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diff --git a/31056-h/31056-h.htm b/31056-h/31056-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5698fc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/31056-h/31056-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12812 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Grandee, by Armando Palacio Valdés</title> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} + +.hang {text-indent:-2%;margin-left:2%;} + +.head {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;font-size:115%;margin:3% auto 3% auto;} + +.lg {font-size:175%;} + +.nind {text-indent:0%;} + +.r {text-align:right;margin-right:25%;} + +.signature {margin-left:50%;text-indent:-15%;} + + h1 {text-align:center;clear:both;letter-spacing:5px;font-size:300%;} + h1.pg {text-align:center;clear:both;letter-spacing:0px;font-size:190%;} + + h2,h4 {text-align:center;clear:both;} + + h3 {margin-top:15%;text-align:center;clear:both;} + +.top5 {margin-top:5%;} + +.top15 {margin-top:15%;} + + hr {width:90%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} + + hr.full {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;} + + body{margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} + +.un {text-decoration:underline;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:95%;} + + img {border:none;} + +.blockquot{margin:4% 10% 4% 10%;} + +.blockquott{margin:4% 10% 4% 20%;} + +.box {border:solid 2px black;margin:10% 25% 10% 25%;} + +.caption {font-weight:bold;} + +.image {margin:auto;text-align:center;} + +.footnotes {border:double 6px gray;margin-top:10%;clear:both;} + +.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} + +.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} + +.poem {margin-left:25%;white-space:nowrap;text-indent:0%;} + + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Grandee, by Armando Palacio Valdés, +Translated by Rachel Challice</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Grandee</p> +<p>Author: Armando Palacio Valdés</p> +<p>Release Date: January 23, 2010 [eBook #31056]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRANDEE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Chuck Greif<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/grandeenovel00palaiala"> + http://www.archive.org/details/grandeenovel00palaiala</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="image"><img src="images/ill_cover.jpg" +alt="image of book cover not available" +width="359" +height="550" +/> +</div> + +<div class="blockquott"> +<p>HEINEMANN'S<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY</span></p> + +<p>EDITED BY<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">EDMUND GOSSE</span></p> + +<h2>THE GRANDEE</h2> + + +<h3 class="top5">ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS</h3> +</div> + +<div class="box"> + +<p class="c un"><i>Heinemann's International Library.</i></p> + +<p class="c">Edited by EDMUND GOSSE.</p> + +<p class="c"><i>Crown 8vo, in paper covers, 2s. 6d., or cloth limp, 3s. 6d.</i></p> + + + +<table summary="library" +cellpadding="2" +cellspacing="0"><tr valign="top"><td align="right">1.</td><td><i>IN GOD'S WAY.</i> From the Norwegian of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Björnstjerne Björnson</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">2.</td><td><i>PIERRE AND JEAN.</i> From the French of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Guy de Maupassant</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">3.</td><td><i>THE CHIEF JUSTICE.</i> From the German<br /> +of <span class="smcap">Karl Emil Franzos</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">4.</td><td><i>WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT.</i><br /> +From the Russian of <span class="smcap">Count Lyof Tolstoi</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">5.</td><td><i>FANTASY.</i> From the Italian of <span class="smcap">Matilde<br /> +Serao</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">6.</td><td><i>FROTH.</i> From the Spanish of <span class="smcap">Don Armando<br />Palacio Valdés</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">7.</td><td><i>FOOTSTEPS OF FATE.</i> From the Dutch<br /> +of <span class="smcap">Louis Couperus</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">8.</td><td><i>PEPITA JIMÉNEZ.</i> From the Spanish of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Juan Valera</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">9.</td><td><i>THE COMMODORE'S DAUGHTERS.</i> From<br /> +the Norwegian of <span class="smcap">Jonas Lie</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">10.</td><td><i>THE HERITAGE OF THE KURTS.</i> From<br /> +the Norwegian of <span class="smcap">Björnstjerne Björnson</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">11.</td><td><i>LOU.</i> From the German of <span class="smcap">Baron von<br /> +Roberts</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">12.</td><td><i>DONA LUZ.</i> From the Spanish of <span class="smcap">Juan<br /> +Valera</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">13.</td><td><i>THE JEW.</i> From the Polish of <span class="smcap">Joseph I.<br /> +Kraszewski</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">14.</td><td><i>UNDER THE YOKE.</i> From the Bulgarian<br /> +of <span class="smcap">Ivan Vazoff</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">15.</td><td><i>FAREWELL LOVE!</i> From the Italian of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Matilde Serao</span>.</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right">16.</td><td><i>THE GRANDEE.</i> From the Spanish of <span class="smcap">Don<br /> +Armando Palacio Valdés</span>.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c"><i>In preparation.</i></p> + +<p class="c"><i>A COMMON STORY.</i> From the Russian of<br /> +<span class="smcap">Goncharof</span>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>NIOBE.</i> From the Norwegian of <span class="smcap">Jonas Lie</span>.<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c"><i>Each Volume contains a specially written +Introduction by the Editor.</i></p> + +<p class="c"><span class="smcap">London</span>: W. HEINEMANN, 21 <span class="smcap">Bedford St.</span>, <span class="smcap">W.C.</span></p> + +</div> + + +<h1><span class="lg">T</span>HE <span class="lg">G</span>RANDEE</h1> + + +<h3 class="top5">A NOVEL</h3> + +<p class="c">BY</p> + +<h2>ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS</h2> + +<p class="c top5">TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH</p> + +<p class="c">BY</p> + +<h3 class="top5">RACHEL CHALLICE</h3> + +<div class="image"> +<img src="images/ill_logo.png" +alt="image of logo not available" +width="104" +height="137" +/> +</div> + +<p class="c">LONDON<br /> +WILLIAM HEINEMANN<br /> +1894<br /> +<span class="sml">[<i>All rights reserved</i>]</span></p> + + +<table summary="contents" +cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0" +style="border:double gray 4px;padding:2%;margin:10% auto auto auto;"><tr><td align="center"> +<a href="#CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a><br /> +<a href="#FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</a></td></tr> +</table> + + +<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3> + + +<p>According to the Spanish critics, the novel has flourished +in Spain during only two epochs—the golden age of Cervantes +and the period in which we are still living. That +unbroken line of romance-writing which has existed for so +long a time in France and in England, is not to be looked +for in the Peninsula. The novel in Spain is a re-creation +of our own days; but it has made, since the middle of the +nineteenth century, two or three fresh starts. The first +modern Spanish novelists were what are called the <i>walter-scottistas</i>, +although they were inspired as much by George +Sand as by the author of <i>Waverley</i>. These writers were of +a romantic order, and Fernan Caballero, whose earliest +novel dates from 1849, was at their head. The Revolution +of September, 1868, marked an advance in Spanish fiction, +and Valera came forward as the leader of a more national +and more healthily vitalised species of imaginative work. +The pure and exquisite style of Valera is, doubtless, only to +be appreciated by a Castilian. Something of its charm may +be divined, however, even in the English translation of his +masterpiece, <i>Pepita Jiménez</i>. The mystical and aristocratic +genius of Valera appealed to a small audience; he has +confided to the world that when all were praising but few +were buying his books.</p> + +<p>Far greater fecundity and a more directly successful +appeal to the public, were, somewhat later, the characteristics +of Perez y Galdos, whose vigorous novels, spoiled a +little for a foreign reader by their didactic diffuseness, +are well-known in this country. In the hands of Galdos, a +further step was taken by Spanish fiction towards the +rejection of romantic optimism and the adoption of a +modified realism. In Pereda, so the Spanish critics tell us, +a still more valiant champion of naturalism was found, +whose studies of local manners in the province of Santander +recall to mind the paintings of Teniers. About 1875 was +the date when the struggle commenced in good earnest +between the schools of romanticism and realism. In 1881 +Galdos definitely joined the ranks of the realists with his +<i>La Desheredada</i>. An eminent Spanish writer, Emilio Pardo +Bazan, thus described the position some six years ago: "It +is true that the battle is not a noisy one, and excites no +great warlike ardour. The question is not taken up amongst +us with the same heat as in France, and this from several +causes. In the first place, the idealists with us do not walk +in the clouds so much as they do in France, nor do the +realists load their palette so heavily. Neither school exaggerates +in order to distinguish itself from the other. Perhaps +our public is indifferent to literature, especially to printed +literature, for what is represented on the stage produces +more impression."</p> + +<p>This indifference of the Spanish reading public, which +has led a living novelist to declare that a person of good +position in Madrid would rather spend his money on fireworks +or on oranges than on a book, has at length been in +a measure dissipated by a writer who is not merely admired +and distinguished, but positively popular, and who, without +sacrificing style, has conquered the unwilling Spanish public. +This is Armando Palacio Valdés, who was born on the 4th +of October 1853, in a hamlet in the mountains of Asturias, +called Entralgo, where his family possessed a country-house. +The family spent only the summer there; the remainder of +the year they passed in Avilés, the maritime town which +Valdés describes under the name of Nieva in his novel +<i>Marta y Maria</i>. He began his education at Oviedo, the +capital of Asturias. From this city he went, in 1870, up to +Madrid to study the law as a profession. But even in the +lawyer's office, his dream was to become a man of letters. +His ambition took the form of obtaining at some university +a chair of political economy, to which science he had, or +fancied himself to have, at that time a great proclivity.</p> + +<p>Before terminating his legal studies, the young man +published several articles in the <i>Revista Europea</i> on philosophical +and religious questions. These articles attracted +the attention of the proprietor of that review, and Valdés +presently joined the staff. In 1874 he became editor. He +was at the head of the <i>Revista Europea</i>, at that time the +most important periodical in Spain from a scientific point of +view, for several years. During that time he published the +main part of those articles of literary criticism, particularly +on contemporary poets and novelists, which have since been +collected in several volumes—<i>Los Oradores del Ateneo</i>, +("The Orators of the Athenæum"); <i>Los Novelistas Españoles</i> +("The Spanish Novelists"); <i>Un Nuevo Viaje al Parnaso</i> +("A New Journey to Parnassus"), sketches of the living +poets of Spain; and, in particular, a very bright collection +of review articles published in conjunction with Leopoldo +Alas, <i>La Literatura en</i> 1881 ("Spanish Literature in 1881"). +These gave Valdés a foremost rank among the critics of the +day. He wrote no more criticism, or very little; he +determined to place himself amongst those whose creative +work demands the careful consideration of the best judges.</p> + +<p>Soon after he took the direction of the <i>Revista</i>, Valdés +wrote his first novel, <i>El Señorito Octavio</i>, which was not +published until 1881. In 1883 he brought out his <i>Marta y +Maria</i>, a book which, I know not why, is called "The +Marquis of Peñalta" in its English version. This novel +enjoyed an extraordinary success, and had more of the +graphic and sprightly manner by which Valdés has since +been distinguished, than the books which immediately +followed it. Spanish critics, indeed, remembering the +wonderful freshness of <i>Marta y Maria</i>, still often speak of +it as the best of Valdés' stories. In this same year, 1883, +he married, at the seaside town of Gijon, in Asturias, on +the day when he completed his thirty years, a young lady of +sixteen. His marriage was a honeymoon of a year and a +half, of which <i>El Idilio de un Enfermo</i> ("The Idyll of an +Invalid"), a short novel of 1884, portrays the earlier +portion. His wife died early in 1885, leaving him with an +infant son to be, as he says, "my allusion and my fascination." +His subsequent career has been laborious and +systematic. He has published one novel almost every year. +In 1885 it was <i>José</i>, a shorter tale of sea-faring life on the +stormy coast of the author's native province. About the +same time appeared a collection of short stories, called +<i>Aguas Fuertes</i> ("Strong Waters").</p> + +<p>It was not until 1886, however, that Valdés began to +rank among the foremost novelists of Europe. In that +year he published his great story, <i>Riverita</i>, one of the +characters in which, a charming child, became the heroine +of his next book, <i>Maximina</i>, 1887. Of this character he +writes to me: "My Maximina in these two books is but a +pale reflection of that being from whom Providence parted +me before she was eighteen years of age. In these novels +I have painted a great part of my life." A Sevillian novice, +who has helped to care for Maximina in Madrid, reigns +supreme in a succeeding novel, <i>La Hermana San Sulpicio</i> +("Sister San Sulpicio"), 1889. But between these two last +there comes a massive novel, describing the adventures of a +journalist who founds a newspaper in the provincial town of +Sarrió, by which Gijon seems to be intended. This book +is called <i>El Cuarto Poder</i> ("The Fourth Power"), and was +published in 1888. To these, in 1891, was added <i>La +Espuma</i> ("Froth"), of which a translation has already +appeared in the "International Library." In 1892 Valdés +published <i>La Fé</i> ("Faith").</p> + +<p>In <i>La Espuma</i>, his best-known novel, Valdés reverted +from those country scenes and those streets of provincial +cities which he had hitherto loved best to paint, and gave +us a sternly satiric picture of the frothy surface of fashionable +life in Madrid. From the illusions of the poor, +pathetic and often beautiful, he turned to the ugly cynicism +of the wealthy. With his passion for honesty and simplicity, +his heart burned within him at the parade and +hollowness which he detected in aristocratic and bureaucratic +Madrid. One conceives that, like his own Raimundo, +he was invited to enter it, took his fill of its pleasures, and +found his mouth filled with ashes. His talent for portraiture +was never better employed. If he was occasionally +tempted to commit the peculiarly Spanish fault of exaggeration—scarcely +a fault there, where the shadows are so +black and the colours so flaring—he resisted it in his more +important characters. The brutality of the Duke de +Requena, the sagacity and urbanity of Father Ortega, the +saintly sweetness of the Duchess, the naïveté of Raimundo, +the sphinx-like charm of Clementina de Osorio, with her +mysterious sweetness and duplicity, these are among the +salient points of characterisation which stand out in this +powerful book. <i>La Espuma</i> was a cry from the desert +to those who wear soft raiment in king's palaces. It was +the ruthless tearing aside of the conventions by a Knox +or a Savonarola. It was stringent satire, yet tempered +with an artist's moderation, with a naturalist's self-suppression.</p> + +<p>The latest novel which Valdés has published is that +which we here present under the title of <i>The Grandee</i> ("El +Maestrante"). Here, as it will be seen, the author is no +longer engaged in the jarring notes of satire, but, with more +lightness and a greater effusion of humour, he dissects the +quaint elements which make up old-fashioned society in a +provincial city of Spain. This is one of those books which +peculiarly appeal to the foreign reader who desires to enter +into a phase of life from which his own experience +absolutely excludes him. We may suppose that a limited +number of Englishmen can penetrate to the palaces and the +club-rooms of Madrid, and see something, however superficially, +of the life described in <i>Froth</i>. But the grim and +ancient mansions which look down through ancient +mullioned windows on the narrow streets of such a town as +is brought before us in <i>The Grandee</i>—what can the most +privileged Englishman possibly know of the manners and +customs of their stately inhabitants?</p> + +<p>In the second half of the book, the gaiety and grotesqueness +of the pictures of life sink before the solemnity of the +terrible and tragic corruption of Amalia, and the martyrdom +of Josefina. The last pages of <i>The Grandee</i> are, indeed, +tinged with almost intolerable gloom, and in a society comparatively +so civilised as our own, the revenge of the unnatural +mother may seem almost overdrawn. The author +contends, however, that in the cryptic and cloistered +provincial life which he describes, where the light of +censure can hardly reach a powerful criminal, such wickedness +as is perpetrated upon Josefina is neither improbable +nor unprecedented. Nor do the reports of Mr. Benjamin +Waugh permit us to question that such horrors are daily +committed at our own doors. Whether these maladies of +the soul are or are not fit subjects for the art of the novelist +is a question which every reader must answer for himself.</p> + +<p>In the pages of <i>The Grandee</i> we have a singular transcript +of Spanish pride and picturesqueness, of a narrow +society absolutely fortified against public opinion by its +ancient prejudices, a society, nevertheless, in which the +primitive passions of humanity stir and interact with as +much dangerous vivacity as in freer and more democratic +conditions. I may perhaps mention, on the authority of +the author, that by Lancia Valdés intends us to understand +Oviedo, the capital of the province of Asturias, where he +spent many years of his childhood and early youth. The +story opens between thirty and forty years ago, and represents +Oviedo and its social customs at an epoch a little +earlier than the time when the novelist was forming his +freshest and most vivid impressions of life.</p> + +<p>Of the author of so many interesting books but little has +yet been told to the public. In a private letter to myself, +the eminent novelist gives a brief sketch of his mode of life, +so interesting that I have secured his permission to translate +and print it here:—"Since my wife died," Señor +Valdés writes, "my life has continued to be tranquil and +melancholy, dedicated to work and to my son. During the +winters, I live in Asturias, and during the summers, in +Madrid. I like the company of men of the world better +than that of literary folks, because the former teach me +more. I am given up to the study of metaphysics. I have +a passion for physical exercises, for gymnastics, for fencing, +and I try to live in an evenly-balanced temper, nothing +being so repugnant to me as affectation and emphasis. I +find a good deal of pleasure in going to bull-fights (although +I do not take my son to the Plaza dressed up like a +miniature <i>torero</i>, as an American writer declares I do), and +I cultivate the theatre, because to see life from the stage +point of view helps me in the composition of my stories."</p> + +<p class="r">EDMUND GOSSE.</p> + + +<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h3> + + +<table summary="toc" +cellspacing="0" +cellpadding="5"> +<tr><td>CHAP.</td><td colspan="2" align="right" class="sml">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td> THE GRANDEE'S HOUSE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_001">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td> THE DISCOVERY</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_025">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td> THE TOWN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_055">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td> THE HISTORY OF THEIR LOVE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_075">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td> THE JOKES OF PACO GOMEZ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td> THE SEÑORITAS DE MERÉ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td> THE INCREASE OF THE CONTINGENT</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_138"> 138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td> FERNANDA AND THE WINE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td> THE MASQUERADE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td><td> FIVE YEARS AFTER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td><td> AMALIA'S RAGE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td><td> THE BARON'S JUSTICE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td><td> THE MARTYRDOM</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td><td> THE CAPITULATION</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td><td> JOSEFINA SLEEPS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<p><a name="Page_001" id="Page_001"></a></p> + +<h2 class="top15">THE GRANDEE</h2> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h3> + +<p class="head">THE GRANDEE'S HOUSE</p> + + +<p class="nind">I<span class="smcap">t</span> was ten o'clock at night, an hour when the number of +those who frequented the streets of the noble city of Lancia +was always of the scantiest, but in the depth of winter, when +our story opens, with a bitter north-east wind and drenching +rain, one would find it difficult to stumble upon a living +soul. Not that all had surrendered themselves into the +arms of Morpheus, for Lancia as capital of a province, +albeit not one of the most important, had learnt to sit up +late. But the people used to resort at an early hour to +parties, whence they only sallied forth to supper and to bed +at eleven o'clock. At that hour many noisy groups could be +seen passing along under the shelter of umbrellas, the +ladies enveloped in warm woollen cloaks, holding up their +petticoats, and the gentlemen all wrapped in their cloaks, or +<i>montecristos</i>, with their trousers well turned up, breaking +the silence of the night by the loud clack of their wooden +shoes. For at the time of which we speak there were few +that despised this comfortable shoe of the country, unless it +were some new-fledged medical student from Valladolid, +who considered himself above such old-fashioned things, or +some fanciful young lady, who pretended that she could not +walk in them. But these were the exceptions. There<a name="Page_002" id="Page_002"></a> +were no carriages in the town, for only three existed in the +place, belonging respectively to the Quiñones, the Countess +of Onis, and to Estrada-Rosa; the last-mentioned being +the only one that did not date from the middle of the last +century. When either of these conveyances appeared in +the street, it was followed by a crowd of little urchins, whose +enthusiasm at the sight knew no bounds. The neighbours +inside their houses could tell by the sound of the wheels, +and the clink of the horseshoes to which of the above-mentioned +magnates the carriage belonged. They were in +fact three venerated institutions which the natives of the +city had learnt to love and respect. So umbrellas and +wooden shoes were the only protections against the rain +that falls more than three parts of the year. India-rubber +shoes came in later, as well as hooded waterproofs, which +at certain times transform Lancia into a vast community of +Carthusian friars.</p> + +<p>The wind blew stronger at the crossing of Santa Barbara +than in any other part of the town. This uncovered +passage, between the bishop's palace and the walls of a +courtyard of the cathedral, just by the chain which regulates +the lightning conductor, leads finally under an +archway, a murky corner where the blast, confined within +a narrow space, howls and moans on such infernal nights +as this.</p> + +<p>A man, muffled up to the eyes, crossed with rapid steps +the little square in front of the archbishop's house, and +entered this recess. The force of the hurricane stopped +him, and the rain penetrating between the collar of his +coat and the brim of his hat, almost blinded him. He +made a few seconds' stand against the violence of the +whirlwind, and then, instead of uttering any exclamation of +impatience, which would have been more than excusable +under the circumstances, he merely gave vent to a long-drawn +sigh of distress:</p> + +<p>"Oh! my Jesus! what a night!"<a name="Page_003" id="Page_003"></a></p> + +<p>He cowered up against the wall, and when the wind had +somewhat abated, he resumed his course. Passing under +the archway that connects the palace with the cathedral, he +entered the widest and best-lighted part of the passage. +An oil-lamp fixed in the corner served as its only light. +The wretched thing, seconded by a tinfoil reflector placed +at the back, made ineffectual attempts to pierce the gloom +of the farthest corners.</p> + +<p>Ten yards off nobody would have thought it was there, +and yet to our muffled traveller it must have seemed an +Edison lamp of ten thousand candle-power, from the way +he drew his coat-collar higher about his face, and from the +haste in which he avoided the pavement, and crept along +by the wall where the shadows were deepest. In this way +he arrived at the Calle de Santa Lucia, cast a rapid glance +around him, and renewed his course on the darkest side of +the way. Although one of the most central streets, the +Calle de Santa Lucia is solitary to an extreme. It is closed +at one end by the base of the tower of the cathedral, a +graceful, elegant structure like few to be found in Spain, +and so it is only used as a thoroughfare by canons going to +the choir, or devotees on their way to early Mass. In this +short, straight, narrow street, the palace of Quiñones de +Leon was situated—a large, dreary, uninteresting-looking +building with projecting iron balconies. It was two storeys +high, and over the central balcony there was an enormous +roughly carved shield, supported by two griffins in high +relief, as rudely carved as the quarterings.</p> + +<p>One side of the house looked on to a little, damp, melancholy, +neglected garden, enclosed by a wall of regular +elevation; and the other on to a dull, even damper, narrow +street which ran between the house and the black, discoloured +wall of the church of San Rafael. To pass from +the palace to the church, where the Quiñones had a private +pew, was a little gallery, or covered way, smaller, but similar +to that of the archbishop, over the passage of Santa Barbara.<a name="Page_004" id="Page_004"></a></p> + +<p>By the bright light shining from the crevice of a half-opened +window on the balcony, it was evident that the +people of the house had not yet retired to rest. And if the +light were not sufficient proof, the fact was confirmed by +the strains of a piano heard occasionally above the roar of +the storm.</p> + +<p>Our muffled friend, with a rapid step, keeping as much +in shadow as possible, arrived at the door of the palace. +There he stopped again, cast a furtive glance down both +sides of the street, and entered the portico. It was large, +and paved with stones like the street; the bare, discoloured, +whitewashed walls were dimly illumined by an oil-lamp +hung from the centre. The man quickly crossed it, and +before pulling the bell-cord, placed his ear to the door, and +listened long and attentively. Convinced that nobody was +descending the staircase, he gave one more look down the +street. At last he decided to undo his cloak, and drew +from under its folds a bundle, which he placed with a +trembling hand near the door. It was a basket, covered +with a woman's mantle, which hid the contents from view, +although they could be pretty well guessed, for from the +time of Moses, mysterious baskets seem destined for the +consignment of infants.</p> + +<p>The man, being now free of his burthen, pulled the bell-cord +three times, and the door was immediately opened +from above by means of another cord. The three pulls of +the bell showed that the visitor to the aristocratic mansion +of the Quiñones was a nobleman on a par with the Señores. +This was an old-established custom of unknown origin. A +menial, a servant, an inferior in any degree, only rang once, +ordinary visitors rang twice, and the half dozen, or more, +persons that the important Señor of Quiñones considered +his equals in Lancia, rang three times. If those in the +town, who had never been admitted to the sacred precincts +of the mansion, joked with the habitués of the place on the +subject, their witticisms fell flat; but even if the shafts did<a name="Page_005" id="Page_005"></a> +go home, the feudal custom was so universally respected, +that none but the privileged few dared to give the three +signals pertaining to the highest rank. Paco Gomez once +ventured to break the rule for a joke, but he was received +so coldly when he entered the drawing-room that he never +cared to repeat the experiment.</p> + +<p>So the man of the basket entered quickly, shut the door, +crossed the hall, and ascended the wide stone staircase, +where holes, worn by long use, retained the damp.</p> + +<p>When he reached the first floor, a servant approached to +take his hat and cloak; so without further delay, and as if +avoiding pursuit, he darted with hasty stride towards the +drawing-room door, and opened it. The light of the +chandelier and candelabra dazzled him for a moment. He +was a tall powerful man, between thirty and thirty-two +years of age, with a pleasant expression of countenance and +regular features, short hair, and a long, silky beard of +reddish hue. His face was pale, and betrayed extreme +anxiety. On raising his eyes, which the excessive brightness +of the room at first obliged him to lower, he turned them +on the lady of the house, who was seated in an armchair. +She, on her side, cast an inquiring anxious look at him, and +the glance caused him a shock which gave instantaneous +repose to his face like the neutralisation of two equal forces.</p> + +<p>The gentleman remained at the door waiting for five or +six couples, who were pirouetting to the strains of a waltz, to +pass him, whilst his pale lips wreathed into a smile as sweet +as it was sad.</p> + +<p>"What an evening! We did not think you would be +here so soon," exclaimed the lady as she gave him her +delicate nervous hand, which contracted three or four times +with intense emotion as it came in contact with his.</p> + +<p>She was a woman of about twenty-eight or thirty years +of age, diminutive in stature, with a pale, expressive face, +very black eyes and hair, small mouth, and delicate aquiline +nose.<a name="Page_006" id="Page_006"></a></p> + +<p>"How are you, Amalia?" said the gentleman, without +replying to her remark, and trying to hide under a smile the +anxiety which, in spite of himself, the trembling of his voice +betrayed.</p> + +<p>"I am better, thank you."</p> + +<p>"Is not this noise bad for you?"</p> + +<p>"No; I was bored to death in bed. Besides, I did not +wish to deprive the young people of the one enjoyment +they can get occasionally at Lancia."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Amalia," exclaimed a young lady who was +dancing and overheard the last remark, and Amalia responded +by a kind smile.</p> + +<p>Another couple from behind then knocked against the +gentleman, who was still standing.</p> + +<p>"Always devoted, Luis!"</p> + +<p>"To no one more than yourself, Maria," replied the +young man, affecting to hide his embarrassment under a +laugh.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure that I am the only one?" she asked with +a mischievous glance at the partner who held her in his +arms.</p> + +<p>Maria Josefa Hevia was at least forty, and she had been +almost as ugly at fifteen. As her means were not equal to +her weight, no one had dared redeem her from the purgatory +of solitude. Until quite lately she still entertained hopes +that one of the elderly Indian bachelors, who came to pass +their declining years in Lancia, would ask her hand in +marriage; and these hopes were founded on the fact that +these gentlemen frequently contracted alliances with the +daughters of distinguished people in the place, portionless +as they generally were.</p> + +<p>On her father's side, Maria Josefa was connected with +one of the oldest families, being related to the Señor of +Quiñones, in whose house we now are.</p> + +<p>But her father was dead, and she lived with her mother, +a woman of low degree, who had been a cook before<a name="Page_007" id="Page_007"></a> +marrying her master. Either for this reason, or on account +of the indisputable ugliness of her face, the Indians fought +shy of her; although her exaggerated idea of her position +exacted a certain respect in society. Her face was +hideous, with irregular features, marked with erysipelas, +and disfigured by red patches about the nostrils. She +only retained one feminine taste, and that was for +dancing, which was a real passion with her; and she felt it +dreadfully when she was left a wallflower by the careless +young men of Lancia. But, possessing a sharp tongue, she +revenged herself so cleverly on both sexes when thus +neglected, that the majority of the youths willingly sacrificed +one dance on the programme to her at all the +balls; and when they failed to do so, the girls would +remind them of their duty, so great was their fear of the +spiteful old maid. Thus, by dint of the wholesome terror +she inspired, she danced as much as the greatest beauty in +Lancia.</p> + +<p>She was conscious of the reason of her success, and however +humiliated she might be in the depths of her heart, she +did not fail to make use of the power, as she considered it +the lesser evil of the two.</p> + +<p>Witty and malicious, she was particularly alive to a sense +of the ridiculous in things, and whilst not lacking in the +power of narration, she was, moreover, endowed with the +peculiar knack of wounding everybody to the quick when +she had a mind to.</p> + +<p>"Has the count come yet?" asked a sharp voice from +the next room, which made itself heard above the sounds of +the piano, and the feet of the dancers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, here I am, Don Pedro; I am coming."</p> + +<p>Whereupon the count made a step towards the door, +without removing his eye from the pallid-looking lady; and +she riveted another steady gaze upon him, which conveyed +the impression of a question. He just closed his eyes in +affirmatory reply, and passed on to the next apartment,<a name="Page_008" id="Page_008"></a> +which, like the drawing-room, was furnished without any +regard for luxury.</p> + +<p>The highest nobility of Lancia despised all the refinements +of decoration so usual nowadays. They scorned +every innovation both within and without their dwellings; +and this not from feelings of avarice, but from the inborn +conviction that their superiority consisted less in the richness +and splendour of their houses, than in the seal of +ancient respectability.</p> + +<p>The furniture was old and shabby, and the carpets and +curtains were faded; but the master paid little heed to +such matters. Indeed, Don Pedro Quiñones showed an +indifference, bordering upon eccentricity, on the point. +Neither the entreaties of his wife, nor the remarks which +some bolder spirit, like Paco Gomez, who was always ready +to be facetious, dared to make, ever induced him to call in +the painters and upholsterers.</p> + +<p>With regard to size, the drawing-room was superb, being +both lofty and spacious, and including all the windows of +the Calle de Santa Lucia, with the exception of that of the +library. The chairs were antique, not a mere imitation of +those of bygone ages, as is now the mode, but made in +times past, according to the fashion of the period, and +covered with green velvet, worn old by time. In many +places the floor was visible through the holes in the +carpet. The walls were covered with magnificent tapestries, +which constituted the one adornment of the house, +for Don Pedro had a very valuable collection; but he only +exhibited it once a year, when the balconies were draped +on the day of Corpus Christi. It was said that an Englishman +once offered a million pesetas<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> for their possession.</p> + +<p>The count had also several very valuable pictures, but +they were so discoloured by time that, if not restored before +long by some skilful hand, they seemed likely to disappear<a name="Page_009" id="Page_009"></a> +altogether. The only new thing in the drawing-room was +the piano, bought three years ago, soon after the second +marriage of Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>The library, also of large dimensions, with a window +looking on to the Calle de Santa Lucia, and two on to the +garden, was furnished still worse. It had heavy damask +curtains, two mahogany presses without mirrors, a sofa +upholstered with silk, a few leather chairs, a round table in +the centre, and some seats to match the sofa, all old and +shabby.</p> + +<p>Seated round the table, lighted by an enormous oil-lamp, +were three gentlemen playing at tresillo.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> + +<p>The master of the house was one of them. He was +between forty-six and forty-eight years of age. For the +last three years he had been quite unable to move from +the effects of an apoplectic stroke, which left him with both +legs paralysed. He was stout, with a red face, and strong +well-marked features; his thick curly hair and beard were +streaked with grey, and he had keen, piercing black eyes. +His face was remarkable for an expression of pride and +fierceness, which the kind smile with which he received the +Conde de Onis could not entirely hide. He was sitting, +or rather reclining, in an armchair constructed especially +for facilitating the movement of his body and arms; and +it was placed sideways at the table, so that he could play, +and keep his legs raised up meanwhile. Although there +were logs burning on the hearth, he had a grey cloak round +his shoulders, fastened at the throat with a gold clasp. +Embroidered on the left-hand side was the large red cross +of the order of Calatrava.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> The Señor of Quiñones was +rarely seen without this cloak, which afforded him a fantastic, +somewhat theatrical, appearance. He had always been +eccentric in his dress. His pride impelled him to try and<a name="Page_010" id="Page_010"></a> +distinguish himself from the vulgar in every way. On +ordinary occasions he wore a buttoned-up frock-coat, a +high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, and his hair was long, +like that of a cavalier of the seventeenth century, whilst +his clothes were generally of velvet or velveteen, with +riding-boots of a fashion beyond all recollection, and his +wide shirt-collars were turned back over his waistcoat in +imitation of the Walloon style. There never was a man +prouder of his high degree, nor more retentive of the privileges +enjoyed by those of his rank in times gone by. +People grumbled at his eccentricities, and many turned +them to ridicule, for Lancia is a place not wanting in a +sense of humour. But, as usual, unbending pride had +ended by making an impression. Those who were the +first to joke at Don Pedro's peculiarities, were those who +were the most punctiliously respectful in doffing their hats +when he appeared almost half a mile off. He had lived +some years at Court, but he did not strike root there. He +was one of the gentlemen in office, and curiously jealous +of every prerogative and distinction due to his fortune and +birth. But there was no satisfying a heart so corroded +with arrogance, and he bitterly resented the amalgamation +of people of birth with those of money. The respect +afforded to politicians, which he in his position also had to +accede to, perfectly enraged him. Was a son of a nobody, +a common fellow, to take precedence of him, and merely +give an indifferent or disdainful glance at him?—at him, +the descendant of the proud Counts of Castille! Not being +able to put up with such a state of things, he resigned his +appointment, and took up his abode again in the old-world +palace in which we now are. His pride, or maybe +his eccentric character, made the rich bachelor at this time +of his life do a thousand odd and ridiculous things, to the +great astonishment of the town until it became accustomed +to him. Don Pedro never went out in the street without +being accompanied by a servant, or majordomo, a rough<a name="Page_011" id="Page_011"></a> +sort of man who wore the costume of the peasants of +the country, which consisted of short breeches, woollen +stockings, a green cloth jacket, and a wide-brimmed hat. +And he not only went out with Manin (he was universally +known by this name), but he also took him to the theatre +with him. It was a sight to see these two in one of the +best boxes: the master stiff and decorous, with his eyes +roaming carelessly round; whilst the servant sat with his +bearded chin resting on his hands, which clasped the +balustrade, staring fixedly at the stage, occasionally giving +vent to loud guffaws of laughter, scratching his head, or +yawning loudly in the middle of a silence.</p> + +<p>Manin soon became a regular institution.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro, who scarcely deigned to converse with the +wealthiest people of Lancia, talked familiarly with this +servant, and allowed him to contradict him in the rude +rough way peculiarly his own.</p> + +<p>"Manin, man, be careful not to give these ladies too +much trouble," he would say to the majordomo when they +entered some shop together.</p> + +<p>"All right," returned the rough fellow in a loud voice, "if +they want to be at their ease, let them bring a mattress from +home and recline upon it."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro would then bite his lips to keep from laughing, +for such coarse and brutal remarks were just to his taste.</p> + +<p>When they repaired to a café, Manin drank quarts of red +wine, whilst his master only sipped a glass of muscat. But +although he left it almost full, he always asked and paid +for a whole bottle.</p> + +<p>An apothecary of the place, with whom the count sometimes +condescended to have a chat, once evinced some +surprise at this extravagance, but he returned with chilly +arrogance:</p> + +<p>"I pay for a whole bottle because I think it would be +unseemly for Don Pedro Quiñones de Leon to ask for a +glass like some ink-stained clerk in a government office."<a name="Page_012" id="Page_012"></a></p> + +<p>The whole town was impressed with his manners, for +when he met any clerics in the streets, he kissed their hands +in accordance with the custom of noblemen of bygone +centuries. But, like all the rest of his ways, this respect was +nothing but a wish to appear different to other people, and +to show that he belonged to the old <i>régime</i>; because, although +he kissed the hand of his own chaplain in public, he treated +him like a servant in private, and, in fact, accorded him far +less consideration than he did Manin.</p> + +<p>But what most astonished the place, and gave rise to no +end of remarks and jokes, was what Don Pedro did with a +certain religious solemnity soon after his arrival from Madrid. +He appeared at church in the white uniform trimmed with +twisted cords pertaining to the office of <i>Maestrante de Ronda</i>.</p> + +<p>Just before the elevation of the Host at the Mass, he +advanced with a solemn step to the empty space in the +centre of the edifice, unsheathed his sword, and made sharp, +firm passes in the air, in the direction of the four cardinal +points. The women were frightened, the children ran away, +and the majority of the congregation thought he had +suddenly gone out of his mind. But those who were better +informed, and more intellectual, understood that it was meant +to be a symbolical ceremony, and that those thrusts in the +air signified Don Pedro's resolution, as a noble member of a +military Order, to fight all the enemies of the faith from every +quarter of the globe. The one little periodical published at +that time in Lancia (now there are eleven—six dailies, and +five weeklies) devoted a whole page to a humorous account +of this event.</p> + +<p>But in spite of the eccentricities of his public and private +life, the prestige enjoyed by the illustrious nobleman in the +town was by no means affected.</p> + +<p>He, who in perfect good faith considers himself superior +to those about him, is in no danger of humiliation. In spite +of his affectations, Don Pedro was a man of culture, fond of +literature, and endowed with a taste for poetry. He had<a name="Page_013" id="Page_013"></a> +been known occasionally to celebrate events pertaining to +the kingdom, or the royal family in several stanzas of a +classic, somewhat pompous, style. But although people had +tried to persuade him to publish them, he never would +consent to do so.</p> + +<p>Periodicals were one of his particular aversions, for he +considered them a sign of the democracy of the times. So +he preferred to keep his poems in manuscript, known only +to a select circle of friends.</p> + +<p>He also had a reputation as a man of valour. He had fought +a few duels in Madrid, and in Lancia he had one with +a certain political chief, sent by the progressionists to the +province through the intervention of the archbishop and +Chapter of the cathedral. When he was about forty years +of age, our friend married a lady of position who lived in +Sarrió. But his wife died within the year, just when he had +hopes of an heir to his name and estates. Three years after, +he contracted another marriage—this time with Amalia, a +Valencian lady, who was a connection of his. They scarcely +knew each other, for Don Pedro had not seen her since she +was fourteen. The alliance formed ten years later was +arranged by letters, and an interchange of photographs. +There was no doubt that the bride's will was coerced in the +matter, and it was said that for many months she had a +separate room to her husband. And the story was told in +Lancia, with no lack of detail, how Don Pedro, in pursuance +of a canon's advice, managed to overcome these scruples. +But in spite of the success of the suggestion of the church +dignitary, and the subsequent concession of conjugal rights, +Heaven did not see fit to bless the union.</p> + +<p>Not long after, Don Pedro was seized with the dreadful +apoplectic attack which paralysed the whole of the lower part +of his body, and the poor man was much tempted to curse +his affliction, although no doubt it was ordered for the best.</p> + +<p>"We are in want of a fourth," he said, warmly shaking +hands with the count.<a name="Page_014" id="Page_014"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, and we will see if the luck will change, for +Moro is winning all our money," said a little old man with a +strong Galician accent. He had a fresh, clean-shaven, round +face, white hair, and clear, kind eyes. His name was +Saleta, and he was a magistrate of the Court of Justice, and +a constant visitor at the Quiñones' house.</p> + +<p>"Not so much as that, Señor Saleta, not so much! +I have only two hundred counters, and I want three +hundred to make up for what I lost yesterday," returned +the man referred to, who was a youth with a genial frank +expression of countenance.</p> + +<p>"And why did you not call upon Manin?" asked the +count with a smile as he glanced at the celebrated +majordomo, who in his short breeches, woollen stockings, +and green cloth jacket, was sleeping in an armchair.</p> + +<p>The other three turned and looked at the man.</p> + +<p>"Because Manin is a brute who can play at nothing but +<i>brisca</i>,"<a name="FNanchor_A_2" id="FNanchor_A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> said Don Pedro, smiling.</p> + +<p>"And at <i>tute</i>,"<a name="FNanchor_A_3" id="FNanchor_A_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> returned the fellow, opening his mouth +and yawning loudly.</p> + +<p>"All right, and at <i>tute</i>."<a name="FNanchor_A_4" id="FNanchor_A_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>"And at <i>monte</i>."<a name="FNanchor_A_5" id="FNanchor_A_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>"Very well, man, and at <i>monte</i>, too."</p> + +<p>And the friends went on with their cards without paying +further attention to Manin, but presently he began again by +saying:</p> + +<p>"And at <i>parar</i>." +<a name="FNanchor_A_8" id="FNanchor_A_8"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>"And at <i>parar</i>, too?" asked the count in a joking tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor, and at <i>los siete y media</i>."<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p> + +<p>"Get along!" said the other, absently, as he opened his +hand of cards and examined it attentively.</p> + +<p>Then they went on playing with much interest, absorbed +and silent. But the majordomo interrupted them again by +saying:<a name="Page_015" id="Page_015"></a></p> + +<p>"And at <i>julepe</i>."</p> + +<p>"All right, Manin, be quiet and don't be a fool," said Don +Pedro, crossly.</p> + +<p>"Fool, fool," muttered the peasant, surlily; "there are a +good many fools about, but as they have money there is no +one to call them so."</p> + +<p>He then re-settled his broad shoulders in the seat, +stretched out his legs, closed his eyes, and began to +snore.</p> + +<p>The players turned their eyes on Don Pedro in surprise, +and some anxiety.</p> + +<p>The master looked wrathfully at his majordomo; but +seeing him in such a comfortable position he changed his +mind, and, shrugging his shoulders, he turned his attention +to his cards, merely remarking with a pleasant smile:</p> + +<p>"What a barbarian! He is a regular Sueve."</p> + +<p>"But, Señor Quiñones," said Saleta, "the Suevi only +settled in Galicia. You are nothing but Cantabrians, and I +have reason to know it."</p> + +<p>"What! you have reason to know it!" said a gentleman +who was not very old, for he would have passed for fifty, +who came in at that moment.</p> + +<p>It was Don Enrique Valero, also a magistrate of the +Court, a man of an agreeable presence, with a fine +expressive face, albeit somewhat marked by the fast life he +had lived. As shown by his strong accent, which was +mincing and lisping, he was Andalusian, of the province of +Malaga.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know that," returned Saleta, calmly, "but +I perfectly well know the history of my country, and the +particulars regarding my family."</p> + +<p>"And why do you mention your family in connection +with the Suevi, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Because, according to various documents preserved in +my ancestral archives, my family is descended from one of<a name="Page_016" id="Page_016"></a> +those brave commanders, who penetrated Pontevedra at the +time of the invasion."</p> + +<p>The players exchanged an amused smile of intelligence +with Valero.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed the latter between amusement and +irritation, "so my friend is a Sueve like a cathedral! Who +would have thought it to see him so dwarfish and so small!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor," said the other, speaking with firmness and +deliberation as if he had not heard the last remark. "The +captain to whom our family owes its origin was named +Rechila. He was a man of ferocious and bloodthirsty +presence, a great conqueror, who extended his dominions +immensely, and, from what I understand, his expeditions +took him as far as Estremadura. One day, when I was a +child, a crown was found buried in the foundations of the +old chapel of our house."</p> + +<p>"Really, my man, really!" exclaimed Valero, looking at +him with such comic indignation that all the others burst +out laughing.</p> + +<p>But Saleta, quite unperturbed, went on to describe the +treasure-trove, its form, weight, and all its embellishments, +without omitting a single detail.</p> + +<p>And Valero, without taking his eyes off him, continued +shaking his head with increasing irritation.</p> + +<p>The same thing went on every night. His colleague's +unblushing lying propensity aroused in the magistrate an +indignation that was sometimes real, and sometimes feigned. +It was so seldom that a Galician dared to boast and +exaggerate before an Andalusian, that he, wounded in his +<i>amour propre</i> and respect for his country, sometimes +wondered whether Saleta was a fool, or whether he +considered his audience as such.</p> + +<p>Really the magistrate of Pontevedra lied with so much +ease, and in such a serious way, that it became a question +whether he was an artful rogue, who delighted to upset his +friends.<a name="Page_017" id="Page_017"></a></p> + +<p>"Did you say that this ancestor of yours got to +Estremadura?" asked Valero at last in a decided tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Señor."</p> + +<p>"Then it seems to me you make a mistake, for this +Señor Renchila——"</p> + +<p>"Rechila."</p> + +<p>"Well, this Rechila got farther still, for he got as far as the +province of Malaga; but there a company of Vandals went +out to meet him: the leader was one of my ancestors. His +name is difficult to recollect—wait a bit, he was called +Matalaoza. Well, then, this Matalaoza, who was a rough, +brave sort of fellow, completely routed him, took him +prisoner, and kept him drawing water from a well till his +death. And a piece of the machine is still to be seen in +the cellar of our house."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro, Jaime Moro, and the Conde de Onis +stopped playing, and roared with laughter.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be so. Rechila never went farther than +Merida, which he took after a short siege," said Saleta, not +one whit put out.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, friend, in the archives of my house there +are documents which show that this Señor Renchila took a +company of soldiers through the province of Malaga, and +that the Señor Matalaoza, my grandfather on my mother's +side, prevented his advancing any farther."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, friend Valero, but it seems to me you are +in error. This Rechila must be another one; there were +many Rechilas among the Suevi."</p> + +<p>"No, sir, no, the Rechila that my ancestor conquered +was an ancestor of yours; I am certain of it. He came +from the province of Pontevedra; that was clear from his +accent."</p> + +<p>These remarks were made with great gravity, and the +players were more and more amused. As Saleta was +accustomed to his companion's chaff, he was not the least +put out, neither would he modify any of his boasting<a name="Page_018" id="Page_018"></a> +assertions. The man was perfectly shameless in the way +he invented lies and then stuck to them.</p> + +<p>When he saw it was useless to discuss the matter farther, +he turned his attention to the game, and the others did the +same, although they could not repress an occasional +chuckle of amusement.</p> + +<p>Jaime Moro went on winning, and he was cheerful and +talkative, making tedious remarks at every turn of the +game. He was a good-looking young fellow, with a short +black beard, regular features, large expressionless eyes, and +a delicate pink complexion. His father, who had been +parochial administrator of the province, had died the +previous year, leaving him an income, according to report, +of between 70,000 and 80,000 reales,<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> and this money gave +him a certain position in the place. Needless to say, he +was considered a prize in the matrimonial market, and he +was the golden dream, and the ideal of the girls, who contemplated +marriage; but unfortunately Moro was little +attracted by the opposite sex. He liked Mercury much +better than Venus; and indeed he was so fond of every +kind of game, that one might almost say he was born to +play, for his whole life was devoted to it.</p> + +<p>He lived alone with his housekeeper, man-servant, and +cook. He got up between ten and eleven in the morning, +and after making his toilette he repaired to the confectioner's +shop of Doña Romana, where he found congenial spirits, +who told him all the current gossip of the place, and when +this was exhausted, he withdrew to the dark, greasy-looking +little room, pervaded by an overpowering smell of pastry, +at the back of the shop, and there seating himself at a table, +which matched its surroundings in dinginess, he indulged in +a glass of sherry, and a game of dominoes with Don Baltasar +Reinoso, who was one of the many who lived in Lancia +on an income of four or five thousand pesetas. At three<a name="Page_019" id="Page_019"></a> +o'clock he repaired to the Mercantile Club, where, with +three of the Indians, who formed the nucleus of that social +gathering, he indulged in the classic game of <i>chapo</i><a name="FNanchor_F_6" id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a> until +five o'clock, when, if we went to the house of the dean of +the cathedral, we should come across this gentleman enjoying +his daily game of <i>tresillo</i> with the dignitary of the +church, and the rector of San Rafael. When the <i>chapo</i> +went on longer than usual, an acolyte appeared at the club +to tell him that his friends were waiting. Then Moro +hastened to give the three or four final strokes, the boy, +between them, helping him on with his coat to save time; +then, after paying or receiving the balance of his account +with trembling hands, he ran in breathless haste to the +house of the dean. There the <i>tresillo</i> lasted till eight +o'clock. Then home to supper. At nine he repaired to +Don Pedro Quiñone's house to spend an hour or two in +the same sort of way, and if he did not go there, he went to +Don Juan Estrada-Rosa's for the same thing; and at +twelve to the Casino, where a few night-birds met for a +game of <i>monte</i>, or lottery. Finally Jaime Moro retired to +rest at two or three in the morning, quite tired out with +such a hard day's work, to wake to another exactly the +same.</p> + +<p>It must not be thought that he was a covetous young +man, for the whole town knew, and lauded his liberality. +He was not incited to play by a passion for gain, but by +a devotion to the pastime, which extinguished all better +feelings.</p> + +<p>His was an excessively active temperament, without the +intelligence or the wish for any serious aim in life. In his +short moments of idleness he looked like a quiet, careless, +lymphatic man, but directly he had the cards, billiard-cue, +or dominoes in his hand, he evinced an interest which utterly +changed his expression, as his eyes brightened and his hands +showed more power.<a name="Page_020" id="Page_020"></a></p> + +<p>He was a universal favourite, and there never was a man +more suave and gentle in manner. He was never heard to +speak ill of anybody, and those who see only the dark side +of things and the weak point of people's characters, said +that he never grumbled because he did not know how to, +and that he was as good as he was, because he could not +be otherwise. But there must always be some perverse +fools!</p> + +<p>However, Moro had one fault, begotten of his playing +propensity, he considered he was invincible in every game. +It could not be denied that he was a great expert at them, +but there is a great difference between that, and being +utterly unrivalled, which was the case with Moro. This +gave rise to those tedious, eternal commentaries, which +seasoned every game, until they became quite a byword in +Lancia.</p> + +<p>When, after making a stroke on the billiard-table, the +balls did not go as he wanted, he struck his head in +despair:</p> + +<p>"A little less ball and mine would have gone into the +pocket! But I was obliged to strike well on the ball so +that the red ball should go down, because if the ball does +not go down, you know how it would be."</p> + +<p>If things went according to his ideas, he did not mind +how much he lost; the money was nothing to him as long +as he saved his professional honour. He talked unceasingly, +making a running commentary upon every stroke +he made; and he went on just the same at cards. However, +he never blamed his companions, or lost his temper +when his plan of action was defeated. He certainly talked +incessantly, but it was always to explain or to palliate some +point in the game, and the eternal repetitions, delivered in +the same eloquent and persuasive tone, provoked a smile +from the onlookers.</p> + +<p>"If I had only had a king then! If I had but had +another trump! I did not dare give the lead because I<a name="Page_021" id="Page_021"></a> +thought that Don Pedro—Why could not this three of +hearts have been three of diamonds? With the deuce of +spades this trick was once got."</p> + +<p>He was a noisy fellow, but very polite and kind.</p> + +<p>"I say, it is your play now, is it not?" said Valero to +our friend as he looked over the players' shoulders and had +a glance at their cards.</p> + +<p>"Do you think that can be done?" said Moro, vacillating.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so."</p> + +<p>"There is too little of this and not enough of that," +returned Moro, discreetly pointing at the cards with his +finger.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, nevertheless, I think——"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, let us play," replied Moro, with his usual +politeness.</p> + +<p>That game was lost. Moro gave a look at his companions, +and shrugged his shoulders; then as Valero +turned away, he said in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"I did not want to vex Don Enrique, but I knew that +that play could not win."</p> + +<p>And having thus vindicated his reputation, he was as +pleased as if he had won the game.</p> + +<p>The Conde de Onis seemed absent when he came in, +and as time went on, he became more and more thoughtful +and gloomy; and he played so carelessly that his friends +called him to book several times.</p> + +<p>"But, Conde, what has come to you?" said Don Pedro, +at last, "you seem so very preoccupied."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you have actually trumped my trick," added +Valero, in distress.</p> + +<p>Seeing himself thus taken to task, the count looked as +confused as if his companions had read his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Nothing particular is the matter with me," he replied; +and taking refuge in an innocent excuse, he added, "I am +only suffering from toothache."<a name="Page_022" id="Page_022"></a></p> + +<p>"So the poor fellow is ill!" said Valero.</p> + +<p>Whereupon they all began pitying him, and asking him +particulars about his complaint.</p> + +<p>The count being now at his wit's end, answered the questions +at random.</p> + +<p>"Well, for that pain, Señor Conde," said Saleta, "there +is no finer remedy than iron. You will find that it is so. +When I was a student I suffered dreadfully from my teeth. +I never dared have one drawn, but the landlord I had in +Santiago told me the best thing to do was to take a thread, +and tie one end to the tooth, and the other to the back of +the chair, so that it was gradually drawn out without any +pain. I sat myself in a chair, and when the tooth was well +tied I got up from the chair and left it hanging behind me. +You see I had nothing to do but jump up."</p> + +<p>Valero shook his head in despair, and the others looked +at him and smiled. But Saleta did not notice, or pretended +not to notice it, and continued his story in the quiet matter-of-fact +way and the strong Galician accent peculiar to him.</p> + +<p>"Afterwards I quite overcame my fear of tooth-drawing. +The dentist of Corunna extracted five, one after the other; +and when I was judge at Allariz I was in dreadful pain, +and as there was no dentist the <i>Promotor</i><a name="FNanchor_G_7" id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a> pulled out three +for me with his wife's curling tongs; but do you know this +gave me inflammation of the mouth? I was then at Madrid, +and Ludovisi, the queen's dentist, burnt my gums with a red-hot +iron, and then extracted seven good teeth."</p> + +<p>"There went fifteen!" murmured Valero.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I had no further trouble until four years ago, +when, whilst I was staying with a friend in a little place in +the province of Burgos, the pain came on again. There +was no doctor, no surgeon, nobody. But a charlatan +happened to come along who extracted teeth whilst on +horseback; and I was in such distress that I was obliged<a name="Page_023" id="Page_023"></a> +to have recourse to him, and he took out two with the tail +end of a spoon."</p> + +<p>"Oh! my man, what humbug!" exclaimed Valero in +utter indignation, "and may I ask if you have a tooth left +in your head?"</p> + +<p>Manin at this moment, with his usual want of manners, +opened his mouth wide with a loud guffaw, to the astonishment +of the party. Then the great giant turned round in +his chair and composed himself to sleep.</p> + +<p>"You have never suffered from your teeth, have you, +Manin?" asked the Grandee, who could not be a quarter +of an hour without appealing to his majordomo.</p> + +<p>"What?" asked the fellow without opening his eyes.</p> + +<p>"He is like a rock!" said the nobleman with real +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Then Manin sat up a little, and rubbing his eyes with +his fists, he said:</p> + +<p>"I never had anything worse than a stomach-ache: It +came on as I was loading a cart with hay, and it lasted +more than a month. I could not touch a morsel of food, +and it was just as if I had a fox continually gnawing +at my inside. My ribs felt as if they would break in +agony, and I leant against the wall, bowed down with pain, +and showed my teeth like a serpent. I became as yellow +as corn in harvest time. One day the señor priest said to +me: 'Manin, you have no heart.' 'I have no heart, señor +curé!' said I. 'You don't know me well if you say that, +for it is beating here for its very life. I have more heart +than what you would think!' 'Then there is nothing to +be done, Manin, but to send for the doctor,' said he. 'No, +indeed, señor curé; I want none of their drugs and plaisters.' +'Well, if you don't send for him, I shall,' was his answer. +At last there was no help for it, and although I was still +against it, Don Rafael, the doctor of the mines, arrived. +He made me undress as far as my shirt, and then forced +me by the shoulders on to a trough. Then he set to<a name="Page_024" id="Page_024"></a> +giving me blows on the chest with his knuckles, as if +he were knocking at a door. He thumped me here, and he +thumped me there, and listened with his ear pressed against +my body. 'Nay,' I cried. 'Gently! gently my good +fellow! Find the truant!' And he went on for half an +hour longer, knocking with his knuckles and listening with +his ear. At last he got tired of hearing nothing. 'Ah! friend +of my soul!' he said, making the sign of the cross, 'you +have a liquid heart. I never saw anything like it in my +life!' 'Yes, I knew that before, Don Rafael,' said I."</p> + +<p>Having got so far in his relation, Manin stopped suddenly, +turned an angry glance on the audience, and muttered +under his breath: "And what do these asses find to laugh +at?"</p> + +<p>Then, throwing his shaggy head back in the armchair, he +closed his eyes in great disgust.</p> + +<p>The Grandee's guests resumed their game, laughing all +the while, but the count became more and more thoughtful +and absent.</p> + +<p>At last no longer able to control his upset state of nerves, +he rose from his seat saying:</p> + +<p>"I say, Don Enrique, will you kindly take my place; +this pain is so tiresome that I must move about?"<a name="Page_025" id="Page_025"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h3> + +<p class="head">THE DISCOVERY</p> + + +<p class="nind">W<span class="smcap">hen</span> the count went back to the drawing-room, he found +the young people preparing for a <i>rigodon</i> (a country +dance). The seat at the piano was occupied by one of the +daughters of the <i>Pensioner</i>; for such was the name given +in the town to Don Cristobal Mateo, as he was an old +government official, who, after serving many years in the +Philippines, had retired some time ago on an income of +30,000 reales.<a name="FNanchor_H_8" id="FNanchor_H_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_8" class="fnanchor">[H]</a></p> + +<p>He had a military bearing and quite a martial aspect, with +his white moustache, large rolling eyes, thick eyebrows, and +powerful hands. Nevertheless, there was not a kinder man +in the Spanish dominions. His career had been cast in +Exchequer offices, and he always expressed strong opinions +against the power of the army. He maintained that the +blood-suckers of the State were not those employed in civil +functions, but the army and navy. The fact was demonstrated +by the production of figures and notes on the subject, +when he would quite lose himself in bureaucratic divagations. +He said that war was caused by the thirst for blood +emanating from the superfluous energy of the nation. This +was a phrase he had read in the <i>Boletin de Contribuciones +Indirectas</i> and appropriated as his own with marked effect. +He said soldiers were vagrants, and his aversion to all +uniforms and epaulettes was extreme. When the Corpora<a name="Page_026" id="Page_026"></a>tion +of Lancia talked of applying to the government for a +regiment to garrison the city, he, as councillor, opposed the +measure most resolutely.</p> + +<p>What was the good of bringing a lot of spongers into the +neighbourhood? Instead of having the comfort of being at +some distance from a regiment, they would have all the disadvantages +of harbouring one. Everything would get dear, +for the colonels and officers liked to live well and have the +best of everything, "after all the hard work they did to earn +it," he added, ironically. Then they were all gamblers, and +their bad example would contaminate the youths of the +place, who never indulged in such licence except on times +of holiday making. As they were such an idle lot (Don +Cristobal firmly believed that a soldier had nothing to do), +one could imagine what a set of rogues they were! In +short, the regiment would be a corrupting element and a +source of disturbance in the place. So Mateo got his way, +not merely because it was his way, but because the Minister +of War did not consider it necessary to send soldiers to +Lancia, considering the peaceable condition of the inhabitants.</p> + +<p>With his income of 30,000 reales, the Pensioner might have +lived very comfortably in such a cheap place, if his +daughters had not been possessed with the silly fancy of +preferring the hats of Madrid to those that were made by +the milliner of the Calle de Joaquin, and eight-button +gloves to four-button ones. Such superior tastes gave rise +in the Pensioner's house to many an upset, with all its +accompanying tears, hysterics, regrets, disinclination for +food, &c. In these terrible conflicts it must be confessed +that Don Cristobal did not always comport himself with the +dignity, firmness and courage befitting his large moustachios +and strongly marked eyebrows. Certainly he was always +alone in the fray. Never by any chance did one of his +girls side with him, unless it was on a question apart +from the domestic arrangement of the house, when some<a name="Page_027" id="Page_027"></a> +of the daughters joined with papa against the others. But +whenever a problem of economy came to the fore, the +Pensioner was sure to have all four children against him. +Then Don Cristobal, like an experienced general, tried +every means to rout the enemy, or to capitulate under +fair terms.</p> + +<p>One day the girls were suddenly seized with a fancy for +morocco-leather shoes like those of some young lady in the +town, who proved to be Fernanda Estrada-Rosa. Then +Don Cristobal became pensive and turned the matter over +in his mind, with the result of casually mentioning, in the +course of conversation at supper, that he had heard at <i>la +Innovadora</i> (the best bootmaker's) that morocco boots +were considered very dangerous in Lancia on account of the +damp; and that Don Nicanor, a local doctor happening to +be there at the time, observed that morocco was fatal in +such a cold rainy climate; in fact, catarrhs, sometimes developing +to galloping consumption, were frequently caught +from cold feet. But long before the poor old man finished +his diatribe against morocco, his daughters burst in with +such ironical laughter, and sarcastic speeches that he was +quite crushed.</p> + +<p>Another time the girls were bent upon having parasols +from Madrid like Amalia's. Don Cristobal held out for +some time until finally, having the worst of it, he had to give +in. But fertile in resources like Ulysses, he conceived a +plan by which the expense would be halved. He went to +Amalia, and begged her to lend him her parasol for two or +three days, so that one of the local milliners could make +him four others exactly similar; and this, at his request, the +Señora de Quiñones promised to keep a solemn secret. +But the poor parasols were not up to the mark, and when +they arrived properly packed through the post, and ran +the gauntlet of the sharp, anxious eyes of his four daughters, +the old man was soon called to task for the poorness of the +trimmings and the coarseness of the work.<a name="Page_028" id="Page_028"></a></p> + +<p>"These parasols were not made at Madrid!" said Micaela +in a tone of decision, for she was the sharpest of the four.</p> + +<p>"For goodness' sake, don't be so absurd! Where then +do they come from?" returned Don Cristobal with +assumed surprise, whilst he felt the colour mount to his +face.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, but I am perfectly sure they were not +made in Madrid."</p> + +<p>And the four nymphs turned them over, felt them with +their experienced fingers, and studied and analysed them so +minutely, that their father was plunged into a fearful state of +suspense. They exchanged significant glances, smiled +scornfully, and spoke in whispers. In the meanwhile the +Pensioner was a martyr to such an extreme state of nervous +anxiety that his very moustachios were affected.</p> + +<p>At last the fanciful beings left the purchases in scornful +disdain upon the drawing-room chairs, and ran and locked +themselves in Jovita's room, where they remained half an +hour in secret conclave, whilst Don Cristobal waited in +anxious trepidation, as he walked up and down the corridor +like a criminal expecting his sentence.</p> + +<p>At last the door opened, and the guilty creature stood +awaiting the verdict of the judges. But they maintained a +cautious reserve, whilst an enigmatical smile wreathed their +white lips. Then two of them put on their mantillas and +gloves, and darted into the street, to return in a short time +to the domestic hearth with blazing eyes, agitated faces, and +in a tremor of indignation.</p> + +<p>The pen is powerless to portray the subsequent scene +in the Pensioner's peaceful dwelling. What cries of rage! +what bitter sarcasm! what hysterical laughter! what wringing +of hands! what banging of chairs! and what exclamations +of woe! And in the midst of such a scene, terrible +enough to strike terror into the heart of the most serene, +the four parasols, the innocent cause of all the fray, lay on +the ground in ignominious ruin.<a name="Page_029" id="Page_029"></a></p> + +<p>With the exception of these periodical disturbances which +upset the somewhat weak nerves of the Pensioner, his +existence was very calm and peaceful, for the numberless, +but valuable, little attentions which make life pleasant +were never wanting. His daughters were careful about +having everything in order, and in its place. His shirts +and underclothing were kept in perfect order, his cravats, +made from old material, looked as fresh as if straight from +the hosiers, his slippers were always ready when he came +home, the water put for his foot-bath on Saturdays, his +cigar before going to bed, his glass of water with lemon for +his morning draught, &c., all went on with the sweet and +regular mechanism so pleasing to the aged.</p> + +<p>It was true that with four daughters it did not represent +much trouble, especially if they were not under the +dominion of some fancy or desire. But the sight of some +new-fashioned hat, the news of the arrival of a dramatic +company, or the announcement of some party at the Casino, +would be enough to cause the wildest excitement, in which +every other consideration went to the wall, and they were +seen flying off to the dressmaker, glove-shop, and perfumer. +As these wild freaks of fancy did not harmonise very well +with the prosaic details of existence, a slight disorganisation +ensued; but Don Cristobal bore these disturbances with +composure. After a short time of chaos, order returned, +and his life resumed its usual peaceful course. The names +of these daughters, in order of age, were as follows: +Jovita, Micaela, Socorro, and Emilita. In appearance, +they were four insignificant beings, neither beautiful nor +ugly, graceful nor ungraceful, young nor old, sad nor +vivacious. There was nothing remarkable in any one of +them, and yet by the domestic hearth the character of each +was quite distinct. Jovita was sentimental and reserved, +Michaela was quick tempered, and Emilita was the liveliest +of the party. Don Cristobal was greatly exercised on two +subjects, one was the reduction of the army and the other<a name="Page_030" id="Page_030"></a> +was the marriage of his four daughters, or at least two of +them. The first project was in a fair way to success, for +political opinion inclined in its favour, but as for the other, +I am sorry to say that there seemed no likelihood of its +realisation. In spite of sacrificing many comforts to dress +expenses, and frequenting the promenades, and the +Quiñones' balls with a regularity deserving success, the +precious gifts of Hymen were not attained.</p> + +<p>When some imprudent fellow ventured to pay them any +attention he was told that they would be quite grieved to +marry in their father's life, for it seemed cruel to think of +abandoning a poor old man, who loved them so dearly, +and had sacrificed so much for them; and these protestations +were followed by the warmest eulogy on their father's +character.</p> + +<p>But the Pensioner was quite anxious to repudiate these too +filial sentiments, and his desire of experiencing the cruelty +of being abandoned was so evident that it was quite a joke. +As if the daughters did not make themselves sufficiently +ridiculous, Mateo made the situation worse by throwing +them at the heads of all the marriageable young men of the +town.</p> + +<p>But the praises sung by the old man on the cleverness, +economy, and good management of his daughters, were all +without effect. Directly a stranger arrived at Lancia, Don +Cristobal took care to strike up an acquaintance with him. +He invited him to coffee at his house, took him to his box +at the theatre, showed him the beauties of the surrounding +country, went with him to see the reliques of the cathedral, +visited the natural history museum, and, in short, did all the +honours of the place.</p> + +<p>People smiled at the little play which had been acted so +many times without success, for Jovita was the only one +who arrived at the dignity of having a lover for three or +four years, which fact made her feel far superior to her +sisters. The young man had been a foreign student who<a name="Page_031" id="Page_031"></a> +had courted her during the latter courses of his studies; +but when they were over, he returned to his country, and, +forgetting his engagement to Jovita, he there married a +lady of property. The others never even attained to this +degree of love-making, they never got farther than fancies, +or flirtations of a fortnight's duration. Trifling attentions +were paid, but nothing serious ensued.</p> + +<p>By degrees the girls assumed a colder demeanour, for +although they had not given up hope, they were tired, and +the one all-absorbing idea made a line of care on their +brows. But Cristobal did not think of giving in. He +firmly believed in the husbands of his daughters, and he +propounded the fact with as much assurance as the +prophets of the Old Testament announced the coming of +the Messias.</p> + +<p>"When my daughters marry," he would say, "instead of +spending the summer in Sarrió, where the etiquette is as +strict as in Lancia, I shall go to Rodillero to breathe the +fresh air and fish for perch. Listen to me, Micaela; don't +be so sharp, woman. You will find a husband won't put up +with those frivolous ways; he will expect to be answered in +a proper manner."</p> + +<p>"My husband will have to put up with what he can get," +returned the pert girl, with a disdainful toss of her head.</p> + +<p>"And if he gets tired of that?" asked Emilita, mischievously.</p> + +<p>"He will have double work then, for he will get tired, +and get tired of getting tired."</p> + +<p>"And suppose he took the stick to you?"</p> + +<p>"He would have to be careful, for I should be quite +equal to poisoning him."</p> + +<p>"Goodness! what a horror!" exclaimed the three nereids, +laughing.</p> + +<p>So that hypothetical husband, that abstract being, figured +as constantly in conversation as if he were of flesh and +blood, and lived in the next house.<a name="Page_032" id="Page_032"></a></p> + +<p>The daughter now playing the piano was Emilita, the +most musical of the four sisters. The other three were +standing, each hanging on the arm of a young man.</p> + +<p>The count crossed the room to Fernanda-Rosa, who was +arm-in-arm with a girl friend. She did not seem to care +for the dancing, albeit she was a young lady renowned in +the town for her beauty, elegance, and fortune. She was +the only daughter of Don Juan Estrada-Rosa, the richest +banker and merchant of the province. Tall, moderately +stout, with a dark complexion, regular, striking features, +large, very black, scornful looking eyes, and a graceful +figure, embellished by the elegant toilettes, that were the +despair and envy of all the girls of the town, she did not +look as if she belonged to the place, but as if she had been +transported from one of the most aristocratic court <i>salons</i>.</p> + +<p>"How charming you are looking, Fernanda!" exclaimed +the count, in a low voice, with a bow of admiration.</p> + +<p>The beauty scarcely deigned to smile, but made a little +scornful pout.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Luis?" she said, giving him her hand +with marked displeasure.</p> + +<p>"Not so well as you are, but I am pretty well."</p> + +<p>"Only pretty well? I am sorry. I am perfectly well—you +have not forgotten me, then?" she returned in the +same displeased tone, without looking him in the face.</p> + +<p>"Why, no, how could one forget the star Sirius?"</p> + +<p>"I do not understand astronomy."</p> + +<p>"Sirius is the most brilliant star in the heavens, everybody +knows that."</p> + +<p>"Well then I did not know it. You see how ignorant +I am."</p> + +<p>"I certainly do not; but you have modesty united to +beauty and talent."</p> + +<p>"No, I know I have no talent, but you do not like to tell +me so."</p> + +<p>"My girl, I have but just told you the contrary."<a name="Page_033" id="Page_033"></a></p> + +<p>There was a touch of bitterness in the displeased tone of +Fernanda, whilst that of the count was calm and ceremonious, +although slightly dashed with irony.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then I have misunderstood you."</p> + +<p>"That is what you always do."</p> + +<p>"Caramba, how polite!" exclaimed the young girl, +growing pale.</p> + +<p>"You always think something disagreeable is meant," +quickly added the count, as he saw by the change in her +face what idea had crossed her mind.</p> + +<p>"Many thanks. I take your words for what they are +worth."</p> + +<p>"You will be wrong in not thinking them sincere. Besides, +there is no need my telling you how worthy you are of +admiration, for everybody knows it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you; thank you! So you are tired of playing?"</p> + +<p>"My teeth hurt me a little."</p> + +<p>"Have them out."</p> + +<p>"All of them?"</p> + +<p>"Those that hurt you, man. Ave Maria!"</p> + +<p>"With what indifference you say it. I suppose nothing +would affect you?"</p> + +<p>"I am always affected by the sufferings of a neighbour."</p> + +<p>"A neighbour! What a horror! I had not heard that I +was put in the category of neighbour."</p> + +<p>"What do you want, sir? Honours come when least +expected."</p> + +<p>In spite of the vexed, almost aggressive, tone of her voice, +Fernanda did not move away, but stood holding the arm of +the little friend, who never opened her lips. The rich heiress +was evidently very nervous. She gave little taps on the +ground with her foot, crushed up her handkerchief in her +hand, her lips trembled almost imperceptibly, and round her +dark Arab-looking eyes there was a paler circle than usual. +The argument evidently interested her.<a name="Page_034" id="Page_034"></a></p> + +<p>Her engagement with the Conde de Onis had lasted +longer than any previous one.</p> + +<p>When Fernanda first appeared in society, and earlier still, +when she was a little maiden going to school with a servant, +her figure, her elegance, and, above all, the six millions she +was to inherit, created quite a sensation. There was not a +youth with any pretensions to manners or money, who did +not determine, either of his own accord, or at the instigation +of his family, to walk down the street with her, send her +little notes, and whisper pleasant nothings in her ear.</p> + +<p>De Sarrió, de Nueva, and other places also furnished +admirers, who came under the pretext of taking a holiday. +The girl, pleased and intoxicated with the incense of admiration, +never thought of keeping faith with anybody, for she was +continually breaking one engagement and entering into +another. A young man seldom remained in her good graces +more than a couple of months. In fact, there was no one +in a position to marry her, and in Lancia and the rest of +the province, there was nobody possessed of property equal +to her <i>dot</i>. If, perchance, such a one existed, he was not of +fitting age to enter into matrimony with such a young girl, +for he would be some Indian worn out by tropical heat, or +the elderly owner of some remote, grand, country mansion.</p> + +<p>It was not necessary for her father to mention the matter, +for the girl perfectly understood that there was no one to +suit her; but she enjoyed flirting all round and making the +youths of Lancia adore her. There was one young man, +however, whom no girl of the town had ever dared to think +of marrying, and that was the Conde de Onis. He was +deeply respected on account of his old family in the province, +where the abject worship of aristocracy sinks the +burgess beneath the level of the servant and the agricultural +labourer; and his retired style of life and the mystery and +silence of his old palace, added to his handsome income, +seemed to exalt him to an atmosphere aloof from the darts +of all the local beauties.<a name="Page_035" id="Page_035"></a></p> + +<p>But it was for this very reason, that there arose in +Fernanda's bosom a desire, at first vague, and then strong, +and overwhelming, to make a conquest of him. This is a +very natural wish, and being especially a feminine one, it +requires no explanation. In the bottom of her heart the +daughter of Estrada-Rosa felt herself inferior to the Conde +de Onis. Nevertheless, she had heard so much flattery; +and the glitter of her father's money seemed so irresistible, +that she thought she could well aspire to making him her +husband. If she did not really think so, she pretended to +do so when speaking of the count behind his back, and +affecting a certain familiarity in his presence.</p> + +<p>In Lancia, as in all the little capitals, the young men and +women adopt the fashion of <i>tutoyant</i> each other, and this +was authorised from their having known each other and +played together as children. But for a long time the Conde +de Onis never exchanged a word with Fernanda, although +they constantly met in the street. Nevertheless, when they +first met at a little party at the De Meré's, the young beauty +immediately addressed him as <i>tu</i>, and dropped his title. +It was Luis here, and Luis there, as if she were quite +accustomed to his name. The count was surprised without +being displeased. No one is sorry to find himself +<i>tutoyé</i> by a lovely girl, and a naturally shy and timid man, +like the count, was not likely to be the exception.</p> + +<p>Fernanda at once tried to enlist him as an admirer, or at +least to make him appear as such in the eyes of the public, +who looked upon it as a proper state of things. There was +no other husband for Fernanda, and no other wife for the +count in the province.</p> + +<p>The distance that separated them was retrospective: it +existed only in Fernanda's lack of ancestors, and it was +generally thought that the young girl's beauty, money, and +brilliant education, would make the count overlook this +drawback.</p> + +<p>These relations lasted about a year.<a name="Page_036" id="Page_036"></a></p> + +<p>The two met at a party of the Señoritas de Meré, which +was always considered a pleasant occasion. She had often +hinted to the count that he might go to that house, but he +had either not understood, or pretended not to understand +her. But one day Fernanda openly made the suggestion. +He tried to get out of it as well as he could. Was he +timid? or was he proud? Fernanda could not make him +out; however, this reserve increased his attraction for her, +and made her like him all the more. But suddenly, when +the public least expected it—when, in fact, it had begun to +ask the reason of the delay of the marriage, the engagement +was broken off. It was done diplomatically and secretly, +so much so that it had been over for a month, and yet +people were still joking them, not knowing there had been +a break. The fact when revealed, produced a great +sensation, and became the subject of ceaseless conversation +at all the parties. No one could say what had +happened, or who had given the initiative in the matter. +If the count was asked, he stoutly maintained that +Fernanda had given him up; and so much stress did he lay +upon the statement, that nobody doubted his sincerity. +The heiress, Estrada-Rosa, corroborated her lover's +assertion without going into particulars, and this in the +off-hand tone she always adopted when speaking of, or to, +the count, for they went on seeing each other pretty +frequently, albeit not quite so often, although they attended +parties at the houses of mutual friends. Moreover, Fernanda +soon after became an <i>habituée</i> at the dances at the +Quiñones' house. But the past relations were never +renewed, and when the two former lovers met and talked a +little as now, the guests looked on with bated breath and +interested eyes.</p> + +<p>"They will go on as before; they will end by marrying!" +they thought.</p> + +<p>But they were disillusioned at the sight of the indifference +with which they parted.<a name="Page_037" id="Page_037"></a></p> + +<p>Just as he was going to reply to the last words of the +proud heiress, the glance of the count wandered absently +round the room and fell upon a pair of eyes fixed upon +him with a sharp and jealous gaze, whereupon he gave his +hand to his friend and said with a forced smile:</p> + +<p>"How badly you treat me, Fernanda! It will ever be +so, I suppose, but I, you know, am always your devoted +admirer. <i>Au revoir.</i>"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry that this devotion neither pleases nor +displeases me," she returned, without moving a step +away.</p> + +<p>Then the count went off shrugging his shoulders +resignedly and saying:</p> + +<p>"And I am still more sorry."</p> + +<p>Passing by the couples, who had commenced the <i>rigodon</i>, +he returned to the lady of the house, who was at that +moment with Manuel Antonio, one of the persons most +worthy of note in this period we are recording.</p> + +<p>He was known as much by the nickname of the +Chatterbox, or Magpie, as by his own name. This fact is +sufficient to give us an idea of his moral and physical +characteristics.</p> + +<p>Manuel Antonio was not young—he was certainly fifty; +and all the artificial means not distinguished for refinement, +then in vogue in Lancia, were brought into play to hide +the fact.</p> + +<p>He had an unmistakable wig, several false teeth badly +put in, a little black on his eyebrows and red on his lips; +there was a strong scent of patchouli about him, and there +was a dash of originality in his whole get-up befitting his +reputation for former splendour. He really had been a +rare combination of face and figure: tall, slender, and +well-built, with regular delicate features, fine auburn hair +falling in graceful curls, a smiling countenance, and gentle +voice. There now only remained a faint trace of all this +beauty. The straight shoulders had become bent, the<a name="Page_038" id="Page_038"></a> +beautiful curls had vanished like a dream that was past; +unwelcome wrinkles furrowed the smooth brow; and the +rows of pearly teeth, so ornamental to his mouth, were +substituted by ugly gaps which time had made, and the +dentist had failed to replace satisfactorily. Finally, his +slight, delicate, silky moustache had become white, bristly, +and shaggy, and neither dye nor cosmetic could keep it +presentable.</p> + +<p>What a trial this was for the handsome young man of +Lancia and for the friends who had known him in the +palmy days of his beauty! But his mind kept as youthful +as when he was eighteen. He was the same impassioned, +affectionate creature, sweet one moment, irascible and +terrible another, following the bent of his caprices and +living in quiet idleness.</p> + +<p>He enjoyed the pleasures of the bath so intensely that he +would have it three or more times running, until the water +was as clear as when it left the spring. He loved flowers +and birds, but no delight equalled that of trying on different +articles of adornment before the glass to see which +suited him best. He considered that a dash of the +feminine made his costume more fetching, so in winter he +liked to wear a short cape with a gold clasp and a wide +brimmed hat which suited him to perfection. In summer +he dressed in white flannel, very well cut to show off the +graceful lines of his figure. His neckerchiefs were nearly +always of gauze, his shoes low, and the collar of his shirt +cut sailor fashion. On his wrist he wore a bracelet; it was +certainly only a bright gold band, but this detail caught the +eyes of all his fellow citizens. Whenever Manuel Antonio +was spoken of, the bracelet was sure to be mentioned, as if +there was nothing about his interesting person more calculated +to excite attention. But if years had not materially +changed this kind creature, so eminently created for love, +they had nevertheless made him more cautious and more +reserved. He did not show his preferences in the in<a name="Page_039" id="Page_039"></a>genuous +fashion of former years, and he did not give play +to the impulsive fancies of his susceptible heart until he +had proved the worthiness of the object of his affection. +Many were the disillusions he had suffered in his life, and +it was particularly sad when he was getting old to meet not +only coldness from his old friends, from those to whom he +had been lavish in marks of kindness, but to find that he +was an object of derision, in fact the laughing-stock of the +youths of the new generation. The young people of the +present day made a regular butt of him.</p> + +<p>As they had not witnessed his triumphs, nor known his +past radiant beauty, they were far from professing that +respect that the last generation had had for him. They +never lost an opportunity of worrying and teasing him +cruelly. When he appeared in the Calle de Altavilla, or +entered the Café de Marañón, he was surrounded by a +crowd of <i>gamins</i>. Cristo! the remarks that were made; +and, sad to say, they passed from using their tongues to +using their hands. This was what Manuel Antonio could +not put up with. They could talk as much as they liked, +for he had the gift of repartee and could well hold his +own with his turn for sarcasm and his sense of the ridiculous; +and years, and long practice had made him such an +adept in this art of repartee, that his retorts were terrible; +and those who tried to get a rise out of him generally got +the worst of it, and were staggered by the words they +brought on themselves. But when these shameless fellows +passed from speech to touch, patting his face and pulling his +beard, he entirely lost his self-control, and gave vent to +expressions which were neither intentional nor rational. +Needless to say that as this was known to be his weak +point, the teasing always terminated in this way. Nevertheless, +apart from the pardonable desire to retort on those +who hurt him, he was not naturally malignant, but really a +most useful and serviceable being. His talents were many, +and various. He could crochet most perfectly, and his<a name="Page_040" id="Page_040"></a> +coverlets were unrivalled in Lancia. He decked an altar, +or dressed the images as well as any sacristan. He could +upholster furniture, make wax flowers, paper walls, embroider +with hair, and paint plates. And when any of his +female friends wished to have her hair well dressed to go +to some ball, Manuel Antonio gallantly went to the rescue, +and did it as cleverly as the best hairdresser in Madrid. +If any of his friends were ill, then was the time to see the +unfailing care and attention of our old Narcissus. He +immediately took up his post by the sick bed, he kept +count of the draughts, made the bed, and put on poultices +as cleverly as the most practised nurse. Then, if the illness +became serious, he knew how to suggest the idea of confession +with so much tact, that instead of the patient being +offended, he accepted it as the most natural thing in the +world. And when he saw that death was imminent, he +prepared for the reception of the solemn guest, and no lady +could have taken greater pains to receive some most important +personage:</p> + +<p>There was the little altar with the embroidered cloth, +lighted with candles, the staircase adorned with pots of +flowers, the ground covered with rose-leaves, and the +servants and relations at the door, holding lighted tapers in +gloved hands. Not a single detail was forgotten. The Chatterbox, +in his glory, assumed the manners of a general at +the head of his troops. Everybody obeyed and seconded +him as if he were a chief. Then, if the patient died, it is +hardly necessary to say that his power was still more +omnipotent. From the laying-out of the corpse to the final +function of burial, there was nothing but what he had a +hand in. And as there were generally sick people to nurse, +images to dress, friends who wanted their hair dressed, or +flowers to be arranged, Manuel had rather a busy life. In +performing these offices, or in going from house to house +fetching and carrying news, the days and years slipped by. +He lived with two sisters, older than himself, and they<a name="Page_041" id="Page_041"></a> +looked after him, and cared for him as if he were still a +child. They paid no heed to their brother's wig, wrinkles, +or false teeth, and the hours he spent on his toilette, and +his baths provoked a compassionate smile. Whilst they +bitterly deplored the ravages made by time on their own +faces and figures, they seemed to think that their brother +had arrested the course of the common enemy, and that he +had in fact some elixir for keeping himself eternally young. +Manuel Antonio was methodical in his visits: he had +several houses at which he called every day at the same +time. He went to Don Juan Estrada's at three o'clock, the +coffee hour; he took chocolate with the Countess of Onis +every afternoon, and he was a regular <i>habitué</i> at the evening +receptions of the Señora de Quiñones. There were several +other families that he frequently visited. He dropped into +the houses of Maria Josefa Hevia and the Mateos in the +morning for a little while, just to hear any news that was +going, or to inspect their work, and sometimes of an evening, +he went to the Señoritas de Meré.</p> + +<p>"Look, here is the count!" he exclaimed in his peculiarly +effeminate tone. "Ah! what a cunning fellow the +count is!"</p> + +<p>"How?" said the count, approaching.</p> + +<p>"Ask Amalia."</p> + +<p>Then the smile suddenly left the lips of the nobleman.</p> + +<p>"What? What do you mean?" he exclaimed with undisguised +confusion.</p> + +<p>Amalia also looked upset, and her pale cheeks grew +red.</p> + +<p>"We have been grumbling at you, my man, and a pretty +character we gave you. Yes, Manuel Antonio has been +saying that you are a dog in the manger," said Amalia.</p> + +<p>"No, you were the one who said so."</p> + +<p>"I?" exclaimed the lady.</p> + +<p>"And why am I the dog in the manger?" said the +count. "Let us hear."<a name="Page_042" id="Page_042"></a></p> + +<p>"Because Amalia says you do not want to eat the meat +yourself, and you will not let Don Santos eat it."</p> + +<p>"Get along! Hold your tongue, you rude fellow!" said +the lady half-laughing, giving him a pinch.</p> + +<p>"What is being said of Don Santos?" asked a short, +broad gentleman, with a fat purple face, who approached +the group.</p> + +<p>The count and Amalia did not know what to answer.</p> + +<p>"They were remarking," said Manuel Antonio, with his +ready tongue, "that Don Santos thought of taking us up to +his place, the Castañeda (Chestnuts)."</p> + +<p>"No, no, it was not that," returned the stout man with a +forced smile.</p> + +<p>"Yes it was, and Amalia maintained that you were not +up to taking us to the Castañeda for the day."</p> + +<p>"But, my good fellow, you seem bent on painting me in +very black colours," said Amalia.</p> + +<p>"Because I am a real friend. How pale you have been +looking lately.... You must credit me, Santos, for having +a higher opinion of your generosity than the majority of +people. 'You don't know Don Santos,' I often say to those +who declare that you do not like spending money. 'If Don +Santos does not spend and does not entertain his friends, it +is not from avarice but from indolence, and from want of a +fitting occasion. The man is self-distrustful, and incapable +of proposing banquets or festivities; but let anybody start +the idea, and you will see how gladly it will be followed +up.'"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, thank you, Manuel Antonio," murmured +Don Santos, with a rabbit-like smile.</p> + +<p>The poor man was indeed continually haunted by the +fear of appearing mean. Like many of the Indians, the +fact of his being immensely rich gave him a reputation, not +utterly unfounded, of being mean. He arrived a few +years ago from Cuba, where by dint of first packing cases +with sugar and then selling them, he amassed an immense<a name="Page_043" id="Page_043"></a> +fortune. He was like a Bedouin, without any regard for +what went on in the world; he could not speak a dozen +words correctly, nor comport himself like other men. The +thirty years he had spent behind a counter had caused his +legs to swell, which had given him the gait of a drunken +man. The high colour of his complexion was so characteristic, +that in Lancia, where few people escaped a nickname, +he was dubbed <i>Garnet</i>.</p> + +<p>In the midst of his misery he enjoyed making some show +with his riches. He built a most magnificent house: the +steps were of marble from Carrara, the furniture from Paris, +&c. Nevertheless, when he came to pay the large bills +contracted in its construction, he was careful to see what +could be taken off for the value of the paper and cord, used +for packing the things for their transit from Paris. With this +object in view, he would carefully examine these wrappings +accumulated in a heap in a corner. When the house was +finished, he took possession of the ground-floor, and let the +other two. And then began his martyrdom—a martyrdom +long and terrible. The servants and children of the second +and third floors were his torturers. If he heard the floors +of the second storey being rubbed, he was put in a bad +humour, for he said that sand was bad for boarded floors. +If he saw a mark made on the stucco by the careless hand +of some little child, he was very angry and muttered words +of dread import. If he heard a door shut violently, the +sound seemed to go to his heart, and fears filled his mind +lest the hinges should be loosened, and the bolts displaced. +At last the continual excitement threw him into such a highly +nervous state that his health visibly declined. A friend of +his, who was quite as miserable, although endowed with +more spirit, suggested that he should leave the house and +live in another one. And so he did, for he returned to the +hotel where he had put up during the building of his palace.</p> + +<p>But Santos was remiss in the performance of the duty +considered incumbent on all those who make large fortunes<a name="Page_044" id="Page_044"></a> +from the sugar trade in America—he failed to enter into +matrimony with any lady, young or old, pretty or ugly.</p> + +<p>None of his friends ever took a tradesman's daughter for +a wife, and Garnet could not do less than they. On the contrary, +as he was richer than any of them, it was natural that +he should expect more social advantages. And so it came +about that he fixed his prominent, bloodshot eyes upon the +prettiest, richest, and most charming girl in the town—on +nobody less than Fernanda Rosa. The fact aroused the +astonishment and derision of the neighbourhood. For highly +as money was esteemed in Lancia, it was not thought equal +to the accomplishment of a feat like this. The pride of the +province marry a fellow of his caste! The girl was angry +and indignant. At first she considered it a joke; then she +became annoyed, and finally she ridiculed the idea. At last +she became used to Garnet's attentions, and it pleased her +self-love to be a subject of adulation, which she unmercifully +snubbed in return. But Santos was pertinacious in his courtship. +With the persistence of a fly which dashes against +glass, trying a hundred times to pass through the obstruction, +neither repulses, ridicule, nor rude remarks rebuffed +him for long. He returned the next day, metaphorically +speaking, to break his head against the cold disdain of the +proud heiress. He really thought that the real obstacle to +the realisation of his hopes was the Conde de Onis. He +acknowledged that Fernanda was somewhat attracted to +him, or, as he thought, to his title, and he seriously considered +going to Madrid to buy one of the same rank as +that of his rival. But when he was told that the papa set +no store by such things, he gave up the idea. In the meanwhile, +he vowed revenge on the gallant count, and hated +him with a deadly hatred, which he showed by never losing +an opportunity of making fun of his ugly, old-fashioned, +dilapidated house. The count was rich in land, but his +income could not be compared with that of the opulent +Garnet.<a name="Page_045" id="Page_045"></a></p> + +<p>"And if not, you will see the day that he marries what a +change will be effected in the place," continued Manuel +Antonio; "we shall have banquets, and balls, and <i>fêtes +champêtres</i> every day."</p> + +<p>"But suppose Fernanda does not like balls?" said +Emilita Mateo, who was dancing with Paco Gomez, and +had her back to the group.</p> + +<p>"I do not know that I have mentioned Fernanda," said +the Chatterbox severely.</p> + +<p>"I thought you were talking of Don Santos marrying, and +I supposed you meant with her."</p> + +<p>"Then do not suppose any more, but attend to your +dancing with Paco, for I reckon he has been waiting five +minutes."</p> + +<p>Paco was a very slender young man, so tall that he +reached the lintels of the doorways, with a head about the +size of a potato, and such a thin face that he really only +seemed to walk about by permission of his undertaker. +And with these physical peculiarities, he was the wittiest +person of the place.</p> + +<p>"Well, my child!" he exclaimed, standing in front of the +Chatterbox. "The only thing for which I should regret +dying would be to be deprived of the pleasure of seeing +such bewitching creatures as yourself."</p> + +<p>With this he gave his beard a derisive sort of touch.</p> + +<p>We know that Manuel Antonio could not bear anybody's +hands near him in public.</p> + +<p>"Be off, you jackdaw, be off!" he returned, with visible +irritation as he pushed him away.</p> + +<p>"But are you not fetching? Why, my man, if this were +lost to view! Look what a mouth! Goodness alive, what +shaped eyes! Did you ever see such a texture of the skin?"</p> + +<p>And as he touched him again, Manuel repulsed him with +a hard push of real anger.</p> + +<p>"Caramba! how cross you are to-day!" said the Conde +de Onis.<a name="Page_046" id="Page_046"></a></p> + +<p>"It does not matter," returned Paco with a sigh, "white +hands never offend."</p> + +<p>At that moment it was his turn to figure in the <i>rigodon</i>, +and he went off with Emilita.</p> + +<p>Maria Josefa, who had been dancing a little way off, now +came up with her partner, a lieutenant of the battalion of +Pontevedra.</p> + +<p>"Why, Don Santos, you are cruel! Why do you not go +and keep Fernanda company? She is quite alone."</p> + +<p>This was true, for the little friend of the rich heiress +having found a partner for the dance, Fernanda was sitting +by herself.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, you ought to go, Santos," said Manuel +Antonio; "see, the girl has left an empty chair by her side; +she could not give a stronger hint."</p> + +<p>So saying, he winked at the count, who confirmed his +statement by saying: "I think it would only be polite."</p> + +<p>Garnet cast a sharp glance at the speaker and surlily +returned:</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you go yourself and sit by her +side?"</p> + +<p>"For the simple reason that we have nothing to talk +about. But with you it is quite different."</p> + +<p>"That is understood, Señor Conde. I am not a child," +he murmured very crossly.</p> + +<p>"Although you are not a child in age," said Amalia, +intervening to prevent discord, "you are one in the frankness +and spontaneity of your sentiments, and in the freshness +of heart, that other people younger than you are +remiss in. Children love with more simplicity and fervour +than men."</p> + +<p>"But men do something more heroic—they marry," said +Paco Gomez, who was again standing near with his +partner.</p> + +<p>"There are occasions when they do not marry either," +returned Manuel Antonio, making an imperceptible<a name="Page_047" id="Page_047"></a> +grimace, by which it could be seen that he was thinking of +Maria Josefa.</p> + +<p>"Very well," returned that gentleman, abandoning the +argument; "but it must be allowed that there are cases +when such an act would require a heroism beyond human +nature."</p> + +<p>The old maid who overheard this last remark, cast a +withering look at the speaker.</p> + +<p>"Human nature, indeed!" she retorted with displeasure, +"human nature sometimes assumes such eccentric forms +that heroism would appear out of place."</p> + +<p>However, Paco Gomez was not a whit confused, and +merely touched his face with comic gestures, feigning a +dumb submission, which made the others laugh. Amalia, +seeing the conversation was getting dangerous, changed the +subject by exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Look, see what Don Santos has been doing whilst we +have been busy talking!"</p> + +<p>And, in fact, the Indian had quietly left his seat and +glided into a chair by Fernanda's side.</p> + +<p>She glanced at him coldly, and hardly deigned to respond +to his ceremonious and pompous greeting. Nevertheless, +the red face of Garnet shone like that of a god +sure of his omnipotence. With his large, broad, fat hands +spread out on his knees, his body bent forwards, and his +head raised as much as the fat nape of his neck would +permit, he disclosed a row of large teeth as his lips +wreathed in a beneficent smile. Trying, according to his +wont, to make conversation, he said:</p> + +<p>"Have you noticed in what quarter the wind is?"</p> + +<p>The young lady made no reply.</p> + +<p>"It does not signify now," he continued, "as all the +fruit is gathered in, but if it had come sooner, we should +not have had a chestnut nor a grain of maize left, he! +he!"</p> + +<p>To judge from the expression of pleasure which shone<a name="Page_048" id="Page_048"></a> +in his eyes, Garnet delighted in giving utterance to this +remark.</p> + +<p>"But it is not cold here, eh? I am not cold, he! he! +On the contrary I feel hot. It is because your eyes are two +coals—they are burn——"</p> + +<p>Another time he would have finished the word burning +without any hesitation, but to excuse his confusion, he +feigned a cough which made his purple face look as if he +were suffering strangulation.</p> + +<p>The beauty, who had kept her eyes fixed on space, now +turned her head towards her adorer, and looked at him +with a vague, absent expression, as if she did not see him. +She then got up, and without vouchsafing a word, took a +seat a little way off. So the Indian was left with the same +stereotyped smile on his face, like the petrified grimace of a +satyr. But when he saw the eyes of the others fixed +derisively upon him, he suddenly became cross and +peevish.</p> + +<p>"What has this Garnet to do with the ladies?" said Paco +Gomez to the count. "As I was saying the other day, +you do not need to go to America for rich women. Your +face is your fortune."</p> + +<p>"Look, my dear count, you ought to go and sit by her side. +You will see she won't get up then," said Manuel Antonio.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, you ought to go, Luis," said Maria Josefa, +"we shall be able to see then whether she is in love with +you or not. Really, Amalia, ought he not to go?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it seems to me that you ought to sit by her side," +said the lady in measured, trembling tones.</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" asked the count, looking earnestly +at her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, go," returned the lady, with perfect serenity, avoiding +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Then you must allow me to disobey you, as I do not +wish to expose myself to a rebuff."</p> + +<p>"What do rebuffs signify when you are in love?...<a name="Page_049" id="Page_049"></a> +Because from what I hear, you are in love with Fernanda. +It is known for a mile round."</p> + +<p>"Certainly for a mile round, for that is not saying +much," interposed Manuel Antonio.</p> + +<p>And Maria Josefa, and Emilita Mateo, and Paco Gomez +all corroborated the remark with a smile.</p> + +<p>Amalia insisted effectually. Luis had tried his best to +avoid suspicion; but as all efforts are ineffectual to exclude +every ray of light, she had guessed for some time +past that the count nourished in the depths of his heart +an affectionate regard for Fernanda.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me," she said; "a few days ago somebody +happened to say to Moro that he had two false teeth. +You cannot think how put out the poor man was; a +little more and he would have beaten him who told him +of it."</p> + +<p>"I am not as bad as that," said the count, "but I expressed +myself somewhat emphatically, as injustice always +annoys me," and he smiled shamefacedly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! excitement in such cases is always suspicious. +When one feels no interest in anybody, one is not so vehement +in denying it. Caramba! I never saw you so put +out as you are now. One can see that the girl has a +valiant champion ready to break lances on her behalf."</p> + +<p>The lady did not leave the joke. She seemed to wish the +count to think that his love for Fernanda was a foregone +conclusion. In spite of the kind smile on her face, there +were certain strange inflexions in her voice that were only +noticeable to one person present at that moment.</p> + +<p>But the <i>rigodon</i> was over and the little group was +augmented by the arrival of several other couples. Some +came, and others went, until at last the lady found herself +surrounded by fresh people. Another waltz was danced, +and another. Then twelve o'clock struck from the +cathedral clock. And as the young people showed no sign +of dispersing, Manin, according to the custom of the house,<a name="Page_050" id="Page_050"></a> +appeared by Don Pedro's order at the drawing-room door +with an armful of wraps belonging to the ladies. This was +the signal for withdrawal adopted by the Señor de Quiñones +at his parties. It was not very courteous, but nobody +was offended; on the contrary, it was received in good +part and considered a pleasant sort of joke.</p> + +<p>After they had all shaken hands with the Grandee, they +formed a group in the middle of the drawing-room, and +Amalia in the centre bade farewell to her female friends, as +she kissed them affectionately. She was pale, and her eyes +looked anxious and feverish as she gave her hand to the +count; she turned her head aside, feigning inattention; +but she pressed his fingers firmly three or four times as if to +inspire him with courage, for indeed the poor man was in +want of it. He was so nervous and trembling that Amalia +thought that he would collapse entirely.</p> + +<p>And then the guests quickly passed into the passages +and down the damp stone staircase. A servant was there +to open the street-door.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Who left this basket here?" said Emilita Mateo, +who was the first to come across the obstruction.</p> + +<p>"A basket?" asked several ladies as they came up to +her.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps some poor creature asleep about here," said +the servant, who had not yet closed the door.</p> + +<p>"There is nobody to be seen," said Manuel Antonio, +who had quickly surveyed the portico.</p> + +<p>Curiosity then prompted one of the ladies to raise the +cloth which covered the basket. Whereupon the same +exclamation was heard that Pharaoh's daughter uttered +when she saw the celebrated basket of Moses floating on +the river.</p> + +<p>"A child!"</p> + +<p>Then ensued a moment of amazement and curiosity +among the guests. They all rushed forward, all wishing to +see the foundling at once. For no one doubted for an<a name="Page_051" id="Page_051"></a> +instant but that the child had been purposely left there. +Paco Gomez picked up the basket and uncovered it completely, +so as to show the sleeping child to his friends.</p> + +<p>Then followed a storm of exclamations.</p> + +<p>"Little angel! Who could have been so wicked? +Poor little soul! What stony-hearted creatures! Oh, +my goodness! Look how beautiful he is! Has he been +left in the cold long? The little thing must be perished. +Paco, let me touch it."</p> + +<p>The basket was passed from hand to hand. The ladies, +who were very interested and trembling with emotion, +pressed so many tender kisses on the cheeks of the newly-born +that it was aroused from its sleep.</p> + +<p>A feeble cry from the little pink creature filled every +heart with pity, and some of the ladies burst into tears.</p> + +<p>"Let us take it upstairs so that it may be warmed a +little."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; let us take it upstairs."</p> + +<p>And forthwith the chattering crowd rushed into the hall +and up the staircase of the mansion of the Quiñones, carrying +the mysterious basket in triumph.</p> + +<p>Amalia was standing pale and motionless in the middle +of the drawing-room when the doors were re-opened. Don +Pedro had been taken to bed by Manin and another +servant. The fresh sudden invasion seemed a great surprise +to the lady of the house.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter? What is this?" she exclaimed, in +an agitated voice.</p> + +<p>"A baby, a baby!" was the simultaneous cry of many +voices.</p> + +<p>"We have just found it in the doorway," said Manuel +Antonio, putting down the basket which he had carried +upstairs.</p> + +<p>"Who left it there?"</p> + +<p>"We do not know. It is a foundling. Look! See how +beautiful it is, Amalia."<a name="Page_052" id="Page_052"></a></p> + +<p>"Perhaps some poor person, who will come and fetch it, +just left it in the doorway."</p> + +<p>"No, no; we have inspected the doorway, and the street +is deserted."</p> + +<p>The little creature, who was disturbed by all this excitement, +now stretched out its two little rosebud fists, and the +compassion of the ladies was evinced in passionate exclamations. +Each one wished to kiss it and press it to her +bosom. At last Maria Josefa managed to get possession +of it, and taking it from the basket she tenderly wrapped it +in the cloak with which it had been covered, and pressed it +to her bosom. Then a paper which had been in the +child's clothes fell to the ground. Manuel Antonio picked +it up. On the paper was written in large awkward-looking +characters, evidently with the left hand: "The unhappy +mother of this baby girl commends her to the charity of the +Señores de Quiñones. It is not baptised."</p> + +<p>"It is a girl, then!" exclaimed several ladies in one voice.</p> + +<p>And in the tone of this remark it was evident that the +discovery was somewhat disappointing. They had been so +certain it was a boy.</p> + +<p>"What mystery is this?" asked Manuel Antonio, whilst +a malicious smile curled his lip.</p> + +<p>"Mystery? There is no mystery," returned Amalia with +some displeasure. "It is evidently some poor woman who +wants her child to be maintained."</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding, there is a <i>je ne sais quoi</i> strain of +mystery about the matter, and I would wager that the +parents of this baby are well-to-do," replied the Magpie.</p> + +<p>"Well, now you are getting foolish!" exclaimed the +lady, with a nervous smile. "Well-to-do people do not +leave their children dressed in rags."</p> + +<p>Certainly the baby was dressed in miserable clothes and +covered with a scanty, dirty cloak.</p> + +<p>"Gently, Amalia, gently," interposed Saleta in his clear, +quiet voice. "Many years ago I found in the doorway of<a name="Page_053" id="Page_053"></a> +my house in Madrid a child enveloped in very old +clothes, and at the end of some time we ascertained that +he was the son of a very important personage, who shall be +nameless."</p> + +<p>All eyes were now turned to the Galician magistrate in +surprise.</p> + +<p>"It was a very important personage, it was——" he +continued, after a pause, with the same cool impertinence: +"well, it was very easy to guess who it was; the features +of the face showed him to be a perfect Bourbon."</p> + +<p>The audience was quite taken aback. They looked at +each other with the slightly amused smile prevalent on such +occasions, and Saleta was quite unconcerned.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up!" exclaimed Valero; "won't you have your +umbrella?"</p> + +<p>"The child died when he was two months old," continued +the imperturbable Saleta; "and it was a fact that when we +went to the cemetery, a carriage joined the funeral cortège, +and nobody knew to whom it belonged. But I knew it, for I +had seen it in the royal stables; however, I held my tongue."</p> + +<p>"Will the babbler never cease?" murmured Valero.</p> + +<p>"All right, Saleta; you must tell us this story by day, at +night such things are rather boring," said the Chatterbox intervening +and winking at the others. "What we have to +think of now, Amalia, is what is to be done with the baby."</p> + +<p>The lady shrugged her shoulders with indifference.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. We will leave her here to-night, and to-morrow +we will look for a nurse for her, for it is really quite +an upset."</p> + +<p>"If you do not care about keeping her in the house, I +shall be very pleased to take charge of her, Amalia," said +Maria Josefa, who had stood a little apart cooing to the +baby to keep it quiet.</p> + +<p>"I did not say that I did not wish to," returned the lady, +somewhat sharply. "I will take the child, because it +concerns me more than anybody, since it is confided to my<a name="Page_054" id="Page_054"></a> +care. But, as you can understand, before doing so I must +consult my husband."</p> + +<p>The guests greeted these words with a murmur of approbation.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment Manin appeared, to ask the meaning +of all the excitement. It was explained to him. Then the +Señor de Quiñones had himself brought back into the +drawing-room in his wheeled chair; and when he saw the +baby, he at once interested himself in her behalf.</p> + +<p>He immediately declared she should not leave the house, +and he told a servant to find a nurse in the morning. In +the meanwhile the little creature had a little milk and tea in +a flask with an india-rubber top; and it was then enveloped +in better wraps. The guests watched these operations with +the keenest interest. The ladies uttered cries of enthusiasm, +and their eyes overflowed with tears when they saw the +eager way the baby sucked the top of the bottle.</p> + +<p>When all was done, they said good-bye again; but they did +not leave without each one pressing a kiss on the cheeks of +the poor little foundling baby.</p> + +<p>All this time the Conde de Onis did not open his lips. +He stood in the third or fourth row, following with eager +eyes all the attention and care bestowed upon the infant. +But when he was about to depart without again taking +leave, Amalia stopped him with an audacity which almost +petrified him.</p> + +<p>"What is this, count? Do you not wish to kiss my +charge?"</p> + +<p>"I, yes, Señora."</p> + +<p>This was the finishing stroke. And pale and trembling +he approached, and put his lips on the little creature's +forehead, whilst the lady watched him with a provoking +triumphant smile.<a name="Page_055" id="Page_055"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h3> + +<p class="head">THE TOWN</p> + + +<p class="nind">T<span class="smcap">his</span> was the third night that the Conde de Onis could +hardly close his eyes. Nothing was more natural than that +he should be agitated and feverish the last two nights; but +now, wherefore? All had happened as it had been +arranged. The undertaking had succeeded well, he had +nothing to do but sleep on his triumph. But it was not so. +In spite of his strong robust figure, the Conde had an +excessively nervous and impressionable temperament. The +slightest emotion upset him and excited him to an +indescribable extent. Such intense sensibility was the +result of heredity as well as education. His father, Colonel +Campo, had been a self-centred sensitive man, of such keen +susceptibility that he was quite a martyr to it the last years +of his life. Everybody in Lancia recollected the interesting +touching episode which closed the life of the single-minded +gentleman.</p> + +<p>The colonel had had to send forces to defend a place in +Peru during the insurrection of the American colonists; but +the place was taken by surprise in an underhand way. By a +false report the colonel was accused of treachery before the +Government at Madrid, it being asserted that he had been +in collusion with the enemy. With severe precipitancy, +without impartial evidence of the facts, and without taking +into consideration the Conde of Onis' brilliant career in the +Service, the king deprived him of his commission, and all +the crosses and decorations in his possession. The<a name="Page_056" id="Page_056"></a> +punctilious old soldier was completely crushed by this +unexpected blow. His comrades snatched the pistol from +him just when he attempted his life. Accompanied by a +faithful attendant, he left Madrid and came to Lancia, where +his wife and son of tender age were awaiting him. The +family life was a sedative for the wounded heart of the +soldier. But the brave man who had so often defied death, +had not the courage to face the curious eyes of his fellow-citizens. +Instead of rebelling against the injustice that had +been done him, instead of trying to convince his compatriots +of his innocence, which would not have been very +difficult, as they all esteemed his character, and knew his +bravery, he was so conscious of his disgrace that he +avoided the sight of people and retired to his house, and he +never walked farther than the garden at the back of the +house, bounded by high, crumbling walls.</p> + +<p>The palace of the Counts of Onis deserves especial +mention in this story. It was a very old building; some +remains of the original edifice which were still extant, +were the oldest part of the town. Nothing else was +saved from the dreadful fire which destroyed the city in +the fourteenth century. It was more like a fortress than a +mansion. There were a few narrow windows fitted with +stone columns, scattered capriciously over the façade, a bare +stone wall blackened by time, with several square holes like +ventilators near the roof, and a large door in the middle +studded with heavy nails. Inside it was immense, and +more cheerful. The courtyard was broader than the street.</p> + +<p>The sun came in at the window at the back at midday, +and its rays were tempered by the branches of the garden-trees +which formed a pleasant curtain.</p> + +<p>There was a great deal of mystery and enchantment +about this old house for the Lancians, who were endowed +with imagination; more especially for the children, who are +the only beings who are open to weird fancies in this +prosaic age.<a name="Page_057" id="Page_057"></a></p> + +<p>The façade, if such a name can be given to the +aforesaid wall, faced the Calle de la Misericordia, one of +the most central streets of the town.</p> + +<p>One of the windows, perchance the largest, overlooked +the Calle de Cerrajerías, and from it could be seen the +cathedral in the distance.</p> + +<p>Here it was that the ex-colonel buried himself; for +neither the entreaties of his wife nor the few relations who +came to see him, prevailed on him to change his habits.</p> + +<p>But his retirement was useful to the house, for he put +the garden in order, had balconies placed at the back of +the house, furnished various rooms, had the courtyard +paved, &c.</p> + +<p>Thus, without losing its character of mystery, the dismal +old house was transformed into a pleasanter abode.</p> + +<p>But the old soldier having fallen into disgrace, seemed to +wither up within its walls like a tree in want of air and +water.</p> + +<p>A profound melancholy sapped his constitution: his skin +became wrinkled, his hair turned white, his legs grew feeble, +and his hands shaky.</p> + +<p>At fifty-eight he looked as old as if he were seventy, but +this change was unnoticed in the house.</p> + +<p>He glided about the corridors like a ghost. Whole days +went by without any one hearing the sound of his voice. +But he was not disagreeable to anybody, and there was a +sweet pleasant smile always on his lips.</p> + +<p>He never courted caresses from his child, but when he +met him by chance in the passages he would lay his hand +on his head, kiss him fondly, murmur tender words in his +ear, and then turn away, sometimes with tears in his eyes. +He thought it a blot on the life of that little boy, ruddy +and beautiful as a cherubim, to have been born of a disgraced +father, and the unhappy man seemed to ask his +pardon for his existence. It was the year 1829; four years +had elapsed since the colonel arrived from America, and<a name="Page_058" id="Page_058"></a> +he looked a very spectre. He slept well, ate well, and +nothing seemed to worry him; but his life seemed slipping +away, in a slow but sure consumption. His wife sent for +a doctor, and then another and another. But they all said +the same: it was necessary for him to amuse himself and to +associate with people. And these were just the particular +remedies which the count declined to adopt. By degrees +he stayed longer in bed, he rose later, and retired to rest +earlier. He lost all inclination to work in the garden, +never went outside the four walls of the house, and indoors +he gave up looking after the things which used to interest +him, being generally handy, such as attending to the aviary +and other manual occupations. The few hours that were +not passed in bed were spent in an armchair, or in walking +through the corridors in silence, until at last he left off +getting up altogether. Luis recollected all this perfectly. +When he used to go into his father's apartments he saw +him with his eyes fixed on the ceiling and an expression +of terrible distress upon his face. He would turn his head +when his son entered the room, smile, call him to him by +signs, and after giving him a kiss would seem to want him +to go.</p> + +<p>One day the boy saw much coming and going in the +house; the servants were running about in distress, exchanging +rapid words with each other. The few available +friends and relations were summoned, and frightened the +child by their long faces. On entering his father's room +he saw that an altar was being erected. Having been +placed in a corner by one of the servants, he was told not +to be afraid, but his father was about to confess, and partake +of the Holy Communion when the Divine Majesty would +be present. The injunction not to be frightened, which +was repeated several times, produced a contrary effect. +The boy understood that something serious was going on. +In fact, the Count of Onis was dying; he was certainly taking +his departure, as his relations said. The doctor said he was<a name="Page_059" id="Page_059"></a> +to be prepared.... At six o'clock in the evening the +doors of the palace of Onis were thrown open to receive +the priest, who had come in the carriage of the house +bearing the Sacred Host. The servants and relations were +waiting in the doorway with lighted torches. A large file +of people of all classes, also bearing lights, came behind. +Many of them came out of real regard and devotion for the +patient; but the majority came out of curiosity to see one +who had lived so long apart from the world under such +solemn, critical circumstances.</p> + +<p>All those that wished to, came right into the presence of +the dying man. No obstacle was put in anybody's way, so a +strange and motley crowd filled the count's room: well-to-do +people, poor people, and children, were all anxious to +see the fallen man, now that he was about to fall into the +dark bosom of death, the oblivion of eternity. The dean +of the cathedral, his friend and confessor, approached with +the elevated Host. The people present fell on their knees, +a solemn silence reigned. At that moment the sick man, +who had been propped up in bed, said in a loud voice, +addressing himself to the kneeling assembly:</p> + +<p>"I swear by the Sacramental God about to enter my +body, that I have never been a traitor to my country, and +that in the American war I always behaved like a loyal +and honourable gentleman."</p> + +<p>His voice, which appeared to come from a corpse, +sounded clear and sharp in the room. There was a repressed +murmur among the people. The dean, with tears +in his eyes, replied:</p> + +<p>"Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness;" +and he put the blessed Sacrament in the colonel's +mouth. The news of the old soldier's affirmation ran +through the town. The strange and terrible oath, which +was repeated from one to the other, made a profound +impression on the public. The relations and friends of the +count made a great parade of the matter. One of them<a name="Page_060" id="Page_060"></a> +thought of presenting a petition to the king, signed by all +the neighbours, begging him to revoke the colonel's sentence. +But the dean had anticipated him, and being an +energetic, eloquent man, he got the archbishop and the +Chapter of the cathedral to favour his mission to Madrid +for the intercession for the re-installation of the friend of +his infancy in his military rank. Meanwhile the patient +slightly improved, the illness did not seem to get worse; +but, although it was not externally noticeable, the consumption +was gaining ground.</p> + +<p>Nothing was said about the deputation to the king. +However, the dean had time to get to Madrid, gain an +audience of his Majesty, appeal to his pity with the account +of the solemn statement made in his presence, obtain a +royal commission restoring the count all his honours with +all the accompanying crosses and decorations, and return +to Lancia mad with anxiety. How delightful it was to find +his friend had not expired! He ran from the boat in which +he had travelled, to the palace of the Onis, and with the +greatest precaution, to avoid over-excitement for the patient, +the good news was communicated to him. The colonel +remained motionless for some time with his face hidden in +his hands.</p> + +<p>"What time is it?" he said at last.</p> + +<p>"It is just two," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Let me have my uniform at once!" he exclaimed with +unusual energy, raising himself up without anybody's help.</p> + +<p>"Rayo de Dios! Quick, my uniform," he repeated +more emphatically, seeing that no one moved.</p> + +<p>At last the countess went to the wardrobe, and brought +it out. He had himself quickly dressed; the ribbon of +Carlos III. put across his breast, and all the crosses he +had won. There were so many, that he could not put them +all on the left side, so some had to come to the right. In +this attire he had himself led to the window looking on to +the Calle de Cerrajerías, and there he stood. It was not<a name="Page_061" id="Page_061"></a> +long before the faithful, repairing home from Mass, which +was the best attended of the Sunday services, saw this +strange, corpse-like figure, dressed in his grand uniform, at +the window. And with a feeling of sadness, respect, and +compassion, they all filed by the house with their eyes +riveted upon him.</p> + +<p>For three consecutive Sundays the colonel made a point +of getting up and going through the same ceremony. He +stood for half an hour displaying his signs of honour, with +his eyes ecstatically fixed on space, without seeing or hearing +the crowd which collected before the palace with +manifestations of the gravest interest and concern. On the +fourth Sunday he wished to do the same, and peremptorily +insisted on being dressed, but he at that instant fell back +on the pillows, never to rise again. So that night God took +the brave, punctilious soldier unto Himself. Poor father! +The count could never think of that scene, so deeply graven +in his mind, without tears rising to his eyes. He had inherited +from him the exquisite delicacy of feeling, and a +susceptibility that almost amounted to weakness, without +the serenity, power of taking the initiative, and the unbending +will that had characterised Colonel Campo. The +present count had an excessively sensitive and affectionate +disposition, together with the integrity and modesty +peculiar to the Campos. But these qualities were counteracted +by a weak, fanciful, moody character, which was +doubtless inherited from his mother's family.</p> + +<p>Donna Maria Gayoso, the widowed Countess of Onis, +daughter of the Baron de los Oscos, was a very original +person; so exceptionally original that she bordered on the +eccentric. In her whole family for the last three or four +generations there had been some exhibition of eccentricity +that in some members had passed into madness.</p> + +<p>Her grandfather had been a hardened atheist and a +follower of Voltaire and the Encyclopædia; then he became +a victim to drunkenness in his last days, and, according to<a name="Page_062" id="Page_062"></a> +the general report, he was carried off by devils to the +infernal regions. He had really died of spontaneous combustion, +which fact gave rise to such a fabulous story. Her +father was a weak-minded man, and her mother, a woman +of uncommon energy, had him completely under her thumb. +Of his uncles, one had gone melancholy mad; another distinguished +himself in mathematics, but he was so eccentric +that his curious ways were retailed as amusing anecdotes in +Lancia; and another retired to the country, married a +peasant, and killed himself with drinking. She had only +one remaining brother, the present Baron de los Oscos. He +was an original and an eccentric creature. At the commencement +of the civil war he put himself under the banner +of the Pretender, and entered his army, but only on condition +of serving as a common soldier. This resolution +made a great sensation.</p> + +<p>But all the persuasions of the grandees about Don Carlos, +and even those of the king himself, were powerless to make +him accept an officer's commission. He was wounded +several times, and in one case he was so seriously injured +in the face that he was deeply scarred; and as his face was +already as ugly as it could well be, the deep red seam +finished by rendering his appearance ghastly to a degree +that was terrible.</p> + +<p>He was younger than his sister Maria, not being yet fifty, +and he lived alone and celibate in the dreary old house +belonging to the los Oscos in the Calle del Pozo, which had +certainly nothing grand about it. He rarely went to see his +sister, not from any antipathy, but from the unsociability +and crustiness of his disposition. He seldom left his house, +particularly in the daytime. He had very few friends, and +his most intimate one—in fact, the only one who might be +said to enjoy his friendship—was an uncloistered friar, who +before taking orders had served as an officer in the army. +This Fray Diego was his constant companion. The baron +inspired universal terror with his gloomy character, his<a name="Page_063" id="Page_063"></a> +eccentricities, and more especially by the fearful appearance +of his face. The children were quite panic-stricken in his +presence. Parents and nurses used him as a bugbear to +make them obedient:</p> + +<p>"I will go and tell the baron about you! The baron +will come! I saw the baron to-day, and he asked me if +you were obedient," &c.</p> + +<p>And the baron, with his strange gestures, and rough, loud +voice, became a very ogre to the poor little innocent things. +He constantly went about armed with a pair of pistols; and +the handle of his stick was a veritable club. It was said +that he once made an end of a servant merely for having +opened a letter, and that on several occasions he seized +hold of children who dared to make faces at him in the +street, put them in the stable, undressed them, and thrashed +them soundly with the bridle of his horse. True, or invented, +these stories were calculated to make the infant +minds of Lancia regard him as a monster of ferocity from +whom they fled as fast as their trembling legs would carry +them.</p> + +<p>One of the things which inspired the terror of the little +ones, and caused respect not devoid of fear in the grown-up +people, was the horse that the baron had. It was a creature +with a fiery eye, and so fierce that nobody but he and his +friend Fray Diego, who had served in the cavalry, dared to +mount him. He had to be most cleverly managed when +taken to drink, and even then the ungovernable brute +reared and kicked to the alarm of all the passers-by. When +the baron mounted and left his house, striking about him, +and laying into the horse with his whip, the neighbours +rushed to their windows, the children took refuge in the +bosoms of their mothers, and everybody gazed in terror at +the fearful centaur. Certainly the Baron de los Oscos presented +at such times a formidable aspect, with his scarred +face, bloodshot eyes, waxed, fierce-looking moustache, and +his figure looking like part of the horse.<a name="Page_064" id="Page_064"></a></p> + +<p>One's imagination had to go back to the invasions of the +barbarians to find anything equal to it. Neither Alaric, +Attila, nor Odoacer could have looked more strange and +sinister, nor could they have inspired more terror than he. +Judge, then, of the effect upon the timid neighbours when +one day he took it into his head to parade the streets of the +town at midnight, accompanied by a servant, a man very +like him, on another charger.</p> + +<p>The Countess of Onis was as strange in her way as her +brother. She was short and stout, with a pale, round face, +dull black eyes, hair plastered down with quince-juice gum, +and constantly dressed in the mournful garb of a nun. She +lived as secluded in her place, as a nun in a convent. +She was absolutely absorbed in devotion, but it was a +capricious, fantastic devotion, in no way similar to that +practised by really mystic souls. All her life she had shown +a tendency to eccentricity, but after the count's death it +became so marked, that her strange ways assumed the form +of rather serious manias. When she was young, her modesty +was so extreme that it became ridiculous. The ears of the +Señorita de los Oscos were so chaste that the conversation +of an English "Miss" would seem like a serjeant's in her +presence. She could not tolerate her brother's under-linen +being put with hers when the laundress took it away or +brought it home. If she was asked to sew a button on his +underclothes, she ran to her room when the task was over, +and washed her hands, when, it was said, she sprinkled +them with holy water. She compressed her figure to a +hurtful extent, and the height of the collar of her dresses +was contrary to the regulations of fashion; her under-garments +were only changed in the dark, and she never +shook hands with a man unless she had gloves on. The +history of her marriage was truly curious, full of funny +incidents which were for a long time the talk of the town, +and the account of the first night of her marriage, whether +true or false, was worthy of figuring in a novel of Paul de<a name="Page_065" id="Page_065"></a> +Kock. One need hardly say that during her marriage this +virtue of chastity became somewhat modified. But as soon +as she became a widow, she resorted to her eccentric ways +to a remarkable degree, and in her latter years they assumed +the aspect of madness. When she told her beads, which +was twice a day, she sent a servant to the poultry-yard to +separate the cock from the hens; then the forks had to be +separated from the spoons, and the hooks from the eyes. +One day the coachman came to tell her that one of the +mares had foaled, and she was so angry that, after having +sharply rebuked him for his audacity in acquainting her +with such a fact, she gave orders for having it sold. One +day she came upon a lad giving a kiss to the cook, and she +became ill with disgust, and both parties were immediately +dismissed from the house.</p> + +<p>She liked to have a party at an early hour in the evening, +when she only invited clerics. On these occasions she used +to sit in an armchair where, intentionally or unintentionally, +probably intentionally, there were put two cushions so that +she seemed to be in a valley. Soon after the arrival of the +company, when the conversation became animated, she +would fall into a deep sleep, and thus remain until nine +o'clock, when the cassocked gentlemen retired, presumably, +without shaking hands. As there was a chapel in the +house she seldom went out, and when she did so, it was in +the carriage. She kept all the money that came to her +hands hidden away in secret places in the garret or the +garden. Sometimes this avarice or, as it may be more +correctly termed, this mania for hoarding, brought them +into difficulties, and she preferred to let her son borrow +money to disinterring her treasure. She was very greedy, +and fond of dainties; and she could consume a quantity +of sweets with no signs of indigestion. But such things were +not made for nuns, and so, in strange contradiction to her +pious inclinations, she hated all that savoured of the +convent.<a name="Page_066" id="Page_066"></a></p> + +<p>And it was by this eccentric, one may almost say mad, +woman, that the present Count of Onis was brought up, and +his character was much affected thereby. To counteract his +excessive sensitiveness, his weak and vacillating temperament, +and his imaginative and gloomy disposition, of which +sad signs were shown at times, he ought to have been +brought up in the open air under an intelligent and energetic +master, who would have known how to inspire him with +manly strength and resolution. But, unfortunately, it was +just the contrary. The countess would not hear of any +career which would take him away from Lancia; so he +went to the local university, where he followed a course of +jurisprudence, after which rich young men think they are +entitled to pass the rest of their days in idleness. During +his college career the countess kept him under her authority +in a way that became ridiculous. He never left the house +without permission, he came in at dark, he told his beads, +and went to confession when she bade him to. Whilst his +body developed to a marvellous degree, so that he became +a fine athletic young fellow, his mind remained as submissive +and childish as that of a ten-year-old child.</p> + +<p>His retired effeminate life increased the natural timidity +of his character, his sensitiveness became weakness, and his +gloomy nature secretive. And the most lamentable thing +was, that without being a shining light, he was gifted with +clear intelligence, and possessed a penetration frequently +found in reserved and timid men. He was wanting in self-confidence +and experience; but he showed a great deal of +tact in conversation; shortcomings of his neighbour never +escaped him and, as with most weak characters, he took a +mischievous delight in drawing attention to them. It is +the revenge taken by characterless people upon those who +have a vigorous and spontaneous one. Nevertheless, these +outbursts of irony and malignity were not very frequent. +He generally appeared a prudent, reserved, melancholy +young man, with courteous gentlemanly manners, a feeling<a name="Page_067" id="Page_067"></a> +heart, and full of affection and respect for his mother. +After his college career was over, his inclination and plans +were in favour of leaving Lancia, going to court, and travelling +for some time. But the countess's disapproval was enough +to make him give up the idea and remain at home. So he +spent his days in idleness without feeling in anyway obliged +ever to glance from time to time into his books of jurisprudence. +He amused himself occasionally with certain manual +occupations, and in reading the works of romance much in +vogue at the time. He became a clever carpenter, but +not so clever as his father; and then he took up watch-making. +Finally, he developed an interest in a little +property in the suburbs of the town, and set about making +great improvements there. It was called the Grange, +and it was situated a little more than a mile from +Lancia. It was a large old rambling house, with a beautiful +wood of oak trees behind, and fertile meadows in front. +The count took to going there every afternoon after dinner; +he bred black cattle, and horses as well; he planted trees, +cut canals, and raised banks. The house he hardly touched. +He gained physically by this new interest, which made him +more active and hardy, and his character improved at the +same time. The melancholy which had been so distressing +to him decreased, and he became more cheerful, his self-confidence +increased, as he had more intercourse with +people, whilst the fits of anger, rage and despair which used +to come over him without any cause, making him seem like +an epileptic to the servants, grew rarer and rarer until they +left him altogether. He thus reached his twenty-eighth +year when he began to frequent the house of the Quiñones, +and it was then that his life underwent a complete change.</p> + +<p>It was nine o'clock in the morning when his servant woke +him from an exciting unfinished dream to give him a letter. +With feigned indifference he dropped it on the night-table, +but scarcely had the servant left the room when he seized +it, and opened it with visible agitation.<a name="Page_068" id="Page_068"></a></p> + +<p>Although his connection with Amalia was of about two +years' standing, he never opened a letter from her without +his hands trembling. They certainly did not often write to +each other; and it was probably the rarity of the occurrence +which accounted for its affecting him so much, as in truth a +deep love for her had taken root in his timid, sensitive +nature.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon. By the pulpit," was all that the note +conveyed, but his mind was much agitated by the communication. +Such appointments were extremely dangerous. +In the midst of his happiness they overpowered him with a +feeling of dread he could not overcome. He had begged +Amalia to give them up, but she paid no heed to his +wishes, and he was perfectly incapable of opposing her will. +All the morning he was nervous and upset. He took a +ride to calm his nerves, and went as far as the Grange, only +to return as unsettled as when he left.</p> + +<p>At the hour named he left home and went to the Calle +de Cerrajerías. It was the time of day when scarcely anybody +is about. It was three o'clock, and so people were +either at table or resting. At the end of Cerrajerías, at the +corner of Santa Lucia, is the church of San Rafael, and the +principal entrance is on that side. The count entered the +building, after taking holy water, like one about to say his +prayers. He was quite alone, or at least he seemed so at +first sight. In a few minutes his eyes became accustomed +to the semi-darkness, and he saw two or three kneeling +figures scattered about. He knelt down in the dark near +the little door of the staircase leading to the pew of the +Quiñones, and pretended to pray for a few moments. This +was very repugnant to him. He was a sincere believer, +and his strictly pious education made him have a horror of +such sacrilege. The fanaticism of his mother had left its +mark upon him, and he had a fearful dread of hell. +Amalia was also a believer, and she had a reputation for +piety in the place: she belonged to several confraternities,<a name="Page_069" id="Page_069"></a> +she was patron of several asylums, she frequently made +presents to the images, and she was generally seen with the +clergy; but this profanation she regarded with the greatest +indifference. Religion was for her a thing of respectability, +but her own pleasures and wishes seemed the +thing to be most respected. After a few minutes the +count cautiously rose, and pushed the little door, which +had been purposely left open, then he went in and +mounted the narrow winding staircase. The little pew +of the Quiñones was even darker than the Church. +He felt for the door of the passage and opened it, but +as it had glass windows looking on to the street, he +crossed it like a cat. At the door communicating with the +house, Jacoba was waiting for him. She was a woman of +more than fifty years of age, of portly form and demeanour. +She moved with difficulty, for her breath was short, from +her extreme fatness, and she always spoke in a falsetto +voice. She was discretion itself, a sealed book. The +count and Amalia had never had any other confidante. +Nobody else in the world was acquainted with their love +affair, and she had served them wonderfully through its +course. Acting as sentinel, she had often saved them from +discovery, for she had constituted herself their guardian +angel. She was not a servant in the house, but the señora +was one of her patrons. Her occupation was to run +errands to the shops for different houses, and the perquisites +made on the purchases formed the staple of her +livelihood. This was not, however, sufficient for her maintenance, +but she was alone and a spinster, and in many +houses presents were made her, and she was helped in a +hundred ways. The Señora de Quiñones was her especial +patroness, and when she became her confidante, it was like +coming upon a mine of wealth, for Amalia paid lavishly +for services which certainly deserved great compensation.</p> + +<p>The go-between put her finger on her lips as a sign of +silence directly the count entered the door, but as he was<a name="Page_070" id="Page_070"></a> +already holding his breath to avoid making a noise, this +warning was quite unnecessary. Then going a little way +first, to see how the ground lay, she made him a sign to +follow her. They crossed a corridor, passed by the principal +staircase without going up it for fear of meeting some +servant, and went into the library where there was a little +staircase that led thence to the second floor. The count +proceeded on tiptoe with a beating heart. Although this +was not the first time he had been like this to the Quiñones' +house, it always seemed to him the height of temerity, and +he inwardly cursed his lover's boldness and disregard of +consequences.</p> + +<p>At last they came to the señora's room. The door +opened without any one being seen, Jacoba gave the count +a gentle push, and remained herself outside.</p> + +<p>Amalia withdrew her hand, which she had mechanically +held out, and with a sudden impulsive gesture, she threw +her arms round the neck of her beloved and kissed him +with tenderness. The grave man, being still upset by the +manner of his arrival, remained quiescent, and did not +reciprocate these demonstrations of affection. The lady +then gave him a maternal tap on the cheek.</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, coward, nobody will eat you here."</p> + +<p>Luis made an effort to smile and sank into a French +chair upholstered with bright blue.</p> + +<p>Amalia's room with its luxurious furniture was a contrast +to the neglect that reigned in the rest of the house. The +walls were covered with rich tapestry, the best of the collection +in the possession of the family; the bright furniture, of +Louis XV. style, was brought from Madrid, with the magnificent +ebony bedstead inlaid with marble in the alcove, +when Don Pedro was making futile efforts to win the heart +of his wife. There was a perfumed sensual atmosphere +about the place, showing the refined tastes that the foreign +lady had brought from other lands to the severe mansion of +the Quiñones. She seated herself on the count's knee,<a name="Page_071" id="Page_071"></a> +and pulling his beard, she exclaimed with a joy that could +scarcely be restrained and emanated from her whole person:</p> + +<p>"See now, see how we have conquered. See how we +have got over all those difficulties which came into your +head and prevented your seeing clearly. Only a little +audacity was necessary for God to help us."</p> + +<p>"God!" said the count, with a shudder.</p> + +<p>She felt she had been wrong in referring to the Divinity, +and she hastened to say with unconcern:</p> + +<p>"Well, then, fate, if you like. Come, don't make yourself +wretched and sad. This is a moment of happiness for +us. She is really here, and it seems too good to be true. +My daughter, the daughter of my love living with me; being +able to see her and kiss her at all hours! How beautiful +she is! I could not look at her comfortably until this +morning, but to-day I did so to my heart's content. She is +like you—particularly about the forehead between the eyebrows. +Jacoba says that the mouth is mine. I am not +sorry, for it might have taken after me in something worse, +is it not so?" she added, with a coquettish smile.</p> + +<p>"I think you are beautiful all round."</p> + +<p>"That is right!" exclaimed the lady with an affectionate +look. "You have at last recovered the power of speech. +Well, then," she added in a serious tone, "you do not +know the trouble we had this morning to find a nurse. +Three were brought to me, and neither of them suited. At +last I settled on the fourth. And how beautifully my angel +took to her food. I could hardly help jumping for joy, and +I can hardly help it now. But I must be grave and solemn, +like the señor count. Tell me, how did you manage to get +her here? Tell me about it. How your face looked when +the drawing-room door opened last night!"</p> + +<p>"The thing was not easy. At nine o'clock I went to +fetch her from Jacoba's house. But she will have told you +about it. I had to spend two hours there, for the devil +seemed in the business, and the child screamed incessantly."<a name="Page_072" id="Page_072"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; I know all that. And then?"</p> + +<p>"What a night it was! The gusts of wind were incessant, +especially in those out-of-the-way suburbs. I turned up my +trousers to the knee, for how could I come into your +drawing-room covered with mud? I wanted to carry the +basket on one arm, and the open umbrella in the other +hand, but it was impossible. After a few steps, I came back +and left the umbrella with Jacoba. What a walk! Holy +heaven, what a business! The wind kept blowing down +the collar of my coat, the rain dashed in my face and down +my neck. I was frightened the baby would get wet. I went +along fearing to breathe. Supposing I had slipped just then! +The wind blew at times so strongly that I could hardly get +along. You can easily believe that I was tempted to go +back and leave it for another day."</p> + +<p>"I can easily believe it. I know that a plate of water +would be enough to drown you."</p> + +<p>He gave her a sad, reproachful look, and then Amalia +began to laugh, and embracing and kissing him effusively, +she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Don't be cross, poor little dear! Do not think I do +not feel for you. The journey was very difficult. You bore +it like a hero."</p> + +<p>The count coloured at these praises. His conscience +told him he did not deserve them; and he recollected the +terrible ordeal that Amalia had herself passed through, and +said:</p> + +<p>"But you! What you must have suffered on your side! +How are you? It was imprudent to go downstairs so +soon."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I am as strong as a horse, although I appear +weak."</p> + +<p>"So you seem to be. To suffer what you did without +uttering a sound!"</p> + +<p>"Pray, what can you know about it, stupid?" she said, +putting a hand on his mouth.<a name="Page_073" id="Page_073"></a></p> + +<p>"Then only four days in bed," continued the young man, +gently taking her hand from his mouth and kissing it at the +same time; "and on the fifth to go down to the drawing-room."</p> + +<p>"But, then, nothing was supposed to have happened, and +if I had not gone down yesterday, Quiñones would certainly +have sent for the doctor! On the second day he was worrying +for me to go down. But what do you think? He is in love +with the baby—quite mad about it! All the morning he +has had the nurse in his room. And he has such strange +ideas. He says, 'God has sent us this child to console us +for having no family.'"</p> + +<p>Then the count relapsed into sadness and gloom, whilst +a smile of cruel irony played on the lips of the lady.</p> + +<p>"And all this time you have never asked for her, you +unnatural father!" she said, as she passed her delicate white +fingers through her lover's thick, curly, reddish beard. "For +you <i>are</i> her father—yes, her father. That you can't deny," +she added, fondly putting her face against his so that her +lips were close to his ear. "I will go and fetch her."</p> + +<p>"But will the nurse come, too?" he asked in terror.</p> + +<p>"No, man, no!" she answered, laughing; "she will come +alone. You will see that can easily be managed."</p> + +<p>The count opened his eyes with an expression that made +her laugh more. She got up and, opening the door, she +whispered a second with Jacoba who was stationed as +sentinel outside. In a few minutes the stout go-between +re-opened the door and brought in the sleeping child. +Amalia sat down, and told her to put it on her lap. And +then, for a long time, they both gazed in ecstasy at the little +delicate creature as it softly breathed in its sleep. It was a +moment of happiness. The count forgot his fears and +became quite calm, whilst a smile of real pleasure illuminated +his gentle, melancholy features. The minutes +passed, and neither cared to break the blissful silence, nor +disturb the intense absorption in which their minds were<a name="Page_074" id="Page_074"></a> +one. That tiny, unconscious being, that atom of rosy flesh +riveted their gaze equally, and bound their souls and lives +to her with invisible threads.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful she is! She is like you," murmured the +count so softly that the words hardly reached the ears of his +lover.</p> + +<p>"She is more like you," she returned in the same subdued +voice.</p> + +<p>And by a simultaneous movement, they both turned and +looked at each other with a long intense look of love.</p> + +<p>"I adore you, Amalia," he said.</p> + +<p>"I love you, Luis," she replied.</p> + +<p>Their hands met and pressed affectionately, and their +heads were bent in the interchange of a chaste kiss.<a name="Page_075" id="Page_075"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<p class="head">THE HISTORY OF THEIR LOVE</p> + + +<p class="nind">C<span class="smcap">haste</span>, yes, and perhaps it was the first kiss that had +been so in that long love affair. All that was tender and +poetic in their affection seemed to rise like a perfume, and +transport them with raptures of delight. The remorse that +had hitherto weighed so heavily on the sensitive soul of the +count was gone. The mad agitation that had tormented +them both, the ardour, violence and bitterness which, like +the hidden worm in the bud of a rose, had poisoned +their wicked love passages, had passed away. Nothing +remained but pure love—love satisfied, love consecrated +by the holy mysterious force of nature's mysteries.</p> + +<p>If only they had met earlier! How often has this been +said by people in similar circumstances! And if they had +met earlier, they would probably have parted without the +slightest feeling of attraction.</p> + +<p>Love flourishes on difficulties and takes root on shifting +sand, in fact they seem to be the most propitious +circumstances for its cultivation.</p> + +<p>The report in Lancia was true about Amalia having been +forced into a marriage with Don Pedro by her family who +were in great straits. Don Antonio Sanchiz, the lady's +father, was a Valencian gentleman of means, but gambling +and dissipation swallowed up three-fourths of his property. +His eldest son, who had the same tastes, spent the +remaining fourth by the same means. Amalia was the +youngest of the family, which consisted of four girls and one<a name="Page_076" id="Page_076"></a> +boy. Her eldest sister, who had come in for a little of the +decaying splendour of the house, managed to marry a rich +banker. Nobody approved of the connection, especially as +neither Don Antonio nor his son Antonito managed to +see the colour of the money of their respective son, and +brother-in-law. The other two married men of good +family but without money. Amalia grew up in the midst +of the total ruin of her house. Neither her elegant figure +nor her high birth brought her admirers. The well-known +misfortunes of the house, and her father and brother's bad +reputation, constituted an unsurmountable barrier around +her. Her feelings were often touched by those who only +paid her attention out of idleness, or love of flirtation. +She was certainly not a typical beauty: she was wanting +in gracefulness of figure, plumpness of form, and brightness +of complexion. But in spite of her slight, and not at all +well formed figure, and the constant pallor of her cheeks, +there was something attractive about her, which grew upon +one the more you saw of her. Perhaps this charm lay in +her large expressive dark eyes, which reflected every +emotion: now they shone with a fire that breathed a +deep and passionate nature, now they looked quiet, +ecstatic and limpid in a sort of mystic rapture, now they +were merry and mischievous, now they were dreamy and +melancholy, now tender and tearful, now sparkling with +fun or shining with anger. Perhaps her charm lay in +her versatility, in the keenness of her intellect, in her +sympathetic and insinuating voice. She was, in short, +an interesting, charming woman. I do not know whether +it was owing to her pride or her naturally tempestuous +mind, but scorning the young men of her own rank, who +courted her without resolving to ask for her hand, she +lost her heart to a modest young man, a poor government +clerk with an income of forty thousand reales,<a name="FNanchor_I_9" id="FNanchor_I_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_9" class="fnanchor">[I]</a> +son of a schoolmaster. The blue blood of the Sanchiz in<a name="Page_077" id="Page_077"></a> +the veins of Antonio, Antonito, her sisters, and the banker, +her brother-in-law, in whom it was conspicuous by its +absence, boiled in indignation.</p> + +<p>She was the victim of active, fierce persecution. But as +she was not wanting in spirit, and was moreover possessed +of a mind fertile in resources, she certainly managed to defy +the family for some time; their entreaties and threats were +of no avail and her time of enforced retreat in a convent +was equally ineffectual. If the clerk had not happened to +die of phthisis, which killed him in a few months, it is almost +certain that the very noble and straitened house of the +Sanchiz would have had to see itself allied to the son of a +schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>After this adventure Amalia lost caste in the place. But +she well knew that if she had retained her prestige, it would +have been the same. Men do not marry for prestige, but +for money. It never occurred to her to feel remorse for +the past. She lived sad and resigned for two years, +showing an utter indifference to the pleasures belonging +to her position, and without making any effort to gain the +good graces of the young men so as to get a husband. +It was when she was about twenty-four years old and she +had given up all thought of matrimony, that Don Pedro +Quiñones, her third or fourth cousin, began to think about +her. She rebelled against marrying this gentleman, whom +she had only seen two or three times as a child, and who +had been a widower for a short time, and whose eccentricities +she had heard her father and brother relate with fits of +laughter, and now they were the very ones to press her +acceptance of him as a husband! She was not very firm in +her resistance. She was so disillusioned, she lived in such a +state of deep dejection and apathy, that as soon as her father +became angry about the matter and pressed her to accede +to his entreaties he extorted a consent. They all said +that the marriage would be the salvation of the family. +She did not trouble to find out if that were the truth or<a name="Page_078" id="Page_078"></a> +not. After she was married, she found that all that they +could get out of Don Pedro was a little allowance, which +gave them hardly enough for food.</p> + +<p>So the noble descendant of the Quiñones of Leon was +hopelessly in love with a statue. On the journey that they +made from Valencia to Lancia the bride was so cold and +circumspect, but at the same time polite, that Don Pedro +was kept at the same distance as at the beginning of his +suit. In Lancia we know what the public version of the +story was. The persistent coldness and the infinite contempt +with which she treated him for some time, far from +repelling him, only increased his passion. Quiñones was, +as we know, of a strong, tenacious, indomitable will. The +obstacles which at first merely irritated him, finally enraged +him. He wanted to conquer the heart of his wife, and he +spared no means in the attempt: he overwhelmed her with +attentions, he gratified her slightest wishes, and lived +for several months in perpetual anxiety, in a perfect fever +of alternate hope and despair. He would, however, +never have attained his end without the astuteness of +his friend the canon, who advised him to take a journey in +the mountains, which, rife with frights and dangers, drew +them together in closer intimacy. During the first two +years of her marriage Amalia led a retired life, without +ever hardly leaving the gloomy old palace of the Calle +de Santa Lucia. She lived alone in her depression, and +made her life more sad than it need have been, by nursing +a dumb rebellion against a fate that threatened to drive +her insane. To all outward appearance she was resigned, +treating those that were about her with studied courtesy. +The dreadful illness which happened to her husband +distracted her a little, and a sentiment of pity touched +her heart. For some time she thought she was destined +for the vocation of a nursing sister, and she tried +with assumed affection to make his life more bearable +to him. By degrees she grew to like the little gatherings<a name="Page_079" id="Page_079"></a> +of friends round her husband, and she began to interest herself +and take part in the local political conversations.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro was the arbiter of the province whilst the +Moderate party was in power. Now that it was out, he still +retained great prestige and influence, from people not +knowing how long it would be before it was in again. +It was to augment this prestige and this influence, and to +add to the dignity of the house, that Amalia opened her +drawing-rooms to the Lancian society that she had hitherto +kept at a distance, doing nothing but pay a few +complimentary visits. She now gave concerts, organised +sociable gatherings, and had large state balls, by means of +which she regained her lost energy, and the gracious +and sympathetic versatility which had characterised her; +the light returned to her eyes and the smile to her lips. +Nobody could better do the honours of her entertainments. +She was a model of gentleness and courtesy, and she +made herself adored by the young people of the place to +whom she afforded the means of killing interminable winter +evenings.</p> + +<p>Fernanda Estrada-Rosa was one of the most beautiful +ornaments of her concerts and parties. The Count of Onis, +her admirer, came in her train. The count had long been +on visiting terms at the house of Quiñones, but until lately +he only went occasionally in the evening for a formal visit, +or at the new year, &c. Notwithstanding, he had a profound +sympathy for Quiñones. It was enough for him to belong +to the nobility, for the young noble to consider him superior +in all respects to everybody else in the place. Amalia, who +hardly knew him, began to observe him with much curiosity. +She had heard so much said about his affection and respect +for his mother, his melancholy temperament, his habits and +his exaggerated piety, that she wished to cultivate his +acquaintance, she wanted to gauge the depths of the soul +of such a superior and high-minded young man. She was +not long in seeing that he was not yet in love. Noting his<a name="Page_080" id="Page_080"></a> +attention to Fernanda with interest, she perceived a coldness +on his side which was certainly not on that of the rich +heiress. She knew that the count was deceiving himself, +making efforts to fall in love, or at any rate, to seem so. +He seemed to look upon love as an obligation pertaining to +his age and position. The chief young man in Lancia +ought to love the richest, most beautiful girl of Lancia. +Besides, it seemed as if he also wanted to show the place +that he was neither eccentric nor a maniac, as he had heard +that he was reported to be. He therefore went in for being +a recognised lover; he spent a couple of hours in the morning +in the Calle de Altavilla, where his young lady lived, he sat +at her side at the parties of the Señoritas de Meré or de +Quiñones, and he danced with her at the balls of the +Casino. But at the same time Amalia did not fail to see, +with considerable interest, that his conversation was cold, +and that the count was often silent and distrait until she +took part in the conversation and made it more lively.</p> + +<p>The love affair interested her more and more, she courted +the girl's confidence as well as his. It was not long before +her ardent, sagacious, strong-willed soul sympathised with +that of Luis, which was so timid, childlike, pitiful, and affectionate. +More proficient in the art of love-making than the +Estrada-Rosa girl, she soon won the count's confidence +and affection and she drew from him a number of confidences, +not only about his feelings, but the whole of his +life. No clever Jesuit could have made a better confessor. +Luis, delighted at such a show of interest, completely +opened his heart to her, at first telling her his habits, then +relating things of his past life, and finally confiding secret +feelings which are only told to a brother. But Amalia +expressed no surprise at such original and morbid thoughts; +she gave her opinion on them, and told him affectionately +that he might confide in her and count upon her counsel in +difficult matters of life, of which complicated mechanism +the count was totally ignorant. This clever game advanced<a name="Page_081" id="Page_081"></a> +her scheme, and he confided in her more and more, happy in +the opportunity of unbosoming sentimental ideas, and confessing +the strange unhappy timidity to which he was a victim.</p> + +<p>Amalia knew how to avoid arousing Fernanda's jealousy +by posing as the confidante and protectress of her love. If +she had long and interesting conversations with the count, +she had equally long and interesting ones with her. She +would have great pleasure in giving them assistance in the +form of finding them opportunities of seeing and talking to +each other, and when they understood each other, &c. &c. +But, without the innocent girl suspecting it, without even +the count realising it, the Valencian lady rapidly gained the +affections of Luis. If in youth, beauty, and elegance, she +was inferior to the rich heiress, she was much superior in +expressive grace of countenance, power of conversation, and +fine intelligence. The count soon came to telling her what +was the true state of his heart with regard to Fernanda. The +astute Señora knew how to turn such confidences to her own +advantage by making him see that what he felt was only +admiration for the beautiful works of nature, a vain desire to +make himself beloved by the prettiest and richest girl in the +town, the necessity of distraction from depression—anything, +in short, but real love. That was shown in great sadness, +ineffable joy, sleepless nights, anxiety, and agitation, both +sweet and bitter, by which the breast is constantly consumed.</p> + +<p>Luis was soon won over to her opinion. Then she +added that his coldness was unjustifiable; she did not +understand how a man of such good taste had not fallen +hopelessly in love ere this. She joked him, she laughed +at him, and she praised the qualities of the gentle heiress +up to the clouds.</p> + +<p>But whilst she said this with her lips, her eyes belied +her words: the black pupils, so full of fire and intelligence, +were fixed on him with an expression somewhat languid, +somewhat malicious, which ended by fascinating him. At +the same time her small, delicate, aristocratic hands took<a name="Page_082" id="Page_082"></a> +hold of his on every occasion; and on parting she pressed +them with nervous tenacity. If sometimes, in bending to +look at anything, their heads touched, Amalia did not move +hers, and the count was not loth to inhale the subtle +perfume which entered his veins like poison. She took a +great interest in his clothes, and told him what she liked: +he was not to wear a frock-coat, the blue jacket suited him +admirably. Why did he like dark gloves?</p> + +<p>"I forbid you," she said, laughing, "to wear them any +more."</p> + +<p>She professed a great taste for cravats, and she told him +that those in a bow suited him better than those in a +knot.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not get your hats from Madrid?" she +asked. "Those that you get in Lancia are so old-fashioned +and ridiculous."</p> + +<p>And the count was pleased to follow her suggestions, +and gradually let himself be ruled by the woman who was +so weak in body and so strong in will.</p> + +<p>One night on arriving at the Quiñones' house before anybody +else, the lady said to him sharply:</p> + +<p>"Who gave you that button-hole? Fernanda?"</p> + +<p>The count smiled and coloured, as he gave a sign in the +affirmative.</p> + +<p>"Then you must excuse my saying it is a very ugly +colour. Look here, I will give you a prettier one."</p> + +<p>So saying, she went straight to a flower-stand in the +room, and took out a magnificent pink clove. She then +turned to where the count was standing, and with great +boldness, although with a certain affectation of one who is +showing her power, she took away the flower he was wearing, +and replaced it by the fresh one. He suffered this +substitution in silence, upset and surprised. She, feigning +not to notice his surprise, took a step back, and said with +interest:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think that is better!"<a name="Page_083" id="Page_083"></a></p> + +<p>Then ensued a few minutes of embarrassed silence. She +then began to play with Fernanda's clove, pulling the +petals, whilst darting frequent glances at the count, who +stood confused, not knowing what to say, nor where to +look. At last their eyes met with a smile. There was a spark +of malice in hers, and in the sudden scornful gesture with +which she threw the flower she held in her hand under a chair.</p> + +<p>The count instantly became serious, and his cheeks +coloured. At that moment Manuel Antonio came in.</p> + +<p>The count could not regain his equanimity.</p> + +<p>When Fernanda arrived, and, with visible displeasure, +asked him for her clove, he was in a very awkward position. +The gardener's little boy was said to have pulled it from him +when he stooped to kiss him, and so he had taken another +from his mother's room. But Amalia, who was implacable, +made matters worse by saying in a loud voice with a +malicious smile:</p> + +<p>"Who gave you that beautiful clove? Fernanda?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he hastily replied.</p> + +<p>And then the count, quite red and upset, had to proceed +to give in a loud voice the explanation he had been giving +in an undertone to Fernanda. That little act of treason +was a bond between them; it established a peculiar relation +which the count did not dare to define in his thoughts, for +he trembled as though an abyss yawned at his feet. He +continued paying attention to the heiress of Estrada-Rosa +with the same, if not more, assiduity, but he could never +talk with the Señora of Quiñones without feeling agitated; +her glances were long and earnest, the pressure of her hand +was full of affection, and yet they both acted before +Fernanda as if she were already his affianced wife. And +yet they had not uttered a word of love! But Luis knew +he was not treating the lady he was courting fairly, and that +he was acting criminally with regard to Don Pedro, his +friend. He did not know how, or why, but his conscience +told him that he was. Sometimes he tried to persuade<a name="Page_084" id="Page_084"></a> +himself that he had not taken one step in the direction of +crime, that he was involved in a train of circumstances in +which love, intelligence, treason, all played a part without +one's knowing how it had happened.</p> + +<p>More than a month passed by in this way. Amalia not +only discoursed to him of love with her eyes, but she made +him carry out all her most capricious fancies whilst sometimes +sharply calling him to task.</p> + +<p>If, for example, he caught a glance from Amalia when he +was going for a walk telling him to stay, he would stay. If +he was about to dance with Fernanda, a severe look would +prevent him doing so.</p> + +<p>One day he announced his intention of going for six or +eight days to his property in Onis; but Amalia made a +negative sign with her head, and he gave up the idea. +What right had she thus to cross his wishes and direct his +line of conduct? He did not know, but he felt very +pleased to obey her. He lived in a state of pleasant, +exciting unrest, sometimes hoping for something so +ineffably delightful, that he hardly dared to formulate it +even to himself.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile she quietly watched him with her +sphinx-like smile, strong in the conviction that the something +would happen when the time was ripe.</p> + +<p>One afternoon in June the count was at The Grange inspecting +the operations of some workmen he was employing +in opening a wider aqueduct for the mill, when the boy who +minded the cattle, came to tell him that a lady wanted him.</p> + +<p>"A lady?" he exclaimed, surprised; "do you not know +her?"</p> + +<p>The servant stared stupidly without replying. How +could he know her, when he had passed his life among the +cattle and only went to Lancia on some market-day to buy +or sell a cow? The count recollected this, and proceeded +to inquire:</p> + +<p>"Is she short?"<a name="Page_085" id="Page_085"></a></p> + +<p>"No, she is very tall, Señor."</p> + +<p>"Eyes very black and bright, pale colour? her gait +graceful and elegant?"</p> + +<p>And before the servant could answer these questions that +he had not understood, he began running in the direction of +the house with his heart beating with excitement at the presentiment +that it was her.</p> + +<p>"Where is she?" he cried, without ceasing running.</p> + +<p>"In the courtyard by the garden door," shouted the boy +in reply.</p> + +<p>He arrived breathless at the courtyard, but before opening +the door he stopped for an instant to check his presumption. +How could he have thought of such a thing? +What devil could have put it into his head?... Notwithstanding +he could not dismiss the idea. It was she, it was +she—he could not doubt the fact.</p> + +<p>He raised the bolt of the large wooden door, painted +green, and went in. The courtyard was large. Several +outhouses for working purposes were built against the wall. +Tied up to a roughly made wooden kennel was an enormous +mastiff, who pulled at his chain as if he would break it in +his attempts to get near his master.</p> + +<p>There at the other end, near the iron gate communicating +with the garden, he actually saw her looking through the +bars at the flowers. She had her back to him. She was +dressed in a light pink and white striped dress, with a little +straw hat trimmed with roses. In her left hand she had a +sunshade which matched her dress, and in her right she +held some silk gloves.</p> + +<p>How these details became engraven in his memory! +They were indelibly fixed in his mind!</p> + +<p>"You here?" he said, feigning a calmness he was very +far from feeling. "Who would have thought that you were +the señora whose arrival the servant just announced to me?"</p> + +<p>"Did you really not think it was me?" she asked, looking +at him fixedly.<a name="Page_086" id="Page_086"></a></p> + +<p>"No, no, Señora."</p> + +<p>But he coloured even as he said it, and the lady smiled +kindly.</p> + +<p>"Very well; now show me the Malmaison roses you told +me about."</p> + +<p>The count opened the gate, and they both went through +to the garden, which was very large and somewhat neglected.</p> + +<p>Since the countess had almost entirely given up coming +to the Grange, the servants hardly touched it. Luis was more +interested in making experiments with new modes of agriculture, +breeding cattle, and draining ground, than in +gardening. But there were many kinds of flowers, put +there when his mother used to tend them every afternoon, +and there were great bushes which time, combined with the +fertile soil, had transformed into thick trees.</p> + +<p>Whilst they passed along the walks, which were over-grown +with moss, the countess explained in high, clear +tones how she came to be there.</p> + +<p>She had wished to drive to Bellavista, but passing by the +little road that led to the Grange, she recollected the beautiful +roses, and gave orders to the coachman to go that way. +She had never seen the place before, she said; and she +became quite enthusiastic over the thick foliage and the +intense green of the place. In her country the vegetation +was much paler.</p> + +<p>"But more fragrant—like the women," said the count +with gallantry.</p> + +<p>The lady turned to give him a smile of thanks, and went +on praising the beauty of the rhododendrons, the azaleas, +and the gigantic camellias.</p> + +<p>As soon as they had seen the roses, and the count +had made her choose some to have sent to her the +next day, they directed their steps towards the entrance-gate.</p> + +<p>"And are you sure that I only came to see the roses?"<a name="Page_087" id="Page_087"></a> +said Amalia, suddenly stopping and fixing her eyes upon +him.</p> + +<p>The count's heart gave a bound, and he commenced to +stammer in a lamentable fashion.</p> + +<p>"I do not know—this visit, certainly. I should be so +pleased if the rose-trees——"</p> + +<p>But the lady, taking pity on him, did not let him proceed.</p> + +<p>"Well, besides the rose-trees, I came to see the whole +place, particularly the wood. And so you can show it to +me," she added resolutely, taking him by the arm.</p> + +<p>Whereupon the count was conscious of a new and violent +emotion, at first painful, and then pleasurable, as he felt +the lady's hand upon his arm. And moved to his inmost +being at the honour conferred on him, he showed everything +of interest on the estate: the beautiful large meadows, the +stables, the new machinery for working the mill, and finally +the wood.</p> + +<p>She watched him out of the corner of her eye. Sometimes +a smile of amusement played about her lips. She entered +into everything with interest, praised the improvements he +had made, and suggested fresh ones. And, in going about, +she sometimes let the count's arm drop, and then took it +again, which inspired the count with many diverse sensations, +all intense and exciting. When she noticed he was +getting more at his ease, she made some little sudden +mischievous remark which plunged him into fresh confusion +and made him blush to the roots of his hair.</p> + +<p>"Now, count, when you caught sight of me just now, you +said to yourself: 'Amalia has fallen in love with me and +she cannot resist the desire to come and see me.'"</p> + +<p>"Amalia, <i>por Dios</i>! What can make you say that? +How could I ever have dared——?"</p> + +<p>But the lady, without seeming to notice his distress or to +lay any importance on her own words, passed immediately +to another subject. She seemed to like shocking him, +and keeping him agitated and trembling. And in the<a name="Page_088" id="Page_088"></a> +furtive glances she cast at him there was the touch of +superiority and irony of one, who was sure of the game.</p> + +<p>The count turned grave under that enigmatical smile. +He saw he was playing an awkward part, and, feeling that +she was laughing at him, he made heroic efforts to recover +his equanimity.</p> + +<p>The lady admired, and was more enthusiastic about the +wood than anything. It was a mass of ancient oaks, where +the sun never penetrated. The ground was carpeted with +thick turf and quite free from caltrops. No other private +property was so richly wooded; it was, perhaps, due to +the primitive forest where the monastery had been founded +which was the origin of Lancia.</p> + +<p>The lady found it pleasant to rest a little under the green +bower where the light hardly penetrated. A peace, a +pleasant calmness sweeter than the silence and calm of a +Gothic cathedral, pervaded the place. She leant her back +against a tree and gave a long look at the thick foliage +around her.</p> + +<p>The count stood near. Both were silent for some time. +At last the man felt, without seeing it, that the lady's gaze +was fixed upon him. He resisted the magnetic attraction +of the look for some minutes. When at last he raised his +eyes, he saw that her expression was so merry and daring +that he dropped them again. Amalia gave vent to a mischievous +laugh, which surprised, confused, and somewhat +irritated him; and then seeing that her merriment did not +cease, he said with a forced smile:</p> + +<p>"At what are you laughing, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, nothing," she returned, putting her handkerchief +to her mouth. "Take me to see the house."</p> + +<p>And then she took his arm again. The house was a +large, very old building of yellowish stone, worm-eaten by +age, with two little square towers at the sides. Everything +about it was shabby or worn out. Some bars were wanting +in the stair-rails as well as in the balconies; the ceilings of<a name="Page_089" id="Page_089"></a> +the rooms were discoloured, the partition walls cracked, +the plaster in holes; the looking-glasses, so much thought +of in bygone days, were so covered with dust that they +reflected nothing; the walls were damp and dirty, and the +pictures hung thereon were so discoloured that one could +not see what the artists had intended to depict; the scanty +furniture of the rooms was worn out by the use of past +generations. The things were all quite done for. Amalia +liked the look of past grandeur. How many different +beings had lived in that house! How they must have +laughed and wept in these large rooms. Each one had its +particular name: one was called the cardinal's room, +because in times past a cardinal of the family occupied it +when on a visit to the Grange; another the portrait-room, +because a few pictures hung on the walls; and another the +new room, although it looked as old and even older than +the rest of the apartments. Everything bore traces of the +private life of a family of bygone ages.</p> + +<p>"This is the countess's chamber," said Luis, as he took +his friend into a moderate-sized room, which, in spite of the +dust and ravages of time, looked better furnished than the +others. It was an elegant style of apartment, bearing evidence +that past generations had not been destitute of a love +of decoration. There was a Pompadour escritoire, some +chairs of the Regency, several pictures in pastel; and +painted on the ceiling were cherubs floating in an atmosphere +which had once been blue.</p> + +<p>"Is this your mother's room?" asked Amalia.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the count, smiling; "my mother sleeps on +the other side. It has been called the countess's from time +immemorial. Perhaps some old ancestor of mine chose it +for herself. I often take my siesta here when the fatigue +of going about the estate makes me want to have a sleep."</p> + +<p>In one of the corners of the apartment there was a +splendid bedstead of carved oak, grown black with age, one +of those beds of the fifteenth century that antiquaries go<a name="Page_090" id="Page_090"></a> +perfectly mad on. The hangings were also very ancient, +but there was a modern damask counterpane spread over +the mattress.</p> + +<p>"So it is here that you retire to think of me to your +heart's content, is it not?" said Amalia.</p> + +<p>The count looked as stunned as if she had given him a +blow on the head.</p> + +<p>"I! Amalia! How?"</p> + +<p>Then with a sudden assumption of courage he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Amalia, you are quite right! I think of you +here as, for some time past, I think of you everywhere I go. +I do not know what has come to me: I live in a constant +state of excitement, which, as you told me, is a sign of true +love. I am in fact madly in love with you. I know that it +is an atrocity, a crime, but I cannot help myself. Forgive +me."</p> + +<p>And, like one of his noble ancestors of the Middle Ages, +the gentleman fell on his knees at the feet of the lady.</p> + +<p>She was terribly angry at first. What? Was he not +ashamed of such a confession? Did he not understand +that it was an insult to address such words to her in his +house? How could he suppose that she could quietly +listen to such words? It seemed impossible that the +Conde of Onis, such a perfect gentleman, could be so +wanting in the respect due to a lady and to himself.</p> + +<p>The count remained prostrate on his knees under such a +storm of invectives. He knew his words had been of grave +import, but the anger that they provoked in the lady was +not what he had most feared.</p> + +<p>At last Amalia was silent. She regarded him for some +seconds with eyes blazing with fury, but a happy smile soon +suffused her expressive face. She approached him with a +slow, majestic step, put her hand upon his shoulder, and +bending down to bring her lips to his ear, she said in a loud +voice:<a name="Page_091" id="Page_091"></a></p> + +<p>"You are quite right not to be ashamed of anything of +this, for I love you at least as much as you love me."</p> + +<p>Then the young man seemed to go mad with joy. The +terror was over, and he clasped and kissed her knees in a +frenzy of delight, breaking into a torrent of incoherent, +passionate words, full of fire and truth; whilst she, so short +and diminutive, gazed at the adoring Colossus with her +mysterious Valencian eyes glowing with passion and love.</p> + +<p>It was thus that the Conde of Onis accomplished the +difficult task of winning the affections of the elegant Señora +of Don Pedro Quiñones de Leon.</p> + +<p>The first months of their connection, fraught with +poignant remorse and fascinating delight, were very +agitating to the count. Amalia went occasionally to the +Grange. At the social gathering in the evening she would +give an account of her visit in a high-pitched voice; and he +was in an agony of confusion, anxiety, and distress, whilst +she with perfect <i>sang froid</i> told all that she could tell; +spoke of the garden, scolded him for its state of neglect; +and she amused herself with bringing home some plants +every time she went there, so as to clear the ground, +as he did not care for them; in short, her audacity became +almost farcical.</p> + +<p>"Would you believe it?" she said one day; "there is no +bearing with this gentleman since ladies have taken to +visiting him. You cannot think what airs he gives himself. +I am afraid that the next time I go to the Grange he will +make me wait in the hall."</p> + +<p>The guests laughed, and said really some notice ought to +be taken about it; and as Fernanda smiled she cast an +affectionate glance at the count; Don Pedro even relaxed +his severe expression and burst into a roar of laughter. At +such moments it was indeed a superhuman effort for the +count to keep his countenance, when an abyss seemed to +open at his feet. When alone with Amalia he reproached +her for her audacity, and implored her by all that she held<a name="Page_092" id="Page_092"></a> +sacred to be more cautious; whilst she, perfectly unmoved, +seemed to take a pleasure in his anxiety, and her lips curled +in a disdainful enigmatical smile.</p> + +<p>As they could not often meet at the Grange, Amalia +managed other interviews, by admitting Jacoba into her +confidence. In this person's house they met two or three +times a week. The count entered by a little door opening +on to a certain little street at one o'clock in the day, when +people were dining. He had to wait at least two or three +hours, and Amalia at last managed to get there under the +pretext of having some commission for her <i>protégée</i>. But +not being satisfied with this arrangement, she conceived the +idea of his entering her house by the pew of the church of +San Rafael. The count was horrified at such a manœuvre; +all his religious scruples revolted at the idea; he was +terrified at the possibility of the discovery of the intrigue +and the profanation of the sanctuary. What a scandal it +would be! But Amalia laughed at his fears as if the terrible +consequences of retribution did not concern her. She was +a woman who had absolute confidence in her star. As +first-rate toreadors consider themselves quite safe under +the very horns of the bull, as long as they keep their presence +of mind, so she set danger at defiance, and even +went out of her way to court it with a coolness that was +foolhardy.</p> + +<p>And it must be confessed that her supreme calmness and +incredible audacity saved her more than once. The +Conde de Onis, the colossal man with a long beard, was a +mere puppet in the hands of the bold, unprincipled little +woman.</p> + +<p>A mad passion had taken possession of them both, +especially of her. By degrees she became so accustomed to +not living without him, that a day was not bearable without +seeing him alone, and to this end she brought incredible +efforts of ingenuity and skill into play. If the combination +of circumstances was such as to render it impossible for<a name="Page_093" id="Page_093"></a> +three or four days to have a <i>tête-à-tête</i>, her temper +revolted against the restraint like an impatient prisoner, +and she was ready to commit the greatest imprudence: +she squeezed his hand and gave him little pinches in the +presence of guests; she embraced him behind the doors, +when under some pretext or another she escorted him into +another room; and more than once she kissed him on the +lips in the very presence of the Grandee, when he happened +to turn his head, whilst Luis trembled and turned pale as a +catastrophe seemed imminent.</p> + +<p>By the expiration of some months his engagement with +Fernanda gradually cooled, and it ended by being broken +off altogether. This was all a preconcerted plan of Amalia's, +arranged from the beginning with consummate art: she +began by telling him how long he might be with his <i>fiancée</i>, +notified the number of times he could ask her to dance, and +finally it was she who suggested what he was to say to her. +And as she had foreseen, the heiress of Estrada-Rosa, +being proud, could not brook her lover's coldness, and so +gave him back his liberty and his word.</p> + +<p>The poor girl confided her trouble to Amalia, who was +the only person who knew the cause of the much-talked-of +broken engagement. She expressed great indignation at +the count's behaviour, and spoke in strong terms of disapprobation +of his conduct. In fact, she took the young +girl's part and launched into praises on her behalf and +spoke most flatteringly of her eyes, figure, discretion, and +amiability; and she even went so far as to take ostensible +measures for their reconciliation. In the bosom of confidence, +particularly among the friends of Don Juan Estrada-Rosa, +she was not contented with saying that Fernanda was +superior to her ex-lover in every feeling, but she proclaimed +Luis as an arrant impostor, hypocrite, &c. And when she +saw him the next day in Jacoba's house, she embraced him, +choking with laughter, saying:</p> + +<p>"What a character I gave you yesterday before the<a name="Page_094" id="Page_094"></a> +various friends of Don Juan! You don't know! pincers +would not get the words out of my mouth again!"</p> + +<p>What with all this, and the remorse continually preying +on him, the count was in a perpetual state of agitation. +How far he was from being happy! But it was a way strewn +with flowers, compared to what was coming. Five months +after entering into this <i>liaison</i>, Amalia informed him that +she believed she was <i>enceinte</i>. She told him this with a +smile on her lips, as if she were mentioning that she had +drawn a good ticket in the lottery. Luis felt giddy with +terror, turned pale, and looked as if he were about to fall.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dios mio</i>! what a misfortune!" he exclaimed, covering +his face with his hands.</p> + +<p>"Misfortune?" she returned in surprise. "Why? I am +very happy."</p> + +<p>Then seeing his eyes dilate in stupefaction, she laughingly +explained that she was glad to have a pledge of +their love, and that she had no fear because she would +have everything so arranged that nothing would be discovered. +And in truth she laced herself so tightly that +nobody would have thought another creature's life was +bound up in hers. The anxiety and distress of the count +during this time of expectancy was awful! If any one looked +at her attentively he trembled, and if, in the course of +conversation, any guest made a casual allusion to some act +of dissimulation, he turned pale as he thought they were +speaking of him. He imagined smiles and meaning glances +in every face, and the most innocent remarks were fraught +in his mind with the deepest and most compromising +insinuations.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, Amalia ate and slept with composure, +and her constant cheerfulness astonished the count, whilst +it excited his admiration. Time went by, the seven months +passed, and then the eighth. And hide as he would the +fact from himself, there was no denying that the figure of +his beloved was no longer slight; but when he made the<a name="Page_095" id="Page_095"></a> +remark to her in a great state of anxiety, she burst out +laughing:</p> + +<p>"Be silent, you foolish creature! You notice it because +you know about it. Who is going to suspect anything +because I am a little stouter? Sometimes one likes a loose +corsage."</p> + +<p>When the critical time arrived, she evinced a courage +bordering on heroism. Luis wanted her to have a doctor.</p> + +<p>"But why?" she said; "Jacoba's services will be quite +sufficient, and it would be dangerous to trust the secret to +anybody else."</p> + +<p>The first symptoms came on in the early morning, so she +kept her bed; but it was not until eight o'clock that she +sent for Jacoba, who had been sleeping for some days in the +house on pretence of making curtains. Then they were +both locked in the room where everything in the way of +linen was prepared; and without a groan, without an unnecessary +movement, this brave woman went through the +ordeal. The little creature was subsequently taken away +by Jacoba in a bundle of linen after the servants had been +sent out on various pretexts.</p> + +<p>The count wept with joy and admiration at the happy +solution of the difficulty. But when Jacoba told him that +he was to take the child to the Quiñones' door, he was quite +overwhelmed. However, although his lover's plan quite +took him aback, he did what he was told, and the crowning +audacity of the lady turned out as she had foreseen. So +now that the child was safe for ever, their love not only +seemed strengthened and purified, but they felt the delightful +flush of victory over unheard-of dangers before finally +arriving in the port of safety.</p> + +<p>With their heads bent over the child, and sometimes +touching its forehead with their lips, they sat with their +hands clasped in one another's, and talked, or rather wove +dreams in their efforts to gain a glimpse into the unfathomable +abysses of the future.<a name="Page_096" id="Page_096"></a></p> + +<p>"What was to be the fate of the lovely little creature? How +was she to be educated?" Amalia said she would undertake +to have it treated like her own daughter, she would +have her brought up as a perfect little lady, and she was +sure Don Pedro would not oppose her in the matter. And +as he would have no sons, what was more likely than that +he would take a fancy to it and leave her a lot of money at +his death.</p> + +<p>But the count repudiated this idea with scorn. The +child should have nothing from Don Pedro. He would +leave her all his own money.</p> + +<p>"But perhaps you will marry and have children," +returned the lady, glancing at him with a mischievous +smile. Then his fingers were laid on her lips in protest.</p> + +<p>"Silence! silence! You know I can't bear anything of +that; I am for ever united to thee."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she kissed him with effusion.</p> + +<p>"That's a compact, is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"It is a compact," he replied, in a tone of decision.</p> + +<p>"But do not trouble about leaving her your property in +a will, because it would give rise to the suspicion that she +is your daughter."</p> + +<p>This difficulty absorbed them both for some minutes. +Both were busy devising some means of eluding it. The +count wanted to leave it to some confidential person in +trust; but this idea also bristled with drawbacks, and they +thought it would be better for the money to accumulate +in his name in some bank until she came of age, and +then a father could be invented who had fallen from the +skies.</p> + +<p>At last Amalia concluded by saying: "We shall talk +for ever of this. Leave it to me."</p> + +<p>And he was only too pleased to leave it to her, as he +had unbounded confidence in her inexhaustible imagination, +power of will, and limitless audacity.</p> + +<p>When tired of talking of the future, they turned their<a name="Page_097" id="Page_097"></a> +attention to the present. The child had to be baptised, +and the ceremony was fixed for the following day.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and we have settled that I am to be the godmother, +and you the godfather."</p> + +<p>"What! I?" he exclaimed in astonishment. "But, my +dear woman, do you not understand that it will give rise to +suspicions?"</p> + +<p>But the lady was obstinate. She had set her heart on +his being godfather. If it gave rise to suspicions, well and +good. She would do it without the least fear.</p> + +<p>Then, seeing that he was really distressed at the idea, +she changed her mind.</p> + +<p>"Do not vex yourself, man, do not vex yourself," she +said, giving a little pull at his beard. "It was only a joke. +It would be fun to see you hold it at the font. I believe +you would call out: 'Señores, here! come every one of you +and see the father of this child.'"</p> + +<p>It was finally settled that the godfather was to be +Quiñones, with Don Enrique Valero as his proxy, and she +was to be the godmother, with Maria Josefa as her +representative; and the count was quite satisfied with the +arrangement. All that was cleverly and prudently arranged +in a way to secure the welfare of his child. But just when +he was feeling more comfortable, a noise in the passage +made him jump from his armchair, and turn perfectly livid.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, man?"</p> + +<p>"That noise?"</p> + +<p>"It is Jacoba."</p> + +<p>But seeing he was still uneasy, and his eyes looked +scared, she got up, and holding the child in her arms she +opened the door and exchanged a few words with Jacoba, +who was in fact still there. After giving her the baby +and locking the door, she came back and sat down +again.</p> + +<p>"How could you be such a coward, eh?"</p> + +<p>"It is not cowardice," he returned, blushing. "It is<a name="Page_098" id="Page_098"></a> +being so constantly upset. I don't know what has come +to me. Perhaps it is conscience."</p> + +<p>"Bah! it is because you are a coward. What is the +good of having such a powerful body if you have no spirit +in it?"</p> + +<p>Then, noticing the expression of pain and distress that +overshadowed his face, she turned and embraced him with +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"No, you are not a coward, but you are innocent, eh? +And it is that that I love you for. I love you more than +my life, and you love your little girl, don't you? I am all +yours. You are my only love. I am not really married."</p> + +<p>Then she caressed him in a kitten-like way, passing her +delicate white hands over his face, and kissing him several +times; then she put her arms round his neck, and gave him +little mouse-like bites. And at the same time, she, who +was generally so grave and quiet, let flow a perfect stream +of affectionate words which calmed and charmed him to a +wonderful degree. The fire which shone in her mysterious, +large, treacherous-looking eyes, now broke forth in veritable +flames. Passion had taken possession of her being, but it +was also fraught with the malicious pleasure of a satisfied +caprice, vengeance and treachery.</p> + +<p>The Conde de Onis felt himself more in her power with +every day that dawned. The caresses of his lover were +tender, but her eyes, even in the moments of greatest +abandon, retained a cruel cat-like look; and his love was +strangely mingled with fear. Some times his superstitious +mind would make him wonder if this Valencian woman +were an incarnate devil of temptation.</p> + +<p>After saying three or four times that he must go without +being able to break away from her, he at last got free from +her arms, and rose from the armchair. The farewell was +long as usual, for Amalia would not leave him until she saw +he was quite intoxicated with the power of her caresses.</p> + +<p>Jacoba was expecting him outside the door. After taking<a name="Page_099" id="Page_099"></a> +him along several corridors, they came to the place of +the secret staircase leading into the library. Here she +signed to him to wait whilst she reconnoitered to see that +nobody was about the passages. Then she came back +again to tell him all was right, and the count went down +with as little noise as possible.</p> + +<p>The intermediary left him at the passage after opening +the door. Then he bent down with his hands on the +ground to prevent any one seeing him from the street, and +so crossed the passage to the pew. He opened the door +and entered. The darkness blinded him. He made a few +steps forward, when he felt a sudden blow on his shoulder, +and a rough voice said in his ear, "Die, wretch!"</p> + +<p>The blood froze in his veins, but he gave a spring forward +and saw a dark heap blacker than the darkness. Quick as +a dart it threw itself on him, and he would soon have done +for it with his enormous strength if he had not heard a stifled +laugh, and the voice of Amalia said:</p> + +<p>"Take care, Luis, or you will hurt me!"</p> + +<p>He was dumb with astonishment for some minutes.</p> + +<p>"But how did you get here?" he said at last.</p> + +<p>"By the front staircase. I popped on this black cap and +ran down."</p> + +<p>Then, seeing that he looked cross and disgusted at a joke +in such bad taste, she stood on tiptoe, put her arms round +his neck, and after pressing a long and passionate kiss upon +his lips, she said, in a coaxing tone:</p> + +<p>"Now I know that you are not a coward, but I wanted +to prove it."<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h3> + +<p class="head">THE JOKES OF PACO GOMEZ</p> + + +<p class="nind">I<span class="smcap">n</span> spite of all the efforts of Paco Gomez, Garnet could not +be made to believe that he was acting in good faith. His +jocose nature and the practical jokes he had been known +to perpetrate had made an unfavourable impression on the +Indian. It was in vain that he put on a grave and +circumspect manner and held long conversations on the +rise and fall of stocks, besides praising his house above all +modern buildings, and giving him valuable hints in the +game of <i>chapo</i>, the dandy of Lancia saw that there was no +dissipating the look of distrust in the old bear's bloodshot +eyes. In this dilemma he appealed to Manuel Antonio +for help, for he had such a delightful joke in his head that +any assistance seemed better than giving it up.</p> + +<p>"Don't be so foolish, Santos," said the Chatterbox to him +one evening, as he was walking through the Bombé with +Garnet. "You see that as you have passed the half of your +life behind a counter you don't understand these Lancians. +I won't say Fernanda is deeply in love with you, but she is +going the way to be so. I tell you, and I say the same +everywhere, for I have remarked it for some time. Women +are capricious and incomprehensible; they reject a thing +one day, and want it the next, when they are then disposed +to stretch a point to get it. Fernanda began by snubbing +you——"</p> + +<p>"In every possible way, in every possible way," returned +the Indian sullenly.<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a></p> + +<p>"Pure fancy, my man; she is a very proud girl who will +never make herself cheap. But proud as she may be, she +will marry either the Conde de Onis or you, the only two +matches there are in Lancia for her: the count with his +nobility and you with your money. But Luis is a strange +sort of man; I think he is quite incapable of marrying, and +I am sure she thinks so too. You are the only one left, +and you will be the one to get the prize. Besides, whatever +women may say, they admire great strong fellows like you; +why you are a perfect oak, my man," he added with a look +of admiration.</p> + +<p>Garnet gave vent to a grunt of assent, and the Chatterbox +passed his hands over his body, as if he were a learned +connoisseur of the human masculine form.</p> + +<p>"What muscles, my boy! What shoulders!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, these shoulders have earned many thousand +pounds."</p> + +<p>"How? Carrying sacks?"</p> + +<p>"Sacks!" exclaimed Garnet smiling scornfully. "They +are for the common herd. No, great cases of sugar like +waggons."</p> + +<p>The Bombé was deserted at that hour. It was a large +promenade in the form of a drawing-room, which had been +recently built on the site of the famous wood of San +Francisco, from which there was a fine view. This wood +of large, old twisted oaks, some of which formed part of a +primeval forest, was where the monastery was founded +which gave its origin to Lancia, and it served as a place of +recreation and amusement to the town until the first houses +were built there. Then it fell into a state of neglect, until +the last municipal corporation carried out certain improvements +which won the hearts of all reforming spirits. They +made a promenade with little rustic gardens and a road +among the trees that led to the town. On weekdays +there was no one there but a few priests in long black +cloaks and large felt hats; the secular element was repre<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>sented +by two or three little parties of Indians discussing in +loud voices the price of shares, the value of certain plots of +ground in the Calle de Mauregato just opened, or some +valetudinarian come to get an hour's sunshine before the +chill of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>And where were the ladies?</p> + +<p>Oh! the ladies of Lancia know perfectly well what is due +to themselves, and they had far too great a regard for the +laws of good form to appear on days that were not fête +days; and even then they did not do it without taking +proper precautions.</p> + +<p>No lady of Lancia would think of being so vulgar as to +go to the Bombé on a Sunday before the arrival of others +of her class; and it was a superhuman effort to arrange for +all to appear simultaneously. So after three o'clock in the +afternoon they were waiting about, gloved and bonneted, +peeping at each other out of the windows.</p> + +<p>"The Zamoras are coming now!"</p> + +<p>"There go the Mateos!"</p> + +<p>And so they finally sallied forth in due dignity to the +promenade where the band had been performing different +fantasias on airs from "Ernani" or "Nabuco" for the +edification of the children and a few appreciative artisans. +It must not be thought that the distinguished society of +Lancia went with one rush to the open-air salon. Nothing +of the kind. Before putting foot there, they took a few +turns in a little walk a short way off. From thence they +took a survey, and ascertained whether anybody had yet +ventured as far as the promenade.</p> + +<p>At last, by the time the shadows were falling amid the +old oaks, and the fog was gathering from the mountains, +and getting up the nostrils, in the throats, and down the +bronchial tubes of the people of high degree, all the local +beauties had assembled in crowds at the promenade. What +was a catarrh, a cold, or even inflammation of the lungs +compared to the disgrace of being the first at the Bombé!<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a></p> + +<p>What a wonderful example of fortitude! What an +instance of the power that self-respect exercises over the +minds of superior beings!</p> + +<p>This exquisite sense of duty which Nature has written in +indelible characters on the hearts of the worthy, was shown +in a still more remarkable fashion at the private balls given +by the Casino of Lancia every fortnight during the +winter.</p> + +<p>It will be easily surmised that none of the high-born +señoritas who demurred at appearing at the promenade +when it was empty, were likely to be the first to arrive at +the salon of the Casino. But as there was no side walk +here, from whence they could take a bird's-eye view, and +they could not keep a watch from the windows at night, +these clever young ladies, as high-born as they were +ingenious, hit upon a means of saving their honour.</p> + +<p>Soon after ten o'clock, when the ball was supposed to +begin, they sent their papas or brothers on a little voyage +of discovery. They went in in a careless sort of way, sat +down in the armchairs, cut a few jokes with the raw youths +in buttoned up frock-coats who were impatiently standing +about, fastening each other's gloves, and then, making some +excuse, they soon retired to tell their families that nobody +had arrived yet.</p> + +<p>Ah! how often did those young men in the frock-coats +wait the whole night in vain for the arrival of their beautiful +partners!</p> + +<p>The candles burnt low, and the orchestra, after futilely +playing two or three dances, became quite demoralised; +and the musicians laughed and joked in loud tones, walked +about the room, and even smoked.</p> + +<p>The maids and men-servants yawned and made allusions +to the blessing of sleep, and at last the president gave the +sign of dismissal, and the youths retired to their respective +homes as sad as they were conventional.</p> + +<p>That was indeed a touching spectacle to see those heroic<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a> +young girls sacrifice their great desire to go to the ball +rather than outrage the fundamental principles on which +the happiness and comfort of society are founded!</p> + +<p>Paco then came in with the Pensioner.</p> + +<p>"They will tell you the same as I," continued Manuel +Antonio, shading his eyes with his ivory white hand.</p> + +<p>In the distance Paco really looked like a perch crowned +with a cucumber, for his head was so unusually small that +all his hats came down over his ears. Walking by his side +was Señor Mateo with his enormous white moustachios and +proud military bearing, although we know he was the +greatest civilian that Lancia had known for centuries.</p> + +<p>Garnet gave a few grunts to express the profound contempt +with which the two persons inspired him, the one for +his want of conventionality, and the other for not having +even a paltry investment in the Three per Cents.</p> + +<p>"Come, my dear fellows, and do me the favour of +making this stupid fellow believe that he is a good match +for any girl, although he will not believe it."</p> + +<p>"Certainly; for if Don Santos is not a match with five +or six million reales, I don't know who is," exclaimed +Mateo feelingly, as befitted the father of four marriageable +daughters who did not marry.</p> + +<p>"Draw it mild, Don Cristobal; draw it mild!" said the +Indian, with a stern look.</p> + +<p>"What? Have you more, then? I am glad of it. I +only speak according to report."</p> + +<p>"I have five hundred thousand dollars, and not a <i>lapiz</i><a name="FNanchor_J_10" id="FNanchor_J_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_10" class="fnanchor">[J]</a> +less."</p> + +<p>The three friends exchanged a significant look, and +Manuel Antonio, not being able to keep from laughing, +embraced him, saying:</p> + +<p>"All right, Santos, all right! But this about the <i>lapiz</i> +quite affects me."</p> + +<p>Garnet was a man who was continually tripping in his<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a> +vocabulary. He really was ignorant of the proper way of +expressing many colloquial terms, and the result was often +very funny. Doubtless it was due to his not hearing well; it +was some years since he had left America, and consorted +with people of culture. His dreadful solecisms were quite +proverbial in Lancia.</p> + +<p>"But this unhappy fellow surely does not think," continued +the Chatterbox, regardless of Garnet's resentful look, +"that because Fernanda Estrada-Rosa is a bit coquettish, +that he is not taken with her little set-up airs like every other +man! Fool, fool, more than fool!" and so saying he gave +him a few taps on the large red nape of his neck. "Besides +she is a daughter of Don Juan Estrada-Rosa, the greatest +Jew in the province!"</p> + +<p>"But, man, Fernanda is quite different," said the Pensioner, +who was not in the plot. "She is a very rich girl, and there +is no need for her to marry for money."</p> + +<p>Then the others came down upon him with a vengeance: +Where there is money more is wanted. Ambition is +insatiable. Fernanda was very proud, and she would never +stand being outdone in show by any other girl in Lancia. +Now if Don Santos chose a wife in the town she would +find her such a formidable rival that it would be a continual +annoyance to her. The only person Don Santos had to +fear was the Count of Onis, but he seemed to have gone off, +for his eccentric character, and the strange attacks to which +he was frequently subject, had ended by disgusting the young +girl.</p> + +<p>Won over by these arguments, backed up by nods of +intelligence from Paco, the Pensioner saw the wisdom of the +idea, and went over to their side, and then the three +tried their best to persuade the Indian that no young girl +would hold out long against him, if he once laid siege +to her.</p> + +<p>Paco alluded mysteriously to certain information in his +possession, which was the strongest evidence that the girl's<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a> +treatment of him was nothing but little airs of vanity put on +to make herself more valuable. But it was a secret, he +said, which could not be revealed without a breach of +the confidence and regard due to the friend who had revealed +it.</p> + +<p>In spite of all this Garnet would not give in. He was like +a mastiff under the caresses and turbulent treatment of +children, for he only cast angry looks at his tormentors, and +every now and then gave vent to ominous growls.</p> + +<p>Manuel Antonio repeated the list of his subtle arguments, +enforcing them with sundry embraces, pats, and pinches, +for he was eloquent and plausible to a degree. Paco let +Manuel go on, taking care to give him many a sly corroborative +wink, for he was certain that Garnet had no confidence +in his remarks. But he came in with the final stroke. +After having had himself implored and entreated by his two +allies, who promised eternal secrecy by the nails of Christ, +he finally drew a letter from his pocket. It was from +Fernanda to a friend at Nieva. After casually explaining +how it came into his hands, Paco read with the bated breath +of mystery:</p> + +<p>"There is no foundation in what you say of Luis. I +have not renewed, nor do I wish to renew, my relations +with him, and this for reasons too many to be given, and +some of which you know. The suit of Don Santos, as there +is nobody else, has a far better chance. He is certainly +old for me, but very conventional and affectionate. I should +not be surprised if I ended by having him."</p> + +<p>Garnet listened with great attention, opening his eyes +unusually wide with astonishment. When Paco finished, he +said in a deep voice, "This letter is <i>ipocryphal</i>."</p> + +<p>The three friends turned round in surprise, and great was +their difficulty to keep from laughing, whilst Manuel Antonio +improved the occasion by giving Don Santos another +embrace and saying:</p> + +<p>"Go to, you rude, mistrustful thing! Show him the letter,<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a> +Paco. Do you not know Fernanda's writing? Emilita is +constantly having letters from her. You are too modest, +Santos. I will not say you are a perfect gentleman, but +you have a certain grace and a certain <i>je ne sais quoi</i>."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should think so!" exclaimed Paco; "and you +take what Manuel Antonio says, for he is a judge."</p> + +<p>"There are some who can tell at once, my dear fellow," +continued the latter, in a quick voice. "They have only to +cast their eyes on a face and they know whether it is +handsome, ugly, or mediocre."</p> + +<p>But not wishing to waste any more breath in forwarding +Paco's plans they left Garnet in peace, and the Chatterbox +changed the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Ah! here come some friends of yours, Don Cristobal!"</p> + +<p>And raising his head the Pensioner saw eight or ten +soldiers approaching. They were officers of the battalion +of Pontevedra, which, to his disgust, had recently arrived +for the garrison of the town.</p> + +<p>Mateo gnashed his teeth, and gave utterance to sounds +indicative of his hatred of the armed force, and then exclaimed +in an ironical tone:</p> + +<p>"How delightful to see warriors in time of peace!"</p> + +<p>"You are quite cracked about them, Don Cristobal. +Soldiers are very useful."</p> + +<p>"Useful!" exclaimed the Pensioner, in a rage. "What +use are they I should like to know? How are they useful?"</p> + +<p>"They keep the peace, man."</p> + +<p>"They keep war, you mean. The Civil Guard can keep +us from rogues, but they foment dissensions and cause the +ruin of the country. Directly they see the enemy appear, +they take care to go off in another direction, and then they +get appointments, crosses, and pensions. I maintain that +as long as there are soldiers, there will be no peace in +Spain."</p> + +<p>"But, Don Cristobal, supposing a foreign nation attacked +us?"<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a></p> + +<p>The Pensioner gave an ironical smile and shook his head +several times before replying.</p> + +<p>"Get along, silly; why the only country that could +attack us by land is France, and if France should ever do +so, what good would these stupid little officers in uniform +be to us?"</p> + +<p>"Well, apart from that, soldiers are good for trade. +The shops profit by them, and the hotel-keepers benefit +also."</p> + +<p>Manuel Antonio only defended the military to aggravate +Mateo, but there was a shade of irony in his present +remarks that was excessively aggravating.</p> + +<p>"That is just what it is! And it is that which annoys +me so, for where does the money come from that they +spend, you foolish fellow? Why, from you and from me, +and from that gentleman; in fact, from every one who pays +anything to the State in one form or another. The result is +that they spend without producing, and so set a bad +example in the towns; for idleness is a corrupting influence +to those that are inclined to be lazy. Do you know what +the army costs? Why, the naval and military Ministers +take between them half of the national grant. That is to +say, justice, religion, the expenses of the maintenance of our +relations with other countries, and the working of all +material interests, do not take as much to keep as these +scarlet trousered young gentlemen. If other nations of +Europe have a great army, what is that to do with it? Let +them have it. Besides, they can allow themselves this +luxury because they have money. But we are a poor little +nation with only outside show. Besides, in other countries +there are international complications, from which we are +fortunately free. France is too afraid of the intervention of +other countries to attack us, but if perchance it did attack +us, it would conquer us just as much with an army as without +one."</p> + +<p>The Pensioner was very emphatic in his arguments, which,<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a> +with his eyes blazing with anger, he enforced with vehement +gesticulations of the hands.</p> + +<p>Manuel Antonio was delighted at seeing him get into a +rage; and at that moment the little company of officers +passed near with a polite "Good-day," which they all +returned excepting Don Cristobal, who took no notice of +the greeting.</p> + +<p>"I really think you go too far, Don Cristobal. Now +what do you think of Captain Nuñez who has just gone +by? Is he not a perfect gentleman with courteous, pleasant +manners?"</p> + +<p>"He would be better with a pickaxe in his hand, and +more useful to his country," returned the Pensioner +crossly.</p> + +<p>"But what is the good of putting yourself out when, +according to report, he is going to be your son-in-law, as +he is going to marry Emilita?" said the Chatterbox with +mischievous delight.</p> + +<p>Paco and Don Santos burst out laughing, for Don +Cristobal was quite crushed, and with great difficulty he +said:</p> + +<p>"Whoever heard such nonsense!" and then relapsed +into silence, for the news was a dreadful blow, as it put him +in the most awkward position.</p> + +<p>The silence was noticed by the others, who winked and +smiled behind his back.</p> + +<p>But Paco was also pre-occupied, for when he had a +practical joke in that little knob of a head of his, he was as +restless and full of thought as a poet or painter with some +great work on hand; and it was only after working hard for +some days, that he all but won over the Indian to his plan; +and the question of his going formally to ask Don Juan +Estrada-Rosa for his daughter's hand in marriage was +actually under discussion. According to Paco and his +supporters, that was considered the most direct way, and +best calculated to succeed, for any other seemed round<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>-about. +The day that Don Juan should see him come +forward with his ten millions and an offer of marriage, he +would spare no means to make his daughter consent, and +she herself would not be averse. For as they could not +have the Conde de Onis, who could she marry better than +a man so rich, so proper, so robust, so <i>illustrious</i>? This +last epithet, gravely suggested by Paco, nearly spoilt the +whole thing, as he was splitting with suppressed laughter. +Garnet noticing this fact cast an angry glance at him, and as +his confidence was again shaken, a delay of some days +ensued.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the moment arrived when the Indian gave +credence to his words through overhearing him from a +neighbouring room speak plainly to the Conde de Onis. +From that day he put faith in him, and consulted him as to +how to bring about his purpose. Paco said it was better +not to mention it first to the girl.</p> + +<p>As good generals surprise the enemy and conquer by a +bold, unexpected stroke, it was the unanimous opinion that +the best course would be to call on Don Juan, ask for a +private interview and go straight to the point. There was +no fear but what the banker would jump at the idea; the +girl would probably be somewhat surprised, but under the +influence of her father she would soon give in. The +important things of life were generally decided by a bold +stroke—"nothing venture nothing have."</p> + +<p>Finally, Garnet gave in, and commenced proceedings with +all due solemnity. The first thing to be considered was +the hour at which it would be best to call, and twelve o'clock +was finally decided on. His costume was also a subject of +deep discussion; and Paco maintained that he would look +most imposing in uniform, such as that worn by an honorary +chief of the civil administration. It would not be difficult +to get a nomination if he paid handsomely for it, but it +could not be done under a month's delay, so the uniform +had to be given up, and it was settled he was to wear a<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a> +black frock-coat with his medal as town-councillor; the day +was the last thing to be arranged, which was fixed for +Monday. In the meanwhile the traitor Paco lost no time in +letting out in conversation with Don Juan Estrada-Rosa that +Garnet was hoping and wishing to be accepted as his son-in-law. +Don Juan, who was rich as well as proud, and so adored +his daughter that he thought a duke at least would come +from Madrid to ask her hand in marriage, was furious, +called him an impudent fellow, and swore that sooner than +let her marry such a boor he would rather she remained unmarried.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, take care, Don Juan," said Paco smiling +maliciously, "for the day will come when least expected +when he will appear at your house to ask for Fernanda's +hand."</p> + +<p>"He will do nothing of the sort," returned the banker, +"he knows too well that he would be kicked downstairs."</p> + +<p>Having taken all these precautions, the terrible practical +joker of Lancia felt he was quite secure. With the exception +of the three or four friends who helped him to persuade +Don Santos, nobody knew about his plot. But the Sunday +afternoon preceding the event, he and Manuel Antonio went +round and told people about the joke, and said that they +had better be at the Café Marañón the next day if they +wanted to see it out. In the provinces, where there are not +many amusements, these practical jokes are made quite a +business, and much time and thought are given to their +conception and organisation.</p> + +<p>The youths of Lancia were delighted at Paco's project, for +it presented especial attraction, the victim not being a poor +fellow whom they might feel for, but a rich man; and in +the depth of every heart there is always a grain of hatred for +any one who has much money. So the news got bruited +about, and on the following day there were more than fifty +young fellows at the Café Marañón. But they did not +make themselves conspicuous until Garnet appeared. The<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a> +café was situated on a first floor (for the ground floors were +never used at that time for such a purpose) in the Calle de +Altavilla, almost opposite Don Juan Estrada-Rosa's house, +which was large and sumptuous, although not so much so as +the one that Don Santos had recently built, and that +where the café was, was old and dilapidated. The resort +of customers was a room, where there was a billiard-table, +and two little side rooms furnished with little wooden tables +for refreshment, all dirty, murky and shabby. How different +were those times to the magnificent Café Britanico of today +in the same street, with marble tables, colossal mirrors and +gilded columns like the finest in Madrid!</p> + +<p>Spying through the little windows the gay assembly of +youths, eager for excitement, saw Garnet pass by correctly +dressed, balancing his colossal body on legs that looked too +small for it. They saw him enter Estrada-Rosa's house, and +heard the sound of the door being shut upon him. Nothing +more was seen, but the windows of the café were simultaneously +opened and filled. Those who could find no place got +up on seats behind their companions. Every eye was fixed +on the opposite door, and thus they waited for a quarter of +an hour. At the end of that time the purple face of Garnet +reappeared. It was indeed a fearful sight. It looked just +as if the man had been nearly strangled, and his ears were +the colour of blood. A perfect storm of coughs, shouts and +howls greeted his appearance. The Indian turned his head +and gave an astonished look at the excited crowd who were +laughing for some unknown reason at him. But he was +not long before he saw that he was the victim of a practical +joke. His eyes glared fiercely round, and he burst out in +a fit of intolerable rage:</p> + +<p>"Liars!"</p> + +<p>And he then fled like a wild boar pursued by a pack of +hounds, amid the hisses and laughter of the youths, only +turning his head from time to time to repeat the strong +expletive.<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h3> + +<p class="head">THE SEÑORITAS DE MERÉ</p> + + +<p class="nind">S<span class="smcap">o</span> Emilita Mateo had really won the heart of a captain of +the battalion of Pontevedra. But it had not been done +without several days' hard work, in the way of coy glances, +aimless laughter, childish pranks, mincing ways and numberless +little tricks. She had, in short, called all her forces into +play, being by turns straightforward and malicious, kind +and rude, reserved and teasing, grave and frolicsome, like a +wild thing, like a silly irresponsible child, but none the less +adorable.</p> + +<p>Finally Nuñez, Captain Nuñez could not resist such a +provoking mixture of innocence and guile; he was first taken +with her, and ended by falling in love. He was a man with +a wide face, lean, grave, and bilious looking, having a +moustache and imperial, and languid, dull looking eyes, +very conscientious in his duties, and very fond of taking long +walks. This type of silent, conventional man is most susceptible +to the charm of cheerfulness and vivacity. Emilita +won his heart by calling him grumpy, giving him pinches by +way of teasing him, saying that his words had to be drawn +out with a corkscrew, and letting him have the full benefit of +her chaff.</p> + +<p>The family of Mateos was quite upset by this wonderful +success. Jovita, Micaela and Socorro, being elder sisters of +the happy maiden, were both jealous and flattered. They +felt that the preference of such a gallant infantry officer was +an honour which was reflected over the whole family, and<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a> +placed them in a superior position in the eyes of their friends +and acquaintances. But at the same time, considering that +Emilita was the youngest, they did not like her having a +lover, or being married before themselves. It was decidedly +premature for her to be engaged, as she was not more than +twenty-four, and a smile of scorn and surprise contracted +the lips of the three elder sisters at the idea of such an +innocent, unconventional creature being married. So that +although they sang the captain's praises to their friends, +speaking highly of his personal attractions, crediting him with +a brave and generous heart, testifying to his riches, as if +they managed his exchequer, and vaguely referring to certain +influential patronage which would put him, sooner or later, +in the way of the distinctions of a general, they certainly +never forgave him his chronological error.</p> + +<p>On the other side Don Cristobal, the father of that perverse, +coquettish angel, found himself suddenly in such an +awkward position that it nearly drove him mad. He was +ashamed at having to give his consent to a daughter of his +being courted by a soldier after having so often called the +military idle and bloodthirsty, and having clamoured for +the reduction of the army. How would he be able to face +all his friends in the future? Many dreadful days of doubt +ensued. His hatred against the army and the marines was +so deeply rooted in his heart that it could not be eradicated +in a moment. Nevertheless, he was obliged to confess that +the very noble behaviour of Captain Nuñez had influenced +him to a great extent. The wish of seeing his daughters +married was quite as strong as his dislike of the armed +force. In his worry he deplored Nuñez having a commission +in the infantry. If he could only have been a +sailor the gravity of the situation would have been so much +lessened. He recollected that in his diatribes against the +army, he had admitted that a few ships contributed to the +safety of the colonies. The same thing applied to the +civil guard, but as to the rest of the land forces there<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a> +was no excuse, there was no means of getting out of the +dilemma.</p> + +<p>Under such awkward circumstances he elected to shut +himself up at home. The engagement of his daughter got +spread abroad and became a settled affair, and he was +afraid of practical jokes. Fear made him take the false +step of playing fast and loose, which was unworthy of his +character and antecedents. That is to say, that whilst continuing +publicly to affect a scorn of the land forces, when +talking with his daughter's bridegroom or other military +men, he was quite suave and showed as much interest in the +questions he asked them about their profession, as if they +served in some civil office of the State. Nobody would +have thought, to hear him enter into the details of the +active, reserve, and militia forces, that the man entertained +an eternal, undying hate against them. But the Pensioner +attained a greater perfection in his rôle than anybody could +have dared to expect. He did not pretend to get on with +them as soldiers, when he considered them a social plague, +but as men they might, according to their qualities, be +worthy of esteem.</p> + +<p>The love affair of Emilita, like that of many others, had +begun and gone on in the house of the Merés. These were +two señoritas past eighty years of age, and not yet a hundred. +From all accounts, they were already grown up at +the beginning of the nineteenth century. They had no +relations in Lancia, and nobody recollected their father, +who died when they were little girls. He had held some +appointment in the Exchequer department. It is possible, +from its remote date, that he was a collector of the excise or +some other taxes now extinct.</p> + +<p>In the first place the dress of these interesting señoritas +savoured of the eighteenth century, to which they belonged. +They could not put up with the fashions of the present day. +They wore straight black gowns with lead sewn at the +bottom to prevent their turning up, very long waisted bodies,<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a> +tight sleeves with puffs, low cashmere shoes, and a coiffure +too funny for anything. The mantilla they adopted was +not of net, but of serge with a velvet fringe, such as is only +worn by the working classes; and they carried a stick as a +support.</p> + +<p>They affected a perfect courtesy, a versatility of character, +and an insatiable passion for society and gaiety perfectly +astonishing at their age. They certainly had not retained +in the present century the licence of manners and wickedness +which, according to historians, characterised the society +of the past. It would be impossible to imagine creatures +more simple. They seemed quite ignorant of life, everything +surprised them, and they could not believe in evil. +Thus they were frequently the victims of practical jokes at +the hands of their friends and guests, without either of them +expressing any great surprise at it. From time immemorial +they had been accustomed to open their house of an evening +to the young people of Lancia, who were attracted by +the liberty prevalent there.</p> + +<p>The custom of <i>tutoyant</i> everybody was tacitly allowed, +and it was curious to hear young men of eighteen years of +age talking so familiarly to old ladies who might have been +their great-grandmothers. It was Carmelita here, and Nuncita +there, because the eldest was named Doña Carmen, +and the youngest Doña Anunciacion. Three or four +generations had passed through that little drawing-room +of the Calle del Carpo, so modest and neat, with its +polished wood floors, straw-bottomed chairs, red damask +sofa, mahogany sideboard with branch candlesticks, its +tortoiseshell framed mirror, and several little pictures in +pastels representing the story of Romeo and Juliet. The +reception of the de Merés was the oldest institution +of Lancia, and, contrary to the usual course of things, +these old ladies who had not been able to marry themselves, +had a perfect mania for helping everybody else to marry. +Innumerable were the marriages due to that little drawing-<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>room. +Directly they heard that a young man was more +attracted to one young lady than another, our señoritas set +to work preparing the noose which was to unite them with +an indissoluble bond. Indeed, they would allow no one to +have the chair by a certain lady's side, so that when a +certain gentleman should come it should be all ready for him, +and he would only have to take it. Then they were loud in +their praises of a certain gentleman to a certain lady, and +would go to a certain gentleman full of the wonders of a +certain lady's cleverness, economy, handiness, piety, and +beauty. Then they repaired to the house of a certain young +lady's mamma, where they had long private, important +conversations, and they bearded a certain young gentleman's +papa, when all their diplomatic arts were brought into +play to soften his heart. And the reward of all these efforts +was a little box of sweets on the day of the marriage! +So all the mothers of marriageable girls adored the old +ladies, and blessings and praises were showered upon them. +They were hailed half a mile off, and on coming out of +church, matrons hastened to offer them an arm as a +support.</p> + +<p>But, on the other side, those who had any son of a marriageable +age, regarded them with distrust and dislike, and +dubbed them as interfering intermediaries.</p> + +<p>When the first touch of love was felt in the heart of some +susceptible youth, he repaired immediately to the abode of +the Las Merés.</p> + +<p>"Carmelita, I am in love!"</p> + +<p>"With whom, my heart, with whom?" asked the elder +with the greatest interest.</p> + +<p>"With Rosario Calvo."</p> + +<p>"Aha! The rogue has good taste. There isn't a +prettier or better educated girl. You were born for one +another."</p> + +<p>And then the young fellow had the pleasure of hearing +for some time panegyrics on his adored one.<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a></p> + +<p>"I hope that you will help me."</p> + +<p>"As much as you like, dear heart."</p> + +<p>So at the end of a few days Rosario Calvo, who +had never before set foot in the house of the de Merés, +became a regular <i>habituée</i> of the evening gatherings. However +did they manage to get the girl there? It is difficult +to say, but they had brought so many affairs to a +successful issue that they certainly must have had some +simple, sure recipe. They were as affectionate to their +friends as if they were all near relations. Stories of self-abnegation +were told of them which did them great honour. +During the dreadful revolution of 1823, one of their guests, +a cavalry lieutenant, took refuge in their house. The +señoritas received him, and hid him for some days, and +finally he escaped in the clothes of the servant. But hearing +that the police were going to search the house, they +were terror-struck at the thought of the lieutenant's uniform +being found. Where could it be hidden so as not to betray +him? Carmelita at this critical moment hit upon a brilliant, +brave idea. She put on the uniform herself underneath her +female attire. And yet this lieutenant treated them with +such ingratitude that he never all his life found ten minutes +to write them a letter of thanks.</p> + +<p>But this was not the only act of ingratitude on the part of +their guests, who made as much use of their kindness as +they could, enjoyed the company and conversation of the +prettiest girls in Lancia, arranged matrimonial alliances, and +directly all this business was concluded, they found that +their affairs or their position precluded their frequenting +the parties any more, and they scarcely greeted them +when they met their old hostesses in the street. The +same can be said of the mammas, who made so much of +the señoritas before marrying their daughters, and dropped +them when that was done. But this neglectful conduct +neither damped the kindness of the good ladies nor quelled +their optimistic spirit. They kept up an incessant stream<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a> +of new-comers to their house, and whilst forgetting the +ingratitude of the old ones, they set their minds on the +worthiness that they attributed to the new. Besides, they +harboured no rancour or ill-feeling in their hearts, and they +were not even offended at practical jokes, although some of +them were really very serious. Paco Gomez arranged one +that was so startling that it is still told in Lancia with gusto.</p> + +<p>Ladies could not go to the parties every evening in the +winter, they generally went on Saturdays and Wednesdays. +But there were a few young men who hardly ever missed +going at an early hour, even if they went on to other houses +afterwards. On these quiet evenings a game of <i>brisca</i> was +generally got up. Paco took Nuncita as a partner, and +Captain Nuñez, or some other young fellow, Carmelita. +But one evening they were regretting that the signs made +during the game were so common and hackneyed, that it +was impossible to make them unnoticed by the opponents. +So both sides agreed to change them. Paco taught some +to Nuncita, and the opponent several more to Carmelita. +But these new signs were all so improper that they are +only seen in taverns and bad houses. Yet those innocent +women took them as a matter of course in perfect unconcern. +Some days went by and they were quite accustomed +to their use, when Paco suggested a game to several of the +guests. Then ensued a scene of comic surprise. Every +time one of the two señoritas made a sign, there was an +explosion of merriment. And instead of showing the door +to the cruel shameless author of the joke, and forbidding +his ever returning, the kind señoritas only crossed themselves +in surprise, and laughed with the others when they +found it out.</p> + +<p>"Blessed Santo Cristo of Rodillero! Whoever would have +thought it! So we have committed all these sins in +ignorance!"</p> + +<p>"I shall not confess them, then," exclaimed Nuncita, with +determination.<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a></p> + +<p>"You will confess them, child," returned the elder, +severely.</p> + +<p>"But I won't."</p> + +<p>"Child!"</p> + +<p>"But I don't want to."</p> + +<p>"Silence, child, you will confess them three times. To-morrow +I shall take you myself to Fray Diego."</p> + +<p>Nuncita still protested under her breath like a wilful +child, until the severe glances of her elder sister made her +be silent, but she was still in a pet. Sometimes without +any reason she had these exhibitions of ill-temper +and rebellion, and Carmelita had to call all her authority +into play to bring her to reason, but this was a rare +occurrence. Although only three or four years older +than herself, Nuncita, from long custom, weakness of character, +or maybe from liking to appear young before people, +recognised her sister's authority and accorded her an +obedience and submission that many mothers of daughters +would envy. It was seldom necessary to call her to order, +but when it was so, Nuncita bowed her head, and was soon +seen to put her handkerchief to her eyes and leave the +room, whilst Carmelita followed her movements with a fixed +look and shook her head severely. A little more, and she +would have chastised her in public and sent her to bed +without any supper. For such reasons, and because Doña +Carmelita frequently called her so, Doña Nuncita, who was +over eighty years of age, went by the name of "the child" +in Lancia.</p> + +<p>Both sisters worked heroically in the love affair of +Emilita Mateo, and Captain Nuñez was besieged in the +regular way. For a month at least, until they saw he was +well under weigh, no chair was left vacant for him excepting +by the side of Don Cristobal's youngest girl. In the game +of lottery, which was a perfect passion in that society, +Nuncita took care that papers should be found with their +names combined. When reference was made to the officer<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a> +and Emilita they were mentioned as one person, already +united and inseparable. Services of such great importance +were repaid by the Pensioner by a gratitude which beamed +from his eyes, and he would gladly have prostrated himself +at their feet and kissed the edge of their square gowns. +But his dignity and his long series of diatribes against +the army chained his feet and forbade these, and all other +manifestations of delight. He was deprived even of the +consolation of exhibiting pleasure at the sight of the soldier +at the promenade with his daughter. But we know that +the señoritas cared little for the gratitude of their guests. +They married them from their irresistible propensity in +this direction, which was as much a necessity of their +constitution as web-spinning is to the spider, or singing in +the woods is to the birds. Once launched in matrimony, +the men and women guests lost all attraction for the +Señoritas de Meré. Their attention was immediately +turned to the fresh young people who came and took +refuge under their protecting wings. But there was one +who caused them such bitter disappointment that a little +more would have brought them to the grave. Never in +their lives had they come across such an incomprehensible +man as the count. What the poor things went through to +put him in the right path, in the flowery path of Hymen! +But the devil slipped through their fingers like an eel.</p> + +<p>For some evenings he appeared tender and devoted to +Fernanda, never leaving her side for an instant. The +glances of the two sisters were then fixed upon them +with visible interest; by dint of signs they kept them from +interruption, a little more and they would have requested +the others to lower their voices, so that the noise should +not disturb them. And then suddenly when least expected +the count was absurd enough to leave his seat in an +absent-minded way with a yawn, and walk off by himself +and sit at a corner of the table; whilst Fernanda, on her side, +was also very whimsical, for she would take the opportunity<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a> +to start an animated conversation with the son of the +Chief Magistrate of the Court without vouchsafing a look +at her <i>fiancé</i>. Carmelita and Nuncita were taken aback +when this occurred, and they retired to rest full of consternation. +After the final break, and when they were +quite certain that the chance of bringing such a magnificent +marriage to pass was not reserved for them, they lowered +their ambition and turned their attention to Garnet who had +been pressing for their help for some time.</p> + +<p>But impious fate was again against them. Fernanda +snubbed any conciliatory remark that they made to her in +favour of the Indian. If she noticed that the señoritas +arranged the chairs, so that he would have to sit by her +side, she instantly upset their manœuvres and skilfully +managed for a contrary effect. When sides were arranged +for <i>brisca</i> or <i>tute</i> she would not accept him as a partner and +preferred to give up the game than do so. In short +she was so quick and wide awake that she was invincible +on every side. Nevertheless, the de Merés persisted +in their project, and worked for its accomplishment with +the patience which is the surest means for the success of +great undertakings.</p> + +<p>Some days after the practical joke of Paco Gomez on +Don Santos, there assembled at the famous party, besides +three or four youths, the same Paco, Manuel Antonio, Don +Santos, Captain Nuñez, Don Cristobal, Maria Josefa +Hevia, and two of the Mateo girls.</p> + +<p>They were not yet thinking of playing. They were all +seated excepting Paco, who was walking up and down the +drawing-room, telling them the joke he had the other night +at the theatre with Manin the majordomo of Quiñones. +Since the latter had been paralysed, his well-known +companion had to go about the town without his shadow. +But in consideration of the regard shown him by his +master, the guests of Don Pedro took a good deal of notice +of him, and in spite of the rusticity of his manners and the<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a> +countrified aspect of his attire, they greeted him familiarly +when they met him in the street, invited him into a café, +and sometimes took him to the theatre. It was Manin +here, and Manin there, the great peasant had made himself +famous, not only in Lancia, but in the whole of the +province. Those short breeches, those white woollen +stockings with coloured stripes, that green cloth jacket +and wide brimmed hat, gave him an original aspect in the +town, where it would be difficult to find a man in such +attire.</p> + +<p>He was an unfailing source of astonishment to strangers, +especially as they saw him associate on an equal footing +with the señores of the place; for they seemed to seek his +society not only out of respect for the Grandee, but +because they found pleasure in Manin's uncouth manners. +Besides, Manin was a celebrated bear-hunter, and it was +reported that he had occasionally had deadly struggles with +the beasts. Those who were partial to that kind of sport +professed great regard and respect for him. Nevertheless, +the enemies that the majordomo had in his village laughed +sarcastically, and said that the bears were all a farce, and +he had never seen one in his life, much less struggled with +them. They added that Manin had never been anything +more than a country clown, until Don Pedro took it into +his head to raise him from his obscure position.</p> + +<p>Impartiality obliges us to give this evidence, but we can +take it for what it is worth. It must, however, be confessed +that the conduct of Manin gave it a semblance of truth, for +although he often offered to take his friends bear-hunting, +he never kept his promise. But perhaps this was due to +his respect for the well-being and safety of the bears of his +country. Is it sufficient evidence for dubbing a man a +mere country clown? Nobody could say so. It would be +more logical to assume that the celebrated Manin, like +everybody who rises above the common herd, was a victim +of the insinuations of the envious.<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a></p> + +<p>So Paco, with his usual freedom, quite regardless of the +presence of ladies, told how he and some other friends who +had a theatre ticket took Manin to the stage box. The +majordomo had never before seen women dancers. When +they first appeared on the scene, Manin, thinking that they +had bare legs, was perfectly scandalised and fixed his eyes, +glowing with anger and indignation, upon them. "But +you have not seen the best," Paco said, "wait a bit." When +the orchestra began to play, the dancers shook their +castanettes, and with a turn they raised their legs as high +as their heads. "Shame!" exclaimed the poor fellow, +clapping his hands to his face. "What will happen +next?"</p> + +<p>Paco told the story quite naturally, as he walked up and +down the drawing-room, with his head down, and his hands +in his trousers-pockets. The young ladies felt inclined to +blush, and everybody laughed excepting Garnet, who was +still smarting from the joke of the other day.</p> + +<p>From his corner, where he sat like a sulky bear, he cast +grim and angry glances at Paco. What had happened in +Estrada-Rosa's house, when the Indian went to ask for the +hand of the señorita? Not a word could be got out of Don +Juan nor his daughter; but a certain little servant-maid +informed the world that Don Juan refused him with the +deepest scorn, that Garnet made mention of his millions and +maintained that Fernanda would never have a chance of a +better marriage. Then Don Juan got in a rage, called him +a sponger, and sent him off with offensive epithets. Every +time Paco caught one of the angry glances, he smiled and +winked at Manuel Antonio.</p> + +<p>"I say, Carmela," he said, coming to a stand before a +little picture painted in oils, "where did you buy this San +Juan?"</p> + +<p>"Jesus! señor," exclaimed Carmelita; "it is not a San +Juan, but a Salvador! See how the poor little fellow is +laughing!"<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah! so it is a Salvador. What is the difference?"</p> + +<p>The Señoritas de Meré, hearing such a question, went +nearly wild with amusement. They laughed till the tears +came.</p> + +<p>"Ay, what, Paquito! Ay, what, my heart! You don't +know the difference between a San Juan and a Salvador?"</p> + +<p>And they laughed and laughed again. They had not +heard anything so funny for many years. When they were +a little more composed, they dried their tears and used +their handkerchiefs vigorously. Paco, who liked to see them +so merry, went on to inquire:</p> + +<p>"But come, when did you buy this Salvador, that I never +saw till now?"</p> + +<p>"It was in Nuncia's room, my dear; but it did not do +there, because it came in the way of the bed, and so we +put it here."</p> + +<p>"It was given to Carmela when papa was alive," said +Nuncita, "by a painter from Madrid who spent a few days +here."</p> + +<p>"Were you young then?" asked Paco, gravely, turning to +Carmelita.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very young."</p> + +<p>"Was the painter famous?"</p> + +<p>"Very."</p> + +<p>"Then I know who it was. It was Murillo."</p> + +<p>"No; I don't think that was his name."</p> + +<p>"Then it was Velasquez."</p> + +<p>"That name sounds more like it. He was a young man, +very short, and very gallant. Was he not, Nuncia?"</p> + +<p>"Did he not address some soft words to you?"</p> + +<p>Nuncita lowered her eyes and blushed.</p> + +<p>"Who would recollect these things now?"</p> + +<p>"He was very much in love," continued Carmelita; +"and at the same time he was most well-bred and +clever."<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a></p> + +<p>"Of an amorous disposition, did you say? It can be no +other than Velasquez."</p> + +<p>"He was not named Velasquez, he was called Gonzalez," +interposed Nuncita, timidly.</p> + +<p>And after this remark she blushed again.</p> + +<p>"That's it! Gonzalez!" exclaimed her sister, recollecting.</p> + +<p>"Well, it is all the same; he would be a contemporary of +his—of the great race of painters of the seventeenth century," +remarked Paco, not the least put out by the laughter +of the guests, who were astonished at the innocence of the +poor women.</p> + +<p>"How did he make love to thee?" he continued, with a +caressing touch of Nuncita's cheek. "It seems to me you +were very coquettish, eh, Carmela?"</p> + +<p>This remark was provocative of a smile from the company.</p> + +<p>"Carmela, <i>por Dios</i>! and are these gentlemen going to +make believe I was a coquette?" exclaimed the "child" in +real concern.</p> + +<p>"They would only believe the truth, girl," said Paco. +"Now, don't you recollect you lent a willing ear to the +ecclesiastical attorney, called Don Maximo, and no sooner +had he left the house than you were talking on the balcony +with Lieutenant Paniagua?"</p> + +<p>Nuncita smiled with pleasure at the recollection of those +times, and replied as she lowered her eyes with gracious +timidity:</p> + +<p>"Don Maximo came to the house every day, but it was +never a question of love."</p> + +<p>"Neither a courtship nor a refusal?" asked Paco. "Then +confess that the one you really liked was the lieutenant, and +done with it."</p> + +<p>"What! you were in love with a soldier?" asked Emilita, +with pleasant volubility, as she cast a teasing glance at +Nuñez. "Then you must have had bad taste."</p> + +<p>The Pensioner became suddenly serious and his moustache<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a> +went up in horror at his daughter's sally, but he was immediately +calmed at seeing that the captain, instead of being +offended, only returned a loving smile, and like all the rest +treated it as a joke.</p> + +<p>"She is not the only one who has had such bad taste," +said Carmelita, with marked insinuation, delighted at the +chance of making such a clever hit.</p> + +<p>"And who was this lieutenant? Some useless puppy, +like we have here?" continued Emilia, with the same taking +levity.</p> + +<p>"Gently, gently, Emilia!" returned Paco. "Paniagua +was lieutenant of the third regiment of infantry of Flanders, +and a very brave man."</p> + +<p>"No, dear, no," interposed Nuncita, "to put the matter +right, he was of the Royal Guard."</p> + +<p>"Was he not an archer?"</p> + +<p>"No, dear heart, I say he was of the Royal Guard."</p> + +<p>Don Cristobal hid his amusement under a fit of coughing, +and Manuel Antonio and the young people laughed +heartily.</p> + +<p>"Paniagua was a very remarkable man," continued Paco. +"He was endowed with a decision of character befitting +soldiers. The day that he arrived, he saw Nuncia at the +window in the morning, and in the evening he managed to +give her, in the portico of San Rafael after <i>nones</i>, a letter of +declaration which ran thus:</p> + +<p>"'Señorita, in confusion and fear and doubting if in your +kind condescension you will pardon my boldness, I confess +that my only joy is in loving you.'"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you rogue! what a memory you have!" exclaimed +Nuncita, now fairly overcome.</p> + +<p>The fact was, Paco, to whom, after many entreaties, "the +child" had shown the letters she had kept of Paniagua's, +learnt the original document by heart and recited it everywhere +to the great delight of his friends.</p> + +<p>"He was what may be called a resolute man. The<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a> +character of a person is shown like that. How different to +the soldiers of the present day, who before proposing to a +girl, dangle about for a whole year and then delay saying: +'Child, when shall we go to church?'"</p> + +<p>These words were uttered with a look at the corner, +where Emilita and the captain were sitting. The latter +took the remark and became serious, and the girl tried to +look unconscious although grateful in her heart to Paco for +giving the hint; whilst the Pensioner twisted his moustache +with a trembling hand, fearing that Nuñez would take +offence, but glad with the hope that these opportune allusions +would bring him to the point.</p> + +<p>Tired of conversation, the young people proposed a game +of forfeits. It is a game which wide-awake men always +turn to their own advantage.</p> + +<p>Fernanda let Garnet sit by her side. She was vexed at +the winks and signs of Paco that she had noticed. She was +a very proud creature, but she prided herself on her sense +of justice. She could not bear anybody to be made fun of +in her presence, even if it were the lowest, most insignificant +being. Maybe the sense of pride, which was one of her +tenderest and most touchy points, made her alive to the +wounds inflicted on that of others. Although she hated +Garnet, she was sorry to see him made an object of derision, +particularly as she was the cause; but this did not prevent +her treating him with overbearing airs herself; but it is +thought, and not without reason, that although the rebuffs +of the lady one loves may inflict misery, they do not sting +like practical jokes. The Indian, seeing himself so +honoured, was beside himself with delight, and set to +overwhelming her as usual with a thousand attentions. +Fernanda accepted them with a grave demeanour, but not +with repugnance. Then came as usual that game of "three +times yes, and three times no," the favourite of all present. +Thus Society amused itself with what had entertained its +fathers and grandfathers, and with what they thought would<a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a> +amuse their children. Innocent people! There was one +spirit there to whom this attribute did not apply. Paco +played with the peevish condescension, of a man in advance +of his time, making many stupid mistakes, which showed +the inattention characteristic of superior beings. Nuñez, on +the contrary, was all there. Never was a man more at home +in such matters, nor one who entered into them more +thoroughly. His bright intelligence had penetrated all the +secrets of the game of forfeits, and he knew how to get the +best out of everybody according to the circumstances in +question. For example, when a young lady had to whisper +to him, he instantly became deaf, and the girl was obliged +to bend more and more until her ruddy lips brushed the +ear of the captain. If he were condemned to represent the +paper corner of the Puerta del Sol and consequently had to +have pieces of paper stuck on his face, &c. &c., the wily +Nuñez did not guess who it was doing it until he had passed +his hands over the girl.</p> + +<p>But he gave the clearest demonstration of his portentous +talent and the vast knowledge he had acquired in this +department of science, when he proposed that the señorita, +to whom he would tell what she had in her pocket, would +have to kiss him. The young ladies were all so sure that +he would not be successful that they willingly accepted +the condition. He was certainly wrong in his attempt at +guessing the contents of the pocket of Carmelita, wrong +again with Fernanda, with Maria Josefa, with Micaela, but +see, what a sly rogue! he knew exactly what was in Emilita's: +some scissors, a handkerchief, a thimble, and three +caramels. The girl began to groan and clasp her hands in +a state of nervous collapse. "It was a trap! a trap!" +The captain serene, unperturbed, and dignified as some +hero of antiquity, refuted the imputation, and proved to +satiety that there was no question of a trap. "I do not +say," he added with a Mephistophelian smile, "but what<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a> +it was an understood thing between us, as I was allowed to +see beforehand what her pocket contained."</p> + +<p>The girl then became still more emphatic in her protestations +against this statement, and she became agitated to an +incomprehensible degree, and ran to the opposite end of +the room, as far as possible from the captain, as if he were +going to take by force what he had a right to. Those on +her side were the women, whilst the men took the part of +the captain. The drawing-room was then transformed into +a perfect pandemonium. They all talked, laughed, and +screamed without coming to any understanding. But, as is +easily supposed, the one who screamed and gesticulated the +most, was the girl concerned. Nevertheless, Don Cristobal, +seeing there were no signs of coming to an understanding +and wishing to countenance his daughter's course of action, +intervened in the dispute like a majestic god extending his +right hand to calm the waves of the stormy sea.</p> + +<p>"Emilita," he said in a tone of command, "play is play; +give a kiss to this gentleman."</p> + +<p>It is noticeable that he did not say to "the captain," +nor "to this señor officer." His lips still revolted at using +a term exclusively military.</p> + +<p>"But papa!" exclaimed the younger daughter, red as a +poppy.</p> + +<p>"It must be done!" he returned, with his extended right +hand in the most commanding attitude that could be +assumed by such a godlike pensioner.</p> + +<p>There was no help for it. Emilita, confused and ashamed, +with her cheeks like two fires, advanced with a hesitating +step to the brave captain of Pontevedra, who was sharp +enough to bring his lips to play upon the brilliant colouring +of her face.</p> + +<p>But lo and behold! hardly was this effected than up +jumps a basilisk of a Micaela, who was indeed the most +irascible of the four nereids who inhabited the depths of the +dwelling of the Pensioner.<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a></p> + +<p>"How shameless! These are not decent games, but +low tricks. I am not astonished at Nuñez, for men are what +they are. But I am astonished at you, Emilita. It seems +to me that a little more modesty and shame would not +become you badly. But what is to be done, when those, +whose duty it is to inspire you with it are the first to abet +what is wrong?"</p> + +<p>This heated diatribe against the author of her days turned +him pale and paralysed him. There was a moment of +embarrassed silence; then they were all eager to defend +Emilita, and maintain the purity and perfect innocence of +such games. The argument repeated most often was that +as there was no <i>malice prépense</i> it was of no account, +because the important thing in these matters was the +intention.</p> + +<p>"Was the kiss given with intention?" asked one of the +most dialectical youths. "No? Then it was as if it had +not been given."</p> + +<p>Nuñez assented gravely, being a little irritated, and eyeing +his future sister-in-law with some misgiving.</p> + +<p>But she declined to surrender to such self-evident +demonstrations, and continued to request, each time more +violently and in a higher key, that her younger sister might +have a little shame, and her señor father a little feeling. +But as nobody appeared with these requisites in their hands, +to comply with these requests, there was nothing for it but +to go on lowering her diapason until her angry protestations +were gradually transformed into a far-away mutter like the +sounds of distant thunder, and the party returned to its +normal state of calm.</p> + +<p>But the game of forfeits was over for that night. Nuncita, +who was generally the one for bright ideas, suggested that +they should play at <i>la boba</i> (the fool). I do not know why, +but this game had a particular attraction for the youngest of +the Señoritas de Meré. It is impossible to say what it was +that pleased the ex-fiancée of the Lieutenant Paniagua, when<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a> +she managed to get the fool on to any of her girl guests, +and what anxiety and concern she evinced when she had it +herself and could not get rid of it. Paco Gomez took the +pack of cards and took out the three knaves, then knowing +Nuncita's weakness, and wishing, according to his temperament, +to put her out a little, he made a sign to the others +that she had the knave, and all the guests soon became +a party to her keeping it. The result was that the "fool" +was nearly always in the hands of "the child," and try as +she would, no efforts could relieve her of it. This, in spite +of her natural gentleness, finally enraged her. The party +laughed, and so did she, but more with her lips than her heart. +At last, in a moment of anger, she dashed down the cards +and declared she would not play any more. Carmelita, +seeing such an act of discourtesy, intervened severely as +was her custom in any case of insubordination.</p> + +<p>"What temper is this? Wherefore this madness? What +will these gentlemen think? They will say, and rightly, +that you have no education, and that our family has not +known how to bring you up. Now, take the cards at +once."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to."</p> + +<p>"What! what do you say, stupid? You—you are mad. +Was there ever such a wayward creature? Ta—take up +the cards at once."</p> + +<p>Anger made her stutter so much that only incoherent +sounds proceeded from her toothless mouth.</p> + +<p>"Hum!" muttered Nuncita as she twisted her lips into +a sulky pout.</p> + +<p>"Child, don't enrage me!" cried her elder sister.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to, I don't want to," repeated the obstinate +creature with decision.</p> + +<p>And at the same time she dragged her reluctant feet into +the other room.</p> + +<p>But her sister immediately followed with the severest and +most authoritative demeanour imaginable, prepared to<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a> +correct that beginning of rebellion which in time might +lead to most fatal consequences. A sound of dispute +was heard, the sharp angry voice of Carmelita was +raised, then it toned down, became more persuasive +and reasoning, until it regained its normal suavity, +as the echo of a sob reached the ears of the guests. +Finally, at the end of some time, Carmelita reappeared +with a slower step than her sister, with her eyes blazing +with authority, and the majestic attitude befitting those +who dictate laws to the beings Providence has confided +to their care. "The child" came behind ashamed +and submissive, with inflamed cheeks and tearful eyes. +She reseated herself at the table without daring to raise +her eyes to her elder sister, who still regarded her with +a certain severity, humbly took up the cards, and began +to play again. But instead of this touching example +of respect and submission making a grave impression +on the onlookers, it provoked a smile of amusement on +almost all their faces, and there emanated from some of them +inopportune bursts of laughter that were only repressed with +difficulty.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the game did not last long. The hour +approached for the select party to disperse.</p> + +<p>"Maria Josefa, I saw your godchild at the promenade +to-day," said Paco Gomez, as he absently shuffled the cards. +"I gave it a kiss. She gets prettier every day. How old +is it now?"</p> + +<p>"You can calculate. We had it baptised in February. +Two and a half months."</p> + +<p>"Was it with its mother?" asked Manuel Antonio, smiling +in a peculiar way.</p> + +<p>"No! I met the mother afterwards in Altavilla and +exchanged a remark with her," he gravely returned with +assumed naturalness.</p> + +<p>The greater part of the guests looked at him with a smile, +and with an expression of reserved malice that surprised<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a> +Fernanda. Only the two Señoritas de Meré and Garnet +remained unconcerned without taking any notice of the +conversation.</p> + +<p>"But what godchild of yours are they talking about—of +the baby adopted by the Quiñones?" asked the heiress of +Estrada-Rosa of Maria Josefa.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, how are they speaking of its mother?"</p> + +<p>"Because these two have an evil tongue. God keep us +from that!" returned the old maid, also smiling with malicious +pleasure, and at the same time looking at the young girl +with the pitiful kindness accorded to innocent creatures.</p> + +<p>"But who do they suppose is its mother?"</p> + +<p>"Who could it be?—Amalia!—Silence!" she added +hastily, lowering her voice.</p> + +<p>Fernanda was stupefied. The news was so new and +surprising to her that she kept her eyes fixed on her friend +as if she had not heard. In the excitement of the moment +she had not heard the first words of Paco, but only thought +it was a question of his being warm in his praise of the +beauty of the child.</p> + +<p>"It belongs to those it likens," murmured the Magpie +of Sierra, with the same intentional malignity. "Yes, +it is like its mother—and its father. Its father was a fine +boy."</p> + +<p>Fernanda, a sudden prey to overwhelming curiosity, +insane curiosity that urged her on, agitated and breathless +without her knowing why, bent again towards Maria Josefa, +and putting her mouth to her ear, she asked in an agitated +voice:</p> + +<p>"But who is its father?"</p> + +<p>The old maid turned towards her, and fixed her eyes +upon her with an expression of surprise mingled with the +aforesaid indulgent compassion.</p> + +<p>"But don't you really know?"</p> + +<p>The girl made a sign in the negative, and at the same<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a> +time she felt overwhelmed by terrible emotion. A cold +chill swept suddenly through her inner being. Pale as +death, she hung on the lips of Maria Josefa as if her sentence +of life or death depended on them. Her excitement was +quite evident to the lady, and after looking at her fixedly +for a minute she said:</p> + +<p>"No! I won't tell you. What is the good? Perhaps it +is all a calumny."</p> + +<p>Fernanda instantly regained her self-possession.</p> + +<p>"All right!" she returned, with a gesture of displeasure; +"be silent, for after all what has all this to do with me?"</p> + +<p>This gesture wounded the old maid, who quickly returned +with a malicious smile:</p> + +<p>"But it is precisely because it does concern you that I am +afraid to tell you."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand."</p> + +<p>Maria Josefa bent towards her and said:</p> + +<p>"Because they say that the father of the creature is +Luis."</p> + +<p>As she had anticipated the blow, Fernanda remained unmoved, +and asked her with indifference:</p> + +<p>"What Luis?"</p> + +<p>"The count, girl."</p> + +<p>"And why should it concern me that Luis is the father?"</p> + +<p>Maria Josefa was somewhat disconcerted at this question.</p> + +<p>"Because he was your betrothed."</p> + +<p>"But as he is not so now," she returned, with a scornful +shrug of the shoulders.</p> + +<p>And then she begun talking to Garnet, who was on her +other side, but the indifference was only put on from pride. +An inexplicable penetrating sadness fell upon her soul, and +took complete possession of her without leaving her power +to think or do anything.</p> + +<p>If Garnet had not been such a mere animal he would have +seen directly that the smile with which she listened to his +uncultured, rough conversation was only a stereotyped one<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a> +without any expression whatever, and that the monosyllables +and incoherent replies that fell from her lips showed very +clearly that she was not listening to him, but to Paco Gomez, +Manuel Antonio, and the others, as they went on chattering +about the foundling child.</p> + +<p>With what interest did she catch every word that these +busybodies interchanged. And as they went on making +the fact clear with increasing details, intermixing joking +remarks and funny inuendos, there was a tightening at her +heart, and it gradually contracted as if they were all +compressing it in their hands one after the other to hurt her, +but her face remained calm, and not the slightest contraction +showed the pain she was suffering.</p> + +<p>The party broke up at twelve as usual, and it was a great +comfort to Fernanda to breathe the cool, damp, night air. +She longed to be alone with her thoughts and think over +what she had just heard.</p> + +<p>It had rained a good deal. The streets, paved with flat +stones, shone in the light of the lanterns. On leaving the +house some took the lower road, and others, amongst +whom was Fernanda, went off in the direction of the plaza. +They had only gone a few steps when they heard the loud +trotting of some horses that had that instant come round +the corner, and were bearing down upon them.</p> + +<p>"Ah! here is the Baron and his servant," said Manuel +Antonio.</p> + +<p>It was, in fact, the hour in which the eccentric Baron took +his habitual ride through the streets of Lancia. His famous +horse was pirouetting as usual, and making such a noise that +although his servant's steed was much more quiet, it seemed +as if a squadron were going through the town.</p> + +<p>As they passed the party Manuel Antonio, with his usual +forwardness, cried out, "Good night, Baron." But he +only turned his awful face towards them, looked at them +fixedly with his blood-shot eyes, and then proceeded without +a remark.<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a></p> + +<p>The Chatterbox abashed said:</p> + +<p>"Go on, drunk as usual!"</p> + +<p>They all pretended to look upon it as a joke, but at the +bottom they all more or less felt the same alarm on seeing +that sinister figure. Fernanda, as a woman, and in her +particular state of mind, was visibly affected, and after they +had passed she followed the two horses with eyes of terror +until they were lost in the darkness.</p> + +<p>On retiring to bed, with her wounded heart, she wished +to analyse the emotion which swayed her, and to trace it +back to the cause. She felt ashamed of herself. Her pride +made her cry out with rage in a loud voice:</p> + +<p>"What have these bad goings on to do with me? What +have I to do with him or her?"</p> + +<p>But hardly had she uttered these words than she felt the +scalding tears upon her cheeks, and the heiress of Estrada-Rosa +quickly turned and hid her face, suffused with blushes, +in the pillows.<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h3> + +<p class="head">THE INCREASE OF THE CONTINGENT</p> + + +<p class="nind">T<span class="smcap">he</span> terrible difficulties that were to arise with the marriage +of Emilita, on account of the anti-bellicose opinions of her +father, were got over with more facility than could have +been expected.</p> + +<p>History will not speak (although it could with more +reason than it does of many events) of that solemn day +when Nuñez had to go in proper form and ask Don +Cristobal for the hand of his daughter, of the memorable +embrace with which the latter received him, clasping him +warmly to his civil breast with that incredible fusion of +two heterogeneous elements created to repel each other, +and the artless graces of the sweet coy angel are taken for +granted and understood. If this particular page were +the subject for any historian, he could not abstain from +drawing attention to the extreme importance of such concord, +which until then had been considered impossible, +and at the same time he would impartially show the +reverse side of the picture, laying before future generations +the way the maligned patrician, Don Cristobal Mateo, was +the victim of a social injustice, and of the persecution of +his brother citizens.</p> + +<p>It must be said that all the world in Lancia thought +themselves entitled to joke this respectable and ancient +functionary on the marriage of his daughter, sometimes +directly, sometimes indirectly, but whenever the matter was +referred to, allusion was made to the antagonistic opinions<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a> +he had hitherto held on the abolition of the land forces. +The marriage was called the increase of the contingent, +and some were impertinent enough to give it that name +before his future son-in-law.</p> + +<p>One can easily conceive what it cost him to give up a +tiresome and ill-judged fad.</p> + +<p>But in spite of all the diatribes and murmurs of the +neighbours, that hurt Mateo's feelings more than they +affected his good humour, and in spite of the envy that +burned in the majority of hearts, the increase of the contingent +was to be consummated.</p> + +<p>The time fixed for the auspicious occasion was the +month of August. By that time it had acquired such importance +that, as generally happens in little places, hardly +anything else was talked of. The relations of the Pensioner, +and his four daughters were numberless, and they all expected +to be invited on the day of the marriage. And +then, on the other side, some of the worthy and punctilious +officers of the battalion of Pontevedra, friends of the bridegroom, +were filled with the same desire.</p> + +<p>As it was not possible to entertain so many people in the +poetic dwelling of the Pensioner, they thought of celebrating +the marriage in the country. The house most fitting for +the occasion, by reason of its proximity to the town, was +the Grange.</p> + +<p>Don Cristobal made the request to the count, with +whom he and his daughters were on very friendly terms, +and he immediately placed it at his disposal. The happy +union, the safe pledge of peace between the civil and +military elements, was celebrated early in the day at the +church of San Rafael. Fray Diego performed the ceremony, +as he enjoyed great prestige among the officers for +being the strangest priest and the most inveterate toper of +the capital. More than twenty ladies, and almost as many +gentlemen, assisted at the service. That over, they all +resorted to the Grange to spend the day there. Carriages<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a> +were not required to go to a place so near the town. But +they had the Count of Onis and the Quiñones' to convey +the bride and bridegroom, and a few elderly people like +the two Señoritas de Meré. The guests included almost +all the Grandee's party, several of that of the de Merés, and +a good number of officers.</p> + +<p>The count had the old house arranged as well as +possible. It was as well known to almost everybody as +their own homes, for being so near the town, and having +such a beautiful wood, it was the best place for <i>fêtes champêtres</i>, +and the counts had never refused permission for +these occasions. When they had arrived and enjoyed the +chocolate, which was waiting for them in the large room, +paved with brick on the ground floor, which served as +dining-room, they dispersed without ceremony over the +house and about the estate, prepared to kill the time as +well as they could until the bell rang for dinner.</p> + +<p>The bride, with Amalia, who had been her bridesmaid, +and two other ladies sat quietly in one of the rooms. Her +eyes were shining, her cheeks red, and it was in vain that +she tried to conceal the deep emotion she was feeling +under a dignified and serious demeanour.</p> + +<p>Those in her company, who were all married, caressed +her incessantly, passed their hands over her hair, gave her +little pats on the cheeks, and sometimes took her by the +hands and impressed a kiss on her forehead, with the half +tender, half ironical condescension evinced by the long +experienced to the novices in matrimony. There is not +one who does not feel at the sight of a bride the echo of +certain distant music in her heart, the taste of the honey of +the remote moon comes to her lips; but it comes, alas! +with the bitter taste of several years of matrimonial prose. +In every married woman there is a poet disillusioned of his +muse. Hence the Byronic smile on her face at the sight +of the happiness shining in the eyes of a bride.</p> + +<p>Emilita had changed her character in a quarter of an<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a> +hour. All the playfulness and sprightliness she had +hitherto displayed was now changed to gravity and +sedateness. She talked wisely with the matrons, her +companions, about starting the larder, about domestic +servants, who were considered by all to be dreadfully +going down, and the price of meat. She seemed +to have grown so old in this quarter of an hour that +it was surprising not to see some silver threads in +her golden hair. To turn to her sisters, they, in strange +contrast, seemed to have lost some years since the investiture +of the younger one. They had gone back to childhood. +Like creatures longing to disport themselves in the +light and air, the three rushed into the wood, making the +silence that reigned there ring with their voices and innocent +shouts of laughter. <i>Virgen del Amporo</i>! how they +jumped! how they laughed! What impish tricks those little +mad things were up to! For the greater enjoyment of the +innocent games that their youthful retrogression demanded, +they threw off their mantillas, let their hair loose, took off +their gloves, cast aside fan and parasol, did all that +youth could suggest, and were as pranksome as any children. +Not only was their angelic hair allowed to float +upon their shoulders, but they took off watches, rings, and +bracelets and handed them to papa, taking him by the +collar to give him a thousand caresses, like bright and +affectionate children as they were. Then, seeing that some +of the officers of the battalion were looking at them, they +turned red and confused, pinned up their skirts until the +foot and part of the leg was visible, and then ran through +the wood, avoiding, like the nymphs of Diana, the ardent +glances of the officers.</p> + +<p>And when they reached a distant solitary spot, where +the shadows deepened, and they were beyond the reach of +mundane noises and malicious eyes of men, they shouted +with delight like God's little birds to their companions to +come and enjoy the delightful quiet where they could display<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a> +their charms and enjoy themselves without fear of being +surprised. Then one proposed to play at skipping and the rest +acceded, clapping their hands. Jovita was the first. Jump, +jump, until she fell on the grass in a state of exhaustion, +pressing her hand to her heart that palpitated with fatigue, +not with the insane agitation of youthful passions. Then +another jumped, and then another, until they were all +exhausted but merry, their rosy cheeks and bright eyes +showing the pleasant happiness accruing to an innocent +mind. When tired of this they proposed the game of "Let +them give unto the kite a little onion with the mite." +What laughter and merriment ensued! How the quiet +wood echoed with the silvery voices of those beautiful, +delicate creatures! Wearied of this game they dispersed +for a little. A few formed a group seated at the foot of the +trunk of an oak, and went in for the pleasant enjoyment of +recounting in a low voice a thousand puerilities; others +went in with enthusiasm for the search of little blue flowers, +with which they made chains to deck themselves with; +others ran after each other like swallows in the air uttering +piercing screams the while. The steadier ones devoted +their efforts to catching grasshoppers and other timid insects. +But they soon reassembled, for a very daring girl proposed +climbing a tree if they helped her; and another one said +Yes, she would help her. So bear a hand! the spirited girl, +who was named Consuelo, set about putting her little feet +in the most accessible branches. The wayward companion, +who was no other than Socorro, the third of the Pensioner's +sirens, helped her. Consuelo finally climbed to where two +branches crossed, from thence she got on to another, +and all the nymphs applauded, and shouted with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>But lo and behold! Rubio, the lieutenant of the Third, a +man known among his companions in arms as a genius in +the art of enslaving the opposite sex, suddenly raised his +bold head above the bushes. The nymphs, on seeing him,<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a> +uttered a piercing cry, and stood petrified in the act in +which he had surprised them. Consuelo, from the top of +the tree, apostrophised him violently. If it had been in her +power she would have immediately transformed that new +Actæon into a stag. But there, <i>entre nous</i>, it is possible that +she would have preferred first to transform him into a husband, +regardless of a more exact rendering of the classical +metamorphosis.</p> + +<p>But Rubio, the lieutenant of the Third, knew perfectly +well what these shrieks and apostrophisings were worth. +He was not put out, he smiled maliciously, and called with +a rough voice to his brothers in arms. What confusion! +What terror among those merry daughters of the +wood as the sons of Mars approached in a closed line! +Without picking up their mantillas, gloves or parasols, +nothing, in short, that belonged to them, they fled through +the plantation uttering cries of terror. But the satyrs in red +trousers willingly followed them, caught them up, and took +them captive with hateful laughter. In the meanwhile poor +Consuelo, besieged by three of these bold satyrs, simply +declined to come down until they went fifty yards off. But +they, the cruel creatures, they refused. The nymph +entreated, got angry, and was on the point of crying, but +neither her anger nor her tears could soften the stony hearts +of the infamous satyrs. At last she resigned herself to +coming down, and although she took many modest precautions, +they managed to see a foot charmingly shod, and a +suspicion of leg, which made them roar with delight. +But where was Rubio? Where was the most terrible and +fiercest of all? They did not know, but at the end of some +time he appeared from the glade, bringing with him +Socorro, the most sentimental of Don Cristobal's undines. +His cruel features bore an expression of triumph, and hers +evinced the shame and submission of a captive. Many +hours later, near midnight, seated at a table of the Café +Marañón, and surrounded by eight or ten of his companions,<a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a> +the lieutenant of the Third related with a malevolent smile +his conquest of the nymph, calculating that he had +managed to imprint at least twenty-five or thirty kisses on +different parts of her bewitching face, and all the sons +of Mars applauded and celebrated this fresh triumph +of their heroic companion with Homeric shouts of +laughter.</p> + +<p>Finally the conquerors modified their tyranny, and order +was re-established, thanks to the opportune arrival of the +Señoritas de Meré, who appeared with Maria Josefa and +Paco Gomez. The little ladies, the only ones, in fact, to +whom the matrimonial event was due, had turned over their +boxes for a befitting toilette for the occasion, and Carmelita +wore a dress of black bombazin, which only came out on +state occasions, whilst Nuncita, being younger and less +sedate, was able to wear a clear dress bordered with flowers, +such as are only seen in pictures of the past century. They +were very cheerful, satisfaction shone in their eyes, but their +legs were not equal to the eternal youth of their hearts; +they supported themselves on sticks, and leant with their +free hands on the arms of their companions. They were +received with cheers and hurrahs. Many rude jokes +were levelled at them, to which nobody assented more +willingly nor laughed more heartily than the little saints of +Meré, so there was little merit in quizzing them. They were +never seen to be cross with their friends, and so fun was +pushed so far with them that it sometimes bordered on +coarseness; but they were very prone to intestine warfare, +and to get cross with each other; however, we know the +leading feature of these performances.</p> + +<p>The bold spirit of Lieutenant Rubio, sharpened, by the +circumstances, conceived a most happy idea; he thought +the best way of passing the time until the dinner-hour +would be to construct a swing in which the ladies could be +pulled backwards and forwards for some minutes by the +gentlemen, who would have the pleasure of managing the<a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a> +apparatus. No sooner said than done. Ropes were found, +a board was cut, in less than a quarter of an hour everything +was in order. Whilst the arrangements were being completed, +Rubio kept on giving expressive winks to his +companions, who understood, smiled, held their tongues, +and greatly admired the audacity and penetration of the +lieutenant of the Third. The swing was now fixed. Who is +to be the first? They all evinced the same shame, and the +same colour suffused their cheeks. One mischievously +thought of suggesting Nuncita. The rest applauded the idea. +Nuncita held back in dismay. Carmelita neither conceded, +nor withheld her permission. The entreaties were repeated +on all sides.</p> + +<p>The young men seemed each minute to be more taken +with the idea. At last, almost by force, and amid the +frantic applause of the party, Cuervo, the herculean cornet +of the First, took the "child" up in his arms and seated +her on the board.</p> + +<p>"Hold tight, Nuncia!" cried Paco Gomez, whilst the +aforesaid cornet and some other friends began to swing her.</p> + +<p>"Gently! gently!" exclaimed Carmelita.</p> + +<p>No fear; they were careful because they were afraid she +would fall. But, carefully as they moved the swing, the air +gradually began gently to raise her skirts. The officers +laughed and went on with the swing until there was quite +an exhibition.</p> + +<p>"Go it! go it!"</p> + +<p>The girls, with mingled amusement and shame, hid their +faces, fell into each other's arms, and whispered into each +other's ears.</p> + +<p>"Stop! stop, gentlemen!" cried Carmelita.</p> + +<p>Nobody took any notice. The "child's" clothes went +higher and higher. One did not know where they would stop.</p> + +<p>"Stop! stop! por Dios, señor cadet!"</p> + +<p>"Go it with her!" cried the soldiers.</p> + +<p>And the swing went quicker and quicker, and Nun<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>cita +was so frightened that she had no time to think of +modesty.</p> + +<p>"Señor cadet! señor captain!" cried Carmelita all +trembling, waving her arms, with her lower jaw distended, +beating against the upper one, which was also distended, +with a strange trembling. "Señor captain, stop, por Dios! +For the love of the Holy Virgin! Stop! stop! stop!"</p> + +<p>"So-o-o!" exclaimed Paco.</p> + +<p>But the captain was obdurate and would not leave off. +The skirts of Nuncita were now as high as they could go. +The young girls turned their backs, and some ran laughing +to hide themselves among the trees. It was only when the +officers had completed their shameless act that they gave in +and allowed Nuncita to get down. Her sister, instead of +being angry with the guilty ones, flew upon "the child" full +of fury, with her eyes flaming with rage.</p> + +<p>"Get down, you bad girl! you shameless creature! Is +this the education you learnt from your parents? Is this +what the confessor tells you to do?"</p> + +<p>Nuncita, quite upset, puckered up her face and began to +cry.</p> + +<p>The young men and women tried to calm the infuriated +Carmelita. The captain and the cadet took all the blame. +It was in vain. The anger was not appeased until it had +vented itself in many violent and offensive remarks. The +poor "child," seated sobbing on the ground with her face +hid in her hands, excited the compassion of all present, +who interceded for her incessantly.</p> + +<p>It was then a question as to who was to get up into the +swing next? Nobody wished to, which was very natural. +How could one be swung by such bold, shameless men? +It was in vain that soldiers and civilians explained their +conduct in the past event, and solemnly swore not to do it +again, but to be orderly and prudent and always under the +ladies' orders. But they were not to be trusted. The +lieutenant Rubio especially inspired them with a great<a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a> +terror as they considered him, and not without reason, as +the instigator of all the shameless tricks.</p> + +<p>But when they were quite at their wits' end, lo! and behold +Consuelo, the brave, determined child, who shortly before +had climbed the tree, whispered to one of her companions, +came forward and said, to the horror of the other girls:</p> + +<p>"I will do it. Help me, gentlemen."</p> + +<p>A cry of enthusiasm greeted these spirited words. For +some instants nothing was heard but "Viva Consuelo! viva +Consuelo!" from the delighted company. There was not +one that did not wish to help her and load her with flowers +and presents. The athletic cadet, with a knightly air, +knelt on one knee and asked her to place her foot on the +other. The intrepid girl, nothing loth, consented, and with +one spring she was on the seat. Both soldiers and civilians +thought they were in luck's way. They exchanged looks +of intelligence, they had no intention of keeping their word, +and they were determined to repay the girl's confidence +with the blackest treason. But when they were getting the +apparatus ready and preparing to execute their malicious +design, Consuela made a sign to her friend, who immediately +came forward with a handful of pins and fastened her skirts +together in such a way that even when the swing moved the +point of her foot could not be seen.</p> + +<p>The weaker sex applauded with mad enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Good, Consuelo! good!"</p> + +<p>The men, vexed and defeated as they were, dared not +protest too much, but they complained of her want of confidence, +whilst the maiden herself, proud of the feat, looked +at them with a smile of derision. The pins were such a +success that no girl got up into the swing without prudently +having her skirts pinned together.</p> + +<p>Whilst such memorable scenes were being enacted in the +wood Jaime Moro, scorning rural pleasures, tried to get +Fray Diego and Don Juan Estrada-Rosa to make up a +party for a game of <i>tresillo</i>.<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a></p> + +<p>He was bored in church, he was bored in the woods, in +the town, and in the country. He only recovered his +serenity of mind, and regained his equanimity and cheerfulness +of spirits, when he took the cards into his hand. Fate +was against him. There were no cards in the house. But +he did not give in. He went down into the kitchen, called +a servant aside who looked sharp and active, and giving +him a <i>pourboire</i>, he told him to run to the town and get a +couple of packets of cards. In the meanwhile he was +strenuous in his efforts to entertain his companions, chatting +away on subjects most interesting to them, and, above all, +trying to conciliate Don Juan, who showed a decided tendency +to go off and take a turn in the grounds and pay +a visit to the mill like the other guests. Moro was at his +wits' end, fearing he would not hold out till the servant's +return, but happily he arrived in time. Directly he +held in his hands the much-desired cards he was another +man. Secure now of victory, he dragged off his friends to +one of the quiet rooms of the house, had a square table +brought, candles, beer, cigars, and there they were!</p> + +<p>After such a narrow shave of losing it, Jaime Moro +enjoyed his pleasure with a gusto that was enviable. A +large number of shallower people, without sufficient imagination +to understand or enjoy the delights of <i>tresillo</i>, had +gone off, with the Pensioner as their guide, to take a turn +round the place, and afterwards to visit the new-fashioned +mill which the count had had erected a short time ago.</p> + +<p>Captain Nuñez, the bridegroom, with a few of his friends +who were less partial to the feminine sex, such as Garnet, +Don Enrique, Saleta, Manin, and a few others, were of the +party. They could not get the count to go because he +was not to be found. It was said he was giving orders to +the men and surveying some works a little way off, but he +was not anywhere about. However, a capable sort of half +majordomo volunteered to act as guide.</p> + +<p>The property was situated on the decline of the same<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a> +hill as that on which Lancia is built. At the back of the +house there was a wood that shut out the view of the town, +so that although it was so near it seemed as if it were a +hundred miles away; at the same time it protected it +against the north and west winds, only leaving it exposed to +the gentle breezes from the south and east. The noises of +the town did not penetrate as far as there; only the bells of +the cathedral muffled by the distance sounded sweetly at +certain hours of the day. The high road goes behind the +wood. Another little one branching from it brought it into +communication with the estate. As we know, there was no +park <i>à l'Anglais</i> here, or <i>au Français</i>, no little gardens, or +cascades, or artificial grottoes. It was a property half for +amusement, half for work. First came the wood, then the +house with its courtyard, then a large deserted garden, and +then immense meadows extending along the skirt of the hill +as far as the river and even to the opposite bank. Sheep +graze in these meadows, and the tinkling of their bells with +the barking of the dogs are heard. It is easy to imagine that +you are in the bosom of solitary nature, so profound is the +peace, only broken by the song of a bird or the moo of a cow.</p> + +<p>The excursionists went through the stables that were in +good order, for the count was much interested in the cattle. +Nevertheless, Saleta affirmed that he had seen much better +in Holland, and one or two coarse incidents were here +given to show the care of the Dutch in this respect. When +they had been over the stables, they took the road across +the fields and went down to the river, adorned on either +side with alder trees and poplars, which formed at intervals +a thick coppice, under which the river made its dark and +gloomy way. The Loro is one of the smallest, and yet one +of the most original rivers in Spain. Before arriving at the +sea, "to die" as the poet says, it makes as many twists and +turns as any crafty old fellow, who tries to evade the law to +which all created beings are subject. It is impossible to +imagine a more capricious stream. It sallies forth, brave<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a> +and buoyant, as if it were going on for miles straight away +to the ocean. But after a quarter of a mile it stops, turns, +and meanders back nearly to where it started from, which +gives some cause for thinking that it is going to take a +higher course. It then starts afresh, not willingly, but by +force of circumstances; this time it is lost to view, and +everybody thinks it will never reappear, but it is not so. +When the sly fox knows that he cannot be seen from the +town, he sets about returning to it, but for shame's sake he +makes a little détour, and stays a short while at some +village near the same district. It never takes a frank and +open course. Like all depraved characters it abhors the +light, and takes every opportunity of avoiding trouble, by +hiding under bushes, where it stops and grows corrupt in +degrading idleness. Nobody can trust it. Many fine +young men have been deceived by it seeming like an old +rheumatic invalid, incapable of taking a step, and following +its invitation to bathe where they were made to think it was +only about a foot and a half deep, they were miserably +drowned in its slimy depths.</p> + +<p>In this river there were no naiads of celestial beauty ready +to cleave the crystal waters with their alabaster arms, and +no gracious undines with fair hair to come forth at night +and play upon the surface.</p> + +<p>The river Loro is gloomy, inimical to all poetic fancy, +no fantastic figures hover there. The only thing it seems +to take pleasure in harbouring is a vast quantity of frogs, so +large that it makes one giddy to think that a number of +them can live together, and the banks resound with the +cheerful sound of their harmonious voices, which thundering +sound prevented Saleta declaring, as he did when a +little distance off, that when on the banks of the Yumuri on +a certain evening, he was lucky enough to kill a crocodile +with a stone. 'Tis true that under the piercing glance of +his colleague Valero, he hastily added that the crocodile +was quite young and only had one row of teeth.<a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a></p> + +<p>They went for some distance along the gloomy bank of +the Loro and crossed it by a rustic bridge, where the count +had had it turned from its course by means of an aqueduct +to work a mill. But just then a sudden desire seized the +friends of the bridegroom, who were genuine representatives +of the most vigorous and masculine element of the +battalion, to show off the strength and muscular power of +their legs. A lieutenant jumped the aqueduct. A captain, +to be in no way behind the subaltern, did the same, but he +got his feet wet. His <i>amour propre</i> being excited, he took +off his coat and jumped it again easily. The others did the +same. The scene then assumed the appearance of the +Olympian games, or still more those of the famous +American display. But Nuñez was a great jumper. He +was well known in all the army, especially in the infantry, +as an adept in this art. He jumped three or four times +with the greatest ease; but naturally wishing to surpass his +companions, and give a striking proof of his skill, he +affirmed in a scornful tone that that was nothing, and that +he was capable of jumping the aqueduct backwards. These +words were received with respect by his colleagues, but +also with a silence which the captain took for sceptical. +He did not divest himself of a particle of his uniform, such +courses were only for neophytes, but took a leap, and +arriving at the edge of the water, turned and jumped, but +unfortunately his feet were caught in some rushes and he fell +flat into the stream. He was hidden for a moment from +the sight of his friends, and came up puffing and blowing +like a regular triton, saying that it was nothing, and that he +was going to jump again to show them how it could be +done. But his father-in-law would not allow it. He +passed his hands over his body to see if he were wet, as of +course he was, and then a prey to the wildest agitation, he, +who a short while since would have exterminated the whole +army completely, set to bawling:</p> + +<p>"He must change his things! Now, at once!—Inflam<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>mation +of the lungs!—Change his things!—Shivers!—Rheumatic +fever!"</p> + +<p>And other exclamations more or less coherent that gave +proof of his profound interest in the officer's health.</p> + +<p>In spite of his martial calling, Nuñez acceded to the +entreaties, and turned back to the house with his face +frowning and furious, fully resolved to undress as far as his +underthings, and go to bed whilst they sent to Lancia for +a change of clothes. All his friends crowded round him, +and so they arrived at the house.</p> + +<p>Emilita, who was at the window, seeing them come along +like this, asked in surprise:</p> + +<p>"What is this?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," cried Papa, "but Nuñez fell into the aqueduct."</p> + +<p>On hearing these words, Emilita naturally uttered a +shriek of horror, and fell senseless into the arms of several +ladies. Nuñez, transformed into a hero, forgetting his own +health, ran to her assistance. In a few moments the place +was filled with glasses of water, and two or three bottles of +anti-spasmodic appeared upon the scene. When she began +to recover consciousness and the critical moment of tears +arrived, her sister Micaela, no longer able to control herself, +attacked her father violently:</p> + +<p>"This has been an act of cruelty! Do you think your +daughter has a heart of bronze? You must indeed be +deficient in tact to hurt a poor creature like this!"</p> + +<p>The poor creature repaid the defence with an affectionate +look as she gave her her hand. The Pensioner, being then +reduced to the last stage of humility, scarcely dared to +murmur, that seeing that Nuñez was at her side, there was +no cause for so much concern.</p> + +<p>The ladies thought that Micaela had been disrespectful +to her father, but they could not do less than admit that it +had been a blunder, and they were full of sympathy for the +unhappy bride.<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h3> + +<p class="head">FERNANDA AND THE WINE</p> + + +<p class="nind">F<span class="smcap">ernanda</span> was not present at any of these scenes. Early +in the day she had resorted to the wood, but soon tiring of +playing the part of modest nymph with her friends, she +wandered off to more solitary places. Her head, generally +so erect, was bowed under the weight of depression or +preoccupation; her flexible, supple figure moved from side +to side like the body of a bedouin; those dark African eyes, +the most precious ornament of the noble city of Lancia, +were fixed upon the ground, and the very deep line on her +forehead testified to the fixed, gloomy drift of her thoughts.</p> + +<p>How much she had gone through these two months! +The impression that her love for the count had made in +her heart, checked at first by pride and the hope of having +it returned, had full sway directly she discovered the secret +of his disaffection, and her whole being became possessed +with the passions of love and jealousy. These feelings +were all the more acute, inasmuch as she clearly saw that +she had long been deceived by Luis, who had feigned +affection for her whilst his heart was given to another.</p> + +<p>The miserable treachery of Amalia enraged her and +inspired her with horror and exasperation. But that of the +count, it must be confessed, added poignancy to her grief +and depth to her passion.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless she knew how to maintain the same friendly +relations; but in spite of herself, and without her even +being conscious of it, a slight shade of bitterness and scorn<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a> +betrayed itself at times either in her manner, eyes, or tone, +which did not escape the attention of the sharp Valencian.</p> + +<p>With her <i>ex-fiancé</i> she retained a circumspect demeanour; +she dropped the aggressive tone she had taken with +him, and adopted a more suave and formal manner, but to +her vexation, the emotion she experienced when speaking to +him was not unfrequently revealed by a slight alteration in +her voice, and by her turning alternately red and white. +Her inner life during those six months was devoured by a +feverish, anxious, uncertain activity, veiled with difficulty +under a tranquil, proud demeanour. At times she could +not bear the tension of the dumb rage which possessed her, +and it vented itself in a torrent of burning, insulting words, +which were uttered in a low voice, when she surprised any +sign of intelligence between the traitors. Her ardent, +proud nature, flattered by a father who indulged her to a +fault, and by a score of adorers prostrate at her feet, +rebelled like a wild colt against this obstacle, the first she +had ever encountered in her life.</p> + +<p>In these moments of frenzy she fostered ideas of revenge. +She wrote several anonymous letters to Don Pedro, but +none arrived at their destination, for she tore them up +before posting them, because the pride, that was one of her +characteristics, revolted against such a low proceeding; and +they were destroyed with bitter tears of anger. After +tearing up the last that she wrote she had reason to be glad +of her course of action, for she casually learnt that very +evening, that no letter reached Quiñones without first +passing through the hands of his wife.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, unable to bear it any longer, she would throw +herself into an armchair where she remained for a long time +with her eyes fixed, in deep and miserable meditation. At +these moments she was a prey to sudden fits of tenderness, +she confessed without shame, nay even with voluptuous +enjoyment, the love that she felt; she pardoned Luis with +all her heart, and vowed to love him all her life long in<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a> +silence and never to belong to another man. As days went +by this feeling increased and took the form of a morbid, +irrational desire. The excitement of her feelings, which +took possession of her whole being, combined with the +bitterness of wounded self-love, fostered this same desire. +There was little wanting when she saw Luis at her side to +make her open her heart to him and confess the passion that +consumed her.</p> + +<p>Hardly conscious of what she was doing, Fernanda +sought for her <i>ex-fiancé</i> all over the place. Everything +interested her; the wood, the house, the servants, even the +animals grazing in the meadows were accorded a sympathetic +glance. How pleasant even that tumble-down +house corroded with damp and mice seemed to her! After +wandering for some time through the most solitary parts of +the wood, she absently made her way to the meadows; +there she went along until she came to a certain spot where +there were some workmen making a ditch to drain the land. +She knew without inquiring that the count after inspecting +the work for some time had gone off. She waited for a +little while to divert attention, and then she went on with a +slow step dragging her parasol along the ground like one +who is uncertain where to go next. In fact she did not +know, but that was not for want of an object, but because +she knew not where the count was. A cruel idea floated in +her brain without taking form—she fancied that Luis at that +moment might be alone with Amalia. By degrees, as she +walked through the fields, the idea gained force, and the +stronger it grew, the more her heart was filled with spite +and anger. Why? was she not perfectly aware of their +criminal relations? Yes, and the more angry the idea +made her, the more determined she was not to stand it, for +she thought she had a right to prevent their being together. +Without having a clear notion of what she was about, she +quickened her step. Her nerves became more and more +agitated; by the time she arrived at the courtyard she was<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a> +perfectly certain that the adulterers were together, and +alone. She entered the house, and like one who visits it +from curiosity she explored it all, even to the most remote +little rooms. But she did not find them, and the fact of +not finding Amalia anywhere confirmed her suspicions. +Tired with hunting about, and excited with nervous anxiety, +she went again into the open air. She avoided people who +might detain her and repaired to the garden, and directly +she put her foot there she was imbued with fresh hope of +finding them. That verdant spot where the little trees left +to their own sweet will, were so interlaced as to form an +impenetrable mass was a perfect place for love passages. +She went cautiously and noiselessly along the paths which +had almost disappeared under their carpets of grass, intersected +in many places by brambles and branches of trees. +Sometimes a little clump of irises obstructed her path and +she was obliged to jump over it, or else a rhododendron, +stretching its boughs to embrace a camellia in front, had +formed a bower so low that she was obliged to bend a good +deal to get along. She thought she heard the sound of +voices a little distance off. She stood motionless and +waited for some minutes, and then she turned to listen, and +directed her steps to the spot whence it came.</p> + +<p>It was them! Yes, it was them.</p> + +<p>Before hearing the voice distinctly she knew it was them. +They were going down a path much narrower and more +secluded than the others, bounded on one side by the wall, +and on the other by a high, quickset hedge.</p> + +<p>Amalia had hold of the count's arm with an air that was +half imperious, half careless, with her eyes on the ground, +whilst he, smiling and subservient, bent towards her as he +whispered words into her ear. Fernanda watched them +through the foliage from a distance. Emotion glued her to +the ground for some instants. The awakening of her pride +as a woman seemed to outweigh her sense of misery and +anger.<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a></p> + +<p>After an anxious scrutiny of Amalia's appearance, she could +not forbear murmuring:</p> + +<p>"What can this man have fallen in love with? Yes, she +is a skinny cat!"</p> + +<p>Her next thought was:</p> + +<p>"What are they saying?"</p> + +<p>Seized with a strong desire to hear their words, and without +thinking of the danger that she ran, she went nearer +and nearer to the hedge, bending her body so as not to be +seen. Having found the shadiest, safest spot, she listened, +although she could only hear them as they passed by, as +soon as they were a little way off not a word was audible, +so the snatches of conversation were rather incoherent.</p> + +<p>"Her legs are very rough. You should see how fat she +is getting. Neither starch nor rose powder soothes the irritation +of the skin," said the lady.</p> + +<p>"They are talking of the baby," thought Fernanda.</p> + +<p>"I have never seen her in her bath. How much I would +give to be present one day!"</p> + +<p>"It is because you do not want to."</p> + +<p>"No, no, but I do not want to expose you to the danger +that would accrue from my doing so."</p> + +<p>No more could be heard, but she felt she must wait for +them to get to the end of the path and then turn.</p> + +<p>"So I hear you were at those childish, silly old ladies," +she heard Amalia say as they repassed her hiding-place.</p> + +<p>"I assure you I was at the Casino. All the members of +the club met to discuss the question of the re-decoration of +the <i>salon</i>. It was to be over at ten, and we did not get away +until twelve. You know the argumentative, aggressive character +of Don Juan, don't you? I have not been to the de +Merés for an age. Since some people set to——"</p> + +<p>The words were here lost again to Fernanda.</p> + +<p>That Don Juan must be her father? She would soon +find out.</p> + +<p>When they reappeared the count was tenderly caressing<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a> +the hand of his beloved, and smiling and chatting with an +expression of rapturous happiness.</p> + +<p>"I have often thought of giving up seeing you. At +night when I am alone in bed, I am a prey to terrible +remorse, and I say to myself, 'There must be an end of +this,' and I determine to leave Lancia, and I map out a +new plan of life: I imagine myself travelling over all +Europe; I forget you; I return at the end of some years, +and instead of the old love a tender friendship fills my +heart in which we can indulge without fear of Heaven's +chastisement. But as the morning dawns, these resolutions +vanish; I succumb to temptation; I see you at your house, +and the more I see you, the more I hear your adored +voice——"</p> + +<p>Fernanda clutched at the trunk of a magnolia for +support.</p> + +<p>As they turned, it was Amalia who was speaking:</p> + +<p>"This is not true. I have told you that I am always +haunted by a black shadow. However much I pretend to +imagine that I am the first——"</p> + +<p>"The first and the last! I shall never love another +woman but you."</p> + +<p>"You don't know how jealous I am of the past. Every +day more so. Tell the truth. Did you love her or +not?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then how could you——?"</p> + +<p>Fernanda could hear no more, but she had heard enough +to make the tears rush to her eyes. She was about to +withdraw, when she saw the traitors come to a standstill at +the end of the path.</p> + +<p>Amalia threw her arms around her lover's neck, pressed +her lips upon his mouth, and gave him a kiss that was +prolonged, prolonged for an eternity. Fernanda closed her +eyes; when she opened them they were going away hand in +hand.<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a></p> + +<p>She lets them leave the garden, and then follows them +immediately. Where are they going? Once in the courtyard, +she notices that they stop and turn in the direction of +the house. She enters on their track, but they have +disappeared, and she does not know to which room they +have repaired. She imprudently explores them all, overwhelmed +with emotion she cannot control, whilst given +over to a strong burning desire to find them out.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going, Fernanda?" asks a young man.</p> + +<p>"I am going to find the bride."</p> + +<p>"Then you are going wrong, for she is at the other end +of the house in one of the rooms looking north."</p> + +<p>She turned back to avoid suspicion, and then explored +the building again. At last she arrived at a certain little +room which was locked, and which was no other than the +celebrated Countess's Chamber. She was about to turn the +handle of the door as she had done to the others when a +slight sound rooted her to the spot. She put her ear to +the door. "It is them!"</p> + +<p>She left the place and ran like mad to the wood, where, +arrived at a solitary spot, she sits at the foot of a tree and +leans her head against the trunk. With her eyes fixed on +space, her face changed and sad, and her hands crossed +upon her knee, her whole attitude was expressive of dumb, +despairing agony.</p> + +<p>The hour for dinner arrived. Two parallel tables had +been arranged in the large <i>salon</i> on the ground floor.</p> + +<p>The dispersed party reassembled at the magic word of +dinner shouted to the four winds by the rough voice of +Manin and the silvery one of Manuel Antonio.</p> + +<p>When poetic sentiments have their course in the open air +in the middle of woods they greatly facilitate the secretion +of the gastric juices. So the nymphs as well as the fauns +did full justice to the olives, the cucumbers, and the slices +of sausage before sitting down to the tables. By the +unanimous voice of the military and clergy, worthily repre<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>sented +by Fray Diego, the task of giving each guest his seat +was to be undertaken by the bride.</p> + +<p>The merry, wayward Emilita, transformed suddenly into a +very grave matron, filled the office with a tact and amiability +that won her the approbation of the assembly; every +girl was given the youth she liked best as a partner, and to +every older person, was accorded the companion who was +most congenial in character and tastes.</p> + +<p>But mad was the applause when she put Lieutenant +Rubio between the two Señoritas de Meré. She left this +facetious act to the last, which cleverness saved the officer +from thinking it was intentional.</p> + +<p>Finding himself the victim of such a trick the military +man was put out, and was even on the point of protesting +against this arrangement of Emilita, but he controlled +himself against this outrage of all the laws of gallantry; and +as he was taking his place it occurred to him to parody the +words of Napoleon as he looked at his two neighbours: +"From the height of these two seats forty centuries contemplate +me."</p> + +<p>This remark won the applause of the company, and put +the injured creature into a good humour, and he got on so +well with his little old friends that he was that evening +voted a capital sort of fellow.</p> + +<p>Moro was seated by the side of the count, and during +the dinner he impressed on him the advantage of having a +billiard-table in the palace of the Grange. He knew every +make, but the best was indisputably that of Tutau of +Barcelona, and he praised up the article as if he were a +traveller for the house. Luis' face showed his disappointment +and vexation at not being by Amalia, but Emilita +neither dared to put him there, nor by Fernanda. The +first would have been a scandal, the second a vexation to +both.</p> + +<p>They feasted like at a banquet in the "Iliad." But the +Achilles of this extensive repast was Manin, the rough<a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a> +Manin who, according to those that were next to him, +consumed no less than eleven calabashes of wine. Certainly +Manin deserved being called, if not a Sueve, as that would +offend Saleta, at least a Lombard. He talked and halloed +as if he were in the street.</p> + +<p>The three Fates of the Pensioner, who from the time Fray +Diego gave his blessing to their sister, had gained so much +childish grace, threw pellets of bread at the officers, who +cast glances at the bride, and winked at their friend Nuñez, +as they murmured remarks which sent them off into fits of +laughter.</p> + +<p>Paco Gomez was having a battle royal with Maria Josefa. +It was difficult to say which of the two had the worst of it, +and which launched the sharpest, most envenomed darts. +Saleta being some way off from his friend and censor, Don +Enrique Valero, was enjoying himself to his heart's content, +relating to Don Juan Estrada-Rosa and two other gentlemen +how he made the conquest of a certain English lady, wife +of a consul he had known at Hong-Kong, on his way out +to the Philippines. The ship only stopped there twenty-four +hours. In this short time he won her heart and made +her go off with him. But he had to separate from her at +once, for the event was made the subject of a diplomatic +reclamation on the part of Great Britain.</p> + +<p>Manuel Antonio being suddenly seized with a great +interest in a scarlet subaltern by his side overwhelmed him +with delicate attentions.</p> + +<p>"Federico—a little olive—don't take so much mustard, +it will spoil it. Keep yourself for the partridges. I know +they are most excellent. Do you like Bordeaux? Stop a +moment, I will get you some."</p> + +<p>And rising from the table in his eagerness to serve, he +fetched a couple of bottles and placed them before the +youth.</p> + +<p>"So Lancia seems to agree with you. When you came +six months ago you looked thin and pale. I said, 'What a<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a> +sad sight, and a young man so bright and pleasant.' Because +I thought you were suffering from the chest. I know you +had a hard time of it in Barcelona. Eh? and see now, +whoever would have thought it? I recollect that when you +arrived you wore a gabardine of the colour of flies' wings, +very well made, and a scarf of a very pretty sky blue. I +recollect that the civil costume suited you very well, +but I like you better in uniform. It may be fancy, but I +can't help it. I say that with the uniform and with the +moustache you are, to my mind, just perfect."</p> + +<p>Sundry significant coughs from the officers facing them +paralysed him suddenly. But it did not affect him long, +for he was incapable of being put to shame by anybody.</p> + +<p>The one who was the most put out and cross was the +ensign himself.</p> + +<p>As the banquet drew to its close some of the gentlemen, +favoured by the Muses, rose to propose toasts in verse or +something approaching it. And those who had not a poetic +vein congratulated the bridal pair in prose, but the result in +either case was the same—to wish the bride and bridegroom +an eternal honeymoon; and the periodical which announced +the marriage the following day, also expressed the same +wish. The toast of the father of the bride was the most +original and interesting of all. Was it not strange to hear +the bitter enemy of the armed force sing its praises, and +declare himself a sworn partisan of the increase of the +contingent, and the pay of the officers? He was so moved +at his own words that the tears coursed down his cheeks. +Of course some said he wept the wine he had drunk, but +we are far from believing this malevolent insinuation, first, +because it is absurd to talk of weeping wine, and secondly, +because his tone was so sincere and his manner so pathetic +that nobody could doubt that his words came from the +bottom of his heart.</p> + +<p>"It is a comfort," he said—"yes, it is a comfort that God +has let me see my daughter marry an honourable soldier—<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>for +to speak of a soldier in Spain is to speak of honour. +To keep up the army, to honour the army, is to keep up +and honour the honour of the nation. To keep up the +army is to keep up the power and prosperity of the country. +To keep up the army is to keep up our prestige with the +greatest nations of Europe. To keep up the army is to +live respected by the world. To keep up the army is to +keep up ourselves. To keep up the army——"</p> + +<p>"Let the army be kept up, but let Don Cristobal sit +down," called out somebody.</p> + +<p>The Pensioner held his position, cast a look of sad reproach +to the place whence the voice had come, raised his +pocket handkerchief to his eyes to dry his tears, calmly +drank the wine that remained in his glass, and gravely took +his seat amid the applause and laughter of the company.</p> + +<p>Fernanda did not open her lips during the dinner. All +the efforts of Garnet, who, through the kindness of Emilita +had been placed near to his much-desired lady love, were +without effect. Neither by talking of saffron and describing +how tobacco is gathered, making exact calculations on each +load of sugar, and what would be the profit if duty were +lowered, nor going over the hundred and one interesting +details of the importation of salted meats from the Argentine +Republic and the codfish from Newfoundland, could Romeo +extract more than dry monosyllables from his Juliet. All +she did was to hand him her glass from time to time, and +say in an imperious tone: "Some more wine."</p> + +<p>The Indian quickly complied with the request, and the +young lady emptied the glass at one gulp, put it on the +table, then cast her contemptuous eyes over the guests, and +fixed them persistently upon Amalia. By degrees those +eyes became heavier, the eyelids drooped, they became +inflamed and turned from one side to the other with more +difficulty.</p> + +<p>Don Santos, who was astonished at this manner of drinking, +ventured to say:<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a></p> + +<p>"Fernanda, you drink like a fish. Stupid! I am afraid +I have offended you."</p> + +<p>"Give me wine," returned Fernanda, giving him such a +strange look that it quite upset him.</p> + +<p>All the toasts having been now given, drunk, and responded +to, the cheerful company again dispersed. The +Pensioner and the officers averse to love-making were the +only ones who remained at table. They entered into +discussions on the best way of increasing, without much +affecting the Treasury, captains' pay by eight dollars, +lieutenants' by five, and ensigns' by three a month. Without +this reform, the interested parties explicitly stated that there +would very soon be a complete dissolution of the army, and +it would cease to be the pivot of the honour of the country, +and we should never rise to the dignity of other nations, +nor have prosperity, power and honour in our lives.</p> + +<p>Jaime Moro went in search of Fray Diego and Don Juan +Estrada-Rosa and dragged them to the <i>tresillo</i> table. Don +Juan had lost and so was reluctant, but the plausible fellow +managed to convince him that the reason he had not won +in the morning was because he, Moro, never lost at that +time, but his luck always turned in the afternoon, so he had +a good chance of winning now.</p> + +<p>Seated at the end of the table was Manin, who, without +interfering with the officers' conversation, employed himself +in lazily cutting slices of bread with his clasp-knife, and +putting large pieces in his mouth, which he washed down +with long draughts of Burgundy left in the bottles. He did +not approve of the dinner that Marañón, the master of the +café of Altavilla, had supplied them. After stuffing like a +savage, he said that all the dishes were just as if they came +from the perfumers, and that where there was plenty of +beans with black pudding, sausage and marrow bones, no +macaroni was wanted. It must be observed that to Manin +every dish he did not know was macaroni, which was a +source of much amusement to the Grandee.<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a></p> + +<p>Whilst concluding the meal so indecorously, he kept up a +stream of complaints against it, and Don Cristobal, at whom +he cast sundry angry glances, seemed to be held in some +degree responsible for it.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the door was opened with a great clamour, and +four girls rushed into the room in such a state of excitement +that the little party was quite taken aback. Without paying +any attention to the others, they all turned to Quiñones' +majordomo:</p> + +<p>"Manin, a bear! Manin, a bear!"</p> + +<p>"Where?" he asked, without moving.</p> + +<p>"In the wood."</p> + +<p>"Who put it there?"</p> + +<p>The four stood astounded at this strange question. At +last one of them ventured timidly to remark:</p> + +<p>"He came by himself."</p> + +<p>"Bah! bah! bah!" returned the majordomo rudely.</p> + +<p>And he returned to his lumps of bread with more ardour +than ever, which perhaps justified malicious people of the +town saying that they did not want to hear of the bears he +had killed, for he was nothing but a rustic clown.</p> + +<p>"But, child, say how you saw it," said the sympathetic +Consuelo, who now put in her word, whereupon one who +was paler than the others advanced and said with some +difficulty:</p> + +<p>"How fearful! <i>Madre mia</i>, how fearful! I thought I +should have died—because you see the bear—the bear +was horrible."</p> + +<p>She was in such a state of panic, that she could only +utter these incoherent words.</p> + +<p>Then the resolute Consuelo came forward, and said in a +firm voice:</p> + +<p>"You see, Manin, this child was with us in the thickest +part of the wood a long way off. She heard a bird sing, a +mavis I believe—was it not a mavis? Very well, then she +heard a thrush, and she turned in the direction whence the<a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a> +sound came. She went some distance, but could not come +across it. When she turned back, the bear came out of the +bushes, it attacked her, pulled her to the ground, and without +doing her any harm, we do not know why, it went off +and disappeared."</p> + +<p>The famous bear-hunter then quietly rose from his seat, +and said in the quiet, firm tone pertaining to heroes:</p> + +<p>"Let us go and see what it is."</p> + +<p>He asked for a gun, and followed from afar by the pallid +damsels, he beat the wood. The only thing forthcoming +was a German pig, one of a pair that the count had to +improve the breed. The female had died, and the male +wandered about sad and alone in the depths of the wood +whilst his companion was metamorphosed into black +puddings and chops. There were strong suspicions that +the author of the attack was this widowed hog, but the +young lady of the adventure swore and maintained that it +had been a bear that had attacked her, and that they were +not to tell her it was that animal, because she had often seen +a bear in the zoological museum of the university.</p> + +<p>Fernanda had gone off some time before with Garnet. +They repaired to the garden. There the young lady took +his arm and went several times up and down the same path, +where she had seen the count and Amalia.</p> + +<p>"You are very much in love with me. Is it not so?" +she asked, suddenly.</p> + +<p>The Indian surprised, murmured: "Oh! yes; they say +that I am an ass, and it is true."</p> + +<p>"And what do you feel. Come let us see. What do you +feel? Explain yourself."</p> + +<p>"I, what?" he exclaimed in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes, what do you feel when you see me? What do +you feel when another man comes near me? Take the count +for instance. What do you feel at this instant with my +arm in yours? Describe me your sensations; what passes in +your mind."<a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a></p> + +<p>"I, señorita.... I don't know how to describe it. +....Your word is my law as much as if I were one of +your family ... and it is the same with Don Juan your +father, although he may be a bit cantankerous.... What +does it signify to me if he be cantankerous or not? If I +married you, I have a house thank God.... Yes, and it +is not because I say it, but my house is worth more than his, +as you know. But we would travel first, in France, Italy, +England, whereever you like.... And if it cost us five +thousand dollars, what would that matter?"</p> + +<p>Garnet held forth for some time in this strain, and +Fernanda turned a deaf ear to him. At last the boasting +tone bored her, and she said, with a touch of anger:</p> + +<p>"Will you be quiet, sir?"</p> + +<p>Poor Don Santos was quite crushed, and they went on in +silence for some time.</p> + +<p>"How ugly all this is!"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Everything! The house, the wood, the meadows, the +garden. See how hideous this magnolia is!"</p> + +<p>"The house is very ugly, and very old; I have often said +so. Still, they might give it a coat of whitewash and paint the +balconies. The wood is worth nothing, it is no use, and it +takes up space that would be valuable for garden produce, +or wall fruit or such like."</p> + +<p>Fernanda burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"Don't you suffer sometimes from sadness, Don Santos?"</p> + +<p>"Sadness? never. I am always cheerful. Only once +when I was robbed of eight thousand dollars by a knave I +had an angry fit which lasted for two days."</p> + +<p>"How ugly the sun is, now seen through the branches of +the trees!"</p> + +<p>"Would you like to return to the house?"</p> + +<p>"No, take me to the river. I have a burning face, and I +should like to refresh it with a little water."</p> + +<p>They went down by the meadows to the river, and there<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a> +the heiress of Estrada-Rosa, in spite of Don Santos' advice, +bathed her face for some time. After she had dried it, they +slowly ascended the path to the house.</p> + +<p>"How am I now? All right, eh? You can't think how +everything bores me here! I can't do any more; all this +wearies me. I was not born to walk about the meadows +like the cows. I like cities, salons, luxury. I should like +to travel as you say and see Paris, London, Vienna. How +stupid Lancia is! Is it not so? These eternal walks on +the Bombé! That San Francisco Park! That tower of +the Cathedral so black and so sad! Then always the same +faces. The only amusing person in Lancia is yourself. +Whenever I see you I cannot help smiling. Why do they +call you Garnet? I think your colour is more like a turquoise. +You had slaves there in America. Oh! how I should +like to have slaves! It is so tiresome to ask for things as +a favour! But, no, in America they have yellow fever. I +should prefer to go to China."</p> + +<p>The more she went on talking, the more excited she +became, contradicting her own words, as her thoughts +became more and more incoherent. Don Santos tried to +make a remark, but she stopped him by putting her hand +on his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Let me talk, sir! I want to tell you all."</p> + +<p>The Indian began to be anxious as the excitement of the +girl went on increasing. She chattered away in a familiar, +rude sort of way.</p> + +<p>"Give me a cigar."</p> + +<p>"Fernanda! A cigar! You will be ill."</p> + +<p>"Silence! what are you saying fool? I sick! You are +trying to annoy me! Give me a cigar or I will leave you +here."</p> + +<p>The Indian took out his case, and the pretty heiress took +one, bit off the top with her sharp teeth, and asked for a +match. Garnet gave her a lighted one, at the same time +shaking his head in disapproval. When she had taken two<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a> +or three whiffs, she made a gesture of disgust and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"What infamous cigars! Look, smoke it yourself."</p> + +<p>And she put it in his mouth. There was no gesture of +disgust with Garnet as he smoked it.</p> + +<p>"I should think I will smoke it!" he said with a smile of +beatitude. "They cost me two hundred dollars the +thousand, but now you have tried one, they are worth a +million."</p> + +<p>"Come on and don't make impertinent speeches. Take +me to the house. This glare sickens me."</p> + +<p>They reached the courtyard arm in arm. There a young +fellow called out to them:</p> + +<p>"Where are you off to? The people are in the wood."</p> + +<p>"Tell the people that I scorn them all," returned Fernanda, +with an angry gesture that provoked a smile from +the youth.</p> + +<p>"You don't know the house?" she added, lowering her +voice and turning to Don Santos. "Then I will be your +guide, you shall see it."</p> + +<p>They mounted the mouldy, shabby staircase, and +Fernanda, chattering continuously, did the honours of all +the rooms to the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Here is the celebrated Countess's Chamber!" she +exclaimed with a peculiar intonation when they reached it. +"I am tired."</p> + +<p>They went in and the girl shut the door.</p> + +<p>"It is pretty, eh? It is the most beautiful and the +brightest room in the house. If this furniture could only +tell amusing secrets, it never would have done. Look, tell +me something to make me laugh or you will see me cry +like a very schoolgirl. See now, I am crying. Sit +down here you silly. What a pretty waistcoat you have +on! How well it shows the line of the figure! +Look at this couch. It is large, eh? It is wide, it is +beautiful, it is artistic. Look, then, I should like to burn<a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a> +it. To avoid sitting on it I am going to sit on your +knees."</p> + +<p>And she suited the action to the words. Garnet lost his +head when he found himself with such a sweet burden, and +with incredible audacity he put an arm round her waist.</p> + +<p>The girl jumped up as if she had been pinched.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, you brute? Do you think that we +are in the plantation and that I am some black wild creature?"</p> + +<p>After looking at him for some time with angry eyes, her +face cleared and her lips expanded in a sweet smile.</p> + +<p>"Do you love me very much?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said the Indian, in a teasing tone.</p> + +<p>"Then you shall have one minute's happiness. See, I +will let you give me a kiss, mind only one, and you must +swear that nobody shall know about it."</p> + +<p>The Indian made a solemn promise.</p> + +<p>"Good! now give me the kiss here on the temple. The +first and the last you will ever give me in your life. Wait a +bit," she added once more jumping up. "For this kiss I +am to give you fifty buffets on your purple cheeks. Do +you agree to the compact?"</p> + +<p>Garnet immediately consented. The young girl then +reseated herself on his knees, and bent her head to receive +the kiss.</p> + +<p>"Good! now it is my turn!" she exclaimed with childish +merriment. "Prepare to receive your buffets. What +cheeks! <i>Dios mio</i>, how magnificent! Do you see how +blue they are? Well, I am going to turn them green. +Attention! One! the first. Two! the second. Three! +the third. Four! Five!"</p> + +<p>The strong, small hand of the beautiful vixen struck into +the red cheeks of the Indian with no slight effect. His +eyes began to get as red and angry as those of a wolf, his +blood suddenly became inflamed, and with a sudden +movement, he seized her roughly by the waist.<a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a></p> + +<p>Fernanda uttered a terrified cry.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter? Why are you angry?"</p> + +<p>"Leave me, leave me, you brute!"</p> + +<p>She struggled in desperation but she could not release +herself.</p> + +<p>Once more free, she was perfectly sober. She cast a +vague, strange look at the Indian, and this look, suddenly +assuming an expression of horror, was fixed upon him as +upon some wild animal that had just attacked her.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here? Ah, yes!" she exclaimed +raising her hand to her forehead. "My God! What has +come to me? Am I dreaming?"</p> + +<p>Then once more fixing her angry, menacing eyes upon +him, she cried in a rage:</p> + +<p>"What are you doing standing there? Leave the room +immediately! Leave the room! leave the room!" she +repeated with a voice which grew louder each time.</p> + +<p>But when the Indian got as far as the door, she rushed +before him, flew along the passages, and when she reached +the staircase she fell down in a swoon.</p> + +<p>She was lifted up and every care was bestowed upon her. +When she recovered consciousness a torrent of tears +streamed from her eyes, and continued all the afternoon. +And when the party started for home she was still weeping.</p> + +<p>"Did you see that this girl of Estrada-Rosa cried from +the effects of wine?" said Captain Nuñez, laughing.<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h3> + +<p class="head">THE MASQUERADE</p> + + +<p class="nind">S<span class="smcap">hortly</span> before the rosy dawn opened wide the windows +of the East, Satan, who rose in a mischievous humour, sent +the most knavish and wanton of the demons to Lancia +with orders to awaken it from its slumbers. So the +minister of hell waved his black wings over the city, +and gave vent to loud discordant laughter, which was +effectual in arousing all the inhabitants from their dreams. +They awoke with the most immoderate desires to upset, +make fun of, and laugh at all ruling authorities, to improvise +couplets, and say rude things. One of these +people, we can imagine it must have been Jaime +Moro, called his servant directly he had jumped out +of bed, and asked him with a smiling countenance if Don +Nicanor, the bass of the cathedral, would lend him his +instrument. The servant without replying, instantly left the +room, and soon reappeared with an enormous serpent +(wind instrument) in his hands. And without any respect +for his master, he applied the mouthpiece to his lips and +produced a sound like the roaring of a lion. Moro, lightly +attired as he was, made a pirouet and gave three or four +taps of the heel in sign of great appreciation, as if that barbarous +sound had touched the most delicate fibres of his +heart. After trying himself to produce the same noise and +ascertaining that he was quite equal to the achievement, he +dressed himself, and after taking a hurried breakfast, he +sallied into the street, wrapped in his cloak, under the<a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a> +folds of which he had put the instrument that had so +delighted him. He stopped everybody with a mysterious +wink, and retiring to the nearest portico, he, full of excitement, +showed them his hidden treasure. Nobody asked +what he was going to do with it. They smiled, squeezed +his hand significantly, and whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"When is it to be?"</p> + +<p>"To-night. The carriage leaves at twelve."</p> + +<p>"They will escape us."</p> + +<p>"Bah! all precautions are taken."</p> + +<p>And he went on his way muffled up to the eyes, for the +cold was indeed diabolical.</p> + +<p>The others not only smiled and pressed his hand, but +each of them took from the pockets of his overcoat or from +inside his gabardine some powerful instrument, albeit of an +inferior kind to the above-mentioned one, and Moro +applauded and praised each one, without boasting of his +own superiority. And so he continued his round-about +and tiring walk until he arrived not at Don Romana's +confectioner's shop, which was the usual glorious termination +of his morning expeditions, but at the house +of Paco Gomez. The place resounded with the quick +steps and many voices of a number of busy young +people. They were all working with great energy, and +with a diligence rarely seen in workshops. Some were +cutting out banners, others were moulding cardboard +masks, some were painting black letters on the sides +of a lantern, some were dressing up two guy figures in +gorgeous attire, and some were trying the mouthpieces +of various wind instruments and serpents similar to +that brought by Moro. The scene of action was an +immense dismantled room. Paco Gomez lived in the +palace of a marquis, to whom his father was majordomo +and who never came to Lancia. The implacable practical +joker was a vigilant and careful director of all the work of +his companions, leaving the room every minute to give<a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a> +orders to the servants, or to receive some message sent to +him. Never was he more indefatigable. He was generally +rather disagreeable, and even with his jokes he brought to +bear a certain scornful manner, either real or assumed, that +made him more formidable. But now he strained every +nerve in the matter, for it was a question of the most +stupendous and best-arranged farce that the town of +Lancia had ever witnessed since the monks of San Vicente +came to found it. The cause of it was that Fernando +Estrada-Rosa was to marry (the pen scarcely dares write +it), Fernanda Rosa was to marry (how difficult it is to say +it), was to marry Garnet!</p> + +<p>From the time of the memorable scene at the Grange, +Fernanda lived in a stupor of misery, in a depression of +body and soul that alarmed her father. The doctor was +sent for, and he said it was nothing more than a nervous +attack, which would be cured by a journey to the court, +drives and amusements. But the girl absolutely refused to +try these remedies. She declined drives, theatres, parties, +and, still more, a journey anywhere. She only went from +her room to the dining-room, and from thence to her +father's room, where she only stayed a short time. She +had no energy to go on to the second floor, nor spirit to +enter into, and direct the duties of the servants. She was +mostly shut up in her own room, where she had nothing +to do, and she would throw herself into a chair and remain +for a long time motionless with her hands on her knees +and her eyes fixed. Sometimes she began to read, but +finding that the book conveyed nothing to her mind, she +ended by casting it aside. Sometimes she appeared at +the window, and remained whole hours with a miserable +face upon the balcony, whilst her eyes were fixed on space, +or on a point of the street without seeing the passers by, or +replying to the many greetings made to her, or noticing +that she was making herself an object of curiosity to the +neighbours. But all at once she was seized with a desire<a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a> +to go to Madrid, and the journey had to be arranged +instantly. She expressed her wish in the morning, and by +the evening the father and daughter were in the diligence, +so eager and vehement had the girl been in demanding the +journey. Once started, her state of mind was completely +changed. She threw herself madly and wildly into all the +pleasures of Madrid that were attractive to a rich, beautiful, +provincial girl. She passed two months in the intoxication +of theatres, drives, grand evening parties, and concerts. +A nervous sort of cheerfulness seemed suddenly to have +taken possession of her, and she appeared happy in the +midst of the noise and whirl of society, where she was soon +known by the nickname of "The African." To add to +the gaiety of her life, she liked to dine at cafés and restaurants +like a dissipated youth. Don Juan was divided +betwixt his pleasure of seeing her contented, and the acute +sense of discomfort that the disorganised life, so contrary +to his usual habits, and age, caused him.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, as they were returning from the drive on +the Prado, Fernanda suddenly began sobbing violently. +Don Juan was astonished and taken aback, for she had +been laughing all the afternoon, and making fun of a certain +youth who persisted in following the carriage.</p> + +<p>"What has come to you? Fernanda, my daughter!"</p> + +<p>The girl did not reply. With her handkerchief to her +eyes, and her body shaken by her sobs, she only wept more +bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Fernanda! <i>por Dios</i>! people are looking at you!"</p> + +<p>The crying then changed to an attack of nerves, and Don +Juan told the coachman to drive home at once. But before +arriving there, the young girl ceased weeping, raised her +head, and said in a tone of determination:</p> + +<p>"Papa, I want to go back to Lancia!"</p> + +<p>"All right, my daughter; we will go to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"No, no; I want to go now, at once."</p> + +<p>"But think, there is only one hour before the train goes."<a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a></p> + +<p>"There is plenty of time."</p> + +<p>There was nothing to be done but to have their things +packed in the trunks and to rush in haste to the station, and +the nerves of the excited girl were only somewhat calmed +when the whistle of the engine announced their departure +and they were off over the arid tracts of land outside Madrid.</p> + +<p>The day following her arrival at Lancia, she did not +appear to greet her father, nor to take chocolate with him +as usual. When the father was thinking of calling her, a +servant suddenly entered his room looking pale and +agitated.</p> + +<p>"The señorita is taken very ill!"</p> + +<p>Don Juan repaired to his daughter's apartment, and +found her in all the agonies of violent sickness.</p> + +<p>"Quick! fetch the doctor!" cried the poor father.</p> + +<p>Fernanda made a negative gesture, and weakly muttered: +"No; send for the father confessor."</p> + +<p>But no notice was taken of this remark. The doctor +came, and after carefully considering the case, he called +Don Juan aside and said to him:</p> + +<p>"Your daughter has taken a large quantity of laudanum."</p> + +<p>"For what?" asked the father without understanding.</p> + +<p>"For the reason that these quantities are generally taken—to +poison herself."</p> + +<p>"Daughter of my soul! what have you done?" cried the +unhappy parent, and he was about to rush back to his +daughter's room, but the doctor detained him.</p> + +<p>"She is in no danger now. She has brought up all the +poison, and with the medicine I am going to give her she +will soon be quite herself. The important thing now is to +avoid a repetition of the act."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I will see about that."</p> + +<p>And he ran to his daughter's room, but he could not get +a word out of her; she persisted in asking for the father +confessor. At last he went himself to fetch the priest, and +soon returned with him.<a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a></p> + +<p>During the confession Don Juan walked up and down +the wide corridor of the house, a prey to burning curiosity. +At last the father confessor appeared, and without replying +to the father's dumb look of inquiry, he took him by the +hand and conducted him to his own room, where they shut +themselves in. When they came out at the end of an hour +the old banker's cheeks were on fire, his white hair was in +disorder, and his eyes showed signs of weeping. He bade +farewell to the canon on the staircase and went back to his +room, where he remained with the door locked. There he +stayed all day and all night, without heeding the messages +that his daughter sent him to come and see her.</p> + +<p>The father confessor offered himself to interview Garnet +and make all the arrangements. The Indian chuckled with +delight when he learnt what was wanted. But his plebeian +nature and avarice, which had always been his ruling +passion, turned his head. When the canon came to discuss +the matter with him, he found him completely changed; he +hesitated, grunted, shook his head, talked in broken phrases +of the luxury that Fernanda had been brought up to, and +of the great expenses accruing to matrimony. In short, he +asked for a <i>dot</i>. The father confessor, who was a just man, +full of feeling, could not contain himself before such low +conduct, and he overwhelmed him with insults. But the +churl did not mind that. Being sure of Don Juan's +daughter, he stood his ground, laughed like a beast, +scratched his head, and muttered some coarse remark which +increased the canon's anger.</p> + +<p>When, with many evasions, he had to acquaint Don Juan +with what had happened, the disgraced parent was nearly +mad with despair and anger. He tore his hair, used very +strong language, and spoke of shooting his daughter and +then himself. With much trouble the canon succeeded in +calming him. At last he listened to reason and the negotiations +went on, and after disputing like merchants over the +amount of the <i>dot</i>, it was settled what it should be, and<a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a> +Garnet consented to give his toad-like hand to the most +highly prized girl in Lancia at that time.</p> + +<p>But the worst had to come. Fernanda had to be told. +When she learnt that a marriage was arranged between her +and Don Santos, she was utterly overwhelmed with dismay, +and she fainted away. When she came to, she plainly said +that she would never do it, no, not if they flayed her alive. +Neither her father confessor's remarks, nor the prospect of +disgrace, nor the tears of her father, could persuade her. It +was only when she saw her frantic parent put the mouth of +the revolver to his temple to take his life, that she rushed to +stop him, promising to accede to his wish. And this was +how this unnatural marriage came about.</p> + +<p>When the noble sons of Lancia learnt the arrangement, +they were all overwhelmed with disgust. An immense +wave of shame swept into their cheeks. This wave of feeling +only came to Lancia with such marked effect when +there was a question of fate favouring some Lancian more +than was just. If somebody drew a successful lottery +ticket, or got some good appointment, or if it were a question +of a marriage with a rich woman, or a great success in +business, or somebody got famous by his talent, the fine +perspicacity of the inhabitants of Lancia was in revolt, and +at once set to work to depreciate the money, the talent, the +instruction or the industry of the neighbour, and to put +things in their true light. Such a feeling might easily be +confounded with envy, nevertheless the truly observant +would soon gather from the remarks in the gatherings at +shops and in the gossips in the streets, that it was only love, +albeit it might be too warm, which prompted them to deteriorate +the merits of their neighbours and thus generously +to renounce the reflected glory which might have accrued +to them from a false conception of their value. The +marriage of Garnet caused profound astonishment, which +was followed by an outcry of indignation. Never were +the cheeks of Lancians so dyed with shame as they were<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a> +at that moment; not even when the press of Madrid +happened to eulogise a certain comedy written by a son of +the place. What rude remarks ensued, first against Don +Juan, and then against Fernanda! Strange to relate, the +young men were wild with rage; they maintained that +legislation was deficient if it had no power to prevent such +unnatural proceedings. The result of all this was that the +turbulent feelings aroused by the news were to be vented +by the youths of Lancia in a stupendous farce, of which we +have witnessed the inaugurations, to testify to their profound +disgust at such an out-of-the-way marriage.</p> + +<p>The persons concerned heard of the plan, and they tried +to evade the blow by keeping the day of the ceremony +secret, and then to have it celebrated outside the place. +But their precautions were of no avail. The young men +found out that the marriage was to be in the early days of +February at the estate that Estrada-Rosa had, half a mile +from Lancia. Spies were placed in the Calle de Altavilla +and round about Garnet's house to prevent them going off +unobserved, and a thousand ingenious plans for the annoyance +of the bridal pair were hatched in the most fertile +brains of the town. As the preparations for the carnival +were at the same time, it was decided that the first blow +should be in the form of a great burlesque masquerade that +was to leave the house of Paco Gomez at twelve o'clock +and parade the streets. In a carriage drawn by four oxen +arrayed in pink calico, with their horns adorned with +branches there were three mummers which were supposed +to represent Fernanda Estrada-Rosa, her father, and Garnet, +the latter in a cocked hat. From time to time the carriage +stopped, and they performed such a ridiculous farce that +the people roared with delight, and crowds gathered to +witness it. Fernanda was made to kiss Garnet with transports +of enthusiasm, and he being smaller could only +encircle her with his arms below her waist, and Don Juan +meanwhile was laughing and shaking a bag of money.<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a> +Occasionally another mummer appeared from the bottom +of the carriage, and he was supposed to represent the +Conde de Onis. He gave Fernanda a kiss, turned his back +on Garnet, and then vanished as quickly as he came. As +this pantomime was to be performed in the Calle de +Altavilla, in front of Estrada-Rosa's very house, the scandal +was dreadful, and the crowds immense. Don Juan in a +paroxysm of anger acquainted the Governor, who was a +great friend of his, with the facts, and determined to leave +with Fernanda the next day. The malicious youths, who +had foreseen this determination, had contrived means to +render it ineffectual, and they had prepared as we have +seen a grand performance of rough music for the night.</p> + +<p>It had to be ready betimes, for the marriage had not yet +taken place, but they did not want them to escape without +it. Armed then with as many noisy instruments as they +could muster, with great glass slides on which were painted +the same grotesque figures of the carriage, with coarse +designations below, three hundred youths assembled in +Altavilla with torches in their hands, and they were accompanied +by half the people of the place, who encouraged +them with their laughter. The noise was horrible. When +it ceased, a voice was heard to shout some indecent +couplet, upon which the hilarity became outrageous. +Lieutenant Rubio, always original, crept along the cornice +of the chapel of San Fructuoso, situated almost in front of +Estrada-Rosa's house, and rang a bell. Paco Gomez went +swiftly from one group to another prompting them in the +most insulting couplets, so that the chief points should be +given in the loudest tones. Moro went on blowing his +serpent enough to hurt his lungs, whilst the Chatterbox +who had been one of the most active promoters of +the "rough music," treacherously entered the house of Don +Juan, pretending to come like a faithful friend, when in +reality he was spying out what was going on there. But the +political chief thought it was time to officiate as Neptune<a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a> +and calm the stormy waves. When the "rough music" +had got so far, he sent to Altavilla, Nola, the head of the +municipal guards, accompanied by two of the company, who +happened to be Lucan the Florén and Pepe le Mota, with +orders to stop the scandal and clear the street. The +Lancians had long given up recognising the divine origin of +authority, when it was represented by Florén, or Pepe le +Mota. And not only did they cast a doubt upon their +right divine, but when they saw them from afar the spirit +of rebellion seemed to increase. Was this because the +Lancians were predestined by the blind impulses of their +nature to war against the established order? It is not very +probable. None of the historians of Lancia have noted +rebellion against institutions as an especial characteristic of +the race. It is more natural to suppose that what irritated +them most was the nose of Nola, which was just like the +button of an electric bell, and the unpleasant voice of +Lucan the Florén, and the monstrously bent legs of Pepe le +Mota. Besides, these respectable agents of government +authority were quite cognisant of the anarchical tendencies +manifested sometimes by the people of Lancia. But they +never thought that their appearing without proper precautions +among the crowd of Altavilla, would entail their +leaving it without truncheons, without sabres, without kepis, +and with buffeted cheeks. Nevertheless, such is the recorded +account.</p> + +<p>The political chief, not wishing to submit blindly to the +decrees of fate, sent immediately for the lieutenant of the +civil guard to come with eight of his company, to avenge +the unfortunate Nola, Lucan, Florén, and Pepe le Mota. +Inflamed with success the harlequins of Altavilla tried to +resist. In the meanwhile the lieutenant, a prey to martial +ardour, ordered all swords to be unsheathed, and with a +fierce smile he charged upon the crowd like a wild boar, +and all the Lancians were terrified at the sight. There was +a strong tendency to retire from the field of battle, but at<a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a> +that moment somebody infused courage into their hearts +by holding out deceptive hopes of victory. "Down with +the civilians!" "Down with the cocked hats!" "Death to +the potato-face!" Such were the seditious cries that issued +from the throats of those rash youths. And some stones +were thrown at the same time. The trombones, bassoons, +and cornets à piston, of which the harmonious strains had +accompanied so many mazurkas in the bosom of peace, were +suddenly transformed into warlike weapons, shining formidably +in the light of the torches. The cocked hat of the +lieutenant was struck ignominiously to the ground by one of +them. Whereupon he picked it up, and his bellicose spirit +was so stirred, that a line of foam encircled his lips, and he +rushed into the battle with his eyes aflame and breathing +hardly. Then the youths of Lancia rallied with renewed +vigour, whilst menacing cries filled the air, and the +swords of the civilians were soon heard upon some of their +backs.</p> + +<p>The retreat of the fine young fellows of Lancia on that +memorable night, when pursued by the bloodthirsty civilians, +was like the flight of a herd of deer from jackals.</p> + +<p>The ground was strewn with bronze instruments, witnesses +of the fray. The indomitable lieutenant gave vent +to his anger for some time in the streets, animating his +company with strong interjections, and urging his party on +to the pursuit of the rebels, like a hunter calling his pack of +hounds in pursuit of a stag.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that Paco Gomez, being persistently followed +by cocked hats, found himself obliged to avoid a blow by +jumping into the larder of the confectioner shop of Don +Romana, where he fell headlong to the ground on a dish of +soft eggs, and completely destroyed a magnificent burrage +tart destined for the precentor of the cathedral. And it +was the same with Jaime Moro, who, after losing Don +Nicanor's serpent in the fray, narrowly escaped being +immolated by the magnificent sabre of a civilian. It was<a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a> +only by taking the precaution of lowering his head, when +the blow was struck, that he escaped an effusion of blood. +The sword came in contact with the wall of a house, doing +no little damage thereby; and months afterwards, Moro +delighted in showing as a trophy the piece that was broken +away, to strangers who came to Lancia, and with the relation +of his prowess on that memorable night, his heroic heart +was filled with pleasure.</p> + +<p>Many others of those magnanimous youths underwent +considerable discomfort from their conduct; some from the +sword-cuts, and the majority from the falls and the shocks +which resulted from the disbandment. Nevertheless the +victory was not gratuitous for the agents of the government.</p> + +<p>Besides the destruction of the cocked hat of the lieutenant, +and several contusions of his subordinates, the constitutional +power suffered an important reverse in the +person of one of its oldest representatives—in the person of +Nola, the head of the municipals. As we know, this person, +who was so unpopular in Lancia on account of the shortness +and excessive roundness of his nose, lost in the first +struggle his kepis, his sword, and the honour of his cheeks. +Anger and revenge reigned in his heart. But he could not +do anything to gratify these feelings, because he was +deprived of all coercive means. Instead, however, of +prudently retiring to the portal of the Ecclesiastical Court, +like Florén and Pepe le Mota, he remained in the middle +of the street contemplating the battle with anxiety, and on +seeing that it was going in favour of the institutions that he +represented, delight overflowed his municipal heart.</p> + +<p>"Good luck to the guardians! Long may they have it! +Down with the rabble! These vagabonds are punished +for once!"</p> + +<p>Such were the bellicose cries that issued from his throat. +Nevertheless, when least expected, considering that his +enemies were flying in complete confusion, he received a +blow on his button of a nose from what turned out to be<a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a> +the smooth, compact surface of a piece of lime. The +whole of his nervous system was affected by the blow, and +being unable to withstand such a shock, he fell senseless to +the ground, after his brave spirit managed to utter the +melancholy remark, "I am undone! These shameless +fellows have done for me!"</p> + +<p>So fell that valiant supporter of order, that brave fellow, +who had always been victorious in his incessant struggles +with the vagabonds of the suburbs. He was lifted up and +taken into Don Matia's apothecary's shop which happened +to be near. From thence he was taken to the hospital, and +the town lost its protecting shield for some days, for neither +Lucan el Florén nor Pepe le Mota could be compared with +Nola in energy. Whilst these events were going on in +Altavilla and the adjacent streets, Don Juan Estrada-Rosa, +a prey to indescribable rage, was pacing his room +and tearing his hair. The hypocritical consolations of the +Chatterbox, or as he was also termed the Magpie of Sierra, +were powerless to calm him; and he talked of rushing into +the street and avenging himself upon the insolent mob.</p> + +<p>"What has my poor daughter done to them?" he exclaimed +with a trembling voice which nearly broke into +sobs.</p> + +<p>Fernanda had retired early to her room and gone to bed. +It is difficult to know whether the excitement in the street +conveyed anything to her or not. When Don Juan after a +sudden resolution went up to her room to waken her, the +eyes which encountered the candle that he lighted, were dry +and brilliant, without signs of having either slept or wept. +He told her to dress immediately, and he gave orders to +the servants to light all the lights of the house, so as to +deceive those without, and he then went out with her by +the coachhouse door which led into a little solitary street. +They were only accompanied by Manuel Antonio, and +they went by the quietest streets to the house of the +Pensioner. Once there, they sent a message to Don Santos<a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a> +for him to come immediately and another to the father +confessor. When they had both arrived, the father, +daughter, and these two gentlemen, with Manuel Antonio +and Jovita Mateo, sallied forth secretly from Lancia by the +high-road of Castille. After going some way they waited +for the coach that Don Juan had ordered. The six had to +manage as best they could in the little carriage, and it fell +to Manuel Antonio's lot to sit on the box. Half an hour +later they were at the banker's country-house. An altar +was quickly erected, and before the morning broke, the +father confessor blessed the union of the affianced pair. +Fernanda did not open her lips the whole way, and she +preserved the same silence during the preparations for the +ceremony. She appeared tranquil, in a state of absolute +indifference, or rather of somnolence, like a person who +having been violently awakened from a dream is hardly +conscious of what is going on around. And this lethargy +continued after pronouncing the "Yes" before the altar. +Neither the affectionate, eloquent conversation of the priest, +nor the incessant jokes of Manuel Antonio during the +breakfast, nor the caresses of Jovita, nor the assumed rough +sort of cheerfulness of her father, could draw her from her +strange absence of mind. The day broke, a sad, foggy day +that filtered through the windows in a melancholy fashion. +They all did their best to seem cheerful; they talked in a +loud voice, they made fun of the servant's dullness, and +Manuel Antonio's fear of some <i>contretemps</i>. Nevertheless, +a deep sadness pervaded the atmosphere. When there was +a pause in the conversation, the brows wrinkled and the +countenances darkened, and when it was resumed the +words sounded melancholy in the luxurious dining-room.</p> + +<p>The bride retired to change her dress, and she soon reappeared +with the same impassive demeanour.</p> + +<p>According to Don Juan's arrangements they were to go +immediately to the next town and there take the postchaise. +The insulting people of Lancia were thus to be frustrated.<a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a> +When they went down to the garden, where the carriage +was waiting, a cold, fine rain was falling. Fernanda kissed +her father and got into the carriage. On receiving that +kiss on his cheek, the poor old man felt as if a current of +cold air passed through him paralysing his members and +freezing his heart.</p> + +<p>The priest cried:</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Fernanda, take care of yourself, Fernanda. +Good-bye, Santos. Come back soon."</p> + +<p>And so they were off. In less than an hour they arrived +at Meres, waited for the diligence, and got in. The attentions +of Garnet could not provoke a smile or gracious word +from the lips of his bride, but his grotesque gestures and +the nonsense that he talked sometimes brought a look of +fatigue and disgust into the young girl's marble face. She +slept at intervals or looked with vacant eyes at the landscape. +When they arrived at the neighbourhood of Leon +it was night.</p> + +<p>But what happened at Leon? On arriving at the place, +where the diligence changed horses, they found a large +crowd of people, they heard rough voices and the discordant +sound of musical instruments with the jingling of +bells, and large transparent pictures were seen waving over +the crowd.</p> + +<p>Paco Gomez, being richer in resources than Ulysses, had +written beforehand to some friends of his at Leon, suggesting +that they should organise some rough music when +Garnet and his bride passed that way. Everything was in +readiness. Nevertheless the preparations would have come +to naught had it not been for the treachery of Manuel +Antonio, for on his arrival at Lancia he secretly made Paco +acquainted with all that was taking place. Whereupon +Gomez profited by the telegraphic communication, recently +instituted, and put himself in communication with his +followers. Fernanda was some time in realising that this +excitement was on her account, but when some cries that<a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a> +reached her ears made her sensible of the fact she turned +pale, her eyes dilated, and uttering a cry she threw herself +against the little window with the intent of throwing herself +out, but Garnet caught her by the waist. The young girl +struggled for some moments in fury, but not being able to +free herself from those strong bear-like arms, she threw +herself back in the seat, covered her face with her hands, +and burst into passionate sobbing.</p> + +<p><i>Dios mio!</i> Her sin had indeed been great, but what a +fearful punishment!<a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h3> + +<p class="head">FIVE YEARS AFTER</p> + + +<p class="nind">F<span class="smcap">ive</span> years have passed. The noble city of Lancia has +changed little in appearance and still less in customs; several +gilded cages in the form of gorgeous houses, built with +Indian money round about the San Francisco Park; foot-ways +in various streets that never had them in former times, +three more lamps in the Plaza de la Constitución; a +supplementary municipal guard that owed its existence, less +to the necessities of the service, than to the efforts of the +justice of the peace, a fellow of excellent ideas almost +entirely devoted to Venus, and whose propitiatory sacrifices +to Vulcan were only made at the expense of the municipality; +in the Bombé promenade a few bronze statues with +falling drapery of which the erection caused great scandal, +and the magistrate Saleta was informed at the Grandee's +evening party that the half nude was a hundred times more +suggestive than the complete; a few silver threads in the +heads of our old acquaintances; and the radiant countenance +of Manuel Antonio, the most fetching of all the sons +of the famous city, showed signs that his beauty was +on the wane, like a dream fading in the cold wind of +morning, or snowdrops falling in the silence of a day in +winter.</p> + +<p>The same vegetative, dull, sleepy life; the same gatherings +in the shop-parlours, where the sweets of slander were +regaled; and personal nicknames still weighed like lead +upon the well-being of several respectable families. On<a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a> +sunny afternoons there were the same groups of clerics and +military airing themselves in the Bombé. The great bells +of the cathedral continued to peal at certain hours, when +old lady-devotees were seen hastily wending their way to +the service of the rosary, or nones, and the monotonous +voice of the canons sounded solemnly in the silence of the +old vaulted aisles.</p> + +<p>In Altavilla at the evening hour the eternal groups of +youths still laughed and talked in loud tones still loth to +let any pretty dressmaker, or plump servant-maid pass by +without rendering them homage with their eyes or lips, and +not seldom with their hands. And there in the heights of +the firmament there were the same clusters of greyish +clouds heaped together in solemn silence over the old +cathedral to listen on melancholy autumn nights to the wind +moaning through the high tin arrow on the tower. We +are in November. The Conde de Onis was accustomed +to ride on dull days as well as fine. The society of +men pleased him less and less. His character had become +more secretive and melancholy. Sin had destroyed the +feeble germs of cheerfulness which nature had put in his +heart. The gloomy, extravagant, fanatical temperament of +the Gayosos had been increased by the incessant gnawing +of remorse, his imagination was distorted, his slight activity +enervated, and his whole existence darkened.</p> + +<p>People worried him. He imagined hostility in their +glances, and he saw hidden meanings in their most innocent +remarks that made his blood boil with rage. He +never dared enter churches, nor fall on his knees as +formerly before the bleeding crucifix in his mother's room. +If he heard hell mentioned, he fled in terror. He gave +plentiful alms to churches, and paid for Masses he never +heard; he put candles before the images, and in the +privacy of his chamber he puerilely amused himself in +asking fate, by the tossing of money, whether he would be +eternally damned or whether he would only go to purga<a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>tory. +When he heard the chant of priests going to a +funeral he grew pale, trembled and stopped his ears. +At night he would suddenly jump up from sleep in a cold +sweat, crying miserably: "There is nothing but death, +nothing but death!" For some time he lived thus in +almost utter retirement without going out more than he +was made to by her, whose will ruled his own. But at last +his suffering became too intense, and he feared his gloomy +thoughts would upset his reason, so he took to riding or +walking in the country until he was tired out. The physical +fatigue relieved his mind, and the sight of nature soothed +his tormented imagination.</p> + +<p>It was a dark, cold evening. The clouds pressed heavily +upon the hills looking towards the north, and hid the high +mountains of Lorrin that stretch like a distant curtain in the +west. Heavy rains had fallen converting the low part of +the town into a lagoon, and the roads, which went from +thence, into seas of mud. In spite of this, the count +ordered his horse to be saddled. He left Lancia by the +Castilian Road, and galloped amid splashes of mud across +meadows and chestnut woods. The yellow leaves of the +trees shone like gold, a thousand little streams made their +uncertain way down the base of the hill where the waters +were deposited on the pasture land with its gentle soft +green undulations. A darker fringe marked the stream +of the Lora, which hides itself mysteriously under the +osiers and thick lines of alder trees. The count, with his +head thrown back and his eyes half closed, inhaled with +delight the fresh humidity of the afternoon. The road +flanked the hill in gentle decline. Before crossing it, +and losing sight of the town, he stopped his horse and +cast a look back. Lancia was a heap, albeit not large, of +red roofs over which waved the dark arrow on the cathedral +spire. Below was a yellow spot—the oak-wood of the +Grange, and a little lower down were the old orange-coloured +turrets of his solitary house. The rain had ceased. A cold<a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a> +wind dispersed the clouds and scattered them behind the +mountains; the sky became clear with the pale blue of +autumn days, and a few stars appeared like diamonds in +the horizon. The trees, mountains, streams and verdure-clad +valley shone indistinctly under the clearness of the twilight. +The count again put his horse to a gallop and quickly +descended the hill which hid Lancia from view. The wind +affected his senses and whistled in his ears producing a +sweet intoxication that dissipated the black clouds of his +imagination. Along the muddy road he only met a stray +herd of cattle with its driver, or a waggon drawn leisurely by +oxen, in which the carter carelessly slept at the bottom. +But before turning a corner he thought he heard the distant +sound of wheels and bells. It was the coach that +arrived at Lancia in the evening. As it passed by him, he +cast an absent glance into the interior, two large shining +eyes encountered his own, which gave him a sort of an electric +shock. He quickly turned his head again, but there was +nothing then to be seen but the back of the coach disappearing +in the distance. He pulled the rein of his horse +and followed it, but after a few moments in a stunned +sort of way stopped ashamed, and went on with his ride.</p> + +<p>"It must be Fernanda." A passing, but very definite +feeling told him the fact. Nevertheless he might be +mistaken. He had heard no news of her arrival. He +knew that she had been a widow for some months. +Garnet had at last met his end like an ox from a fit +of apoplexy. But at the same time everybody knew +that the widow of the Indian bore a deadly hatred against +Lancia ever since the humiliating practical joke that her +compatriots had played on her at the time of her marriage. +The fact of her not having come there at the death of her +father the preceding year was a clear proof of it. The +Count thought of all this for some minutes, and then put +it from his mind, for his thoughts were changed by the +sight of a dark thick cloud which presaged another storm.<a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a> +But something indefinite and sweet remained in his mind, +which put him in a good humour. He turned the horse +and arrived at Lancia very late in the evening, very tired, +and covered with mud; but his heart was light and cheerful +without his knowing why.</p> + +<p>Fernanda never hesitated for an instant. She saw him, +and knew him so well, that she even noticed the marks that +time and care had left upon his face. He seemed older, +and she thought she saw silver streaks in his long red beard. +At the same time she was agreeably impressed by the +suffering, anxiety, and sadness that she read in the eyes +that rested an instant upon her. The memory of her old +<i>fiancé</i> had always remained green in the depths of her +heart. Neither treachery, scorn, nor the thousand distractions +to which she resorted in her frivolous, restless, Parisian +life had been able to destroy it. If she had found happiness +in the power of wealth and health, she would not have been +open to that soft wave of sympathy which delighted her for +an instant. In such perverse pleasure in the count's sadness +there was the bitterness of the slighted woman, but there +was also a certain breezy, vapourous feeling like hope, which +sang and laughed in her soul, and dissipated the black +thoughts which had accumulated in her mind. It was +necessity, and not will which obliged her to return to Lancia +where she had vowed never again to set her foot. Her +husband had made a will in her favour, which his brothers +had disputed, and the consequence was a lawsuit, which was +soon given in her favour.</p> + +<p>She came accompanied by an old servant of her father's, +whom she had made her <i>dame de compagnie</i>, and a majordomo. +From Madrid she had telegraphed to a cousin who, with +Manuel Antonio, two of the daughters of Mateo, and a few +more friends were awaiting her arrival on the badly paved +Place of the Post, where the diligence stopped. And then +followed embraces, huggings and kisses, questions, exclamations +and tears. The offended heiress of Estrada-Rosa<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a> +never thought she could have felt so much pleasure in +returning to her native place. In the ardour of their +affection, her friends almost carried her off to her house. +There they all left her with the exception of Emilita Mateo, +to whom Fernanda signed to remain. Then the two friends, +with their arms round each other's waists, went slowly up +that wide polished staircase which Fernanda had so often +trod as a child with bare feet. They soon shut themselves +in the old library of Estrada-Rosa to enjoy an hour of +sweet confidences. Amid smiles, kisses, and vows of eternal +friendship the history of those five years was told. Fernanda +talked of her late husband in a tone that lapsed from +compassionate to depreciative, for she had lived with him +in a state of antagonism of ideas and tastes that had kept +them apart. She had been neither happy nor miserable. +They had been five years of excitement, filled with crowded +streets, splendid theatres, magnificent hotels, gorgeous +dresses, many acquaintances, and not a single friend. Her +husband devoted himself to the satisfaction of her fancies +like some wild bear who obeys the whip of the keeper with +growls. They had had one child that had died at four +months old.</p> + +<p>The skittish Emilita was very unhappy in her marriage. +Nuñez had turned out a fast man. Fernanda knew something +about it, but not much. It is not easy to go into +certain significant details in letters. He began very well, +but then he went wrong with bad companions; at first he +took to gambling, then to drinking, then he went after +women, and it was this last that Emilita felt so deeply. She +had willingly pardoned him all the rest. She had borne his +coming home drunk in the early hours of the morning, she +had pawned her earrings and her mantilla for him, but +she could not stand seeing him going into the house of a +bad woman who lived in the Calle de Cerrajerías. On +saying this the Pensioner's daughter burst into a torrent of +tears. The sight of her trouble was the more distressing,<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a> +as a piquant sort of cheerfulness had always been her +peculiar characteristic. Fernanda caressed her tenderly +and wept with her. After some minutes silence she said:</p> + +<p>"But do you go on loving him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, girl, yes," she exclaimed with rage, "I cannot help +it. I am more and more blindly in love."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>por Dios</i>! Your poor father must be very much +put out."</p> + +<p>"As you can imagine! And the worst of it is," she +added, weeping bitterly, "that now he has returned to his +mania against the army. He says awful things about +soldiers! Yes, yes, awful! Directly I enter the house he +begins going on, on purpose to annoy me. My sisters +support him. They call us idle good-for-nothings, and say +that the contingent ought to be reduced."</p> + +<p>Here the tender heart of the wife of Nuñez was torn +with sobs. Fernanda, who had also cried at the sight of +her affliction, could not help smiling.</p> + +<p>"Your sisters, too?"</p> + +<p>"I should think so! They all—they all want it to be +reduced!"</p> + +<p>When the daughter of Estrada-Rosa had shown her that +the reduction of the land forces was not so easy as it seemed, +her spirits gradually rose. Then they arranged a surprise +for the Lancian society. Fernanda was to appear that +evening without previous announcement at the house of +Quiñones. The idea filled them both with childish delight, +and after concerting the details, Emilita went off, promising +to return and fetch her friend. It was ten o'clock when +they both mounted the stone steps, which were as damp as +ever, of the large seignorial stairway of the Quiñones. On +arriving at the top, Emilita would not let the servant +announce them, but opened the door herself, and pushed +Fernanda in. She was an apparition calculated to throw +all the guests into ecstasies. The daughter of Estrada-Rosa +was resplendent in a most elegant dress from one of the<a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a> +first modistes of Paris. Her beauty, which her compatriots +had only known in the bud, had blossomed during the five +years of refined and elegant life into a magnificent rose. +She had always been admired for the dignity of her bearing, +the brilliancy of her large dark eyes, and the delicacy of +her skin, but her beauty had acquired in Paris the necessary +adjuncts of the most finished manners, and a perfect taste +in dress—two distinctions she would never have attained +in Lancia. Her black silk dress revealed her neck and +shoulders, and a few strings of pearls, twisted in her hair, +were all the ornaments she wore. Amalia was the first to +see her, and the sight of her beauty caused a sudden chill +at her heart, but she recovered herself immediately and ran +to greet her.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I knew you had arrived, but I never thought you +would be so kind as——"</p> + +<p>Their eyes met and that glance revealed the hatred that +burned in the depth of their souls. But circumstances were +changed. Five years ago Amalia had been the most +elegant and distinguished lady of the place; the only one +whose bearing and refinement of manners had raised her to +a more cultivated and spiritual sphere. But Fernanda now +had the advantage of her, for the former had visibly aged. +Many silver threads were noticeable in her hair; her complexion, +always pale, had lost its freshness; then her desire +and taste for dress had palled, and she had gone on taking +the tone of the ordinary commonplace society surrounding +her, and so had become more and more careless of her +appearance. A bitter smile wreathed her lips, as she +exchanged the necessary greetings with Fernanda, who +enjoyed her triumph with a grave, serene content.</p> + +<p>The ladies immediately surrounded her. There was a +rush of kisses and embraces, accompanied with loud +expressions of delight. The men, who formed a circle +behind, also stretched out their hands and pressed that +of the beautiful traveller. And between so many congratu<a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>latory +and pleasant greetings, and either from forgetfulness +or shame, nobody dared make any remark about the loss +that the young girl had recently sustained, and so there was +no allusion made to the cross old bear who slept his eternal +sleep in a cemetery at Paris. When the excitement of the +greetings had somewhat abated, Amalia took her smilingly +by both hands and exclaimed as her eyes swept over her +costume:</p> + +<p>"Do you know mourning is very elegant in Paris?"</p> + +<p>Fernanda made a <i>moue</i> of disdain.</p> + +<p>"Dress is of little importance if mourning is in the +heart," said Maria Josefa, whose tongue had grown considerably +sharper in the five years that had passed.</p> + +<p>Fernanda's cheeks flushed red. She was as ashamed as +if it were a crime at not feeling the loss of Garnet. Then, +irritated by the sense of antagonism, she was on the point +of showing her vexation; but she turned her back and began +talking to some other ladies.</p> + +<p>At that moment the Conde de Onis came out of the +library and advanced to greet her. She gave him her hand +with an affectionate smile. Nevertheless, the dark circles +round her eyes betrayed her emotion. To hide her +feelings she went on to the library saying with assumed +levity that she would leave them all as she much wished +to see Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>The noble Grandee was sitting in his chair with the cards +in his hand. His hair and his beard were white, but just +as erect and fierce-looking as ever. His energetic features +seemed more marked; his piercing eyes shone with a fiercer +fire. Moving with difficulty his great athletic body, so +helpless in the lower limbs, the lines of his face were +distorted with an expression of ferocious impotence that +inspired sadness and fear. But if he was broken down in +body, his proud spirit, seemed only to assert itself the more +remarkably. His respect for himself at bearing the name +of Quiñones increased every day, with his scorn for all other<a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a> +people born under the stigma of any other name. Being +profoundly thankful to Heaven for the favour accorded him, +he would have thought it a sin to envy other men the +power of using their legs. What was the good of Juan +Fernandez being able to walk, run and jump if, after +all, he was only named Juan Fernandez? The only thing +that troubled him sometimes was whether it was befitting +the dignity of a Quiñones to have utterly helpless extremities, +and if it would not be preferable for them to +participate in the glory of the rest of his body. But such +unpleasant thoughts were put away by thinking that dead +or alive, those extremities occupied a superior position in +society.</p> + +<p>When Fernanda entered the library he fixed his eyes on +her, and gave her a look, which took her in from head to +foot. Neither the girl's beauty, nor bearing, singularly +elegant as it was, seemed to please him, for he immediately +turned to the cards and said in an insolent, patronising +tone:</p> + +<p>"Holla, little one! Is it you? When did you arrive?"</p> + +<p>In spite of being offended at such a tone, Fernanda +saluted him affectionately.</p> + +<p>"I am pleased to see you so well, dear," he continued, +"and I take the opportunity of condoling with you. You +know I have not written letters for years. I was sorry about +Santos. Do you hear, Moro? Are you ever going to give me +a decent card again? He was a good subject, an excellent +neighbour, incapable of harming any one. You will not get +another husband like him. He had one quality not easily +met with—modesty. In spite of the money that he made +he never pretended to go out of his sphere; he always +showed himself respectful to his superiors. Was it not so, +Saleta, that he was not one of those parvenu popinjays who, +as soon as they hear the clink of money in their pockets, +forget all about profits and percentage, as if they had never +gone in for them. Valero, sit down and say if this trick<a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a> +will be mine. Have you come to settle here, child? or are +you going back to the <i>franchutes</i>?" (français).</p> + +<p>Fernanda, who was keenly alive to all the gall of this +discourse, made a cold reply, and after a few words she +returned to the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro was vexed by the stamp of elegance and +distinction borne by the daughter of Estrada-Rosa. He +was angry to think that any one could rise in their turn, +albeit but a few degrees. He abhorred all that was foreign, +especially Paris, where he imagined the Los Quiñones had +no especial prestige. He even suspected with horror that +they were unknown there. But, as may easily be supposed, +he put such a disagreeable idea out of his head. For if it +took complete possession of his mind, what was left for the +noble gentleman? Death, and nothing else.</p> + +<p>The party of <i>tresillo</i> was composed of old acquaintances. +Saleta, the great Saleta, whose lies went on flowing from his +mouth so glibly and easily that he always had to go on +lying. But Lancia almost lost in him one of its most magnanimous +amusing fellows; for, retiring on a pension three +years ago, he went and settled in the country, but he only +stayed there one year, for he became homesick for Lancia, +Quiñones' gatherings, and, above all, the jokes of his colleague +Valero; so he left the Gallician regions and came +back to live with the Lancians. Valero, having become President +of the Chamber, became every day more bombastic, +noisy, and lisping. He was sitting on the left of the +distinguished host. Facing him was Moro, the unattainable +ideal of all the marriageable girls, whose indefatigable head +easily stood twelve hours of <i>tresillo</i> without any ill-effects, +or fatigue. Of all the institutions created for men, the +most solid and respectable is that of <i>tresillo</i>. It may well +be compared to the immutable laws of nature, so unchangeable +is its stability. It was as true to Moro that a spade is +worth more than a club, as that falling bodies represent a +movement uniformly accelerated. And there, in the dark<a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a> +corner of the room, the celebrated Manin was sleeping in +the same armchair, with his short breeches, green jacket, +and hob-nailed boots. His hair was grey, almost white, but +that was not the worst of it, for the sad part was, that +he was no longer regarded in the place as a fierce hunter, +grown grey in contending with the bears of the mountains. +That legend had gradually passed away. His compatriots +were right: Manin was nothing but a country clown. His +deeds of prowess were now a subject of joke, and he was +looked upon as the old buffoon of the mad, illustrious Señor +de Quiñones.</p> + +<p>Fernanda managed at last to withdraw from the congratulations +of her friends, and retired to a corner apart. +She was sad. The hostility of the people of the house +depressed her, but that was not the chief cause of her +sadness, although she tried to think so. The real reason of +it, ashamed as she was to confess it to herself, was Luis. +The kind greeting of her old <i>fiancé</i> had suddenly awoke all +her recollections, all her illusions, and all the joys and +sorrows of old times that slumbered in the depth of her soul +like birds amid the leaves of a tree. The agitation of her mind +was intense, but nothing, or very little, betrayed itself in her +grave and cold demeanour. Nevertheless, she felt a great +shock when she heard the following words close to her ear:</p> + +<p>"How beautiful you have grown, Fernanda!"</p> + +<p>She had been so full of thought that she had not noticed +the count had taken a seat by her side. Involuntarily she +raised her hand to her heart, and she replied immediately +with a smile:</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and I am getting old, am I not?"</p> + +<p>She made an effort, and looked him straight in the face.</p> + +<p>"No; nothing but a few grey hairs in your beard, and +rather a weary look."</p> + +<p>The trembling of her voice contrasted with the apparent +indifference which she chose to give to her tone.<a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a></p> + +<p>The count instantly grew serious. He put his hand to +his brow, and at the end of some moments, he replied in a +gloomy tone, as if he were speaking to himself:</p> + +<p>"Weary! yes, that is the right word. Very weary! +Weariness is exhaled from every pore."</p> + +<p>Then they were both silent. The count was plunged +in profound meditation which brought a deep furrow to +his brow. After a while he renewed the conversation by +saying:</p> + +<p>"I saw you before I came here."</p> + +<p>"Where?" she asked with assumed surprise.</p> + +<p>"On the road. I went out this afternoon for a ride, and +the post-chaise passed me. I knew you perfectly."</p> + +<p>"Well, I did not see you. I only recollect meeting two +or three peasants, but I did not recognise anybody."</p> + +<p>On saying this a wave of crimson surged to her face in +spite of herself. To hide her confusion she turned her +head, and her eyes met those of Amalia, brilliant and +steely, as they rested upon her. They looked at each +other for an instant. The feline mouth of the Valencian +was wreathed in a smile. Fernanda tried to respond by a +similar one, but it was a failure. She turned again to the +count, and talked of indifferent subjects, of theatres, +music, and projects of travel.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Luis became more and more preoccupied; +he seemed to lose his self-control, and talked at random, +as if his thoughts were straying afar. He was silent for +some moments, struggled to say something, moved his lips, +but instead of their articulating what he wanted, they expressed +something quite different, something trivial and +ridiculous that he was ashamed of directly he had said it. +Fernanda watched him attentively, regaining the calmness +and self-possession that he was rapidly losing. She +seemed absorbed in the conversation, describing her travelling +impressions with naturalness, and expressing her +opinions with unconcern, as if there had been nothing<a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a> +between them but an old and tranquil friendship. Finally, +availing himself of an instant's silence, he summoned +resolution to say:</p> + +<p>"When I approached you, you seemed very thoughtful. +Of what were you thinking?"</p> + +<p>"I do not recollect. Of what would you have me +think?"</p> + +<p>The count hesitated a moment; then encouraged by the +gracious smile of his <i>ex-fiancée</i>, he ventured to say:</p> + +<p>"Of me."</p> + +<p>Fernanda looked at him in silence with playful curiosity, +under which shone a delight impossible to hide. The +count coloured up to the eyes, and he would gladly have +cut his tongue out before having said those two fatal monosyllables.</p> + +<p>"All right," said the girl, jumping up from her chair. +"<i>Au revoir</i>, I am glad to see you friendly."</p> + +<p>"Listen!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she said, turning back, as she was going +away, and glancing at him with two smiling, malicious eyes +that completed her conquest of him.</p> + +<p>"Pardon, if my words offended you."</p> + +<p>Fernanda tossed her head disdainfully and went off, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Repent sinner, or hell will have you!"</p> + +<p>"Hell!"</p> + +<p>This word, uttered at random, as a joke, gave him a +sudden shock, and called him back again to the habitual +tenor of his thoughts. All the Gayosos had lived under +the influence of this baneful idea. But the terror of his +ancestors seemed concentrated in his mind, tormenting and +maddening him to a degree. Amalia had had a hard +struggle to distract him for a little time from his scruples. +Therefore, when she now signed to him to come to her +she saw he moodily rose from his seat, and came +towards her with slow, unwilling steps. She had too<a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a> +much tact and pride to show any vexation at the short conversation +just held with his old <i>fiancée</i>. She received him +with the same smile, speaking with her habitually assumed +tone of cheerfulness, and she did not mention Fernanda's +name. But her pallid lips contracted with anger every +time his eyes turned towards the girl, which they often +unwittingly did.</p> + +<p>A beautiful child with blue eyes and long fair hair now +appeared at the door with a servant.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how late!" exclaimed the Señora de Quiñones. +"Why are you so late in bringing her, Paula?" she added +severely.</p> + +<p>The servant replied that the child was so amused at +playing: "Let them give to the kite," that she cried +every time they wanted her to go to bed.</p> + +<p>"Are you not sleepy yet, my treasure?" said the lady +drawing her to her, and passing her hand caressingly over +her curls.</p> + +<p>The guests were very interested in the little creature, +and she went from one to the other, receiving caresses +from one and the other, and returning them with good-night +kisses.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Josefina. Until to-morrow, my treasure. +Have you been good to-day? And has your godmother +bought you a doll that shuts its eyes?"</p> + +<p>The count regarded her with tears in his eyes, whilst he +made incredible efforts to master his emotion. He always +felt the same when he saw the child. When his turn came +he only brushed her fair cheek with his lips; but Josefina, +with the fine instinct of children, who always know who +loves them, threw her arms round his neck, and gave +evidence of particular affection for him. Fernanda also +regarded her with intense interest, with a curiosity so great, +that she opened her eyes wide. Josefina was six years old, +she had a creamy complexion, eyes of infinite sweetness, +and something sad and delicate about her diminutive<a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a> +person. One detected at once her likeness to the count. +When the child left him, his eyes met Fernanda's, and he +was so embarrassed, that he took a seat farther off.</p> + +<p>Josefina was dressed with taste. The Señores de +Quiñones brought her up with every indulgence like +an adopted child. This had been for some time the +favourite topic of gossip in Lancia. The cost of her little +hats was guessed at with the greatest interest; the number +of her toys was commented upon, and calculations +were made as to what her marriage <i>dot</i> would be. But +such remarks ended by getting stale. It was only when +the subject came up, that some sarcastic allusion was +made, or some new discovery whispered. The child +came to a stop before a group, in which figured Maria +Josefa, the young lady with the long spiteful tongue, +and Manuel Antonio, as beautiful as the first rays of +morning.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Josefina; who do you love best—your godmother +or your godfather?" asked he of the child.</p> + +<p>"My godmother," replied the child, without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"And who do you love most—your godfather or the +count?"</p> + +<p>The child looked at him astonished with her large blue +eyes, and a shade of distrust passed over them, as, with a +frown on her beautiful brow, she returned:</p> + +<p>"My godfather."</p> + +<p>"But does not the count bring you lots of toys? Does +he not take you in his carriage to the Grange? Has he +not brought you the little waggon?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he is not my godfather."</p> + +<p>The group received this reply with a smile. They knew +that the child lied, for Don Pedro was not a man to inspire +any one with affection.</p> + +<p>"But I think the count is also your—fa—godfather."</p> + +<p>"No such thing. I have only one godfather," returned +the child, now getting angry. And then she left the group.<a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a></p> + +<p>She then went to where Amalia was, and placing herself +before her, she crossed her little arms upon her chest, and +making a curtsey, said:</p> + +<p>"Godmother, your blessing."</p> + +<p>Whereupon the lady gave her her hand, which the child +kissed with reverence. Then, taking her in her arms, +she kissed her on the forehead.</p> + +<p>"You must go to bed, my daughter. Go and ask your +godfather for his blessing."</p> + +<p>So the child went to the library. These old world +customs were a great pleasure to the Señor de Quiñones. +Josefina approached him timidly. That great paralysed +gentleman always inspired her with dread, although she +tried to hide it according to her godmother's injunctions.</p> + +<p>"Señor, your blessing," she said in a subdued voice.</p> + +<p>The pompous old Grandee paid no attention, and +looked at the cards he held in his hand, whilst wrapped in +his grey cloak with the red cross, he seemed to grow bigger +and bigger before the frightened eyes of poor Josefina. +She thought that there was nobody in the world more +immense, more imposing, and more worthy of respect than +that noble señor; and Don Pedro shared the same +opinion, so that all other beings with whom he came in +contact seemed a chaotic mass, in which only two or three +were possessed of any individual character. The child +waited, with her little arms crossed, for about a quarter of +an hour. At last the Señor de Quiñones, after playing a +good card, condescended to cast a severe look upon the +child which turned her pale. He then stretched out his +aristocratic hand with a gesture worthy of his namesake, +Peter the Great of Russia, and Josefina pressed her trembling +lips upon it and then withdrew. The bombastic old +fellow was not quite pleased at his wife treating the little +foundling with so much indulgence, but he consented +because it flattered his vanity, for Amalia, knowing his +weak point, said:<a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a></p> + +<p>"Treating her like a servant is what anybody would do +in Lancia. We ought to do things in another fashion."</p> + +<p>So Don Pedro could not but see the weight of that undeniable +truth. Josefina crossed the drawing-room to go +to bed. As she passed by Fernanda, she caught her by +the arm and dragged her to her. All the joy and love that +filled her heart overflowed with vehemence upon the little +creature whom she covered with kisses. She forgot all +about her rival whom she considered defeated. She only +thought that it was a child of his, his blood, his very image. +And she kissed with ecstasy those blue, deep, melancholy, +eyes, that creamy skin, and those yellow curls that surrounded +her face like a golden aureole.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what beautiful hair! What beautiful curls!"</p> + +<p>And she pressed her lips on the child's head with so +much feeling that she was not far from crying.</p> + +<p>At that moment a sharp, imperious voice sounded in her +ears.</p> + +<p>"Not gone to bed yet! you naughty girl."</p> + +<p>And on raising her eyes, Fernanda saw Amalia with a +pallid face and compressed lips, take the child roughly by +the arm, and after giving her a sharp shake, she dragged her +to the door.<a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h3> + +<p class="head">AMALIA'S RAGE</p> + + +<p class="nind">T<span class="smcap">he</span> next morning Paula, by command of the señora, took +the child off to the ironing-room, sat her in a high chair, +and asked a young girl, who was working at the window, for +some scissors.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" Josefina asked.</p> + +<p>"Cut your hair."</p> + +<p>"Why? I don't want my hair cut."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she got down from the chair with determination, +but Paula turned back and put her up again.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet," she said severely.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to, I don't want to," she doggedly returned.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly a shame to cut such beautiful hair," said +one of the girls who was ironing.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, child? An order is an order."</p> + +<p>And taking hold of one of the precious curls of hair, she +cut it off with the scissors.</p> + +<p>"Leave go, Paula!" cried the child, "I am going to tell +godmother."</p> + +<p>"Yes, precious, go and tell your godmother, indeed? +All right, you shall tell her when it is done."</p> + +<p>And paying no further heed to her protestations, and +letting the words fall on deaf ears, she went on with the +task quite undisturbed. But the child got down again, +angry and furious. Then Paula called the sempstress +Concha to her assistance, and she held her down on the<a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a> +chair until she was despoiled of every one of her curls, +after which they arranged what was left as best they +could.</p> + +<p>"What a pity!" said the laundress again.</p> + +<p>"It is not so bad, child," returned Paula, combing it with +admiration.</p> + +<p>At that moment the señora appeared at the door of the +room.</p> + +<p>"Godmother! come godmother! Look, Paula and +Concha have cut my hair."</p> + +<p>Amalia advanced some steps, avoiding the child's gaze, +fixed her stern eyes upon her head and said in an imperious +and cold tone:</p> + +<p>"That is not right. Shave it off."</p> + +<p>And she went away with a frowning brow, whilst Josefina, +astonished, followed her with her eyes. Never had she +seen her godmother so cold and stern. She was sad and +thoughtful, and remained thus without making the slightest +movement, until Paula had accomplished her task.</p> + +<p>The little head was soon as smooth as a melon. The +servants shouted with laughter.</p> + +<p>"Child of my soul! what have they been doing to you?" +exclaimed Maria, the ironer, with a tone of regret, although +she could not repress a smile.</p> + +<p>"Don't say that, woman," retorted Concha with a shade +of bitterness. "Yes, she does look ridiculous."</p> + +<p>She was a woman of five-and-twenty or more, extremely +small, almost as small as Josefina, with sharp, keen eyes, and +all the servants were afraid of her.</p> + +<p>Paula laughed too and passed her hand over the little +creature's head.</p> + +<p>"When we want a jar for the vinegar we shall know where +to go for it," continued Concha.</p> + +<p>The wave of pity passed away. Guessing that the child +had fallen into disgrace, the servants became quite facetious, +exchanging jokes which were not pretty, but which made<a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a> +them nearly die of laughter. Josefina remained with her +head down, quiet and silent. Then the jokes began to +take effect, and two tears dropped from her long eyelashes.</p> + +<p>"Crying for your little wig? What a shame to hurt her! +It is not your fault, but theirs who brought you up like a +princess, when you are only like us, and less than us," she +added in a low tone, "for we have got fathers."</p> + +<p>"Come, Concha, drop that! Don't fret the little +monkey, you will soon have fresh hair," said Maria, in a +maternal tone.</p> + +<p>The child, touched by the kindness, began to sob and +left the room.</p> + +<p>When she entered the drawing-room in the evening like +that, the count could not repress a gesture of anger, and +cast an interrogative glance at Amalia, who replied to the +gesture and look with a provoking smile. And in a loud +voice she said that the child's hair had been cut by her +orders, for she had noticed that she was beginning to be +vain. It is so! and people flatter her so much that she has +become unmanageable.</p> + +<p>The count, enraged, immediately took the opportunity of +repairing to Fernanda's side, where he renewed the conversation +of the previous evening. The two were +loquacious and affectionate. Fernanda related her life in +Paris with no lack of details; and Luis was particularly +expansive, not hiding the cheerfulness of his heart, and +talking with animation in spite of Amalia's angry glance +fixed upon him. During a pause, Fernanda raised her +smiling eyes to her <i>ex-fiancé</i> and asked him, but not without +a slight blush:</p> + +<p>"Don't you know why the child's hair has been cut?"</p> + +<p>The count looked at her without replying.</p> + +<p>"Because I praised it yesterday, and allowed myself to +kiss it."</p> + +<p>It was the first time that Fernanda took his secret for<a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a> +granted. He felt a great shock; his face grew red, and so +did hers. For some time neither of them could speak.</p> + +<p>During the following days the count often walked down +the Calle de Altavilla, and he spent a great deal of time in +the Café de Marañón. Lancian society was moved to its +very foundation at such an important turn of events, and +henceforth he was an object of interest to three hundred +pairs of eyes. He gave up going every day to the Quiñones' +house, and went occasionally to the de Merés' little party, +as it continued to be called in Lancia, although only one of +the old ladies was now left in this world. Carmelita had +died at least three years ago. Only Nuncia the youngest +was left, and she was quite paralytic. From the armchair +to the bed, and from the bed to the armchair was all that +she could manage with great difficulty. She was also +deprived of moral support, as in her sister she lost her +protector from impulse. Since she was buried there was +no one to keep her in order. With the sudden promotion +to the category of persons <i>sui juris</i>, the poor "child" +was a prey to great distress, everything worried her, everything +was an insuperable difficulty. Those sharp scoldings +had been less overwhelming to her, for if they had caused +tears, they had been salutary in checking her juvenile +ebullitions, and so prevented the fatal consequences attending +her inexperience. Her guests were a few youths, and +several young men of our acquaintance, with a sufficient +number of graceful, pretty damsels who came to the house +on the look out for a husband. For the "child," in this, +and in every respect, kept up religiously the traditions +bequeathed by her sister. She was the firm protector of all +the courtships that arose in Lancia, however ill-advised +they might be. The little house of the Calle del Carpio +continued to be the forge, where the conjugal happiness of +the worthy neighbours of Lancia was forged. The most +constant visitor was Paco Gomez, because the house of the +Quiñones was closed to him in consequence of one of his<a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a> +remarks. A certain stranger meeting him in Altavilla with +a few others asked him how the Grandee came to be +paralysed.</p> + +<p>"He is not really paralysed," returned Paco, for he is +not disabled at all, only his legs can't put up with all the +heraldry stuff that he has got in his head, and so they double +up rather than take a step.</p> + +<p>This came to Quiñones' ears through a traitor, and he +gave orders he was henceforth not to be received. He was +the soul and the delight of the "child's" party, and the +incessant way he made fun of Nuncita kept all the guests in +a fit of laughter.</p> + +<p>"I say, Nuncita, look! Don't talk too much, for do you +know I saw your leg, and—and—and——"</p> + +<p>The poor octogenarian blushed like a girl of fifteen. +Nothing could have confused her more than this inopportune +reference to the afternoon of the swing. Luis and +Fernanda took to seeing each other there once or twice a +week. Away from the angry eyes of Amalia, the count +found it very pleasant, and he recovered his serenity of +mind. They had long talks in a low voice without being +disturbed by anybody. On the contrary the "child" took +good care to give them room and opportunity. Nevertheless, +he still visited at the Quiñones' house, and he saw +Amalia secretly when she demanded it, but he was evidently +colder and more distant. She was perfectly aware of the +change, but she did not show her colours, and she did not +mention his <i>ex-fiancée</i>. However, one day she could not +help doing so.</p> + +<p>"I know that you spend a great deal of time at the de +Merés' talking with Fernanda."</p> + +<p>He denied it in a cowardly fashion.</p> + +<p>"Take care what you do," she continued, fixing her eyes +on him, "for treachery may cost you dear."</p> + +<p>He was so accustomed to the dominion of this terrible +woman that the words sent a chill through him, as if some<a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a> +misfortune were hanging over his head. But when he came +out into the street, away from the magnetic influence of +those eyes that upset him, he was conscious of an impotent +feeling of rage. "Why, after all, should she threaten me? Is +she my wife? What right has she to me? What we are +doing is a grave sin, it is a crime. Who can deprive me of +repentance, of reconciling myself with God and being good?" +Repentance had latterly been to him a vague desire due to +his love being on the wane, and to his great fear of hell. +Now it had changed into a real wish. Certainly it offered +several attractions. He would renounce the sin bravely, +purify himself, free himself from eternal fire—and then have +Fernanda.</p> + +<p>For some time past there had been only one bright spot +in his criminal connection with Amalia—and that was +Josefina. This little creature, white and silent as a snow-drop, +sweet as a lily with the innocence of a dove, and the +tender melancholy of a moonlight night, was like a delicious, +refreshing balsam to his soul—a prey to remorse. How +often, when holding her in his arms, he had asked with +surprise how such an innocent, pure, divine being could be +the child of sin. But that same child caused him fresh +cruel torments. Never to see her alone, from day to day, +to be obliged to hide his affection for her, to have to kiss her +coldly like the others, and more coldly than the others, not +to be able to call her the child of his heart, not to hear her +lisp the tender name of father, sometimes saddened him to +a point of despair. On one or two occasions he had been +allowed to take her to the Grange. Then he passed hours +in ecstasy, holding her on his knees, and caressing her +passionately.</p> + +<p>The child had become accustomed to these violent +expressions of affection and she liked them. Sometimes +she felt her fair head wet with the tears of her friend. +Raising her eyes in surprise she would see him smile, then +smiling too, she would reach up her coral lips for a kiss.<a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a></p> + +<p>"Why are you crying, Luis? Have you a pimple?"</p> + +<p>Josefina knew no more serious reason in the world for +crying. She loved Luis dearly, and his general coldness +saddened and surprised her. By degrees she had come to +understand with precocious instinct, that the count loved +her more than the others did, but he had to hide his feelings. +So she, following his example, also adopted an +indifferent manner with him when in public. But when +they were alone, she reciprocated his expressions of affection +with equal enthusiasm, and this without knowing why, without +accounting to herself for what she did.</p> + +<p>From the day her godmother ordered her hair to be cut, +Josefina noticed that she had fallen into disgrace. She was +not now kissed with transports of delights, her slightest +wishes were not acceded to, and she was no longer the +constant source of interest in the house.</p> + +<p>Amalia took to scolding her, using a cold, displeased +tone towards her, and the servants followed the example of +the señora. The poor child, without knowing what the change +signified, felt her little heart sink, she explored the faces of +those about her with her beautiful deep eyes, and tried to +decipher the enigma that they hid. She became daily more +grave, more retiring, more timid. And as she found she +was denied the toys or the sweetmeats that they used to +lavish upon her open-handed, she left off asking for them.</p> + +<p>Amalia, instead of delighting as formerly in her infantile +ways, appeared to avoid them, she gave orders she was +not to be brought to her bed in the morning as usual. +When they met on the stairs, she passed by without looking +at her. At the most she would go up to her and say in a +displeased tone:</p> + +<p>"You have not washed yourself yet. Go, see you are +put right." Or else, "They tell me you did not know your +catechism lesson. You are getting very idle. Take care +and be good, because if not I shall lock you in the cellar +with the rats."<a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a></p> + +<p>She had formerly busied herself in teaching her, in +putting the needle into her hand, and guiding her little +fingers. Now she almost always left this task to the +servants. She lived in a state of gloomy preoccupation +which did not escape the domestics' notice. Josefina also +was conscious that her godmother was changed, not only +with regard to herself, but in her whole manner of life. And +so her mind gradually conceived the idea that she was sad, +and that she was suffering, and that this was the cause of +her bad temper. One day the lady was alone in her room. +She had flung herself in an armchair and sat motionless +with her head thrown back and her hands hanging down, +apparently asleep. Nevertheless, Josefina, who passed by +the room, and ventured to look through the crack of the +door, noticed that her eyes were open, very open, and that +she was frowning dreadfully. Without knowing what she +did, with the blind confidence that children have in themselves, +she pushed open the door and entered the room. +She went silently up to the señora, and throwing herself +suddenly on to her lap, and looking at her with timid +affection, she said:</p> + +<p>"Give me a kiss, godmother."</p> + +<p>The lady was startled.</p> + +<p>"How is it you are here? Who gave you permission +to come in? Have I not told you not to come up without +you are called?" she asked, frowning still more +severely.</p> + +<p>"I want to give you a kiss," said Josefina in a subdued +voice.</p> + +<p>"Don't bother me with kisses, and mind you don't come +up again without permission."</p> + +<p>But the child, overwhelmed with emotion, not knowing +to what to attribute this moroseness, and wishing to overcome +it at all costs, began to cry, as she threw herself once +more upon her lap and tried to reach her face.</p> + +<p>"Give me a kiss, godmother."<a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a></p> + +<p>"Go! leave me!" replied the lady, preventing her raising +herself higher.</p> + +<p>The child was obstinate.</p> + +<p>"Don't you love me? Give me a kiss."</p> + +<p>"Go away, child!" she cried, in a fury. "Go away, at +once!"</p> + +<p>At the same time she gave her a hard push, and Josefina +fell on to the ground where her head came against the leg +of a chair.</p> + +<p>She got up, raising her hand to where she was hurt, but +she did not cry. A feeling of dignity, often shown by +childish hearts, gave her strength to keep from crying, +although her eyes were filled with tears. She cast one +look of unspeakable sadness on her godmother, and then +ran from the room. When she reached the staircase, she +threw herself down on one of the steps and burst into a fit +of sobbing.</p> + +<p>The thorns of life were indeed piercing the delicate flesh +of that child whose path until then had been strewn with +flowers. Amalia's spite grew worse every day, and the +reserve and timidity of the child increased in proportion. +But as she was only a child, this sadness would vanish +when under the impulse of a fancy, and it was at such +moments that the coldness and spite of the lady were most +evident.</p> + +<p>"Señora, Josefina does not want to put on her green +frock."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"She says it is dirty."</p> + +<p>Amalia then rose, repaired to the child's room, took her +by the arm, and shaking her roughly, she said:</p> + +<p>"What is this pride? Don't you know, silly, that you are +only here out of pity? Take care and don't vex me, or one +day, when least expected, I will put you in the street where +you came from."</p> + +<p>The servants heard these words and always bore them<a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a> +in mind. Until now Josefina had been brought up like a +child of the señores, now she was treated like an illegitimate +child, and afterwards like a little pariah. The servants now +took pleasure in paying off the little attentions they had +been formerly obliged to accord her, and the sharp rebukes +they had incurred on her account.</p> + +<p>Concha in particular, the dwarfish maid, felt an +indescribable delight, peculiar to her malignant, spiteful +character, every time that the señora evinced in any way +her scorn for the adopted child. Josefina had a large, +cheerful room looking on to the garden. Although +Concha was head maid and dressmaker of the house, she +had a duller room that she shared with Maria looking on +to the street. Josefina's room had always been an object +of envy to her. More than once she had given strong +hints on the subject; and now, profiting by her mistress's +state of mind, she got permission to sleep in the child's +room under the pretext that Paula, who occupied the next +bed, snored so loudly. So she installed herself comfortably +there, and made use of the little girl's toilet things. A few +days later she sent her to sleep with Maria without saying a +word to her mistress. When Amalia did know of it, it had +been going on for some time, and she heard it without any +resentment at not having been told before, and she did +nothing to alter what had been done.</p> + +<p>Soon after, she thought of another means of degrading the +child. Josefina dined at table with the señores. The +pompous old Grandee had not consented to this at first, but +he at last conceded to the importunities of his wife. +Concha, full of spite like her señora, set to intriguing to +deprive the foundling of this privilege. Exaggerating what +it gave to do, the mess that it made, and the disturbance +of the waiting at table, the little girl was finally removed to, +and located at, a little table, which was put in the ironing-room +near the kitchen. A few days after Amalia, in a fit +of bad temper, said that the double service could not be<a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a> +tolerated, and that she was to dine in the kitchen with the +servants. Concha sat her on a stool, pushed her a plate +of thick soup and a tin spoon saying: "Eat."</p> + +<p>The child raised her head in amazement, but seeing the +malignant smile in the girl's eyes, she put it down again, +and began to eat without any protest whatever. Concha +was not pleased at this, for she wanted to see her rebel and +cry.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Don't you like your spoon? Then, child, +you'll have to eat with it as I do, who am quite as good as +you. What do you take yourself for, you little fool? Do +you think because you wear a fine hat and a cambric +chemise you are a young lady? Young ladies don't come +in a basket covered over with dirty rags." And so she +went on, bursting into sarcastic, insulting laughter until poor +Josefina at last began to cry. Although the other servants +were not so malignant, they were pleased at the child's +humiliation. They ended by taking her part, whilst Concha, +relentless and colder and harder than marble, went on persecuting +her with the greatest cruelty. A few days later, +as Josefina was passing through the ironing-room to the +dining-room, she heard Concha say to Maria:</p> + +<p>"I say, girl, have you ironed the foundling's clothes?"</p> + +<p>She stopped, not knowing of whom they were speaking, +and cast an anxious look from one servant to the other, +until a simultaneous shout of laughter from them both +made her understand that they were speaking of her.</p> + +<p>"Why do you call me a foundling?" cried the innocent +child, with difficulty repressing her tears. "I will go and +tell my godmother."</p> + +<p>"Go run and tell her," returned Concha pushing her to +the door.</p> + +<p>And henceforth she went by that name among the servants. +Amalia prohibited her being brought into the drawing-room +in the evening. The count, whose only chance +of seeing his child was on these occasions, asked for an<a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a> +explanation, and the lady replied that as she had to get up +early for her lessons, she required more sleep; but he did +not feel satisfied. He knew that some harm was brewing, +but fearing a worse evil he had the sense to be silent.</p> + +<p>Then Amalia thought of a more direct way of wounding +the count. The child whom she had not only deprived of +her caresses, but of all her position in the house, was in a fair +way to be an extra little servant. In one instant the transformation +was completed. The señora gave orders for all +her hats and clothes to be put on one side, and for her to +be dressed in the poorest, oldest things out of the press; +that she was to be treated like the rest of the servants, and +perform little offices in the kitchen that were within her +power.</p> + +<p>The courtship of Fernanda and the count was getting +more conspicuous every day. Although they abstained +from talking intimately in the house of Quiñones before the +jealous Valencian, she was not oblivious to what was going +on. Her eyes, like two rays of light, seemed to pierce her +lover's brain and read what was there: Luis was in love +with his old betrothed. The adulterous connection weighed +on his mind like a heavy stone. She, the loved and preferred +of former days, was now old and faded beside that +splendid rose who had just reached perfection. If he had +not given her up already, it was through his weakness of +character, through the powerful ascendant she had managed +to get over him during the seven years of their <i>liaison</i>. +But he wanted nothing better than to break with her. She +read it perfectly in his furtive glances, and in the gloomy +abstraction that weighed upon him, in his sudden, unnatural +cheerfulness, in his fear and servility which increased every +time he came near her. One evening the count asked for +a glass of water. A sudden light came into Amalia's +eyes—the longed-for moment had arrived. She pulled the +bell, and said in a peculiar tone to the maid who answered +it:<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a></p> + +<p>"Paula, send a glass of water."</p> + +<p>A few minutes afterwards Josefina came in, poorly clad, +with a little coarse linen apron, and shod with rough shoes. +Her little hands had difficulty in carrying a tray with water, +and sugar, and sugar-tongs. The guests were astounded, +and Luis turned pale. The child advanced to the middle +of the room looking timidly at her godmother, who signed +to her to go to the count. The count staggered as if he +had had a blow, but seeing the little creature standing before +him, he hastened to take the glass, and raised it with trembling +hand to his lips. Amalia's eyes meanwhile looked +cold and indifferent, but the imperceptible trembling of her +lips betrayed the cruel delight she was feeling. A significant +silence pervaded the gathering whilst this scene was +being enacted.</p> + +<p>Directly Josefina had left, the Señora de Quiñones explained +this change to her guests with perfect naturalness. +Some punishment had been found necessary for the arrogance +that the child had taken to showing towards the +servants. It would not be for long. Nevertheless, it was a +daily struggle with the will of Quiñones, who objected to +her being brought up with so much indulgence.</p> + +<p>"The fact is," she concluded in a tone so natural that it +would have reflected credit on an actress—"the fact is, +sometimes I am obliged to put her in her place in my +house. What good is it to raise her to a position she +cannot maintain? Any day we may die, and the poor +thing will have to support herself by work, if she does not +find a husband before then. And what husband would take +a girl with many requirements, and no money?"</p> + +<p>The guests were not deceived. She really did not +expect that they would be. All that was a pure sop to +conventionality, but nobody was deceived as to the real +facts. The count left soon after, being unable to control +his vexation.</p> + +<p>"This business of Luis is not going on very well," said<a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a> +Manuel Antonio to a little party going home by the Calle +de Altavilla consisting of Maria Josefa, the Pensioner, and +his daughter Jovita. "If ever the marriage of Fernanda +does come to anything, it will be at the cost of much unpleasantness."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" asked Maria Josefa, to draw him out.</p> + +<p>"<i>Madre!</i> Are you mad, woman? Don't you know +Amalia as well as I do?"</p> + +<p>"And what has Amalia to do with Luis' marriage?" +asked Jovita, to whose maidenhood simplicity seemed +befitting in spite of her two-and-thirty years.</p> + +<p>"Ay! It is true there is this little girl here," exclaimed +the Chatterbox with comic, mocking gestures. "I did not +think of that! Nothing, nothing, little monkey; go on in +front, these are matters for grown-up people."</p> + +<p>The Pensioner's daughter was pricked to the quick at this +remark and made an insolent retort. Manuel Antonio +repaid it with another, and a regular quarrel was started, in +which bitter pointed words were banded and it lasted as far +as the house of the Pensioner, who had made fruitless efforts +to re-establish peace between them. As usual, the Chatterbox +got the best of it, for his remarks combined the vigour +of a male with the subtle spite of a female.</p> + +<p>The next day the count had an interview with Amalia in +which he expressed his vexation at the scene of the preceding +evening. The lady was amiable and condescending, +and justified her conduct by its being for the welfare of the +child. But Luis noticed that she spoke in a peculiar manner, +and he detected a tone of bitterness and irony in her +words that astonished him. He left her in a preoccupied +and uneasy frame of mind, and for some days he could not +shake off the unpleasant impression of the interview. But +his love was rapidly taking possession of every corner of his +soul and finally conquered even that preoccupation. He +was profoundly in love. And as it always happens his +timidity increased in proportion to his love. At first he<a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a> +seemed serene and courteous in his long conversations with +Fernanda, losing no opportunity of demonstrating his admiration +and devotion to his <i>ex-fiancée</i>. But he suddenly +lost his <i>aplomb</i>, and he shunned all reference to his +own feelings; and he avoided all gallant remarks, but Fernanda +was not deceived. This love had at last come after +the lapse of all that time. Ah! how many tears it had cost +her!</p> + +<p>Although their conversations were on commonplace subjects, +they had a delicate, exquisite savour. They talked for +hours and hours without being tired, and for the pleasure of +being near to, and listening to, each other. Fernanda +chatted in all the joy of her heart without minding the +timidity of her adorer, and with the enjoyment of seeing +the puerile pains he took to avoid his confession of love, +knowing that she could have him at her feet directly +she gave the sign. The moment came at last. One day +the beautiful widow determined to declare herself. They +were talking of marriage and second marriages. Luis +began to get excited, and to give his opinion in a +trembling voice, trying to change the conversation. +Suddenly Fernanda said with perfect calmness and in a +determined tone:</p> + +<p>"I shall not marry a second time."</p> + +<p>He turned pale. His face became so sad that the girl, +repressing a smile with difficulty, repeated the remark with +still greater decision:</p> + +<p>"I shall not be led into a second marriage—unless it be +with you."</p> + +<p>The count gazed at her in delight.</p> + +<p>"Is it really so?" he finally asked, in a trembling voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is really so!" she returned, looking at him with +a smile.</p> + +<p>"Give me your hand, Fernanda."</p> + +<p>"Take it, Luis."</p> + +<p>They held each other's hands affectionately for some<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a> +moments. Then the count rose without saying another +word. When he arrived home he wrote her a long letter of +six pages, describing his passion in the most glowing +colours, giving her fervent thanks, and three or four times +calling himself an unworthy fellow. The marriage was +arranged to take place at the end of the year of mourning, +of which there were still two months to run. They +decided to keep the matter secret, and not to have the +ceremony in Lancia. A few days before the wedding-day +she was to go to Madrid, where he would join her, and +there at the capital they were to be united for ever.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult in little towns to hide anything, and to +conceal a projected marriage is impossible. Every pair of +eyes and every pair of ears seemed magnified to a hundred, +so intensely were sight and hearing concentrated on the +couple. By their gait, looks, and manner of greeting, and +leaving each other, the ingenious Lancians guessed by +veritable magic of what the couple was thinking, and they +calculated exactly the progress of the affair that excited +such interest in them.</p> + +<p>As Manuel Antonio was passing the old-world dwelling +of the count, he saw a maid come out with a cardboard +box in her hand. The Chatterbox at once scented a wedding, +so he took breath and followed her.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Laura?" he said, passing her. Then +turning quickly, he said in a careless sort of way:</p> + +<p>"How is your master?"</p> + +<p>"The señor is not ill."</p> + +<p>"Ah! But I was told—well, have not seen +him for two days. Are you going shopping for the +señora?"</p> + +<p>"They are shirts for the señor conde."</p> + +<p>"From Ramiro's? Let me see them, as I have to get +some too."</p> + +<p>The maid opened the box, and the Chatterbox examined +the contents.<a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a></p> + +<p>"They are very fine; they would be too dear for me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor, they are dear, and yet the señor does not +think they are good enough. He wants them of silk, at +whatever cost, and although I have been to every shop I +can't get them. There is nothing for it but to order them."</p> + +<p>"Of silk? <i>Madre!</i> Then he is going to be married!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that, señorito," the maid hurriedly +replied, with signs of confusion.</p> + +<p>"Get along, little hypocrite!" he returned, laughing; +"you know as well as I do, as well as everybody. And +when is it to be?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you I know nothing."</p> + +<p>But the Chatterbox insisted so much, and was so eloquent +and familiar, that after some time the servant let out what +she knew.</p> + +<p>"But look here, I cannot tell you anything for certain of +what is going on, but I think he will marry shortly, from +some remarks I heard the other day of the señora +countess."</p> + +<p>"What remarks?"</p> + +<p>"She said to the housekeeper that when her son married +she would go for a time to the Grange, and afterwards, +looking through the keyhole, I saw her crying. Then Fray +Diego was in the house the day before yesterday—but I +don't know whether I ought to say."</p> + +<p>"Get along, woman; what does it matter. Do you +think I am a gossip?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I heard him say when he was leaving: 'No, no, +they are quite right, it is much better for them to do it in +Madrid. This is a very spiteful place.'"</p> + +<p>The pleasure that Columbus felt at the discovery of the +New World was nothing in comparison to that of our +Chatterbox. He not only knew without any kind of doubt, +that they were going to be married, but he had ascertained +where the ceremony was to take place. Overwhelmed with +such splendid news, and wishing to pour it forth to some<a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>body, he stopped to consider where it would have the most +effect. His thoughts went straight to Amalia; so to the +Palace of Quiñones he directed his mincing little steps.</p> + +<p>It was the hour of twilight. The señora was sitting in +her boudoir, doubtless absorbed in one of those intense, +mournful meditations to which she had for some time +been a prey. Manuel Antonio was jovial and chatty, and +set about cheering her up as much as possible, making the +blood circulate with renewed energy in that ulcerated heart, +so that the shock should be more painful when it came. +He asked for chocolate, and they took it together with +pleasant conversation. Amalia seemed to forget her worries, +and when she was just becoming quite cheerful, zas! the +bomb fell. But it fell gently, with that infinite art known +only to men endowed with a feminine mind.</p> + +<p>The only thing he regretted was not being able to see +her face. The room was almost dark. But he was quite +conscious of the gravity of the explosion by the sound of +her voice and the coldness of her hand as she bade him +good-bye. Amalia remained standing for a long time, +rigid and motionless. She leaned against the heavy curtain +to look into the street, and measured the height of the drop. +She tried to open her desk to get a bottle of essence, but +she turned the key too roughly and hampered the lock. +Then she left the room and wandered about the dark +passages and staircase in a vague, uncertain way like a +phantom. Then, far away, she saw a point of light, and +involuntarily made her way to it like a moth.</p> + +<p>It was the dining-room, and seated at the table playing with +some little clay shepherdesses, the remains of past possessions, +was Josefina. The shade of the lamp concentrated a bright +light upon the little head, round and yellow as an orange. +Amalia stopped an instant and looked at her with an ardent +gaze, devouring that grave melancholy face which bore such +a striking resemblance to Luis. She made a step, and the +child turned her head. The expression of her blue eyes was<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a> +equally sweet and sad, and the movement of her eyelashes +the same. The wife of the Grandee covered the distance +between them with two steps, and fell upon her like a +hungry tiger. She struck, bit, and tore her, and that open +face soon bore large purple marks from her hands, and +blood began to flow. The child, mad with fear, uttered +piercing cries. She had scarcely had time to see her godmother, +and she did not know what had happened. Amalia, +insatiable, went on striking and hurting. The cries of the +victim increased her fury; at last she paused.</p> + +<p>"Godmother, what are you doing?" exclaimed the poor +child, running into a corner.</p> + +<p>This question, and the look of anguish which accompanied +it, infuriated the lady afresh, and she beat her again unmercifully. +The little creature covered her face with her hands. +Then she caught her by the ears and nearly dragged them off. +Not satisfied with that, and angry at not being able to hurt +her face, she took up a feather broom that was on the table, +and hit her sharply on the hands with the handle, leaving +them black and blue. At last the child managed to escape. +The servants who had gathered to witness the scene with +astonishment, let her pass and run down the passages to +the staircase. The street door was open. The coachman +on taking the horses to water, had left it so. Josefina went +out of the house, fled down the street of Santa Lucia, passed +under the archway of Santa Barbara, crossed the Archbishop's +Square and so to the gate of San Joaquin, to the Sarrió +Road.</p> + +<p>Evening had closed in. A fine but very fast rain was +falling, which soon made her wet to the bones. The +wretched little creature ran for some time, and at last +stopped from sheer fatigue. The side wall of the road +being low at that part, she sat down, and then began to feel +the pain from the blows. She put her hands to her head, +then to her face, from which she felt a hot liquid pouring +that she thought at first was rain. She soon saw it was<a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a> +blood. Blood! the thing in all the world of which she had +the greatest fear! Still a prey to terror, she did not moan. +She took a fold of her little frock and dried herself, or +rather she washed her face, for the frock was wet; but +what she felt most, and what hurt her in a horrible way, +were her hands. Not knowing what to do to alleviate the +pain she began to blow on them. Then she sucked them. +But the pain was so intense that at last she exclaimed, +sobbing:</p> + +<p>"Oh! my hands!"</p> + +<p>At this moment there arose before her, amid the shadows +of the night, two enormous figures that froze her with horror. +One of them stooped down and took her by the arm.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here?" he said, in a rough voice.<a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h3> + +<p class="head">THE BARON'S JUSTICE</p> + + +<p class="nind">I<span class="smcap">n</span> a large room in the dreary house of the los Oscos, +furnished with four old pieces of furniture, and carpeted with +two inches of dust, two of our acquaintances in this story +were seated at an oak table. One was the baron, the master +of the house, the other, his friend Fray Diego. They had +an empty jar of gin before them, another half full, and some +drinking-cups.</p> + +<p>Neither table-cloth, table-cover, nor tray were there. +The table was only covered with many-shaped stains of gin +and wine, which, in happy conjunction with the dust, had been +left during the course of years and months. The room is +dull because the Calle del Pozo is dull, and the dirty +window-panes have not been cleaned for years, and the +evening is closing in.</p> + +<p>By the little light that penetrated, it could be seen that +the faces of both men were excessively red, so red that it +seemed wonderful that blood did not burst from their +bloodshot eyes. The baron had arrived at the apotheosis +of fiery and fearful ugliness. The crimson scar across his +cheek stood out so sharp and black with corrugations, that +it was fearful to see it. His fierce, waxed moustache was +more white than black. He was dressed in black sheep +skin, and he had a red flat cap on his head, of which the +great tassel fell sometimes over his ears and sometimes +over his nose, according to the movement of the ogre-like +body. They were silent for some time. Fray Diego occa<a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>sionally +raised his hand to the bottle of gin, filled his friend's +glass, then his own, which he gravely drank at one draught. +The baron was not so quick; he took his glass, raised it to +the level of his eyes, and made a series of faces at it, which +were sometimes horrible to witness. Then he touched it +with the edge of his lips, made faces again, touched it +again, and finally, after many attempts and vacillations, +decided to swallow it. It was in this grave, quiet way that +the two old soldiers spent nearly every evening of the +year. The town knew it, and it was a subject of bets with +the jocose inhabitants which of the two would die first +from apoplexy. Fray Diego had served in the ranks of +the Pretender. Then he became a friar and went to the +Philippines, and finally he left the monastic rule, and +lived in Lancia as an independent priest. They had not +known each other during the war, but when they came +to Lancia they became united with indissoluble ties of +friendship by their ideas being the same, by the recollection +of the glorious battles in which they had taken part—and +by the gin.</p> + +<p>"Long live the Pope, the head of all the kings of the +earth!" exclaimed Fray Diego after a long silence, in +which they both appeared to be asleep. At the same time +he gave a great thump to the table which made all the +glasses and bottles ring.</p> + +<p>The baron took hardly any notice. He went on winking +at the glass he had before him, and after swallowing the +contents very leisurely, and licking his lips three or four +times, he said:</p> + +<p>"Gently, gently, Fray Diego! You don't know what the +Popes are."</p> + +<p>"Long live the Pope, the head of all the kings of the +earth!" repeated the cleric, giving a still louder thump upon +the table.</p> + +<p>"Take care, Fray Diego! The Popes have always been +very ambitious."<a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a></p> + +<p>"Señor baron!" exclaimed the priest in a voice so +emphatic as to be comic; "you have a soul as ugly as your +face!"</p> + +<p>The baron was unmoved at the insult, and after a time +he said, with perfect tranquillity:</p> + +<p>"Don't be a fool. What has my face to do with the +matter? I am catholic, apostolic, Roman; but if to-morrow +the king our señor" (here he raised his hand to his cap) +"were to send me with a detachment to Rome, I would go +like the Constable of Bourbon, sack it, and take the +Pope."</p> + +<p>"And I say that if his Holiness sent me to put a +bayonet through the stomach of that constable, you may be +sure I would put two."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"How no?" roared the chaplain, getting in a rage.</p> + +<p>"Because the constable died three centuries ago."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of it, for he has then been burning three +centuries in hell."</p> + +<p>"All this is very well, <i>Pater</i>, but the king is always to the +fore, and others have only to be silent and obey."</p> + +<p>"The Pope is never silent, señor baron."</p> + +<p>"Then he must be gagged."</p> + +<p>"I should like to see it done! Presumption! presumption! +a hundred times presumption! Who would dare to +do it if Fray Diego de Areces were near?" cried the cleric +convulsed with rage, and jumping up, whilst his eyes blazed +with fury.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, <i>Pater</i>, and calm yourself, and take another +glass, for Fray Diego de Areces is only a common +vessel."</p> + +<p>The chaplain instantly calmed down, delicately poured +out the liquor into the two glasses, and swallowed his own +share with pleasure, after which his head fell on his breast, +his eyelids dropped, and he was asleep. The baron, radiant +with delight, looked at him sharply with cunning eyes, then,<a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a> +profiling by his companion's temporary obliviousness, he +took another glass, saying, "The nones."</p> + +<p>It was a peculiar feature of those delightful sessions that +the gin changed the character of both. The irascible, +impetuous temper of the baron was softened in a remarkable +way whilst the beneficial effects of alcohol lasted. He +was cheerful, communicative, conciliatory, nobody's remarks +upset him, nothing seemed worth getting angry about. Fray +Diego, on the contrary, who, in his normal condition, was +always a jovial, jocose priest, turned into a very devil for +disputing and nagging, and he betrayed a combative disposition +that nobody would have suspected under his round, +placid face and pious calling.</p> + +<p>He roused himself at the end of a few minutes, looked at +the baron fixedly for some moments with strange ferocity, +and said stammeringly:</p> + +<p>"Will the señor baron kindly explain to me what he +means by a common vessel?"</p> + +<p>"Come, I've done with that. Are we to go on about +that? What does it signify to you what the one or the +other means?"</p> + +<p>"Because I choose to know; we must understand one +another."</p> + +<p>"We have understood each other. You have two pints +of gin inside you and I another two, or perhaps more," he +added, with several winks.</p> + +<p>"It is not so, señor baron, it is not so! We must understand +each other once for all, stupid!"</p> + +<p>"Here there are no barons and no priests," exclaimed +the noble in an excess of good humour, jumping up from +his seat. "Here we are only Uncle Francisco—that is I, +and Uncle Diego, that is you—are we not? Your hand +upon it."</p> + +<p>Advancing with his hand extended he staggered, but +kept his feet.</p> + +<p>"Give me your hand, my brave fellow!"<a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a></p> + +<p>The cleric was pacified, and they shook hands.</p> + +<p>"Now an embrace for the legitimate King of Spain."</p> + +<p>"Don't speak to me of embraces," cried the priest, again +getting angry. "I recollect Vergarra's embrace, fool!"</p> + +<p>"Don't bother yourself, my friend, for we shall pay him +out.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Ay, ay, ay! mutila<br /> +Chaplen gorria."<br /> +</p> + +<p>And he began to sing the Carlist hymn in a hoarse voice, +but soon interrupting himself, he said:</p> + +<p>"Well, Uncle Diego, sing! Give over tears now!"</p> + +<p>His friend was in fact shedding great tears as he recalled +the treachery of Vergarra.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, soldier! A drink to the extermination of +the negroes would not come amiss."</p> + +<p>Fray Diego admitted by a movement of his head that he +would willingly be a party to this consolatory toast, but he +did not move from his seat. They quaffed another glass, +and the effect upon the emotional soul of the baron was so +marvellous, that immediately he began dancing an English +breakdown on the table, which did not stop Fray Diego's +copious flow of tears.</p> + +<p>"Hum! I don't care for this foreign dance," he observed +at last with a final jump. "I prefer the <i>danza prima</i>.<a name="FNanchor_K_11" id="FNanchor_K_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_11" class="fnanchor">[K]</a> Come +here, Uncle Diego."</p> + +<p>Whereupon he took the priest by force by both hands, +dragged him from his chair, and made some turns with him, +intoning one of the long monotonous songs of the country. +Fray Diego felt rejuvenated as he was reminded of the +spring-time of his life in the country, when his uncle, the +Curé of Areces, thrashed him well for getting out of the +window by night to pay court to the girls of the neighbouring +villages.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Diego," said the baron stopping suddenly.<a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a> +"Don't you think before we go on we had better drink a +glass to the souls of our betters?"</p> + +<p>The priest willingly assented, but the glasses and the +empty bottles were rolling on the ground. The baron +opened a cupboard and drew from thence fresh elements +of spiritual life. This funereal glass inspired him with the +happy idea of covering the chaplain's head with his own +flat cap and adorning his own with the other's shovel-hat +which was lying upon a chair. So clad they went on dancing, +making a very remarkable pair. But the baron slipped +and fell.</p> + +<p>"Help me up, Uncle Diego."</p> + +<p>The priest took him by his outstretched hands and +pulled him up. But the weight of the noble was too much +for him, and they both rolled on the ground together.</p> + +<p>"Rise, Uncle Diego!"</p> + +<p>"Up, Uncle Francisco!"</p> + +<p>They both rolled over with barbarous shouts of laughter. +At last the baron regained his footing. The cleric soon +followed his example. But his soul, which had been +momentarily illumined by the recollections of his youth, +suddenly reverted to blood and extermination. He turned +fiercely on his friend:</p> + +<p>"Let us understand once for all, fool! Why did you call +me a common vessel just now? eh? eh? Why?"</p> + +<p>"I will explain to you presently, man," returned the +baron calmly, "but we will drink first a toast to all faithful +Christians, whose visible head is the Pope—I say, if you +like."</p> + +<p>The chaplain made no objection.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I called you a common vessel because a +common vessel you know is used for cooked potatoes."</p> + +<p>So saying the baron fell into such a violent fit of merriment +that he very nearly choked. In the meanwhile the +prominent eyes of his comrade looked at him with such a +menacing expression that they nearly dropped from their<a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a> +sockets and fell upon him, as they visibly increased in size +like a locust's.</p> + +<p>"And why cooked potatoes? I have as much courage +as you, fool! as I showed in the action of Orduña and +Unzá, and besides, I have six crosses at home."</p> + +<p>"You? you?" said the gentleman, unable to resist a +smile. "You never served excepting at the mess of the +company."</p> + +<p>The fury of the brother at hearing this was unbounded. +He halloed, he stamped, he thumped the table. Finally +he rushed to the door, from the threshold of which he +began to apostrophise his friend with excited gestures.</p> + +<p>"You say this because you are in your own house! +Come out and say it here! Come out with me!"</p> + +<p>The baron looked at him with smiling curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, calm yourself, Uncle Diego."</p> + +<p>"Come out and fight with me! with sword, pistol, or what +you like."</p> + +<p>"Very well, man, very well. We will come out and kill +each other; but it will only be to please you."</p> + +<p>He then went with uncertain steps to the cupboard, and +with some difficulty, for it was now completely dark, he +put his hands into the press, and feeling about, drew forth +two large cavalry swords.</p> + +<p>"Take one," he said, handing one to the chaplain.</p> + +<p>Fray Diego drew it from its sheath and began to fence +with it. Whilst making these experiments Don Francisco +regarded him with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Well, let us go," said the priest returning the weapon +to its sheath. "Quick, march."</p> + +<p>And taking his shovel-hat that was lying on the floor, and +concealing the sword under his robes, he passed out of the +door. The baron caught up his cap, put on a heavy overcoat +and followed him.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" he exclaimed, before he had gone four steps. +"Don't you think that we have left some liquor behind?"<a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a></p> + +<p>Fray Diego gave an affirmative grunt. They re-entered +the room, and feeling on the floor they came against the +jar of gin that was not completely empty. This they +poured into the glasses, and drank up all there was. Their +next act was to sally into the street. The rough-stoned +pavement was wet. A fine rain was falling, but it was so +thick that it penetrated clothing as much as a sharp shower. +Night had completely closed in; and as, according to the +municipal customs, it wanted a good half-hour before the +celebrated oil-lamps were lighted, darkness enveloped the +rain-driven town. The two heroes, animated by a warlike +spirit, perambulated the Calle del Pozo with determination, +the cleric before, the noble behind, both muffled up to the +eyes, each with the instrument of murder under his arm. +They entered the Calle de las Hogueras, passed under the +walls of the fortress and out by the road that runs by the +old wall of the town. As the water filtered through their +clothes, it refreshed their bodies, and partially equilibriated +their tempers. Fray Diego became visibly calmer, and the +black clouds of depression that oppressed him gradually +dispersed, but the baron's haughty, cruel spirit became +meanwhile a prey to the morbid conditions of the other. +But both facing the prospect of death pursued their intrepid +course through the night and rain. They went for some +distance by the old wall until they came to the Sarrió +road, which they took. They had not proceeded five +minutes along it when they heard a groan. They stopped +at once, and approaching the side-wall they caught sight of +a bundle, which, on coming nearer, they found to be a child.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here?" said the baron, seizing her +by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Pardon!" exclaimed Josefina, overwhelmed with terror. +"For goodness' sake don't beat me, señor! I have already +been beaten so much."</p> + +<p>The gentleman immediately loosened his hold, and +changing his voice and tone, said:<a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a></p> + +<p>"No, my child, no; nobody shall beat you. How do +you come to be here at this hour?"</p> + +<p>"My godmother has beaten me a good deal, and I ran +away from home."</p> + +<p>"Have you not a father?"</p> + +<p>"No, señor."</p> + +<p>"Do you live in Lancia?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor."</p> + +<p>"Who is your godmother?"</p> + +<p>"A lady."</p> + +<p>"What is her name?"</p> + +<p>"Amalia."</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" exclaimed Fray Diego, striking his forehead +with his hand. "It is the adopted child of Don Pedro Quiñones."</p> + +<p>"Is not Don Pedro the husband of your godmother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor."</p> + +<p>"Come, get up, my child. You can't stay there. Come +with us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, for God's sake! Don't take me to my godmother."</p> + +<p>"No, we won't go there. You are wet, little creature," +he added, touching her clothes. "Come, come."</p> + +<p>The two heroes had meanwhile put their swords on the +wall, and when they went off to Lancia with the child +between them, they left them there regardless of the damp +tarnishing and rusting the steel.</p> + +<p>"And why did your godmother beat you?" asked Fray +Diego as they walked slowly to accommodate their steps to +those of the child.</p> + +<p>"Because I was playing with the sheep."</p> + +<p>"The sheep! But do Don Pedro's sheep come and sleep +in the house?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor, they sleep in the cardboard box."</p> + +<p>"Look here, child, what are you saying?" said the cleric +stopping.<a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a></p> + +<p>When the inquiry led to the understanding that the +sheep were of clay, Fray Diego resumed his walk, protecting +the fragile form of the little creature with his long cloak. +But his hand happening to touch her face, he noticed +with surprise that the moisture on his fingers was warm. +He communicated this fact to the baron, and as they had +now reached the first houses of the town, they put the child +in a doorway, lighted a match and had a look at her. Her +whole face was bathed in blood and cut across with deep +gashes, whilst her hands were covered with bruises. The +heroes looked at each other in horror, and the same +wave of indignation inflamed their cheeks. The baron then +gave vent to a string of strong imprecations. These, and +his fearfully ugly face, made such an impression on Josefina, +that she fled crying to a corner. They managed with some +trouble to tranquillise her, and after drying her face with a +handkerchief, Fray Diego took her up in his arms (the +baron had attempted it in vain), covered her with his cloak, +and set off for the ancient house of the los Oscos.</p> + +<p>Here they took her in hand. The baron, who had +attained some knowledge of surgery in the campaign, +carefully washed her wounds, closed them with plaister, +and dressed the contusions with a very efficacious ointment +that he had by him. The touch of the rough hands of +those veterans seemed as soft as velvet as they came in +contact with the child's skin. A woman could not have +tended her with more delicacy, attention, and devotion.</p> + +<p>Josefina soon forgot her fears. That ugly gentleman was +not bad. She ventured to ask for water. The baron +replied that the best thing she could have to strengthen +her would be a glass of sherry. One was brought, and +whilst the child drank it, the two champions of the +legitimate king retired into a corner of the room to deliberate.</p> + +<p>They decided that the thing to be done was to take the<a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a> +child to the house of the Quiñones. The baron undertook +to take the little creature back, and then he would tell her +godmother what he thought of her; he would tell her she +was an infamous woman, a vile, perverse creature, and if she +dared ill-treat the poor helpless child again, he would go to +her house, slit her ears, and then tie her by the hair to the +tail of his horse, and so drag her through the town. Fray +Diego did not agree to so much cruelty, but the baron +declared that nothing would induce him to swerve from his +sinister plan of making a terrible example of her.</p> + +<p>It cost some trouble to make Josefina go with them. +They only managed it by promising she should not be +beaten again, and that in truth her godmother would be +very kind to her for the future. That was all she wanted! +And they added that if she dared touch a hair of her head, +lightning of God! he would wring her neck like a +chicken's! and would give her a sound whipping with his +horse's bridle. And the countenance of that gentleman +was so fearful as he uttered these threats that the child +never doubted for an instant that they would be fulfilled.</p> + +<p>Whilst making their way to the house of the Quiñones, +the baron continued to break out into insulting expressions +and threats of murder against the wife of the Grandee. +Fray Diego made futile attempts to calm him. But his +murderous feelings had so got the upper hand, that the ex-Brother, +fearing a catastrophe, left him at the door of the +palace. The baron pulled the bell. As he was not acquainted +with the feudal custom of the house, he did not +pull more than once, so, as he was thought to be a +plebeian, the door was not opened immediately. The +surprise of the servant was great when he saw that +terrible señor, who inspired such respect in the town, and +he hastened to ask pardon for not having admitted him +more promptly. The baron asked for Don Pedro Quiñones.<a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a></p> + +<p>He was requested to enter, and the servant preceded him +up the large stone staircase. On arriving at the first floor, +he was asked to wait whilst he was announced.</p> + +<p>A few minutes afterwards Amalia appeared. She cast a +sharp, angry glance at the child, whom the baron held by +the hand, and turning to the gentleman she said in a cold, +haughty tone:</p> + +<p>"What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"I came to bring this child that I found in the street—and +at the same time to have a few words with Don Pedro +or with you."</p> + +<p>With this last remark the baron's voice perceptibly +changed.</p> + +<p>"Do you not know me?" he added, seeing that the lady +looked at him fixedly without replying.</p> + +<p>In little places everybody knows everybody, especially +persons of position, although they may not be intimate with +them, but Amalia replied in a barefaced manner:</p> + +<p>"I have not that honour."</p> + +<p>"I am the baron de los Oscos."</p> + +<p>The lady bowed.</p> + +<p>"Paula," she said, turning to a servant who had entered, +"take this child. And Pepe, light the lamps in the blue +room."</p> + +<p>"Señora," began the baron, "I found this child in the +Sarrió road, covered with blood and contusions. I asked +her who had brought her to that pass, and she told me that +it was her godmother. I cannot believe it."</p> + +<p>"Then you can believe it, for it is true," said Amalia +interrupting him.</p> + +<p>The baron stopped speechless and confused. Then he +continued:</p> + +<p>"It is possible that you had some reason for punishing +her, but I am deeply sorry."</p> + +<p>Here Amalia again interrupted him:</p> + +<p>"And I am sorry that you are sorry."<a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a></p> + +<p>"My object in coming here," said the baron, who was fast +losing his aplomb, "was to warn you, was to beg you—as I +have been told you have had the charity to take this +foundling—to continue the good work by protecting, sheltering +and educating her, and when it is necessary to punish +her will you do so with kindness, for the poor little creature +is delicate and weak, and the blows might put an end to +her life."</p> + +<p>"Is this all you have to say to me?" asked the lady, +coldly.</p> + +<p>The dreadful face of the baron contorted suddenly on +hearing this question; his eyes flashed, the deep wound +stood out on his face by reason, no doubt, of his great +internal emotion. Formidable sounds were heard in his +throat, low rumblings presaged a coming storm. But those +noises finally calmed down, the signs of disturbance ceased, +and instead of the crater giving forth, as it was feared, a +stream of burning lava, rocks, and ashes, it only weakly +emitted the two words:</p> + +<p>"Yes, señora."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. I take this opportunity of bidding you +welcome to the house in the name of Quiñones and +myself."</p> + +<p>At the same time she pulled the bell rope and rose from +her seat. The baron also rose muttering words of thanks +and proffers of service.</p> + +<p>"Pepe, take the señor baron down."</p> + +<p>He made a profound reverence, which Amalia returned in +a lesser degree, and the gentleman turned on his heels and +left. As he descended the staircase quite nonplussed, his +face on fire, and his eyes aflame, it was a great relief to +think of the drawing and quartering, the loss of eyes, the +horse's tail and other fearful punishments of the Visigoth +epoch, to which the señora belonged by virtue of her +barbarous behaviour and her cruel, arrogant spirit.<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h3> + +<p class="head">THE MARTYRDOM</p> + + +<p class="nind">S<span class="smcap">carcely</span> had the door been shut behind the baron when +Amalia had the child brought into her presence.</p> + +<p>"Come here, señorita, come here! We have not seen +each other for some time! How have you spent it? Have +you got on well? The baron is very gallant with ladies, is +he not?"</p> + +<p>The child uttered a sharp cry.</p> + +<p>"Oh! my ear!"</p> + +<p>"Go on your knees, you grub! Ah! Then does all I have +done for you count for nothing? Are you going to show +your teeth before you have finished sucking? On your +knees, you little rogue! You bad girl!"</p> + +<p>Josefina fell in a heap in a corner of the room. Amalia +kept her burning gaze fixed upon her for some time. At last, +removing her eyes from her, she asked Concha and Paula, +who had brought the child in, how she came to escape. +The coachman was to blame. Then ensued strong language +against the coachman, who was said to be drunk, and with +threats of his dismissal if such an act of carelessness occurred +again. Then followed many remarks upon the baron's +appearance. What was that brute doing at such an hour in +the Sarrió road? Who was the cleric who was with him? +After these came a very sad survey of the ingratitude and +naughtiness of the child who fled from the house which had +given her shelter and made her protectors a laughing-stock. +The servants agreed that she deserved a very sharp punish<a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>ment. +The lady then dismissed them, and stopped them with +an imperious gesture when they were going to take the child. +Once alone, Amalia took a book and began to read +quietly by the light of a lamp, whilst the child, on its knees +in the darkest corner, sobbed bitterly. Three or four +times she raised her head and darted an angry glance at +the dark corner, expecting a louder groan from the child so +that she could spring upon her. An hour went by—an +hour and a half. At last she shut the book, went out, and +returned in a few minutes. She began slowly to undress. +When half undressed she took the lamp, and approaching +the child, obliged her to get up, when she conducted her to +the bed, and showing her the floor, she said:</p> + +<p>"This is your bed. You will sleep here in your clothes."</p> + +<p>When she had finished undressing, the child said in a weak +voice:</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, godmother, I won't do it again."</p> + +<p>But these words fell on deaf ears, and she got into bed +and put out the light.</p> + +<p>Her eyes remained open in the darkness. The hours +chiming their quarters and their halves in a melancholy tone +from the clock of the neighbouring cathedral did not close +them. They were like two mysterious lamps, only giving +light within as they illuminated a thousand sinister and +tormenting ideas. Dark thoughts and fierce desires crowded +and pressed under that low forehead. She considered the +marriage of Luis an abominable treachery. Without recollecting +her own want of honour towards the poor old +paralysed man God had given her for a husband, nor +thinking how her sin had spoilt the life of the count, +threatened to die in solitude, without family ties to cheer +his latter days, she made him entirely accountable for the +wrong, and for all the bitterness she was now feeling in +losing the only pleasure that had brightened her gloomy, +monotonous existence. The only pleasure. Her love did +not deserve any other name. In that ardent, despotic,<a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a> +restless spirit there had never been a question of tenderness. +She was completely ignorant of the delicious, poetic thoughts +that ennoble a passion and make it pardonable. Her life +had been passed in insane excitement, tormented by the +idea of being happy at all costs. She had lived for the +last seven years under the sway of her licentious, insatiable +passion. Never did a melancholy thought of remorse bear +witness in that depravity to a single moral sentiment. Her +thirst for pleasure drove her into a thousand extravagant +and dangerous courses. She was not contented with +gathering under her roof all the youth of Lancia and +dancing occasionally as a condescension, but she required +for her enjoyment company every day, picnics, masquerades, +&c., and she liked to dance until she nearly fell with exhaustion, +like a country lass of fifteen summers. She found +it necessary to contrive secret interviews with her lover +at most extraordinary hours, and on most unheard of +occasions. Her ungovernable passion led her to defy +public opinion, and delight in making light of precaution. +If the count gave her a word of warning, she flew into a rage. +She lost more than he did. Slander never hurts the man, +but only the woman, who has to bear all the disgrace. But +she went into fits of laughter at the thoughts of slander or +disgrace. If she were at all put out, she was quite capable +of proclaiming her sin in Altavilla when there was a gathering +of people. The count got more and more alienated from +this woman, who upset all his moral, theological, and social +ideas, and finally inspired him with dread. This turned to +terror and insufferable foreboding, that made him long for +his liberty, especially after Amalia smilingly made a certain +revelation to him.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, dear," she said, "I nearly did such a mad +thing this morning. Quiñones sent me to pour out his +drops of arsenic that he has taken for some time. I took +up the bottle quickly and, as if pushed by the elbow by an +invisible hand, I poured half of the contents into the glass.<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a> +Don't tremble, coward, for there was no motive in the +matter. I never felt anything like it. I swear to you that +my will was not party to it. I was controlled by a superior +will which strove to overpower mine. I put the glass upon +the table, looked at it for an instant, and held it up to the +light. There was nothing, not the slightest sign to denote +that it was an instrument of death. I put it on the tray +and walked with it towards the library without considering +what I was doing. But suddenly in the passage I came to +myself like awakening from a nightmare. I suddenly saw +the blunder I was going to make, and I let the glass fall on +the ground."</p> + +<p>"It was not a blunder, it was a horrible crime you were +about to commit," said the count angrily, as a sweat of +horror came over him.</p> + +<p>"Very well, crime or blunder, or whatever it was, it was +stupid in every way, you know, for one would see by the +symptoms that it was a question of poison."</p> + +<p>Those words, uttered in a tone of assumed levity, made +more impression on the count than any former ones, and +henceforth he could not go near her without experiencing a +strange feeling of repugnance.</p> + +<p>Her youth passed, but she paid no attention to the fact +until the arrival of Fernanda. Having no rivals in Lancia, +her carelessness of her personal appearance daily increased, +and she completely lost the subtle coquetry by which +women perpetuate the charm of their person. It was only +the sight of the splendid beauty of the daughter of Estrada-Rosa +that made her give a thought to herself. She then +began to think about the adornment of herself. She +procured all kinds of cosmetics, she sent for dresses to +Madrid, and availed herself of all the arts of elegance. It +was late. That miserable, neglected body, worn out by +years and ill-health, could not regain its freshness and +grace.</p> + +<p>This <i>idée fixe</i> corroded her brain during her long,<a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a> +wretched vigil. No longer to inspire love! To be old, +and an object of repugnance! Her mind was torn with a +thousand fears. Luis was marrying. Why? Had she not +sacrificed to him her youth, honour, and salvation, if there +was anything after this life but the infernal regions?</p> + +<p>What was the good of it? At the first sign of decay in +her face all his promises had vanished like a dream; the +seven years of love had disappeared in the abyss of time +without leaving the most insignificant sign. But she had +not wrinkles yet; she was not so old—five-and-thirty, +not more. She suddenly put her hand on the table by +her side, lighted the candle, and jumped out of bed. +She went to the looking-glass and looked at herself +for some time, passing her fingers over the surface of her +face to ascertain that the much-feared wrinkles were not +there.</p> + +<p>A groan from behind made her turn her head. She +raised the candle and fixed an angry glance upon the child, +stretched upon the ground, trembling with fear. The child +could not sleep. Her feverish eyes looked at her anxiously, +her lips again murmured: "Pardon."</p> + +<p>Without paying her any attention, the wife of Don Pedro +went back to bed and put out the light. The rays of +the morning sun, as they penetrated the room, fell +upon the two sleepless beings. With God's daylight +commenced the barbarous torture of an innocent creature.</p> + +<p>Her fertile, diabolical imagination set to inventing +torments with which to feed the hate which consumed her. +The sight of suffering was a necessity to her. Josefina was +sent down barefooted with a pencilled note to Concha. +The missive said: "Concha, I send you this little rogue. +Punish her as you think fit."</p> + +<p>Amalia knew what an executioner the maid would be, +and, in fact, she expressed satisfaction at receiving this note, +which flattered her vanity and her instincts.<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a></p> + +<p>"Do you know what this paper says?" she asked, in an +aggressive tone.</p> + +<p>Josefina made a negative sign. She read writing badly, +especially when written as carelessly as that of the señora. +The sempstress, however, made her spell out the words +until she quite understood them.</p> + +<p>"There, you see, you are sent for me to punish you for +what you did yesterday."</p> + +<p>On saying this she smiled sweetly, as if she were saying +that she had something nice to give her.</p> + +<p>The child looked at her in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Punish me? Godmother has already made me sleep +on the floor."</p> + +<p>"It does not matter, that is very little for such naughtiness +as running away from home. You will have to have a +whipping. I am sorry, my child, because you have never +had this punishment, and it will hurt you very much. +Young ladies have delicate flesh; they are not like us who +are accustomed as babies to intemperance and blows. +Come along!"</p> + +<p>At the same time she drew from her stays one of the +formidable whalebones then in vogue.</p> + +<p>The child drew back in alarm, but the needlewoman +caught her by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Don't think of escaping, for then you will come in for a +double share."</p> + +<p>Josefina seized her hand, weeping bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Don't beat me, for God's sake, Concha! You know my +godmother beat me yesterday. Look, look at my hands. +My head also hurts me. The ground was so hard. I love +you very much. I have never blamed you to godmother."</p> + +<p>"Silence! silence!" returned the sempstress, trying to +disengage herself gently from the little hands. "There is +nothing to be done but obedience. The señora gives the +order."<a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a></p> + +<p>"No, por Dios! Concha, no, por Dios!" replied the +little creature between her sobs. "I love you very much, +and godmother too. If you don't beat me I will give you +my box of sheep."</p> + +<p>"Really?" said Concha, mollified.</p> + +<p>"Yes; now, directly, if you like."</p> + +<p>"And your housewife?"</p> + +<p>"That too."</p> + +<p>"And the little cupboard with the mirror?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the little cupboard too."</p> + +<p>Concha gave signs of giving in. The child looked at her +with anxious eyes.</p> + +<p>"And you promise always to be good?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I promise always to be good."</p> + +<p>"Never to run away again."</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>"Very well," she said, in an affectionate, condescending +tone; "then if you promise to be good, and you don't tell +the señora, and you give me all that you say, then—then—go +on child!"</p> + +<p>And in one instant she pulled her clothes off and began +to beat her unmercifully, laughing like a mad woman with +delight.</p> + +<p>The screams of the child reached the second floor. The +wife of the Grandee was standing before the glass arranging +her hair. She stopped. A singular shiver ran through her, +a certain indefinable, vague emotion like a tickling sensation +that one can't with certainty term pleasant or unpleasant. +Anyhow it was something that modified that insufferable +fever that the frenzy of rage had raised in her heart. She +stood motionless until the cries had ceased. Her eyes +shone, her pulse beat higher.</p> + +<p>It is thus they say that the heart of a wild beast beats at +the sight of its victim. It was the commencement of the +child's martyrdom. Under the weakest pretexts she inflicted +the cruellest punishments, giving evidence of an<a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a> +imagination so fertile that it would have delighted the executioners +of the Holy office. Not only did she strike her for +the most innocent offences and pinch her and bite her, +but she delighted in keeping her in continual dread of +dreadful punishments, and so making her suffer day and +night. She made her go barefooted into the garden on the +coldest mornings to fetch her a flower, or she kept her +whole hours with her head in the sun to keep the birds +from picking at a currant bush. She made her sleep on the +ground by the side of her bed, when she sent her several +times down into the kitchen for water. She reduced her to +eating food she knew she did not like, and deprived her of +what she knew she liked.</p> + +<p>As the days went by her madness and cruelty increased. +At first she made a pretext of some act of carelessness on +the part of the child to torment her. Afterwards she did +not stop there, but she did it when it came into her mind, +or when her physical state impelled her to do so. One +torture of her own invention was that of pricking her hands +with a needle, and she delighted in seeing them covered +with indentures in a few days, when there was scarcely room +to put another stab. She deputed this task to Concha, the +executioner of her orders, who fulfilled it most conscientiously. +She made her learn by heart long pieces of catechism +much beyond her power. And if she stumbled three +times, she said: "Go and ask Concha for a kiss."</p> + +<p>This was the phase she had invented in derision for the +little creature to get a stab with the needle. She was never +allowed to change her underclothing, so the delicate skin of +the child soon became chafed, and she could not help +scratching herself. Whereupon Concha flew into a rage, +accused her of having the itch, and pushed her from the +room. It got worse and worse. The microscopic maid, at +the instigation of her mistress, insisted on her wearing boots +too small for her which made bad places on her feet and +caused her dreadful pain.<a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a></p> + +<p>One of the most terrible tortures the child suffered was +when Amalia took it into her head she was not to cry. +Sometimes she let her sob and moan under the blows, and +she seemed to revel in the tears of the little creature, and in +hearing her piteous entreaties between the sobs; but occasionally +she insisted on her suffering in silence. As this +was impossible she became like a ravenous wild beast.</p> + +<p>"Be silent!"</p> + +<p>The child could not, and a groan escaped.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" she repeated, accompanying the command +with several blows.</p> + +<p>So Josefina tried to be silent, and made desperate efforts +in the attempt, but in spite of herself the difficult respiration +took the form of a groan. More blows.</p> + +<p>"Silence, or I will kill you."</p> + +<p>The little creature shut her mouth with all her might; +she turned livid, and sometimes she fell down senseless. +That tender heart was breaking from distress of mind.</p> + +<p>At such moments Amalia experienced a diabolical sensation +of mingled pleasure and pain similar to that which is +felt in scratching a boil. Her boil was that violent passion—a +mixture of love, licentiousness and arrogance. Not being +able to vent upon her former lover the mortification which +tore her heart, she wreaked her vengeance on the fruit of +their love. When the child was bleeding and trembling at +her feet, her looks of anguish, her gestures, and the tone of +her voice seemed to her those of her lover, humiliated and +supplicating, and then she experienced an awful pleasure +which made her eyes shine and her nostrils dilate.</p> + +<p>Josefina was a miniature likeness of Luis. When she had +been happy, her face mobile and smiling, and her eyes +shining with cheerfulness, it had not been so apparent; but +now misery and pain had given to her look a profound +melancholy, and to the lines of her face a certain expression +of fatigue that were the two things which characterised her +likeness to the Conde de Onis. When those beautiful blue<a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a> +eyes turned towards her in sweet resignation, when those +red lips trembled in asking pardon, the Valencian felt a +voluptuous feeling pervade her worn-out body, so that she +was reminded of the pleasures she had experienced in the +indulgence of her unlawful passion.</p> + +<p>After all, she thought, she had not aged at all, in nothing +but the fading of that face of hers and her head producing +white hairs with such horrible rapidity. Her body, +her breast, her arms, her neck retained the same +alabaster hue, the same adorable brilliancy, the mark of a +fine and beautiful race. She touched herself in search of +consolation with feverish hands, and encountered the same +softness and freshness. That body had not worn out. She +still felt her own youth, the ardent circulation of her blood, +the thirst for enjoyment, and the yearning for the rapture +of love.</p> + +<p>And yet all those delights were gone for ever; the novel +of her life that had embellished her dark existence of latter +years had come to the last chapter. She was an old +woman! It was a settled fact. At this thought that +branded itself on her brain as with a hot iron she felt overwhelmed +by an animal necessity to cry, roar, or tear. It +was at such times that the child underwent the cruellest +punishments, and her fragile existence incurred real danger. +Terror was another of the sufferings she frequently +inflicted on her. In the late hours of the night she made +her get up, and sent her to the most remote rooms of the +house in search of something. The child returned pale, +trembling, and overwhelmed with fear. Sometimes her +terror was so great that she let the candlestick fall, and +returned running and screaming with fright. Then Amalia, +enraged, pinched her and struck her, and pretended she +must go again to the place named. Then the little creature +let herself be tortured rather than expose herself afresh to +the same fright. On one of these occasions Amalia smiling +fiercely, said:<a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah! So the señorita is so cowardly? Very well, I +must undertake to cure you of this weakness."</p> + +<p>She recollected the extraordinary impressionability to +nocturnal terrors that Luis had confessed with shame in +moments of expansion. So she prepared dreadful alarms +for her. Sometimes she hid behind a door, and when she +was passing gave a loud cry as she seized her by the neck. +At other times she took a knife and said her death had +come, and told her to turn down her nightgown so that she +could cut her throat easier. But this last did not produce +as much effect as she expected. Josefina unconsciously +longed for death which would release her from such a +martyrdom. For a more efficacious cure of fear, Concha +and she invented a fearful practical joke which would have +been enough to terrify a brave man, much less a child six +years old. They both dressed themselves up in sheets, left +the room partially lighted whilst the child slept, put on +masks like skulls, and at midnight they came in uttering +fearful cries like souls from another world. When the little +creature awoke and saw those apparitions, she was paralysed +with terror, then she clapped her hands to her eyes and her +whole body was bathed in a cold perspiration. Her heart +beat so violently that it could be heard at a distance, she +gave vent to a few hoarse, terrified cries, and finally, putting +her hands to her breast, she fell senseless to the ground, a +prey to fearful convulsions.</p> + +<p>Her timidity was incurable; and, moreover, she was +henceforth subject to faintings and to nocturnal frights. +She would wake up with signs of great fear, look fixedly +at one point in the room as if some apparition were there, +her heart beat violently, and her brow was bathed in +sweat. In such moments she completely lost consciousness. +Amalia called her in vain. It was only when she +put her hands upon her that she uttered a cry of fear and +sunk her head in terror.</p> + +<p>Serious disputes arose between Concha and Maria the<a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a> +ironer on account of these tortures. Maria was naturally +compassionate, and she was sorry to see the martyrdom of +the child, although she did not know all, for Amalia took +care to keep it from the servants with the exception of +Concha. Although Maria was not ill-tongued she could +not abstain from blaming her mistress's conduct in the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>"My dear, it is worse than the Inquisition. It does not +seem that we are Christians, but Jewish dogs. At one time +so indulged that she was spoiled, and now suddenly the +little angel is treated worse than an animal. I say the +matter has gone beyond bounds! I cannot see such +wickedness."</p> + +<p>"Silence, little fool and meddler," interposed Concha, +"who made you boss of the show? If the señora wishes +to teach the child what is right, is she to consult you how +to do it? Do you know what it is to bring up children? +If she has to be punished it is right it should be done by a +hardworking, honourable woman. Some day she will give +her thanks for it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, thanks, indeed! She will give them from the +cemetery. A month hence she will be gone."</p> + +<p>"Very well, and what is that to do with you? Are you +her mother?"</p> + +<p>They quarrelled three or four times like this, and the +dwarfish sempstress's shamelessness and evil-mindedness +always showed themselves.</p> + +<p>At last being unable to endure such a spectacle with +patience, Maria determined to go away. One day she +went to the señora, and with the excuse that ironing was +bad for her, she asked for her wages. Amalia was quite +aware of the real reason, as she knew of her having complained +of her cruelty, but she dissimulated as usual:</p> + +<p>"Yes, girl, I understand that ironing is tiring for you. +You don't enjoy much health. I also have not been well +for some days. To contend all one's life with sickness, and<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a> +now at the end to have this child, on whom all my hopes +were founded, turn out so ungrateful and perverse! I +don't know how I have patience."</p> + +<p>Maria hesitated for an instant.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, señora—children will be children."</p> + +<p>The wife of the Grandee saw that if she pursued the +subject the ironer would say something disagreeable, so +she cut short the remark, paid her her wages, and dismissed +her affably.</p> + +<p>This did not prevent the servant telling in confidence at +a certain house where she went in service what was going on +at the Quiñones. The news spread in the same confidence +from one to another, and in a short time there was a considerable +number of persons acquainted with the cruelties +perpetrated on the child.</p> + +<p>The Conde de Onis, to avoid the curiosity of the public, +which worried him above all things, and also to be free of +Amalia, to whom he had told nothing, had removed about +a month ago to the Grange. He had not written to his +old love, although he thought of doing so every day to tell +her of his determination to marry. But so great was the +terror with which the Valencian inspired him, that the pen +fell from his hands every time he took it up to acquaint her +with the fact. He thus let the days go by in this continual +state of indecision, thinking with anxiety how enraged she +would be, and like all weak natures, hoping that some unforeseen +event would arrange a compromise. That way of +breaking the connection without any quarrel or explanation +whatsoever was quite in accordance with his character. He +knew nothing of his child's tortures, nevertheless he felt +such sudden anxiety when he thought of her that his nerves +were quite shaken, and he walked up and down the room +in visible agitation. The passionate love with which +Fernanda had inspired him had made him forget Josefina +a little. He occasionally thought of her with bitterness; he +thought that even if he married Fernanda, he would not<a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a> +attain happiness if he could not see his child every day; +although he quite understood that that would be impossible +whilst she remained in Amalia's power. Then he thought +of taking her away with him, and it gave him pleasure to +imagine wild projects of getting hold of her, and flying with +her and Fernanda to some remote and tranquil spot in the +world.</p> + +<p>The count was going through one of these days of +vacillation when Micaela, the most excitable and violent of +the Pensioner's four undines, appeared at the Quiñones' +house. She came for the purpose of asking Amalia's advice +about a dress that she was planning for the next ball at the +Casino. In spite of her thirty years and more, she still +laid siege to the masculine sex. Visitors at this hour were +rare, but as the noble family of the Pensioner was so intimate +with the señora, the servant did not hesitate to show her up +to the boudoir where she was.</p> + +<p>"How tiresome of me, is it not? But, dear, it is the +only time that I thought I should find you alone," she said, +with the gracious volubility that characterised the Mateo's +daughters.</p> + +<p>Amalia received her cordially, albeit with a certain +surprise and uneasiness that escaped Micaela. They +entered on the matter in hand, and the question of dress +soon completely absorbed them. Amalia took her friend +towards the window. But they had not said many words, +when Micaela thought she heard a feeble groan in the room. +Turning her head, she saw in a corner Josefina on her +knees, tied by the elbows to the dressing-table so that she +could not get up without raising the heavy piece of furniture, +which was far beyond her strength. Amalia hastened to +give an explanation:</p> + +<p>"This child is getting so naughty that I am obliged to +tie her to keep her quiet. Yesterday she bit the sewing-maid's +finger, now she has just broken a looking glass. One +has not patience to bear it!"<a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a></p> + +<p>Micaela, who was shocked at the punishment, was silent. +The wife of Quiñones went on talking with assumed indifference +about the dress; but in spite of its being a theme +that ought to have interested her, the girl was absent-minded, +and cast frequent glances at the child. Josefina +let another groan escape, whereupon her godmother turned +round with ill-repressed anger.</p> + +<p>"Will you be quiet? will you be quiet?" And she looked +at her for some time with extraordinary severity.</p> + +<p>She returned to the conversation, but a slight change was +noticeable in her voice. Micaela paid less and less attention. +Indignation had risen to her throat, and she would +have ended by making some unpleasant remark to her +friend, if the child had not moaned again.</p> + +<p>"Come, I see she is not going to leave us in peace," +said the lady, making an effort to smile, "I shall have to +set her free."</p> + +<p>Then she went and untied her, taking some time to do +it, for the cord was tied as many times round her little body +as if she were a heavy box. But when the time came for +the child to get up she could not. No doubt the muscles +had become strained during the hours she had been in that +painful position.</p> + +<p>"Up, longshanks!" she said jokingly, as she helped her +to rise.</p> + +<p>Micaela watched the scene in stupefaction, whilst her eyes +blazed with fury.</p> + +<p>"You did not like the position, eh? Then, my child, if +you don't want to return to it, you must be good and +obedient. Is it not so, Micaela?"</p> + +<p>But Micaela did not open her lips, feeling each moment +more brow-beaten in spite of the honeyed smile on the +Valencian's face.</p> + +<p>"Very well," she continued, caressing the red face of the +child, "you are forgiven now, but take care about being +naughty. Go down and ask Concha for a kiss."<a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a></p> + +<p>On hearing these words, the child grew deadly pale, +remained motionless for some moments, and finally went to +the door with an uncertain step. Before arriving there, +Micaela, who observed her attentively, noticed that she +raised her eyes full of tears, but Amalia merely pursued the +conversation on toilettes. Before three minutes had elapsed +low, distant cries of the child reached the boudoir. Micaela +was thunderstruck, and she bent her head towards the door +so as to hear better. But Amalia quickly rose from her +seat and went to shut it. The cries were still audible, +but the nervous girl had meanwhile to listen to Amalia's +remarks. She was seized with great uneasiness, her face +became flushed, and she was a prey to the burning desire +of shaming the wicked woman, and overwhelming her with +such opprobriums as Jew, scoundrel, infamous one. She +suddenly became aware of all that went on in that house. +First the jealousy, then the news of the marriage of Luis +falling like a bombshell, then the miserable revenge wreaked +on the child for the forsaking of the father. She well knew +the spiteful nature of the Valencian. But what good would +it do to insult her at that moment? It would only make a +great scene, and she would be sent from the house. In +spite of her violent temper, Micaela had a kind heart. +What she was most intent upon, was doing something to +help the unhappy little creature. And she had sufficient +self-control to dissimulate a little, and to consider that the +best course was to tell everything immediately to the count, +who must be ignorant of such cruel revenge. She finished +the interview as soon as possible, and took her leave without +being able entirely to hide her distress. Once in the +street, she felt the necessity of unburdening her heart. +She thought of Maria Josefa who lived in the neighbourhood, +and who professed such tender affection for the +foundling.</p> + +<p>She entered her house agitated and trembling, and before<a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a> +uttering a single word, she fell on the sofa and fanned herself +with the end of her mantilla.</p> + +<p>"Uf! I am suffocated. I don't know what has come to +me. She is an infamous creature—a wicked woman who +ought to burn in hell! I have always said so, only my fools +of sisters would not believe me. This choking is very tiresome.... +She has a heart of stone!"</p> + +<p>"But what is it?" asked the wise old maid with terror, +and dying of curiosity.</p> + +<p>Then the nervous daughter of the Pensioner, stuttering +with rage, told her how she had found Josefina, the pallor +of the child at the curious suggestion of the godmother, +and then the cries she had heard as if she were being +tormented. Maria Josefa immediately united her imprecations +with those of the girl. Then they went over all the +instances of cruelty that they knew of the wife of the +Grandee, and they made up their minds to acquaint the +count with what had happened after ascertaining a few +more details. For this purpose they had that same afternoon +a talk with Maria, the laundry-maid, who had left the +Quiñones house some days ago. At first she was cautious +for fear of the consequences, but she concluded by letting +her tongue loose and recounting the thousand iniquities +perpetrated on the foundling by the Señora de Quiñones. +They were horrorstruck. They thought of telling the judge; +but besides making an enemy of the fiery Valencian (which +be it said to their credit they did not much mind for such a +cause) they knew that it would be a fruitless effort. The +Quiñones were the most important people of the place. +Don Pedro being the head of the Government Party in the +province, all the authorities were quite under his influence. +Everything would be covered up and remain as it was +before. The best thing was to appeal to the count; but +he was at the Grange just then. Besides, although everybody, +or nearly everybody, knew the secret of the child's<a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a> +birth, it was impossible to take it as a matter of course. +After some debates they decided to write him the following +letter, signed by Maria Josefa:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Señor Conde de Onis,—My esteemed friend, I beg, with +due reserve, to tell you that the child that was adopted by +our friends the Quiñones, in whom we are all so much +interested, is an object of cruel tortures in that house; and +I believe that it is our duty to intervene to stop it. You +will tell me what ought to be done, which I as a woman +would not think of. If you would like to hear particulars +of the martyrdom of the little creature you can refer to +Maria, who left service in Don Pedro's house some days ago.</p> + +<p class="signature">Your affectionate friend,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Maria Josefa Hevia.</span>"<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>Luis crumpled up the letter in his clenched hands, and +all the blood rushed to his face. Without thinking of what +he was doing he left the house, and almost unwittingly +took the road to Lancia, where he arrived in a few minutes. +The vague and terrible presentiment that had oppressed +him was finally realised—Amalia was revenging herself +cruelly. The underlying drift of the letter was evidently an +appeal to him, as the father of Josefina, and the cause of +her misery. Not knowing what course to take, he went to +think it over at his house, where he only had an old woman +in charge. From her he ascertained the whereabouts of +Maria, and finally sent her a message to come and see him. +The laundry-maid was quite aware of the object of the +summons. She went to the town as quickly as possible, +and after making him promise not to make use of her +name, she gave him a circumstantial account of what the +innocent child was exposed to. He listened, pale and +horrorstruck, unable to repress the violent, quick beating +of his heart. When she came to certain hateful and terrible +details, the count began to pace up and down the room<a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a> +like a caged wild beast, as he tore his hair, struck his +brow, and uttered cries of rage. Once more alone, a +thousand wild ideas passed through his mind. He thought +of going to the Quiñones' house and taking away the child by +force; he wanted to wring the neck of the vile woman; he +wanted to tell Don Pedro the whole story; he wanted to inform +the judge, and have the infamous creature imprisoned.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, these fits of rage were as short as they were +violent, and then ensued prostration and tears. He went +to the house of his <i>fiancée</i> and told her with sobs what had +happened, thus making his confession for the first time. +The good Fernanda mingled her tears with his, distressed +at the fate of the unhappy little creature, and at the misery +of her lover. They spent some time talking over the +terrible events, and seeking means of thwarting that direful +revenge. Fernanda at last persuaded him to try gentle +means. To think of compassing anything by force was +absurd, for the count, not having yet acknowledged his sin, +he had no legal right over the child. To provoke a scandal +was useless. No servant would dare witness against his +mistress, and things would be worse than they were before. +Finally, the count decided to write a letter to his old +love.</p> + +<p>"I have just heard that our Josefina, our adored Josefina, +is undergoing incredible tortures at your hands. I believe +it is a vile calumny. I know your character is quick and +fiery, but it is noble, and I cannot attribute such cowardice +to you. I only write to you to ascertain that the angelic +little creature continues to be the delight of your life. If it +should not be so, tell me, and we will find some means of +transferring her to my care. I suppose you are aware of +the step I am about to take. I have nothing to say to you +on the subject. The step was inevitable, sooner or later. +At all events, you can be sure that my remorse is softened +by the sweet recollection of the years that I have loved you. +Farewell! Write me some kind word."<a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h3> + +<p class="head">THE CAPITULATION</p> + + +<p class="nind">J<span class="smcap">osefina</span> was wasting away. Her cheeks were as pale as +wax; there was constantly a look of terror in her sweet, +gentle eyes, around which suffering had traced a purple circle. +She spoke little, and never laughed. When she was left in +peace she sat in some corner, and remained motionless +looking at one spot, or she went to the window and wrote +on the panes of the glass with her finger.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, in spite of such misery, the childish nature +asserted itself. If the cat approached her slowly with his +tail in the air, his back arched, soliciting a caress with a +weak purr, she would throw herself upon the ground, call +him, drag him to her, stroke his fur, scratch his head, +tickle the back of his neck, and murmur words of affection +in his ear, a course of spoiling that the animal received with +transports of delight.</p> + +<p>"I love you, I love you. You are my good cat. Are +you not good? You must not scratch me as you did. Who +do you like best in the house? Say, treasure. Who gave you +a sardine yesterday? Who puts you a saucer of milk every +day? And if I could always give you fish too, I would, +because I know it is what you like best. Is it not, my +treasure? But you must not steal or you know you will be +beaten. Don't get on Manin's bed and be naughty or you +will be killed. I heard so the other day in the kitchen. And +catch a lot of mice, so that godmother will like you and will +not turn you out."<a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a></p> + +<p>The cat, delighted, purred from the depths of his throat +with pleasure, and rubbed himself more and more vehemently +against her. The child held him up to her mouth, +put her arms around him, pressed him to her heart, kissed +him, and sometimes, forgetting her sufferings, she shed tears +of tenderness. But any noise in the next room made her +jump up with terror in her eyes, she pushed the cat away +from her and stood motionless, waiting for what was to +come, and it was almost always some cruel punishment.</p> + +<p>"You naughty girl! So you dirty your clothes like +that crawling about on the floor! Wait a bit! wait a +bit!"</p> + +<p>Continual shocks had so upset her constitution that her +health was quite out of order. But although it was not her +fault she was treated as if it were, and once Concha's fury +was so great that she seized her by the ears and made her +lick the ground.</p> + +<p>The most terrible hour for the little creature was lesson +time. Amalia gave her early in the morning long pieces of +sacred history and grammar to learn. Josefina retired to a +corner and made desperate efforts to commit them to +memory. A little before the dinner hour Concha, who was +deputed for the task, took a chair, drew out the famous +whalebone, and with that in one hand, and the book in the +other, she commenced her pedagogic functions. Every +time the child hesitated or forgot a word, it cost her a +blow from the whalebone on her face, hand, or neck; and +as her memory was not very strong the pounding was +incessant.</p> + +<p>It was still worse when her godmother taught her. +Concha was coldly cruel, but Amalia became irritable +directly; the crying of the child worried her nerves, she flew +into a rage like a hungry panther, and finished by striking +her frantically until she fell trembling and bleeding at her +feet.</p> + +<p>Her hatred to the little creature seemed increased if<a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a> +possible after the letter from the count. Her pride, +wounded to the quick by the cold, self-sufficient, insulting +diplomacy conveyed to her mind by the words of her old +love, she vented her rage upon the daughter. Besides, the +idea of Luis being distressed at hearing of the tortures was +an additional inducement to continue them unsparingly. +Let her suffer! let him suffer! the vile, perfidious creature +who had taken her youth, and then when she was old cast +her from him like an old rag to be swept away.</p> + +<p>On one of these days of intense raging anger the life of +Josefina was in imminent danger. At the usual hour she +had been summoned to the dining-room for her lessons. +Concha took a seat and drew with unfeigned delight the +fatal whalebone from her bosom, for the administration of +blows seemed a physical pleasure that day. Trembling as +usual the child came and gave her the books, and then +with stammering tongue began saying a chapter of sacred +history, when Manin's entrance interrupted them. He +came in with his eternal green jacket, short breeches and +rough manners, making the floor tremble under his hobnailed +boots. It was this costume, which even in the +country was out of date, that chiefly gave rise to the notoriety +and fame he had been supposed to have as a +formidable bear-hunter. He entered with his head down +as usual; he peered in at the door, saying:</p> + +<p>"Concha, haven't you anything to eat here?"</p> + +<p>"Is your stomach so empty, Manin?" returned the +needlewoman laughing.</p> + +<p>The peasant opened his mouth wide to join in the +laugh.</p> + +<p>"Yes, God have mercy! I can't wait a minute more. +You all seem barefooted Brothers in this house; you have +no thought of food till the time comes."</p> + +<p>"Well, come along you great greedy creature," said +Concha putting the book and whalebone on the chair, and +going in a petulant way to the dresser.<a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a></p> + +<p>They quite understood each other these two. The +needlewoman was hard, cruel, and stubborn, but the majordomo +knew how to get at the few grains of good humour +she had. He teased her unmercifully, he pinched her when +she passed by him, and said a thousand coarse, shameless +things to her which she knew how to take in the opposite +sense. And the dwarfish maid, who was neither kind nor +pretty, and whose cruel nature had choked every germ of +pleasantness and transformed her into a priestess of misery, +a fatal, pitiless Eumenide, was pleasant and obliging to that +brute. She admired his bearish manners, his roughness, +his greediness, and his insolent, careless way of treating +everybody, including the pompous Señor de Quiñones. +Manin was a solemn-faced rogue with his shameful rudeness, +his deportment of a brave hunter of wild beasts. Sly-faced +rogue! for with all his shameless rudeness, his posing +as a hunter of wild beasts, and his slovenly dress, he had +known how to take life easily in this world without spoiling +his hands, nor hurting his back by hard work in his village. +The needlewoman fetched a plate of cold meat and put +it on the oilcloth of the table without any apology for a +serviette; then she cut half a loaf and left him with the +indispensable bottle of white wine and a glass by the side +of the meat. Concha then re-seated herself, and the child +approaching repeated the words that she had just said. In +a few moments, zas! a blow with the whalebone and a cry +of pain. Immediately afterwards another blow and another +cry, and so it went on. The needlewoman was delighted +that she stumbled more than usual. Manin devoured his +food in silence, only occasionally turning his head with +marked indifference towards the sad scene. Soon he +began murmuring at every blow like a machine:</p> + +<p>"Give it! Go it! That was good! There's a blow!" +and other similar exclamations.</p> + +<p>The sacred history lesson came to an end, and there was +a respite before taking the grammar, when the maid began<a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a> +joking cheerfully with the majordomo. She was in an +angelic humour.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see such meat?"</p> + +<p>"Fine, truely fine."</p> + +<p>"The worst of it is it will spoil your appetite for dinner."</p> + +<p>Whereupon the room then vibrated with the fellow's +laughter.</p> + +<p>"This? Yes! It would be something for me to lose +my appetite. You will have to put a hot iron in the water, +like you do for the señora."</p> + +<p>"I would put it on your body, you great pig."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Concha, none of your teasing; because +although you are only a little bit of a thing, and you +have roguish eyes and a mouth like a cherry, you shall +have such a blow one of these days, without your knowing +whence it comes, that all that little row of pearls I see now +shall be knocked down your throat."</p> + +<p>"Silence! silence, you old clod-hopper; you are a fine +one for blows. You couldn't give them if you tried in such +a tight costume. You are indeed a fright."</p> + +<p>"You are not saying this from your heart, but because +you think it fine."</p> + +<p>"I know very well that there is a good deal behind all +that. (And here he gave her a few rough digs in the ribs). +If I could catch you in a maize field!"</p> + +<p>"It would only be as if you caught me in the market-place. +No; you are nothing but jaw and tongue."</p> + +<p>"And hands too to touch what is nice," returned the +barbarian, taking hold of the needlewoman's chin with his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Leave go! leave go, you pig!" And she gave him a +blow on the fingers with the whalebone. Then the rude +fellow caught hold of her again, and she defended herself +again in the same way. He then tried to get hold of her +waist, whereupon the maid ran across the room pretending +to be angry.<a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a></p> + +<p>"Don't touch me, Manin, or I will call the señora."</p> + +<p>But Manin did not care; he ran after her with grunts +and laughter, catching hold of her here and seizing her +there, whilst his cheeks, which were as hard and coarse as +an elephant's hide, came in for blows from the servant, +without showing that he felt them. The furniture was +knocked about, the ground shook, the plates rang on the +dresser, and still he did not give in, but he grew more and +more false and fawning. The rogue knew that, irascible +and fiendish as the little woman was, she was open to +flattery like all human beings, and that it was for the +interest of his stomach to keep her in a good humour. +Finally, roaring like a bull, he caught her by the waist and +held her up in the air. He held her up without any effort, +as if she were a three-year old child.</p> + +<p>"Now, little spitfire, what do you say now? Where is +your courage? Where are your hands? Come, witch, and +ask pardon, or I will let you fall like a frog," roared the +great bear, moving her to and fro in the air.</p> + +<p>"Let me go, Manin! Let me go, ass! There will be a +row! Look here, I shall scream!"</p> + +<p>At last he put her down gently, and the maid, panting, +dishevelled and frowning, so as to look more angry, said +in an excited voice:</p> + +<p>"You have no shame, Manin. If we were not in this +house as we are I would smash this lamp on your face for +your rudeness and insolence. But here are the servants +listening to all this, and what will they say? Don't say +another word, for I won't answer you."</p> + +<p>"So you can scream now, vain little thing, after you have +been in the seventh heaven," muttered Manin, in a drawling +tone, looking at her angrily and pushing up his beard.</p> + +<p>"If you don't get out of my sight, you ruffian!" exclaimed +the little servant, as she looked at him with +laughter in her eyes, in spite of herself.</p> + +<p>Then Manin re-seated himself for the consumption of<a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a> +the rest of the bread, and to drink another glass of white +wine. Josefina meanwhile sobbed in a corner, putting her +wounded hands to her mouth and patting her cheeks, contused +with the whalebone blows. Manin then deigned to +cast a look at her.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, little fool, the pain of the blows will go by, +and the sense will remain in your head for ever," he said, +cutting a piece of bread with his clasp-knife and putting it +into his mouth. "If you would like to know my opinion, +the more they beat you, the more pleased you ought to be. +What would you be if Concha was not kind enough to beat +you well? A little ignoramus, not worth a measure of +acorns, a little beast, God save the comparison. And now +what will you be? As fine a woman as you can see." (He +paused whilst he cut another piece of bread and chewed it +so that it caused a large lump in his right cheek). "Come, +if I had had masters like you have to bruise my skin with +blows, I should not be an ass now; they would not call me +Manin, but Don Manuel, and instead of being a miserable +underling I should be going about giving myself airs, walking +down Altavilla with my hands behind me like the +señores, and reading the papers in the casinos." (Another +pause, and another cutting of a hunch of bread). "It is +nothing but just, if you will see it so. How can you learn +such difficult things without a few whippings? Whoever +learned <i>daqué</i> without being beaten? Nobody. Then if +you get learning you should thank God for having put a +mistress over you like an aureole. For the end will please +you; you will have soft hands and delicate feet, is it +not so?"</p> + +<p>Concha, having now resumed her severe manner, seated +herself and made an imperious gesture to the child to +approach. It was the turn for grammar and it went worse +than the history, either from want of memory or because +she was upset by fear. Then the whipping recommenced; +a whalebone blow now and then, then oftener and oftener.<a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a> +Manin, true to his pedagogical opinions, applauded with his +mouth full, and cut his bread into wonderful geometrical +shapes before conducting them with all solemnity to his +mouth. The faults were many, the blows were the same. +But at the end of the lesson Concha thought that besides +the punishment at every fault there was a certain reparation +due for general naughtiness, and so she had better conclude +by a beating that would include everything. Therefore +she jumped up from her chair, and brandishing the +formidable whalebone, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Now to make you study better and to open your mind! +Now!"</p> + +<p>The blows were so hard and so many that, trying to +escape the torture, the little creature seized hold of the +skirts of her torturer with her clenched hands. Without +knowing how, perhaps through having carelessly caught +hold of them, the string which held them broke and they +fell off, leaving the needlewoman only in her undergarment. +She gave a cry of shame and quickly pulled up the skirts. +Then, without waiting to tie them on again, she cast a +glance of the deepest anger at the child and left the room +holding her things on with her hands.</p> + +<p>"You have done it finely now—finely, finely, finely!" said +Manin, dexterously cutting the mouthful he was about to +raise to his lips.</p> + +<p>The little creature paralysed with terror did not cry even; +her wounds ceased to hurt her. At the end of a few +minutes Concha reappeared accompanied by the señora, +who came in with a sarcastic smile.</p> + +<p>"It seems that the señorita takes pleasure now in unrobing +girls in public. You like that, señorita, do you not? +Manin must have had a nice view of Concha. Eh, Manin?"</p> + +<p>She took a few steps forward. The child receded in +dismay.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid, señorita. I have not come to beat +you. Who gives heed to whippings? I have only come<a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a> +to invite you to take a turn in the cellar—the cellar with +the rats—you know it. There you can amuse yourself in +undressing any rat of the many that will pay their respects +to you. Come along. Give me your hand so that I can +take you with all ceremony."</p> + +<p>The child ran behind a chair, from whence, being +pursued by Amalia and Concha, she got under the table, +and finally took refuge behind the majordomo.</p> + +<p>"Manin! Manin! For God's sake hide me!"</p> + +<p>But he took her by the arm and handed her over to the +señora. Then they each took a hand, and in spite of her +piercing cries they dragged her off.</p> + +<p>"To the cellar, no! to the cellar, no! Godmother, +pardon. Kill me sooner. See what a terror I have. No, +not to the cellar for the rats to eat me!"</p> + +<p>The servants came out in the passage and assisted at the +scene in solemn silence. The cries of the child were soon +lost in descending the dark winding staircase leading to the +underground cellar.</p> + +<p>Amalia opened the door of the horrible place and pushed +her daughter inside. She banged the door to, and the +child running to get out, caught her hand in it. A fearful +cry of pain was heard. The Valencian reopened the door, +and gave such a rough push to the child that she was thrown +on the ground, and then she turned the key.</p> + +<p>The cellar was a dark, damp prison, only lightened by a +few stray rays of light from an ox-eye above. It had once +been used as a wine-cellar, now there were only empty +bottles there. Scarcely was the child alone, when she got +up, looked round mad with fright, tried to cry, but she was +unable to utter, and finally, extending her hands in an excess +of fearful trembling, she fell senseless to the ground. At +the end of half an hour the stable-boy, who had witnessed +the incarceration, came to the door being moved by compassion, +and looked through the keyhole. There was +nothing to be seen. He called very gently:<a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a></p> + +<p>"Josefina."</p> + +<p>The child did not reply. He called louder. The same +silence. Alarmed, he called and knocked at the door +with all his might without obtaining any reply. Then, at +the risk of losing his place, he went quickly upstairs to say +what had happened. Amalia sent Concha with the key to +see what had occurred. Paula and she together carried +the little creature upstairs senseless, cold, and with all the +signs of death upon her face. Afraid of the complications +that might arise, the wife of the Grandee put her quickly to +bed, where she soon came to herself, but a serious fever +immediately set in. The doctor was sent for. He found +her very ill. To account for the injury of her hand and the +contusions about her, Amalia, clever in lying, invented a +story that the doctor believed, or pretended to believe. +She hovered for some days between life and death. +Amalia followed the course of the illness with anxious eyes. +She was not unhappy at the thought of losing the being +upon whom she had vented the bitter disappointment of +her heart, but she was distressed at the idea of losing her +revenge at one blow. When Josefina had been in bed +three days, she heard that Fernanda had left for Madrid +the previous evening in the postchaise, and that Luis would +only be four or five days before joining her. This was a +severe shock; a burning wave of bile inundated her heart, +and that night she too had fever. So they were escaping! +There would be no possible revenge for the traitor. He +would go to Madrid; he would marry; he would perhaps +have news there of his daughter's death, but the caresses of +his adored bride would soon put it out of his mind. Of +that long, ardent love affair there would be nothing left but +a man parading his bliss through Europe, and a poor old +sad woman in Lancia, a laughing-stock for the Lancian +circles. Her flaccid flesh trembled. The revengeful instincts +of her race cried out in futile rage. No, no, it +could not be! She would sooner drag his dead daughter<a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a> +to his feet; she would sooner kill him with a stab in the +heart!</p> + +<p>A singular and terrible idea occurred to her—to tell her +husband everything. She ignored what she would incur +herself, but it would provoke an immediate scandal. Don +Pedro was violent, and he enjoyed great power and prestige. +Who could say the harm that such a bomb would cause? +Certainly he was paralysed, and he could not take personal +revenge; but would not that proud, punctilious man find +means of repaying the injury that had been done him? She +would come to grief herself, but she would willingly fall if +the traitor paid for his treachery. After a long struggle with +these thoughts she did not dare run the risk of making the +confession by word of mouth, nor writing under her own +name, but, disguising the handwriting, she wrote an anonymous +letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The child that you adopted six years ago is the +daughter of your wife and a gentleman who visits your +house, whom you call your friend. I do not tell you the +name. Look for him, and you will soon come across the +traitor.</p> + +<p class="signature">(Signed) <span class="smcap">A faithful friend.</span>"</p></div> + +<p>She posted the epistle and anxiously waited to see the +effect.</p> + +<p>Don Pedro received it in her presence and read it, whilst her +face violently contracted and assumed a cadaverous pallor.</p> + +<p>"Who writes to you?" she asked in a natural way.</p> + +<p>The Grandee replied immediately, and folding and retaining +the letter, he said, with some effort to control his +voice that trembled:</p> + +<p>"Nobody. One of the persons I recommended, complains +that he has been kept waiting. This governor! He has +nor memory, no regularity at all!"</p> + +<p>Anxiously and restlessly awaiting the course of events,<a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a> +she retired to her boudoir. Jacoba came in the evening +with an air of mystery and gave her a letter from the +count.</p> + +<p>"What does this man want with me?" she asked in a +surprised, vexed tone.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, señorita. He wrote the letter in my +house, and is there waiting for the answer."</p> + +<p>The count's letter ran thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Amalia, I know that our child is in danger of death. +By all that you love best in the world, by the salvation of +your soul, grant me an interview. I must speak to you. If this +evening it cannot be, come to-morrow to Jacoba's house.</p> + +<p class="signature">Yours, <span style="margin-left: 5%;"><span class="smcap">Luis.</span>"</span></p></div> + +<p>"Yours! yours!" she murmured with a bitter smile. "You +have been mine, but you have changed your owner, and it +will cost you dear."</p> + +<p>"Shall I take the answer, señorita?"</p> + +<p>She stood pensive for a few minutes, walked up and down +the room completely absorbed in thought, went to the +window and looked through the panes. Finally, half turning +round, she said very abruptly:</p> + +<p>"Very well; I will go to-morrow at the hour of Mass."</p> + +<p>"He asked after the child with the greatest interest."</p> + +<p>"Say that she is better."</p> + +<p>The intermediary retired, and Amalia remained for a long +time looking at the street through the window-panes without +seeing it. From seven o'clock in the morning of the following +day, Luis was waiting for her in Jacoba's little house. +It only consisted of a kitchen on the ground-floor and a +little bedroom upstairs, and both so low that the count's +head, with his hat on, touched the ceiling. In this little +room he was walking up and down with impatient steps, +with his hands in his pockets looking cautiously every +minute through the blinds of the only window there was.<a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a> +The lady did not arrive until nine o'clock. He saw her +coming with her mantilla veiling her eyes, her missal in +her hand, and her rosary hanging on her wrist, with a firm, +self-assured step, as if she were coming to give orders to her +old protégée. When he heard her voice in the kitchen his +heart beat quickly, he began to tremble, and in his agitation +he forgot all that he was going to say.</p> + +<p>"How are you, count?" she said, with perfect naturalness +as she came in and gave him her hand.</p> + +<p>"Very well—and thou?"</p> + +<p>She raised her head as if she were surprised to hear him +<i>tutoyer</i> her, and replied, as she looked at him fixedly:</p> + +<p>"Perfectly."</p> + +<p>"And the child?"</p> + +<p>"Somewhat better."</p> + +<p>The man's face brightened at hearing this news. A ray +of happiness shone in his eyes, and taking the hand of his +former lover, he led her to the poor, straw-stuffed sofa, and +said:</p> + +<p>"Let us sit down, Amalia. Although it may be a liberty +on my part, I beg of you to let me go on <i>tutoyant</i> you when +we are alone. I do not forget, I never can forget, how +many happy hours I owe you, and how much happiness you +brought into my sad, monotonous life. You revealed to +me all that was sweetest and best in my heart without my +hardly suspecting it. All the first impulses of my soul +were for you. Until now, you alone had penetrated it and +sounded, and knew its melancholy, weakness, and tenderness. +If I separate from you, it is only in obedience to a +law of nature which impels us all to found a family. I have +nobody in the world but my mother, who may soon leave +me alone. You ought not to mind my wishing to make a +home, and have an heir to my name and estates. Besides, +my conscience rebukes me."</p> + +<p>The count, delighted at the improvement of the child, +was more expansive and loquacious than usual, being<a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a> +unable to hide his happiness, and thinking everything was +arranged according to his wishes. Josefina was happy +with her mother, he happy with Fernanda, and Amalia, +being resigned, would grant him a sweet affection that +would get purer every day.</p> + +<p>She looked at him now with a certain quizzical curiosity.</p> + +<p>When he had finished, she said, with a sarcastic smile:</p> + +<p>"From the night you saw Fernanda in her splendid +<i>recherché</i> dress, this feeling of conscience must have been +insupportable."</p> + +<p>The count smiled too, somewhat shamefacedly.</p> + +<p>"Don't believe it, Amalia. I have always felt remorse. +Certainly, on getting old, one sees things more clearly. My +beard is white in many places, as you can see. That which +is excusable in a youth as wildness, as an irrepressible +ebullition of vitality, becomes crime in an older person. Love +at my age ought not to clip the wings of reason, and if it +does, it merits the term of madness. My determination +may be hard for both of us. It is very trying to me; it +costs me a good deal to break loose from a <i>liaison</i> that +force of time has almost converted into a habit. Besides, +unfortunately, there exists a bond between us which is +impossible to break completely. Destiny has brought forth +from the mire of our sin a beautiful blossom, a sweet white +lily. Let us remove the stain from her brow, although she +is the offspring of an unlawful passion, do not let us corrupt +her with our blameworthy conduct. Let us make ourselves +worthy of her by living like Christians."</p> + +<p>"All this is very well, only I am sorry that this course of +Christian doctrine has come so late, and so simultaneous +with the arrival of your old <i>fiancée</i> to the place, because +it seems as if you had completely forgotten your catechism, +until she came to refresh your memory. But, after all, it is +not for me to interfere as it does not concern me. The +gist of it all is that you are going to marry. You do well. +Man is badly off alone, and when he finds a worthy com<a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>panion +like you have done, he ought not to lose the +opportunity. Fernanda is a very good girl; I am sure that +she will make you happy; you will have many sons, and +after a long and happy life you will go to heaven."</p> + +<p>This state of resignation surprised Luis and he could not +help feeling somewhat taken aback.</p> + +<p>"And you, too, will be happy?" he timidly asked.</p> + +<p>"I? what does it signify if I am happy or unhappy?" +she said, shrugging her shoulders disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"Don't say that, Amalia! Happiness is not that madness +to which we have given ourselves up these seven +years. There is a taste of bitterness in that, which I have +noticed for some time and which you will soon perceive. +A pure, worthy life, a quiet conscience, and the esteem of +honourable persons will give you more pleasure than +criminal passion. Besides, you have what I have not; +you have an angel with you, a fragrant, beautiful lily that +will sweeten your existence."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, Josefina! Really, so she is to be the one who +is to afford me my only pleasant times in the future!"</p> + +<p>This was said with such a strange inflexion of voice, so +sharp and so strident that Luis shivered.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"I mean what I say, that it is fortunate I have Josefina +to cheer me."</p> + +<p>"But you say it in such a strange way."</p> + +<p>The Valencian then gave a curious forced laugh of +sinister sound that came from the back of her throat.</p> + +<p>Luis looked at her fixedly, getting more and more uneasy.</p> + +<p>"But what a fool you are, Luis! How more than foolish! +Egotism has so blinded your eyes that you cannot see what +is before you. If you were twenty, this innocence might +perhaps inspire me with pity, but at your age it only fills +me with scorn and derision. To think that three or four +insolent remarks on morality and conscience will suffice to<a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a> +make me contentedly accept the humiliation you impose +upon me; to suppose that I, whom if you do not know, +you ought to know, am going to consent to be cast away +like an old rag, that I am to crawl like an enamoured slave +at the feet of Fernanda, to serve her as a footstool when she +mounts to her couch, is the height of stupidity and nonsense. +Why don't you ask me to be bridesmaid at once?"</p> + +<p>The count looked at her with dilated eyes full of anxiety +and fear.</p> + +<p>"So what I have heard of the tortures you have inflicted +on our daughter is true?"</p> + +<p>"Quite true! And you do not yet know all. Look +here, I am going to tell you all, so that you may not say +you are deceived."</p> + +<p>Then, in a few incisive words, with a cruel satisfaction +revealed in her voice, she put before him the fearful picture +of the pain and misery suffered by the unhappy little +creature during the last few months. The account was +infinitely more shocking than the one Maria, the ironer, +had given. The count, pale and overwhelmed, without +making the slightest movement, looked the picture of +despair. He soon covered his face with his hands, and so +listened until the end.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how infamous! oh, how infamous!" he groaned to +himself.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very infamous, but I hope to be more so. Have +you heard all these infamies? Then they are nothing compared +to what I shall do."</p> + +<p>"You shall not do it, you wicked woman!" exclaimed +Luis. "I would sooner strangle you with my own hands."</p> + +<p>The Valencian rushed to the door.</p> + +<p>"If you come a step nearer, I'll shriek!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, infamous, infamous person!" exclaimed the count, +again in a deep voice, "and God allows such monsters +upon the earth!"</p> + +<p>He took a few steps back and cast himself again upon the<a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a> +sofa. He rested his elbows on his knees, and put his head +between his hands. After some time he raised it saying:</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you exact from me?"</p> + +<p>Amalia took a step towards him.</p> + +<p>"That which you ought to expect, if you have any common +sense left. I don't ask for our connection to continue, +because at the pass we have come to it is not possible; it +would be like giving the lie to love, and I have too much +pride for that. But I do not want you or this woman to +make me a laughing-stock; I am not going to be made a +subject of derision to those who know of our connection: +and those are all who visit at the house. I demand as the +condition of the child being as she was, that you immediately +break with Fernanda and think no more of her."</p> + +<p>"But, Amalia," he exclaimed, in accents of misery, "you +know quite well it is impossible; my wedding is fixed; all +Lancia knows it. Fernanda is waiting for me in Madrid; +only a few days are wanting——"</p> + +<p>"And if only a minute were wanting, this wedding shall +not take place. If you marry Fernanda the child shall pay +for the offence in the way you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I will prevent it. I will tell the authorities. I will +ask for the care of the child."</p> + +<p>"This is only talking for talking sake, Luis," replied +Amalia, calm and smiling. "The authorities of Lancia are +under the Quiñones. Nobody would dare say a word +against me."</p> + +<p>"If I refer the whole matter to Don Pedro."</p> + +<p>"He will not believe you, and if he did believe you, +instead of impeding my revenge which is also his, he would +help me."</p> + +<p>A long silence then ensued. The count was plunged in +thought with his hand pressed against his brow. Suddenly +he rose hastily, and walked up and down the room in an +agitated way.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be! it cannot be!"<a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a></p> + +<p>The Valencian followed him with her eyes. At last she +said, as she walked to the door:</p> + +<p>"Good-bye."</p> + +<p>The count retained her with a gesture. "Stop."</p> + +<p>Amalia stopped motionless, with her hand on the latch +of the door as her piercing glance rested upon him.</p> + +<p>The count went on walking for some time without paying +any attention to her.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said, in a hoarse voice, stopping short, +"the marriage shall not take place; you will tell me what I +am to do."</p> + +<p>His altered face evinced the calmness of despair.</p> + +<p>"You will have to write a letter to Fernanda to bade her +farewell."</p> + +<p>"I will write it."</p> + +<p>"Now, at once."</p> + +<p>"Now, at once."</p> + +<p>Amalia went to the stairs and asked Jacoba for a writing-case. +As there was no table there, she put it on the chest +of drawers. The count approached and began to write +standing. Amalia approached too.</p> + +<p>"This is what I want you to write to her."</p> + +<p>It was the rough draft of the letter. The count cast his +eye over it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My good friend Fernanda," it ran, "I wanted you to be +away so as to tell you in writing what would be beyond my +powers to say to you. I cannot be yours. It is not necessary +to give you the reasons because you will guess them. +Would that I loved you enough to ignore everything and fly +with you! Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are things +that weigh on my heart more than love. Pardon me for +having deceived you and try to be happy as it is the wish of +your best friend.</p> + +<p class="signature">"<span class="smcap">Luis.</span>"</p></div> + +<p>He traced the lines of this letter with a trembling hand, +and before finishing it, tears rose to his eyes.<a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a></p> + + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h3> + +<p class="head">JOSEFINA SLEEPS</p> + + +<p class="nind">T<span class="smcap">he</span> noble Grandee easily guessed the author of his disgrace. +As soon as he read the anonymous letter and recovered +his self-command, his suspicions fell upon the +Conde de Onis. In this he was only influenced by the +likeness that he now clearly saw between him and the +foundling. For either his excessive pride had blinded his +eyes, or else because Amalia had known how to keep him +deceived, he had never noticed anything between them +beyond a cool, conventional friendship at which nobody +could have taken umbrage. The same pride arrested the +course of his bitter thoughts by making the most of this +consideration. Why give any importance to what an +anonymous letter said? Why not suppose it was a vile +calumny by which some enemy tried to envenom his existence? +But the dart had gone so deep into his heart that +he could not pull it out. All the considerations invented +by his inclination could not destroy the perfect conviction +that, without his knowing how, had taken shape in his +brain. Sundry details, unnoticed at the time, soon stood +out and guided him like lighted torches. The first of all +was naturally the illness of his wife simultaneous with the +appearance of the child. He recalled her strange aversion +to having a doctor to see her; then the indulgence and +extreme attention lavished on the child. He also recollected +the visits that at one time his wife made to the +Grange on the pretext of getting plants. There was no<a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a> +circumstance connected with the count's friendship and the +finding of the child that he did not turn over and weigh +thoughtfully. He became silent and meditative. The hard +look of his piercing eyes was always fixed upon Amalia +directly she came into the room. Sometimes he had the +child fetched on some pretext or another, and looked at +her for a long time trying to decipher in the lines of her +face the enigma of her existence.</p> + +<p>Amalia saw all this, and read the thoughts of her husband +like an open book.</p> + +<p>"When is Luis to be married?" asked the Grandee one +day in an assumed, careless tone.</p> + +<p>"They say it will be some time yet. He has to arrange +I don't know how many matters before going to Madrid," +she replied, with the greatest calmness.</p> + +<p>"Is he still at the Grange?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, always; he only comes in sometimes of an evening, +according to what he told me one day when I met him in +Barrosa's shop."</p> + +<p>The very next evening the count appeared at the party.</p> + +<p>"What? You here? Have you left the Grange?" Don +Pedro asked, with a penetrating glance.</p> + +<p>"Definitely, no; I have the carriage below. I am going +back to sleep."</p> + +<p>"You must be dull there, eh?" asked Don Cristobal +Mateo.</p> + +<p>"In the day, no; I am very busy with agricultural +occupations, with the mill, cattle, &c. But the evenings +are very long."</p> + +<p>Luis only came for the sake of seeing his daughter. +Amalia had not allowed it until the child had partially recovered; +then she was dressed as before, and she resumed +her old rights. But not the affection. The charm was +gone, because Luis hated her, especially through having +had to submit through coercion. With the ardent passion +full of love and mystery there had also mingled an attach<a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>ment +to the little creature. But the tortures that her mad +anger inflicted on the little girl had made a gulf between +them. The poor child, clad in rich clothes, wandered alone +about the palace of the Quiñones without inspiring any one +with tenderness. Amalia avoided her. The servants, +ashamed of their unkind treatment, and sulky at the sudden +change which put the foundling again above them, did not +speak to her. The long martyrdom she had undergone +and the terrible illness with which it terminated had made +great ravages in her appearance. Her pale cheek was as +transparent as mother-of-pearl; there was still a dark black +circle from agitation and pain round her eyes. The count's +heart contracted every time he saw her, and it cost him +some effort to restrain his tears.</p> + +<p>Amalia did not tell her lover of the imprudent anonymous +letter she had sent to Quiñones. Fearing from her husband's +excitability some serious consequence would ensue, +she determined to get him off the scent, as it was not +possible to restore his tranquillity. The course that seemed +to her best to take was to remove his suspicions from Luis +and put them on Jaime Moro. He was the only one who, +by his position, age, and appearance could seem like a +probable lover. She began by treating him before Don +Pedro with particular partiality, picking him out from the +other guests in a very conspicuous manner. She cast smiling, +significant glances at him; she took pleasure in standing +behind his chair when he was playing at <i>tresillo</i> and joking +with him; she called him every minute to her on some +pretext or other, and then kept him at her side with long +whispering conversations in which her cheek came in close +proximity with his. It was not so easy as it seemed to +make a conquest of Moro, although it was only a make-believe. +He was not at all churlish; on the contrary, he +had a just reputation of being gentlemanly and courteous +with ladies; but when ladies stand in the way of billiards or +<i>tresillo</i> there is nobody six miles round so cross and uncivil.<a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a> +Amalia was a great bore to him when the <i>tresillo</i> players +were waiting for him. Then his answers to her questions +did not come readily; he smiled mechanically and gave +frequent longing glances at the table where his companions +were enjoying the delights of some trick with a good +suit.</p> + +<p>"Moro, sit here, we will have a chat together."</p> + +<p>Moro trembled as if the world were coming to an end. +He took a seat by the side of the lady with a face that was +very long, not at all consistent with the passion that was +supposed to consume his breast. The Grandee had paid +little heed to these marks of favour and insinuating +smiles of his wife. He looked at them with vacant eyes +without any suspicion arising in his mind, which was +entirely turned in the right direction. Nevertheless, +Amalia was so persistent and seemed so engrossed, that +the noble gentleman began to pay heed to those signs +and to attribute some significance to them. The Valencian +felt the pleasure of triumph. Her machinations +were about to be realised. And to give an important, +decisive stroke to her plot, she suddenly thought of a +dangerous trick. She was seated in a corner with Jaime +Moro at her side, quite in sight of Don Pedro. Moro was +<i>distrait</i> as usual, and the wife of Quiñones had to make +prodigious efforts to sustain the conversation; she smiled, +she coquetted, she involved him in a mesh of honeyed +phrases, which she greatly intensified with her smile so as to +attract Don Pedro's attention.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Are you looking at my bracelet?"</p> + +<p>Moro had not noticed it.</p> + +<p>"It is very pretty," he quickly returned politely.</p> + +<p>"It belonged to my mother. It is better than it looks. +This portrait, which is of my grandmother, is made in +mosaic. Look!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon she raised her hand, and Moro looked at it +with assumed admiration.<a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a></p> + +<p>"Look well at it."</p> + +<p>And she raised it a little more so as to bring it near his +face. Then seeing out of the corner of her eye that Don +Pedro was looking at her, she lifted it a little more so as to +brush the lips of the young man; then she instantly withdrew +it with a quick gesture. Moro was quite taken aback. He +involuntarily looked at Don Pedro, and seeing that his +glance was fixed on him with a cold piercing look, he +coloured up to the eyes; and Amalia rose and left the +room as if to hide her confusion.</p> + +<p>The proud Grandee was fully overwhelmed by the secret +that he thought he had discovered. His ideas underwent a +sudden shock. Agitated by a thousand conflicting suspicions, +dominated by furious anger, he moved the cards +in his trembling hands without thinking of them, for his mind +was full of awful revenge against his wife and against him. +Against whom? Who was the traitor? Doubt inflamed his +rage. What he had seen was very conclusive. Nevertheless, +he could not get the Conde de Onis out of his mind. The +testimony of his eyes was arrayed against his instinct, +a voice within that told him continually the name of his +enemy.</p> + +<p>The count himself then appeared at the party. He +greeted Amalia coldly, and was going straight to the library, +when Manuel Antonio caught hold of him by the tail of his +coat.</p> + +<p>"Where are you off to, Luis? Come here, boy; don't go +and bury yourself in the game directly. Look here, Maria +Josefa and Jovita have been disputing every evening about +the date of your marriage. But I said to them: 'Don't +dispute any more. If Luis comes to-day he is so kind that +he will certainly tell you himself.'"</p> + +<p>"Then you told them wrong," replied the count, approaching +the group.</p> + +<p>"Have you turned so cross then?"</p> + +<p>"It is not crossness, it is ignorance. These ladies know<a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a> +very well that things don't happen as, and when, we wish. +If I were to name a date now, and it turned out differently +they would think that I had been making fun of +them."</p> + +<p>In spite of the efforts he made to smile, the face of the +count expressed infinite sadness, and his voice was low and +hoarse.</p> + +<p>"No, no! nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Jovita, laughing. +"Tell us any day, and if it should turn out differently +we shall think it was not by your wish."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"So soon as that!" cried both old maids in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You are not easy to please. What day do you want me +to marry? Fix it yourselves."</p> + +<p>The count had not said a word to anybody about his +marriage being broken off. The innate weakness of his +character made him withhold a piece of news that would so +soon spread abroad. He fought shy of public curiosity and +avoided questions at which his face might betray the cause +of such a determination. And he trembled and became +profoundly sad every time, like now, the matter was alluded +to. Until then nothing had transpired. It was thought in +the town from day to day that he would go to Madrid to +join his bride. Nevertheless, Manuel Antonio, whose olfactory +sense was superior to that of all his contemporaries, +had scented something. And with the tenacity and dissimulation +of an Isabella of England, he began to collect +bits of news and piece them together in such a way that at +the present time he was very near the truth.</p> + +<p>"You seem very sad, Luisito," he said to him suddenly. +"You look more like making your will than being +married."</p> + +<p>The count was affected, and not knowing what to say, he +answered, with a forced smile:</p> + +<p>"Marriage is a very serious step."<a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a></p> + +<p>He then tried to beat a retreat, but Manuel Antonio +retained him again. He wanted to get a key to the enigma +at all costs, and to have his suspicions confirmed, so +seconded by Maria Josefa, who knew better than he what +line to adopt, he kept up the conversation for some time +on the difficult subject. Luis was on thorns. He kept +looking at Amalia, as if he were claiming what she had +been obliged to concede him. The lady at last rose, put +her head out of the door, and then resumed her seat. +In a few moments Josefina's pale, gentle face appeared. +She cast her sad eyes over the room, and at a sign from her +godmother she directed her steps to the library. She +passed the count, he half turned towards her and gave +her a rapid, anxious look, which did not escape the sharp +eyes of his interlocutors. The child raised her eyes shining +with a happy smile to his. It was a magnetic shock that +suddenly filled her childish heart with joy. The guests tried +to keep her, but obedient to the command of her godmother +she went on to the library. A few minutes afterwards, +Quiñones sharp voice was heard:</p> + +<p>"Is not the Conde de Onis there? Why does he not +come in?"</p> + +<p>"I am coming, Don Pedro," returned Luis, quickly, glad +to escape from the boring group.</p> + +<p>On his entering the library, in less time than it takes to +tell, a terrible scene took place that put everything in commotion, +and terrified the guests. Don Pedro, with the cards +in his hand, was with Jaime Moro and Don Enrique Valero. +Saleta, who made the fourth, was sitting talking to the +chaplain behind him. Three or four people were standing +round the table watching the game. Josefina was near the +noble Grandee with her arms crossed, waiting for the +benediction before going to bed. At the count's entrance, +Quiñones darted a rapid, sharp glance at him, and then gave +one of deep hatred at the child, as he said, with a sarcastic +smile:<a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah, do you want your blessing? Take your blessing."</p> + +<p>And so saying he gave her a tremendous blow that +felled her to the ground, whilst blood flowed from her +mouth and nostrils.</p> + +<p>Luis seemed to feel the blow in his own cheeks. All the +blood left them and he turned deadly pale; then his will +being overpowered by a blind impulse, he cried out:</p> + +<p>"It is a vile shame! It is a cowardly act!"</p> + +<p>He then tried to throw himself on Quiñones, but the +others held him back, whilst Don Pedro called out in a +loud voice, mad with anger, "At last! At last, dog!"</p> + +<p>He made a supreme effort to rise from his chair and +attack the destroyer of his honour. He half managed it, +but finally fell back senseless with his mouth distorted. +The guests had all risen and rushed to the library. The +ladies shrieked in terror. The men behind asked what +had happened. The Conde de Onis cast a frenzied look +at them, stepped to the spot where Josefina was lying, +lifted her from the ground, and with her in his arms, he +tried to pass out, but Amalia stood in the way.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>Then she tried to snatch the child from him. But Luis +stretched out his hand, caught the Valencian by the hair, +and after shaking her roughly three or four times, he cast +her away from him, and made for the drawing-room door. +He flew down the staircase and out into the street, where +his carriage was waiting for him, and jumping into it with +his precious burthen, he said to the coachman:</p> + +<p>"Quick, to the Grange!"</p> + +<p>The heavy vehicle jolted along the badly paved streets, +and he was not long in reaching the high road. The moon +shone high in the firmament. Great thick clouds floated +across its disc, but it reappeared directly. A stormy wind +soughed in the upper atmospheric regions. Silence and +peace reigned below.</p> + +<p>Josefina still remained unconscious. The count wiped<a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a> +the blood away with his handkerchief. Then he tried +to revive her by imprinting long, passionate kisses upon her +alabaster cheek.</p> + +<p>At last her eyes opened, she looked at the count with +a strange intensity and then they lighted up with a sweet +smile:</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Luis?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my life, it is I."</p> + +<p>"Where are you taking me to?"</p> + +<p>"Where you like."</p> + +<p>"Take me far away, very far away! Take me to your +house. Take me, even if you can't feed me. Being with +you I shan't mind dying."</p> + +<p>The count pressed her to his heart and covered her with +kisses.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, you are going to my house," he exclaimed, +whilst tears bathed his cheeks. "You shall never leave +it, because they would have to take my life before they +should take you. Listen, Josefina, I am going to tell you +something. Try and understand. Make an effort and +you will do so. I am your father. The Señores de +Quiñones took you into their house; but I am your father. +Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Luis, I understand you."</p> + +<p>"They took you in because I was wrong enough to give +you up to them instead of keeping you with me."</p> + +<p>"Now I understand you, Luis. You were not wrong. +You were good, and I love you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, child of my soul, I love you more than my life. +Forgive me."</p> + +<p>"I love you too—but not them. I loved godmother +once, but not now. She has beaten me so much. If +you could but know! She bit me, she scratched me, +she dragged me on the ground, she told Concha to +beat me with a broom, she tied me with a string like a +dog."<a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a></p> + +<p>"Don't, don't, you kill me!" said Luis, sobbing.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, Luis, don't cry! See how kind you are; you +are crying for me."</p> + +<p>"Should I not cry for you as you are my daughter? I am +your father! Don't you know it, don't you know it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know it. You are my father, and I am your +daughter. I am sleepy—let me sleep upon your breast."</p> + +<p>And her little fair head sank in sleep. The count bent +his own to imprint a kiss upon her brow, and his lips +encountered the fire of fever.</p> + +<p>The little creature enjoyed a few minutes lethargic sleep. +Occasional cold shivers ran through her delicate little body. +At last she awoke with a cry.</p> + +<p>"Luis, they are taking me away! Look at them, look +at them! There they are!" Her eyes were full of wild +terror.</p> + +<p>"No, daughter, no, they are trees on the road waving +their branches towards us."</p> + +<p>"Don't you see Don Pedro threatening me? Don't you +hear what he is saying?"</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, my soul, it is the roaring of the wind."</p> + +<p>"You are right. They are gone now. Look how the +moon is shining! Look at the beautiful fields and the +quantities of flowers! A palace of crystal! There is a +child playing with a white cat. How lovely! It is prettier +than Rose. Let me play with her, Luis."</p> + +<p>"You shall play as much as you like, and I will buy you +a white cat and a white dove that will eat out of your +hand."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't want you to spend money; I am contented +if you don't leave me."</p> + +<p>"Never, you shall live with me always, because you are +my daughter. Go to sleep, my heart."</p> + +<p>"Darkness again! It has come back. Take them +away, Luis, take them! for God's sake! How they are +pulling at me!"<a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a></p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid, you are with me. Look, there is the +moon again. Do you see how it shines? Sleep, my heart."</p> + +<p>"It is true—Yes I see the fields full of flowers—I see the +white cat—The child is not there—Where is it, Luis?"</p> + +<p>"It is in my house waiting to play with you. We are +very near now. Go to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Luis, I am going to sleep. You tell me to, don't +you? I ought to obey you because I am your daughter. +I am cold. Hold me tighter."</p> + +<p>He pressed her closer and closer to his breast. Josefina +slept at last. The carriage rolled along the deserted road, +past the fields lighted by the light of the moon. The wind +moaned in the distance. The trees began to wave their +branches.</p> + +<p>The drive to the Grange was reached.</p> + +<p>Luis bent his head to wake the child, but on giving her +a kiss, he felt the coldness of death. He raised her +quickly, he shook her violently several times as he called +her loudly:</p> + +<p>"Josefina! Daughter! daughter! daughter! Wake +up!"</p> + +<p>The fair head of the child fell from one side to the other +like a lily with a broken stem.</p> + +<p class="c top15"><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>London & Edinburgh</i><br /> +</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 class="top5"><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> A peseta is worth 9½<i>d.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Spanish game of cards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> One of the Spanish military orders formed to wage war against +infidels.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> Spanish games of cards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> About £700 or £800.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> Spanish game of billiards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> The officer who collects the king's revenue.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_8" id="Footnote_H_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_8"><span class="label">[H]</span></a> About £300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_9" id="Footnote_I_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_9"><span class="label">[I]</span></a> About £400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_10" id="Footnote_J_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_10"><span class="label">[J]</span></a> <i>Lapiz</i>, a black stone. He meant to say <i>apice</i>, the smallest part.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_11" id="Footnote_K_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_11"><span class="label">[K]</span></a> An old-fashioned dance still in vogue in Galicia and Asturias. +One chants a song, and the others join in the chorus.</p></div> + +</div> + + +<div class="image" +style="margin-top:10%;"><img src="images/ill_back.jpg" +alt="image of back cover of book not available" +width="358" +height="550" +/> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRANDEE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 31056-h.txt or 31056-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/0/5/31056">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/5/31056</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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