR FATHER:
+
+"Forgive me if for the first time in my life I disobey you in refusing
+to leave this place or to renounce my project. Your advice and your
+entreaty are what were to be expected from a kind, good father. My
+obstinacy is natural in an insensate son; but something strange is
+taking place within me; obstinacy and honor have become so blended and
+confounded in my mind that the bare idea of desisting from my purpose
+makes me ashamed. I have changed greatly. The fits of rage that agitate
+me now were formerly unknown to me. I regarded the violent acts, the
+exaggerated expressions of hot-tempered and impetuous men with the
+same scorn as the brutal actions of the wicked. Nothing of this kind
+surprises me any longer, for in myself I find at all times a certain
+terrible capacity for wickedness. I can speak to you as I would speak to
+God and to my conscience; I can tell you that I am a wretch, for he is a
+wretch who is wanting in that powerful moral force which enables him
+to chastise his passions and submit his life to the stern rule of
+conscience. I have been wanting in the Christian fortitude which exalts
+the spirit of the man who is offended above the offences which he
+receives and the enemies from whom he receives them. I have had the
+weakness to abandon myself to a mad fury, putting myself on a level with
+my detractors, returning them blow for blow, and endeavoring to confound
+them by methods learned in their own base school. How deeply I regret
+that you were not at my side to turn me from this path! It is now too
+late. The passions will not brook delay. They are impatient, and demand
+their prey with cries and with the convulsive eagerness of a fierce
+moral thirst. I have succumbed. I cannot forget what you so often
+said to me, that anger may be called the worst of the passions, since,
+suddenly transforming the character, it engenders all the others, and
+lends to each its own infernal fire.
+
+"But it is not anger alone that has brought me to the state of mind
+which I have described. A more expansive and noble sentiment--the
+profound and ardent love which I have for my cousin, has also
+contributed to it, and this is the one thing that absolves me in my own
+estimation. But if love had not done so, pity would have impelled me
+to brave the fury and the intrigues of your terrible sister; for poor
+Rosario, placed between an irresistible affection and her mother, is
+at the present moment one of the most unhappy beings on the face of the
+earth. The love which she has for me, and which responds to mine--does
+it not give me the right to open, in whatever way I can, the doors of
+her house and take her out of it; employing the law, as far as the law
+reaches, and using force at the point where the law ceases to support
+me? I think that your rigid moral scrupulosity will not give an
+affirmative answer to this question; but I have ceased to be the upright
+and methodical character whose conscience was in exact conformity with
+the dictates of the moral law. I am no longer the man whom an almost
+perfect education enabled to keep his emotions under strict control.
+To-day I am a man like other men; at a single step I have crossed the
+line which separates the just and the good from the unjust and the
+wicked. Prepare yourself to hear of some dreadful act committed by me. I
+will take care to notify you of all my misdeeds.
+
+"But the confession of my faults will not relieve me from the
+responsibility of the serious occurrences which have taken place and
+which are taking place, nor will this responsibility, no matter how
+much I may argue, fall altogether on your sister. Dona Perfecta's
+responsibility is certainly very great. What will be the extent of mine!
+Ah, dear father! believe nothing of what you hear about me; believe
+only what I shall tell you. If they tell you that I have committed a
+deliberate piece of villany, answer that it is a lie. It is difficult,
+very difficult, for me to judge myself, in the state of disquietude in
+which I am, but I dare assure you that I have not deliberately given
+cause for scandal. You know well to what extremes passion can lead when
+circumstances favor its fierce, its all-invading growth.
+
+"What is most bitter to me is the thought of having employed artifice,
+deceit, and base concealments--I who was truth itself. I am humiliated
+in my own estimation. But is this the greatest perversity into which the
+soul can fall? Am I beginning now, or have I ended? I cannot tell. If
+Rosario with her angelic hand does not take me out of this hell of
+my conscience, I desire that you should come to take me out of it. My
+cousin is an angel, and suffering, as she has done, for my sake, she has
+taught me a great many things that I did not know before.
+
+"Do not be surprised at the incoherence of what I write. Diverse
+emotions inflame me; thoughts at times assail me truly worthy of my
+immortal soul; but at times also I fall into a lamentable state of
+dejection, and I am reminded of the weak and degenerate characters whose
+baseness you have painted to me in such strong colors, in order that I
+might abhor them. In the state in which I am to-day I am ready for good
+or for evil. God have pity upon me! I already know what prayer is--a
+solemn and reflexive supplication, so personal that it is not compatible
+with formulas learned by heart; an expansion of the soul which dares to
+reach out toward its source; the opposite of remorse, in which the
+soul, at war with itself, seeks in vain to defend itself by sophisms
+and concealments. You have taught me many good things, but now I am
+practising; as we engineers say, I am studying on the ground; and in
+this way my knowledge will become broadened and confirmed. I begin to
+imagine now that I am not so wicked as I myself believe. Am I right?
+
+"I end this letter in haste. I must send it with some soldiers who
+are going in the direction of the station at Villahorrenda, for the
+post-office of this place is not to be trusted."
+
+
+
+"APRIL 14.
+
+"It would amuse you, dear father, if I could make you understand the
+ideas of the people of this wretched town. You know already that almost
+all the country is up in arms. It was a thing to be anticipated, and
+the politicians are mistaken if they imagine that it will be over in a
+couple of days. Hostility to us and to the Government is innate in the
+Orbajosan's mind, and forms a part of it as much as his religious faith.
+Confining myself to the particular question with my aunt, I will tell
+you a singular thing--the poor lady, who is penetrated by the spirit of
+feudalism to the marrow of her bones, has taken it into her head that
+I am going to attack her house and carry off her daughter, as the
+gentlemen of the Middle Ages attacked an enemy's castle to consummate
+some outrage. Don't laugh, for it is the truth--such are the ideas of
+these people. I need not tell you that she regards me as a monster, as
+a sort of heretic Moorish king, and of the officers here who are my
+friends she has no better opinion. In Dona Perfecta's house it is a
+matter of firm belief that the army and I have formed a diabolical and
+anti-religious coalition to rob Orbajosa of its treasures, its faith,
+and its maidens. I am sure that your sister firmly believes that I am
+going to take her house by assault, and there is not a doubt but that
+behind the door some barricade has been erected.
+
+"But it could not be otherwise. Here they have the most antiquated
+ideas respecting society, religion, the state, property. The religious
+exaltation which impels them to employ force against the Government, to
+defend a faith which no one has attacked, and which, besides, they do
+not possess, revives in their mind the feudal sentiment; and as they
+would settle every question by brute force, with the sword and with
+fire, killing all who do not think as they do, they believe that no one
+in the world employs other methods.
+
+"Far from intending to perform quixotic deeds in this lady's house, I
+have in reality saved her some annoyances from which the rest of the
+town have not escaped. Owing to my friendship with the brigadier she has
+not been obliged to present, as was ordered, a list of those of the
+men in her service who have joined the insurgents; and if her house was
+searched I have certain knowledge that it was only for form's sake;
+and if the six men there were disarmed, they have been replaced by six
+others, and nothing has been done to her. You see to what my hostility
+to that lady is reduced.
+
+"It is true that I have the support of the military chiefs, but I
+make use of it solely to escape being insulted or ill-used by these
+implacable people. The probabilities of my success consist in the fact
+that the authorities recently appointed by the commander of the brigade
+are all my friends. I derive from them the moral force which enables
+me to intimidate these people. I don't know whether I shall find myself
+compelled to commit some violent action; but don't be alarmed, for the
+assault and the taking of the house is altogether a wild, feudal idea of
+your sister. Chance has placed me in an advantageous position. Rage,
+the passion that burns within me, will impel me to profit by it. I don't
+know how far I may go."
+
+
+
+"APRIL 17.
+
+"Your letter has given me great consolation. Yes; I can attain
+my object, employing only the resources of the law, which will be
+completely effectual for it. I have consulted the authorities of this
+place, and they all approve of the course you indicate. I am very glad
+of it. Since I have put into my cousin's mind the idea of disobedience,
+let it at least be under the protection of the law. I will do what
+you bid me, that is to say I will renounce the somewhat unworthy
+collaboration of Pinzon; I will break up the terrorizing solidarity
+which I established with the soldiers; I will cease to make a display of
+the power I derived from them; I will have done with adventures, and
+at the fitting moment I will act with calmness, prudence, and all
+the benignity possible. It is better so. My coalition, half-serious,
+half-jesting, with the army, had for its object to protect me against
+the violence of the Orbajosans and of the servants and the relations of
+my aunt. For the rest, I have always disapproved of the idea of what we
+call armed intervention.
+
+"The friend who aided me has been obliged to leave the house; but I am
+not entirely cut off from communication with my cousin. The poor girl
+shows heroic valor in the midst of her sufferings, and will obey me
+blindly.
+
+"Set your mind at rest about my personal safety. For my part, I have no
+fear and I am quite tranquil."
+
+
+
+"APRIL 20.
+
+"To-day I can write only a few lines. I have a great deal to do. All
+will be ended within two or three days. Don't write to me again to this
+miserable town. I shall soon have the happiness of embracing you.
+
+"PEPE."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+FROM PEPE REY TO ROSARITO POLENTINOS
+
+"Give Estebanillo the key of the garden and charge him to take care
+about the dog. The boy is mine, body and soul. Fear nothing! I shall be
+very sorry if you cannot come down stairs as you did the other night.
+Do all you can to manage it. I will be in the garden a little after
+midnight. I will then tell you what course I have decided upon, and
+what you are to do. Tranquillize your mind, my dear girl, for I have
+abandoned all imprudent or violent expedients. I will tell you every
+thing when I see you. There is much to tell; and it must be spoken, not
+written. I can picture to myself your terror and anxiety at the thought
+of my being so near you. But it is a week since I have seen you. I have
+sworn that this separation from you shall soon be ended, and it will be
+ended. My heart tells me that I shall see you. I swear that I will see
+you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+BEATING UP THE GAME
+
+A man and a woman entered the hotel of the widow De Cuzco a little after
+ten o'clock, and left it at half-past eleven.
+
+"Now, Senora Dona Maria," said the man, "I will take you to your house,
+for I have something to do."
+
+"Wait, Senor Ramos, for the love of God!" she answered. "Why don't we
+go to the Casino to see if he comes out? You heard just now that
+Estebanillo, the boy that works in the garden, was talking with him this
+afternoon."
+
+"But are you looking for Don Jose?" asked the Centaur, with ill-humor.
+"What have we to do with him? The courtship with Dona Rosario ended as
+it was bound to end, and now there is nothing for it but for my mother
+to marry them. That is my opinion."
+
+"You are a fool!" said Remedios angrily.
+
+"Senora, I am going."
+
+"Why, you rude man, are you going to leave me alone in the street?"
+
+"Yes, senora, unless you go home at once."
+
+"That's right--leave me alone, exposed to be insulted! Listen to me,
+Senor Ramos. Don Jose will come out of the Casino in a moment, as usual.
+I want to see whether he goes into his hotel or goes past it. It is a
+fancy of mine, only a fancy."
+
+"What I know is that I have something to do, and that it is near twelve
+o'clock."
+
+"Silence!" said Remedios. "Let us hide ourselves around the corner. A
+man is coming down the Calle de la Triperia Alta. It is he!"
+
+"Don Jose! I know him by his walk."
+
+"Let us follow him," said Maria Remedios with anxiety. "Let us follow
+him at a little distance, Ramos."
+
+"Senora--"
+
+"Only a minute, then, Dona Remedios. After that I must go."
+
+They walked on about thirty paces, keeping at a moderate distance behind
+the man they were watching. The Penitentiary's niece stopped then and
+said:
+
+"He is not going into his hotel."
+
+"He may be going to the brigadier's."
+
+"The brigadier lives up the street, and Don Pepe is going down in the
+direction of the senora's house."
+
+"Of the senora's house!" exclaimed Caballuco, quickening his steps.
+
+But they were mistaken. The man whom they were watching passed the house
+of Polentinos and walked on.
+
+"Do you see that you were wrong?"
+
+"Senor Ramos, let us follow him!" said Remedios, pressing the Centaur's
+hand convulsively. "I have a foreboding."
+
+"We shall soon know, for we are near the end of the town."
+
+"Don't go so fast--he may see us. It is as I thought, Senor Ramos; he is
+going into the garden by the condemned door."
+
+"Senora, you have lost your senses!"
+
+"Come on, and we shall see."
+
+The night was dark, and the watchers could not tell precisely at what
+point Senor de Rey had entered; but a grating of rusty hinges which they
+heard, and the circumstance of not meeting the young man in the whole
+length of the garden wall, convinced them that he had entered the
+garden. Caballuco looked at his companion with stupefaction. He seemed
+bewildered.
+
+"What are you thinking about? Do you still doubt?"
+
+"What ought I to do?" asked the bravo, covered with confusion. "Shall we
+give him a fright? I don't know what the senora would think about it.
+I say that because I was at her house this evening, and it seemed to me
+that the mother and daughter had become reconciled."
+
+"Don't be a fool! Why don't you go in?"
+
+"Now I remember that the armed men are not there; I told them to leave
+this evening."
+
+"And this block of marble still doubts what he ought to do! Ramos, go
+into the garden and don't be a coward."
+
+"How can I go in if the door is closed?"
+
+"Get over the wall. What a snail! If I were a man----"
+
+"Well, then, up! There are some broken bricks here where the boys climb
+over the wall to steal the fruit."
+
+"Up quickly! I will go and knock at the front door to waken the senora,
+if she should be asleep."
+
+The Centaur climbed up, not without difficulty. He sat astride on the
+wall for an instant, and then disappeared among the dark foliage of the
+trees. Maria Remedios ran desperately toward the Calle del Condestable,
+and, seizing the knocker of the front door, knocked--knocked three times
+with all her heart and soul.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+DONA PERFECTA
+
+See with what tranquillity Senora Dona Perfecta pursues her occupation
+of writing. Enter her room, and, notwithstanding the lateness of the
+hour, you will surprise her busily engaged, her mind divided between
+meditation and the writing of several long and carefully worded epistles
+traced with a firm hand, every hair-stroke of every letter in which is
+correctly formed. The light of the lamp falls full upon her face and
+bust and hands, its shade leaving the rest of her person and almost the
+whole of the room in a soft shadow. She seems like a luminous figure
+evoked by the imagination from amid the vague shadows of fear.
+
+It is strange that we should not have made before this a very important
+statement, which is that Dona Perfecta was handsome, or rather that she
+was still handsome, her face preserving the remains of former beauty.
+The life of the country, her total lack of vanity, her disregard for
+dress and personal adornment, her hatred of fashion, her contempt for
+the vanities of the capital, were all causes why her native beauty
+did not shine or shone very little. The intense shallowness of her
+complexion, indicating a very bilious constitution, still further
+impaired her beauty.
+
+Her eyes black and well-opened, her nose finely and delicately shaped,
+her forehead broad and smooth, she was considered by all who saw her as
+a finished type of the human figure; but there rested on those
+features a certain hard and proud expression which excited a feeling
+of antipathy. As some persons, although ugly, attract; Dona Perfecta
+repelled. Her glance, even when accompanied by amiable words, placed
+between herself and those who were strangers to her the impassable
+distance of a mistrustful respect; but for those of her house--that
+is to say, for her relations, admirers, and allies--she possessed a
+singular attraction. She was a mistress in governing, and no one could
+equal her in the art of adapting her language to the person whom she was
+addressing.
+
+Her bilious temperament and an excessive association with devout persons
+and things, which excited her imagination without object or result, had
+aged her prematurely, and although she was still young she did not seem
+so. It might be said of her that with her habits and manner of life she
+had wrought a sort of rind, a stony, insensible covering within which
+she shut herself, like the snail within his portable house. Dona
+Perfecta rarely came out of her shell.
+
+Her irreproachable habits, and that outward amiability which we have
+observed in her from the moment of her appearance in our story, were the
+causes of the great prestige which she enjoyed in Orbajosa. She kept
+up relations, besides, with some excellent ladies in Madrid, and it was
+through their means that she obtained the dismissal of her nephew. At
+the moment which we have now arrived in our story, we find her seated at
+her desk, which is the sole confidant of her plans and the depository of
+her numerical accounts with the peasants, and of her moral accounts
+with God and with society. There she wrote the letters which her brother
+received every three months; there she composed the notes that incited
+the judge and the notary to embroil Pepe Rey in lawsuits; there she
+prepared the plot through which the latter lost the confidence of the
+Government; there she held long conferences with Don Inocencio. To
+become acquainted with the scene of others of her actions whose effects
+we have observed, it would be necessary to follow her to the episcopal
+palace and to the houses of various of her friends.
+
+We do not know what Dona Perfecta would have been, loving. Hating, she
+had the fiery vehemence of an angel of hatred and discord among men.
+Such is the effect produced on a character naturally hard, and without
+inborn goodness, by religious exaltation, when this, instead of drawing
+its nourishment from conscience and from truth revealed in principles as
+simple as they are beautiful, seeks its sap in narrow formulas dictated
+solely by ecclesiastical interests. In order that religious fanaticism
+should be inoffensive, the heart in which it exists must be very pure.
+It is true that even in that case it is unproductive of good. But the
+hearts that have been born without the seraphic purity which establishes
+a premature Limbo on the earth, are careful not to become greatly
+inflamed with what they see in retables, in choirs, in locutories and
+sacristies, unless they have first erected in their own consciences an
+altar, a pulpit, and a confessional.
+
+Dona Perfecta left her writing from time to time, to go into the
+adjoining room where her daughter was. Rosarito had been ordered to
+sleep, but, already precipitated down the precipice of disobedience, she
+was awake.
+
+"Why don't you sleep?" her mother asked her. "I don't intend to go to
+bed to-night. You know already that Caballuco has taken away with him
+the men we had here. Something might happen, and I will keep watch. If I
+did not watch what would become of us both?"
+
+"What time is it?" asked the girl.
+
+"It will soon be midnight. Perhaps you are not afraid, but I am."
+
+Rosarito was trembling, and every thing about her denoted the keenest
+anxiety. She lifted her eyes to heaven supplicatingly, and then turned
+them on her mother with a look of the utmost terror.
+
+"Why, what is the matter with you?"
+
+"Did you not say it was midnight?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then----But is it already midnight?"
+
+Rosario made an effort to speak, then shook her head, on which the
+weight of a world was pressing.
+
+"Something is the matter with you; you have something on your mind,"
+said her mother, fixing on her daughter her penetrating eyes.
+
+"Yes--I wanted to tell you," stammered the girl, "I wanted to
+say----Nothing, nothing, I will go to sleep."
+
+"Rosario, Rosario! your mother can read your heart like an open book,"
+exclaimed Dona Perfecta with severity. "You are agitated. I have told
+you already that I am willing to pardon you if you will repent; if you
+are a good and sensible girl."
+
+"Why, am I not good? Ah, mamma, mamma! I am dying!"
+
+Rosario burst into a flood of bitter and disconsolate tears.
+
+"What are these tears about?" said her mother, embracing her. "If they
+are tears of repentance, blessed be they."
+
+"I don't repent, I can't repent!" cried the girl, in a burst of sublime
+despair.
+
+She lifted her head and in her face was depicted a sudden inspired
+strength. Her hair fell in disorder over her shoulders. Never was there
+seen a more beautiful image of a rebellious angel.
+
+"What is this? Have you lost your senses?" said Dona Perfecta, laying
+both her hands on her daughter's shoulders.
+
+"I am going away, I am going away!" said the girl, with the exaltation
+of delirium.
+
+And she sprang out of bed.
+
+"Rosario, Rosario----My daughter! For God's sake, what is this?"
+
+"Ah, mamma, senora!" exclaimed the girl, embracing her mother; "bind me
+fast!"
+
+"In truth you would deserve it. What madness is this?"
+
+"Bind me fast! I am going away--I am going away with him!"
+
+Dona Perfecta felt a flood of fire surging from her heart up to her
+lips. She controlled herself, however, and answered her daughter only
+with her eyes, blacker than the night.
+
+"Mamma, mamma, I hate all that is not he!" exclaimed Rosario. "Hear my
+confession, for I wish to confess it to every one, and to you first of
+all."
+
+"You are going to kill me; you are killing me!"
+
+"I want to confess it, so that you may pardon me. This weight, this
+weight that is pressing me down, will not let me live."
+
+"The weight of a sin! Add to it the malediction of God, and see if you
+can carry that burden about with you, wretched girl! Only I can take it
+from you."
+
+"No, not you, not you!" cried Rosario, with desperation. "But hear me; I
+want to confess it all, all! Afterward, turn me out of this house where
+I was born."
+
+"I turn you out!"
+
+"I will go away, then."
+
+"Still less. I will teach you a daughter's duty, which you have
+forgotten."
+
+"I will fly, then; he will take me with him!"
+
+"Has he told you to do so? has he counselled you to do that? has he
+commanded you to do that?" asked the mother, launching these words like
+thunderbolts against her daughter.
+
+"He has counselled me to do it. We have agreed to be married. We must be
+married, mamma, dear mamma. I will love you--I know that I ought to love
+you--I shall be forever lost if I do not love you."
+
+She wrung her hands, and falling on her knees kissed her mother's feet.
+
+"Rosario, Rosario!" cried Dona Perfecta, in a terrible voice, "rise!"
+
+There was a short pause.
+
+"This man--has he written to you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And have you seen him again since that night?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you have written to him!"
+
+"I have written to him also. Oh, senora! why do you look at me in that
+way? You are not my mother.
+
+"Would to God that I were not! Rejoice in the harm you are doing me. You
+are killing me; you have given me my death-blow!" cried Dona Perfecta,
+with indescribable agitation. "You say that this man--"
+
+"Is my husband--I will be his wife, protected by the law. You are not a
+woman! Why do you look at me in that way? You make me tremble. Mother,
+mother, do not condemn me!"
+
+"You have already condemned yourself--that is enough. Obey me, and I
+will forgive you. Answer me--when did you receive letters from that
+man?"
+
+"To-day."
+
+"What treachery! What infamy!" cried her mother, roaring rather than
+speaking. "Had you appointed a meeting?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When?"
+
+"To-night."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Here, here! I will confess every thing, every thing! I know it is a
+crime. I am a wretch; but you who are my mother will take me out of this
+hell. Give your consent. Say one word to me, only one word!"
+
+"That man here in my house!" cried Dona Perfecta, springing back several
+paces from her daughter.
+
+Rosario followed her on her knees. At the same instant three blows were
+heard, three crashes, three reports. It was the heart of Maria Remedios
+knocking at the door through the knocker. The house trembled with awful
+dread. Mother and daughter stood motionless as statues.
+
+A servant went down stairs to open the door, and shortly afterward Maria
+Remedios, who was not now a woman but a basilisk enveloped in a mantle,
+entered Dona Perfecta's room. Her face, flushed with anxiety, exhaled
+fire.
+
+"He is there, he is there!" she said, as she entered. "He got into the
+garden through the condemned door."
+
+She paused for breath at every syllable.
+
+"I know already," returned Dona Perfecta, with a sort of bellow.
+
+Rosario fell senseless on the floor.
+
+"Let us go down stairs," said Dona Perfecta, without paying any
+attention to her daughter's swoon.
+
+The two women glided down stairs like two snakes. The maids and the
+man-servant were in the hall, not knowing what to do. Dona Perfecta
+passed through the dining-room into the garden, followed by Maria
+Remedios.
+
+"Fortunately we have Ca-Ca-Ca-balluco there," said the canon's niece.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"In the garden, also. He cli-cli-climbed over the wall."
+
+Dona Perfecta explored the darkness with her wrathful eyes. Rage gave
+them the singular power of seeing in the dark peculiar to the feline
+race.
+
+"I see a figure there," she said. "It is going toward the oleanders."
+
+"It is he!" cried Remedios. "But there comes Ramos--Ramos!"
+
+The colossal figure of the Centaur was plainly distinguishable.
+
+"Toward the oleanders, Ramos! Toward the oleanders!"
+
+Dona Perfecta took a few steps forward. Her hoarse voice, vibrating with
+a terrible accent, hissed forth these words:
+
+"Cristobal, Cristobal--kill him!"
+
+A shot was heard. Then another.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+From Don Cayetano Polentinos to a friend in Madrid:
+
+
+"ORBAJOSA, April 21.
+
+"MY DEAR FRIEND:
+
+"Send me without delay the edition of 1562 that you say you have picked
+up at the executor's sale of the books of Corchuelo. I will pay any
+price for that copy. I have been long searching for it in vain, and I
+shall esteem myself the most enviable of virtuosos in possessing it.
+You ought to find in the colophon a helmet with a motto over the
+word 'Tractado,' and the tail of the X of the date MDLXII ought to be
+crooked. If your copy agrees with these signs send me a telegraphic
+despatch at once, for I shall be very anxious until I receive it. But
+now I remember that, on account of these vexatious and troublesome wars,
+the telegraph is not working. I shall await your answer by return of
+mail.
+
+"I shall soon go to Madrid for the purpose of having my long delayed
+work, the 'Genealogies of Orbajosa,' printed. I appreciate your
+kindness, my dear friend, but I cannot accept your too flattering
+expressions. My work does not indeed deserve the high encomiums you
+bestow upon it; it is a work of patience and study, a rude but solid and
+massive monument which I shall have erected to the past glories of my
+beloved country. Plain and humble in its form, it is noble in the idea
+that inspired it, which was solely to direct the eyes of this proud and
+unbelieving generation to the marvellous deeds and the pure virtues of
+our forefathers. Would that the studious youth of our country might take
+the step to which with all my strength I incite them! Would that the
+abominable studies and methods of reasoning introduced by philosophic
+license and erroneous doctrines might be forever cast into oblivion!
+Would that our learned men might occupy themselves exclusively in the
+contemplation of those glorious ages, in order that, this generation
+being penetrated with their essence and their beneficent sap, its insane
+eagerness for change, and its ridiculous mania for appropriating
+to itself foreign ideas which conflict with our beautiful national
+constitution, might disappear. I fear greatly that among the crowd of
+mad youth who pursue vain Utopias and heathenish novelties, my desires
+are not destined to be fulfilled, and that the contemplation of the
+illustrious virtues of the past will remain confined within the same
+narrow circle as to-day. What is to be done, my friend? I am afraid that
+very soon our poor Spain is doomed to be so disfigured that she will
+not be able to recognize herself, even beholding herself in the bright
+mirror of her stainless history.
+
+"I do not wish to close this letter without informing you of a
+disagreeable event--the unfortunate death of an estimable young man,
+well known in Madrid, the civil engineer Don Jose de Rey, a nephew of my
+sister-in-law. This melancholy event occurred last night in the garden
+of our house, and I have not yet been able to form a correct judgment
+regarding the causes that may have impelled the unfortunate Rey to
+this horrible and criminal act. According to what Perfecta told me
+this morning, on my return from Mundo Grande, Pepe Rey at about twelve
+o'clock last night entered the garden of the house and shot himself
+in the right temple, expiring instantly. Imagine the consternation and
+alarm which such an event would produce in this peaceable and virtuous
+mansion. Poor Perfecta was so greatly affected that we were for a
+time alarmed about her; but she is better now, and this afternoon we
+succeeded in inducing her to take a little broth. We employ every means
+of consoling her, and as she is a good Christian, she knows how to
+support with edifying resignation even so great a misfortune as this.
+
+"Between you and me, my friend, I will say here that in young Rey's
+fatal attempt upon his life, I believe the moving causes to have been an
+unfortunate attachment, perhaps remorse for his conduct, and the state
+of hypochondriasm into which he had fallen. I esteemed him greatly; I
+think he was not lacking in excellent qualities; but he was held in such
+disrepute here that never once have I heard any one speak well of him.
+According to what they say, he made a boast of the most extravagant
+ideas and opinions; he mocked at religion, entered the church smoking
+and with his hat on; he respected nothing, and for him there was
+neither modesty, nor virtue, nor soul, nor ideal, nor faith--nothing but
+theodolites, squares, rules, engines, pick-axes, and spades. What do you
+thing of that? To be just, I must say that in his conversations with me
+he always concealed these ideas, doubtless through fear of being utterly
+routed by the fire of my arguments; but in public innumerable stories
+are told of his heretical ideas and his stupendous excesses.
+
+"I cannot continue, my dear friend, for at this moment I hear firing.
+As I have no love for fighting, and as I am not a soldier, my pulse
+trembles a little. In due time I will give you further particulars of
+this war.
+
+"Yours affectionately, etc., etc."
+
+
+
+"APRIL 22.
+
+"MY EVER-REMEMBERED FRIEND:
+
+"To-day we have had a bloody skirmish on the outskirts of Orbajosa. The
+large body of men raised in Villahorrenda were attacked by the troops
+with great fury. There was great loss in killed and wounded on both
+sides. After the combat the brave guerillas dispersed, but they are
+greatly encouraged, and it is possible that you may hear of wonderful
+things. Cristobal Caballuco, the son of the famous Caballuco whom you
+will remember in the last war, though suffering from a wound in the arm,
+how or when received is not known, commanded them. The present leader
+has eminent qualifications for the command; and he is, besides, an
+honest and simple-hearted man. As we must finally come to a friendly
+arrangement, I presume that Caballuco will be made a general in the
+Spanish army, whereby both sides will gain greatly.
+
+"I deplore this war, which is beginning to assume alarming proportions;
+but I recognize that our valiant peasants are not responsible for it,
+since they have been provoked to the inhuman conflict by the audacity of
+the Government, by the demoralization of its sacrilegious delegates; by
+the systematic fury with which the representatives of the state attack
+what is most venerated by the people--their religious faith and the
+national spirit which fortunately still exists in those places that are
+not yet contaminated by the desolating pestilence. When it is attempted
+to take away the soul of a people to give it a different one; when it is
+sought to denationalize a people, so to say, perverting its sentiments,
+its customs, its ideas--it is natural that this people should defend
+itself, like the man who is attacked by highwaymen on a solitary road.
+Let the spirit and the pure and salutiferous substance of my work on the
+'Genealogies'--excuse the apparent vanity--once reach the sphere of the
+Government and there will no longer be wars.
+
+"To-day we have had here a very disagreeable question. The clergy, my
+friend, have refused to allow Rey to be buried in consecrated ground.
+I interfered in the matter, entreating the bishop to remove this heavy
+anathema, but without success. Finally, we buried the body of the young
+man in a grave made in the field of Mundo Grande, where my patient
+explorations have discovered the archaeological treasures of which you
+know. I spent some very sad hours, and the painful impression which
+I received has not yet altogether passed away. Don Juan Tafetan and
+ourselves were the only persons who accompanied the funeral cortege. A
+little later, strange to say, the girls whom they call here the Troyas
+went to the field, and prayed for a long time beside the rustic tomb
+of the mathematician. Although this seemed a ridiculous piece of
+officiousness it touched me.
+
+"With respect to the death of Rey, the rumor circulates throughout the
+town that he was assassinated, but by whom is not known. It is asserted
+that he declared this to be the case, for he lived for about an hour and
+a half. According to what they say, he refused to reveal the name of
+his murderer. I repeat this version, without either contradicting or
+supporting it. Perfecta does not wish this matter to be spoken of, and
+she becomes greatly distressed whenever I allude to it.
+
+"Poor woman! no sooner had one misfortune occurred than she met with
+another, which has grieved us all deeply. My friend, the fatal malady
+that has been for so many generations connatural in our family has now
+claimed another victim. Poor Rosario, who, thanks to our cares, was
+improving gradually in her health, has entirely lost her reason. Her
+incoherent words, her frenzy, her deadly pallor, bring my mother and my
+sister forcibly to my mind. This is the most serious case that I have
+witnessed in our family, for the question here is not one of mania but
+of real insanity. It is sad, terribly sad that out of so many I should
+be the only one to escape, preserving a sound mind with all my faculties
+unimpaired and entirely free from any sign of that fatal malady.
+
+"I have not been able to give your remembrances to Don Inocencio, for
+the poor man has suddenly fallen ill and refuses to see even his most
+intimate friends. But I am sure that he would return your remembrances,
+and I do not doubt that he could lay his hand instantly on the
+translation of the collection of Latin epigrams which you recommend to
+him. I hear firing again. They say that we shall have a skirmish this
+afternoon. The troops have just been called out."
+
+
+
+"BARCELONA, June 1.
+
+"I have just arrived here after leaving my niece in San Baudilio de
+Llobregat. The director of the establishment has assured me that the
+case is incurable. She will, however, have the greatest care in that
+cheerful and magnificent sanitarium. My dear friend, if I also should
+ever succumb, let me be taken to San Baudilio. I hope to find the proofs
+of my 'Genealogies' awaiting me on my return. I intend to add six pages
+more, for it would be a great mistake not to publish my reasons for
+maintaining that Mateo Diez Coronel, author of the 'Metrico Encomio,'
+is descended, on the mother's side, from the Guevaras, and not from the
+Burguillos, as the author of the 'Floresta Amena' erroneously maintains.
+
+"I write this letter principally for the purpose of giving you a
+caution. I have heard several persons here speaking of Pepe Rey's death,
+and they describe it exactly as it occurred. The secret of the manner of
+his death, which I learned some time after the event, I revealed to you
+in confidence when we met in Madrid. It has appeared strange to me that
+having told it to no one but yourself, it should be known here in all
+its details--how he entered the garden; how he fired on Caballuco when
+the latter attacked him with his dagger; how Ramos then fired on him
+with so sure an aim that he fell to the ground mortally wounded. In
+short, my dear friend, in case you should have inadvertently spoken of
+this to any one, I will remind you that it is a family secret, and that
+will be sufficient for a person as prudent and discreet as yourself.
+
+"Joy! joy! I have just read in one of the papers here that Caballuco had
+defeated Brigadier Batalla."
+
+
+
+"ORBAJOSA, December 12.
+
+"I have a sad piece of news to give you. The Penitentiary has ceased to
+exist for us; not precisely because he has passed to a better life, but
+because the poor man has been, ever since last April, so grief-stricken,
+so melancholy, so taciturn that you would not know him. There is no
+longer in him even a trace of that Attic humor, that decorous and
+classic joviality which made him so pleasing. He shuns every body; he
+shuts himself up in his house and receives no one; he hardly eats any
+thing, and he has broken off all intercourse with the world. If you were
+to see him now you would not recognize him, for he is reduced to skin
+and bone. The strangest part of the matter is that he has quarreled with
+his niece and lives alone, entirely alone, in a miserable cottage in the
+suburb of Baidejos. They say now that he will resign his chair in the
+choir of the cathedral and go to Rome. Ah! Orbajosa will lose much in
+losing her great Latinist. I imagine that many a year will pass before
+we shall see such another. Our glorious Spain is falling into decay,
+declining, dying."
+
+
+
+"ORBAJOSA, December 23.
+
+"The young man who will present to you a letter of introduction from
+me is the nephew of our dear Penitentiary, a lawyer with some literary
+ability. Carefully educated by his uncle, he has very sensible ideas.
+How regrettable it would be if he should become corrupted in that sink
+of philosophy and incredulity! He is upright, industrious, and a good
+Catholic, for which reasons I believe that in an office like yours he
+will rise to distinction in his profession. Perhaps his ambition may
+lead him (for he has ambition, too) into the political arena, and
+I think he would not be a bad acquisition to the cause of order and
+tradition, now that the majority of our young men have become perverted
+and have joined the ranks of the turbulent and the vicious. He is
+accompanied by his mother, a commonplace woman without any social
+polish, but who has an excellent heart, and who is truly pious.
+Maternal affection takes in her the somewhat extravagant form of worldly
+ambition, and she declares that her son will one day be Minister. It is
+quite possible that he may.
+
+"Perfecta desires to be remembered to you. I don't know precisely what
+is the matter with her; but the fact is, she gives us great uneasiness.
+She has lost her appetite to an alarming degree, and, unless I am
+greatly mistaken in my opinion of her case, she shows the first symptoms
+of jaundice. The house is very sad without Rosarito, who brightened it
+with her smiles and her angelic goodness. A black cloud seems to rest
+now over us all. Poor Perfecta speaks frequently of this cloud, which
+is growing blacker and blacker, while she becomes every day more yellow.
+The poor mother finds consolation for her grief in religion and in
+devotional exercises, which each day she practises with a more exemplary
+and edifying piety. She passes almost the whole of the day in church,
+and she spends her large income in novenas and in splendid religious
+ceremonies. Thanks to her, religious worship has recovered in Orbajosa
+its former splendor. This is some consolation in the midst of the decay
+and dissolution of our nationality.
+
+"To-morrow I will send the proofs. I will add a few pages more, for I
+have discovered another illustrious Orbajosan--Bernardo Amador de Sota,
+who was footman to the Duke of Osuna, whom he served during the period
+of the vice-royalty of Naples; and there is even good reason to believe
+that he had no complicity whatever in the conspiracy against Venice."
+
+
+
+Our story is ended. This is all we have to say for the present
+concerning persons who seem, but are not good.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dona Perfecta, by B. Perez Galdos
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