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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37969-0.txt b/37969-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b24901e --- /dev/null +++ b/37969-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11290 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Peñalta (Marta y María), by +Armando Palacio Valdés + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Marquis of Peñalta (Marta y María) + A Realistic Social Novel + +Author: Armando Palacio Valdés + +Translator: Nathan Haskell Dole + +Release Date: November 10, 2011 [EBook #37969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA + +(MARTA Y MARÍA): + +A Realistic Social Novel + +BY + +DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS. + +_TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY_ + +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. + +NEW YORK: + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., + +No. 13 Astor Place. + + +_Copyright_, 1886, + +BY T. Y. CROWELL & CO. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE 1 + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE STREET 5 + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOIRÉE AT THE ELORZA MANSION 16 + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF +JESUS 47 + +CHAPTER IV. + +HOW THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE +OF THURINGEN 76 + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ROAD TO PERFECTION 100 + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN SEARCH OF MENINO 122 + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBAND OR SOUL 144 + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AS YOU LIKE IT 161 + +CHAPTER IX. + +EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND 178 + +CHAPTER X. + +THE EXCURSION CONTINUED 195 + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE 217 + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERED THREADS 230 + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN 257 + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PALLIDA MORS 281 + +CHAPTER XV. + +LET US REJOICE, BELOVED 303 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA'S DREAM 325 + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE. + + +The work which I now have the honor of presenting to the public is not +based upon ordinary every-day occurrences; nor are the incidents +narrated in it such as we are wont frequently to witness. Very likely it +will be called untrue or improbable, and regarded as a fanciful +production, remote from all reality. With resignation I bow myself in +advance to these criticisms, though I claim the right to protest in my +own heart, if not publicly, against the unfairness of such a charge. For +the chief events of this novel--I must say it, though my glory as an +originator may be destroyed--have all actually taken place. The author +has done nothing more than recount them and give them unity. + +I have the presumption to believe that, though _Marta y María_ may not +be a beautiful novel, it is a realistic novel. I know that realism--at +the present time called naturalism--has many impulsive adepts, who +conceive that truth exists only in the vulgar incidents of life, and +that these are the only ones worth transferring to art. Fortunately this +is not the case. Outside of markets, garrets, and slums, the truth +exists no less. The very apostle of naturalism, Emil Zola, confesses +this by painting scenes of polished and lofty poetry, which assuredly +conflict with his exaggerated æsthetic theories. + +The character of the protagonist of my novel is an exceptional +character. I take delight in acknowledging this. But to be exceptional +is not to be less true to nature, less human. Mystic temperaments are +not apt to abound in Madrid: the frivolous and sensual life of the court +is little adapted for their development. But all who have lived in a +province will have known, just as I have, certain passionate and pious +souls, who, without any motive of a temporal kind, have renounced the +world and consecrated themselves to God. Take the periodicals, and +scarcely a day will pass without your seeing the announcement of some +young woman becoming a nun. Among these young persons are beautiful +girls, daughters of wealthy families, rejoicing in all the gifts of +nature and the flatteries of society. Is not, peradventure, the careful +study of such souls worthy of the literary man, even though he call +himself a naturalist? + +The motive or occasion of this book being written is as follows: I found +myself one afternoon in Don Fernando Fe's bookstore, turning over recent +publications and periodicals, when there fell into my hands a number of +the _Ilustración Española y Americana_, in which appeared a capital cut +representing "The Taking of the Veil in a Convent of Carmelite Nuns." A +pretty young girl was seen on her knees before the inner door of the +convent, from which three sisters, bundled up in great thick robes of +black, were coming forth to receive her, with a coarse wooden cross. In +the background an aged bishop was calling down upon her the blessing of +heaven; and a lady, in whom the mother was to be instantly recognized, +was looking on with ecstatic and troubled eyes. Still farther back there +was a numerous group of people, pre-eminent among them being two other +young ladies, elegantly dressed, whose resemblance to the novice +quickly told that they were her sisters. The first was sadly +contemplating the ceremony, while the other hid her face in her hands, +as if she were trying to smother her sobs. + +I felt impressed in presence of this scene so admirably interpreted by +the artist, and as a natural consequence I was assailed by many memories +and not a few reflections connected with the same subject, and I came to +the conclusion that it was worth while to make a study of it. It did not +deal with anything ancient and remote which might serve merely as a +theme for the investigations of the historian, but with a most curious +and interesting fact taking place before our very eyes. The enthusiasm, +the ardent raptures, the ecstasies, and even the frenzies of these souls +at once simple and passionate, who find no way to quench the thirst +devouring them, to calm the unrest torturing them, by intercourse with +the world, and who seek in the mystery of the cloister, medicine for +their ills, seemed to me a theme worthy for the contemporary novelist to +master and offer with due respect to the consideration of the public. A +certain series of events which took place a few years ago, and happened +to come under my observation, occurred to my mind, and instantly the +desire seized me to write a novel. But one circumstance proved to be a +stumbling-block. It had never entered into my calculations to write +novels with transcendental themes, especially those based upon religious +subjects. This I declared without qualification in a little line of +parenthesis which I put under the title of my first novel, _El Señorito +Octavio_ (a novel without transcendental thought). And in truth I was +afraid to bring myself so soon into conflict with my æsthetic programme +in a country where everything is pardoned except contradiction. But +among the honorable pleasures conferred by the Supreme Creator upon the +heroic Spanish public, there is none more keen and delectable than that +of breaking the laws and programmes which they have freely imposed upon +themselves. In this particular, sybaritism has reached the point of +making itself every morning some rule for the pleasure afforded by +breaking it in the afternoon. Therefore as soon as I saw the +contradiction, the problem was solved. I will write the novel, I said, +for my conscience, so that I may have to endure fifteen literary +sessions of the Athenæum without stirring from my place. + +The novel is now written. The subject is one sufficiently rude and +liable to be carried away by prejudices and extravagances which the +novelist who has a wish to paint the reality must avoid with care. I +have striven with all my power to bring myself into a point of view +relatively neutral (granting that the absolute cannot be attained), and +to study the theme with the calmness of the physiologist. Whatever my +sympathies may have been, I have tried always to subordinate them to the +truth and to the profound respect which all noble sentiments and all +honest beliefs deserve from me. You shall say if I have succeeded. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE STREET. + + +Within the arcade the people were crowding relentlessly; each and every +one was performing prodigies of skill to flout the physical law of the +impenetrability of bodies, by reducing his own to an imaginary quantity. +The night was unusually thick and dark. The feet of the loungers found +each other out in the darkness, and when they met they indulged in +somewhat expressive forms of endearment; the elbows of some, by a secret +and fatal impulse, went straight into the eyes of others; the passive +subject of such caresses instantly raised his hand to the place of +contact, and usually exclaimed with some asperity, "You barbarian, you +might at least--" but an energetic "Sh--sh--sh" from the throng obliged +him to nip his discourse in the bud, and silence again began to reign. +Silence was at this time the most pressing necessity which was felt by +the inhabitants of Nieva there gathered together. The least noise was +regarded as an act of sedition, and was instantly punished by a +threatening hiss. Coughs and sneezes were prohibited, and still more +condign punishment was meted out to laughter and conversation. There was +profuse perspiration, although the night was not among the mildest of +autumn. + +In the arcades of the houses opposite, more or less the same state of +things existed; but in the street itself there were few people, because +a very fine rain was slowly falling, and this the natives of Nieva had +learned not to despise, since in the long run and notwithstanding its +gentle and insinuating ways, it was like any other. Only a few people +with umbrellas, and some others who, not having them, sheltered +themselves with their philosophy, maintained a firm footing in the midst +of the gutter. + +The balconied windows of the house of Elorza were thrown wide open, and +through the embrasures streamed a bright and cheerful light which made +the dark and misty night outside still more melancholy. Likewise there +streamed forth from time to time torrents of musical notes let loose +from a piano. + +The house of Elorza was the principal one in a long, narrow street, +adorned with an arcade on both sides like almost all the rest in the +town of Nieva. Its most important façade looked into this street, but it +had another with balconies facing the town square, which was wide and +handsome like that of a city. Though the darkness does not allow us to +make out exactly the appearance of the house, yet we can prove that it +is a building of faced stone and of one story, with spacious arcade, the +elegant and stately arches of which instantly declare the rank of its +owners. This arcade, which might be called a portico, makes a notable +contrast with that of the succeeding houses, which is low and narrow and +supported by round, rough pillars without any ornamentation. Likewise +the same difference is to be seen in the pavement. In the arcade of +which we are speaking, it is of well-set flagging, while the others +offer merely an inconvenient footway paved with cobble-stones. Without +venturing, indeed, to call it a palace, it is not presumptuous to assert +that this mansion had been built for the exclusive use and gratification +of some person of importance; the fact that it had only one story very +clearly decided this point. The truth demands that we set forth +likewise the fact that the architect had given undeniable proofs of good +taste in laying out the plan of the building, since its proportions +could not be more elegant and correct. But what most struck the eye was +a certain attractive and aristocratic thriftiness about it perfectly +free from presumption, which, though calculated to inspire envy, +certainly did not arouse in the minds of the people those hatreds and +heart-burnings always excited by overweening wealth. The frowning +firmament ceaselessly poured down all the moist and chilly mist with +which its clouds were surcharged. The shadows shrowded and concealed the +outlines of the house, crowding together underneath the arches and in +the hollows of their stone mouldings, but they did not dare so much as +to approach the bright, joyful openings of the balconies, which drove +them away in terror. They gazed clandestinely into the heavenly _el +dorado_ of the interior, and eaten up with envy, they poured out their +spite upon the heads of the philosophers who were listening in the open +air. The pyramidal group of loungers, enjoying the protection of the +opposite arcades, did not take their eyes from the balconies, while +those who clustered under the arches of the house itself, as they lacked +this expedient, entirely trusted to their ears, the receptive capacity +of which they strove to increase by placing the palms of their hands +behind them and doubling them forward a little. The darkness was dense +in both arcades, for the town lanterns shed their pallid rays at +respectable distances. Each served only to light up a sufficiently +circumscribed area at wide intervals in the plaza, making melancholy +reflections on the wet stones of the pavement. Amid the shadows now and +then the light of a cigar flashed out for an instant, causing a ruddy +glow on the smoker's mustachios. A little further away, on the corner, a +variety shop still remained open; but the shopkeeper's shadow could be +seen often crossing in front of the door as he was putting his wares in +order before shutting up. On the principal floor of the same house the +balconied windows were all thrown wide open; through them rang voices, +coarse outbursts of laughter, and the clicking of billiard balls, sounds +which fortunately reached the arcades greatly softened. This was the +Café de la Estrella, frequented until the small hours of the night by a +dozen indefatigable patrons. Otherwise, silence reigned, although it was +impossible to get rid of the peculiar rumble inseparable from the +thronging of people in one place, which is caused by the shuffling of +feet, the stirring of bodies, and above all by the smothered phrases in +falsetto tones let fall by some in the hearing of others. + +At the moment when the present history begins, the vibrating tones of +the piano were heard preluding the passionate _allegro_ of the aria from +"La Traviata": _gran Dio morir si giovine_. When the prelude was ended, +a soft and appropriate accompaniment began. The expectation was intense. +At last, above the accompaniment arose a clear and most dulcet voice, +echoing through the whole plaza like a sound from heaven. The two groups +of listeners were stirred as though they had touched their fingers to +the knob of an electric machine, and a subdued murmur of satisfaction +ran up and down among them. + +"'Tis Maria," said three or four, hoping that the ears of the walls +would not overhear them. + +"It was high time!" remarked one, in a little louder voice. + +"It is she that is singing now; hark! and not that beast of the canning +factory!" exclaimed a third, still more impulsive. + +"Have the goodness to keep quiet, gentlemen, so that we can hear!" cried +a very angry voice. + +"Let that man hold his tongue!" + +"Out with him!" + +"Silence!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhh!" + +"I have always insisted that there are no people more ill-bred than +those of this place!" again cried the angry voice. + +"Hold your tongue!" + +"Don't be a fool, man!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhh!" + +Finally all became silent, and Verdi's passionate melody could be heard, +interpreted with remarkable delicacy. The lovely, limpid voice, issuing +from the open balconies, rent the saturated atmosphere out of doors, and +vibrating with force, went the rounds of the plaza, and died away in the +mazes of the town. The loneliness and gloom of the night increased the +power and range of that lovely voice, lovely beyond all praise. I do not +say that, for any one of those clever people who feel themselves wrapped +up in the vocalism of the paradise of the Royal Theatre, the singer was +a prodigy in her mastery of attacking, sustaining, and trilling the +notes; but I affirm that for those whom we do not see tortured by +musical scruples, she sang very well, and she possessed, above all, a +bewitching voice, of a passionate _timbre_, which penetrated to the very +depths of the soul. + +The loungers of both arcades, and likewise the philosophers of the +gutter, gave unmistakable proofs of feeling moved. The taste for music +in country towns always partakes of a more violent and impetuous nature +than is shown in large cities, and this is due to the fact that the +latter are furnished with an excess of theatres and salons, while the +former can only from time to time enjoy it. No one whispered, or moved a +step from his place; with open mouths and far-away eyes, they followed +ecstatically the course of that despairing melody, in which Violetta +mourns that she must die after such sufferings undergone. The most +sensitive began to shed tears, remembering some gallant adventure of +their youthful days. The sky, still relentless, kept sending down its +inexhaustive deposit of liquid dust. Two of the philosophers of the +gutter felt of their garments, shook their sombreros, and muttering a +curse against the elements, took refuge in the arcade, causing by their +arrival a slight disturbance among their neighbors. + +At some little distance from both groups, and near a column, were seen, +not very distinctly, three small bodies, with whom we must bring the +reader into contact for a few moments. One of them struck a match to +light a cigar, and there appeared three fresh, laughing, mischievous +faces of fourteen or fifteen years, which resolved into darkness again +as the match went out. + +"Say, Manolo," asked one, lowering his voice as much as possible, "who +gave you that mouth-piece?" + +"Suppose I ragged it of my brother!" + +"Is it amber?" + +"Amber and meerschaum; it cost three duros in Madrid." + +"I pity you, if you should get caught by your--" + +"Hush up, you fool you! What have we got a servant in the house for, if +not to blame for such faults?" + +A man who was standing nearer than the rest, harshly bade them hold +their tongues. The urchins obeyed. But after a moment Manolo said, in a +barely perceptible voice, "See here, lads! would you like to have me +break this all up in a jiffy?" + +"Yes, yes, Manolo!" hastily replied the others, who evidently had great +faith in the destructive powers of their companion. + +"Then you just wait; stay quiet where you are." + +And moving a little aside from them, he hid himself beside a door, and +set up three extraordinary yelps, precisely like those emitted by dogs +when they are beaten. A tremendous, furious, universal barking +immediately resounded through the spaces. All the dogs of the community, +united and compact, like one single mastiff, protested energetically +against the punishment inflicted upon one of their kind. Maria's singing +was completely lost beneath that formidable yelping. The listening +multitude experienced a painful shock, stirred tumultuously for some +moments, uttered incoherent exclamations against the cursed animals, +endeavored to bring them to silence by shouting at them, and at last, +seeing the uselessness of their efforts, resigned themselves to the hope +that they would cease of themselves. The howls, in fact, were gradually +dying away, all the time becoming more and more infrequent and remote; +only the dog belonging to the variety shop, which had just been closed, +continued for some time barking furiously. At length even he ceased, +though most unwillingly. The song of the dying Violetta was once again +heard, pure and limpid as before, and once again the auditors began to +experience the softening impressions which it had made upon them, +although they were somewhat restless and nervous, as if fearing at any +moment to be deprived of that pleasure. + +Manolo, choking with amusement, rejoined his companions and was received +with stifled laughter and applause. + +"Come, Manolito, yelp once again." + +"Wait, wait awhile; we want to take 'em by surprise." + +After some little time had passed, Manolo once more cautiously crept +away, and, skirting the group, stationed himself at the opposite +extreme. From there he set up three more howls like the first, and the +same thunderous barking filled the spaces, giving back kind for kind. +The multitude underwent a new excess of vexation, but accompanied by far +greater tumult; everybody was speaking at once, and uttering furious +ejaculations. + +"This is horrible!" + +"Here's a concert for us given by those confounded dogs!" + +"The dog that howled is the one to blame." + +"Curse him!" + +"Confound it!" + +"Silence! silence! give us a chance to hear something!" + +"What can you hear?" + +"Deuced bad luck!" + +"Silence! silence!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhhhhh!" + +The dogs one after another were beginning to quiet down, according to +their own good pleasure, and little by little calm was reasserting its +sway. Violetta's song re-appeared, full of melancholy, sweetness, and +passion. Maria's voice, in her interpretation of it, expressed such +pathos that the heart was melted, and tears sprang into the eyes. One +single dog, the one at the variety shop, kept on barking with a +persistency that was in the highest degree exasperating, since it +prevented the singer's voice from reaching the ears of the public with +the clearness desired. A man with a cudgel in his hand detached himself +from the throng, and braving the elements, crossed the plaza to stop his +barking, but the dog immediately smelt the stick and took to flight. The +man came back into the arcade. At length perfect silence reigned in the +plaza, and the music lovers could enjoy to their hearts' content the +concert in the house of Elorza. + +What had become of Manolo? His companions waited for him for some time, +so as to congratulate him on his praiseworthy conduct, but he did not +put in an appearance. The smaller urchin at length timidly asked the +other,-- + +"Say! what would they do to him if they'd caught him yelping?" + +"Why, nothing; they'd treat him to a little cane syrup."[1] + +He who had propounded the question trembled a little, and held his +peace. + +"But then," continued the other, "they haven't caught him, not a bit of +it; he's too cute to let himself get caught." + +At this instant Manolo raised two shrieks still more maddening in the +opposite arcade, and with the same madness the dogs of the neighborhood, +barking, took up the refrain. It is impossible to describe what happened +thereupon in the multitude of listeners in both arcades. The tumult +which ensued was in reality overpowering. A goodly number of hands flew +about in the darkness, flourishing terrible canes and umbrellas, and +from both the throngs arose a chorus of imprecations far from flattering +to the canine race. The confusion and disorder took possession of all +minds. Breasts breathed nothing but vengeance and extermination. + +"Kill that beastly cur! cried a voice above the tumult. + +"Yes, yes, break his back for him!" replied another, instigating the +fittest method of slaughter. + +"That dog, that dog!" + +"But where is that cursed beast?" + +"Find him and break his back!" + +"And if you can't find the dog, break his master's back!" + +"That's the idea! his master's!" + +"Thunder and lightning! kill 'em both!" + +The disorder had increased to such a degree, and the shouting had become +so scandalous, that some of the balconied windows in the vicinity +emitted a sharp sound, and were cautiously opened; the inquisitive heads +which were thrust forth, not being able to discover what had caused the +disturbance, and fearing to catch cold, were incontinently withdrawn. In +the house of Elorza three or four people likewise peered out and +likewise hurriedly drew back, and oh! the grief of it! closed the +windows as they went. + +"Well now! we shall hear what we must hear." + +"Have they shut the windows?" + +"Yes, señor, they have, and shut 'em up tight." + +From that multitude escaped a submissive sigh of weariness and rage. +There was silence for a moment as a tribute rendered to their vanished +hopes. No one moved from his place. At last some one said in a loud +voice: "Señores, good night, and good luck to you. I'm going home!" + +This salutation shook them from their stupor. The groups began to +dissolve slowly, not without uttering choleric exclamations. A few +individuals walked off under the arcades. Others crossed the plaza with +umbrellas spread. A few remained in the same place, making endless +commentaries on what had just occurred. At last a half-dozen loafers +remained, and these, tired of complaining in that locality, adjourned to +the Café de la Estrella, to do the same. While they were crossing the +space that lay between the arcade and the café, an angry voice, the same +which had raised its protest against the faulty manners of that town, +said, with still more anger,-- + +"I have always declared that there aren't any worse trained dogs than +those in this city!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOIRÉE AT THE ELORZA MANSION. + + +"What a shame, Isidorito, that you did not study for a doctor! I don't +know why it is I imagine you must have a keen eye for diseases." + +The young man turned red with pleasure. + +"Doña Gertrudis, you flatter me; I have no other desert than that of +sticking fast to whatever I undertake, and this seems to me absolutely +necessary in whatever career one devotes himself to." + +"You are quite right. The main thing is to apply one's self to what lies +before him, and not go wool-gathering. Now, for example, take Don +Maximo. It cannot be denied that he has great knowledge, and I wish him +well, but he has the misfortune of not applying himself to anything that +is said to him, and therefore he scarcely ever hits the mark. Please +tell me, Isidorito, how is it possible for man to succeed in curing one, +if when the invalid is telling him her sufferings, he sets himself to +work sharpening lead-pencils or drumming with his fingers. You don't +know how I have suffered on account of him. I pray God may not set down +against him the harm he has done me. My husband is very fond of him--and +so am I too, you must believe me. In spite of all, he is a good man, and +it's twenty-four years since he first entered this house; but I must +tell the truth though it is hard: the poor man has the misfortune of not +applying himself--of not applying himself little or much." + +"Just so, just so. Don Maximo, in my opinion, lacks those gifts of +observation indispensable to the profession to which he belongs. Perhaps +it may surprise you to know what qualifications are needed for the +practice of medicine from a scientific point of view; it is my own +private opinion, which I am ready to sustain anywhere, either in public +or in private. Medicine, in my judgment, is nothing else whatever than +an empirical profession, purely empirical. I repeat that it is my +private opinion, and that I expound it as such, but I harbor the belief +that very soon it will be a truth universally accepted." + +"The truth is, Isidorito, that he has simply not understood me. Day +before yesterday I spent the whole day with a roaring in my head as +though a lot of drums were beating behind it. At the same time this left +knee was so swollen that I could not even walk from my room to the +dining-room. I sent a message to Don Maximo, and he did not appear till +it was dark. I assure you I passed a wretched day, and if it had not +been for some tallow plasters which my daughter Marta put on my temples +at midnight, I should certainly have died, for Don Maximo did not think +it necessary even to have a lamp lighted to see me." + +"What you point out still more confirms my assertion. You see how +domestic remedies, administered without other judgment than that +suggested by experience, by the results obtained in a long series of +cases, sometimes operate on the organism in a more successful way than +scientific medicine. Such a thing could not happen in our profession, +señora, where all the chances that may occur are foreseen in advance by +the laws, or by jurisprudence raised into the category of the law. There +is not a single litigation which does not find its adequate solution in +the civil codes, nor can any crime or misdeed whatsoever be committed, +without provision being made for it in some article of the penal code. +And in order that nothing may even be wanting the free will of the +tribunals (I except the usual interpretation), we have as a supplement +the canonical law, which is an abundant source of rules for conduct, +though these all are based principally on equity." + +"Certainly, certainly, Isidorito. Doctors absolutely do not understand a +single thing. If I could measure out into bottles, once for all, the +medicine that I have taken, I could very easily open an apothecary shop. +And yet here you see me just as I was at the very beginning,--at the +very beginning,--without having made a single step in advance. God +grants me great resignation, otherwise--Just consider! yesterday I was +as usual, but to-day, my fête-day too, what I suffer I'm sure will be +the death of me, the death of me;--an uneasiness throughout my body,--a +crawling up and down my legs like ants,--a rumbling in my ears. You who +have so much talent, don't you know what it is to have a rumbling in the +ears?" + +"Señora, I think--ahem--that a purely nervous state is answerable for this +infirmity,--nervous alterations are so varied and extraordinary--ahem--that +it is not possible to reduce them to fixed principles, and so it is much +better not to lay down any rule, but to study them in detail, or let +each one stand separately." + +It was hard work, but at last he extricated himself from the difficulty. +Isidorito was a lean, bashful young man, with deep precocious wrinkles +in his cheeks, with thin hair and goggle eyes. He was regarded as one of +the most serious-minded youths, or perhaps the most serious-minded +youth of the town, and always served as a mirror for the fathers of +families, to hold up before their rattlebrain sons. "Don't you see how +well Isidorito behaves in society, and with what aplomb he talks on all +sorts of subjects?" "Ah, if you were like Isidorito, what a happy old +age you would make me spend!" "Shame on you for letting Isidorito be +made doctor of laws these four years, while you have not succeeded in +graduating as a licentiate yet, you blockhead!" + +Doña Gertrudis, wife of Don Mariano Elorza, the master of the house in +which we find ourselves, is seated, or, to speak more correctly, is +reclining, in an easy-chair at Isidorito's side. Although she had not +yet passed her forty-fifth year, she appeared to be as old as her +husband, who was now approaching his sixtieth. Not entirely lacking in +her cadaverous and faded face were the lines of an exceptional beauty, +which had given much to talk about there from 1846 to 1848, and which +had redounded to her in a multitude of ballads, sonnets, and acrostics, +by the most distinguished poets of the town, inserted in a weekly +journal entitled _El Judio Errante_, which was published at that time in +Nieva. Doña Gertrudis preserved with great care a gorgeously bound +collection of _Judios Errantes_, and was in the habit of assuring her +friends that if the young man who signed his acrostics with a V and +three stars had not faded away with quick consumption, he would have +been by this time the fashionable poet; and that if another lad, named +Ulpiano Menéndez, who disguised himself under the pseudonym of _The Moor +of Venice_, had not gone off to America to make his fortune in business, +he would have been, at least, as great as Ayola, Campoamor, or Nuño de +Arce. Don Mariano, her husband, shared the same conviction, although at +another epoch the lyric poet, as well as the merchant, had caused him +great anxieties, and not a few times had disturbed the peaceful course +of his love; but he was a just man and fond of giving every one his due. + +Doña Gertrudis was wrapt up in a magnificent plush comforter, and her +head was covered with a net, underneath which appeared her hair turning +from auburn to white. Her features were delicate and regular, and of a +singularly faded pallor. Her eyes were blue and extremely melancholy. +The marks of close confinement rather than of illness were to be seen in +that face. + +"This roaring in my ears is killing me, killing me. I cannot eat, I +cannot sleep, I cannot get any rest anywhere." + +"I think that you ought to stay in your room." + +"That is worse, Isidorito, that is worse. In my room I cannot distract +my thoughts. My mind begins to grind like a mill, and it ends by giving +me a fever. I am much sicker than people give me credit for. They'll see +how this will end. To-day I am so nervous, so nervous.--Feel my pulse, +Isidorito, and tell me if I am not feverish." + +As she drew out her thin hand and gave it to the young man, Don Mariano +and Don Maximo, who were engaged in lively discussion in the recess of a +balconied window, turned their faces in her direction and smiled. Doña +Gertrudis blushed a little and hastened to hide her hand under her +comforter. + +"Your wife already has a new physician!" added Don Maximo, in a tone of +irony. + +"Bah, bah, bah! What cat or dog is there in town that my wife won't have +taken into consultation? These days she is furious with you, and says +that she is going to die without your paying any attention to her. I +find her better than ever. But we shall see, Don Maximo. Do you really +believe that we can accept the line from Miramar?" + +"And why not?" + +"Don't you comprehend that it would swamp us forever?" + +"Don Mariano, it seems to me that you are blinded. What is of importance +for Nieva is to have a railroad right away, right away, I say!" + +"What is of importance for Nieva is to have a decent road, a decent +road, I say. The line from Miramar would be our ruin, for it ties us to +Sarrió, which, as you know very well, has far greater importance as a +commercial town and a seaport town than we have. In a few years it would +swallow us like a cherry-stone. Moreover, you must take into account +that as it is fifteen kilometers from the junction to Nieva, and only +twelve to Sarrió; trade would not fail to select the latter point for +exportation, on account of the saving in the rate, for those three +kilometers of difference. On the other hand, the line from Sotolongo +offers the great advantage of uniting us to Pinarrubio, which can never +enter into rivalry with us; and at the same time it decidedly shortens +the distance to the junction, bringing it down to thirteen kilometers. +The difference in the rates, therefore, is a mere trifle, not sufficient +to induce trade to go to Sarrió. If you add to this the fact that sooner +or later--" + +A violent coughing fit cut short Don Mariano's discourse. He was a +large, tall man, with white beard and hair, the beard very abundant. His +black eyes gleamed like those of a boy, and in his ruddy cheeks time had +not succeeded in ploughing deep furrows. Doubtless he had been one of +the most gallant young men of his day, and even as we find him now, he +still attracted attention by his genial and venerable countenance, and +by his noble athletic figure. The violence of his cough had a powerful +effect on his sanguine complexion, and he grew exceedingly red in the +face. After he had stopped coughing, he resumed the thread of his +discourse. + +"If you add to the fact that sooner or later we shall have a good port, +either in El Moral or in Nieva itself,--for the war isn't going to last +forever, nor is the government going to leave us always in the condition +of pariahs,--you will see at once what an impulse will be instantly +given to the trade of the town and how soon we shall put Sarrió into the +shade." + +"Well, well, I agree that the line from Sotolongo offers certain +advantages; but you very well know that neither at the present time, nor +for many days to come, can we do anything but dream about that one, +while the road from Miramar is in our very hands. The government is +deeply interested in it because there is no other means of protecting +our gun-factory. You certainly realize that if the Carlists succeeded in +breaking the line of Somosierra, they would overrun us and make +themselves at home; they would take the arms on hand, dismantle the +factory, and without the slightest risk they could set out for the +valley of Cañedo. At present there is no danger of their breaking the +line; I grant that, but who can guarantee what the future may bring +forth? Moreover, may not the day come when the Carlist element which we +have here will raise its head? Then if there were a railroad, no matter +from what point, nothing would be more easy than to set down here in a +couple of hours four or five thousand men--" + +"In the first place, Don Maximo, a military railroad, as you yourself +confess that the one from Miramar is to be, is not such as we have the +right to ask of the nation. We need a genuine railroad, suitable for the +promotion of our interests, and not to serve merely for the protection +of a factory. Just consider that it is a work to last for all time, and +that if from its very inception it suffers from a gross mistake, this +mistake will hang forever over our town. In the second place, the +Carlists will never get beyond Somosierra. As to their raising their +heads here, you understand perfectly well that it is impossible because +they have very few elements to rely on--and, as to their doing this--" + +"I have reason to believe that they are! We must be on the watch, and +not be found napping. And, as a final reason, a sparrow in the hand is +worth more than a hundred flying.--But tell me, Don Mariano, to change +the subject, have the stables been put in order yet?" + +Don Mariano, instead of replying, felt in all the pockets of his coat +with a distracted air, and not finding what he was looking for, turned +towards a corner of the room. + +"Martita, come here!" + +A young girl who was seated at one end of a sofa, not talking to +anybody, came running to him. She might have been thirteen or fourteen +years old, but the proportions of a woman grown were very distinctly +observable in her. Nevertheless, she wore short dresses. She had a light +complexion, with black hair and eyes, but her countenance did not offer +the exasperating expression so commonly met with in faces of that kind. +The features could not have been more regular and their _tout ensemble_ +could not have been more harmonious; nevertheless, her beauty lacked +animation. It was what is commonly called a cold face. + +"Listen, daughter: go to my room, open the second drawer on the +left-hand side of my writing-table, and bring me the cigar-case which +you'll find there." + +The girl went off on the run, and quickly returned with the article. + +"Let us go and have a smoke in the dining-room," said Don Mariano, +taking Don Maximo by the arm. + +And the two left the parlor by one of the side doors. + +Marta sat down again in the same place. The ladies on one side were +engaged in lively conversation, but she took no share in it. She kept +her seat, casting her eyes indifferently from one part of the parlor to +the other, now resting them on one group of bystanders, now on another, +and more particularly dwelling on the pianist, who at that moment was +executing an arrangement of _Semiramide_. + +Scarcely ever had the parlors of the Elorza mansion presented a more +brilliant appearance; all the sofas of flowered damask were occupied by +richly dressed ladies with bare arms and bosoms. The chandelier +suspended from the middle, reflected the light in beautiful hues which +fell upon smooth skins, making them look like milk and roses. Those fair +bosoms were infinitely multiplied by the mirrors on both sides: the +severe bottle-green paper of the parlor brought out all their whiteness. +Marta turned to look at the Señoras de Delgado; three sisters: one, a +widow, the other two, old maids. All were upwards of forty; the old +maids did not trust to their youthfulness, but they had absolute +confidence in the power of their shining shoulders and their fat and +unctuous arms. Near them was the Señorita de Morí, round-faced, +sprightly, with mischievous eyes, an orphan and rich. At a little +distance was the Señora de Ciudad, napping peacefully until the hour +should come for her to collect the six daughters whom she had scattered +about in different parts of the parlor. Yonder in a corner her sister +Maria was holding a confidential talk with a young man. The girl's eyes +wandered slowly from one point to another. The music interested her very +slightly. She seemed to be sure of not being noticed by any one, and her +face kept the icy expression of indifference of one alone in a room. + +The gentlemen in black dress-coats properly buttoned, languidly +clustered about the doors of the library and dining-room, staring +persistently at the arms and bosoms occupying the sofas. Others stood +behind the piano, waiting till a period of silence gave them time to +express by subdued exclamations the admiration with which their souls +were overflowing. Only a very few, well beloved by fortune, had received +the flattering compliment of having some lady calm with her hand the +exuberant inclinations of her silken skirts and make a bit of room for +them beside her. Puffed up with such a privilege, they gesticulated +without ceasing, and spread their talents for the sake of entertaining +the magnanimous señora, and the three or four other ladies who took part +in the conversation. The torrent of demisemiquavers and double +demisemiquavers pouring from the piano which was situated in one corner +of the parlor, filled its neighborhood and entirely quenched the buzzing +of the conversation. At times, however, when in some passage the +pianist's fingers struck the keys softly, the distressing clatter of the +opening and shutting of fans was heard, and above the dull, confused +murmur of the thoughtless chatterers some word or entire sentence would +suddenly become perceptible, making those who were drawn up behind the +piano shake their heads in disgust. The heat was intense, although the +balconied windows were thrown open. The atmosphere was stifling and +heavy with an indistinct and disagreeable odor, compounded of the +perfume of pomades and colognes and the effluvia of perspiring bodies. +In this confusion of smells pre-eminent was the sharp scent of +rice-powder. + +Doña Gertrudis according to her daily habit had gone sound asleep in her +easy-chair. She asserted an invalid's right, and no one took it amiss. +Isidorito, getting up noiselessly, went and stood by the library door. +From that impregnable coigne of vantage he began to shoot long, deep, +and passionate glances upon the Señorita de Morí, who received the fires +of the battery with heroic calmness. Isidorito had been in love with the +Señorita de Morí ever since he knew what dowry and paraphernalia[2] +meant, rousing the admiration of the whole town by his loyalty. This +passion had taken such possession of his soul that never had he been +known to exchange a word with or speed an incendiary look towards any +other woman except the señorita aforesaid. But Isidorito, contrary to +what might have been believed, considering his vast legal attainments +and his gravity no less vast, met with a slight contrariety in his +love-making. Señorita de Morí was in the habit of lavishing fascinating +smiles on everybody, of squandering warm and languishing glances on all +the young men of the community; all--except Isidorito. This +incomprehensible conduct did not fail to cause him some disquietude, +compelling him to meditate often on the shrewdness of the Roman +legislators who were always unwilling to grant women legal capacity. He +had lately been appointed municipal attorney of the district, and this, +by the authority conferred upon him, gave him great prestige among his +fellow-citizens. But, indeed, the Señorita de Morí, far from allowing +herself to be fascinated by her suitor's new position, seemed to regard +his appointment as ridiculous, judging by the pains she took from that +time forth to avoid all visual communication with him. Still our young +friend was not going to be cast down by these clouds, which are so +common among lovers, and he continued to lay siege to the restless +damsel's chubby face and three thousand duros income, sometimes by means +of learned discourses, and sometimes by languishing and romantic +actions. + +At one side of Marta a certain young engineer who had just arrived from +Madrid, turned the listening circle (_tertulia_) gathered around him +into an Eden by his wheedling and graceful conversation. It was a +tertulia, or _petit comité_, as the engineer called it, consisting +exclusively of ladies, the nucleus of which was made up by three of the +De Ciudad girls. + +"That's only one of your gallant speeches, Suárez," said one lady. + +"Of course it is," echoed several. + +"It is absolute truth, and whoever has lived here any length of time +will say so. In Madrid there's no halfway about it; the women are either +perfectly beautiful or perfectly hideous. That union of charming and +attractive faces which I see here is not to be found there; and so don't +let it surprise you when I tell you that the hideous are much more +numerous than the beautiful." + +"Oh, pshaw! Madrid is where the prettiest women are to be seen, and +especially the most elegant." + +"Ah! that is quite a different matter; elegant, certainly; but pretty, I +don't agree with you!" + +"It is so, though you don't agree with us!" + +"Ladies, there is one reason why you are more beautiful than the +Madrileñas; it is a reason which can be better appreciated by those who, +like myself, have devoted themselves to the fine arts: here there is +color and form, and there they do not exist. By good fortune, this very +evening, I have the opportunity of noticing it and of making +comparisons, which show most favorably for you. Now that we are allowed +to contemplate what is ordinarily draped with great care, I can take my +oath that you have those beautiful forms which we admire so much in +Grecian statues and Flemish paintings, soft, white, transparent; while +if you enter a Madrid drawing-room, you don't stumble upon anything else +than skeletons in ball dresses--" + +The ladies broke into laughter, hiding their faces behind their fans. + +"What a tongue, what a tongue you have, Suárez!" + +"It only serves me to tell the truth. The Madrid girls have the effect +upon me of shadow-pantomimes. In you I find visible, palpable, and even +delectable beings--" + +Marta noticed that the wax of a candelabrum was burning out, and that +the glass socket was in danger of cracking. She got up and went to puff +it out. Then when she sat down again, she took a different position. + +The pianist ended his fantasy without stumbling. The conversations +stopped abruptly; some clapped their hands, and others said, "Very good, +very good." No one had been listening to him, but the pianist felt +himself rewarded for his fatigues, and raising his blushing face above +the piano, he acknowledged his thanks to the company with a triumphant +smile. A young fellow who wore his hair banged like the dandies of +Madrid, profited by this blissful moment to beg him to play a +waltz-polka. + +At the very first chords an extraordinary commotion was observable among +the young men near the doors, who were evidently suffering from lack of +exercise. A few began to draw on their gloves hastily; others smoothed +back their hair with their hands, and straightened their cravats. One +asked, with constrained voice,-- + +"It's a mazurka, isn't it?" + +"No, a waltz-polka." + +"What! a waltz-polka?" + +"Can't you tell by your ears?" + +"Ah, yes. You're right. But then, señor, this wretched fellow at the +piano will prevent me from dancing with Rosario this evening." + +All seemed restless and nervous as though they were about to pass +through the fire. The boldest crossed the drawing-room with rapid steps, +and joined the young ladies, hiding their trepidation behind a +supercilious smile. As soon as the señorita who had been invited stood +up and took the proffered arm, they began to feel that they were masters +of themselves. Others, less courageous, gave three or four long pulls to +their cigars, puffing the smoke out toward the entry, and having keyed +themselves up to the right pitch, slowly directed their steps to some +young lady less fascinating than the others, receiving for their +attention a smile full of tender promises. The more cowardly struggled a +long while with their gloves, and finally had to ask some grave señor to +fasten the buttons for them. When this operation was finished, and they +were ready to dance, they discovered that there were no girls sitting +down. Thereupon they resigned themselves to dance with some mamma. + +One after another all the couples took the floor. Marta remained +sitting. Two or three very complaisant and patronizing young fellows +came to invite her, but she replied that she did not know how to dance. +The real motive of her refusal was that her father did not like to have +her take part in society while she was so young. She sat, therefore, +attentively watching how the others went round. Her great black eyes +rested with placid expression on each one of the couples who went up and +down before her. Some interested her more than others, and she followed +them with her glance. Their ways, their movements, and their looks were +so different, that they made a curious study. A tall, lean youth was +bending his back as near double as possible, so as to put his arm around +the waist of a diminutive señorita who was endeavoring to keep on her +very tip-toes. An elderly and portly lady was leaning languidly over a +boy's shoulder, besmearing his coat with Matilde Díez's wax-white. Some, +like Isidorito, did not succeed in steering, and frequently stepped on +their partners, who soon declared that they were weary and asked to be +excused. Others put down their heels with such force that they scratched +the floor. Marta looked at these with considerable severity, like a true +housewife. After a while the faces began to show signs of weariness, +some becoming flushed, others pallid, according to the temperament of +each. With mouths open, cheeks aglow, and brows bathed in perspiration, +they gave evidence of no other expression than that of absolute +stupidity. At first they smiled and even dropped from their lips a +compliment or two; but very soon gallantries ceased, and the smile faded +away; all ended by skipping about silent and solemn, as if some unseen +hand were laying on the lash in order to make them do so. Marta from +time to time shut her eyes, and thus she avoided the dizziness which +began to attack her. + +At last the piano suddenly ceased to sound. The couples, in virtue of +the momentum which they had acquired, gave three or four hops +unaccompanied by the music, and this made Marta smile. Before they took +their seats the girls walked around the drawing-room for a few moments +arm in arm with their partners, engaged in lively and interesting +discourse. The pianist accepted the effusive thanks of the smart young +man with the bangs. At length the ladies were all seated in their +respective places, and the gentlemen fell back once again to the doors, +mopping their brows with their handkerchiefs. Those who had danced with +the beauties of the drawing-room showed faces shining with beatitude, +and smilingly received the jests of their friends, while those who had +pressed the less favored to their bosoms, praised to the skies their +partners' Terpsichorean skill. + +The youth with the hair over his forehead conceived the idea of Don +Serapio singing a song, and he went from group to group around the room, +making an instantaneous and satisfactory propaganda with his happy +thought. + +"Yes, yes, Don Serapio must sing!" + +"Don Serapio must sing! Don Serapio must sing!" + +"Gentlemen, for Heaven's sake--I have a very bad cold!" + +"No matter; you will sing well enough, Don Serapio." + +"A thousand thanks, ladies, a thousand thanks. I should wish at this +moment that I had the voice of an angel, for angels only ought to sing +to angels." + +This compliment produced an excellent impression upon the feminine +element of the company. The masculine element received it with derisive +smiles. + +"We always enjoy great pleasure in listening to you; you know it very +well." + +"Because generosity ever goes in company with beauty. The face is the +mirror of the soul, they say, and if that is true, how could you help +being benevolent toward me?" + +The second compliment was likewise received with a laugh of complacency +by the ladies. The men continued to smile scornfully. + +"Sing, sing, Don Serapio!" + +"But supposing I am not in practice--I don't know how I can repay such +kindness. Besides, I have lost my voice entirely." + +Don Serapio let himself be urged for some time. At last he went toward +the piano, escorted by a circle of ladies, to whom he addressed smiles +and words full of honeyed sweetness, and managed to extract +clandestinely a roll of music which he carried in the inner pocket of +his coat. The pianist instantly saw through this manœuvre, and came +to his assistance by quietly taking the music from his hand. + +"Don Serapio is going to sing--you are going to sing the romance +_Lontano a te_," he said as he spread it out on the rack. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake! it is too sentimental, and these ladies are not +now in favor of romanticism--" + +"On the contrary, Don Serapio!" exclaimed one of the Delgado girls; "we +women in this age of selfishness and calculation are the very ones who +ought to worship sentiment and heart." + +"Always as graceful as you are felicitous!" declared the vocalist, +bowing to the floor. + +The pianoforte introduction began. Don Serapio, before he uttered a +note, kept arching his eyebrows, and he stretched his neck as much as +possible, as a token of his feeling. He was upwards of fifty, although +pomades, dyes, and cosmetics gave him from a distance the appearance of +a young man. Near at hand, his mustachios, though waxed to perfection, +were not sufficient to make up for the crows'-feet and wrinkles of every +sort which lined his face. He was a manufacturer of canned goods, and a +confirmed old bachelor; not because he failed to honor the fair sex and +hold it in esteem, but because he thought that marriage was death to +love and its illusions. Never was there a man more soft and honeyed in +his conversation with ladies, and never was there a gallant who had a +more abundant assortment of flatteries to lavish upon them. He made +great use of such expressions as _the fire of passion_, _the loss of +will power_, _perfumed breath_, _palpitations of the heart_, and other +like elegancies, all sure of hitting the mark. This was as regards +society women. As for work-girls and serving-maids, Don Serapio's +gallantries did not stop with compliments. He was regarded as one of the +most formidable and successful of seducers among such, and it was a +matter of common knowledge in Nieva that more than one, and more than +two, had had seriously to complain of his behavior, so that it brought +about his head a tremendous scandal which he had hastened to hush with +the fulness of his locker. As a general thing he led a regular life, +rising very early, going to his factory to attend to his accounts and to +inspect the spicing of his fish and oysters, and coming home about five +o'clock in the afternoon to wash himself and dress for his promenade or +his calls, which were not few, and which always ended at eleven o'clock +in the evening. The only reading for which he cared was that of +detective stories. + +Don Serapio's voice was a trifle disagreeable. As one of the young wags +among those clustering about the door said, no one could tell for a +certainty if it were tenor, baritone, or bass. In compensation, he sang +with sentiment fit to melt the rocks, as could be judged by the infinite +movements of his eyebrows, and by the expression of disconsolateness +which came over his face as soon as he stood in front of the piano; no +one ever saw a face so wrinkled, so long drawn, so full of compunction. +The romanza _Lontano a te_, better than any other, had the power of +exciting his sensibility and giving his eyes an exceedingly hopeless +expression. + +While the proprietor of the canning factory was expressing in Italian +his grief at finding himself far from his lady love, the elder daughter +of the family was in the most retired part of the room still engaged in +conversation with a youth of a pleasant, open countenance, with swarthy +complexion, black eyes, and a young mustache. + +"Enrique misunderstood my commission," said the youth. "I asked him to +send me some jewelry worth something, but what he sent me is just about +as commonplace as could be; so much so that I am thinking of sending it +back to-morrow without showing it to you." + +"Don't trouble about it any more; it's all the same one way or the +other." + +"What do you mean, 'all the same'? Since when, señorita, have you grown +so indifferent to matters of the toilet? I am certain that if I were to +bring you this jewelry, you would laugh me to scorn." + +"Don't imagine such a thing." + +"Perhaps you think I don't remember how you made fun of that hat that +your aunt Carmen presented you a few days ago!" + +"It was very wrong of me to make fun of it; but you are just as bad when +you throw it in my face. The truth is that in the end one hat or one set +of jewelry is as good as another." + +"Be it so! Keep it up! I know you well, and you can't cheat me. The +jewelry shall be sent back, and in its place we'll have another set to +my taste and yours. But let's drop the subject. I had something to tell +you, and I can't remember what it was. Oh, yes! we must write to your +uncle Rodrigo, for judging by the note I have just received from him, he +doesn't know yet the day on which we are to be married. I think we ought +to write him both of us in the same letter; doesn't it seem so to you?" + +"Just as you like." + +"All right; I'll come round to-morrow before dinner, and we'll write +it." + +Both remained silent a few moments and listened to the singing of Don +Serapio, who was lamenting always with a more and more pathetic accent +the solitude and sadness in which his mistress kept him. One of the +Delgado señoritas lifted her handkerchief to her eyes, declaring in a +low voice to those standing near that hitherto there had been few things +that ever brought the tears into her eyes. + +"What a bore that wretched Don Serapio is! he wrinkles up his forehead +so that his wig is almost lifted off behind." + +"Don't be so unkind. Have a little charity, and let the poor man enjoy +himself without harming God or his neighbor." + +"As far as I am concerned he may sing till doomsday. But I notice, +lassie, that for some time you have been becoming a great preacher. Are +you thinking of entering into competition with the curé of the parish?" + +"What I am anxious for is that you shouldn't be a backbiter. If you love +me as you say you do, my good advice ought not to make you vexed." + +"It doesn't make me vexed, loveliest; quite the contrary. I always +listen to it with pleasure and follow it--when I can. You surely are +acquainted with my ways, and know that I can't help making fun. However, +you'll have time enough to preach to me all you want, won't you? Not +only time enough but space enough. You can go on giving me sermons from +Nieva to Madrid, then from Madrid to Paris, and from Paris to Milan, and +from Milan to Venice, and thence to Rome and Naples, and back by Geneva, +Brussels, Paris, and Madrid, home again. With what delight I shall +travel through all these foreign countries listening to a preacher so +devoted! How do you like the itinerary of our journey?" + +"Well enough." + +"Well enough! That isn't saying anything. One would think the subject +didn't interest you as much as it did me. I won't fix it definitely till +you have made such changes as you like in it, or vary it entirely, if it +seem good to you. I am just as much interested in going to Berlin or +London as to Paris and Rome. You can imagine how much difference it +makes to me, if I go with you, which way we travel!" + +"Whatever you decide upon will be well." + +"Let us have it decided. Do you like the plan I propose? Yes or no?" + +"I have told you yes already." + +"But, lassie, what is the matter with you? You have scarcely allowed +yourself to smile this whole evening, and you haven't said a word more +than was strictly necessary. What is the reason of such solemnity? Are +you put out with me?" + +"What reason should I have to be?" + +"Then I'll ask you _why_ you are. You must be, since there's no other +way of explaining the curt way in which you have been answering me this +long time." + +"That's your own imagination. I answer you just as I always do." + +Ricardo, without speaking, looked at his betrothed, who turned away her +eyes, fixing them on Don Serapio. + +"It must be so, but I don't understand it. If you are really angry with +me, it would be very unkind of you not to tell me why, so that I could +repair my mistake, if perchance I had committed any. My conscience does +not accuse me of anything--" + +"I tell you that I am not angry; don't be so tiresome!" + +Maria said these words with evident asperity, not turning her face from +the singer. Ricardo again looked at her for a long time. + +"Very good--it is better so--still I thought--" + +Both kept silence for some moments. Ricardo broke it, saying,-- + +"When Don Serapio has finished, they are going to make you sing; I am +sure--all get good out of it except me." + +"Why?" + +"For two reasons: the first is, because much as I enjoy hearing you when +we are alone, I don't like it when you sing before people; the second +is, because they will take you away from me." + +"I don't see why you should dislike it because I sing before people. I +am the one not to like it--and I don't at all. As to the separation, +that's nonsense, because we are together much more than we ought to be." + +"It would be a long and difficult task for me to explain why I don't +like you to sing in public. As to the separation which you call +nonsense, it's the solemn truth. In spite of our being together several +hours a day it seems to me very little. I could wish that we were +together all the time. For a man who is going to be married inside of a +month and a half, I don't think that such a wish is very extraordinary." + +And lowering his voice, he added in a passionate tone:-- + +"I am never satisfied, and never shall be satisfied, however much I am +with thee, my own life. In all the years since I have adored thee, never +for a single instant have I felt the shadow of satiety. When I am near +thee, I think that I could not be more content, even in heaven; when I +am away, I think how much happier I should be if I were with thee. This +is a guaranty that we should never get tired of each other's society; +isn't it so? For my part, I give thee my word that if we reach old age, +I shall enjoy more by thy side than sitting in the sunshine! What a +happy life is waiting for us, and how long it is that I have dreamed +about it! Do you remember how one day in the big garden, when you were +eight years old, and I was ten, my dear mamma made us take each other's +hands, saying to us in a serious tone: 'Would you like to be husband and +wife? Then kiss each other, and look out that you don't quarrel any +more.' From that time forth I have never dreamed of the possibility of +marrying any other woman than you." + +Maria made no reply to this fervid declaration. She kept looking at the +proprietor of the canning factory, with a strange expression, as though +her thoughts were far away. + +"Do you know one thing?" + +"What?" + +"That the chests have come with thy clothes, but I have not opened them +yet. Both of them have on the lid thy cipher with the coronet of +marchioness above. You may laugh at me, but I shall tell thee, all the +same, that it made my heart leap to see the coronet. I imagined that we +were already married, and that I hadn't to wait these everlasting +forty-five days. I don't know what I wouldn't give if to-day were the +last day of December. Tell me, don't you feel any inclination to call +yourself the _Marquesa de Peñalta_? to be mine, mine for ever?" + +Maria arose from the sofa, and with a scornful gesture, nor deigning to +look once at her lover, replied,-- + +"Well enough." + +And she went and sat down beside one of the numberless De Ciudad girls. +Ricardo remained for a few moments glued to his seat, without stirring a +finger. Then he got up abruptly and hastened from the room. + +Don Serapio at last ceased mourning his lady's absence, declaring in a +finale that if such a state of things existed longer, he should die +without delay. The pianist added force to this wail of woe by performing +a noisy run in octaves. A great clapping of hands was heard, and +affectionate smiles of approbation were lavished by the ladies upon the +vocalist. The young fellows near the doors, always ready for fun, did +their best to bring about a repetition of the romanza, but Don Serapio +was shrewd enough to perceive that the plaudits of these boys were not +in good faith, and he refused to grant the favor. + +Then the stripling with the banged hair made the following little speech +to the assembled audience:-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that now is the time for us to listen +to the great artiste. We are all waiting impatiently for Maria to +delight us--one of those happy moments--with which she has in days gone +by delighted us. Isn't it a good idea?" + +"That's it; Maria must sing!" + +"Of course she will sing; she is very accommodating." + +The spokesman offered his arm to the young señorita, and led her to the +piano. + +When Maria was left standing alone, facing the audience, a thrill of +admiration was excited as usual. "How lovely, how lovely she is!" "That +girl grows prettier every day!" "What exquisite taste she shows in her +dress!" "She looks like a queen!" These and many other flattering +phrases were whispered among the friends of the Elorza family. + +Without being very tall she was of stately stature and presence. She was +slender, lithe, and graceful as those beautiful dames of the +Renaissance, which the Italian painters chose as their models. The line +of her soft lustrous neck reminded one of Grecian statues. This neck +supported a shapely head; the face fair, the cheeks slightly +rose-tinted, delicate, regular, transparent, with ruby lips and blue +eyes. She bore a notable resemblance to Doña Gertrudis, but she had an +attractive and fascinating expression which that celebrated lady never +had, whatever may have been the persuasion of the lyric poet of the +acrostics. Around her clear and brilliant eyes showed a slight violet +circle, which gave her face a decided poetical tinge. + +"Now Suárez, you will see what kind of a singer this girl is," said one +lady. + +"I shall appreciate her, for this Señor Don Serapio has spoiled my ears +for the time being." + +"Oh! Maria is an artist." + +"What I perceive just now is, that she has a stunning figure." + +"You just wait till you hear her." + +"That girl does everything well! If you could see how she draws!" + +"Haven't the Elorzas any other daughters than this?" + +"Yes, that other girl, who is sitting down over there; her name is +Marta. She is going to be very handsome, too." + +"Indeed, she is pretty; but she hasn't any expression at all. It's a +common kind of beauty, while her sister--" + +"Hush! she's going to begin." Then ensued a silence in the company such +as had always been Don Serapio's ideal--unrealizable like all ideals. +Maria sang various operatic pieces which were asked for, and needed no +urging. When she finished, the plaudits were so eager and long that it +made her blush. + +Suárez assured his circle[3] of ladies that she had a voice which +resembled Nantier Didier's, and that a short time at the conservatory +would put her on an equality with the leading contraltos. + +When the congratulations had ceased, and the looks of all had ceased to +be fastened upon her, a shade of sadness came over Maria's lovely face. +She went to Doña Gertrudis and whispered in her ear,-- + +"Mamma, I have a very severe headache." + +"Ay! daughter of my heart, I sympathize with you. I, too, am having my +share of pain." + +"I should like to go to bed." + +"Then go, my daughter, go. I will say that you are feeling a trifle +indisposed." + +"Adios, mamaita! Good night, and sleep well." + +Maria kissed her mother's brow, and gradually, taking care not to be +noticed, she left the parlor by the dining-room door. She stopped to get +a drink of _eau sucré_, and stood a moment motionless, with her eyes +fixed on vacancy. The shade of melancholy had greatly dulled the +brilliancy of her face. + +She passed out of the dining-room and crossed a long and pretty dark +entry. At the end there was a door which led to a back stairway. She had +mounted only four or five steps when she felt herself seized roughly by +the arm, and uttered a cry of terror. Turning round, she saw with +embarrassment the pale and troubled face of her betrothed. + +"Ricardo! what are you doing here?" + +"I saw that you left the dining-room, and I followed you." + +"What for?" + +"To hear for a second time from your lips the infamous words you said to +me in the drawing-room. Do you think, perhaps, it isn't worth while to +repeat them? Do you think, perhaps, that I can give up a whole past of +love, a whole future of happiness, all the sweet dreams of my life, +without calling you infamous, a hundred times infamous, a thousand times +infamous, now right here, while we are together alone, afterwards in +open society, and then before the whole world? Come, come back, you +miserable girl--come back, and let me call you so before everybody!" + +And Ricardo, pale and trembling like a gambler who has staked his last +remaining money on a card, firmly grasped his sweetheart by the wrist +and tried to drag her back to the parlor. + +Maria hung her head and said not a word. Without offering any resistance +she allowed him to pull her down the four or five steps of the +staircase. But on reaching the passage-way, Ricardo felt on his cheek a +warm kiss, which caused him to loose his captive and fall back with +horror; instantly Maria's arms were wound around his neck, and on his +lips he felt the imprint of other lips. + +"Ricardo mio, for heaven's sake, don't put me to shame!" + +These words, whispered in his ear with a passionate accent, were +accompanied by a cloud of caresses. The young man pressed her close to +his heart without answering a word; his emotion choked his utterance. +When he became a little calmer, he asked her with trembling voice,-- + +"Do you love me?" + +"With all my soul!" + +"Was that nothing else but a moment of ill humor?" + +"That was all." + +"Oh, what a wretched time you have made me have! Not for all the gold in +the world would I go through it again!" + +"Tell me, haven't I made up for it now?" + +"Yes, loveliest." + +"Let me loose. I am going to lie down. I have such a headache!" + +"Wait a minute. Let me kiss thee on thy forehead,--now another on thy +eyes,--now another on thy lips,--now on thy hands!" + +"Adios!" + +"Adios!" + +"Let me go, Ricardo, let me go!" + +The young fellow, laughing with happiness, still held her by the hand. +Maria struggled to escape, though she also was laughing. + +"Come, let me go, don't be foolish." + +"It shows I'm not foolish because I don't let you go!" + +"Think how my head aches!" + +"All right, then, I'll let you go." + +"Till to-morrow! Be careful whom you dance with now." + +"Don't you worry. I am going immediately. Till to-morrow!" + +Maria tore herself away. Ricardo tried to catch her again, leaping up +the dark staircase, but he did not succeed. The girl said good night[4] +with a merry laugh from the top of the stairs. + +When Ricardo returned to the parlor he was smiling like a happy man. The +light of the chandelier somewhat dazzled him, and he hastened to sit +down. + +Maria's room, when she entered it, was plunged in darkness. She groped +about for the matches and lighted a lamp of burnished iron. The room was +furnished with a luxury and good taste rarely to be found in provincial +towns. The furniture was upholstered in blue satin; the curtains and +paper were of the same color. In the recess between the windows was a +mahogany wardrobe with a full-length mirror. The dressing-table loaded +down under the weight of its bottles stood against the opposite wall; +the carpet was white, with blue flowers. The exquisite niceness with +which all these objects were put in place, the elegance and coquetry of +the furniture, and the delicate fragrance perceptible on entering, +clearly declared the sex and the station of the person who dwelt there. + +When Maria lighted her lamp, her eyes met the eyes of an image of the +Saviour which stood on the centre of the table where the light burned. +It was on wood, beautifully carved and painted, with a decidedly sad and +meek expression of the face, and it was this which had led the young +woman to buy it. When she caught sight of the sweet but icy face of the +image, the happy smile which still hovered over her lips died away, +leaving her motionless and deeply thoughtful. Little by little, +doubtless under the influence of the ideas which came into her mind, her +face lost its usual expression and assumed one as melancholy and humble +as that of a Magdalene. At that moment the sound of the piano came +vibrating through the dark stairway, telling of the first movement of a +fascinating rigadoon. She fell on her knees and bent her head. Every now +and then she sobbed. Her lips were pressed convulsively against the +naked feet of the Saviour, and muttered unintelligible words. + +After a long time she raised her face bathed in tears, and exclaimed in +a tone of woe:-- + +"My Jesus! what treachery! what treachery! How illy do I repay the love +which thou hast bestowed on me. Punish me, Lord, so that I may again +have peace of mind!" + +Arising from the floor, she took the lamp in her hand and went into her +bed-room. It was tiny and warm as a nest, and it was ornamented with a +profusion of engravings of Jesus and the Virgin. The bed, covered with +satin curtains, was white and delightful as a baptismal altar. She +placed the lamp on her dressing-table and with more tranquil face +quickly undressed. + +Then she took a travelling-mantle from the wardrobe, wrapped herself in +it, blew out the lamp, made the sign of the cross time and again on her +forehead, her mouth, and her breast, and lay down on the floor. The +white bed, covered with satin and lawn, warm and perfumed, and full of +sensuous delights, awaited her in vain all night. Thus she remained +stretched on the floor till daylight dawned. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. + + +Day had hardly dawned, when our maiden arose suddenly from the floor. +She stood motionless a moment with ear attent, but she did not catch the +sound of the bells of San Felipe, which she thought she had heard in her +dreams. She was mistaken; it was not yet six o'clock. She lighted her +lamp, and going to her boudoir prostrated herself in humiliation before +the image of Jesus and began to pray. As she wore nothing but a thin +cambric night-dress, she naturally felt the cold through it, and began +to shiver, but she would not yield, and she kept on with her prayers +until her teeth chattered. Only then she decided to quit the position +which she had taken and dress herself. Thereupon, she opened the four +windows of her boudoir and blew out the lamp. + +A peevish light, cold and chill, made its way into the Señorita de +Elorza's room, giving the articles of furniture a lugubrious aspect +quite different from what they usually bore. The morning chill also +penetrated them as well as their mistress, and they stood silent and +melancholy, doubtless hoping for the rays of the sun to show forth their +beauty and splendor. Only in one spot or another, as the light fell on +the varnish, there was a pale reflection which looked like the glassy, +filmy eye of a dying person. The room was situated in a sort of square +turret which was built in one of the rear angles of the mansion; it +rose some yards above it, and was open to the light on all its four +sides. The tower held only two apartments,--Maria's, composed of boudoir +and bedroom, and her maid Genoveva's chamber, which was single. They +were the coldest but at the same time the most cheerful rooms in the +house. The few times that the sun deigned to visit Nieva he went +straight to lodge in them, entered without as much as asking leave, in +the way of sovereign guests, and spent the day, shining in the mirrors, +brightening up the satin of the chairs, dulling the varnish of the +clothes-presses, and in a word disporting himself in a thousand +different ways,--all this, it may be said, would have been, had not +Genoveva taken the precaution to draw the curtains in time. They were +likewise the quietest; the noises of the house did not reach them, and +those from outside had no possibility of disturbing them, owing to their +situation. Only the wind, which almost never ceased to blow heavily +around the tower, made strange noises, especially at night, sometimes +moaning, sometimes screaming, and constantly complaining because the +windows were kept hermetically sealed. During the daytime it was neither +melancholy nor petulant, but contented itself with a perpetual but very +dignified murmur like sea-shells held to the ear. + +Maria, still shivering though she was wrapped up in her shawl, went to +one of the windows which looked down into the garden whose earthwall was +contiguous to the quay. From that window the whole length of the Nieva +River could be seen down to El Moral, which was the place where it +emptied into the sea. It would not measure more than a league in length, +but its breadth varied wonderfully, according as it was seen at high or +low water, at spring tide or neap tide. When there were full tides, it +spread out half a league, lapping up against the foot of the +pine-covered hills which shut in the valley on both sides. At low tide +the water drew out almost completely, leaving barely a narrow, sinuous +thread in the centre. Between the conterminous line of hills there lay +on both sides of the channel wide flats of soft gray mud, dotted with +pools of water where the ragamuffins of the quay took delight in +splashing and wallowing until they had besmeared themselves thickly +enough to go straight and wash it off by diving head first into the +channel. Above the garden wall rose the masts of a few vessels, not a +dozen in all, anchored by the quay, the majority of them smacks and +schooners[5] of insignificant draught. + +The young girl looked for an instant at the sky, which was still +profoundly dark towards the west, hiding and confusing the outline of +the distant mountains. In the zenith she noticed that it was completely +overcast, of an ashen color, which grew lighter as she turned her face +toward the east. There the clouds were not as yet compacted into a solid +mass as in the opposite quarter; they stood out against the sweep of the +sky in monstrous black piles, and opened sufficiently to let the few +feeble, melancholy, ruddy rays pass through, which the sun, like a dying +fire, was beginning to shed upon the earth. The tide was rising. The +surface of the river absorbed the slender light of the sky, and gave +forth nothing more than a tremulous metallic reflection in the far +distance. + +After watching the sunrise for a time, our maiden got a book which lay +on the dressing-table in her room, and came back to the window to see if +she could read; but it was not yet light enough. She laid the book on a +chair and again went to the window, leaning her forehead against its +panes. The sky kept growing brighter in the direction of El Moral; but +it added no life or good cheer to the earth. The growing light seemed +only to make more distinct its stern, forbidding face. A wretched and +disagreeable day was in prospect, such as the natives of Nieva were +accustomed to enjoy the larger part of the year. + +But soon the windows of the east were closed; the huge, thick clouds +which had stood out separate, allowing the light to pass, once more made +one unbroken mass, by the impulse of some breath of air, and the rosy +flush faded away. In their place remained a uniform pallid light, which, +little by little, spread over the heavens, lazily struggling with the +shadows in the west. The far-away reflections on the river likewise died +out, leaving it all a monotonous color, like unpolished steel. The +boudoir slowly filled with light; the pretty articles of furniture, and +the objects adorning it, emerged from the obscurity, graceful, dainty, +and fascinating, like the dancers in the opera, when at an outburst from +the orchestra they throw aside the spectral mantles in which they had +wrapped themselves. The light, however, did not smile; all the time it +grew more melancholy and forbidding. Across the mighty masses of dark +violet cloud which were rising above the four or five houses of El +Moral, others, small and white, began to fly like wisps of gauze--a sure +sign of storm. + +Maria quickly felt the pane against which she was leaning tremble. A +gust of wind and rain had savagely lashed the window. She stepped back a +little and saw that all the panes were weeping at once. For some little +time she occupied herself in watching the more or less rapid and uneven +course which the drops of water followed as they rolled down the smooth +surface of the glass. The sharp, intermittent pattering of the rain +brought back to her memory the many afternoons that she had spent near +that same window listening to it with an open book in her hand. The book +had always been a novel. For more than four months she had incessantly +begged her father to let her have the use of the boudoir in the tower so +that she might give herself up entirely to her favorite occupation +without fear of any one interrupting her. But Don Mariano feared to give +his permission, because the apartments in the tower were cold, and the +girl's health was delicate. At last, overcome by her entreaties and +caresses, he yielded, after having the rooms carefully carpeted, and +exacting the condition that Genoveva should sleep near by. It was a +happy period for Maria. She was sixteen, and her mind was restless and +high-spirited. Her music, in which she had made prodigious strides, had +stimulated in her heart a decided tendency to melancholy and tears. She +wept at the slightest provocation, sometimes without reason, and when it +was least expected, but her tears were so sweet, and she experienced +such intense pleasure in them, that on many occasions she fostered them +artificially. How many times, gazing from that window upon the delicate +clouds of the horizon tinted with rose or the last splendors of the +dying sun, she felt her heart overcome by a depth of melancholy which +found relief only in sobs! How many times she had pained her father with +a storm of tears, the cause of which she could not tell, because she +herself knew not! The knowledge of painting, in which she also excelled, +turned her inclinations towards light and a wide outlook, and this +equally contributed to make her long for the rooms in the tower. When +once she had taken her quarters there with her piano, her paints, and +her novels, Maria looked upon herself as the most fortunate girl on +earth. If at noon of some magnificent sunny day, under an effulgent +azure sky, she opened all the windows of her boudoir and admitted the +fresh, keen wind which toyed with her hair and scattered the papers from +the table over the floor, she imagined with delight that she had mounted +upon a star, and that she was in the midst of space, swimming through +the air at the mercy of every chance. And this illusion, though it was +hard for her to keep it up, made her happy. Sometimes at night she used +to open the blinds and light not only her lamp, but all the candles in +the candlesticks, so as to imagine that she was stationed in a lofty +lighthouse. "From the river this tower must seem like a beacon, and my +room the lamp which has just been lighted," was what she used to say, in +childish delight. And then she began to peer through the panes to see if +any ship were on its way down to El Moral, until, frightened by the +darkness without and dazzled by the light within, she finally grew +terror-stricken at such an illumination and hastened to extinguish the +lights. + +Don Mariano called that gay, aerial boudoir _Maria's bird-cage_; and in +truth the name was admirably appropriate, for the girl was constantly +flitting about in it, moving the furniture and changing the things from +one place to another, nervous and restless as a bird. To make the +resemblance more complete, it often happened that when the family were +gathered in the dining-room they heard the distant trills of some +cavatina or romanza which Maria was studying. Don Mariano never failed +to exclaim, with his usual benignant smile, "Our little bird is +singing." And all would likewise smile, full of content, for everybody +in the house loved and admired the girl. + +In two or three years a cargo of novels had made their way into the +tower boudoir, and been sent away again, after having diverted the long +leisure hours of our young friend, who put under contribution, not only +her father's library and her own purse, but likewise the book-shelves of +all the friends of the family. Don Serapio was her first purveyor, and +thus for a long time she read only blood-thirsty accounts of terrible +and unnatural crimes, in which the proprietor of the canning factory +took such intense delight. In this period she did not enjoy much, for, +though these novels excited her curiosity to the highest degree, keeping +it in suspense and under the spell of the reading a large part of the +day and night, yet no sweet or poetic aftertaste was left in her mind +for her delectation, and she forgot them the day after she read them. + +Moreover, they terrified her too much; many and many times they +disturbed her dreams, and even on some occasions she begged Genoveva to +lie down beside her, for she was frightened to death. After exhausting +Don Serapio's library, she asked one of the Delgado sisters to give her +the freedom of hers, which had the reputation of being abundantly +supplied. In fact, it was furnished with a great quantity of novels, all +of the primitive romantic school, and elegantly bound, but many of them +soiled by use. In the more tender passages many of the pages were marked +by yellow spots, which was a manifest sign that the various ladies into +whose hands the book had fallen had shed a few tears in tribute to the +misfortunes of the hero. We already know that one Señorita de Delgado +wept with great facility. Among the novels which she read at this time +were _Ivanhoe_; _The Lady of the Lake_; _Maclovia and Federico_, or _the +Mines of the Tyrol_; _Saint Clair of the Isles_, _or the Exiles on the +Island of Barra_; _Oscar and Amanda_; _The Castle of Aguila Negra_; and +others. These gave her very much greater enjoyment. Absolutely absorbed, +heart and soul, she explored the region of those delicious fantasies +with which the illustrious Walter Scott, and other novelists not so +illustrious, delighted our fathers, creating for their use a middle age +peopled with troubadours and tournaments, with stupendous deeds of +prowess, with Gothic castles, heroes, and indomitable loves. What +exercised the greatest fascination upon the Señorita de Elorza was the +unchangeable steadfastness of affection always manifested by the +protagonists of these novels. Whether man or woman, if a love passion +seized them, it was labor wasted to raise any barriers, for everything +was idle; across the opposition of fathers and guardians, and in spite +of the crafty schemes laid by jilted suitors, purified by a thousand +different tests, suffering much, and weeping much more, at the end they +always came out triumphant and well deserved it all. The Señorita de +Elorza vowed secretly in the sanctuary of her heart to show the same +fealty to the first lover whom Providence should send her, and imitate +his fortitude in adversities. Each one of these novels left a lasting +impression on her youthful mind, and for several days, provided that the +characters of some other did not succeed in captivating her, she +ceaselessly thought of the beautiful miracles accomplished by the +heroine's love, pure as the diamond and as unyielding, and taking up the +action where the novelist had left it, which was always in the act of +celebrating the nuptials of the afflicted lovers, she continued it in +her imagination, conceiving with all its minutiæ the after-life spent by +the husband and wife surrounded by their children, and re-reading with +folded hands the places where her tears had so often been shed. Our +maiden was anxious for one of these irresistible and melting passions to +take possession of her heart, but it never entered her mind that any of +the young fellows who visited her house dressed in a frock-coat or +_Americana_ could inspire it. Love, for her, always took the form of a +warrior, whom she imagined with helmet and breastplate, coming +breathlessly and covered with dust, after having unhorsed his competitor +with a lance-thrust, to bend his knee before her and receive the crown +from her hand, which he would kiss with tenderness and devotion. Again, +stripped of his helmet, and in the disguise of a beggar, yet evincing by +his gallant port the nobility and courage of his race, he came by night +to the foot of her tower, and accompanying himself on the lute, sang +some exquisite ditty in which he would invite her to fly with him across +country to some unknown castle, far from the tyranny of her sire and the +hated spouse whom he wished to force upon her. The night was dark, the +sentinels of the castle benumbed with a philter, the ladder already +clung close to the window, and the champing steeds were pawing the +ground not very far away. "Why dost delay, O mistress mine, why dost +delay?" Maria heard a gentle tapping on the panes, and more than once +she had risen from her bed, in her bare feet, to satisfy herself that it +was not her warrior but the wind who called her, sighing. At that time +she could not see a vessel making for the port at night, without +trembling; the mystery which always attends a vessel seen in the +darkness made her vaguely imagine an ambuscade laid by some ignorant, +brutal suitor, who, fearing lest he be rebuffed, wished to ravish her +away by main force from her home, and bear her away to distant strands +where he might enjoy with her his barbarous pleasure. All that she +needed to become disillusionized was to perceive the vessel carefully +warping up to the quay and discharging a few barrels and boxes. But the +romance which made the profoundest impression upon her was, without +question, that entitled _Matilde_, _or the Crusades_. This, better than +any other, was able to carry her mind back to that strange, brilliant +epoch of which it treated, causing her to be present during that heroic +struggle under the walls of Jerusalem. It is easy to comprehend, +however, that it was not the battles between Infidels and Christians +which most interested her in the tale, but that weird, improbable love, +tender and passionate at once, which sprang up in the heroine's heart +for one of the Mohammedan warriors who had laid violent hands on the +Sepulchre of the Lord. The Señorita de Elorza absolved and almost with +her whole heart sympathized with this passion where the sin of loving +one of the most terrible enemies of Christ offered a more powerful +attraction and a keener zest. How was it possible not to fall in love +with that famous Malec-Kadel, so fiery and terrible in battle, so gentle +and submissive with his ladylove, so noble and generous on all +occasions! Ah! if she had been in Matilde's place, she would have loved +in the same way in spite of all laws, human and divine! This Infidel was +the character who captivated her the most of all, even to the point of +inspiring her to make a very clever painting in which she represented +him on the deck of a ship where he was sailing with Matilde, saving her +from the snares of her enemies, protecting her with his left hand, and +hewing off heads with his right hand, as one reaps the grain in summer. +What best brought her to realize her enthusiasm, was the arrival of a +Turk at Nieva, selling mother-of-pearl ornaments and slippers. She was +so surprised to see him pass in front of the house, and her curiosity +was so excited, that she was not content until she had addressed him, +and made him undergo a long series of questions about the fields of +Jerusalem where the love scenes which so impressed her had taken place, +about the customs, the dress, and the government of the Mohammedans; but +the Turk, either because he was not in the humor of parleying, or +because of his being a native of Reus in the province of Tarragona, and +having never been in Palestine in his life, answered her questions with +impudent curtness. + +It had now been a long time, however, since Maria had taken up a novel. +The recollection of the time when she had devoured so many caused a +slight contraction of her features, and drew in her smooth brow a wide, +deep furrow. + +The blasts of wind fraught with rain lashed the panes of glass for a +long time, until they had given them a thorough washing. Gradually its +gusts became less frequent, and at last they completely ceased. The +light, meantime, had increased, mantling the whole of the murky heavens, +and now bringing into relief the forms of the far western hills which +were visible through the opposite casement. But the windows of the sky +which gave passage to the rosy rays when the sunrise first began, did +not open again, and all the clouds of the celestial vault united into +one, like an ash-colored or grayish mantle, which gave free course to +the rain and hindered the light. The storm, as usual, dissolved into a +fine drizzle, which began to fall slowly, filling the atmosphere with an +evanescent, tremulous veil, woven of watery threads, which still more +diminished the brilliancy of the growing light, and hid the outlines of +distant objects. The tide was still flowing; the wide sheet of water +which stretched away to El Moral assumed a color earthy near its edges, +but dark and heavy in the centre. + +Maria again took up her book, brought her chair to the window, and +sitting down, began to read, it now being light enough to allow it. It +was the _Life of Saint Teresa_, written by herself,--a book bound in +solid pasteboard covers, which were stamped with the gilt ornamentations +characteristic of religious works. + +According as the young girl became absorbed in her reading, her face +grew more and more serene, and the deep frown on her brow disappeared. +She was reading the second chapter in which the Saint sets forth how in +the years of her youth she was enamored with books of knight-errantry, +and the vanities of the toilet, and hints at the love affairs which at +the same time she had passed through. When Maria raised her eyes from +the book, they shone with a peculiar delight of inward content. + +The bells of San Felipe at last actually began to ring. Maria quickly +threw down her book and opened her maid's chamber-door. + +"Genoveva! Genoveva!" + +"I am awake, señorita." + +"Get up; San Felipe's bells are ringing!" + +In a twinkling Genoveva was up, dressed, and on hand in her mistress' +room. She was a woman of forty years, more or less, short, fat, swarthy, +with puffy cheeks, with great, protuberant gray eyes which were +expressionless, absolutely expressionless, and with thin hair waving on +her temples. She wore a plain carmelite skirt, and the black merino +cloak gathered at the shoulders, such as are used by all provincial +serving-women. She had entered the household when Maria was not yet a +year old, to be her nurse, and she had never left her, being a notable +example of a faithful, steadfast servant. + +"How long has my little dove[6] been dressed?" + +"About an hour already, Genoveva. I thought I heard the bells, but I was +mistaken. Now they are ringing in good earnest. Let us not lose any +time; take the umbrellas, and let us go." + +"Whenever you please, señorita; I am all ready." + +Both put on their mantillas, and trying not to make any noise, they went +down to the entry, carefully unlocked and opened the door, and sallied +forth into the street, which they crossed with open umbrellas until they +reached the opposite arcade. + +The little city of Nieva, as it seems to me I have already said, has +almost all of its streets lined with an arcade on one side or the other, +sometimes on both. As a general thing it is small, low, uneven, and +supported by single round stone pillars, without ornamentation of any +sort. Likewise it is ill paved. Only in occasional localities, where +some house had been reconstructed, it was wider and had more comfortable +pavement. If all the houses were to be rebuilt,--and there is no doubt +that this will come in time,--the town, owing to this system of +construction, would have a certain monumental aspect, making it well +worthy of being seen. Even as it is now, though it does not boast of +much beauty, it is very convenient for pedestrians, who need not get wet +except when they may wish to pass from one sidewalk to the other. And +certainly its illustrious founders were far-sighted, for, as regards +constant, ceaseless rain, there is no other place in Spain that can +hold a candle to our town. + +Protected from the rain, mistress and maid crossed through one corner of +the Plaza, and entered a long, narrow, solitary street. The worthy +inhabitants were sleeping the sweet sleep of morning. Only from time to +time they met some sailor wrapped up in his rough waterproof capote, +who, with fishing utensils in his hand, and making a great clatter with +his enormous boots, was striding towards the quay. + +"Are you well protected, señorita? See, there's been a frost; one would +think it was already January." + +"Yes; I put on a velvet waist, and besides, this sacque is well wadded." + +"Well, well, sweetheart.[7] If your papa knew that we were out so early, +he would scold me for consenting to it. You are exceedingly virtuous, +señorita. Few or none would lead such a saintly life at your age." + +"Hush, hush, Genoveva! don't say such a thing. I am only a miserable +sinner; much more miserable than you have any idea of." + +"Señorita, for Heaven's sake--I am not the only one who says so; but +everybody. Yesterday Doña Filomela told me that she was edified to see +you go to mass, and take the Blessed Sacrament, and she would give +anything if her daughters would do the same. And I don't wonder she +wishes so, for one of 'em, the youngest, is the devil's own. Would you +believe, the other day, señorita, she scratched her sister right in +church because one was to confess before the other. Pretty kind of +repentance! It's shameful, señorita, it's shameful to see how some women +go to church! One would think that they were in their own houses! Ay! +the poor little things don't realize that they are in the house of the +Lord of heaven and earth, who will ask them to give account of their +sin. Hasn't Doña Filomela shown you the rosary which her brother sent +her from Havana? It is a marvel! all ivory and gold, with a great +crucifix of solid gold. To say your prayers there's no need of such +extravagance, is there, señorita?" + +"To pray one needs only a pure and humble heart." + +"Ay! señorita, how well you speak! It seems as if they were mistaken who +say that you are not more than twenty years old. But when God wishes to +pour out his gifts on one of his creatures, it makes no difference +whether she be young or old, rich or poor. Every day I pray the most +Blessed Virgin to preserve your health, so that you may serve as an +example for those who are in mortal sin." + +"What you ought to pray for, Genoveva, is that He will purify my soul +and pardon the many sins that I have committed." + +"God have mercy! if you need to be forgiven, you who are so pious and +humble-minded, what would the rest of us need? Don't be so severe upon +yourself. Fray Ignacio has so much esteem for you that he never wearies +of sounding your praises; and that too, though he's not very indulgent, +as you know. At this very moment I suppose that holy man's in the +sacristy, listening to people! What a healthy man he is! It must be +because God makes him so. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't +rest a moment. And yet every day he grows stronger and stronger, and has +greater and greater zeal in serving God. I don't see how he can spend so +many hours in the confessional, without taking something to eat. Only +the Lord can give him the power. Blessed be His name forever! Amen!" + +"That's true; God works real miracles in him because there is need in +the world. Oh, God! what would have become of my soul if these holy +missioners had not come to open my eyes!" + +"Though they have helped greatly in the way of salvation, still, before +they came you were very good and used to attend the Sacraments." + +"How little that amounts to, Genoveva, when the deepest nooks and +corners of the conscience are not looked into!" + +"Tell me, señorita, did you see in your dreams last night that beautiful +bird with fiery feathers, with a cross in its bill, which you have seen +lately?" + +Maria stopped suddenly short and raised her hand to her breast as though +she had received a blow. Then she began to walk on again, exclaiming in +an undertone,-- + +"Last night I was not allowed to see it!" + +"Why not, sweetheart?" + +She made no reply. She walked on a while, and a groan escaped her. Then +she stopped once more, and throwing her arms around her maid's neck, she +began to sob bitterly. + +"I am very wicked, Genoveva, very wicked! My heart has not yet been +freed from impurities; the flesh and the devil will hold me in their +sway. If you knew what a sin I committed yesterday!" + +"Hush, hush! don't be discouraged! What sin could you have committed, +you lamb?"[8] + +"Yes, yes; I am more wicked than you imagine. The more light I receive +from God, the deeper I seem to sink into the darkness; the more He +heaps blessings upon me, the more ungrateful I am toward Him." + +"God is infinitely merciful, señorita." + +"But infinitely just, as well." + +"Beseech the aid of Saint Joseph the blessed; there is no fault which +the Lord does not forgive through his intercession. Come, stop crying +now; you are going to confession, and all is going to be forgiven." + +After the girl had calmed down a little, they proceeded on their way, +till they reached a rather diminutive plaza, fronted by the stern, gray +façade of a great church which attracted attention neither by its beauty +nor by any other quality, good or bad. They crossed a portico, huge and +gray like the façade, and entered the temple, which was likewise gray +and enormous; these qualities were its only characteristics. It +consisted of three naves, the central one broad and lofty like a +cathedral; those on the sides narrow and low; all three had been +whitewashed at some time very remote, but were now thick with dust, +peeling in various places and stained with wide-spread, mysterious +spots. The altars, which were profusely adorned, presented a gray color, +very distinct from the gilding which originally had covered them. +Through its dirty glass could be seen the stiff image of some saint with +metal aureole, or the sad anguished face of an Ecce-Homo. + +It was too early in the morning to find many people. Nevertheless, +scattered here and there, praying on bended knees before the altars, a +few women with covered heads were to be seen; others pressed up to the +latticed windows of the confessional and held their mantillas on both +sides of their faces, while with a half-audible whispering they confided +their misdeeds to the sacred tribunal of the Church. A few priests, who +kept the doors of the confessionals open, could be seen in cassock and +hood, bending forward, with their ears to the window, reflecting in +their frowning faces and negligent attitude the weariness which they +felt; others kept theirs hermetically sealed, and scarcely could any one +in passing perceive the presence of a human being. + +A few places in the sanctuary were bathed in a melancholy light, but the +corners and the hollows between the pillars were left in almost perfect +darkness. The huge brazen lamps swung in the spaces on cords attached to +the roof. The leaded window of the two huge, open oriels, high up in the +walls of the great central nave, admitted a sad sheet of light, +extending like a pale altar-cloth before the principal shrine. On one +side of this, at some little distance, was another small portable altar, +upon which was raised an image of the Saviour with perforated breast, +wherein was seen a bleeding heart, wearing a crown of thorns and haloed +with flames; around the image were a host of lighted candles, the +hissing and crackling of which sounded lugubriously in the immense, +silent circuit of the church. It was a temporary altar set up because of +the Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was +celebrated at that time. + +Genoveva went to the sacristy to ask Fray Ignacio if her señorita could +make her confession. The latter remained kneeling near the confessional, +waiting for the priest. She felt a peculiar, timid impatience; a bit of +fear mingled with anxiety and desire. The sanctuary was filled with a +mingled odor of dampness and dust, of extinguished candles and of faded +flowers, which inspired her with veneration. The moments preceding +confession were filled with a delicious suspense for Maria. The +circumstance and mystery which surrounded that intimate confidence, the +most intimate in the world, exerted a certain fascination over her mind, +and agitated her to the very depths of her being, without loathing. She +felt slight chills run over her body, followed by flushes of heat, which +mounted to her face and set it on fire. At that moment she thought not +so much of her sins as of the way in which she should try to tell them. + +Fray Ignacio's dark, resolute, and stern figure hastened up to the +confessional, and without vouchsafing his penitent a single glance, took +his place within it. Maria, tremulous and with melting heart, drew near +the little window. When at the end of a half-hour she turned away, her +eyes were red and her cheeks were pale. + +The church, meantime, had been slowly filling, although almost +exclusively with women. A few ventured as far as the centre, making with +their wooden shoes a real clatter as they walked on the tiled pavement; +the most took them off at the door and carried them in their hands. The +women of the people were in the majority, but there were a goodly number +of señoras: men were few. The multitude for some time remained scattered +about, kneeling at the altar rails, all making their devotions. From +time to time an acolyte in flesh-colored balandran and white surplice, +with shaven head and crafty eyes, rang his bronze hand-bell, and a few +women left their places and stationed themselves before some altar where +a priest, decked with golden ornaments, was beginning the sacrifice of +the mass. After consuming the elements, he would administer the +communion to two or three sets of women. Maria, with head bent on her +bosom and hands devoutly crossed, joined them to receive the Holy +Eucharist. When the priest placed on her tongue the consecrated +particle, amid the dull, hushed murmur of the throng, she felt her +cheeks slightly inflamed by the grandeur of the miracle which had taken +place within her; then she withdrew three or four steps from the altar, +overwhelmed with veneration, and without venturing to cast a look on +either side, at the end of a short space she left her place and went to +repeat the prayers imposed as her penance. An elderly clergyman in a +surplice mounted the pulpit, which was covered with a cloth of gold +tissue. The faithful came flocking from the remotest parts of the church +towards the centre, forming a dense throng about the pulpit. Maria and +Genoveva stood in the midst of it. The priest made the sign of the +cross, and began his Ave Marias and Pater Nosters in a loud voice. When +the rosary was ended, he began the service, the novena of the Sacred +Heart of Jesus. The clergyman put on an enormous pair of spectacles, and +in a snuffling, doleful tone exclaimed:-- + +"_O Heart_ (_Corazón_)"--the multitude repeated after him with solemn +acclaim, prolonging the words--"O Heart (_Corazoooón_)--_most lovable_ +(_amantísimo_)--most lovable (_amantísimooo_)--_most sacred_ +(_santísimo_)--most sacred (_santísimooo_)--_and honey-sweet_ +(_melífluo_)--and honey-sweet (_melífluoo_)--_of my divine Jesus_--of my +divine Jesus--_full of flames_--full of flames--of _purest love_ +(_amor_)--of purest love (_amooor_)--_consume me entirely_--consume me +entirely--_and grant me_--and grant me--_a new life_--a new life--_of +love and of grace_--of love and of grace;--_kindle and consume_--kindle +and consume--_my lukewarmness_--my lukewarmness.--O Heart (_Corazón_)--O +Heart (_Corazoooón_)--_most comfortable_ (_dulcísimo_)--most comfortable +(_dulcísimooo_)--_I adore thee_--I adore thee--_most profoundly_--most +profoundly.--_Grant me grace_--Grant me grace--_O loving Heart_ +(_Corazón_)--O loving Heart (_Corazooón_)--_to atone for_--to atone +for--_the insults and ingratitudes_--the insults and ingratitudes--_done +against thee_ (_Vos_)--done against thee (_Vooos_)--_and what I pray +thee for_--and what I pray thee for--_in this novena_--in this +novena--_is for the greater glory of God_ (_Dios_)--is for the greater +glory of God (_Diooos_)--_and of my soul_--and of my soul--_Amen_--Amen." + +Maria merely whispered the words of the orison and kept her eyes +fastened on the ground. Genoveva repeated them aloud, looking straight +into the priest's face. The multitude sighed after they said Amen. + +When the orison was ended, the priest repeated three Pater Nosters and +three Ave Marias in honor of the three marks of the passion with which +the divine Heart of Jesus showed itself to the Blessed Mother Margarita +of Alacoque. The faithful knelt in reply. Immediately began a new orison +like the first, addressed to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Then +the priest recommended all to beseech God through the mediation of the +Sacred Hearts for whatever each most needed, and the congregation +meditated silently for a few moments. Maria prayed fervently that God +would make her a better woman. Genoveva spent some time in hesitation, +without knowing what to ask for, and at last she asked for patience to +endure the suffering of her influenza. The priest read with his +snuffling voice, which drawled over the syllables like a lamentation, +the following + +ILLUSTRATION. + +"In the city of Munich there lived not many years ago a lady of +extraordinary beauty, who led such an exemplary life, that all gave her +the name of saint. It happened that one day there came to her house a +very lively young man to visit her, on the ground that she was one of +his own cousins, and instantly the devil managed to get complete +possession of him. His passion was so mad and wretched that at the end +of some time she yielded to an impure sin, thus gravely offending God. +After she fell into this sin she found herself sunk in a deep abyss of +melancholy, for though the unhappy woman immediately sent away the one +who had been the cause of her fault, she believed that she was doomed to +hell. She began to lead an austere life, mortifying herself with fasting +and penitence, and yet she could not escape the horrible thought. At +length, by the advice of a pilgrim who happened to pass that way, she +determined to make a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the night +of the fifth day of constant prayer, being in bed, she heard a great +disturbance, and saw flying from her house a demon, horribly howling and +leaving behind him an intolerably fetid odor. On the following morning +she found herself cured of her melancholy, and very confident of the +infinite mercy of God." + +The faithful crowded closer around the pulpit to hear the illustration, +and they took in with delight its romantic flavor. The novena ended with +a sermon in Latin. The congregation repeated an Ave Maria and a Credo. +The clergyman descended from the desk. + +There was a loud and prolonged noise in the church. The throng of women +spread out, dispersed, moved to and fro, gossiping and chattering all at +once. The clattering of the wooden shoes again was heard on the damp and +filthy blocks of the pavement. An acolyte began to snuff out the candles +burning around the image of Jesus and, standing on the altar, with his +shorn head and mischievous eyes made profane grimaces at the other +boys, whose mothers kept them on their knees saying their prayers. A few +of the clergy issued from the confessionals and crossed over to the +sacristy with long strides. One was detained in the centre of the church +by various ladies, and stood talking with them a long time, though with +evident anxiety to escape from them. Through the leaded panes of the +great oriels poured all the daylight evaporating the mysteriousness of +the temple, and making it seem melancholy, wretched, and dirty, as in +reality it was. Two or three gay fellows, with coat-collars turned up +and sleeves well pulled down, came in, casting quick glances of +curiosity at all the places. A sacristan took it into his head to throw +wide open the wooden screen at the door, and a restless, noisy +multitude, who had not been early enough to take part in the novena, +surged into the vast room to listen to the word of a missioner, who at +that moment mounted the pulpit with a contemplative, zealous gesture. + +When he stood up dominating the multitude, with the sacred dove made of +painted wood above his head, the noise gradually subsided. The +congregation, wonderfully increased, again crowded together beneath the +lecturer. There were many men who came not out of pure devotion, but +rather with the intention of judging the sermon from a literary point of +view. + +Meantime great throngs of people came pouring in through the door, +disturbing the faithful, and hindering the establishment of silence. +Maria and Genoveva were pulled to and fro many times by the fluctuation +of the multitude. The orator waited vainly for the bustle to cease. At +last he extended his arm in academic style toward the door, and shouted +emphatically, as though he were in the heart of his discourse,-- + +"Close that screen!" + +The doors closed slowly, as though no one had touched them. The faithful +were seating themselves in their places. For a time much coughing was +heard; at last it ceased, and the church preserved a fragile, artificial +silence, frequently broken by some stubborn cold or by the trumpet blast +of some nose being blown. The jet and mother-of-pearl beads of the +ladies' rosaries, clinking together, made a soft, melancholy +tintillation. + +The orator was young, tall, and slender, with great black eyes deep set +in a pale, classic face. He also wore a cassock with surplice and cowl. +He inspired respect by his sweet, gentle gravity. + +He took off his cowl, and said a few words in Latin which no one could +hear. Then putting on his cowl again, and leaning far over the railing, +he exclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"Beloved Brethren in Jesus Christ!" + +He possessed a ringing voice, of a sweet and sympathetic quality, which +lent a greater effect to the solemnity of the face. He began by showing +an ironical astonishment that there were to be found any at all willing +to abandon the vanities of the world to listen to the word of God, and +he warmly congratulated the faithful who had come to take part in the +Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of all the forms of +devotion, invented by piety, most grateful in the eyes of the Lord was +this; for it summed up and included all the rest, since, "as the heart +in the human body represents the sum and substance,--the very centre of +the physical life,--so in the same way the Sacred Heart of our Redeemer +is the centre of pious souls and the focus of light around which revolve +our aspirations for immortal glory." He ended his exordium by invoking +with impassioned phrases the aid of this Sacred Heart in letting his +discourse bring forth fruit. He offered in behalf of all an Ave Maria. + +He devoted the first part of his sermon to the description of the +torment of the soul alienated from God by sin, and he drew a +circumstantial and complete picture of the griefs and insults which we +daily inflict upon the gentle Heart of Jesus. When he came to paint the +sufferings caused by sin, he abandoned the beaten track of speaking of +the material torments of hell and described nothing but the spiritual +anguish, the pangs, and the heartbreak felt by the soul when it sees +itself deprived through its own fault of the love of the Creator; but he +painted them in such gloomy colorings, and with such power of +expressions, that that infinite affliction, that depth of solitude, that +silence and darkness made a greater impression on the imagination of the +throng than the fire and the worm usually invoked. + +Maria was filled with fear and sadness. She remembered her sins, and +thought with horror that she might die suddenly and be lost forever. +Thereupon she made a solemn vow to grow better. But how? To change her +way of living meant nothing else than to break the bond which most +powerfully fettered her to the earth and sin. She became the prey to a +profound disturbance replete with tears, and she could not throw it off. +The clear, musical voice of the priest resounded through the great room, +unweariedly relating one by one the sufferings of the damned. The +congregation listened motionless and terrified. Far away in the +background, near the principal altar, the image of the Saviour, +encircled with candles, looked like a great red blur whose rays cast +fugitive shadows across the walls of the edifice. + +"But the divine compassion is inexhaustible. There is no sin so enormous +that it cannot be blotted out by the mercy of God. The Saviour's love +for the souls that he has redeemed by his blood is not weak and limited +like that of men; like a loving father, like an affectionate spouse, He +is even ready to open his arms for the repentant sinner. Man sooner +tires of sinning than God of granting forgiveness, for we have at His +right hand an advocate who never wearies of interceding for us. Sin not, +offend not the Divine Majesty, either with words or deeds; but if ye +should give way to sin, be not discouraged, keep up good heart and +return to God. _Sed et si quis pecaverit_, _advocatum habemus apud +Patrem_, _Jesum Christum justum_, says Saint John.[9] If ye should sin, +wash with repentant tears the Redeemer's feet after the pattern of Saint +Mary Magdalene, and ye shall be saved. Remember that sad, sinful woman, +who, worn out with grief, appalled with love, threw herself at Jesus' +feet and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair and +anointed them with ointment, while not a word fell from her lips because +she was consumed with the fire of love. Oh, tears shed for God! how much +ye avail, how great your power, how mighty your results! In winning +forgiveness tears are more potential than words; for tears, as Saint +Maximus says, are silent prayers, and demand not forgiveness if +forgiveness be undeserved. There is no deception possible with tears as +with words, and thus it was Saint Peter to win forgiveness for his fault +used not words, since with them he had sinned, had blasphemed and denied +his Lord; but he wept with bitter lamentation and was believed and +pardoned. Tears are money which cannot be counterfeited, our only +refuge: they purge the spots caused by our transgressions, they appease +the anger of God, they win us forgiveness, they enliven the soul, they +strengthen faith, magnify hope, kindle charity. The divine Jesus himself +has said, 'Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted.'" + +Maria felt her heart melt within her. That fervid eulogy of tears drove +fear from her breast. The thought of the inexhaustible good will of +Jesus Christ, who, after suffering so much and shedding his precious +blood for us, forgets each moment the greatest sins, if only they are +confessed to him with repentance, stirred her to the depths of her soul. +She seemed to see the saint whose name she bore, Mary Magdalene, bathed +in tears at the Redeemer's feet, and she felt that she had done the +same. A torrent of tears burst from her eyes as she imagined herself +prone before Jesus. The women around her saw her weep, and they cast +respectful glances of admiration at her as they whispered among +themselves. + +The sermon ended by exhorting the faithful, with lofty flights of +eloquence rich in imagery, to devote themselves to the Sacred Heart of +Jesus. "A quarter of an hour every day of loving discourse with this +Sacred Heart brings to the soul the purest joy that it can have on +earth. _Gustate_, _et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus_.[10] Try to +hold converse a while with the Lord, and ye will enjoy the delights of +heaven and the rarest satisfactions, such as those have who love. All +that is in this world is folly and deception: banquets, comedies, +receptions, amusements, and all the rest that the world considers good +are mingled with gall and sown with thorns. Doubt not that the Heart of +Jesus gives greater delight and comfort to those souls which seek it +with devotion and self-abnegation, than the world with all its pastimes +and insipid pleasures. What delight to be speaking for one instant with +the most lovable Jesus, forever ready to hearken to our prayers! To +unbosom one's self to him alone as to a most intimate friend. To demand +his grace, his love, and his glory! Oh, my dear friends _gustate et +videte_, _gustate et videte!_" + +The orator ended the final clauses of his sermon always with those +words, gustate et videte, gustate et videte. When he ended by expressing +his wish that all might have eternal glory, he was pale with weariness. +Drops of perspiration rolled down his wide brow. He had uttered the last +part of his discourse with growing agitation and enthusiasm which he +succeeded in communicating to his hearers. Maria, after her first fit of +weeping, remained comforted and almost happy. Genoveva whispered in her +ear while the priest was descending from the pulpit,-- + +"Señorita, I just saw Don César in the congregation." + +The young girl's face changed slightly. The crowd began to dissolve, +spreading out over the whole area of the church. The majority of the +people crowded tumultuously to the door, struggling to get out. After +some difficulty Maria and Genoveva succeeded in reaching the portico, +and started on their homeward way. But the Señorita de Elorza kept +frequently turning her head. An elderly gentleman, tall, slender, and +pale, with goatee and long white mustachios, dressed in black from head +to foot, was following them at a considerable distance. As they entered +the arcade of a narrow and lonely street, the caballero hastened his +steps, and the two women lingered for him, so that very soon they were +together. The caballero turned to Maria and said in a low voice,-- + +"Señorita, last night I returned from where you know." + +"I have prayed God to bring you back in safety, Don César." + +"Thanks, thanks.[11] Have you finished embroidering the banner?" + +"Yes, señor!" + +"And the flannel hearts?" + +"Those also." + +"That is good, señorita; I shall not forget your diligence and +enthusiasm." + +Don César did not move a line of his vigorous face during this +conversation. His eyes, which were of a strange intensity gleaming with +ferocity, did not for a moment leave the girl's face. He said nothing +for a time, having something in his mind, and then he broke the silence, +speaking in the curt tone of command,-- + +"To-morrow at this time be on hand again. We have some commissions to +give you." + +"I will not fail you." + +Don César noticed that two young men had just turned the corner and were +coming toward them; thereupon, without saying farewell, he left the +women, crossing to the opposite sidewalk. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HOW THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE OF THURINGEN. + + +A few days later Ricardo set forth from home as usual about ten o'clock +in the morning and turned his steps toward the house of his betrothed. +It was not love alone that impelled him to walk the street so early, but +as much the melancholy solitude that reigned at the present time in the +vast seignorial mansion where he lived: for our hero had been alone in +the world a little more than a year. His father, the old Marqués de +Peñalta, had died when he was under six, and he had scarcely more than a +vague remembrance of his pale face between the sheets of the bed when +they raised him up to give him a kiss a few hours before he died. He +remembered also how on that same day every one had hugged him and kissed +him, with tears, and this had attracted his attention and made him ask, +"Why are you all crying to-day?" + +His mother had loved him with one of those concentrated and fierce +affections which destroy by very reason of over care. During his boyhood +she had kept him tied to her apron-strings, never consenting for him to +take part in the games of the other lads, lest he should hurt himself. +Even when he was quite a youth, she always used to put him to bed, +offering with him a series of innocent prayers, and sitting by his +bedside with folded arms until he fell asleep, when she would silently +leave his chamber on tip-toe. When he reached early manhood, she had +nothing to do but think of her son's career, for the late marquis had +provided that he should follow one. Ricardo wanted to enter the +artillery. How many tears the lad's resolute decision cost the mother! +The first time that he went to Segovia, the good lady thought she should +die: she made up her mind not to leave the house until her son returned, +and she carried out her intention. When he came home to spend his +vacation, she could not be enough at his side, caressing him and reading +in his eyes his slightest caprices, so as to carry them out instantly. +Two or three days before it was time for him to return, she would begin +to sob and cry: she held him close to her bosom for long moments and +made him promise a thousand times to write her every day, to cover +himself up warm during his journey, and not to go out nights. The only +thing which served to divert her for a short time was the preparation of +his cadet's chest, with which she took so much pains that it lacked +nothing, from the more usual articles of dress, down to a piece of court +plaster and a package of lint in case he were wounded. Ricardo always +avoided leave-taking by escaping on the sly. + +Thanks to his genial, happy, and sympathetic nature, rather than by his +application, the young Marqués de Peñalta finished his course. At +college everybody loved him, students as well as professors. He was one +of those frank and friendly young fellows with whom it is difficult to +quarrel, and whom we all go to as a confidant worthy of sharing the +secrets of our hearts in the bitter misfortunes of life. He was always +found smiling and unreserved, bringing joy and confidence wherever he +went, and rarely did a dispute arise between two cadets which he did not +succeed in bringing to a friendly issue. In spite of his conciliatory +temperament no one in college or out of it questioned his courage, much +less the remarkable prowess of his fists. More than once, in the +frequent quarrels between the cadets and the peasants, which generally +broke out in candle-light balls, he had floored three or four stout +carls with as many blows, which attracted all the more attention from +the crowd because there was nothing stout or athletic in his figure. + +One day, while encamped in the park at Sevilla, the colonel called him +into his tent and asked him,-- + +"Isn't it a number of days since you have had a letter from your mother, +Peñalta?" + +Ricardo grew as pale as death. + +"What is it, colonel? what is it?" + +"Don't be alarmed, child;[12] I happened to learn that she wasn't very +well." + +Ricardo understood perfectly, and fell into the colonel's arms, shedding +a flood of tears. That night he took the train for the north. + +The dismal night spent in that journey remained deeply impressed upon +his mind. When the engine whistled, and his comrades, who had come to +see him off, standing on the platform, waved their _adios_, he went and +sat in a corner of the carriage, wrapped up in his cloak, feigning to +sleep, in order better to abandon himself to his painful, gloomy +thoughts. Oh, how painful and gloomy his thoughts! He imagined the +guardian angel of his infancy, the mother of his heart, dying alone, +without receiving her son's last kiss, perhaps calling for him with +yearning in the supreme moment of her agony. He remembered that when he +had last left her, her health was rather feeble, and the embrace which +she gave him was much longer than usual, and her kisses more numerous, +as though the poor woman had felt a presentiment that she should never +see him again. In her wide, moist eyes he read a fervent silent prayer +that he would abandon his profession and not leave her. But he, pleased +with the vanities of society, and seduced by the voice of selfishness, +had paid no heed to this prayer which the unhappy woman had not dared to +formulate with her lips. He felt deeply angry with himself, and called +himself the most insulting and humiliating names. From time to time he +put his head out of the window and breathed the cool night air, to +prevent the sobs from choking him. The vague, mysterious outline of the +undulating landscape, wrapt in shadows, transformed his despair into +grief, which gradually changed into a solemn melancholy like the gloomy +clouds hovering above the still more gloomy earth. The silent majesty of +inanimate nature calmed his agitation, but it made him think with cold +chills of the perfect loneliness awaiting him. The tie that bound him to +earth, and through which he felt that all human beings were his kin, was +cut; now he had no one in the world whom he could call his own. The +wind, stirred by the swift rush of the train, hummed in his ears and +seemed to say to him, Alone! alone! The harsh racket of the wheels and +engine violently excited his morbid state of mind, giving him a +sensation almost of pain like that caused by the thoughts rushing +through his brain. The noisy, metallic rhythm of the wheels likewise +seemed to say, with still more relentless accent, Alone! alone! His sad +face followed the far-off line of the horizon, and this came back to him +in quivering, prophetic reflections, which barely sufficed to cleave +asunder the network of shadows, gloom upon gloom. The light from the +engine cast a reddish gleam, tingeing as with blood the ground and the +trees lining the track. Where there were no trees, the telegraph poles +flew past him with bewildering rapidity like the happy hours of his +youth. Above his head floated the huge black plume of the smoke, emitted +by the smoke-stack of the engine, and this, as it disappeared in the +atmosphere, in dying made a thousand strange and monstrous phantasms. +These phantasms, as they fled away, rolling along just above the ground, +seemed also to say mournfully, Alone! alone! Thereupon, being no longer +able to endure the icy breath of the deserted landscape which penetrated +his breast and parched his eyes, he shut the window and again returned +to his corner and his tears. + +In the car were four other people: an elderly señora and a young man of +twenty or twenty-five, a girl of eighteen or twenty, and a little girl +of five or six years old,--all of whom seemed to be her children. The +señora went to sleep, though she kept opening her eyes to watch the +child, who was incessantly running from one side to the other; the two +young people were chatting quietly and confidentially together. The +sight of this mother surrounded by her children and often looking at +them lovingly still more deeply affected Ricardo. The gentle murmur of +the brother and sister's conversation, repeatedly broken by repressed +laughter, roused in his heart a keen, melancholy envy. The young girl +was beautiful, with a noble, fascinating face. Ricardo, without +realizing it, watched her all night, but she seemed to give no heed to +him. When the guard of the station shouted, "Cordoba! twenty minutes for +refreshments!" all hastily got up and collected their things in +preparation to leave the train. Then only the young lady gave him a +long, sweet look, and as she went out, said with a sad, sympathetic +smile, "Good night, and a happy journey to you."[13] There was no doubt +that she had noticed his grief. + +Ricardo felt deeply sorry to have them take their departure, as though +some tide of affection bound him to that family, and he felt an +inclination to say to the mamma, "Señora, I have just lost my mother; I +am alone in the world, and I have no one to love me, and no one to love. +Won't you take me home with you as your son?" The car door closed with a +bang, the bell rang, the hoarse shriek of the engine was heard, and the +train sped on its way with its metallic clatter, which ceaselessly cried +in the silence of the night, Alone! alone! alone! + +A few relatives and friends were waiting for him, and they went with him +silently to his home, where they left him after a few meaningless words. +During the days that followed he received many visits of condolence from +people who extolled his mother's virtues and recommended great +resignation. All called him Señor Marqués. Never did he suffer so much +as at such times. The only person with whom he enjoyed talking was Don +Mariano Elorza, who had been a good friend of his father's, and whose +house he visited very familiarly whenever he came to Nieva during his +vacations. Don Mariano, who was cordial and friendly to everybody, could +not well help showing himself doubly affectionate to him on account of +the sorrowful situation in which he was placed. His house during the +period which followed the marquesa's death, was a place of refuge for +our young friend, where his grief was consoled, and he found a little of +that family life which he so greatly missed. On the other hand, it must +be said that Ricardo had always felt toward Don Mariano's eldest +daughter a strong admiration and affection, which easily changed into +love when age and occasion offered, and frequency of intercourse +stimulated it, and there was still greater reason for it since neither +he nor she had ever been in love before. Long before they were formally +engaged, the marriage of the young Marqués de Peñalta and the Señorita +de Elorza used to be talked about in the city. It was a marriage desired +and demanded by public opinion; for it must be remarked that the +families of Peñalta and Elorza were the richest in town, and the public +always consider it logical for wealth to seek wealth as rivers seek the +sea. Accordingly, Ricardo and Maria were declared husband and wife not +long after they were born, and the truth is, the gossips of the town +would never have forgiven them if they had failed to carry out the edict +passed by all the tertulias of Nieva. We know on good authority that the +young people had no thought of any such intention, and that they had +accepted the sovereign decree with the greatest meekness. + +Returning now to where we left off, it is sufficient for us to remark +that Ricardo very quickly reached the porch of the house of Elorza, +which was large and gloomy. From the great solid door, darkened by time +and use, hung a bronze knocker, with which he rapped. He was immediately +admitted into a rather large court, with a fountain in the centre. A +broad flight of stone steps with balustrade of the same material led +from it. It was now somewhat the worse for wear, and needed repairs in +many places. On the first landing this stairway divided into two arms, +one of which led to the apartments of the owners, the other to those of +the servants. The former ended in a wide corridor, or gallery, from +which one looked through windows into the court. The whole house +presented the same elegance as that of the old palaces, although it was +built at a comparatively modern period. It had the advantage over those +old ancestral mansions, like the Marqués de Peñalta's, in that it had +not been designed to minister so much to the vanity of its masters as to +the suitable distribution of its rooms for the conveniences of daily +life. It was not dark and gloomy, as those are apt to be; on the +contrary, its whole interior spoke of joy, comfort, and elegance. It +was, in fact, a great building, without being pretentious, and +comfortable, without falling into the unpleasing vulgarity of many +modern constructions. It held a conciliatory middle course between +aristocratic and middle-class ideals, combining the proud lordliness of +the one and the practical luxurious tendencies of the other. + +The house in a certain way mirrored the position of its master and +mistress. Both were children of the most important families not only in +Nieva, but in the whole province in which the city is situated. The +señora was sister of the Marqués de Revollar, who cut such a figure in +Madrid a few years ago by his incredible dissipation and prodigality, +and who afterwards, being totally ruined and driven away by his +creditors, had taken refuge in the army of the Pretender, whom he served +as minister and adviser. Don Mariano came from a family less ancient and +glorious but far more opulent. His grandfather had made an immense +fortune in Mexico during the final years of the last century, and with +it he had become the most important landowner in Nieva, and had built +the house of which we are speaking. Not only himself, but his son and +his son's son, had succeeded in giving lustre to their millions by +allying themselves with noble families. + +Ricardo made his way through the various rooms of the house of Elorza +with as much familiarity as though he had been at home, without even +taking off his hat. When he entered Doña Gertrudis's boudoir, this +señora, assisted by two waiting-women, was taking a dish of broth. On +seeing our hero, she placed the cup on the little stand in front of her, +and pushing back her easy-chair, she exclaimed in a doleful tone,-- + +"Ay, my dear,[14] you come at an evil hour." + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +"I'm dying, Ricardo, I'm dying." + +"Do you feel worse?" + +"Yes, my son, yes; I feel very ill; it is beyond the power of words to +say how ill I feel. If I don't die to-day, I shall never die. I spent +the whole night doing nothing but groan, and then--and then--that tiger +of a Don Maximo has not come yet, though I have sent him two messages. +May God forgive him! May God forgive him!" + +Doña Gertrudis shut her eyes as though she were making ready to die +without either temporal or spiritual comfort. + +Ricardo, accustomed to these vaporings, remained a long time silent. At +length he said in an indifferent tone,-- + +"Did you know Enrique has succeeded in exchanging the jewelry, and the +new set came yesterday all right?" + +"Indeed? thank God!"[15] replied Doña Gertrudis, opening her eyes; "I +certainly thought they wouldn't be willing to exchange it." + +"Why not?" + +"Of course, because by selling the other they got rid of an old thing, +which I don't know how they will ever sell now." + +"Yes, but they would lose a customer who brings them much gain. Don't +you see, Enrique receives commissions from the whole province?" + +"That's true enough; but don't you know that these traders are blinded +by avarice? Uph! what wretched people. I tell you I can't bear to see +tradesmen, Ricardo; I can't bear to see them, nor painters either!" + +After expressing this unfavorable opinion of commerce, which, in the +tribunal of her mind, she made coextensive with all industry and to the +mechanical arts in general, Doña Gertrudis again closed her eyes with a +gesture of woe, and continued in this strain:-- + +"What I am sure of, my son, is that I am not going to see you married, +and that you will be obliged to postpone the wedding on my account. I +feel very ill, very ill; my heart tells me that I am going to die before +the day of your marriage; and the truth is, that it would be better for +me to die if I have got to suffer so much." + +"Come, Doña Gertrudis, don't say such things. Who is going to die? You +must surely get better gradually; you will be cured, and you will be +well and plump so that it will be a delight to see you." + +Instead of brightening up at these words, Doña Gertrudis grew angry:-- + +"That's nonsense, Ricardo; my illness is mortal, even if no one thinks +so; my husband won't believe it, but very soon he will be convinced of +it; I don't complain merely from habit, not at all. Ay! my dear, if you +knew how I suffer, sitting in this easy-chair!" + +It may be declared with certainty that from the day on which the priest +had invoked the nuptial blessing on Doña Gertrudis, this noble señora +had done nothing else but nurse her bodily woes and tribulations, +dragging out a petty existence amid the strangest and obscurest +ailments that were ever known. Before the birth of her eldest daughter, +Maria, she had suffered from hemorrhage and consumption. Then for +several years afterwards, until her second daughter, Marta, was born, +she complained of a terrible pain in her heart, so sharp and cruel that +many times she had fainted away. The symptoms of this disease, as +related by the patient, would fill any one with terror. Sometimes she +thought she felt her heart handled and squeezed to the last degree; at +others she thought that it was freezing, and then they had her shivering +so that all the furs and flannels which they put on her breast had not +the slightest effect, until by an abrupt transition she went into a +heated oven, where she was roasted to such a degree that her hands in +her paroxysms tore into fragments whatever garments she had on; again, +finally, she was conscious of some animal gnawing it with his teeth, and +of causing such exquisite agony that she could not refrain from +shrieking. Don Maximo, the young graduate in medicine,[16] was +absolutely nonplussed by such a pathological case, and at each visit he +prophesied the immediate death of his patient unless the remedy for +spasms which he prescribed should not instantly restore her safe and +sound. As Doña Gertrudis did not make haste to die, nor did her +extraordinary malady disappear, Don Maximo came to lose all faith in +her. He kept up his visits to the house, but always at his regular hour, +from which he rarely deviated even though Doña Gertrudis often sent for +him by messengers, begging him to play the old farce over again in her +sick-room. Don Maximo ended by having the greatest contempt for his +noble client's infirmities, and he went so far as to characterize them +publicly in the apothecary shop, where he was an assistant, as woman's +_cajigalinas_. The exact meaning of the word _cajigalinas_ was never +known by the public or anybody else, nor can it be decided whether it +was a private invention of Don Maximo's, or whether it was derived from +some very ancient, even some dead, language which the licentiate had +studied. The word, from its root, seems to be of Semitic origin, but I +do not venture to settle this question off-hand; let the wise men +decide. What is indubitable is that Don Maximo intended thereby to mean +something that was insignificant, mean, or of little account; and this +is enough for us to know what to make of the opinion of science in +regard to Doña Gertrudis's ills. + +After Maria's birth Doña Gertrudis's sufferings did not disappear, but +they returned in a new form. Her heart was considerably calmed down, but +instead, all the afflicted señora's muscles and tendons began to suffer +contraction, causing powerful pains, preventing her for some months from +using her limbs at all, and finally leaving her, though greatly +improved, yet obliged when she walked to lean on her husband or one of +her daughters. Don Maximo at the beginning of this new phase showed +himself preoccupied and captious to the last degree; he studied with +watchful eye all the symptoms and causes, prescribed remedies for spasms +by the gallon, made use, in a word, of all the resources which science +(that is, Don Maximo's science) offers for such emergencies, but without +reaching any satisfactory results. At length the word _cajigalinas_, of +Semitic origin, once more appeared on his lips, and from that time on he +never entered the señora's room without a slight smile of incredulity +hovering on his dark face. + +Ricardo still remained a while at Doña Gertrudis's side, and then he +left her to scour the house in search of the girls. He found Marta in +the kitchen busily engaged in making pastry for pies. + +"Where's Maria, _ma petite ménagére_?" + +"She's in her room, dressing; she'll be down soon." + +"If I disturb you in your work, I'm going; if not, I'll stay." + +"You don't disturb me, if you'll only stand out of the light a +little--there, that'll do!" + +"All right! I'll stay and learn how to make--what is it you're making?" + +"Pork pies." + +"Well, then, to make pork pies." + +The girl raised her head, smiling at her future brother-in-law, and then +she resumed her work. She was standing at a low table which, judging +from its shining surface, was meant for the operation now going on. She +wore an enormous white apron like the kitchen girls, and on her head a +cap no less white. Her great bright black eyes made a more brilliant +contrast with this costume, and so did her jetty hair. She had rolled up +the sleeves of her dress and bared a pair of soft arms, which were more +fully rounded than might have been expected at her age. Her arms bespoke +a woman in full possession of all the piquant attractions, all the +graceful curves of her sex; they were the smooth white arms of a Flemish +maiden, but solid and well-knit like those of a working-girl; they might +have served as a model for a sculptor, or to keep a room in daintiest +order. With them she rolled from side to side, on the top of the table, +a great lump of yellowish dough, manipulating it and doubling it over +and over constantly without thought of rest. The dough spread out softly +over the table because of the lard which shortened it, making a slight +noise like the rustle of silk. A few maid-servants were bustling about +the kitchen, attending to their duties. Ricardo watched the operation +for an instant without speaking, but before long he exclaimed with signs +of astonishment,-- + +"What an extraordinary thing! what an extraordinary thing!" + +The maid-servants turned their heads around. Marta likewise looked up. + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +"But child, where did you get those plump arms of yours?" + +The young girl blushed, and half-laughing, half-vexed, raised her hand +and pulled down her sleeve a little. + +"Come! will you begin now? See here, I did not tell you that you might +stay to behave like this." + +"Then I deserve the punishment of staying, though you should demand the +opposite." + +"Well, do what you please, but let me work in peace." + +"I will let you work, but I must say it never entered into my +calculations that the Señorita Marta had such arms. I knew that she was +pretty, comely, round, and solid--but how could I suspect such a +thing?... Come now, I tell you that no one would believe it without the +evidence of his eyes." + +The servants laughed. Marta went on industriously kneading her dough, +making a gesture of resignation as one who has made up her mind to +endure a jest to the end. Ricardo kept on:-- + +"And that, too, though I have heard Maria speak of them--but vaguely.... +Her information wasn't definite. The best way in these matters, if one +wants to know about a thing, is to see for himself.... Look here, +lassie,[17] supposing one were to quarrel with you, I wouldn't answer +for the consequences!... And the beauty of it is, that their strength +doesn't injure their elegance; they are muscular but well-shaped; ... +they taper gracefully down to the wrist, which is slender and dainty. +The truth is, that all things considered, a girl only fourteen has no +right to have such arms as those!" + +Marta suspended her work and burst into a merry peal of laughter. + +"What a plague you are, child! there's no resisting you!" + +Then her face once more resumed the placid, grave expression which +characterized it, and she resumed her work, plunging again and again her +firm, rosy fists into the pliant dough. The paste kept taking different +forms under the steady pressure of the girl's small but strong hands. +Sometimes it made a thick, short roll or cylinder, which, little by +little, as it was worked over the table, kept growing longer and +slenderer; again, it assumed the fashion of a great ball, the roundness +of which Marta brought carefully to greater and greater perfection, +until she suddenly fell upon it with both hands and flattened it out; at +other times it presented the appearance of a thin sheet taking up half +of the surface of the table, and which kept spreading more and more, +until she began to double it over with repeated folds as one does with a +garment; again, she built it up like a pyramid on the slopes of which +the graceful little baker bestowed soft pats, as though she were +caressing it, but not hesitating fiercely to tear it in pieces in order +to give it immediately some new and capricious figure. When it seemed to +her that the paste was sufficiently kneaded, she cut it into a number +of lumps with a knife, and taking a wooden rolling-pin, she began to +shape them with great care. Ricardo asked timidly,-- + +"Will you let me help you, Martita?" + +"You don't know how." + +"You can tell me what to do, and under your direction it will go +first-rate." + +"Now, you flatter me! All right, I'm willing; but you must wash your +hands first." + +Nothing was left for Ricardo but to go and wash his hands. + +"That's good. Now take this rolling-pin and flatten out this lump of +dough till you make it into a thin, round piece." + +The new baker applied himself to his work with ardor; with too great +ardor, for the dough was sometimes rolled so extremely thin that it was +nothing but holes. The servants looked on with broad smiles of +admiration, while Marta kept gravely intent upon her task. In the +kitchen the atmosphere was suffocating, as it was heated by the red-hot +iron covers of the oven, and impregnated with the heavy odors of cooking +viands, which disturb and revolt the stomach when it is surfeited, but +excite and stimulate it when it is empty. + +Ricardo could not keep his tongue still a single instant. While he was +passing the rolling-pin over the dough with greater circumspection than +if he had been engaged in preparing a magic philter, he did not cease to +ask questions and make remarks of all sorts to Marta, principally in +regard to the pie which they had undertaken to make: "How many eggs did +you put in the flour? How much lard? Who taught you to make pies? How +long does it have to stay in the oven?" etc., etc. Marta gave laconic +answers, and did not lift her face to all his questions, allowing a +vague smile of condescending superiority to hover over her lips. + +"Aye! Marta, what would Manolito Lopez say, if he were to see us at this +moment?" + +"What has he to say? It's nothing to him," replied the girl, slightly +blushing. + +"Wouldn't he be jealous, to see us so near together?" + +"Why?" + +"Oh, I know! I know he's in love with you, according to what they say." + +"Why do you wish to plague me so?" + +"Lassie, everybody is talking about it; it's no invention of mine." + +"Very well; then keep it up, as you say." + +"I will, so far as I see it." + +"Come, don't be foolish!" + +Marta's tone in saying this showed some signs of vexation. It was +evident that she did not quite relish the joke. Ricardo's ground for +making it was slight enough, as is almost always the case with children; +but it was true to a certain degree. Little urchins of fourteen or +fifteen, called, in popular language, _pipiolos_, run after the small +girls of the same age; and they establish, for the most part tacitly, +certain relations with them which resemble or imitate the love affairs +of their seniors. It is said, for example, among them that Fulanito[18] +is Fulanita's sweetheart, without any reason why; and Fulanito, merely +from this fact, without Fulanita meaning much to him, goes to wait for +her, with other friends, at the schoolroom door, and follows her home, +greatly to the vexation of the tending maid; at the little parties which +are given from house to house he takes her out to dance more frequently +than the others. If he be somewhat daring, he is apt to offer her candy +in cones of gilt paper; and he passes in front of her house several +times a day, when he begins to wear new clothes or a new hat; he +manages, when he walks behind her, to speak loud and distinctly for her +to hear, and plumes himself on his clever talk; and he is quick to roll +up his sleeves for the most insignificant thing, so as to exhibit in her +presence a boldness and courage which he would not have if she were +absent; he spends the pennies which he possesses on pomade or scented +oil, and comes to mass when she is present, his hair brushed and as +shiny as a cat just out of the water; in the afternoon, when his heart +is sore because she does not take any notice of him, he follows behind +her with some of his friends, indulging in naughty words and stupid +laughter; and sometimes, coming close up to her, he pulls her by the +hair-ribbon, until, with these and other trickeries, he succeeds in +making her cry. + +Fulanita's conduct is generally of a piece. In reality she doesn't care +a fig for Fulanito; but as they say he is her sweetheart, she does all +she can to carry out the idea, and so she keeps turning her head to look +for him when she comes out of school; at the German she selects him as a +partner more times than the others; she hurries to the window when he +passes, and blushes when they joke her about him. But these +pseudo-affections are almost never lasting, and rarely become real. They +begin silently, they live their day silently, and silently they pass +away when the girl puts on long dresses. The reason for such fickleness +is very obvious. Fulanito has as yet attained the age, not of love +affairs, but of the gymnasium, _suspensos_, and sage cigars. Fulanita is +already far more perfectly developed as far as the life of the heart is +concerned, and in her inmost soul she has a profound scorn for Fulanito, +who does not know how to descant on affinity and love, is incapable of +kissing a fan fallen from the hand, and hasn't a sign of a mustache. + +Of this sort, though with slight variations, was our Marta's friendship +with Manolito Lopez. To the general causes which tend to wither and nip +in the bud such predilections must be added in this case the very slight +similarity of their characters. Manolito, though he had an expressive +and even handsome face, was mischievous, obstreperous, quarrelsome, and +saucy; one good quality was observable in him: he was not inclined to be +spiteful. Marta was placid, taciturn, and reserved; the fault which they +found with her at home was that she was somewhat obstinate. It was not +possible, therefore, to have a more complete antithesis. If this had not +been so, Marta would have come to love Manolito, for her temperament was +opposed to change not only in the furniture of her room, but in the +sentiments of her heart. + +When they had finished moulding various thin covers of pastry, Marta +went to work to put some of them on top of others in copper +baking-dishes, which made the bottom of the pie. Then one of the maids +put in the pork, neatly trimmed and cut into small bits. The lard, well +seasoned with spices, exhaled a stimulating, appetizing odor, which made +the mouth water. When once the bits were laid on the bottom crust in the +most accurate order, the girl went to spreading new covers of pastry +which she laid over the pork. Ricardo no longer helped her; he was +evidently tired of it. But when it came to making the ornaments for the +top, he once more hastened to offer his services, and he took great +delight in designing in the dough a thousand kinds of mosaics, +arabesques, and figures of every species that was ever seen. Marta put +an end to such dilettante labors by taking the pastry from his hand, for +he was never done. When the pie was made, the girl herself put it in the +oven, and following a pious custom traditional in that part of the +country, she made the sign of the cross over it, and repeated a Pater +Noster so as to obtain a happy result. + +"Do you know one thing, Martita?" + +"What is that?" + +"That kitchen odors and the labor on these pies have given me an +abnormal appetite!" + +"Really?" + +"It's the honest truth!" + +"Then see here; something to eat will cure it. Come with me." + +And she drew him to the dining-room near by and seated him at the table. +Then she took out of a sideboard a napkin, bread, wine, a plate of cold +turkey, and a jar of preserves, and put them down one after the other +with the carefulness and system which characterized all her movements. + +"Eat, Señor Marqués, eat." + +To call Ricardo "Señor Marqués" was one of the most audacious jests +which Marta allowed herself to indulge in toward her future brother. It +was not in accordance with her nature to make jokes and epigrams about +any one. Those that occasionally came from her lips were meant to +disguise a tenderness which her reserved nature prevented her from +showing openly to any one, even to her own sister. + +Ricardo proceeded to despatch a slice of turkey with all solemnity, +occasionally washing it down with draughts of Valdepeñas, while the +girl, smiling and happy, stood enjoying her friend's voracious appetite, +and looking out to fill his glass with wine and change his plate when +there was need. + +"You are a fine woman, Martita," said Ricardo, with his mouth full. +"You're worth your weight in gold, and certainly you would not weigh a +little, judging by the signs which I won't mention for fear you would +call me a bore. When I see Manolito Lopez, I shall tell him not to think +of any other woman if he wants to get fat and plump; and that's what he +very much needs. If you take such good care of me, what care you would +take of him!--That's enough, that's enough, Martita! don't give me so +much preserve. One would think that you wanted to give me dyspepsia +here, on the sly.--This turkey is excellent; it deserves the honors +which I have done it;--a little more wine, please!--" + +Marta poured out the wine, and looked at him out of her great, calm +eyes, in which gleamed an evanescent smile of comfortable satisfaction. +It seemed as if it were she who was feasting. + +"See here, lassie[19]! do me the favor to eat something too, because it +grieves me to see you so abstemious. I should think you were being +punished." + +The girl was not hungry, and she refused to take the plate which Ricardo +offered her. However, she cut a small piece of bread, and began to +devour it solemnly with her little white teeth. + +"I prophesy that it won't be long before you dispose of this saucer of +preserve, Martita. The thing is to begin. The worst of it is, it's now +twelve o'clock, and at dinner-time I shan't have any appetite.--Yet I +don't know how far that's certain, for my stomach is a good +one!--Martita, don't be foolish, but eat this preserve, which you will +find appetizing." + +While Ricardo was bringing his task of feasting and chattering to an +end, Genoveva came into the dining-room, saying,-- + +"The Señorita Maria has a little headache and is resting in her room." + +"I'll go to her," cried Marta, hurrying away. + +"And I bring you this message from her, señorito," added the maid, +handing him a note. + +But seeing that the young man was about to break the seal, she said,-- + +"The señorita wanted you not to read it till after you had left the +house." + +"Very good," muttered Ricardo, somewhat disturbed. + +And taking his hat, and without saying farewell to any one, he hurried +home devoured by impatience, and tearing open the envelope with +trembling hand, he read the following letter:-- + + * * * * * + + "MI QUERIDÍSIMO RICARDO,-- + +"For some time I have been anxious to tell you a thought that has filled +my mind, but I have not had the courage. I know your nature well: you +are extremely impetuous, and thus many times, instead of reflecting on +my words and trying to understand their meaning, you would flare up like +gunpowder, spoil everything, and frighten me terribly, as on the evening +when we celebrated mamma's fête-day. Accordingly, after much +vacillation, I have decided to tell you by letter and not by word of +mouth. + +"The thought that disturbs me of late is to ask you to postpone our +wedding still a little longer. Don't get angry, Ricardo mio, and read on +calmly. I am sure that the first thought that will occur to your mind is +that I don't love you. How mistaken you would be to think such a thing! +If you could read in my soul, you would see that love holds my +conscience in its sway, and this I deplore bitterly. But that is not the +question now. + +"Are you sure, Ricardo, that you and I are properly trained to enter +upon a state which entails so many and such serious responsibilities? +Have you thought well of what the sacrament of marriage means? Is there +not in our hearts rather an unreflecting inclination, mixed, perhaps, +with carnal impulses, than a serious desire to undertake an austere, +religious life, becoming in a Christian family, educating our children +in the fear of God and in the practice of virtue? If you reflect a +little on how frivolous hitherto our love has been, and on the sins +which we are constantly committing, you cannot but agree with me that +two young people, so wanting in gravity and genuine virtue, are not +authorized by God to bring up and direct a family. I should feel a great +smiting of the conscience if I were married now (and you ought to feel +the same), and I believe that God could not bless or make our union +happy. If it is to be blessed, we must make ourselves worthy of +celebrating it, by leaving forever behind us our frivolous, worldly +manner of loving, for another, more lofty and spiritual, by refraining +absolutely from certain earthly manifestations to which we are impelled +by our great love, and by making preparations for it, during a few +months at least, by a virtuous and devout life, by performing a few +sacrifices and works of charity, and by constantly imploring God to +illumine our minds, and give us power to fulfil the duties imposed upon +us by the new state. + +"There is an example in history which ought to encourage us greatly in +doing what I propose. The beloved Saint Isabel of Hungary had been +betrothed from early youth to the Duke Luis of Thuringen, but the +nuptials were not celebrated until both reached the proper age. After +the betrothal was celebrated, Isabel and Luis did not separate, but +lived in the same palace, as though they had been brother and sister, +until, by the will of God, they became husband and wife. The pious +sentiments of the lovers, together with the austere education which was +given them, made their affection always pure and upright, founding the +unchangeable union of their hearts, not on the ephemeral sentiments of a +purely human attraction, but on a common faith and the stern observance +of all the virtues inculcated by this faith. Until they were united by +the indissoluble bond of matrimony, they always called each other +brother and sister; and even after they were married, they frequently +used to apply this sweet name to each other. + +"I confess, Ricardo, that the spectacle of those noble and holy young +people has an unspeakable attraction for me. Love sanctified in such a +way is a thousand times more beautiful, and bestows upon the heart purer +and loftier pleasures. Why should we not follow, as far as possible, the +steps of that illustrious husband and wife, the pattern of abnegation +and tenderness, as well as of purity and fidelity? Why should you not +imitate, my beloved Ricardo, the stern virtue of the young Duke of +Thuringen, the nobleness and dignity of all his actions, the innocence +and modesty of his soul, never found guilty of falsehood,--virtues which +in no respect were opposed to the valor and boldness of which he always +gave eminent proofs? For my part, I promise you to imitate, according to +the measure of my feeble strength, the tenderness, the obedience, and +the faithfulness of his saintly spouse Isabel, living subject to the law +of God, within the affection which I profess for you. + +"This is what I propose to you, and desire to do. Don't get angry, for +God's sake, dear Ricardo; reflect over what I have just said, and you +will see how right I am. Doubt not that I love you much, much,--I, who +am, for the time being, + + "Your sister, + + "MARIA." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ROAD TO PERFECTION. + + +The letter which we have just read led to a very important crisis in the +lives of our lovers. Ricardo at first was furious, and wrote a long +answer to his betrothed, announcing the end of their acquaintance, but +he did not send it. Then he held a consultation with her in which he +overwhelmed her with recriminations and insults, saving that all she had +written in her letter was nothing but a tissue of follies and +absurdities, manufactured on purpose to hide her treachery; that she +might have dismissed him in some way not so grotesque; that although he +had no claim upon her love, at least he might and ought to demand the +frankness and loyalty which he had always shown; that for a long time +back he had noticed her coldness and indifference, but he could never +have believed that she would make use of a pretext so ridiculous and so +absurd for breaking the tie that united them, etc., etc. Maria received +this storm of contumely with great humility, assuring him with gentle +words of persuasion, when he left her a moment's chance to speak, that +she still loved him with all her soul; that he might put her love to the +test as often as he pleased, since she was ready to make whatever +sacrifice he demanded, except what went against her conscience; that his +suspicions of her untruth and treachery cut her to the heart, but she +forgave him because she was aware of his excited state of mind; that she +likewise felt it keenly that he should call the motives of her +resolution grotesque and ridiculous when she found them so worthy; and, +in fine, that she begged him to calm himself. + +After the young marquis had thoroughly vented his ill feeling without +result, he began to get off of his high horse and try the effect of +skilful reasoning, and then he changed to entreaties, but without any +better results. He employed all the device of genius and all the tender +and expressive words dictated by his honorable heart, in order to +convince her that neither of them was fortunately under the necessity of +mourning for their sins like two criminals; since if they were not +better than the average of humanity, they were at least as good; and as +for their skill and judgment in governing themselves and their children +in matrimony, he believed that they were no less fitted than the rest, +and that in the end they would come out as well as other people. All was +useless. The young woman met argument with argument, and her lover's +prayers, sprinkled with endearments, with a firm and obstinate silence. +Ricardo, in a state of tribulation which Father Rivadeneira does not +take account of as a matter of merit in his treatise, went straight to +Don Mariano, whom he loved like a father, to tell him the state of +things, and ask his aid and advice. The latter was highly surprised and +disturbed when he read his daughter's letter. He read it over many times +as though he could not get the key of it, and at each new reading he +found it more obscure and inexplicable. Finally he handed it back with a +gesture of dismay, signifying that his daughter must have lost her wits, +for he could not understand any such nonsense. + +In point of fact, Don Mariano was a sincere believer, fulfilling +scrupulously the moral precepts of religion, but he looked upon the +things which relate to worship with some coolness, if not with scorn. He +had never doubted the religious truths learned in his childhood, but he +had never made much account of masses and sermons, and he never went to +church more than was strictly necessary. He could make a distinction, +when these subjects were up for discussion, between religion and the +priest, professing for these latter a decided Voltairian hostility, +which came from inheritance, according to Doña Gertrudis, since his +grandfather, the Mexican, had kept up friendly relations and a +voluminous correspondence with a member of the French Convention. He had +an insuperable faith in modern progress, and he made use of the +inventions constantly realized by human industry, in order to combat and +crush the fragile arguments of his constant enemies, the partisans of +tradition, among whom not the least obstinate and vexatious was his +wife. If, for example, a telegram from any relation or friend was +received in the house, Don Mariano, after reading it, would hold it out +to his wife with a triumphal smile, saying,-- + +"Here, this miserable modern invention brings us word that your brother +has reached Paris safely." + +He delighted in making humorous conjectures on the fright that would +seize our forefathers if they were suddenly put in a railroad car, or +were told that they could communicate whenever they pleased with a +friend residing in Havana. Whenever he found in the papers a notice of +any wonderful invention, the audacious man hastened to read it to his +wife, and he kept the paper so as to read it also to the many +conservatives who frequented his house. If the invention was not costly, +he had the machine sent him, although it was not of the slightest use to +him; and so he kept the house stored with curious manufactures, almost +all of them covered with dust, and out of order by want of +use,--ice-making machines, churns, cider-mills, organs, etc., parlor +telegraphs, stereopticons, pans for cooking meat with a piece of paper, +life-preservers, canes with chairs and guns, waterproof umbrellas with +tent arrangement, and an endless array of strange articles. When the +machine did not work, Don Mariano was disgusted and felt humiliated, and +fearing lest the glory of modern science should be diminished in +consequence, he did not speak of the apparatus before his señora; or if +he were obliged to do so, he escaped the difficulty on a tangent, as he +used to say, by always attributing the unfortunate result to his own +stupidity, and not the quality of the machine. This eager love which he +professed for the incredible advances of the present age, and the +struggle which he waged both in his house and out of it with the friends +of tradition, occasionally impelled him to employ forbidden weapons, as +for example to exaggerate the power of modern industry, giving +fictitious accounts of the beginning of stupendous new enterprises which +had never as yet entered into the mind of man. One day he startled his +friends by assuring them that it was seriously intended to establish a +floating bridge between Europe and America, over which one could travel +by rail to the New World; another time he astonished them by declaring +that a telescope was in construction, which would bring the moon within +half a league of the earth, so that we could discover whether that +satellite had inhabitants. Again, he filled them with wonder by +informing them that in the United States a whole cathedral had been +moved at once from one town to another by means of hydraulic pressure. +In regard to mechanical advances, Don Mariano had more imagination than +Shakespeare. National politics engaged his attention little in +comparison with the incessant and sublime progress realized by humanity, +and he detested the exaggerations which in his view tended to hinder it. +His affiliations were with the liberal conservative party. + +With these peculiarities, it is easy to imagine the effect made upon him +by his daughter's letter. He looked upon it as one of those many +extravagant hobbies which she had passed through in her life, and he +solemnly promised Ricardo to make her desist from such folly. But after +he had called her to his room and spent about two hours closeted with +her, he began to suspect that the thing was not so easy as it appeared +at first sight. Neither by turning her austere plan into ridicule by his +jests, nor by showing that he was annoyed, nor by descending to +entreaties, was our worthy caballero able to accomplish anything. Maria +met these attacks like her lover's, with a humble but resolute attitude +impossible to overcome. No other way was left them but to resign +themselves, and this they both did perforce with the secret hope that +the girl would very soon change of her own accord when once her caprice +was satisfied. Accordingly the wedding was indefinitely postponed, and +poor Ricardo began to play his part as Duke of Thuringen almost as ill +as a Spanish actor. From that time forth his interviews with Maria +became less frequent and familiar. The girl seemed to shun him and to +avoid opportunities of talking confidentially with him as she used. +Ricardo eagerly sought them, sometimes employing them in bitter +expostulations, at others in softly whispering a thousand passionate +phrases. She always appeared sweet and affectionate, but endeavored to +turn the conversation to serious subjects. Ricardo still caressed her +whenever he had an opportunity, but he no longer obtained from her the +usual reciprocation in spite of the incredible efforts which he made to +obtain it. And not only he did not obtain this grace, but little by +little the girl came to avoid his familiarities by always talking with +him in the presence of others. One day when he found her alone in the +dining-room, he said to himself with inward delight, "She is mine." And +creeping up behind her carefully, he gave her a ringing kiss on her +neck. Maria sprang suddenly from her chair and said, with a certain +sweetness not free from severity,-- + +"Ricardo, don't do that again!" + +"Why not?" + +"Because I don't like it." + +"How long since?" + +"I never did; don't be foolish." She said these words with asperity, and +another unpleasant stage in Ricardo's love was signalized. Almost +absolutely ceased those happy moments of fond raptures, sweet and +delicious as the pleasures of the angels in which the poesy of spirit +and matter is indistinguishable, the prospect of which kindles and stirs +the deepest roots of our being, and their remembrance throws over all +our lives, even for the most prosaic of men, a vague and poetical +melancholy helping us to endure the rebuffs of existence and to +contemplate without envy the felicity of others. The most that the young +marquis obtained grudgingly from his sweetheart was the permission to +give her a brotherly kiss on the forehead from time to time. And there +is no need of telling my experienced readers, for they must be able to +imagine it, that with this enforced fast the young man's love far from +growing less, increased and became violent beyond all power of words. + +Maria was able fully to devote herself to the life of perfection toward +which she had felt such vehement aspiration. The hours of the day seemed +to her too few for her prayers, both at church and at home, and for the +repentance of her sins. She attended the sacraments more and more, and +she was present and assisted with her sympathy and money in all the +religious solemnities which were celebrated in the town. The time left +free from her prayers she spent in reading books of devotion, which, in +a short time, formed a library almost as numerous as her novels. The +lives of the saints pleased her above all, and she soon devoured a +multitude of them, paying most attention, as was logical, to the lives +of those who reached the greatest glory and brought the greatest +splendor to the Church,--the life of Saint Teresa, that of Saint +Catalina of Sienna, of Saint Gertrudis, of Saint Isabel, Saint Eulalia, +Saint Monica, and many others who, without having been canonized, were +celebrated for their piety and for the spiritual graces which God +bestowed upon them, like the holy Margarita of Alacoque, Mademoiselle de +Melun, and others. These works made a very profound impression on our +young lady's ardent and enthusiastic mind, driving her farther and +farther along the road to perfection. The incredible and marvellous +powers of those heroic souls, who, through love and charity, succeeded +in lifting themselves to heaven, and in enjoying through anticipation, +while still on earth, the delights reserved for the blessed, filled her +with deep, fervent admiration. She felt an ecstasy over the most +insignificant incidents in the lives of the saints, where God often +showed them that He held them as His chosen ones, and would not let the +world entice them away, as, for example, the scene of the miraculous +toad which Saint Teresa saw talking in the garden with a caballero +toward whom she felt a drawing; the sudden death of Buenaventura, Saint +Catalina's sister, who was leading that holy woman along the worldly +path of bodily adornments and pleasures; and many others which filled +the books aforesaid. Maria regarded these notable heroines of religion +with the same emotion and astonishment as one regards the phenomena and +marvels of nature. A long time passed before she dared to lift her eyes +toward them in the way of imitation; she contented herself with +beseeching them, through interminable prayers, to intercede with God to +pardon her sins. She bought the finest effigies that she found and, when +she had caused them to be richly framed, she hung them up on the walls +of her room. To do this she had to take down Malec-Kadel and many other +warriors of the Middle Ages which had invaded them. She was especially +carried away by the scenes of their infancy, and by the first steps +which these blessed women had taken along the road to perfection; but +when she reached that part of their lives which marked the apogee of +their glory on earth, when God, overcome by their steadfast love, their +fidelity, and the wonderful penances imposed upon themselves, began to +grant them favors and spiritual gifts by means of ecstasies and visions, +she remained somewhat disturbed and even cast down. She did not as yet +comprehend the mystic delight of direct communication through the senses +between the soul and God, and she confessed with great compunction that +if one of these miraculous visions were to be vouchsafed her, she should +feel much greater fear than pleasure. + +Nevertheless, before long, the desire to imitate them sprang up in her +heart. It is always a short step from admiration to imitation. She +began where it was proper, that is, by imitating their humility. +Hitherto she had been modest, but not to such a degree as not to enjoy +being flattered and applauded; but from this time forth she not only +carefully avoided all praise, but she repelled those who offered it, and +even tried to hide her talents so as to give her friends no chance to +praise her. She began to talk as little as possible with friends or +members of the family, and to do on the instant whatever they asked her +to, lamenting in her heart that they did not give her harsh commands. +She managed to have the servants help her at table after all the rest, +and always give her stale bread instead of fresh. To conquer the natural +impulses of selfishness she showed those who had offended her more +affability than others, and any one had only to offend her pride more or +less for her immediately to overwhelm them with attentions, as though +she owed them gratitude. On the other hand, to those who, as she knew, +loved and admired her, she took delight in seeming peevish, so that they +might not think her better than she really was. + +Having started out on this pious path, which has been travelled by all +the saints for the glory of God and of the human race, since the virtue +of humility raises man above his own nature, conquering the passions +deepest rooted in the human heart, and, of all virtues is the one that +best proves the power of the spirit, and inspires respect even in the +most unbelieving of men; having started out, I say on this pious path, +and being aided by vivid imagination, she performed a number of strange +deeds, wellnigh incomprehensible to those whose attention is turned to +the world and not to religious things, deeds which the illustrious +biographers of Saint Isabel calls _secret_ and _holy fancies_,[20] +serving as the mystic steps whereby the soul mounts to perfection and +communicates with God. One day, for example, it came into her mind to +eat humbly with the servants as though she were one of them. In order to +do this, when dinner-time came, she pretended to have a headache, and +kept in her chamber; but when the family were gathered in the +dining-room, she softly ran down stairs to the kitchen, and there she +stayed all through the dinner-hour, helping herself to the remains of +the food, to the surprise and admiration of the servants. Another day, +when it seemed to her that she had not answered her father with +sufficient respect, she suddenly presented herself in his office, fell +on her knees, and begged his pardon. Don Mariano lifted her from the +floor, with startled eyes:-- + +"But, my daughter, suppose you have not offended me or committed any +fault? And even if you had, there is no need of going to these extremes. +What nonsense! Come, give me a kiss, and go and sew with your sister, +and don't frighten me again with such absurdities!" + +Maria did not meet with the contrarieties in the bosom of her family +that she would have liked, in the way of test. Her father and sister, +though they did not encourage her in her devotions, said nothing to +oppose her; and each day they showed her more and more affection, which +was the natural consequence of the growing sweetness and gentleness of +her character. Her mother adored her with foolish frenzy, blindly +applauded all her acts of piety, and never wearied of praising to the +skies the virtue and talent of her first-born. The servants, and +particularly Genoveva, likewise joined their voices in a chorus of +flatteries, spreading all over town the fame of her virtues, and +crowning her with a halo of respect and sanctity. As far as such things +influenced her salvation, our maiden would have preferred a cruel, +tyrannical father, who laid harsh commands upon her, or a disagreeable +mother or an envious sister, who would not let her live in peace, since, +according to the biographies which she read, no saint had been free from +suffering persecutions in her own family. She grieved inwardly at the +ease and comfort which she enjoyed at home, and she thought that she +suffered nothing for the God who had redeemed us with His blood. She +would have liked it had a calumny been breathed about her, such as +Palmerina caused Saint Catalina of Sienna to suffer, so that she might +be scorned and maltreated; but no one in the house or out of it dreamed +of doing such a thing. + +To compensate for this absence of persecutions, she mortified her flesh +with fasting and penances, always performing those which were most +unpleasant to her. Some dish on the table was distasteful to her; then +she imposed upon herself the penance of eating it, leaving others, of +which she was extremely fond, untouched. She went so far as to put aloes +in some, in imitation of what was done by Saint Nicolas of Tolentino. On +Fridays she fasted rigorously on bread and water, performing miracles of +shrewdness to prevent her father from discovering it; for she felt +certain that if he knew it, he would not give his consent. + +She always wore a locket around her neck, containing the picture of her +betrothed. One day, when he had succeeded in having a moment's +conversation alone with her, she said to him,-- + +"Listen, Ricardo; if you would not be vexed, I would tell you +something." + +"What is it?" hastily asked the young man, with the sudden alarm of one +who is always afraid of some misfortune. + +"I see that I am going to offend you--but I will tell you. I have taken +your picture out of the locket." + +Ricardo's face expressed amazement. + +"And the worst is, that I have put another in its place." + +The expression of amazement changed into one of such pain, that Maria, +on looking in his contracted and grief-stricken face, could not refrain +from breaking out into a fresh, ringing peal of merry laughter, such as +in former times used to ripple from her lips all the time, and which +little by little had decreased, as though the fire of light and joy from +which they came had died down. + +"Good Heavens! what a long face!--Wait! Now I'll show your substitute, +so as to make you suffer more." + +And taking the locket from her neck she showed it to him. It held the +effigy of Jesus crowned with thorns. Ricardo, half satisfied and half +vexed, answered with a smile. + +"Now kiss it!" + +The young man obeyed instantly, placing his lips on the picture of the +Lord, and at the same time touching the rosy fingers which held it out +to him. Maria withdrew them and ran away. + +Equally as she schooled herself in humility, so she gave much heed to +that other virtue, which is, so to speak, the foundation of our religion +and the chief crown of glory that the creature can offer to God,--the +virtue of charity. Our maiden's excellent heart and the example of her +parents were sufficient reason for her to alleviate as far as possible +the miseries of her neighbors, but beside this there was now the +continual inducement in the incredible powers of abnegation and charity +shown by the saints, whom she worshipped with the greatest fervor, +particularly the holy Duchess of Thuringen, who bore the name of Mother +of the Poor. And so she visited her compassion on all the wretched, and +lost no opportunity to supply their needs with lavish hand. All the +money which her father gave her she employed in almsgiving. In company +with Genoveva she visited the houses of many poor people, whom she +assisted not only with money but also with words of council, on the +ground that man lives not by bread alone. In order to school herself in +humility in the same way that was practised by Margaret, the sainted +queen of Scotland, she had some beggars come secretly to her room, and +washed their feet with the greatest scrupulousness. Each one of these +pious deeds filled her with a holy inward joy such as she had never +before experienced. She took up the habit of never allowing any poor +person who asked alms to go without receiving them, since in addition to +the dictates of her heart she remembered the multitude of cases in which +our Lord or the Virgin had appeared to many saints in the disguise of +beggars. Her desire, mixed with fear, that something of this sort might +happen in her case, impelled her to scrutinize with considerable care +the faces of the poor. But as her own resources did not suffice for her +attention to such numerous charities, she had to scheme in order to +obtain money from her father, using a thousand innocent devices: one day +asking it for a parasol, another for a clock, another for a case of +scissors, etc., etc. She went to such extremes, however, that Don +Mariano began to suspect the truth, and put a limit to his munificence. +His daughter had impoverished him with the greatest innocence. + +Carried away by her ardent charity, she likewise wanted to put herself +to the test by caring for the sick; above all, for those who were +suffering from disgusting diseases. She heard that a woman near her +house was suffering from a sore breast, and she made the resolution to +go every morning and dress it, and this she instantly put into practice; +but at the very first visit, wishing to add what she had read in the +history of Saint Catalina, that is, wishing to kiss the sick woman's +sore, the loathing and horror which overcame her were so great that she +grew faint, became very ill, and Genoveva had to take her in her arms +and carry her home. + +The poor girl attributed her misfortune not to the feebleness of her +stomach, but to her lack of virtue, and she applied herself with +increased anxiety to better her life. + +Genoveva took part in all these exercises of piety, but rather as her +companion and confidential friend than as her maid. She aided her, +oftentimes without understanding where she was going to stop, absolutely +persuaded that she could not go on the wrong track, for she had blind +faith in her señorita's discretion. It was not so much affection which +she felt for her, as a species of idolatry in which was mingled +admiration for her beauty, respect for her talent, and pride in having +seen the birth of a prodigy in the creation of which she had had a +share. Maria was unable to arouse in her the mystic enthusiasm which +possessed herself, for Genoveva was not of an inflammable nature, and a +supine ignorance shielded her from all sorts of enthusiasms; but she +succeeded through her acts and religious discourses in awakening in her +the fanaticism which is always dormant in the depths of vulgar, ignorant +souls. + +One night after Maria had retired from the family circle, and Genoveva +had left the kitchen, they found themselves in the boudoir in the tower. +Maria was reading by the light of her polished iron lamp,[21] while +Genoveva was seated in another chair in front of her, engaged in +knitting stockings. They often spent an hour or two in this way before +going to bed, since the señorita was accustomed of old to read till the +small hours of the night. + +She did not seem so absorbed in her reading as usual. She often laid the +book on the table and remained a long while thoughtful, with her cheek +resting in her hand: then she took it up again, only to lay it down very +hastily; she was nervous, judging by the creaking of the chair. From +time to time she fastened a long gaze on Genoveva in which gleamed a +timid, restless desire and a sort of inner struggle with some thought +preoccupying her. Genoveva, on the other hand, was more than ever +absorbed in her stocking, doubtless mixing with her stitches a crowd of +more or less philosophical considerations which obliged her, from time +to time, to lean forward towards her hands just as if she were asleep. + +At last the señorita decided to break the silence. + +"Genoveva, don't you want to read this passage from the life of Saint +Isabel?" she asked, handing her the book. + +"With all my heart,[22] señorita." + +"Look here where it says: 'When her husband.'" + +Genoveva began to read the paragraph to herself, but very soon Maria +interrupted her, saying,-- + +"No, no; read it aloud!" + +Whereupon she obeyed, reading what follows:-- + +_"When her husband was absent, she spent the whole night watching with +Jesus, the spouse of her soul. But the penances which the innocent young +princess imposed upon herself were not limited to this alone. Under her +most splendid garments she always wore a haircloth cilicium next her +flesh. Every Friday she let herself be severely whipped in secret in +memory of the dolorous passion of our Lord, and daily during Lent (in +order, says a biographer, to requite the Lord in some measure for the +punishment of the lash), coming thereafter to Court, her face full of +joy and serenity. As time went on she carried this austerity into the +small hours of the night, and entering into an apartment next the +chamber where she slept with her husband, she caused her damsels to +inflict a severe scourging upon her, thence returning to her husband's +side more joyful and amiable than ever, having gained comfort from these +severities practised on herself and against her own weakness. Thus it +was, as a contemporary poet says, she succeeded in drawing near to God +and breaking the bonds of the prison of the flesh like a brave warrior +of the love of the Lord."_ + +"That'll do; don't read any more; what do you think about it?" + +"I have often read that same thing before." + +"That's true; but what should you think if I decided to do the same?" +she asked impetuously, like one who determines to propose something long +thought about. + +Genoveva stared at her with wide-open eyes, failing to understand her. + +"Don't you understand?" + +"No, señorita." + +Maria got up, and throwing her arms around her neck, she whispered, her +face aflame,-- + +"I mean, silly one,[23] that if you would be willing to do the office of +Saint Isabel's damsels, I would imitate the saint to-night." + +Genoveva vaguely understood, but still she asked,-- + +"What office?" + +"Oh! you stupid and more than stupid, that of giving me a few blows with +the lash in memory of those which our Lord received, and all the saints +in example of him." + +"Señorita, what are you saying? How did such a thing ever enter into +your head?" + +"It entered my head because I wish to mortify and humiliate myself at +one and the same time. That is the true penance and the most pleasing in +the eyes of the Lord, for the reason that he himself suffered it for us. +I intended to inflict it upon myself, but I could not; and besides, it +is not so efficacious as to suffer the humiliation of receiving it from +the hands of another. And so you won't be willing to do this for me?" + +"No, Señorita, not for anything. I couldn't do it--" + +"Why not, _tonta_? Don't you see that it is for my good? If I should +fail of freeing myself from a few days of purgatory because I did not do +what I ask you, wouldn't you feel remorse?" + +"But, my heart's dove,[24] how could you want me to maltreat you even +though it were for your good?" + +"Why, you have nothing left but to do it because it is a vow, and I must +fulfil it; you have helped me hitherto in the road to virtue. Don't +abandon me when I least expect it. You won't, Genovita? You won't, will +you?" + +"Señorita, for God's sake don't make me do this!" + +"Come, Genovita, I beg of you by the love that you bear me--" + +"No! no! no! don't ask me to do it--" + +"Come, you old darling,[25] do this favor for me. You don't know how bad +I shall feel if you don't do it. I shall believe that you have ceased to +love me." + +Maria exhausted all the resources of her genius to convince her. She sat +on her lap and overwhelmed her with caresses; she fondled her, now +getting vexed, now entreating her, and always fixing her eyes upon her +in a wheedling way impossible to resist. She was like a child asking for +a forbidden toy. When she saw that her maid was softening a little, or +rather was very tired of refusing, she said, with fascinating +volubility:-- + +"Truly, _tonta_, don't believe that it is a thing of such great +consequence. A bad toothache is much worse, and you know that I have had +them often enough. Your imagination makes you think that it is terrible, +when in reality it is a trifling thing. It all comes from the fact that +it isn't done nowadays because virtue is vanished from the world, but in +the good old times of religion it was a common, every-day occurrence, +and no one who claimed to be a good Christian failed to perform this +penance. Come, make up your mind to grant me this favor, and at the same +time to do a good work.--Wait a moment, I will find what we need--" + +And running to the bureau, she opened a drawer, and took out a scourge, +a genuine scourge, with round wooden handle and leather cords. Then, all +excited and nervous, with her cheeks on fire, she brought it to +Genoveva, and thrust it into her hand. She took it mechanically, without +knowing what she did. She was perfectly stupefied. The girl began to +caress her again, encouraging her with persuasive accents; but she did +not answer a word. Then the Señorita de Elorza, with trembling hand, +began to unloose the blue silk dress which she wore. On her face glowed +the excited, anxious joy of a caprice about to be gratified. Her eyes +shone with unwonted light, hinting at keen, mysterious joys; her lips +were dry, as one athirst; the violet circle around her eyes was larger +than usual, and bright crimson spots burned in her cheeks. She breathed +excitedly through her nostrils, which were more than ordinarily dilated. +Her white, aristocratic hands, with their slender fingers and rosy +nails, loosed with strange haste the buttons of her dress. With a quick +movement she freed herself from it. + +"You shall see; I have on only my chemise and underwaist. I am all +ready." + +In truth, she took off, or rather tore off, her underwaist and a skirt +or two, and was left only in her chemise. She stood an instant, glanced +at the instrument in Genoveva's hand, and over her body ran a tremor of +chill, of pleasure, of anguish, of terror, and of eagerness, all at +once. In a low voice, changed by emotion, she said, "Papa must not know +this." + +And her linen chemise slipped down on her body, catching for an instant +on her hips, and then falling slowly to the floor. She was now entirely +naked. Genoveva looked at her with ecstatic eyes, and the girl felt +somewhat abashed. + +"You won't be angry with me, Genovita?" she asked, smiling. + +The serving woman could only say,-- + +"Señorita, for God's sake!" + +"The sooner, the better, for I shall get cold." + +In this way she wished to bring still greater pressure to bear on her +servant. With a nervous movement she snatched the scourge from her left +hand, thrust it into her right; again threw her arms around her neck, +and giving her a kiss, whispered very softly, in a joyous tone,-- + +"You must ply it vigorously, for so I have promised God." + +A violent trembling took possession of her body, as she said these +words; but it was a delicious trembling, which penetrated to the very +depths of her being. Then, taking Genoveva by the hand, she pulled her +toward the table where the Saviour's image stood. + +"Here it must be,--kneeling before our Lord." + +Her voice choked in her throat. She was pale. She bent humbly before the +image, rapidly made the sign of the cross, folded her hands over her +breast, and turning her face toward her maid, said, with a sweet +smile,-- + +"Now you can begin." + +"Señorita, for God's sake!" exclaimed Genoveva, in perfect trepidation. + +Through the señorita's eyes flashed a gleam of anger, which instantly +died away; but she said, in a tone of considerable irritation:-- + +"Do we believe in this? Obey me, and don't be obstinate." + +The woman, overawed, and persuaded that she was aiding in a work of +piety, obeyed, laying the scourge gently enough on the señorita's naked +shoulders. + +The first blows struck by the maid were so soft and gentle that they +left no sign on that precious skin. But Maria was excited; she desired +them to be heavier:-- + +"No, not like that; but with force--but wait a moment; let me take off +these jewels, which are out of place at such a moment." + +And hastily she tore off all the rings from her fingers, pulled out her +earrings, and laid the handful of gold and precious stones at the feet +of Jesus. In that same way Saint Isabel, when she prayed in church, laid +her ducal crown at the foot of the altar. + +She resumed her humble posture, and Genoveva, seeing that there was no +escape, began relentlessly to bruise her pious mistress's flesh. The +lamp shed a soft, diffused light, bathing the little boudoir in subdued +brilliancy; only as it touched the jewels lying at the Redeemer's feet, +it broke into beautiful fleeting sparkles. The silence at this moment +was absolute; not even the mournful voice of the wind in the casements +was to be heard. The room breathed an atmosphere of mystery and +seclusion, which enraptured Maria and filled her with an intoxicating +pleasure. Her lovely body, bared, shuddered every time that the straps +of the scourge curled around it with a pang not without voluptuous +pleasure. She pressed her brow to the Redeemer's feet, breathing quickly +and with a certain oppression, and she felt the blood beating in her +temples with strange violence, while the light golden hair at the back +of the neck rose slightly under the impulse of the emotion which filled +her. From time to time her pale, trembling lips said softly,-- + +"Go on, go on." + +The lashes had already raised many rose-colored weals in her shining +skin, and she did not ask for a truce. But at last the barbarous +instrument brought a drop of blood. Genoveva could not restrain herself; +she threw the scourge far from her, and hastened to embrace her +señorita, covering her with caresses and begging her by the salvation +of her soul not to make her do such an atrocious thing again. Maria +consoled her, assuring her that the flagellation had hurt her very +little; and now that her ardor was somewhat cooled, and her ascetic +impulses calmed, she said good night and went to her bedroom to lie +down. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN SEARCH OF MENINO. + + +"I know it's you, Ricardo; let me go!" + +Ricardo did not reply. + +"Come, let me go; you see I must hurry and carry the broth to mamma." + +Ricardo still blinded her eyes from behind without saying a word. + +"For pity's sake let me go, Ricardo! It isn't fair, after I have told +who you were." + +"In punishment for your not taking the joke gracefully, I won't let you +go," said Ricardo, still clasping her eyes. + +"All right, then; I admit that it's perfectly fair." + +"Ah, that's another thing! if you submit, I will let you go. But you +must pay a forfeit." + +Marta, as soon as she found herself free, ran behind him with uplifted +broom, so that he could not get hold of her; thereupon she went back and +again began her task of brushing up the dining-room. She had not dressed +for the day. She wore a loose red gown somewhat the worse for wear, and +her hair was put up in a white redicilla. But there was one very strange +thing about this girl; in an old morning dress, sometimes even ripped, +and with her hair in disorder, she was prettier than when she put on her +fine clothes. It may have been because her peculiar style of beauty was +not best brought out by rich and splendid dresses as her sister's was, +or because she was not used to wearing them (for it was rare for her to +put on those which were bought for her), so that she appeared awkward +and constrained when she went out; but at all events, on the street and +at the theatre, Marta certainly attracted little attention, and remained +entirely overshadowed by her sister's proud and splendid beauty. On the +other hand, at home her graces were greatly increased; her motions were +easy and unembarrassed; her eyes gained brilliancy and animation, and +her whole body acquired a freedom which it lost as soon as she set foot +in the street. + +She swept without haste, firmly and easily, like one who always expects +to finish in time, and she kept humming a march[26] very softly. She had +no voice for singing or any great love for music, and all the exertions +of her teachers and her liking for study struggled with this lack of +musical ability. The masterpieces of music, and even the _fantasías_, +_réveries_, and nocturnes, which Maria played on the piano left her cold +and incapable of understanding their worth. On the other hand, she +confessed with shame that certain operatic airs and many popular songs +delighted her. Another thing she did not confess, though it was no less +true: the bands which sometimes accompany funerals, and are, as a +general rule, of the very worst sort, composed almost entirely of brass +instruments, moved her deeply, even to tears. She almost never sang, but +she was apt to hum softly when she was doing any work as now. From time +to time she stopped to take breath, leaning for a moment on her broom, +and after brushing back one or two curls which fell on her forehead, she +went on with her task. + +Ricardo appeared again in the door. + +"Martita, are you still vexed with me?" + +"If I am," she replied, between a frown and smile, "you had better make +your escape, señor marqués, quick, before I dust you with the +broomstick." + +"But are you really vexed?" + +"Certainly I am." + +"Very well, then; I humbly ask your pardon," said Ricardo, getting down +on his knees. "Give me all the blows you want, for I have no idea of +moving." + +"Come, get up, and don't be foolish! See how you are soiling your +trowsers!" + +"Though I should soil the very collar of my shirt, I wouldn't move until +you pardoned me!" + +"What a boor you are, Ricardo!" + +"Many thanks!" + +"Will you get up, child?" + +"No; not till you pardon me." + +"You must be serious, Ricardo!" + +"We will speak of that by and by. Do you pardon me?" + +"Yes; bother[27]! yes; get up!" + +Ricardo arose, went up to Marta, and taking her by the arms and shaking +her violently, exclaimed,-- + +"How very pretty you are, little one! I don't wonder that Manolito--Of +course you understand me." + +"This is a great way of trying to be serious!" + +"I shall be in time. Don't you worry!" + +"Very well; then let me have a chance to carry mamma's broth to her." + +"Do you know, I have searched the whole house and not found a soul?" + +"Mamma has not left her room yet, and papa and Maria are out." + +"Maria is at church as usual, isn't she?" + +"She only went to mass; she will be back soon." + +"Of course," replied the young man, becoming suddenly serious and +silent. + +Marta finished her work under her future brother's grave and not very +careful inspection. + +"Will you wait for me? I'm coming right back." + +Ricardo nodded assent; and while the girl was gone, he went to one of +the balconied windows and began to drum with his fingers on the glass, +casting a vacant, absent look at the neighboring houses. + +Marta came hurrying in again. + +"Come, go with me; I am going to put the linen away." + +Ricardo followed the girl like a lamb into a bright room full of +clothes-presses. It looked into the garden. In the centre of it was a +table on which stood a great basket heaped up with white clothes just +from the wash. + +"Will you help me take down this basket and put it there, near that +clothes-press?" + +"Why didn't you put it a little further off?" + +The basket was a huge one, and it was a tug to carry it to the place +designated: while they were carrying it, they got into such a frolic +that more than once they had to set it down. Ricardo with his efforts +grew very red in the face, and this made the girl laugh until she had no +strength left. She rarely laughed; but when the floodgates were opened, +nobody could stop it. Ricardo, with his inclination to make fun, puffed +out his cheeks and grew redder yet. All ill humor had completely +disappeared. The basket made very little progress, and both stood +bending over it and struggling with it, being unable to lift it an inch +from the ground, the one splitting with laughter, and the other +affecting a comic desperation. + +"What a valiant soldier, to be vanquished by a basket of clothes!" +exclaimed the girl, in the height of glee. + +"I should like to see Prim or Espartero or even Napoleon himself here! +This isn't a basket at all! There is linen enough here for an army!" + +"Let go, then! If you didn't make me laugh, I could lift it by myself." + +After much laughter, and no little bantering, the basket reached its +destination. Marta opened the clothes-press, from which came the +distinctive, fresh, penetrating odor of fresh linen. The girl for +several moments breathed it in with delight, while she was transferring +the pieces from one shelf to another in order to make room for the clean +clothes that she was going to put away. Then she started to call +Carmen--one of the maids--to help her, but Ricardo asked timidly,-- + +"Listen, child, couldn't I help to do it?" + +"Oh! if you would like--" + +"But it isn't for me to like. Pure gold though I were, _preciosa_, it is +for you to command me, as queen and mistress." + +"It won't do at all." + +"It's no condescension on my part; you can put me to the test." + +"Well, then, this time I command you to take the two corners of this +sheet and stretch them out in that direction hard--not so hard, man, how +you pull me! That's the way! that's the way! Now double it as I +do--so--one corner over the other--good!--now stretch it out +again--more, ever so much more--that's it! Now fold it again; pull it +out once more! There, that'll do. Now come towards me,--let me have it; +I can manage it now. Here's another. Take the two corners--shake it +well and stretch it out. Be careful, for this one has a ruffle--don't +tear it! These are mamma's and Maria's sheets." + +"How it would shock Maria if she knew I were folding her sheets!" cried +Ricardo, laughing. + +"Why, yes; the sheets themselves are. Mamma and she like very fine ones, +and have theirs made of batiste; but papa and I like them coarser. I +can't bear fine sheets; I slip about in them and can't get settled. We +are careful not to put any kind of ruffles on papa's, for the touch of +starch tries his nerves, and the rustling keeps him awake. It's a hobby +of his. Just imagine when he is travelling, and at some house they put +on sheets with trimmings, he takes the trouble to pull the bed to pieces +and put the ruffling under the mattress at his feet. I don't like them +either, but if I find them on, I put up with them. Papa has a good many +hobbies. Every night he has to go asleep with a cigar in his mouth. I +walk up and down near his room until I see that he is asleep, and then I +go in very gently and take the cigar from his mouth and put out the +light.--Don't pull so hard, for my arms ache already. The truth is, I +make you do very improper things for a military man; isn't that so?" + +"Don't you believe it! At college, and even after we left, at +boarding-houses we had to do much worse things. How many buttons have I +sewed on in my life! And how many times I have patched my trowsers when +they were worn through!" + +"Really?" + +"Certainly!" + +Marta was sincerely astonished. She could not understand that a man +should have to descend to such duties when there are so many women in +the world, and she asked particularly about his college life,--how they +were treated, what they ate, at what time they went to bed, who attended +to their rooms, who did their washing and ironing, were their mattresses +hard or soft, did they drink wine, how many times a week they gave them +clean towels, etc., etc. Ricardo answered all her questions, giving a +circumstantial account of his college habits with the fulness of one who +has very fresh recollections, and is not bored in recounting them. From +college customs he passed to his adventures, relating those which might +be told to a young girl, and amusing himself above all in painting in +the darkest colors the tribulations of freshman year[28] and the +cruelties practised upon them by the seniors,[29] who compelled them to +spend whole nights making cigarettes of sand so as to learn to make +better ones of tobacco; in the street they would make them sit down on +the stone seats and not let them get up till they gave them permission; +they seated them at table, even though they had dined, just for the fun +of the thing; those who were weakest would vomit or faint; one fellow +who ventured to rebel against a _galonista_ they kept for six months +face to face with a stone wall, during all play hours, until he was +taken ill with jaundice and almost died. One Sunday afternoon, while he +was in the hall with five other freshmen[30] reading a novel, two +seniors came in and beat them furiously with cudgels until they were +tired out, and gave him a painful cut near his eye. + +Marta listened with profound attention, showing in her face all the +phases of indignation. She pulled with greater and greater force on the +sheets, and folded them any way, without taking her eyes from the +narrator's. From time to time she exclaimed, "But, good Heavens,[31] +that is abominable! Those men are crazy; why didn't you tell the +president about such cruelties?" Ricardo could not persuade her that it +would have been useless to rebel or tell the colonel, since hazing[32] +was a traditional custom in the college which the officers did not care +to root out. To all his reasonings she replied, "Well, I would have gone +to the colonel, and if he had not made it right for me, I would have run +away from college." + +"Come, don't be excited, Marta, over what I went through. The men who +suffer this way do the same thing. Now I am going to tell you something +that took place between me and the colonel. After I became lieutenant--" + +And changing his tack, he began to tell amusing adventures and jolly +incidents, which smoothed out the frowns on the girl's face, and finally +made her laugh heartily. Gradually the basket was emptied, and its +contents were transferred to the clothes-press, which still exhaled its +fresh and somewhat pungent odor of newly washed clothes. This odor +filled the whole room, and gave it a refreshing perfume of health and +cleanliness pleasanter than any perfumery or pomade. It was the perfume +which always clung about Marta, as her father said, and seemed +especially created for her. When she went alone to open the +cloth-presses, she took a great delight in putting her head into them, +and burying it in the clothes, enjoying the coolness of the linen +against her face, and breathing with keen pleasure its healthful aroma. +The light pouring through the white tulle of the curtains, the +ceaseless chatter and the merry laughter of the young people filled the +room with joy and animation; it was called the "ironing-room," for all +the linen of the house was ironed there. The walls not occupied by the +clothes-presses were painted a plain white. + +Carmen burst into the room like a hurricane, crying,-- + +"Señorita Marta, Señorita Marta!" + +"What's the trouble?" asked Marta, in alarm. + +"Menino has got out, señorita!" + +Marta dropped the sheet which she had in her hands, and exclaimed in +astonishment,-- + +"Has got out?" + +"Yes, señorita; as I was just going through the gallery, I looked at the +cage and found the door open and the bird gone!" + +"Come along, come along!" + +And all three rushed to the gallery. Indeed, Menino had flown away. By +an incredible piece of carelessness Marta, when she fed him, and hung +him up to enjoy the view of the garden and the singing of the other +birds, had left the cage door open. For three years Menino had been +under the young maiden's care, and during all this time he had showed no +sign of cherishing plans of escape; on the contrary, hitherto the little +hypocrite had always shown, as far as possible, that he did not care a +straw for liberty, and that he had renounced it willingly for the sake +of his dearly beloved mistress. For a long time he had been in the habit +of coming out of his cage to eat chocolate with her; he would perch on +her shoulder, peck softly at her hand to show his affection, hop about +here and there over the furniture, and when it was time to retire, he +would go back into the cage, meek as a lamb. By every presumption he was +a happy canary, who regarded the loss of liberty as compensated by the +care and attention of such a lovely girl, and by the permission to peck +her rosy cheeks whenever he pleased. And aside from these more or less +spiritual enjoyments, for which more than one lad in the town would have +made stupendous sacrifices, and looking only at the material aspect of +existence or bodily comforts, it must be laid down as a fact that Menino +lived in his cage like an archbishop, with every want satisfied, +supplied with hemp-seed on one side, with canary-seed on the other, at +one time treated to lettuce, at others to lumps of chocolate, at others +to crumbs soaked in milk; indeed, to ask more was to offend God. And as +for neatness and cleanliness of habitation, he had just as little cause +for envying any one; every morning Marta herself cleaned it out, leaving +the cage like a mirror. But contrary to the general belief that he found +himself perfectly satisfied, and would not change places even with the +director of the mint, Menino was certainly waiting impatiently for a +chance to escape; he had allowed himself to be overwhelmed with +melancholy, his character had been soured, and his bile excited by lack +of exercise. If he had not gone out to breathe the fresh air on the day +least expected, he would have dashed the top of his head against the +bars of his cage. + +As our young people stood under the cage, they deliberated briefly what +to do. Marta was heart-broken. It was decided that Carmen, with the +laundress and the gardener should scour the garden, for they thought +that from lack of practice he would not fly very far at first; meanwhile +Marta and Ricardo should make a thorough search through the house in +case he had remained inside, flying through the halls as he had done +once before. Marta acted as guide, and they immediately began to look +through the suite of rooms next the corridor, a great square chamber +with two sleeping-rooms leading from it, in which she and Maria, when +they were children, had slept with their respective nurses. The paper on +the room represented hunting-scenes, which used to make a great +impression on Marta when she was small, especially one illustrating a +dying stag, conquered by half a dozen ferocious hounds. Then they passed +through several rooms designed for the guests who visited the house; +they inspected the girls' rooms, they went down into the kitchen, which +was in an entresol, and returned up stairs without any success. Then +they visited Don Mariano's library, which was a magnificent room with +two balconied windows facing the plaza, decorated in severe classic +taste; great leather armchairs, rich tapestries, an ebony writing-desk, +and bookcases of the same wood; on the walls hung a few family +portraits, painted in oil. Marta always felt in this library a sensation +of happiness and well-being which she did not enjoy in the other parts +of the house; in this sensation there was a delicious union of reverence +and tenderness wherein were blended all her childish recollections, +which overflowed with this exclusive, eager, and absorbing love, such as +cause the unreasonable anger of children when the nurse tears them from +the paternal arms, and the yearning to go to them when they are held out +to invite them. As soon as she had strength and skill enough to put his +room in order, she never allowed any one else to do it. In the morning +she always spent half an hour of delicious ease and comfort, dusting the +huge chairs, which cost her a great effort to move from their places, +and making Don Mariano's huge bed. She felt happy in that solemn +patriarchal chamber. The colossal bookcases, the table, the chairs, the +pictures, and the dignified figures of the tapestries fixed on her a +silent, benevolent gaze in which she felt as it were alive, her father's +great, protecting shadow. + +Ricardo halted lazily before a portrait:-- + +"Is that your aunt? How much you resemble her! What a pity she died so +young! She was a very fascinating woman." + +"I should like to resemble her. She was very tall, and I am short." + +"What difference does that make? You are like her, very much like her. +And that is natural, after all, for you are like your father, and you +are an Elorza from head to foot. What huge bookcases Don Mariano has! +there's enough here to keep one busy a good while." + +"Still, Maria has read the most of them." + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I don't read very much. I am very lazy. Papa says I don't like the +black," replied the girl, with her frank smile, and looking a little +ashamed; then she added: "But look, Ricardo, it isn't absolutely true, +what papa says; though I don't care much for books, some of them please +me; but one doesn't get time to take them up. I don't know how I manage +not to have an hour for myself. Sometimes it's one thing, sometimes +another." + +"Confess, little one,[33] that you don't like them, and I won't say any +more!" + +"If you like, I will confess it; but it isn't true. I like some of +them." + +"How about Menino?" + +"Ay! yes! come, come!" + +They went to the next room, which was Doña Gertrudis's, and this alone +was proof positive that no sign of Menino was there, though occasionally +she had in her head such a singing, as of a whole nest of birds, that it +prevented her from resting. Therefore they went to the next room, which +was Marta's. It was a room which seemed lined with mirrors, since +everything in it was polished, from the wooden floors to the railing of +the balconies; whatever was not varnished by the cabinet-maker was +rubbed bright with cloths. Marta's great hobby which gave her the most +joy and the most trouble was keeping things bright. Her exaggerated love +for cleanliness had quickly brought her to the point of trying to put a +shine on all the articles of furniture in the house, and more especially +those in her own room. Every day, aided by the maid, she rubbed them +with a dry flannel, polishing them with unwearied zeal, until you could +see your face in them. Then, all out of breath, sometimes dripping with +perspiration, her hair in disorder, and her cheeks ablaze, she lifted +the flannel and stood awhile contemplating her work, the lovely +scintillations made by the light in the polished surface, with a genuine +inward satisfaction, with almost mystic enthusiasm. The household made +much fun of her, which caused her to hide herself while performing this +task, and induced her to lock her room to everybody. Ricardo had never +been in it. And so without any thought of Menino he began to inspect it +with bold, inquisitive attention; he gazed at the pictures, halted in +front of the toilet-table, opened the bottles, felt of the curtains, and +even went into the bedroom to see the bed, uttering exclamations of +astonishment at the perfect order which he found everywhere, and +especially at the wonderful polish of all the furniture. + +"What a pretty room you have, child. It's like a silver cup! What a +lovely white little bed!" + +"Ricardo, don't be inquisitive. Go away; come, Menino isn't here!" + +The girl felt annoyed by the young man's curiosity. Every woman of +gentle birth feels a certain modesty, if we may say so, in regard to her +room, for the reason that there clings about it something like the +essence of her very self which she hesitates to let a man approach; but +in Marta's case, in addition to this modesty, there was a sense of shame +in having her stubborn, childish fancies brought to light, like that of +keeping things bright, that of placing the bottles of her dressing-table +in a sort of symmetry worthy of an altar, and other such things which +served her family as subjects for merriment at dinner time. Consequently +she tried to push him out by main force. + +"Come Ricardo; there's nothing to see here. Come along, come along!" + +"Do let me, niña, do let me have a look at this charming room! How +exquisite!" And putting his nose to the bed, he said with great +seriousness, "It smells like Marta!" + +"Will you be quiet, you foolish fellow!"[34] + +"It may not give you any trouble to keep your room in this way, but let +me tell you, child, I couldn't keep it so if my life depended on it. If +you were to see my room, Martita!" + +"Yes, yes, it must be fine! You always were a disorderly fellow.[35] But +come, dear, come; let us go!" + +"We'll go whenever you please. My room is a stable compared with this; +but just consider that it's open to dogs and cats, the gardener, with +his dirty feet, the coachman, with the smell of the stable, and, in +fact, to every living creature. It is not my fault." + +From Marta's room they passed through various other apartments, the +dining-room, the parlor, the gallery of the court, another private room, +and a few others, without finding Menino anywhere. As they were standing +in the midst of a passage-way without knowing whither to turn, an idea +suddenly struck Marta, and she said,-- + +"Let's go to the terrace; we haven't been there yet." + +The terrace was now only a large hall tiled with marble and covered over +with stained glass. It was called the terrace because it had been one in +former times; but Don Mariano had had it closed in with glass a few +years before, transforming it into a handsome, fantastic room in Moorish +style, where he went to drink coffee on summer evenings with his +daughters and friends. It was for the most part unfurnished, having only +in one corner three or four small marquetry tables and a few +rockingchairs. When our young people reached this hall, they found it +flooded with light: the sun, that morning leaving his long seclusion, +came forth bright and warm, resolved on visiting all the corners of the +city; and when he found the thousand crystals of the Elorza terrace, not +caring to see anything better, he passed through them and revelled +inside with a lively, eager pandiculation which occupied the whole +circuit of the room. It was a magical sight. Thousands of rose, green, +yellow, purple, gray, and blue lights burned within it, pouring over the +floor, the ceiling, and the walls, and dissolving into an infinity of +tints, delighting and dazzling the eyes. Over the mosaic pavement fell a +shower of blinding rays, reflecting up in a delicate, many-colored +vapor; and these rays were crossed and interwoven in the air, making a +flame-bearing web, subtile and beautiful, through the interstices of +which passed the intangible scintillations of other rays more +diaphanous, from which arose a vapor still more aerial. And these veils +of dust, of rays, of scintillations, and of colors, stretching one +behind the other, in spite of their transparency scarcely allowed you to +see with vague indefiniteness, as through a mist, the crystals and +arabesques of the windows. The sun squandered his treasures of light and +color like a Turkish pasha within the walls of some chamber in the East, +proving once more that when he endeavors to make a brilliant and +fanciful decoration with them, there is no stage director with all his +spangles, _Bengalas_, and curtains who can equal him. + +Our young people, entirely forgetting Menino, stopped an instant in +surprise at the whimsical, magical work of the light; and without saying +a word they entered the hall and went to the centre with the slow, +uncertain step of one who goes into a bath. In point of fact they stood +submerged and inundated in a luminous vapor wherein all possible colors +were floating. + +"How beautiful the terrace is to-day!" said Marta at last. + +"It seems like a room in an enchanted palace. It would be more +appropriate if, instead of us, a Moor in a white turban stood here, and +an odalisque covered with brocade and precious stones. How many +capricious effects of light! Wait a moment, Martita; step into this ray +of rosy light. If you could see what a peculiar expression it gives your +face now! You look like a gypsy,--a daughter of the desert." + +Indeed, that light turned the girl's fair complexion to brown, kindled +it with a sunset tinge, and animated it with the ardent, cruel +expression of southern natures. All the innocence of her eyes, all the +purity of her maidenly form were lost under the power of that perverse, +luxuriant flame, which transformed her into another being, fiery, and at +the same time voluptuous, and certainly far from her own true nature. +Ricardo understood this, and said,-- + +"No! that color does not suit you. Come into this one!" + +And he drew her under a ray of greenish light:-- + +"Heavens! you look like a dead person! No, no; that's just as bad! Here, +try the yellow color; that goes well, but it makes you ruddy, and +brunettes ought to stay brunettes,--I mean dark-haired people,--for of +course we know that your complexion is light; come, try the blue. Oh, +superb! wonderful! How beautiful you are, child!" + +The young marquis was right. Blue, which is the most spiritual, the +purest, and the sublimest of colors, was admirably adapted for Marta's +bright face. The sun-ray fell on it like a caress from heaven, bathing +it sweetly in a diaphanous light. Her long black hair assumed a purplish +tint, while the adorable oval of her face and her firm, mellow neck were +softly tinged with a heavenly blue. The delicate line of her regular +features acquired an ideal perfection, and her whole countenance was +transfigured with an angelic expression of beatitude. + +Nevertheless, there was a certain exaggeration not in good taste in that +rapturous, celestial expression given by the blue light. It was not the +true Marta, ingenuous and modest in her looks as in her features, but a +different Marta, affected, theatrical, and fantastic. Ricardo finally +declared that no light was so becoming to her as the natural. + +The girl suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"And Menino!" + +"It's true; we had forgotten him. But where shall we go now? we have +looked everywhere." + +"Let us go to Maria's room; perhaps it has flown up there." + +"It does not seem to me likely; however, let's go there." + +They mounted to the tower, but without any better success; neither in +Maria's room nor in Genoveva's did they find any sign of the +canary-bird. Ricardo felt a peculiar emotion in entering his lady-love's +room, and Marta did not fail to notice it. He became graver and more +silent, and began to examine with interest everything there, moving the +articles, opening the scent-bottles, and even pulling out the drawers, +so that the girl felt obliged to interfere. + +"Don't meddle with her things. When Maria comes and sees her things +tumbled up, she will be angry." + +"And what if she is?" replied the young man, with a touch of asperity. + +"The blame will be thrown on me." + +"All right; then tell her that it was mine, and that'll settle the +matter." + +He stepped into the bedroom, lifted the bed-curtains, took up the books +from the dressing-table, laid them down again, and finally pulled out +the table drawer. In it were a number of articles laid away, but he +thrust in his hand, pulling out one more extraordinary than the rest. It +was a large leather cross, full of brass brads on one side, and with a +cord to attach it to the neck. + +"What is this?" he asked, turning it over and over in his hand, with +amazement. + +Marta guessed what it was. + +"Put it back, put it back! for God's sake, Ricardo! Maria will be very +angry." + +"Horrors! What an abominable thing! This must be a cilicium." + +"It may be; but put it back, put it back for Heaven's sake!" + +The young man threw it violently into the drawer again, with a gesture +of scorn and disgust,-- + +"Maria has become crazy. It is an abomination, and there's no good in +it." + +"Don't say that; it's wrong. Maria is very religious,--" + +"Religious! religious!" muttered the young fellow, angrily. "So are you, +and you don't have to perform these penances--" + +"Don't compare me with Maria!" + +Ricardo began to pace up and down the room excitedly and without +speaking. Then he returned to the chamber, and pulled out the leather +cross once more, examining it with more care. + +"It seems to me that these nails form letters. Look! Can you make out +what they say?" + +"No; I don't see anything; it's your imagination." + +"Yes, yes; there is an inscription on it. But, however, I don't care to +bother with deciphering it. All these things are only absurdities. Come, +child, come along! Let every fool have his folly!" + +And shutting the drawer angrily he left the chamber, followed by Marta. +As they were passing by one of the windows of the boudoir, the girl +uttered a cry of surprise and joy,-- + +"Look, look! Ricardo! Look! there's Menino!" + +The young man hurried to the window, and saw, on the roof of the house, +not very far away, Menino himself, hopping about with delight, and full +of pride and stateliness. + +"What a rascal! And so that's where he's gone! We must catch him. Where +do you get out on the roof?" + +"Not here; we must go down to the house first, and climb up through the +skylight." + +"Come on, then!" + +They left the tower, and after crossing several rooms, they mounted the +garret stairs leading from one of them. It was extremely dark, and the +young man met with much difficulty. On the second step he received a +tremendous knock. + +"Oh, of course you aren't used to it. You'll hurt yourself; give me your +hand and I'll guide you." + +He took the girl's hand, which was small but firm and solid like an +Amazon's; it was not so satiny as Maria's, for her work about the house +had hardened it somewhat; in compensation it had the lovely smoothness +which testifies to health and good blood. It was not feverish either +like Maria's, but was always cool and moist and ready for any emergency, +like those of a daughter of the people. + +The young marquis did not think of making these observations, for he was +going along, intent only on not falling. They reached the +garret,--feebly lighted here and there by a few very tenuous rays of +sunlight which filtered through the cracks in the tiles. After they had +gone quite a distance, Marta dropped his hand, saying,-- + +"Wait here; I am going to open the window." + +And nimbly hurrying ahead, she ran up a half-dozen steps which led to +the skylight, and threw open the door. A burst of intense, bright, +comforting sunshine suddenly invaded the whole garret, dazzling our +young hero. + +"Here is Menino! Here's Menino!" cried Marta, enthusiastically, as she +stood on the top step. "He's very near! Menino! Menino! Come, _tonto_, +here! here! Don't you know me?" + +Menino, who was only six or eight steps away when he heard his +mistress's voice, bent his head gracefully, as if to listen. The +sunlight, falling full on him, bathed his yellow plumage, making him +contrast so vividly with the red-colored roof that he seemed like a bit +of living gold. He hopped thrice or four times, as though he were going +to Marta, and said, _Pii_, _pii_. + +"Do you want me to try to get him?" asked Ricardo. + +"No; hold still a moment; he seems to be coming of his own accord. +Menino, Menino! come here, pretty one; come here, come!" + +Menino came two or three hops nearer, and seemed to be cocking his head +to listen. I don't know what then passed through his brain; something +low, and base, and shameful, it must have been, according to the +morality of his species, for, forgetting his mistress's tender +attentions, her ceaseless caresses, the many bits of chocolate shared +with her, the feasts of biscuits, and his overflowing dishes of +canary-seed, he cleaned his feathers in her presence with perfect +indifference, several times repeated his pii, pii, with affected +laziness, and spreading his wings, he launched into space, flying out of +sight amid the foliage of the neighboring gardens. + +Marta uttered a cry of grief. + +"My stars, he has gone!" + +"Has gone?" + +"Yes!" + +"Very far?" + +"Out of sight." + +"Then, sir, he's gone for good!" + +Ricardo mounted to the window, and following the direction indicated by +the girl's finger, he looked and looked again, until his eyes pained +him, without seeing the slightest sign of anything resembling a canary +bird. When he looked at Marta again, he saw a tear rolling down her +cheeks. + +"Aren't you ashamed to cry for a bird, tonta!" + +"You are right!" replied the girl, trying to laugh, and wiping away the +tear with her handkerchief. + +"But I felt as much affection for him as for a person; yes indeed, for +three years I have been taking care of him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBAND OR SOUL. + + +The dew of grace kept falling copiously on the soul of the eldest +daughter of the Elorzas. The Christian virtues flourished in her like +mystical roses replete with fragrance, and with the impatience and ardor +which characterized all her actions, she continued to mount one by one +the rounds on the ladder of perfection leading to heaven. Her deeds of +charity and humility not only filled those who lived near her with +astonishment, but were bruited about the whole town, serving as an +edifying example for young and old, and as a theme of conversation among +the clergy. Her fasts and penances, always growing more frequent and +severe, increased the enthusiasm and seraphic joy of her soul; but at +last they had a naturally weakening effect upon her health. Her delicate +constitution began to rebel against so much mortification of the flesh, +and to protest at every instant by pains, sometimes in her heart, at +others in her stomach, at others in her head, and yet she endured it all +with enviable resignation, and did not let it discourage her saintly +endeavors. She suffered frequently from fainting fits in which she +remained long unconscious, and from severe convulsions; some days she +could not retain the food that she ate, and on others she complained of +acute headaches. Don Maximo began to prescribe preparations of iron, +sea-baths, and wine of quinine, and this treatment brought about some +improvement, but not much; the doctor finally declared that unless she +entirely changed her mode of life, these attacks would not cease; but +it was impossible to persuade her. + +Maria began to notice with a secret pride, of which she tearfully +accused herself to her father confessor, that she inspired admiration +and something more than respect among the people; that when she went +along the street, many saluted her with words of praise, and when she +was at church, all the faithful gazed at her with peculiar persistence. +Through the mouth of the servants many such flattering phrases came to +her ears, as that her virtues were worthy of the most venerable priests +and the most pious souls of the community, and, as she perceived a +certain sweet savor in them, she forbade their being repeated to her. +Many ladies consulted with her on matters concerning their consciences, +and she was appointed teacher of a Sunday-school for adult women, to +whom she began to explain the doctrine and moral precepts of +Christianity with so much clearness and eloquence that nothing else was +talked about. On the second Sunday the hall granted by the board of +magistrates[36] in an old convent was crowded not only with servants and +working-girls, for whom the institution had been founded, but also with +the most distinguished ladies in town, desirous of seeing for themselves +what was reported of the young woman. And indeed they had to agree that +she had decided gifts for teaching,--an artless, animated discourse, +manners free from conceit, and unwearied patience. The girls made +notable progress under her direction. Not satisfied with this, she asked +and obtained from her father permission to use a pavilion which he had +in his garden, and there she gathered every day a dozen orphan children, +whom she taught to read, write, and say their prayers, giving them an +education suitable to their sex and social position. The extreme +gentleness with which she treated her scholars soon won their love, and +even their adoration. + +From every side our virtuous heroine received unimpeachable evidence of +the great regard in which she was held, but more especially in the +society of the devout and saintly, among whom she was considered as a +brilliant beacon kindled for the advantage of religion. In the age of +unbelief, whereunto we have attained, the spectacle of such a beautiful, +well-educated, and illustrious maiden, consecrating herself exclusively +to the practice of the virtues and religious deeds, could not fail to +have a heartfelt influence on the morals of the town. + +One morning, as she was leaving the steps of the altar, where she had +just received holy communion, her face presented such a sanctified +expression that a woman left the throng, and, kneeling before her, asked +for her blessing. Maria, disturbed and perplexed, would have refused, +but finally she had no other escape than by yielding to her entreaties. +On another occasion, as she was going through one of the suburbs with +Genoveva, a poor woman, who was standing at the door of a wretched hovel +with a dying child in her arms, begged her to take him into hers and +offer a Pater Noster for him; Maria did so to satisfy her, but protested +that she was a miserable sinner, to whom God could not listen. The +child, however, had scarcely felt the tender caress of her lovely hand +before it began to smile, and in a few days was entirely restored to +health. This miraculous cure, proclaimed by the grateful mother, made a +great noise among the people; whereupon the house of Elorza was besieged +by a throng of women who came with their sick children to ask Maria to +take them in her arms and bless them. As this partook of the nature of +wonder-working, according to report, Maria hastened to consult her +confessor whether she ought to continue yielding to the entreaties of +these afflicted mothers; and the priest, after taking a day to reflect, +replied that he saw no harm in it, but, on the other hand, believed that +it might redound to the advantage of the faith. "How is it possible," +asked Maria, "for God to be willing to perform miraculous deeds through +the medium of such a low and sinful creature as I am?" And the confessor +replied that it showed great audacity to think of searching the high +purposes of God, and that she should abstain from making such irreverent +remarks; that God chose whomever He pleased to manifest His sacred will, +and that, at all events, even though no miracle took place, it was never +wrong to attribute to the power of the Almighty the blessings which we +experience both in soul and body. Maria accepted this reasoning, and +endeavored, by all the means at her command--by prayer, humility, and +penance--to make herself worthy of these incredible favors which God +gave into her hand. + +Gradually, through the renunciation to which she was compelled by her +pious life, all the ties that bound her soul to things earthly began to +be relaxed. At first she shunned all worldly recreation and amusement, +such as balls, theatres, and promenades, where she used to shine by her +beauty and elegance, and she came to the point of abhorring them. Then +she abstained from certain proper recreation, such as singing and +playing secular music, taking part in games of cards, walking in the +garden, being present at tertulias at her home; in her craze for +crucifying the flesh, she went to the extreme of not gazing often at the +landscape from the windows of her room, and of depriving herself of +breathing the scent of the flowers and the perfume of her colognes. +Still, however, and for some time, she took pleasure in dressing +elegantly; this arose from a reflection that she had read in a French +devotional book, counselling young people not to neglect the neatness +and adornment of the body, since God took delight in seeing them +beautiful and knowing that they adorned themselves for Him alone. At the +same time that she grew more and more to hate the pleasures of this +world, she crushed out in her heart the sentiment of love towards human +beings, even towards those who were nearest and dearest to her. +Understanding that if one would love God, he must free himself from +earthly affections, since no other is worthy of entering into a heart +consecrated to the Creator, she constantly struggled against her love +not only for her betrothed but also that for her parents and sister. She +ceased those frequent outbursts of affection which she used to lavish on +them all and which had always proved the tenderness of her affectionate +spirit; when she met her father in the morning, she no longer threw her +arms around his neck and covered him with caresses; she no longer +revealed to her sister the secrets and sorrows of her heart; she kept +everybody at a distance by a cautious reserve veiled in sweetness and +humility. The Señorita de Elorza compelled herself to follow literally +the solemn words of Jesus: "_If any man come to me, and hate not his +father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, +yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple_."[37] + +The fervor which constantly died away, as far as human beings were +concerned, burned like a sweet-smelling incense on a lofty altar, to an +object infinitely more worthy of it. Her heart could not remain +inactive; she had to love, for it was the law of her being; she had to +overflow with enthusiasm for something on which she should engage her +thoughts every instant of her life, and offer continual sacrifices. +Maria could not desire anything or love anything, without feeling +herself stirred by a consuming fervor. When she was a child, she had +loved another little girl of her own age, a child of dark complexion, +with great, cruel, black eyes, and she loved her so passionately that +she became her willing slave; the little black-eyed girl, the daughter +of a poor mechanic, treated her with the authority of a queen and +mistress, demanded from her all the playthings that she possessed, +compelled her to submit to all her caprices, humiliated her whenever she +felt like it, and oftentimes abused her in word and deed, without the +affection of her enthusiastic friend being diminished in the least. On +one occasion, when the two were ironing a doll's skirt, the cruel little +girl said, in a disagreeable tone of mockery, "If you love me so dearly, +why don't you put this hot iron on your arm for me?" Maria, without a +moment's hesitation, pulled up the sleeve of her dress, and laid the +heated iron on her arm, making a terrible burn. On account of other such +actions as these, which had attracted Don Mariano's attention, he drove +this unworthy friend out into the street, and forbade her ever darkening +the door of his house again, a prohibition which broke his daughter's +heart with grief. + +When a heart is to this degree inflammable, its constant tendency is to +take fire and be consumed with some extraordinary love; and if the +object is not at hand, it seeks for it as one athirst seeks the fountain +of crystalline water. Maria had sought hard for it and found it,--a love +pure and immortal, sublime and marvellous; love for a God who crushes +the stars to powder and enters the enamored soul like a gentle lamb. +This love, which took more and more violent possession of her soul, was +not only manifested in almost incomprehensible deeds of humility and +mortification, but also escaped continually from her lips in passionate +phrases, which winged themselves away like timid birdlings to take +refuge in the sacred heart of Jesus. At first she had prayed with +respectful worship, with soul and body prostrate, terrified rather than +melted, like one who makes a declaration of love; but according as she +understood, by a thousand manifest signs, that Jesus replied to her +passionate affection and returned it with increase, she found greater +freedom and eloquence in her words and a more enduring felicity in her +whole being. + +The happiest moments of her life were those which she consecrated to +prayer, which in her case was a sweet colloquy of two lovers, +incomprehensible for those who have never fathomed the secret depths of +the divine love or tasted the delights of the mystical union. By dint of +holding converse with God, of communicating to Him her most occult +thoughts and feelings, of confessing with tears each day the most +trivial spots on her conscience, she succeeded in bringing about with +the Almighty a sacred familiarity, full of joy and consolation. At the +twilight hour, after she had ceased from the pious tasks which kept her +busy all the day, she was in the habit of retiring to her room to enjoy +at her ease the sweet delights which Jesus granted to her fervent +prayers as a recompense for the labors and humiliations of the day. + +One calm, quiet evening, toward the end of winter, Maria found herself +in her room, prostrate in prayer, before the image of Jesus. All the +blinds were open to let in the slowly fading light. From the one that +looked inland could be seen the wide stretch of level meadows, and the +gentle hills on the horizon bathed in a purple vapor, which grew thicker +and thicker till it changed to mist. From the one facing the river could +be seen its tranquil surface, motionless as though all that sheet of +water had been suddenly changed to stone; near El Moral were four or +five low sand-hills called appropriately Los Arenales, which, struck by +the last rays of the setting sun, gleamed like mighty topazes. Not the +slightest sound disturbed the silence of the boudoir, which at that +moment, by reason of its gloom and loneliness, was like a great +confessional. + +For a long hour the young woman had been communing with the Beloved of +her heart, and no earthly thought had made its way into her enraptured +spirit. Never had she felt herself so abstracted and lifted above the +flesh, above mundane interests. All the life of her body had gone to her +heart, which beat with unwonted violence. She kept her eyes closed. +After she had repeated all the prayers that she could remember, some of +them composed purposely for her, she allowed her lips to rest, and +abandoned herself to a delicious meditation in which her imagination +wandered away as if in a boundless field enamelled with flowers. Both +her confessor and her books of devotion counselled her to think often on +the bloody passion and death of the Redeemer, and so she had done until +she was filled with grief and burdened with tears. In her mind she saw +that agonized, grief-stricken face of Jesus nailed upon the cross, those +dying eyes lifted, wherein still burned the eternal love and compassion +of a God. When she saw him going toward Calvary, laden with the heavy +cross and stumbling, once, again, and yet again, overcome by fatigue, +not finding in the bloodthirsty faces of those who surrounded him one +look of sympathy, she felt her throat contract and her breast choke with +sobs. She had been present at all the agonies of Christ, one after the +other, from the memorable night in the garden until the moment when he +closed his eyes forever between the two thieves, the victim of the +perfidy of men. The sublime words of pardon which he uttered as he died +rang in her ears like a promise of heaven and a hope of seeing him once +more, haloed with glory, in the other life. + +But at this moment her thought shunned the death scenes. Around her +floated smiling, glorious forms, which filled her with a delicious joy +such as she had but few times experienced before, accompanied by an +unspeakable physical comfort. It seemed to her that she felt a most +delicious sensation of warmth radiating from her heart even to her hands +and feet, as though she were plunged in a bath of warm milk. At the same +time soft fragrant hands held her eyelids closed, while a gentle breeze +cooled her brow. The boudoir in the tower was filled with vague, subtle +sounds, which her imagination transformed into mysterious harmonies. She +was so beside herself that she could not tell whether she was in reality +awake, although she had possession of all her faculties. Little by +little she began to lose her power of volition; she tried to open her +eyes and could not; she tried to separate her hands, which she kept +folded, and she had no better success. A superior power held her in its +sway, but so gently that for nothing in the world would she have broken +those bands; it was a celestial swooning of her whole being, which +carried her away into ecstasies such as she had never known before. +Tears streamed down over her face like an exquisite ichor, bathing her +lips with sweetness, and flowing from her lips into the very centre of +her being, filling her heart as with a most gentle unction, as with a +mighty perfume. This ichor intoxicated her and strengthened her at once, +and she did not weary of drinking it. Its salubrious strength penetrated +her emaciated body, bestowing on it an incomprehensible force. She +entered into a life full and divine, where no pains existed; into an +ecstatic lethargy full of soft delight, from which were born a throng of +vague longings, like flowers opening for an instant and shedding perfume +from their calyxes. The longings of her soul likewise spread and were +quenched in the immense joy which took hold of her. + +While her body was sleeping in this sweet hallucination of the senses, +her mind was attent with a marvellous activity. Her memory was bathed in +brilliancy, and her imagination, in precipitate flight, darted out into +the universe. Instead of meditating on the death of the Lord, she +thought with deep delight about his adorable life, and, completely +enchanted, she reviewed all its occurrences, representing them with as +much accuracy as though she had really been present at the time. First, +she beheld Jesus at his birth in the grotto near Bethlehem, embracing +with his sweet arms the Virgin's neck, and smiling at the shepherds and +the Magi, who from far-distant countries came to adore him. She beheld +him secretly transported to Egypt, crossing the deserts of Arabia, +sleeping on his mother's lap under some tree or in the depths of some +cavern. Then she found him in the porticos of the Temple of Jerusalem, +seated in the midst of the doctors, though he was only twelve years of +age, with his long golden hair curling in ringlets over his shoulders, +and his white tunic falling in graceful folds till it hid his feet, +astonishing them all by his more than human beauty as well as by the +profound wisdom of his words. She contemplated him in his modest +dwelling in Nazareth in the peace of an obscure and contemplative life, +nourishing his divine spirit with the sublime truths which the Eternal +Father vouchsafed him during his frequent solitary walks. Then she was +present at his first ministrations through Galilee, and at the first +miracle, with which he manifested his infinite power at the wedding of +Cana. She accompanied him to Capernaum when, as he stood in a +fishing-boat gently rocking on the waves, he addressed to the multitude +gathered on the shore his discourse, clearer than the sun which shone +upon them, sweeter than the evening breeze. She returned with him to +Nazareth, where his stubborn, ungrateful countrymen were unmoved by his +gentleness and power of speech and rejected him. She went to Bethany, +where her name-saint Mary Magdalene and Martha her sister had the +blessedness of giving him hospitality, and the former of sitting long at +his feet and listening to his words. She saw him everywhere serene and +beautiful, as he is represented by tradition, with his blue eyes of +wonderful sweetness, his skin rosy and transparent, his beard pointed, +and his golden hair parted in the middle and falling in waves on his +shoulders. The numerous pictures which she had seen, not only of his +divine person, but of the country where his ministrations had taken +place, united to her powerful imagination, carried her back to the time +of the Redeemer's life more vividly than one could conceive. But where +her imagination most revelled was in seeing his entrance into Jerusalem +followed by a multitude carried away by enthusiasm, amid hosannas and +shouts of welcome; then his beautiful face, which almost disappeared +amid the foliage of the palm-branches, assumed an expression of +divinity, his eyes so gentle flashed with the effulgence of omnipotence, +and he spread out his hands toward the city, granting it pardon in +advance for its barbarous deicide. Oh, how her soul delighted in this +fine, poetic scene where Jesus was given on earth a little of the +adoration which was his due! If she had been in those happy places, she +would have taken part in the cortege of the King of kings, and raised +her voice in acclamation. The union in him of power and humility, of +force and gentleness, filled her with enthusiasm and admiration. + +She knew, however, that Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem was +repeated daily in a mystic sense; that the divine Lord takes more +pleasure in entering into the soul of his elect than into the ungrateful +daughter of Zion; that love was efficacious against the absolute master +of all things, and took pleasure in receiving whoever professed his +name. But for this it was necessary to love him much, to love him in +such a manner as to prefer pain and torment coming from his hand to the +most exquisite delight of earth, to love him even to fainting and dying +in his presence and falling prone at his feet under the majesty of his +gaze; it was necessary to spend long hours watching for him in the +depths of the sky, in the calm of the eventide, in the beauty of +flowers, of birds, and of all creatures, at the bedside of the sick and +dying, in the midst of sorrows and penances; it was necessary to let the +hours pass in ecstatic prayer, feeling the tears stealing down, and the +cheeks on fire; it was necessary to be obedient to all men, the humble +servant of all men, to turn the mind from accepting all favors, even +from one's parents, and to despise one's self, to be the beloved of +Jesus. Thus, thus she loved him! How many hours of the day and night she +had spent thinking of him! How many tears she had shed for his sake! How +many times in the silence of the night had her soul gone forth, fired +with sickness of love, like the bride of the mystic Song of Solomon, in +search for the Lord and Master of her heart! And when she had, in this +manner, sought for him, kindled with amorous yearning, she never failed +to find him. On one occasion, having spent the whole day ministering to +the sick in the hospital, she had felt at the hour of retiring such keen +delight in her soul and body that she almost fell ¡n a swoon. When she +humbled herself before any one, she felt an exquisite delight; in +crucifying her flesh with sharp cruelties she had felt more pleasure +than the world with its harassing joys had ever given. In this way Jesus +began to return a thousand-fold the love which she professed for him, +transforming in her case into comfort what to others was pain and +penance. + +This last consideration pierced so sharply into her spirit that it +caused her to indulge in an infinitude of thanksgivings and blessings, +which remained locked in her heart without issuing from her lips. Her +lips were silent, motionless as those of the sphynx; for she did not +dare to reproduce by the medium of sounds the ineffable thoughts that +passed through her mind. She heard within herself a thousand sweet +voices speaking to her, but she could not understand what they said; she +felt as though she were lifted up by gentle arms which ceaselessly +lavished caresses upon her, and she was conscious, though not by visual +proof, of the presence of a supernatural being, consoling her with its +power. Then she became suddenly convinced that the Lord loved her; she +saw clearly with the eyes of the Spirit that the Bridegroom listened to +the voice of the bride, and had no deeper desire than to take her to +himself, to pour out upon her all riches and joys forevermore. Even now +he was near at hand; she felt him at her side, and she was melted with +desire to look upon him; but he showed himself not; he refused to yield +to her warm, affectionate entreaties. As one who shows a dainty to a +child and then hides it, and again brings it forth and once more hides +it in order to stir his appetite, so the heavenly Bridegroom kept her in +suspense and ravishment, kindling more and more her desire. The +impassioned stanza of San Juan de la Cruz came into her mind:-- + + _"Ay! who else has power to mend me!_ + _Prithee deign to make my humble heart thy dwelling;_ + _I beseech thee now to send me_ + _Faithful angels not incapable of telling_ + _Truly all the longing in me welling!"_[38] + +And a thousand times she repeated it mentally, with a sublime +solicitude, in which it seemed as though her soul were going to burst +forth through her lips. But her lips remained speechless; she wished to +cry out, to break into praises of Jesus, to give vent to the passionate +impulses of her breast, and it was impossible. She felt a strange +oppression, torturing her with celestial death, which she would not +exchange for a hundred lives. + +A keen, eager, resistless desire suddenly took possession of her heart. +Jesus, the King of souls, had granted to more than one favors which +were terrible by their very grandeur and incomprehensibility. He had +appeared to Saint Isabel after her prodigious deeds of charity and +penance, and had said, "Isabel, if thou art willing to be mine, I also +am willing to be thine and will never leave thee." Frequently he had +come to Saint Catalina of Siena in her convent cell, had conversed with +her, had walked with and many times had helped her offer up her prayers. +He had taken Saint Teresa in his arms so that she could not move, and +had lavished caresses and kisses upon her. If she might only win such +regalement! Scarcely had this overweening thought been born in her mind +before she was filled with fear, and felt such shame that she would +gladly have had the earth open and swallow her up. "Oh, no, my God! Who +am I to receive such a favor, granted only to the martyrs of charity and +the seraphic virgins who shine in heaven like bright stars. Pardon me, +Jesus mine, pardon me!" + +But her audacious thought would not depart from her mind; it kept +following her in spite of her strongest efforts to shake it off. She was +unworthy of such glory, she knew well, but her yearning was the child of +the love with which the divine Jesus had filled her heart to +overflowing; thus not she but Jesus himself was the author of this +desire. If he had not kindled in her his celestial love, and had not +begun to pour out upon her favors as sweet as they were undeserved, such +an absurd idea would never have entered her head. No; she asked not so +great a grace, so great a consolation; it was enough for her that Jesus +was willing to give himself to her, that she had a few particles of his +immortal love. She should consider herself the most blessed among the +virgin daughters of heaven, if at the end of long years of prayer and +penance, of bitterness and tribulations, Jesus should allow her once +only to touch her lips to his divine face. "O Jesus mine, is it sinful +to ask this? Could such a base worm as I ever deserve a joy so +infinite?" + +She opened her eyes. Jesus, with his golden aureole shining amid the +shadows, as it reflected the last melancholy light that came through the +window, lifted his hands towards her, at the same time fastening upon +her a profound, sweet gaze. Through her veins ran a sensation of chill, +as though she were near to death; but instantly this was supplanted by +another of such intense heat that it made the sweat start from all the +pores of her body. She comprehended vaguely that an adorable mystery was +taking place in her presence, and a holy fear seized her. The boudoir +was wrapt in shadow: the windows seemed like great, colorless eyes +gazing through the walls. A sweet, languid delectation took possession +of her whole being, and overwhelmed her with bliss. Her fear vanished. +She was filled with the certainty that she was loved by Jesus, that she +was the bride-elect of a God. Tenderness, worship, joy, welled up in her +bosom, and she could not take her eyes from the eyes of the Lord, +drinking from them the mysterious, ineffable delight of glory. + +Once more the desire came back to her mind. This time she promulgated it +with words, the warm breath of which stole through her hands crossed +before her face. + +"Jesus mine, wouldst thou permit thy servant to touch her lips to thy +divine person?" + +Jesus bent forward still more graciously. Maria felt her hair stand on +end, and her heart wanted to leap from her breast. His voice like music +penetrated into the soul of the young girl, who believed that she was +dead and translated to heaven. + +Jesus had said,-- + +_"Arise, my beloved, my fair one, and come."_ + +"Lord, I am not worthy!" exclaimed Maria, with a cry at once of anguish +and of joy. + +Again Jesus said,-- + +_"Thou art all beautiful, my beloved; there is no blemish in thee."_ + +"My Jesus, thee I love above all things!" + +_"My dove, show me thy face, let thy voice sound in mine ears, for thy +voice is sweet, and thy face is beautiful,"_ replied Jesus, bending +still nearer. + +Then the girl, carried away by glory and enthusiasm, threw her arms +about the knees of the Lord, and flooded them with her tears, saying, +between her sobs, like the bride in the sacred book,-- + + "My soul melted within me when my beloved spake." + +And little by little, her arms clinging to the body of Jesus, stole +slowly, slowly upwards, till they were fastened around his neck. Her +breath failed her, and she felt her memory, her imagination, and all her +powers give way, fading into an immense, eager bliss, in which her whole +being was plunged as in the purest ether. Her face drew near the Lord's. +She touched with her cheeks the cheeks of the Bridegroom; she put her +lips to the whiteness of his brow, to the effulgence of his eyes, to the +coral of his lips. + +And in the chief room of the tower, silent, buried in darkness, was long +heard the sound of sobs and subdued kisses. At last, a human body, the +body of the Señorita de Elorza, senseless, fell heavily at full length +upon the floor. Genoveva, when she came in with a light, found her there +still in the swoon, with eyes open and fixed, reflecting in her face a +celestial joy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AS YOU LIKE IT. + + +The spring came. The northeast winds, like a gigantic besom swung by the +hand of some god with a passion for cleanliness, constantly swept away +the dust and ashes of the firmament. The sailors who put out at daybreak +after fish, as they set foot on the quay often saw above the distant +houses of El Moral a wide strip of azure sky, which went on slowly +spreading to the four points of the compass, leaving a few tenuous +shreds of violet cloud like great eyebrows overhanging the horizon. The +vast sheet of the river now gave forth lovely blue sparkles in place of +the melancholy, metallic reflections of the winter; and the wooden hulks +called _barcos_ by a misnomer, pitched in the dock like colts impatient +to be off. But in the afternoon winter still clung to its rights; now +spreading over town and river a thick mantle of fog which quickly +changed into storm; now furiously driving across the sky colossal black +clouds which discharged their freight as they flew inland. Some days, +however, at sunset a breath of genial air came from the land, and +brought the delightful tidings to the peaceful inhabitants of Nieva that +the most lovely and coquettish of the seasons was present in that +jurisdiction; and this breath of air laden with perfumes, reaching by +the medium of the nostrils to the brains of those inhabitants who were +most inclined to poesy and sweet expansions of the heart, manifested +itself as the avowed enemy of tranquillity in feminine minds, and as +the infamous disturber of peace in families. The town slept placidly +like a sultana, receiving the adulatory caresses of this breeze. +Nevertheless, the calm underneath the roofs was more apparent than real; +a large part of the inhabitants slept the sleep of the righteous as +before, but another no less numerous and estimable, without knowing any +reason for it, awoke more than once in the course of the night, and +occasionally spent an hour unsuccessfully wooing sleep by lighting the +lamp, and reading the articles in _The Times_.[39] They drank great +goblets of water; they dreamed fifty thousand absurd dreams, which, when +they remembered them in the morning, made the worthy natives smile, and +more than one, and more than two, caught colds on their lungs by getting +uncovered at night. In the two apothecary shops of the town a prodigious +quantity of pearl barley was disposed of; some banished wine from the +table to the astonishment of their wives; and the behavior of young men +toward the girls became extremely dulcified. The Market Street[40] +bookseller sent to Madrid for a quantity of novels by Paul de Kock and +Adolphe Belot on commission for his customers, and the professor of the +piano made a similar demand on the music publishers, for various +sentimental romanzas with erotic titles, such as _Vorrei morir_, _Tutto +per te_, _Non posso vivere_, and others of like quality, at the request +of his pupils. The swallows began to take possession of the corridors, +and after making love for a few days, chasing each other through the air +with obstreperous chirpings and then retiring couple by couple to the +most remote corners of the gardens, without any thought of Mrs. Grundy +or of due formality; they celebrated their nuptials with the same +freedom, without consulting the desires of papas or asking for a special +dispensation, or by publishing the banns through the office of the +parochial priest, or by ordering a trousseau from Paris, or by receiving +a miserable coffee service from relatives, or sending cards to friends +and acquaintances, announcing their indissoluble union; or even by +having a notice inserted in the _Correspondencía de España_, saying: +"Yesterday, before a numerous and select assemblage, in which were +included the most illustrious members of the nobility and the world of +politics and literature, were celebrated in the house of the bride the +long announced nuptials of the most beautiful and distinguished dame +swallow, Lady Such an One, to the wealthy sir swallow, Lord Somebody or +Other.[41] After enjoying a splendid collation, the newly married couple +departed to their noble domain of Robledales in Aragon." And whoever +speaks of the swallows may clearly say the same thing of the whole +throng of birds which had encamped both in the gardens of Nieva and in +the immense pine groves which lined the banks of its river. + +To be reckoned among the people most manifestly influenced by this +spring breeze (leaving aside, of course, the Señorita de Delgado, with +whom no one would dare to maintain any rivalry in the matter of +sensations, sentiments, emotions, and all that refers to the life of the +heart), was our acquaintance, Manolito Lopez. His worthy family noticed +with grateful surprise, not only that the lad's character was manifestly +softening, but likewise that the habits of orderliness and an +inclination toward sedateness had sprung up, and were growing in him +with unusual rapidity. This praiseworthy inclination was manifested in +everything that pertained to the adornment of his person, but most +particularly to that of his feet; a box of superior blacking every +fortnight was not sufficient for the demands of his shoes, and he spent +a large part of the morning and of his physical powers in making them +shine like a looking-glass, and even thus he was not content: Manolito +would not have been satisfied if anything less than the brilliancy of a +Brazilian diamond, of all the jewels of the royal crowns of Europe, of +the seas and the stars had been put into them. After giving the last +finishing touch to his hair, Manolito always sallied forth in the +amiable company of his glistening boots to promenade in front of the +house of Elorza, and up the street and down the street he went all the +time allowed him by his occupations, and also a good part of the time +when he had no business to be there. The balconies of the house, as a +rule, remained hermetically sealed; but Manolito, judging by the +graceful gait which he affected as he passed, must have suspected that a +pair of steady, love-stricken eyes were always observing him through the +cracks. Once in a while the balconies were thrown open, giving a glimpse +of Carmen, of Genoveva, of Adela, or some other servant, who looked at +him without sufficient respect considering our young lad's age (fifteen +years and three months) and his character. Very, very rarely likewise +appeared Marta's pretty head. She looked out for an instant with an +expression of indifference which, be it said for the sake of the truth, +did not change into one of affection and tenderness at sight of +Manolito, but certainly remained exactly as calm and serene as though +our youth had no more personality than a column of the arcade, or the +clock on the town-house, or the sign of the Café de la Estrella, or any +other of the inanimate objects whereon the girl's eyes rested. +Manolito, for a few moments, felt as much disturbed as one who, sailing +through the Arctic Ocean, should suddenly see an enormous iceberg coming +down upon him; but soon he recovered his spirits, saying, for the +encouragement of his heart, "What a sly one she is!" And though the +balconies were immediately shut with a scornful screak, and remained +closed all the day, yet Manolito did not cease to promenade back and +promenade forth, fortified always in his conviction that through the +interstices of the curtains a pair of ecstatic, love-softened eyes were +launching at him a thousand passionate darts. + +But where the spring held a more absolute and even despotic sway (always +excepting, of course, the Señorita de Delgado's poetical soul) was the +Elorza garden. There, without consulting in the slightest degree the +will of the flexible mimosas or of the round acacias or of the dignified +catalpas or of any other tree or shrub, flower or plant, however +respectable, she began to clothe them all in green, carefully +variegating their garments, making this one deep and dark, that one +bright and dazzling, and the other pale and yellow, playing with them a +sort of gay, original masquerade delightful for those to see who still +persist in feeling affection for the works of nature. Above this +habiliment there shone like decorations of honor many flowers, yellow, +white, blue, or pink, quick to fill the ambient air with the sweet +perfumes stored up in their hearts. The garden was unusually extensive, +stretching out from the plaza where Don Mariano's mansion was built to +the quay on one side, and on the other to the farthest houses of the +town. And whether because it was not very easy to take the most perfect +care of such a large piece of ground, or because Don Mariano as a man +of taste did not wish to impose upon Nature his own law, by establishing +in her demesne a tyrannical system of geometrical crosses and lines, at +any rate it offered all the lawless vigor, the exuberance, and the +spontaneity, which it is not customary to find any longer except in +provincial gardens managed according to a broad and tolerant Spanish +fashion. The paths, though originally laid out in straight lines +according to the style in vogue at the time when they were first +designed, were now fluctuating, thanks to the growing up or +disappearance of quince-tree, boxwood, or rose hedges. The trees in many +places enclosed these paths with a thicket, giving them an air of long +mystery, which, according to amateurs, is the greatest charm of gardens, +and I appeal to the testimony of all ardent and elevated souls, +particularly to the Señorita de Delgado. Back of the trees, through the +hedges, could be seen a stone faun or satyr, discolored by great green +spots on the muscular shoulders, spurting water from mouth and nostrils; +in this agreeable occupation its whole life had been spent. Flowers in +the Elorza garden did not possess those inordinate privileges which they +are wont to obtain in flashy parks of modern times, but a number of +succulent vegetables had established themselves on a footing of equality +with them. At the side of a group or clump of dahlias grew an +asparagus-bed, and within sight of a splendid bunch of canna indica and +calladium flourished a thicket of artichokes and a bed of Alsatian +cabbages. And why not? However indisputable the superiority of flowers +may be, we must not deny to vegetables æsthetic qualities worthy of the +consideration and respect of French gardeners, who at the present time +have declared a merciless war upon them. Perhaps they consider that if +vegetables are banished from parks, they bury prose forever and have +poetry only left, according to the example of those ancient novelists +who did not dare to show their heroes and heroines in the act of eating +for fear of soiling or tarnishing them. In one of the angles there was a +great storehouse where were piled old furniture from the house, a number +of broken-down carriages, the gardening utensils, and other things. The +whole garden was surrounded by a wall of considerable thickness and +elevation, over which climbed ivy and honeysuckle cautiously letting +their leaves peer over the top, like two rogues coming in to rob fruit +and get away before they should be discovered by the gardener. Over one +of the faces of the wall arose the masts of the vessels at the quay, +which with their multitudinous cordage enlacing and crossing in every +direction, looked from a distance like monstrous spiders. A great gate +barred with iron led from the garden to the quay. + +The younger daughter of the proprietor of this garden found herself in +it one morning culling flowers with a pair of shears suspended from her +belt, and afterwards placing them very daintily in a small osier basket. +She went about taking them now from this side and now from that, seeming +at times to ponder before some, leaving them untouched to go straightway +to others, and then coming back to them, thus endlessly meandering in +every direction with hesitating step. She was so immersed in the depths +of some combination for her bouquet that she allowed herself to be +pitilessly burned by the sun, more splendid in his anger and pride than +was his wont. Since we last saw her, a slight change not easy to define +had taken place in her figure. She had just finished her fourteenth +year. Her physical development, always exuberant and vigorous, had taken +a sudden start during the last three months, not causing her to grow at +once tall and thin, as is apt to be the case with girls at this age, but +bringing her beauty to a more ideal perfection. Marta was destined to be +rather stout: nature had been giving the last touches to her figure, +strengthening the line of her hips, rounding her arms, filling out her +virginal bosom, and perfecting the oval of her face, without being +willing, on any consideration, to grant her three inches more of +stature, though she really needed them. On this account an Andalusian +cavalry lieutenant, while saying something in her praise and dispraise +in a game of forfeits, recently declared, "You are very charming, but +your roundness is alarming."[42] And this had given occasion for the +friends of the house to call her in fun _la redondita_ (the round), and +to plague her continually with the Andalusian rhyme. The expression of +her face was as placid, grave, and as gentle as before. Nevertheless, +her great black eyes, calm and liquid, which, as we have said, used to +present a certain strange immobility, such as is seen in those suffering +from gutta serena, acquired a movement so gentle and sweet that one of +the De Ciudad girls, the very one who had pointed her out to the +engineer Suárez, could not help exclaiming the other night,-- + +"Don't you see how sweet Martita is looking!" + +"Certainly," replied the engineer, "that girl seems to caress you with +her eyes when she looks." + +At the same time they inclined to grow liquid, which still more +increased their brilliancy and gentleness. At this particular moment she +wore a dark violet dress, extremely snug and well fitted to her body, +and, although at her earnest request it had been made a little longer +than before, still, as she stooped over to cut the flowers, it allowed +more than a glimpse to be seen of a pair of beautiful, well rounded +ankles, comparable with the arms which Ricardo had admired. + +After she had cut as many flowers as she wanted, she sat on a stone +bench in the shade, and placing the basket by her side and taking out a +ball of thread, proceeded, with great calmness, to make a nosegay. First +she took a magnificent white tea-rose, and pulled off all its thorns, +tying around it instead some leaves of althea. As she reached this stage +in her operation, Ricardo made his appearance. Marta raised her head, +hearing his steps, and quickly dropped it again, continuing her work. + +"I have been hunting for you, Martita." + +"What for?" + +"Nothing ... only to see you.... Is that a little thing?" + +"If that's all, it seems to me a very little thing; yes!" + +"Perhaps you don't want me to see you?" + +"I didn't say so ... but as it hasn't been twenty-four hours since you +got home...." + +"Well, at any rate I wanted to see you." + +Marta said nothing, and kept on with her task, placing around the rose +and in the althea three pansies. Ricardo also had changed a little since +the last time that we saw him. His face had grown somewhat thinner, and +in place of its ordinary expression of contentment had come another as +of fatigue sometimes approximating to gloom and bitterness. +Unquestionably he had not been very happy during the last months, and we +know very well that he had no good reason for being. The perpetual +struggle which he had to sustain with Maria's scruples, and the sincere +or simulated coldness which he saw in her, caused a steady, dull +discomfort which embittered his existence. The brief moments when he +succeeded in talking with his beloved, instead of being brightened by +the sweet expressions of love, were generally spent in bickerings and +recriminations, or at least in long exhortations on one side and the +other,--Ricardo trying to prove to Maria that her pious practices were +an exaggeration incompatible with human nature; Maria urging Ricardo to +abandon the frivolities of the world and enter upon the road of virtue, +which is that of salvation. + +After he had silently watched Marta's work a moment, he asked her,-- + +"Whom is that bouquet for?" + +"For Maria, who wants to begin her flowers for the Virgin this evening. +She asked me to make two, and I keep one in the house." + +A flash of joy passed through the young man's eyes at the mention of his +sweetheart's name, and he began to take an interest in the formation of +the nosegay. Marta noticed particularly her future brother's joy and +interest. Between the three pansies she placed three pinks,--one red, +one rose-colored, and the other white. Then she took a number of leaves +of sweet marjoram and rose, and tied up with them the growing bouquet; +thereupon she placed all around it a row of marguerites, alternating the +colors,--purple, white, blue, and mottled. + +"Now, you ought to put in some pinks," added Ricardo, with the boldness +of ignorance. + +"Hush, Ricardo, you don't know what you are talking about.... Now you +want a filling of sweet marjoram and althea, so that the marguerites may +have a background.... Flowers must be loose and not touch each other, so +that each may preserve its form in the bunch.... Do you see?... Now a +row of roses can be added without fear of crushing the marguerites ... +a white one, then a red one ... a white one ... another red one ... +there! that'll do!" + +The thread unrolled between her fingers, gently binding the flowers +together; the nosegay went on assuming a pyramidal form very well +proportioned. Ricardo, looking into the basket, saw some extremely +bright-colored geraniums, and cried out,-- + +"Oh, how lovely those geraniums are!... Such a bright color ought to +become you, Martita; put one in your hair." + +The girl, without more ado, took the one that he offered her, and stuck +it in her dark locks above her ear. This combination of red and black, +which is vulgar, as all girls know, appeared more harmonious than +ordinarily, through the exceptional intensity not only of the black, but +of the red. The geranium, on being translated to that position, seemed +to have fulfilled its destiny on earth, or to have realized its essence, +as my friend Homobono Pereda, shining with more beauty and satisfaction +than ever, would say. Ricardo contemplated Marta's head with genuine +admiration, while an innocent smile of triumph hovered over her lips and +in her eyes. + +Around the roses she placed, instead of the green setting of sweet +marjoram and althea, another of white and blue violets, and next a row +of geraniums of all colors, combining them exquisitely. The bouquet was +finished. To add a crowning grace she put in a few handfuls of thyme, +arranging them in such a way that they might serve as a support. The +flowers, all artistically combined, appeared loose, each one showing its +own individuality, or, as my friend Homobono would add, perfectly united +in the whole. + +Marta lifted the nosegay up, saying, with childish delight,-- + +"Isn't that fine!... isn't that fine! + +"Admirable!... admirable!" cried Ricardo, and in the height of his +enthusiasm he took the nosegay, waved it several times, and then laying +it down in the basket, seized the girl's hand and lifted it to his lips. + +Marta grew as scarlet as the geranium that she wore in her hair, and +snatched her hand away. Ricardo looked at her with a mischievous smile, +and said:-- + +"What's does this mean, señorita, what does this mean? You are ashamed +to have any one kiss your hand, when it isn't four months since we all +kissed you on the cheek? That won't do ... that won't do at all...." + +And forcibly seizing her two hands he began to shower kisses on them +without stopping, until he thought he felt something strange on his +head, and lifted it. Marta was in tears. The young man's surprise was so +great that he dropped her hands without saying a word. The girl hid her +face in them, and began to sob with keen pain. + +"Martita, what is it? What is the matter with you?" he asked, thoroughly +terrified, stooping down to look into her face. + +"Nothing! nothing!... Leave me...." + +"But what are you crying about?... Have I hurt you? Have I offended +you?" + +"No, no!... Leave me, Ricardo ... leave me, for Heaven's sake!" + +And jumping from the bench, she started to run toward the house, wiping +her eyes. Ricardo grew more and more surprised, as he saw her +disappearing, and he stayed some time at the bench, trying in vain to +explain the girl's behavior. Then he got up, and began to promenade in +the garden. In a short time he had entirely forgotten Marta's tears; +more painful memories came to disturb his mind and absorb his +attention. An hour, at least, he spent in walking up and down the park, +thinking about them, until at last, as he passed in front of the bench +where he had been sitting with the girl, he noticed that her bouquet +still remained in the basket, as she had left it, and thinking that it +was not good for it to be there, he started with it to the house. He +asked the first servant whom he met where the señorita was to be found. + +"I think she is in the señora's room." + +He turned his steps thither. At Doña Gertrudis's room he met Marta, who +was doubtless bound on some errand for her mother. The girl, who still +wore the red geranium in her hair, as soon as she saw him, gave him a +sweet smile, and showed signs of being somewhat confused. + +"Are you still vexed, Martita?" asked Ricardo, in a whisper. + +"I wasn't vexed at all, Ricardo." + +"But those tears?" + +"I myself don't know what made me.... I have not been quite well for a +few days, ... and I cry without any reason." + +"Then I am relieved in my heart, preciosa. You can't imagine how I felt +at having caused you any pain!" + +"Bah!" + +"And how violently you wept! I believed that something really serious +had occurred.... Has anything happened to grieve you to-day?" + +"No, no; nothing at all.... I shall be right back. Good by." + +The Marquis of Peñalta went into Doña Gertrudis's room, where at that +time Don Mariano and Don Maximo were conversing together, neither of +them showing in their faces any of the painful anguish, the pallor, and +the fear of those who are witnessing the last agony of the dying; and +this irritated Doña Gertrudis to such a degree that she would almost +have taken delight in dying at that moment, for the sake of giving them +a scare. She was reclining, as usual, in her easy-chair, her feet and +legs wrapt up in a magnificent mountain goat-skin, casting looks of +bitter desolation, now at the ceiling, and now at a cup of milk which +she held in her hand. From time to time she carried it to her lips, and +swallowed a portion of its contents, thereupon lifting her eyes, and +exclaiming inwardly, "My God, may this cup pass from me!" Again and +again she looked at her persecutors with ineffable serenity, saying, in +a touching manner, that if God forgave their cruelty, she, for her part, +did not find it hard to grant them a full and generous pardon, though +she greatly doubted whether the Supreme Creator would grant it. + +Ricardo sat down near the persecutors, without any ceremony, for that +very morning he had had the opportunity of spending a good hour over +Doña Gertrudis's nerves. She, considering that whoever has to do with +sinners is prone to fall into sin, included him in advance in the +universal and liberal amnesty which she had declared in favor of those +who offended her. + +"I would never permit either traitorous periodicals, like _El +Tradición_, or magistrates who would not obey the government punctually +and unconditionally, Don Maximo." + +"I agree with you up to a certain point; yet we find ourselves in a time +of conflict, and it is necessary to proceed by exceptional measures. But +you will not deny that, in a normal state of things, liberty--" + +"Liberty and not license!... Liberty to work ... that's the only kind +that we need. Roads, bridges, factories, land improvements, railways, +and ports, that is all that our unfortunate nation asks for.... The +liberty that you progressists are ambitious to get is liberty to starve +to death.... When I consider that, if it had not been for _la gloriosa_, +our railway would have been at point of completion, such desperation +seizes me that--" + +"This is only a passing conclusion, Don Maximo.... You will see how very +soon the rainbow of peace will shine!" + +"Yes, yes ... it is certainly raining now.... Have you read the leading +article in _La Tradición_? [_La Tradición_ was a Carlist journal, +published in Nieva every Thursday.] Then, when you read it, you will see +what rainbows the partisans of the Church and the throne are getting +ready for us...." + +"Is it very strong?" + +"It's a trifling thing!... It says that all good Catholics ought to take +arms to exterminate the horde of the impious and ruffianly who govern us +to-day...." + +At this moment Marta entered the room. As she passed in front of +Ricardo, he took her by the hand, and obliged her to sit on his knees, +giving her a speechless look of tenderness with his eyes, without losing +any of the conversation. The girl sat down without resistance, and +likewise listened in silence. + +"But does it really say that?" asked Don Maximo. + +"It certainly does.... Read it for yourself, and you will be edified.... +In my opinion the Carlists are meditating and even plotting some _coup +de main_. The general commander is taking too little care of this +region, and is carrying off all the forces to drive the guerillas from +the highlands.... The factory always requires a strong garrison for +what might happen.... It is a prize coveted by them." + +"I don't believe that they would ever dare to make any attempt in that +direction. And except that the señor marqués says...." + +Ricardo did not catch Don Maximo's last words, for, with an affectionate +smile, he was saluting Maria, who at that moment came in. After she had +sat down near Doña Gertrudis, and exchanged a look or two with him, he +remembered the remark that had been directed to him. + +"What did you say Don Maximo?" + +"That I don't believe the Carlists have any intentions against the +factory.... It would be a ridiculous undertaking." + +"Oh, no indeed! Not so ridiculous as you imagine, Don Maximo.... This +very day, with the small garrison which we have there, it would not be +impossible or very difficult to take it by surprise.... How many times I +have thought, when on guard at night, that thirty decided men might get +the better of me! If they succeeded in procuring a foothold inside, the +thirty would be settled, you may believe...." + +"Do you hear what he says, you stubborn man? do you hear him? Now you +shall see how we must look out for our powder magazine, now that +thunderbolts and meteors are falling. But listen to one thing, Ricardo, +why don't you utilize for the defence of the factory the last advances +made in electric lighting?" + +"How?" + +"I should suggest that if a number of electric lamps were put in +different parts of it, which the officer on guard could set going by +simply pressing a button, all danger of a surprise could easily be +avoided; and if at the same time a goodly number of heavy bells were +set up, likewise worked by electricity, which would give an instant +alarm in the city and wake the workmen, who for the most part live +near.... Martita! what's the matter?" he exclaimed, suddenly breaking +off the thread of his discourse. + +All hastened to her assistance. The girl, who was still seated on +Ricardo's knees, had grown pale without any one noticing it. When Don +Mariano casually glanced at her, she was white as a sheet of paper. + +"What is it, my daughter?" + +"What is the matter, Martita?" + +"I don't feel quite well. Give me a glass of water." Maria ran to get it +for her. Don Maximo felt of her pulse and said,-- + +"It's only a little giddiness, which water will cure." + +In point of fact, as soon as she drank the water, and had sat down on +the sofa, she began to feel better, and in a few moments was perfectly +well. The conversation went on. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND. + + +For a fortnight at least there had been talk of an excursion to El Moral +and the island. During the spring the young ladies[43] who went to the +parties at the house of the Elorzas had been anxious to form a capital +with the products of the tax and lottery to defray the expenses. Don +Mariano allowed them to do so, smiling roguishly every time that he was +told the state of the funds; but when the time came which was fixed for +the excursion, in presence of the whole tertulia, he took the handful of +silver from the little box in which it was kept and handed it to the +parish priest of Nieva to divide among the parishioners who most needed +it. + +"Why!" exclaimed the noble caballero at the same time, "is it not a +hundred-fold better to spend this money in alleviating the hunger of one +or two poor people than in a frivolous and unnecessary amusement?" + +"Certainly, certainly," said the girls, putting on an expression which +in truth did not give evidence of the purest delights of virtue and the +joys of the righteous. + +That evening there was very little talking, singing, and dancing at the +Elorza tertulia. Virtue, stern by nature, does not approve of noisy +demonstrations. The young people of both sexes expressed the deep, pure +satisfaction with which their sacrifice had inspired them by an +ineffable severity, making them demure and silent the most of the time, +as though they were meditating deeply on some Gospel text. Great, +therefore, must have been the displeasure felt by all when Don Mariano +said to them at the last moment:-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, I +should be greatly pleased to have you meet at the quay, properly +provided with hats, parasols, wraps, and so forth and so forth. Nothing +is more likely than that the sailors of my falúa will be anxious to take +us down to El Moral, and, as you well know, it wouldn't be polite to +disappoint them." + +The tertulia deplored this determination which deprived them of making a +sacrifice for the universal brotherhood, and manifested it with a +running fire of laughter, remarks, and disorderly movements: "What a man +Don Mariano is!" "He always has to be playing these jokes!" "Thursday, +Thursday!" "What engagement have I for Thursday? Oh, none, I believe." +"Must we take waterproofs?" "I think cloaks will be enough." And so on. + +And in fact, on Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning, Don Mariano's +launch and the quarantine boat, both clean and adorned like damsels on a +fête-day, were impatiently waiting for the people, tossing side by side +in the slip by the quay. Four sailors in each were making the final +arrangements, from time to time casting inquiring glances now at the +river, now at the streets which led from the quay. The passengers were +not in sight, and the tide had already gone down two feet and a half. +One of the sailors expressed his dislike of tardiness in a rough voice +which was far enough from fashionable. At last appeared a variegated +group of women and men among whom straw hats and red cloaks +predominated, and the old sea-dog who had just been swearing like a +pirate blasphemed once more out of pure satisfaction, and put down a +gang-plank between the dock and the falúa for the people to cross on. +The first to leap on board was Don Mariano. The boat gently tipped on +one side when she received her master's weight, as though making him a +loving bow. All the young ladies, including, of course, the Delgados, +next came tripping on board, leaning on Don Mariano's strong hand: the +gentlemen followed. When the first falúa was full, they began to load +the second, and this was quickly accomplished. In the first, among other +people of distinction, were the two Misses de Delgado with their sister, +the widow, who chaperoned them; the De Merinos with their brother +Bonifacio, the most self-satisfied of all brothers; three or four +officials from the factory, Don Mariano, Don Maximo, Martita, and +Ricardo. Maria did not go because she would not break her vow to refrain +from all recreation. Likewise Doña Gertrudis's indisposition prevented +her from taking part in the excursion. In the second boat excellent +accommodation was found by our friend, the fascinating, sprightly +Señorita de Morí, under the watchful goggle eyes of the illustrious +Isidorito. Likewise, we can distinguish among others a very pretty young +girl named Rosario with whom the young swell at her side was not able to +dance on the evening of the Elorza soirée, on account of the war +proclaimed by the pianist against the German. The sailors were just +going to cast off the lines for starting when from one of the falúas +came a voice, asking,-- + +"But the De Ciudads?" + +The De Ciudads were missing. Don Mariano and the quarantine doctor were +in consternation at the mention of this name, which was such a guaranty +of respectability. Before they had recovered from their consternation, +there appeared at the end of one of the streets leading to the quay the +six señoritas accompanied by their papa, their mamma, their engineer +Suárez, and two small brothers. It was impossible to accommodate so many +people in the two falúas; they had to hunt up another, and man it with +the first sailors they could find, and thus precious time was lost. But +at last, as everything in this world can be managed except death, the De +Ciudads and their friends were well bestowed in a fishing-boat, and the +captain of the quarantine gave the signal for the start. The twelve oars +of the falúas began to strike the water in time with a gentle splash, +like the arms of one stretching. + +The level of the river was smooth, motionless, and bright as a mirror; +the sun cast upon it wide, silvery spots towards the centre, and darker +ones near the edges. The sky was covered by a delicate veil of clouds, +making a splendid rival for the ladies' hats and parasols. Only a gentle +breeze laden with the keen odor of pines on the shore came timidly +kissing the soft back of the waters, and the no less soft and fresh +necks of the ladies. It was not as yet a legitimate sea-breeze, but a +hybrid kind[44] with the characteristics both of sea and land. The oars +now put out all their agility, and with their blades lifted the crystal +of the waters, causing fleeting, foamy whirlpools; all faces showed the +healthful joy which is always caused by motion and the ever new and +beautiful spectacle of nature. The girls, bending over the gunwale of +the boat, delighted in taking off their rings and plunging their hands +into the water, letting it pour with a murmur through their white +fingers: they talked, they screamed, they laughed, and they exchanged +greetings from one boat to the other. The young fellows spattered their +faces with their canes or suddenly leaned to one side to scare them, +taking great pleasure in their cries of desperation. All was noise and +hubbub in the little squadron. As they came near El Moral, the marine +characteristics of the breeze began to get the upper hand of the inland +ones; it grew stronger, sometimes even blowing violently, as when the +falúas passed by some glen made through the hills or sloping banks which +shut in the river valley. The ribbons on the hats, the pennants on the +mast-heads, handkerchiefs and neckties began to flutter violently. The +voyagers felt the sweet deafness caused by the keen, salt-nurtured wind +of the sea. A few aquatic birds of little account flew out from one +shore and went flapping above the falúas, which was sufficient cause for +Don Serapio, in a fit of enthusiasm for the sea, to get upon deck and, +leaning over the flagstaff like one possessed, to sing the song which +begins:-- + + "_Al ver en la inmensa llanura del mar._ + + When o'er the mighty prairie of the sea, + I watch the sea-gulls in their rapid flight, + My soul is filled with envious thoughts," etc. + +If the river could blush, it would not have failed to do so on hearing +itself called so hyperbolically the _mighty prairie_; but it took it in +bad part, believing that there was some joke intended, and was seriously +angry. At all events, the wind undertook to wreak vengeance for it by +suddenly snatching off the inspired singer's sombrero and cutting short +the current, not to say the torrent, of his voice. The falúa in the wake +picked up the hat and restored it in a very water-soaked condition to +its owner, who showed no more desire for the time being to continue +apostrophizing the sea-gulls. + +The little squadron stood nearer and nearer to the handful of houses at +El Moral, distant from Nieva about a league and a half. The town kept +growing more distant from our voyagers, offering them a beautiful +spectacle. It was situated under the brow of a not very lofty mountain, +decorated with green gardens and groups of laurel and orange trees on +all sides; its white-walled houses seemed to have been placed in such a +situation by the hand of an artist who believed in combining the +advantages of nature so as to produce the æsthetic emotion, as a stage +manager would say; the dazzling whiteness of the town stood out against +the dark green of the mountain like a great patch of snow stretching +down from the top; the silvery sheet of the river extending at its feet +waited motionless and humble till it should melt into its bosom. The +gentle, pine-clad hills which bordered the shores, and which our +voyagers left one after the other, seemed like the bristling backs of +huge, fantastic monsters. + +The remarks made by one falúa to another gradually ceased. Each of the +boats recovered self-jurisdiction, living for itself alone. Let us +listen to what is said in them. + + +IN THE ELORZA FALÚA. + +"I am well in years, Don Maximo, but I expect that my daughters are +going to see this river perfectly channelled. The amount of water +entering the mouth of the port would be sufficient to float vessels of +the greatest draught, if it were not so spread out. The question is to +utilize it. And how can this be done? Why, it must be done by force, by +means of two parallel jetties, which should begin at the very bar and +come up as far as Nieva. The water, both at ebb and flow, will pass +between them with greater rapidity, working over the bottom until it +deepens it. Gradually the space included between the channel and the +shores will be left dry, and can be easily improved. To accomplish the +drainage, all that is needed is to construct a clay dike against each of +the jetties, and open large gates through which the water can flow out +but not come in.... Excuse my earnestness!... I know well that this is +not a work of months, but of many years; still there is nothing +impossible about it.... Once reclaimed, these wide spaces would +doubtless be utilized by the population of Nieva, even to the very bank +of the beautiful canal, which would be constantly crowded with every +kind of craft. The new city built on such a wide level would most +certainly have its streets laid out at right angles, like those of the +American cities, and magnificent wharves. The true port, however, cannot +be here, but near the roadstead of Los Arenales, ... very soon we shall +be passing by it. It is a well-sheltered and extensive site, where a +whole fleet could have stay-room.... At present it is not very deep; I +am perfectly aware of that, but it has a sandy bottom, and you know that +with the powerful dredging-machines which we have nowadays, in a very +short time, it could be made two or three metres deeper.... Then Nieva +will be the most important part of El Cantábrico; the larger part of our +mineral products will be exported through it, for the dock at Sarrió is +very small, and there is no chance to increase it; instead of going to +French watering-places to spend the summer, the Spaniards will come to +these beautiful Northern Provinces, neglected to-day for lack of means +of communication.... How is Biarritz to be compared in spring with these +fresh, delicious regions? What sea-coast of Arcachón can enter into +rivalry with ours at Miramar and Las Huelgas?..." + + +ON BOARD OF LA SANIDAD. + +"Last night I slept splendidly, after a number of nights when I didn't +close my eyes hardly at all," said the Señorita de Morí to her friend +Rosario, who was seated near her.... "I don't know what has been ailing +me this long time.... I feel nervous.... My head aches when I get up.... +I think I need a tonic." + +"Sometimes you need to give the heart a tonic, señorita," said +Isidorito, boldly, with his face frightfully contracted by a smile. + +"I didn't know that the apothecary shops furnished tonics for the +heart," replied the young lady, with a scornful gesture, directing her +words to Rosario. + +"Oh, no, señorita; not in the apothecary shops; the heart is not cured +by the preparations of ordinary therapeutics, nor by any formulas of the +pharmacopœia, for it has, apart from its physical nature, which is +not unlike the rest of the viscera, another nature purely spiritual as +we are generally accustomed to speak of it, and this cannot be treated +except by moral medicaments. When I said that sometimes you need to give +your heart a tonic, I meant to indicate that possibly it would be good +for you to drive away certain preoccupations of an amorous character, +which often are wont to affect it." + +"I am not troubled by these _preoccupations_ of which you speak, nor do +I intend to have them at present, God helping me," replied the señorita +with the same air of dissatisfaction as before, and addressing herself +only to Rosario. + +"You cannot affirm that in such a categorical manner." + +"And why not?" + +"For in the state in which you find yourself it is very difficult, not +to say impossible, to fathom all the profundities of the spirit and +scrutinize all of its hiding-places. Frequently impressions make their +way into our souls in a surreptitious manner without our taking note of +it; they begin by being vague and fugitive, and for that very reason +pass without being observed; but slowly they go on taking shape, growing +in strength, and finally they conquer the individual and rule him at +their will. Then they pass into the category of the passions." + +"But I know perfectly well what I feel and what I don't feel." + +"Oh, no, señorita; allow me to contradict you. You cannot know." + +"Man, for goodness' sake! Can't I know what I feel?" + +"Why, then, you must know that--" + +"Perhaps I know better than you do. Self-observation, according to all +the philosophers and moralists, is more difficult than to observe +others, and there are very few who are able to reach to it. On the other +hand, youth is little prone to reflection, and above all women are +incapable of taking perfect account of their inclinations and of the +vague emotions passing through their hearts." + +"Look you! women are as God created them, and so are men." + +"I don't doubt it; but God has so created them, with a sensitive +capacity (if I may express myself in this way) more quick and delicate +than that of men. It may be said that they are born exclusively for +love, and that love ought to fill the measure of their existence. Love +and the consequences which arise from love constitute the first end of +conjugal union or, in other words, matrimony. Thus it has been +established in all legislative codes, and particularly in the canonical, +which is the purest fountain of all. Woman consequently works more +under the impulse of fancy and sentiment than of reason...." + +"Heavens! how much Isidorito knows about us poor women!" exclaimed the +Señorita de Morí, in a tone between anger and jest. + +The district attorney was somewhat crushed, but at length he went on +with his remarks, without ceasing the pseudo-smile which afflicted his +face. + +"Love being, for the reason above given, the most powerful, not to say +the only, motive of a woman's life, there is nothing wonderful in the +supposition that a young lady like you may find herself agitated by this +omnipotent feeling, and paying tribute to what constitutes an +irrecusable law of life. You may now see how I was not out of the way +when I affirmed that sometimes it is necessary for you to give your +heart a tonic or--and this is the same thing--alleviate it of some too +grievous impression." + +"O my![45] what a bore!" said the Señorita de Morí in a whisper; but she +replied aloud, "Why, you are absolutely mistaken, Isidorito; nothing +grieves me or disturbs me at present!" + +"Allow me to doubt it." + +"You are welcome to doubt it; but I assure you that I have the best +reason for knowing." + +"Certainly, according to all logic, although you may declare the +contrary, yet there is no possibility of sustaining such an opinion; not +only reason and good sense oppose it, but from the most superficial +observation of the facts it results, first, that love is a natural and +constant sentiment in young ladies; second, that you have no reasons for +escaping from it; and third, that the fact of sleeping little and +uneasily makes the supposition that you are in love a very reasonable +one." + +The Señorita de Morí shrugged her shoulders, made a scornful grimace +with her lips, and without deigning to reply, resumed her conversation +with her friend Rosario. + +Isidorito had triumphed over his opponent as usual; for always the woman +with whom he was conversing was in his eyes his opponent, and he +believed in the necessity of involving her in the meshes of his logic, +and of getting her close in his grasp, until he subdued her like a +rebellious rival in the law. Thus he expected to win the admiration and +respect of the feminine sex. But the feminine sex (be it said to its +dishonor) not only did not admire Isidorito for his belligerent logic, +for his sedateness, and for his vast legal knowledge, but it looked upon +him with marked disfavor, and avoided his conversation as though it were +a disgusting clatter. The Señorita de Morí, with whom he had carried on +the most pugnacious argument on the nature of love and friendship, the +sweets of remembrance, the bitternesses of forgetfulness, sympathy, and +all else relating to the heart, in which he always came out instantly +victorious, had learned to hate him like death. Consequently our wise +youth was really more than a hundred leagues from the lovely heiress's +three thousand duros income, while he believed that he could touch them +with his finger-tips. His never-failing sedateness, his self-possessed +and serene eloquence, his long-tailed coats, his ideas of order, and his +legal diction had aroused against him a prejudice as cruel as it was +unjustified. + + +IN THE DE CIUDAD FALÚA. + +"Maria, Julia, Consuelo, just see how lovely the water feels when you +put your hand in!" + +"How lovely! how lovely!" + +"You'll wet your clothes, Amparo!" + +"See what cunning white feathers the water makes between the fingers, +Suárez!" + +"Splendid!... but you'll wet the sleeve of your dress." + +"Wait a moment.... I am going to tuck it up.... There, that's good.... +Look! look!..." + +"It still seems to me as though it would get wet.... Tuck it up a little +more." + +"More?" + +"Yes." + +"But I shall show my whole arm!" + +"What difference does that make?" + +"Be sensible; it isn't the time to give one a cold.... Now it seems to +me all right.... Uf! how cold this water is!... It isn't noticeable on +the hands, but on your arms! Look! Look how it jumps up!... If you put +your palm flat against the current, it runs clear up your arm. Don't you +see how beautiful and clear it is to-day?" + +"Speaking frankly, I will tell you," whispered the engineer in Amparo's +ear, "that at this moment my attention is attracted more by your fair +arm!" + +"If you don't hush, you rogue, I shall spatter the water in your face," +replied the girl, threatening him with her chaste vengeance. + +"Though you should throw me into the river, I should still say so.... I +am an artist, above all things, as you well know.... There is nothing so +beautiful as the human form, ... when it is beautiful; and that arm of +yours stands comparison with the most perfect models of the sculptor's +art." + +"Come, come! don't be absurd!... My arm is like any one else's. The +main thing is, that it is beginning to feel cold.... Whew! what +water.[46] It seemed so warm at first!... And how it keeps on growing +colder and colder, till at last it chills one to the bone!..." + +"Take it out, take it out ... we must dry it!" + +And Amparito obeyed, taking her arm out of the water, and innocently +holding it towards the engineer, who began to wipe it with his +handkerchief, lavishing upon it delicate attentions, and saying, at the +same time:-- + +"But what a lovely arm you have, Amparito! How white! what soft skin! +and how round it is, above all!... A woman's arm ought to be so, ... +round and slender, like that of the Venus di Medici ... the arm ought to +diminish gradually and symmetrically to the wrist.... The truth is, with +such an arm you ought to be worthy of being a sculptor's model.... +Well-formed women are scarce enough nowadays. To this is due the decay +of sculpture, according to some critics.... If there were many like you, +this certainly could not be said.... What an arm! what a lovely arm!... +You can't imagine the pleasure I feel in touching it with my hand...." + +The engineer, as he said this, suited the action to the word, and rubbed +it so hard that Señor de Ciudad, who, with grim eyes, was watching the +operation from the bow, could not help exclaiming, in an angry tone,-- + +"Amparo, please pull down your sleeve.... You most foolish girl!" + +The girl blushed, and pulled down her sleeve. The engineer, not being +able to evolve his artistic theories with his model in sight, renounced, +for some time, the use of speech. + +The falúas were now over against the Arenales. The sun had succeeded in +making a few rifts in the veil of cloud, and was threatening, sooner or +later, to rend it in pieces. The pencil of rays which penetrated through +these rifts, and fell on the sand-hills, made them gleam like enormous +flakes of gold, shedding their splendors over the whole breadth of the +watery sheet; occasionally, when the sunbeams were cut off a moment by +the interposition of some cloud, the splendors paled, and the sand +assumed the grayish or gilded shades of webs of yellow silk. The +voyagers all agreed that those sand wastes gave a very good idea of the +deserts of Africa; and Don Mariano expressed his opinion that it would +be very easy to control the sand by means of feather-grass and other +suitable vegetation, and soon convert them into magnificent groves of +pines. + +The valley, which in the midst of the way opened out till it acquired +considerable breadth, became narrower again as it neared El Moral. The +waters became more restless, revealing the proximity of the sea; the +hills, protecting the village with their stony slopes and their bare, +melancholy tops, likewise made it evident. The breath of the monster +began to be felt, blowing freshly and proudly through the narrow mouth +of the river; and far away could be heard the low, portentous beating of +his heart. The falúas now and then pitched upon patches of foam, which +came rolling over the water, like tatters torn from the mantle of some +god who had been battling all the night with the monsters of the ocean. + +They reached El Moral. Don Mariano had prepared for them a delicious +luncheon in a large ware-house, which he owned there, and the numerous +company gave one more proof that the sea breezes are the most excellent +stimulant for the appetite. When they had done good justice to it, and +rested a little while, they re-embarked to continue their excursion. A +short distance from El Moral was the mouth of the harbor from which they +put out to sea, leaving on the starboard quarter the lighthouse tower +set on a bluff. The sailors dropped their oars and hoisted the sails to +take advantage of the fresh north-east wind which forced them ahead. It +was eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The cloud veil had entirely vanished +down the horizon, leaving in view a beautiful, diaphanous blue sky +wherein the sun swam haughty and brilliant as never before. The sea +stretched out before our voyagers' eyes like one enormous, measureless +blue plain, shutting in on all sides the celestial vault to collect its +light and its harmony. Above this azure plain the luminous disk of the +sun made a wide path of shining silver peopled with tremulous, sparkling +gleams and extending in a direct line towards the east. In each one of +the crests which the breeze raised on the water the sunbeams left a +fugitive, vivid light which, on mingling and joining with the rest in an +incessant dance, seemed like the monstrous, fantastic ebullition of the +treasures hidden in the depths of the ocean. The voyagers followed that +silvery path with their gaze, and did not open their lips for a long +time, enjoying the deeply fine and solemn impression which the sea +always makes on the mind. The outlines of the island, dimmed and +confused by the excess of light, stood out opposite the very mouth of +the river, about five miles from the coast. Around it could be seen +great flocculent shreds of foam which alternately grew and narrowed down +again, girdling it with a white belt of lace-work. The wind blew strong, +but with generous benignity, for it had plenty of room to exercise its +powers. The three falúas, with sails spread, cut through the water, one +behind the other, like so many sea-gulls chasing them. The cordage +whistled, the masts creaked in the holes imprisoning them, and the sails +bellied under the breath of the breeze which tipped the boats more than +was relished by the ladies. The water, as it passed, broke into foam, +making a musical murmur against the bow, and sliding along on both sides +with a rustle like the unrolling of silk. + +Don Serapio felt himself attacked by a maritime ecstasy, and, holding +his hat in one hand and gesticulating dramatically with the other, he +sang:-- + + "How blessed that man who can number + His joys on the ocean; + For the billows rock him to slumber + With somnolent motion." + +The almost imperceptible voice of the proprietor of the canning-factory +had the honor of joining in with the eternal concert of the seas, like +one of so many noises of tumbling billows or rattling pebbles. The wind +would not deign to carry it twenty yards away. + +The falúas, as they glided out on the swelling breasts of the waves, +mounted and fell with a gentle, lazy motion which at first was +delightful to the passengers. They began to sway, softly closing their +eyes with a smile of delicious content, surrendering themselves in full +to the vague, poetic dreams awakened in their hearts by the sea. Who +would have said, alas! that those who were dreaming so comfortably, and +rejoicing in a smiling world of gentle fancies and gilded illusions, +would be seen in a few minutes with heads sadly bent over the sea, necks +leaning on the gunwale, as though it were a chopping-block, faces livid +and eyes fixed upon the water, as though they were trying to sound the +secret arcana of the ocean! Oh terrible fickleness of human affairs! + +But what was taking place in the quarantine boat, that she should come +about and leave her companions? An unforeseen contingency, and certainly +one most annoying. Isidorito's breakfast had played him false. Hardly +were they clear of El Moral when he began to be pale and silent, though +no one noticed it; but at last the pallor increased to such a degree +that he really looked like a corpse. Then it was suspected that he was +seasick, and they advised him to put his fingers in his mouth; but the +municipal attorney, very thoroughly acquainted with the tragedy at that +moment enacting in his stomach, would not do any such thing, and begged +humbly that, if it were possible, they should turn about and leave him +on shore. All were stupefied at this proposition, and the falúa +continued on her swift course, as though she had not heard. But, after a +time, Isidorito propounded it in a still more energetic manner, and the +sailors were obliged to reply that, though it was not impossible, still, +to return to shore would cost them an hour's time. Another interval +passed. Isidorito got up suddenly, with his face convulsed, and, +extending his right hand toward the shore, he exclaimed with a voice of +mighty anguish, "Turn around, turn around for God's sake, or I shall +jump into the water!" Then the falúa, not wanting to be an accomplice in +a suicide, veered around, dropped sail, and, putting out oars, began to +make its way, as quick as possible, to the nearest point on the shore. +There are reasons, however, for believing that the distinguished legal +gentleman did not reach land in sufficient time. The Señorita de Morí +felt sufficiently avenged for the many annoyances which his inflexible +logic had occasioned her. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE EXCURSION CONTINUED. + + +Meantime the ocean, indifferent to the laughter and the discomfort of +those petty insects which skim over its burnished surface, reflected the +fire of the sun over all its immensity, enjoying this lofty pleasure +with the same calmness as in the first days of the world. The light +could wander freely over its humid surface, running leagues upon leagues +in a second, shooting its blazes to the furthest confines of the +horizon, or gathering them in a splendid bundle. It could sport over the +foamy crests of its waves, or timidly kiss the diaphanous mirror of the +waters, or spatter it with fine silver powder, or fall in a swoon with +languid, voluptuous tremors, losing themselves amid the folds of the +billows: nothing could change the solemn peace of his heart or cause him +to utter a note lower or a note higher in the grandiose air in basso +profundo which he has sung since the beginning of the world. + +The outlines of the island now stood out with clearness, black and burnt +as though they had just emerged from a fire. As they came nearer, the +white belt, which from a distance seemed to girdle it, broke into a +thousand separate pieces, a considerable distance from one another. The +formidable roar as of multitudes fighting, chains dragging, and rocks +crashing, came from that direction, announcing to our voyagers that they +were approaching their destination. At the end of an hour they +succeeded, not without difficulty, in effecting a landing on its +rockbound shore; then they had to climb up by a narrow, perilous footway +hollowed out of the rock, before they reached the solid, level land. The +island did not deserve this name.[47] It was an islet two or three +kilometers long, belonging to Don Mariano Elorza, who made use of it +only for occasional hunting excursions, and for collecting a few hundred +gulls' eggs from it every year. It was covered here and there with +pines, but for the most part it was clad in furze, where hares and +rabbits had their warrens: on nearly all sides it presented +perpendicular cliffs to the sea, which beat incessantly against it, +furiously rushing in and out of the hollows in the rocks everywhere +abounding. Don Mariano had built in the centre a small house as a +hunting-box which, little by little, he had provided with many +conveniences. It contained only a large parlor, a dining-room, a few +bedrooms, and the kitchen; but it was quite well furnished, and was +surrounded by a small garden where a few shade-trees reluctantly grew. + +While the dinner was in preparation and they were waiting for the +quarantine falúa, which had gone to deposit Isidorito like a melancholy +exile on a barren coast, the ladies and gentlemen scattered about, +devoting themselves to hunting and fishing, according to the tastes and +dispositions of each. Shots began to be heard here and there, showing +that the rabbits, which had multiplied in geometrical progression, +suffered the law of repression discovered by Malthus. The voyagers who +had not bloodthirsty instinct made themselves comfortable on the moss at +the edge of the cliffs, contemplating the horizon from quarter to +quarter, where the sail of some bark was often seen. Others studied the +flora, plucking flowers and entering into long discussions about the +cultivation which would suit that soil and the products which it might +give. When everything was arranged, Don Mariano sent word by his +servants, and one after the other the guests made their way back to the +house and entered the parlor, where a splendid table had been +improvised, loaded with viands and flowers. It took much labor and +sufficient noise to seat so many people, but at last it was +accomplished, thanks to the activity of the master of the house, greatly +aided by the young man with the banged hair, whom we had the honor of +meeting on the evening of the soirée, celebrated in honor of Doña +Gertrudis. + +The feast was worthy of Amphitryon. No gastronomic refinement was +lacking; everything was wisely provided by an imagination familiar with +culinary subjects and, as some one at the table was moved to say with +truth, "life on a desert island was not so unhappy as it was pictured in +Robinson Crusoe and other books." Each plate had before it five or six +glasses which two servants were commissioned to keep filling +successively with different kinds of wine according to the courses +served. No one will be surprised, therefore, that after dinner was over +there were enthusiastic toasts preceded by most eloquent speeches and +accompanied by shouts, bravos, and congratulations of all sorts to the +orator. Don Maximo cut them short by a few phrases, ill enough expressed +but very touching, referring to the brevity of human life, to the vanity +of pleasures, to the recompense which we shall have for our sorrows in +another world, and other supernal subjects. The orator ended by shedding +copious tears stirred by such funereal thoughts. Nevertheless, there +were some who said in an undertone that Don Maximo's _papalina_ was the +least diverting that they had ever known. Then the engineer, Suárez, +made a speech elegantly phrased and ornate, directed to emphasizing the +importance enjoyed by woman in our civilization and the salutary changes +which, thanks to her influence, had obtained in the manners of modern +nations. He made a eulogy, as brilliant as it was finished, of her +artistic abilities, declaring it to be much superior to man's. He +likewise spoke of her physical perfections, enumerating them with great +satisfaction, and he ended by toasting her unconditionally as the most +beautiful and exquisite work of creation, as the eternal and sweet +companion of man. The Señoritas de Ciudad clapped their hands. Thereupon +Don Serapio got up and with rather unctious speech proposed in concrete +terms that the brilliant assemblage who was hearkening to him should +settle for good in the island, in order to populate it, and invited each +one of those present to select as quickly as possible their partners. +The fact that at the end of his invitation he tipped a mischievous and +impudent wink at one of the maid-servants who was helping at table +raised against him a tempest of hisses and interruptions. Not being able +satisfactorily to explain his behavior, Don Serapio grew very angry and +went out into the kitchen, where, after a short time, was heard a +ringing box on his ears. + +Next followed the toasts, growing constantly more fiery and tempestuous, +so that nothing that was said could be heard. One of the most famous was +Martita's. By the advice of Ricardo, who sat by her side, she had drunk +three glasses of champagne and did not know what was going on. The poor +girl, so reserved and silent by temperament, began to let her tongue +have free course, directing very facetious sallies at all present, who +received them with rejoicing and applause. When a lady said that she +was a little tipsy, she grew very serious and declared that she was only +rather happy, which was nothing very strange considering that she was +young. This repartee caused great laughter among the picnickers. When +she was speaking, she kept fanning herself with her handkerchief. Her +eyes, ordinarily so steady and serene, had acquired a strange loveliness +and a malicious brilliancy which attracted the attention of Suárez, the +engineer. The very timbre of her voice had notably altered, making it +deeper and firmer. For the time being, she seemed like a woman in all +the plenitude of her powers. + +When they were tired of talking nonsense, Don Mariano had the tables +removed from the parlor, so that the young people might dance. A piano, +which had reached a dignified old age in that cloistered retreat, was +called upon to mark the time of a mazurka with its cracked voice. As was +to be expected, the dance from the first instant lost all ceremony and +was converted into a whirlwind of hops, screams, and laughter. Marta, +who was dancing with Ricardo, quickly said,-- + +"I can't endure this heat! Don't you want to go out into the fresh air +for a little?" + +"Let us go; I, too, am almost suffocated." + +When they were in the garden, she said to him,-- + +"If you will come with me, I will take you to a place which no one here +knows anything about except papa and me; it is a beach hidden among the +rocks; you don't see it until you are on it ... it is a lovely place." + +"If I like! you know well enough the love I have for landscapes, and +above all for seascapes! How do you get to it?" + +"Follow me ... you shall see." + +Marta started out toward a clump of pines situated not far from the +house, and Ricardo followed her. The girl wore a marine blue dress with +white lace trimmings, and she had on her head a straw hat with a wreath +of red convolvulus. + +"After we reach that grove, you are going to enjoy a surprise." + +"Indeed?" + +"Just wait and see!" + +In fact, after they had reached the grove and had been walking some time +in it, they came upon a grotto half covered up with trees and +underbrush. Marta, without saying a word, entered it, and in two seconds +disappeared from sight. Ricardo waited an instant in uncertainty and +deep surprise; but a gay peal of laughter echoing from within startled +him from his stupor. + +"What does this mean? Don't you dare to come in, coward?" + +"But, child, don't you see, you might get hurt!" + +"Come in, come in, brave warrior!" + +"Very well ... seeing that you have set the example." + +When he joined Marta, he found that the grotto was quite large and had a +sandy floor. + +"Oh, I didn't suppose it was so large and comfortable!" + +"Good; now follow me." + +"Where?" + +"How inquisitive you are!... You shall see, man, you shall see for +yourself." + +She entered further into the cave, which kept growing darker and darker, +and Ricardo followed, not taking his eyes from her for fear she should +fall or stumble upon some obstacle. After some little time the girl's +silhouette vanished in the gloomy depths of the cavern, and Ricardo +found himself in real darkness. + +"Don't be worried; follow me, and nothing will happen to you. I will be +talking all the time, so you can walk in the direction of my voice.... +If you want me to give you my hand, I will.... No?... very well, but +don't fall far behind.... In a very short time you will begin to +descend, but it is a gentle slope.... Do you see?... Don't grumble +against the footing.... Still, if one should fall, it would not do much +harm.... We shall be in the light soon.... Be careful; turn to the +right, for the path here makes a bend.... There, we have light at last!" + +A luminous point was, in fact, visible below our young friend's feet a +hundred yards distant. Marta's silhouette again emerged from the +darkness and stood out against the niggardly light which entered through +the aperture. + +A long, dull murmur was audible in the cave, hinting at the proximity of +the ocean. In a few moments they came out into the light. + +Ricardo was in ecstasies over the sight which met his eyes. They stood +facing the sea in the midst of a beach surrounded by very high, jagged +crags. It seemed impossible to issue from it without getting wet by the +waves, which came in majestic and sonorous, spreading out over its +golden sands, festooning them with wreaths of foam. Our young people +advanced toward the centre in silence, overcome with emotion, watching +that mysterious retreat of the ocean, which seemed like a lovely hidden +trysting-place where he came to tell his deepest secrets to the earth. +The sky of the clearest azure reflected on the sandy floor which sloped +toward the sea with a gentle incline; months and years often passed +without the foot of man leaving its imprint upon it. The lofty, black, +eroded walls, shutting in the beach with their semicircle, threw a +melancholy silence upon it; only the cry of some sea-bird flitting from +one crag to another, disturbed the eternal, mysterious monologue of the +ocean. + +Ricardo and Marta continued slowly drawing nearer the water, still under +the spell of reverence and admiration. As they advanced, the sand grew +smoother and smoother; the prints of their feet immediately filled with +water. Coming still nearer, they noticed that the waves increased, and +that their curling volutes at the moment of breaking would cover them up +if they could get them in their power. They came in toward them solid, +stately, imposing, as though they were certain to carry them off and +bury them forever amid their folds; but five or six yards away they fell +to the ground, expressing their disappointment with a tremendous, +prolonged roar; the torrents of foam which issued from their destruction +came spreading up and leaping on the sand to kiss their feet. + +After considerable time of silent contemplation, Marta began to feel +disturbed; she imagined that she noticed in them a constantly increasing +desire to get hold of her, and that they expressed their longing with +angry, desperate cries. She stepped back a little and seized Ricardo's +hand, without confessing to him the foolish fear that had taken +possession of her; she imagined that the sheet of foam sent up by the +waves, instead of kissing her feet, was trying to bite them; that as it +gathered itself up again with gigantic eagerness, it attracted her +against her will, to carry her away no one knows whither. + +"Doesn't it seem to you that we are going too close to the waves, +Ricardo?" + +"Do you think perhaps they'll come up as far as where you are?" + +"I don't know ... but it seems to me as though we were sliding down +insensibly ... and that they would get hold of us at last." + +"Don't you be alarmed, preciosa," said he, throwing his arm around her +shoulder and gently drawing her to him; "neither are the waves coming up +to us, nor are we going down to them.... Are you afraid to die?" + +"Oh, no, not now!" exclaimed the girl, in a voice scarcely audible, and +pressing closer to her friend. + +Ricardo did not hear this exclamation; he was attentively watching the +passage of a steamboat which was passing down the horizon, belching +forth its black column of smoke. + +After a time he felt like renewing the theme. + +"Are you really afraid of death? Oh, you are well off.... To-day the +world has in store for you its most seductive smiles ... not a single +cloud obscures the heaven of your life. God grant you may never come to +desire it!" + +"And are you afraid to die? tell me!" + +"Sometimes I am, and sometimes I am not." + +"At this moment are you?" + +"Oh! how funny you are!" exclaimed the young fellow, turning his smiling +face towards her. "No, not at this moment, certainly not." + +"Why not?" + +"Because, if the sea should carry us away, we two should die together; +and going in such charming company, what would it matter to me leaving +this world?" + +The girl looked at him steadily for a moment. Over the young man's lips +hovered a gallant but somewhat condescending smile. She abruptly tore +herself from him, and turning her back, began to walk up and down on +the beach skirting the dominions of the waves. + +The steamship was just hiding behind one of the headlands like a +fantastic warrior, walking through the water until only the plume of his +helmet was visible. When it had disappeared, Ricardo joined his future +sister, who seemed not to notice his presence, so absorbed was she in +contemplation of the ocean; yet after a moment she suddenly turned +around, and said,-- + +"Do you dare to go with me to the point which extends out there at the +right?" + +"I have no objection, but I warn you that it's flood tide, and that that +point will be surrounded by water before the end of an hour." + +"No matter; we have time enough to go to it." + +Leaping and balancing over the rocks along the shore, which were full of +pools and lined with seaweed, whereon they ran great risk of slipping, +they reached the point far out in the sea. + +"Let us sit down," said Marta. "Sometimes the sea comes up as far as +this, doesn't it?" + +Ricardo sat beside her, and both looked at the humid plain extending at +their feet. Near them it was dark green in color; farther away it was +blue; then in the centre the great silvery spot was still resplendent +with vivid scintillations reflecting the fiery disk of the sun. From the +liquid bosom of the boundless deep arose a solemn but seductive music, +which began to sound like a paternal caress in the ears of our young +friends. The great desert of water sang and vibrated in its spaces like +the eternal instrument of the Creator. The breeze coming from the waves +brought a refreshing coolness to their temples and cheeks; it was a +keen, powerful breath, swelling their hearts and filling them with +vague, exalted feelings. + +Neither of them spoke. They enjoyed the contemplation of ocean's majesty +and grandeur, with a humble sense of their own insignificance, and with +a vague longing to share in its divine, immortal power. Their eyes +followed again and again unweariedly along the fluctuating line of the +horizon which revealed to them other spaces, endless and luminous. +Without noticing it, by an instinctive movement they had again drawn +nearer to each other as though they had some fear of the monster roaring +at their feet. Ricardo had laid one arm around the young girl's waist, +and held her gently as if to defend her from some danger. + +At the end of a long time, Marta turned her kindled face toward him and +said, with trembling voice,-- + +"Ricardo, will you let me lean my head on your breast? I feel like +weeping!" + +Ricardo looked at her in surprise, and drawing her gently toward him, +laid her head on his knee. The girl thanked him with a smile. + +The waters beat upon the point where they were, spattering them with +spray, and ceaselessly pouring in and out of the deep caves of the +rocks, which seemed hollow, like a house. The rivers tumbling over them +awoke strange, confused murmurs within, seeming sometimes like the +far-off echoes of a thunder-clap, again like the deep rumbling of an +organ. + +Marta, with her head resting on the young man's knee and her face turned +to the sky, allowed her great, liquid eyes to roam around the azure +vault, with ears attent to the deep murmurs sounding beneath her. The +fresh sea breeze had not yet succeeded in cooling her burning cheeks. + +"Hark!" she said, after a little; "don't you hear it?" + +"What?" + +"Don't you hear, amid the roar of the water, something like a lament?" + +Ricardo listened a moment. + +"I don't hear anything." + +"No; now it has stopped; wait a while.... Now don't you hear it?... Yes, +yes, there's no doubt about it ... there's some one weeping in the +hollows of this rock...." + +"Don't be worried, tonta; it's the surf that makes those strange +noises.... Do you want me to go down and see if there's any one in +there?" + +"No! no!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "stay quiet.... If you should move, it +would disturb me greatly...." + +The great spot of silver kept extending further over the circuit of the +ocean, but it began to grow pale. The sun was rapidly journeying toward +the horizon, in majestic calm, without a cloud to accompany him, wrapt +in a gold and red vapor, which gradually melted, till it was entirely +lost in the clear blue of the sky. The point where they were, likewise +stretched its shadow over the water, the dark green of which, little by +little, grew into black. The roaring of the waves became muffled, and +the breeze blew softly, like the indolent breathing of one about to go +to sleep. An august, soul-stirring silence began to come up from the +bosom of the waters. In the caverns of the rock Marta no longer +perceived the mournful cry which had frightened her; and the thunders +and mumblings had been slowly changing into a soft and languid glu glu. + +"Are you going to sleep?" asked Ricardo again. + +"I have told you once that I don't care to go to sleep.... I am so happy +to be awake!... He who sleeps doesn't suffer, but neither does he +enjoy.... It is good to sleep only when one has sweet dreams, and I +almost never have them.... Look, Ricardo; it seems to me now that I am +asleep and dreaming.... You look so strange to me! I see the sky below, +and the sea above; your head is bathed in a blue mist; ... when you +move, it seems as though the vault covering us swung to and fro; when +you speak, your voice seems to come out of the depths of the sea.... +Don't shut your eyes, for pity's sake! how it makes me suffer! I imagine +that you are dead, and have left me here alone. Don't you see how wide +open mine are! Never did I want less to sleep than now.... Hark! put +down your face a little nearer; should you suffer much, if the sea were +to rise slowly, and finally cover us up?" + +Ricardo trembled a little; he cast a look about him, and saw that the +water was ready to cut off the isthmus uniting them to the shore. + +"Come, we are almost surrounded by water already." + +"Wait just a little ... I have something to tell you.... I am going to +whisper it very low, so that no one shall hear it ... no one but you.... +Ricardo, I should be glad if the sea would come up now, and bury us +forever.... Thus we should be eternally in the depths of the water; you +sitting, and I with my head on your lap, with eyes wide open.... +Then,--yes, I would dream at my ease; and you would watch my sleep, +would you not? The waves would pass over our heads, and would come to +tell us what is going on in the world.... Those white and purple fishes, +which sailors catch with hooks, would come noiselessly to visit us, and +would let us smooth their silver scales with our hands. The seaweed +would entwine at our feet, making soft cushions; and when the sun rose, +we should see him through the glassy water, larger and more beautiful, +filtering his thousand-colored beams through it, and dazzling us with +his splendor!... Tell me, doesn't it tempt you?... doesn't it tempt +you?" + +"Be quiet, Martita; you are delirious ... Come along, the tide is +rising." + +"Wait a moment ... We have been here an hour, and the wind hasn't cooled +my cheeks ... they are hotter than ever.... No matter ... I am +comfortable.... Do you want to do me a favor?... Listen! I must ask your +forgiveness ..." + +"What for?" + +"For the scare I gave you the other day. Do you remember when we were +making a nosegay together in the garden?... You wanted to kiss my hand, +and I was so stupid that I took it in bad part, and began to cry.... How +surprised and disgusted you must have been!... I confess that I am a +goose,[48] and don't deserve to have any one love me.... However, you +may believe me that I was not offended with you.... I wept from +sentiment ... without knowing why.... What reason had I to weep? You did +not want to do any harm ... all you wanted was to kiss my hands; isn't +that so?" + +"That was all, my beauty!" + +"Then I take great pleasure in having you kiss them, Ricardo.... Take +them!..." + +The young girl lifted up her gentle hands, and waved them in the air, +fair and white as two doves just flying from the nest. Ricardo kissed +them gallantly. + +"That doesn't suit me," continued the girl, laughing; "you always used +to kiss my face whenever you met me or said good by.... Why have you +ceased to do so?... Are you afraid of me?... I am not a woman ... I am +still only a child.... Until I grow up you have the right to kiss me +... then it will be another thing.... Come, give me a kiss on the +forehead...." + +The young man bent over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. + +"If you would not be angry, I would ask for another here;" and she +touched her moist, rosy lips. + +The young marquis grew red in the face; he remained an instant +motionless; then bending down his head, he gave the girl a prolonged +kiss on her lips. + +A strong gust of wind waked the ocean just as he was getting ready to +sleep; he stirred an instant in his immense bed of sand, as though he +were going to change his position, and uttered a low murmur of +discontent. The waves in the distance began to roll in, big and blue; on +the beach they clamored with strong voices. The lights which had shone +on their crests were gone, and the magnificent ebullition of the +submarine treasure had ceased. The silver spot was fast taking on the +melancholy reflections of burnished steel. + +When Ricardo raised his head, the first thing he did was to cast an +anxious glance along the line of the point. The water already surrounded +them. He sprang up hastily, and, without saying a word, seized Marta in +his arms as easily as though she had been a fawn, and making a +tremendous leap, he fell headlong on the nearest point, slightly cutting +his hand. Marta was entirely unharmed, and she looked at the young man's +wound; then taking out her delicate linen handkerchief she silently +bound it around it, and started off with rapid steps. Ricardo followed +her. They both walked in perfect silence. The distance between them grew +greater and greater; for Marta no longer walked; she ran. The young +marquis felt a vague discomfort, and a strange uneasiness which caused +him to deliberate as he walked; he was angry with himself. When they +entered the mouth of the tunnel leading to the pine grove, he entirely +lost sight of his friend, and could not even hear the noise of her boots +on the ground. When he reached the middle of the cave where it was +perfectly dark, he thought he heard, very confusedly, the echo of a sob, +and his heart was still more oppressed. After he got out into the light +he felt better. + +When they got to the house they found that a number of servants had been +sent out in search of them, as everything had been long ready for the +return. The afternoon was wearing on, and the ladies would not find it +much to their liking should night catch them on the sea. They were +welcomed back therefore with signs of satisfaction, and all hands +hastened to settle themselves again in the falúas, which, on account of +the swell, were as restless as horses harnessed and waiting for their +master at the stable door. + +Their sails were raised, and making long tacks to get advantage of the +wind, they bore away to El Moral. Marta, when she entered the yawl, had +lost the bright color from her cheeks. + +The sun constantly hastened toward the horizon. The ladies looked with +foreboding as the shadows crept over the sky and the sea, and they cast +anxious looks at the sailors. The frequent tacks made by the yawls +delayed them extraordinarily, and at last they had to furl the sails and +follow the direct course by oars. There is nothing strange in this, and +it is the most usual way when the wind is not astern; but it happened +that Rosarito, the Señorita de Morí's friend, took it into her head that +the change from sails to oars signified imminent danger of shipwreck, +and this she represented in her imagination with all the horrors by +which it is surrounded in magazine stories,--the pitchy darkness of the +night, the waves rising like mountains to the sky, the cries of the +sailors mingling with the roaring of the sea, etc., etc. And being +unable to control herself, she began to clutch her friend with nervous +hands and to utter exclamations of anguish and fear. + +"Alas! O God![49] we are going to perish, we are going to perish!" + +"There is nothing wrong; calm yourself, Rosario." + +"Yes, yes! we are going to perish ... we are going to be drowned.... O +God, what a terrible death!... Why should I have gone to the island?... +What will my papa say when he learns that his daughter is dead?... Papa! +my heart's papa!" + +"But, child alive, there's absolutely nothing to be afraid of!" + +"Don't tell me so, for God's sake; because can't I see that they have +lowered the sails. Alas! what a death! what a frightful death!... To die +without confession!... To die away from my papa!... And to be buried +right here in these awful black depths!... And be eaten by the fishes! +and by crabs.... It's horrible!..." + +The Señorita de Morí's efforts to calm her friend were useless. It added +no little to her fright to hear the shouts of the sailors, who in order +to encourage each other and overcome the resistance of the waves, at +each stroke of the oars shouted in chorus, yo-heave-oh![50],--yo-heave-oh! +Every time that this exclamation rang through the air with its brutal +rhythm, Rosario breathed a shriek of anguish; till the vivacious +Señorita de Morí, fearing that she was getting ill, said to the +sailors,-- + +"Gentlemen, will you have the goodness not to say yo-heave-oh! for it +greatly frightens this young lady." + +But Rosario, quite irritated and shedding a sea of tears, instantly +exclaimed,-- + +"No, no; let them say yo-heave-oh! but let us perish quickly if we are +going to!..." + +Little by little, however, and seeing that the tremendous catastrophe +did not take place, her nerves grew calmer, and before long she was +laughing, giddy girl that she was, at her ridiculous fears. + +In the Elorza falúa there was little talking. Don Mariano and Don Maximo +were too full of medoc to feel like indulging in an animated +conversation. The Señorita de Delgado, seconded by her sisters, admired +the sunset with lively transports of enthusiasm, and with much opening +and shutting of eyes. The Marquis of Peñalta had closed his, and seemed +to be dozing with his cheek in his hand. One or two couples were +whispering together. + +What was Marta thinking about at that moment, her gaze fastened on the +sea, serious, motionless, and pale as a statue? What black phantasms +rose before her from the depths of the waters to trace in her fair brow +the deep furrows with which it was corrugated? What deathly secrets +whispered the breeze in her ear? + +Ah! easier were it to unriddle the mystery in the murmurs of the ocean +and the secrets of the breeze than the vague thoughts hidden behind a +maiden's brow! + +The sea once more tried to dispose itself for slumber; the crests of its +waves no longer gleamed white from afar with their crown of foam; the +horizon withdrew its indefinite line, which faded away in the twilight +shadow. The smooth, swelling billows rose and fell like the indolent, +tranquil breathing of a gigantic bosom. One by one, with lovely ease and +confidence, the falúas, leaving them behind, swept onward to the port. +The coast with its dark, undulating line girdled the luminous plain. Far +in the distance inland, the peaks of the mountains could be seen bathed +in a transparent violet haze. + +Marta's thought broke through the glutted cloud which girt it in with a +sea of confusions and vaguenesses, and in her soul arose all at once a +host of sweet and ineffable recollections like so many luminous points +with which the serene sky of her life was sown. She amused herself a +long time in recounting them, taking new delight in each. How bright and +beautiful they burned in her memory! What a gentle light they cast over +the monotonous, laborious days of her existence! They were surrounded by +silence and mystery; no one had enjoyed them, no one had known them +except herself; the very hand which had dropped into her heart the balm +of joy was absolutely ignorant of its beneficent influence. This thought +filled her with a secret delight which brought a smile to her pale lips. +One by one, however, and without her knowing why, those luminous points +vanished away, were blotted out and lost in the deep, black abyss of an +idea. Her imagination began to fly about like a bewildered bird within +this sad and desperate idea where not the slightest ray of light could +penetrate. Why was she in the world? The happiness which she had +discovered was another's, and there was nothing else left to do but to +look upon it without grief and without envy, for envy in this case would +be a terrible sin. And was she sure of not falling into it at any +moment, or what was worse, was she sure of not raising her hand against +that happiness? The hidden beach on the island came instantly into her +memory, with its golden sands and its foaming waves flinging their foam +flakes upon her. A great remorse, a keen, cruel remorse, began to make +its way into her innocent heart like the sharp point of a dagger, +causing her such anguish that she uttered a muffled groan heard only by +herself. Confusion and dizziness tormented her brain; her head burned +like a volcano. She raised her hand to her brow, and it was as cold as +though made of marble. This gave her an extraordinary shock of surprise. +So much heat within and so cold without! + +The ocean at that moment seemed full of peace and gentleness. The sun +was just about submerging his heated face in the crystal of the waters, +but still lighted up a few places in the vast plain with a fantastic, +gilded light, leaving others in the shade. The murmurs were heavier and +deeper, of an infinite melancholy; that measureless mass of water was +slowly losing its azure hue and changing to another, of very opaque +green, sown here and there with fleeting reflections. The melancholy +ease with which the sea took leave of the light made a deep impression +upon Marta. With her head leaned over the water, and with dreamy eyes, +she watched the most delicate tints which the light was awakening in it, +and listened to the murmurs which resounded in the depths. + +The sun was entirely sunken. The ocean gave one immense, colossal sob. +In this sob was so much compassion that Marta thought she felt the +ambient air vibrate with a movement of sympathy and wonder. Never had +she seen the sea so grand and so sublime, so strong and so generous at +once. That august silence, that momentary repose of the great athlete, +moved her to the depths of her soul, filled her turbulent spirit with an +ardent desire for peace. Who had told her that the sea was terrible? +What small heart had spoken to her of his cruel treacheries? Ah, no! The +sea was noble and generous, as the strong always are, and his wrath, +though fearful, was quickly over: in his tranquil depths live happily +pearls and corals, the white sea-nymphs, the purple fishes. + +The falúa, when it pressed up against his humid shoulder, made between +bow and stern a broad, comfortable couch, with foamy edges, a couch +where one might sleep eternally with face turned toward the sky, +watching through the transparent bosom of the water the flashing of the +stars. + + * * * * * + +"Heavens!... What was that?" + +"Who has fallen overboard?" + +"Daughter of my heart!... Marta!... Marta! Let go of me!... Let me save +my daughter!" + +"She is already safe, Don Mariano; there is no need of you wetting +yourself." + +"Back water! Back water! Steady!..." said the captain's rough voice. +"Fling that line, Manuel.... Don't be alarmed, ladies; it is nothing at +all.... Back water! Weigh all.... Lay hold, all of you, on that line. +There is nothing to worry about." + +At first the confusion was great. Ricardo and one of the sailors had +leaped into the water and were swimming powerfully to make up the short +distance which the falúa had gone before the alarm was given. Ricardo, +who was ahead, dived, and in a few seconds re-appeared with the girl on +his arm. The falúa was near them, and he could clutch the rope which +they had flung him, and then the gunwale of the yawl, finding himself +suspended by a number of arms which lifted them on deck. Don Mariano, in +the short moments that this lasted, struggled with Don Maximo and +others, trying to leap into the water. When he saw his daughter on +board, it took him but a moment to press her to his heart. + +Martita had fainted away. Various ladies hastened to loosen her clothing +and shake her violently to rid her of the water which she had swallowed. +Then they laid her down on one of the seats on the deck, and Ricardo, +taking a bottle of salts which Don Maximo had brought with him, applied +it to her nostrils. She soon opened her eyes and, on seeing the young +man's solicitous face leaning over her, she smiled sweetly, and said to +him, so that no one else could hear:--"Thanks, señor marqués!... It is +not so bad down below there." + +When they reached El Moral, they dried themselves at the house of some +friends who were taking baths there, and they donned the first clothes +that came to hand. Then they once more took up their homeward way, and +reached the quay at one o'clock, finding each of their respective +families were beginning to feel anxious over their late arrival. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE. + + +Don Mariano's guests were amusing themselves with the game of forfeits. +The evening was thoroughly disagreeable, and only the most courageous +had ventured out. When this happened (and it was not very infrequent) +music and dancing were forbidden and games of cards, of commerce[51], or +of forfeits were substituted, or at times merely a pleasant, bright +conversation. On the evening of which we are speaking, the feminine sex +was represented by three Misses de Ciudad, two Delgados, the Señorita de +Morí, and one more who, together with those of the family made a +sufficiently respectable nucleus; in the masculine part figured the +family physician, Señor de Ciudad, Don Serapio, the engineer Suárez, and +four or five other young fellows who, being simple and insignificant, +deserve no special mention. The tertulia occupied only one corner of the +parlor, although on occasions when the game required, it was scattered +about over the whole of it. Don Mariano, surrounded by the _solemn +fathers_, walked up and down, and enjoyed his discussions, frequently +stopping to lay down some intricate logic, and then continuing his walk +with hands behind his back. + +It fell to Don Serapio's lot to say _yes_ and _no_ three times each, and +consequently he retired to one of the corners, gazing at the wall. The +ladies and gentlemen once more gathered together in one group, and +began to whisper with the greatest animation, each one proposing some +question. At last they agreed to ask him if he enjoyed _bisogné_. + +"Eeeeeh?" shouted the chorus, dwelling on the vowel. + +"Yes," replied the unhappy Don Serapio. + +The reply was received with tumult and delight, making the proprietor of +the canning factory tremble in his shoes. Next they agreed upon asking +him if he had any intention of getting married. "No" was his +unhesitating reply. "Bravo, bravo!" shouted the men. + +"What a stony-hearted man!" cried the women. + +One of the young fellows proposed that they should ask him if he still +had a fondness for chamber-maids. The ladies wanted to oppose this, but +there was no remedy. + +"Eeeeeh?" + +"Yes." + +Great laughter and applause in the group. The same malevolent young +fellow proposed something even worse: "to ask him if he intended to give +any of his children a profession." The ladies seriously objected to this +question, and another was given in its place. And thus they continued +until he had said the three _yeses_ and the three noes required by the +game, and then, greatly despondent, he came to find out what the +questions had been. + +It came next to Amparito Ciudad to give a favor to all the gentlemen of +the party, and she began to perform the duty with the greatest +discretion and grace, beginning with the young fellows, except the +engineer Suárez, who roundly declared that he was not satisfied with any +of her propositions, and whispered to her very softly what the only +thing was that would satisfy him. Amparito blushed a little, and replied +with a gentle look of reproach, at the same time casting a glance at +her father, who fortunately had his back turned while promenading with +Don Mariano. + +Isidorito's turn came next, and it unfortunately fell to him to be put +"in Berlina"; and what a chance this was for the Señorita de Morí! +Isidorito, though not attractive at all, inspired general respect on +account of his reputation as a studious, sensible young man: thus the +majority of the girls and boys contented themselves with criticising +him[52] as "too serious," as "having too little hair," as "dancing very +badly," as "studying to excess," as "wearing too long coat tails," etc., +etc.; but when it came to the Señorita de Morí, who was impatiently +waiting her turn, she put him _in Berlin_ with unconcealed satisfaction +as "very heavy in brain and light in stomach." Isidorito, noticing the +reasons for their criticisms, recognized with grief the source of that +envenomed dart; but he did not care to show that he did, and preferred +to preserve in this respect a noble, and at the same time, a prudent +silence. + +The eldest daughter of the family, as usual, took no share in the game. +She was sitting by her mother's side, totally oblivious of all that was +going on around her, with her eyes fixed on vacancy. A strange, intense +pallor covered her somewhat emaciated but always lovely face, and her +whole body showed signs of uneasiness and anxiety. She scarcely answered +the questions which Doña Gertrudis asked her from time to time, and if +she did, it was with such curtness that it took away all the worthy +lady's desire to repeat them. Four or five times already she had got up +from her chair and gone to the balcony, remaining a long time in it with +her forehead leaning on the glass, without any one knowing what she was +looking at. The plaza of Nieva, just as on the first night when we saw +it, was dark and checkered with pools of water, wherein were reflected +the melancholy beams from the kerosene lamps burning in the corners. Not +a soul was crossing it that night. She strained her eyes in vain to +penetrate the darkness under the arcades: the neighbors had all +withdrawn into their houses, perfectly convinced that dampness is the +cause of many infirmities. The windows of the Café de la Estrella were +the only ones that were lighted. The air was filled with a gentle murmur +of rain which barely made itself audible through the panes to the young +girl's ears. + +It came Rosarito's turn to act the sultana. The dandified young fellow +with the hair over his forehead, placed a chair in the middle of the +room and seated her in it: then he spread before her a velvet cushion. +The young men of the tertulia, like genuine Moors, began to march before +her, bending their knees in her presence and waiting humbly for her +choice. Rosarito, with the notable ability which all women have for +playing queen, rejected them one after the other with a gesture of +sovereign disdain. Only when the young fellow of the mazurkas came by, +and tremblingly bent low at her feet, the beautiful but ferocious +sultana deigned to hand him the handkerchief which she held in her hand +and to select him as her lover, as a just reward for his most +distinguished neckties and his no less exceptional _chaquets_! Then the +two marched in a triumphal procession to the harem; or, what amounts to +the same thing, they walked twice around the parlor, and sat down on the +sofa where they had been before. + +The little tertulia, after exhausting the not very varied resources of +the game of forfeits, remained inactive and comfortable in the corner of +the parlor, engaging in a low but very lively conversation, broken by +bursts of laughter and exclamations, as the brilliant young men of the +party found occasion to amuse them at the expense of some unfortunate, +whom they flayed pitilessly. Those who had not this talent contented +themselves with smiling and stupidly applauding the others' repartees, +and occasionally trying to put their fingers in the pie with little +success. They made interminable jokes on the girls about their suitors, +and the girls defended themselves as usual with the classic replies: "I +don't know why you should say so." "You have been very ill-informed." +"He comes to see me as a friend and nothing more," etc., etc. The +mischievous smiles and the expression of something hidden accompanying +these replies, told very clearly that the girls did not object to be +chaffed in that way. + +Doña Gertrudis had gone to sleep. Don Mariano and his proselytes were +still promenading from one end of the parlor to the other, involved in +deep disquisitions on the probable fall of real estate. Maria was again +standing with her forehead leaning against the panes, apparently +absorbed in one of her long and frequent meditations to which her +household were accustomed, but in reality exploring with anxious eyes +the shadows which enwrapped the plaza of Nieva. She paid little heed to +the frivolous conversation kept up by the guests. She soon heard a +strange noise in the distance and trembled. She abstracted herself as +much as possible from the confusion in the room, and lent a deep and +uneasy attention to that distant rumble which gradually grew louder and +louder in the silence of the night, each moment becoming clearer and +more definite. It was not a confused, fantastic noise, like those +caused by the wind or the sea, but solid and well-defined, perfectly +clear in Maria's ears. Soon it grew into the measured and characteristic +sound of a multitude marching in step. The young woman's astonished eyes +could distinguish by the street lamps the points of bayonets and the +varnished caps of the soldiery. All the guests on hearing the noise, +hurried to the balconies, and saw with surprise two companies marching +by the house, crossing the plaza, and disappearing from sight in the +cross-streets of the town. + +Don Mariano's friends looked at each other in amazement. + +"What are those soldiers going to do at this time o' day?" asked one +lady. + +"I don't understand where they are going," replied Don Mariano. "To get +to the interior of the province, even though they came from the West, +there is no need of their going through here; they have the valley of +Cañedo, and that is a much shorter road." + +"This very day I was calling on the captain," said Don Maximo, "and he +did not say a single word to me of the coming of these companies." + +"I didn't know it, either," said the Señor de Ciudad. "The most likely +thing is that they are on the march, and are only going to spend the +night here, and start off again in the morning." + +"It's a strange thing," added Don Mariano, "but of course it may be--it +may be." + +The young people returned to their places, and quickly forgot the +incident, as they gayly took up the broken thread of conversation. Their +elders continued their promenade, making interminable comments and +endless hypotheses about the unexpected visitation. Maria still stayed +obstinately at the window, shielded from the eyes of her friends by the +great damask curtains. + +A very heated discussion about music had been set on foot in the group +of _young_ people, among whom figured the sensitive Señorita de Delgado, +in spite of the vehemently expressed protests of Rosarito, who declared +on her word that the said señorita had often held her in her arms, and +that, when she as a child was going to confession, and the Señorita de +Delgado was at her house, she had kissed her hand, as an _elderly +person_.[53] One of the most elegant of young men, who had been educated +in Madrid for five different professions in succession, upheld the +superiority of the German composers, declaring that there were no operas +like _Roberto_, _Les Huguenots_, and _Le Prophète_, and that no +symphonies could be compared with those of Beethoven and Mozart. The +ladies, powerfully supported by the rest of the men, stood up for the +advantages of Italian music. + +"Don't nauseate us with your Germans, Severino! What kind of music do +they make! It sounds to me like a pack of dogs barking." + +"That is only at first; if you should continue to hear it, you would +acquire the taste for it; the same thing happens with olives and ale." + +"Then if one has to go through such wretched moments to get used to it, +surely the thing isn't worth the trouble, you see! This does not happen +with Italian music; you enjoy it from the very first." + +"Of course, for the most part of Italian music is only a melody +accompanied by four guitars." + +"Silence, man, silence! Don't speak blasphemies. Would you think of +comparing rubbish, which they themselves don't understand, with the sublime +finale of _Lucia_, or with the soprano aria of La Favorita which begins, _Oh +mioooo--Ferna--a--a--an--do--riii--raaa--ri--ro--ra--riii--ira--_" + +"Ah, if you had heard the fourth act of _Les Huguenots!_ What dramatic +music! How expressive! It makes the hair stand on end! How magnificent +this duet is: +_La--sciami--paar--tiiir--la--sciami--paar--tiiiir--riira--riri--riri--ra +--rōōō--riri--ra--rōō--laaa--tō--rii--ro--ra--_" + +"But could you ever hear anything sweeter than the concerted piece in +_Somnambula_ beginning, +_Tōōō--ra--ri--rō--ra--rōōōō--laa--riii--rōō--raa--rōra--rōōō,--rii--ra +--ri--rōō_?" + +"Impossible! impossible!" said several at once. + +"Above all, Italian music stirs the heart, while German music only +deafens you," added the Señorita de Delgado. + +"That's true," affirmed her sister, the widow. + +"I believe," continued the señorita, "that the object of music is to +move ... to elevate the soul ... to cause us to shed tears ... to +transport us to ideal regions far away from the prosaic world in which +we live.... For the truth is that prose is getting such control over +society that soon it will seem ridiculous to speak of things which are +not material and sordid." + +"Certainly," affirmed the widow again. + +"Music follows the road of prose like everything else.... Don't you hear +what silly things they sing nowadays? what insipid, popular airs? And +you are lucky if it isn't some indecent piece from some opera bouffe! In +songs love is not mentioned; there are only phrases with double meanings +hiding some nastiness." + +"I believe that you know some very pretty romantic ballads, and sing +them admirably," said the youth with the banged hair, ready, as always, +to provide the tertulia with a new enjoyment. + +"No, señor ... don't you believe it.... In days gone by I used to sing +some ... but I have forgotten them...." + +"For my part," persisted the youth, with a deeply diplomatic +smile,--"and I think the same may be said of all these people--it would +give the greatest pleasure if you would search into your memory and let +us listen to some.... Isn't it so, friends?" + +"Yes, yes, Margarita, sing something, for Heaven's sake!" + +"But supposing I don't remember anything!" + +"Nonsense! it will come back to you.... If you once begin, you will find +yourself gradually remembering it." + +"It seems to me impossible.... Besides I always accompanied myself with +the guitar." + +"Isn't there a guitar in the house?" quickly asked the youth, jumping up +from his chair. + +The guitar which Marta brought lacked two or three strings, and they had +to be put on, in which operation some time was lost. Then there was +delay in getting them in tune. When it was once tuned the Señorita de +Delgado declared up and down that she would not sing, for she did not +remember anything. The tertulia was deeply grieved, and with reiterated +entreaties endeavored to inspire her to recollect some delicious melody. +But as the singer did not put up the instrument, and continued to thumb +the strings softly, all became silent and waited eagerly for the song. +However, just as the sensitive señorita was about to utter the first +note, she made a fresh and categorical protestation to the same effect +as before, and this so grieved the tertulia and particularly the youth +with the banged hair, that they would gladly have granted the singer all +the memory at their disposal, on condition that she would not leave it +in any bad place. At last the señorita fixed her eyes on the ceiling, +and in a quite dulcet though quavering voice, she struck up the +following song, the music of which I would transfer to paper with great +pleasure, if I knew how to write the score. Unfortunately, in my +philharmonic studies I never went beyond the key of G with even moderate +success:-- + + "_Hope that art so flattering to my inmost feeling,_ + _Thou dost all my bitter sorrow calm._ + _Ay! thou art no creature of imagination._ + _To the heart thou bringest welcome balm._ + _If a cruel fate remove me from the presence_ + _Of my loved one many leagues away,_ + _Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,_ + _Promising a brighter, happier day._" + +"Bravo, bravo!"--"How pretty!"--"How sweet!"--"How melancholy!"--"Go on, +Margarita, do go on!" The Señorita de Delgado continued in this way:-- + + "_If at solitary midnight I am thinking_ + _Of my sweetheart's ever blessed name,_ + _And before my spellbound memory slowly rises_ + _Her enchanting features limned in flame,--_ + _Then 'tis thou, O Hope, that softly prophesyest_ + _That my loved one will not say me nay;_ + _Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,_ + _Promising a brighter, happier day._" + +Just as this point was reached, and when the audience was getting ready +to enjoy the unspeakable sweetness of a new strophe, even more +passionate and more pathetic than the last, when the Señorita de +Delgado was languorously laying her pudgy fingers on the strings of the +instrument, and drooping her head still more languorously on her bosom +in testimony of her bitter grief, there occurred one of those strange +and terrible events, more terrible still from being unexpected, and +therefore overwhelming, that suspend and for the time being cut short +the use of speech: an extraordinary scene, occurring with such rapidity +that it allowed no time for reflection, and left the spectators in the +deepest consternation without power of interference. + +The parlor door was thrown violently open, and the eyes of the +bystanders turned toward it, saw with surprise the pale face of a +servant, who addressed his master, saying,-- + +"Señor! Señor!" + +"What is the trouble?" asked Don Mariano, in the energetic tone +customary to high-strung natures, when they suspect danger. + +"The soldiers are here!" + +"And what have I to do with soldiers, you dolt!" replied the master in +an angry voice. + +"Th-they're c-come to arrest you!" + +"It isn't true!" cried a voice from the hall. + +And at the same time six or eight figures filled the doorway behind the +servant. The first to be seen were a very young officer in undress +uniform, and a caballero, not very well favored, in a tight-buttoned +great-coat, and holding in his hand a staff with tassels. Behind them +were seen the caps and the muskets of several soldiers. The man with the +staff, who was apparently the one who had spoken, advanced two steps +into the parlor, and without removing his hat asked Don Mariano +sharply,-- + +"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?" + +The old gentleman's eyes sparkled with indignation. + +"First of all, take off your hat!" + +The man with the staff, somewhat bluffed by Don Mariano's attitude and +the looks of the company, took off his sombrero. + +"Now, what is your business?" + +"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?" + +"No! I am the _excelentísimo señor_ Don Mariano Elorza!" + +"It's the same thing." + +"It is not the same thing!" + +"Well, let us drop discussions; I have orders to arrest your daughter, +Doña Maria." + +All the Señor de Elorza's energy suddenly vanished like a shadow, at +hearing those portentous words. He stood a few moments bewildered and +petrified, with his face crestfallen, like one who has just beheld a +miracle and has no faith in his own eyes. Then suddenly recovering +himself, he sprang at the man with the staff, and shaking him violently +by the lappel of his coat, he said to him in a voice of thunder,-- + +"And who are you, insolent man, to dare think of such a thing?" + +"I am the chief of police[54] for this province, and I warn you that if +you offer the least resistance I shall make use of the force which I +have with me." + +"Are you perfectly sure that it is my daughter whom you come to arrest?" + +"Yes Sir; I have orders to arrest the Señorita Doña Maria Elorza. I +request you to hand her over to me without delay." + +"Here I am," said Maria, issuing from the hollow of the balconied +window, and advancing toward the chief of police. + +"But it cannot be," thundered Don Mariano again, holding his daughter +back. "This man is crazy or has come to the wrong place." + +"Are you ready to go with me?" asked the _comisario_ of the young woman. + +"Yes, señor," was her firm reply. + +"Then come along." + +"Don Mariano hid his face in his hands, and exclaimed with a cry of +agony,-- + +"Daughter of my heart, what have you been doing?" + +"Nothing that dishonors me or dishonors you," replied the girl proudly, +lifting her lovely face and hastening from the room. Don Mariano was +held back by all his friends who clustered around him, but quickly +finding himself alone, as all, warned by a cry from Marta, hastened to +the assistance of Doña Gertrudis who had fainted, he darted like a flash +from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERED THREADS. + + +Some time before the events which we have just related, the loves of +Ricardo and Maria, which had been going on in a gradual diminuendo like +the notes of a beautiful melody, until Ricardo himself knew not whether +they really existed or had completely died away; whether he was the +lover of the first-born daughter of the Elorzas, or whether he had other +rights over her heart than those granted to an old valued friend--these +loves, I say, had suddenly and unexpectedly gained, without any one +knowing a reason for it, a new lease of life, just as a light about to +die from lack of oil is renewed by being given a good quantity of this +combustible. Every one was surprised to see them together, talking as +before in one corner of the parlor, during long interviews, oblivious of +everything around them, dwelling in that nook of heaven which lovers +find as easily in crowds as in solitude. Satisfaction followed surprise +in their friends, and this in turn was followed by hypotheses as to the +approach of the wedding-day, and conjectures about the motives serving +to make such a change in the conduct of the lovers. The mischievous +ones, winking as they said it, declared that of the three enemies of the +soul, the flesh was the most to be feared, and that God had said, +_Crescite et multiplicamini_, and that it was folly to fight against the +laws of nature. The ladies, casting down their eyes, declared that in +all states one could well serve God, and that not the easiest of +penances were imposed by the care and education of children and the rule +of the house. But at all events, the fact was that things had changed +without any one knowing why, and that ladies and gentlemen were +delighted, hoping that the illustrious partners would soon vouchsafe +them a happy day. Don Mariano's delight was so great that it shone +through his eyes every time that he turned them toward the handsome +couple, and a thousand lovely dreams in which figured a swarm of rosy, +frolicsome grandchildren, just as his daughter had been, came at night +to caress him in the solitudes of his feudal couch. Doña Gertrudis, as +usual, thoroughly approved of Maria's conduct. Learn now how this state +of things came about. + +One morning when the young Marqués de Peñalta awoke earlier than usual, +noticing from the window of his room that the sky was clear (contrary to +its time-honored custom), he felt an inclination to take a walk in the +environs of the town, and making the thought father to the act, he +hastily dressed and went down into the street in search of pure air; but +before he left the inner town, as he was passing the Elorza mansion, he +accidentally met Maria going to church with her maid. His heart gave a +leap, and, somewhat agitated, he stopped to salute her. The girl met him +with that gay, blithesome gesture, full at once of mischievousness and +candor which was peculiar to her nature, and therefore impossible to +overcome by any force. + +"You have got up early--to hear mass, I suppose?" + +"Oh no," replied Ricardo with a smile; "I was going to take a walk in +the country, as it must be very lovely now." + +"Very well; but to-day you must not go to walk: I claim you, and am +going to take you to mass," said the girl in a tone of resolution, and +with a decidedly adorable inflection of voice; and suiting the action to +the word, she took him by the hand and led him captive this way for a +number of feet. + +Lucky Ricardo! what better could he desire at that moment than to see +himself captured in such a lovely way? He could not say a word during +the first few moments. Emotion overmastered him, and a tear slid down +his honest, manly face. + +"Oh, Maria, if you knew how happy you make me!" he said to her in a low, +trembling voice. "If you wanted to take me with you, where would I not +go? You cannot comprehend how I long for you to speak with me, to smile +on me, to lead me. I try eagerly to find ways to please you, and I don't +find them. Tell me how I can cause you any pleasure, how I can melt the +ice which is destroying our love, and I will try to do it, even if it +should cost me my life. If I did not love you more than any other being +in this world, and also as the blessed remembrance of my mother, how +long ago I should have left you forever!... But my love is of such a +nature, it is so strong, so eager, so absorbing, that it has succeeded +in disarming all my pride ... and I fear that it has got the better of +my dignity," he added in a low tone. + +The young woman looked at him steadily, full of delight and admiration +of such sincere affection, and she replied gayly,-- + +"At present you can please me by going to mass with me; will you?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Will you come to-morrow also, and every other day?" + +"Yes, loveliest, I ask nothing better." + +"You don't know how you rejoice me, Ricardo!" + +"Truly?" + +"Yes, I love you dearly, but I want you to be good and religious, +because, before everything else we ought to think of our salvation, and +make it our richest possession in this world." + +The young man at that moment felt his heart melt within him, as he drank +in the drops of affection which his sweetheart let fall upon his lips. +There is nothing that can so quickly change our most deeply rooted ideas +and our firmest judgments as the voice of the woman whom we love. +Ricardo was a lukewarm believer, like most men of our day, and he +detested exaggerations, and looked with decided repugnance upon +religious practices. Accordingly then, by the work of enchantment, that +is, by the work of that sweet voice and those still sweeter eyes, which +gazed upon him with eloquent expression, he was stripped of his +anti-clerical opinions, and was transformed into a decided champion of +the altar and a fervid devotee of the saints, male and female, of the +celestial court. He took delight in thinking that what his betrothed was +doing was, after all, not blameworthy; that her piety and mysticism were +the reflection of a noble and lofty spirit; that this same piety was the +sweet pledge of her conjugal happiness, since it would cause her to +refrain from the vanities to which other women after marriage devote +themselves; that there was nothing strange in the poor girl desiring her +betrothed to be a believer and devout, when her ideas about eternal +salvation were taken into consideration, and that in this regard he had +done very wrong to oppose her so obstinately, striking her in the very +heart of her sensitive and admirable faith; finally he came to the +conclusion that he was a barbarian, incapable of enjoying the sacraments +or of understanding the adorable mysteries which a heart consecrated to +God might take in, and that Maria was a saint who had borne with him +with too much patience. Moved, partly by this thought, and infinitely +more by the emotion caused by his sweetheart's unexpected favor, he +replied with accents of tenderness:-- + +"Listen Maria.... You know well that I am not, and have never been an +unbeliever.... It is true I have looked with a certain coolness on +religious practices, but you ought to know just as well that this is a +common fault among young men, and particularly among the military.... As +for the rest, I tell you with all the sincerity of my soul, I have never +abandoned the faith which my sainted mother taught me in childhood.... +Even now ring in my ears her counsels, and still I can repeat without +mistake, the multitude of prayers which she made me say on my knees on +the bed, when I retired.... That cannot be forgotten, Maria.... It would +be infamous if one forgot it! To-day the same counsels are repeated by +lips that I worship.... How could you think that a religion always +inculcated by the beings whom I have most loved and respected in my +life, should not be sweet!... Yes, my loveliest, I am religious by birth +and by conviction, and I hope to be still more fervently so by your +aid.... Tell me what you desire me to do in this regard, and I will do +it.... Tell me what thoughts you wish me to think, and I will think +them!... I am all yours, body and soul...." + +"Thus, thus I love you.... But you must not be religious for the sake of +my love, for then it has no merit in it, but for the sake of God. The +ties which are made in this world,--what are they worth in comparison +with that existing eternally between the Creator and his creatures? If +you love me much, love me in God and for God, as I love you. In any +other way it is a sin to fix our attention and our love on any +creature." + +Ricardo's emotion and ardor received from these words a dash of cold +water, but they were strong enough to persist without diminution, and +they still kept control of his heart until they reached the portico of +the church. Then Maria, taking the holy water, and offering it to him +with the tips of her fingers, said:-- + +"Now you must stay under the choir to hear the mass; I am going up to +the altar. Be careful not to look for me a single time! You must +understand that this would be to profane the sanctuary, and in such a +case it would be better for you not to come in." + +"No, I will not look at you, though it will be very hard work." + +"Give me your word that you won't." + +"I give it." + +"Well, then, adios, ... it won't be long[55] ... wait for me at the +entrance...." + +After she had gone several steps away, she turned around to say in a +very subdued tone,-- + +"Be sure to do as I said, ... and be reverent, will you?" + +Ricardo gave a sign of assent, while a happy smile brightened his face. + +From that time forth the Marqués de Peñalta every morning escorted the +eldest daughter of the Elorzas to mass, leaving her at the church door +and joining her again when service was over. Maria evidently felt great +pleasure in having his company, and as for Ricardo, it is not easy to +exaggerate the joy which suddenly fell upon him through the change +brought about in the behavior of his betrothed. Gradually her influence +began to have such weight upon his spirit, that before long, as he +himself had already suspected would be the case, his ideas began notably +to modify, and not only his ideas but likewise his habits and manner of +life, causing him to be more circumspect in nature, more careful in his +speech, more gentle and more religious ... Anxious to please his +betrothed, who did not cease to urge him with entreaties and advice, he +began to give up the noisy amusements and even the company of the other +officers of the gun factory, going home early, frequenting churches, and +spending many afternoons with some of the clergymen; he became a member +of several pious confraternities, among them that of Saint Vincent de +Paul, visiting the poor in company with the _beatos_ of the town, and +spending no little money in contributions for worship; finally, after +many heartfelt prayers he made general confession to Fray Ignacio, +Maria's confessor. + +However strange it may seem, we must declare that Ricardo, far from +feeling repugnance or discomfort in this new life, found deep, +mysterious pleasures, which till then he had never enjoyed. The pomp and +circumstance of the Catholic religion, to which he had hitherto paid +little attention, began to fascinate him; the sweet seclusion of the +church at eventide, when it is peopled with shadows and murmurs, filled +him with a gentle perturbation, with a certain peculiar longing for a +lofty secret something; the odors of the incense and wax were for him +like a pleasant poison, which put him to sleep, carrying him away to +glorious regions of immortal bliss; his frequent deeds of charity +produced in him an agreeable aftertaste and a great sense of comfort, +increasing his faith; the humiliation of the sacrament of penance, +which at first had been so distasteful to him, came to be a fountain of +delights; he himself did not know whence they proceeded or how they took +possession of his soul. Perhaps some of the psychological novelists who +know so much and take such delight in investigating the deepest recesses +of the consciousness of other people might discover the origin of those +joys in the close union which our young friend created in the depths of +his soul between religion and his love for Maria, and might see in the +pleasure which Ricardo felt in running counter to his ideas, and +mortifying his self-love, a certain analogy to what mystics and ascetics +feel in the midst of their cruel torments,--the pleasure of sacrificing +self for the beloved object. Perhaps they would set themselves minutely +to investigate what part of that pleasure corresponded to pure devotion, +and what part to the development of amorous sentiments and the movement +of the feelings. Possibly, carried away by their love of analysis, and +dragged from their moorings by the hurricane of impiety, which is +nowadays apt to carry away with it this class of novelists, they might +go so far as to declare that there exists at the bottom of religious +practices and the ceremonial of the Church something which instead of +calming the voice of the feelings adds to it, and that the inclination +of the sexes, in the very heart of the religious life, within the temple +itself, enjoying the soporific light reflected gently from the gilding +of the altars, breathing the keen odors of the dust and the wax, and the +narcotic perfume of the incense, listening to the moaning of the organ, +and the vague murmur of the prayers of the faithful, acquires the +flattering savor of forbidden fruit, and is more delicious and +voluptuous than amid the splendor and elegance of the ball-room. +Possibly they would say this and add many other considerations to prove +it, but I will not follow them on this path, which, without good reason, +leads to the offending of timid consciences and the grievous confusing +of the novelist with the philosopher. I limit myself gladly to setting +forth facts without launching out into the philosophy of them, and I +faithfully describe what I have seen and experienced, or have been told +by trustworthy people. + +One genuine fact, therefore, was that Ricardo enjoyed in his own way +yielding to the counsels of his betrothed in reference to the practice +of Christian virtue and pious deeds. The afternoon when he made general +confession, he felt more deeply than ever the singular consolation and +the lively delights to be enjoyed in the depths of humility. It was a +clear, beautiful spring afternoon. Fray Ignacio, forewarned by Maria, +was waiting for him in the sacristy of San Felipe, and received him with +a certain familiar solemnity not free from condescension. He confessed +in the sacristy itself, Fray Ignacio being seated in a wooden chair +blackened and polished by use, while he knelt at his feet with the +diffidence and emotion such as he used to feel as a boy when his mother +led him by the hand to the same confessional. The shame of announcing +his sins soon passed away, giving place to a gentle tenderness full of +unspeakable sweetness, which was so overpowering that he was constrained +to tears. The spacious room in which he found himself, its lofty +ceiling, its dusty walls set with black shelves and gloomy paintings, +gave a melancholy echo to the murmured words of his confession; the +sunlight made its way in through the leaded panes of the two windows, +making in the wide spaces lines of floating, luminous dust. The priest +threw one arm around his neck and brought his ear close to his lips, +gradually probing with many leading questions the inmost nooks and +corners of his conscience and the deepest secrets of his soul, sometimes +severely chiding him, sometimes giving him sweet counsels, sometimes +entertaining him with exemplary anecdotes which agreeably occupied for a +few moments the intervals of the pious proceeding. He stopped to speak +long of Ricardo's love and its advantages and of Maria's splendid +character. Ricardo felt a lively pleasure in these words: he looked with +admiration and reverence on that man who was the absolute master of his +loved one's secrets, and he determined to put his soul into his hands, +that he might guide it just as she had done. The priest continued with a +final exhortation full of fire, wherein he eloquently united Maria's +name with all the acts of virtue which he expected from him henceforth, +so as to stir him to the highest pitch and kindle in his spirit sincere +repentance and an irresistible desire to live piously and rejoice his +betrothed. When they were done, and Fray Ignacio, assuming a certain +solemnity, drew back a little and let fall upon him a full and generous +absolution, the lines of the floating luminous dust had vanished and the +sacristy was half enveloped in shadows. On the following day, when he +went to mass with Maria, instead of waiting under the choir, he went +with her to the great altar and received in her presence and to her +great joy the holy wafer. + +"You have given me the greatest pleasure of my life, Ricardo," she said +as they went out of the church. + +The young marquis smiled beatifically, and replied in a whisper,-- + +"Do you love me more now?" + +"I don't care to answer you," replied the girl with a sweet expression +of face. "After communion one ought not to speak of such things.... Let +us wait till to-morrow." + +They waited till the morrow, and then Maria told him without hesitation +that his virtuous conduct inspired her with more and more love, and that +he must not faint in the way if he desired to see himself always loved. +Ricardo had no other thought than this, and he found so much to delight +him in this new state of affairs that for no earthly advantage would he +consent to change it. Thus, then, each day he kept on with greater +resolution in the path which his betrothed laid out for him, and paid no +heed to the chaffing of his companions of the factory, since it was +difficult to catch sight of him anywhere else except at home, at Don +Mariano's, or at church. + +"You have converted me into a _beato!_" he said sometimes to Maria, as a +sort of affectionate reproach. + +"Why? are you getting tired of it, you rogue?" + +"No, dear, no; I am happy enough because thus I have conquered your +love...." + +"Is that the only reason?" + +" ...And because I like to lead this better regulated and sober life." + +"That is a different thing!" + +Let us say here (though the reader will not have failed to perceive it) +that in imagination, and even intelligence, Maria was the young Marqués +de Peñalta's superior, and that in this regard, and taking into account +the deep affection which he professed for her, it was nothing strange +that he should yield to his mistress and her counsels in matters wherein +men of greater learning and talent frequently give way to their mothers +and wives. Maria, aside from her vivid imagination, stimulated and +kindled by continual reading, had a special gift for persuading. Her +language was always easy and picturesque, and she took especial delight +in moving her friends to compassion, when she wanted to entice from them +money for the poor or for church services; the rare facility with which +she passed from the serious and pathetic to the humorous, and mingled +with an earnest entreaty the salt of a witty saying, made her +irresistible. The religious confraternities and societies of Nieva had +no more active and influential member, and they relied upon her in +emergencies as upon a guardian angel who would be able to rescue them +from their difficulties. As may be supposed, this lofty estimation was +supported, not only by the young lady's splendid moral and physical +qualities, but also in no small degree by the fact that she was the +daughter of the richest and most respected gentleman in town. + +Let us say also that at the period when these events occurred, the +clergy and the religious tendencies of our people were suffering a mild +sort of persecution on the part of the government, which was then under +the control of liberals most extreme in their views and notorious for +their heretical ideas, and this, as was to be expected, had greatly +excited the consciences of the God-fearing, and had kindled in the +Northern provinces, naturally more religious and more tenacious of +tradition, an obstinate and bloody civil war which threatened to +overthrow the body politic, and, at the same time, our wealth and +prestige. All people of greater or less piety who loved our Catholic +traditions, every one who detested the persecution suffered by the +Church, and yearned for the kingdom of Jesus on earth under the +mediation of his ministers, waited eagerly the result of this formidable +war, in which were at stake not only the more or less genuine rights of +a claimant to the throne, but likewise the dearest and most august +interests of religion. Those who frequented the churches and were on +terms of intimacy with the clergy, took a tacit stand together against +the heretics in power, receiving joyfully and quickly spreading all +intelligence favorable to the royal-Catholic cause, and falling into +anxiety and melancholy when bad news came. In the houses of the richest +landed proprietors, in the sacristies, and in the back shops of many an +absolutist merchant was read on the sly the _Cuartel Real_, the official +journal of the Pretender, which came from time to time between pieces of +_cretonne_ or packages of macaroni. Festivals in honor of the Virgin +were celebrated with great pomp as an atonement for the manifold +impieties of the Congress of Deputies, and these festivals on more than +one occasion ended violently by the interference of drunken Republicans. +There was a great increase in attention to religious worship, especially +to that of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and many pious people +went on pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Lourdes, on their return telling +their friends about the fine arrangement and the solid organization of +the Catholic hosts in the Basque provinces. A number of young men of the +best known families of Nieva had not been seen over night, concealing +the real purpose of their absence. From this to open, resolute +conspiracy is but a step, and in Nieva this preparatory step had already +been taken. There was formed in the town a Carlist committee,[56] which +held its meetings with a certain mystery and kept up close relations +with the Central Committee, whose orders it obeyed, and a lively +correspondence with the army of the Pretender. As in the country, +though not to such a degree as in the Basque provinces, there existed +sufficient elements for the service of the Catholic-monarchical cause, +to bring about, provided they were well managed, if not a formal war, at +least a serious agitation. The committee of Nieva, instigated by that of +the capital, decided, after much vacillation and no few discussions, to +raise a company within the territory. The preparations were very +extensive; they began early in the winter, and did not terminate until +the beginning of the spring. There were reports emanating from Bayonne, +there came orders and plans of action, there were numberless secret +meetings, a few women were enlisted, muskets were surreptitiously +abstracted from the factory by a few Carlist workmen, a quantity of +white caps and spatterdashes[57] were made; finally, one night there +went out to camp some thirty young men, for the most part students and +seminarists, at whose head marched the president of the committee, Don +César Pardo, whom we had the honor of meeting at the end of the third +chapter of this narration. Those who had sworn to go forth that night +were more than three hundred, but only that handful of braves were on +hand, and Don César, giving proofs of what he was, that is, a bold, +heroic caballero, did not hesitate to take command of them, hoping by +his example to carry along the timid. They made their way to the +mountain by the valley of Cañedo; but on the next day a dozen +policemen,[58] who immediately started in pursuit of them, took them by +surprise just as they were dining in camp, and brought them back to the +city, bound, without being able to make the least resistance. The +people, hearing of the incident, hastened in great numbers to await +them on the highway, and saw them filing toward the jail, melancholy but +dignified and stern, showing in their haughty eyes that if they had not +been victims of a surprise, much blood would have been shed. + +The eldest daughter of the house of Elorza, a most ardent devotee of +religion, enlisted body and soul in the divine mission of sanctifying +her spirit and saving it from the clutches of sin. An unwearied worker +in the field of evangelical virtue, ever aspiring to greater perfection, +and a zealous propagator of the faith, she could not fail to share in +the indignation burning in the breast of the people with whom she had +most to do. To her ears came, greatly exaggerated, the rumor of the +revolutionary excesses, and the blasphemies daily uttered by the +newspapers at the capital, though of course she never ventured to read +them. Her confessors commanded her to implore God in her prayers, that +the Church might triumph and its enemies be brought to confusion and +repentance; her friends and companions in the confraternities asked her +to join them in special novenas for the consolation of the Virgin; not a +few times they asked alms of her for some priest who was lying in +misery, and at other times for the unfortunate nuns of some convent, +cruelly torn from it that it might be turned into barracks. All these +things, along with a fervid affection for the holy institutions thus +persecuted, continually fomented in her ardent, enthusiastic soul a deep +aversion for the persecutors and the impious men who governed contrary +to the law of God. Sometimes, carried away by her impressionable +temperament, she felt powerful impulses to follow the example of Judith, +making some villain expiate such horrible deeds of sacrilege. She would +have liked to hold in her power the persecutors of Jesus, to destroy +them and crush them to powder. When these cruel impulses passed away, +they left her always with a warm compassion for the innocent victims of +the madness of impiety, and a vague desire to contribute with her blood +to the reign of Jesus and Mary over all the powers of the earth. She +felt that a something was born in her heart spurring her toward active +life, persuading her to leave for a time the joys of contemplation for +the pains of struggle, repose for labor, the enchantment of solitude for +tumult; she heard, like the bride of the Sacred Song, a voice saying: +"_Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is +fitted with dew and my locks with the drops of the night._" She saw +clearly that her Jesus suffered for the injustices of men, and that he +demanded her aid; that he asked a new proof of love by tearing her away +from the comfort which she enjoyed and casting her amid the hurricanes +of the world. But the beautiful young girl at the same time saw the +enormous difficulties rising before her at the first step which she +should make, the persecutions which would come upon her, and the +certainty that those who loved her would regard her conduct as absurd. +She understood her weakness, was afraid of the bitter griefs in store +for her, and she replied, like the bride: "_I have put off my coat; how +shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?_" +Long she struggled with herself to quench the voice calling her to +active life, and convince herself that she could not do anything for the +cause of the Lord; but it was in vain. All her specious arguments were +answered victoriously by the voice, putting it before her that she ought +not to question whether her aid would or would not be valuable, but +simply to consider the will with which she offered it; that God was +pleased oftentimes to show his power by entrusting the execution of +great deeds to humble and frail creatures, as was proved by the +renowned Jean d'Arc, Saint Catalina of Sienna, Saint Teresa, and other +excellent virgins who accomplished mighty works in spite of the high +powers of the earth. + +An insignificant incident brought Maria to a decision. Her uncle +Rodrigo, Marqués de Revollar, who was one of the most important magnates +of the court of the Pretender, learning of her enkindled faith and the +relations which she maintained with the partisans of Catholic monarchy +in Nieva, wrote her from Bayonne, asking her if she were ready to serve +as intermediary for the correspondence between him and Don César Pardo, +president of the Carlist committee. Maria hastened to reply that she +should be delighted to do so, and from that time she began frequently to +receive letters from her uncle, enclosed in which came others for Don +César. These were doubtless the thread by which the Carlist conspiracy +of Nieva was connected with the lofty spheres whence the orders +emanated. And, without her knowing how, she found herself +compromised--and she was not troubled by it--in the cause of the good +Christians who, as she frequently heard from the lips of Don César and +others, were endeavoring to restore Jesus to his sacred throne, and to +rescue him from pride and heresy. Far, as I said, from feeling fear or +trouble by it, her courage increased from the danger that she ran, and +this was for her a manifest sign that the favor of heaven accompanied +her, and she constantly entangled herself more and more in the designs +of the conspirators, being present at their meetings and serving them +with zeal and enthusiasm to the best of her ability. At the time of Don +César's armed expedition she it was who embroidered the standard and the +flannel hearts which the defenders of the faith wore, sewed on their +waistcoats. The conspirators felt toward her the greatest respect on +account of her reputation for sanctity, and they professed for her deep +affection for the enthusiasm with which she burned for the cause. In +some of these meetings she was invited to give her opinion, and she did +so with such talent and eloquence, she showed so much fire, and at the +same time so much discretion in her language, that the conspirators saw +in the beautiful young girl an angel sent from God to sustain their +faith and cause them to hold firm in their mighty schemes. + +After Don César's abortive attempt the Carlists of Nieva were quite cast +down. Maria shed many tears, and besought God earnestly that He would +not allow iniquity and falsehood to prevail against His holy law, and +that He would have compassion on His good soldiers, now banished and +persecuted. And, in fact, God had compassion, and allowed Don César and +the larger part of the young men, who with him had been banished to the +_Canary Islands_, to escape in a foreign steamship, and return incognito +to their fatherland, where they hid in the houses of their faithful and +valorous friends. Thereupon the partisans of tradition recovered their +energy and began once more to plot, though it was vaguely and without +definite object. The object did not appear for some time, until the +heroic and determined Don César suggested the idea of striking an +audacious blow which would suddenly give them the means of struggling +advantageously with the few troops in the province. This stroke, +proposed by the valiant ringleader, was nothing less than to seize the +gun factory[59] of Nieva. At first all thought the project a crazy one, +but gradually, by dint of thinking the idea over and over, they came to +look upon it as less unreasonable, and even began quietly, and with +great enthusiasm, to prepare the means for carrying it out. Such being +the state of things, Maria, one afternoon, went to the house where Don +César was concealed, and asked to speak with him in private. What the +damsel said must have been exceedingly important and flattering, for the +old ringleader, offering her his hand, and giving her a kiss upon the +forehead, replied with trembling voice:-- + +"My daughter, you are going to be our salvation. God desires to submit +the lot of many brave men to such dainty hands, and who knows if not +also the triumph of His cause?" + +The young woman retired to her room, where she engaged in prayer for a +long time, and then she went down to her mother's apartment. Ricardo +soon came in, according to his habit. After a few moments of +conversation, Doña Gertrudis went off to sleep, and the two young people +retired to a nook in the window to tell each other the sweet every-day +secrets, which are sweeter and more delicious the more they are +repeated. Maria was preoccupied; her betrothed, with the quickness of +one who truly loves, instantly noticed it. + +"What ails you to-day?... it seems to me that you are troubled...." + +"I feel sad, Ricardo.... I feel sad, as though some misfortune were +hurrying on me." + +"It's your nerves, which are overtaxed, dear.... Fasts greatly weaken +you. You ought to stop them for a while, as well as so many hours of +prayer.... You are weakening yourself very much...." + +"On the contrary, I have never felt so well as I have lately. It is not +my nerves, but a genuine sadness.... It is my soul that suffers, and not +my body." + +"But have you any reason for being melancholy?" + +"I have a presentiment." + +"But who cares for presentiments?" + +Maria kept silent, and Ricardo also. It was the twilight hour; both +gazed steadily out of the window, upon the great plaza of Nieva, +surrounded by its arcades, where the boys who had been let out of school +were amusing themselves, running and shouting. The sun was already down, +leaving above the tiled roof of the town-hall[60] a wide stretch of sky +slightly tinted with rose, which took bluish shades toward the zenith, +and yellow toward the horizon. The people of the town were hurrying +through the streets, attending to the last duties of the day, and +enjoying the sweet gloaming. Such an evening was rare. The balconies of +the Café de la Estrella were occupied by a few customers, who were +casting their restless eyes around the plaza. On the balcony of the +opposite house a little boy, with blue eyes and light, curly hair, was +having a good time with a wooden pipe, blowing soap-bubbles. Several +ragamuffins below, with no little chatter, caught them as they floated +down, bursting them with their hats and handkerchiefs. + +After a while, Maria turned to her betrothed, and fixing upon him an +intense, anxious look, said, with trembling voice,-- + +"Ricardo, do you love me much?" + +"Why do you ask me that question?... Don't you know that I do?" + +"Yes, I know that you love me.... You have already given me proof of it +... but in love, as in everything not transitory in this world, there is +always a more and less.... Only divine love is infinite.... The love +that you bear me has stood certain proofs; who knows if it could stand +others?" + +"The love which I have for thee," said the young marquis, placing his +hand on his heart, "has power to stand all proofs." + +"All?" + +"All." + +"Even if I were to ask you your life?..." + +"Bah! bah!" replied the young man, shrugging his shoulders with gesture +of disdain, "that would be to ask very little." + +Maria smiled with satisfaction, and after a pause, demanded timidly,-- + +"And if I asked your honor ... or what you men understand by honor?..." +she added, correcting herself. + +Ricardo, slightly pale, arose to his feet, and hesitated some time +before he replied. At last he said in a low tone, calmly:-- + +"Honor, my love, is not our own possession; it is a trust which heaven +places in our hands at birth, demanding account of it when we die." + +A flash of indignation and scorn passed through Maria's eyes, as she +heard those words. + +"And who has told you[61] what heaven grants you or asks of you, and why +do you mix heaven with things that oftentimes pertain to hell?" + +But calming herself in an instant, and giving her words a sweet, +persuasive tone, she added:-- + +"What heaven confides to man at birth nothing can reveal except +religion, and religion tells us that man not seldom counts his honor in +what he ought to look upon as his ruin and destruction.... Generally +what the world most appreciates and thirsts for goes against God's +law.... Therefore we ought to make very little account of this pretended +honor with which pride and haughtiness are cloaked. The true honor of +the Christian consists only in serving God, and obeying His holy +commands.... Listen, Ricardo.... I asked you if you loved me much for +the reason that it was imperative for me to know ... to know with +absolute and entire certainty.... I am going to make you a confession, +after which, if you are as noble and have as much faith as I may demand +of you, perhaps you will love me more than ever; ... but if your faith +is frail and vacillating, and you pay tribute to the frivolous +considerations of the world, you will surely love me less, and possibly +you will even desert me...." + +"Never that!" + +"Wait a moment.... Imagine that your betrothed, neglecting and even +violating certain rules laid down by society, and overstepping the +limits always set for woman, especially when she is an unmarried girl, +mingles in actions that are purely masculine; ... for example, in +politics, ... and not only mingles in them with thought and word, but +actually takes an active part in them. Imagine her to enter into a +conspiracy, and work with ardor for the triumph of her cause, ... and +put her life or her liberty at stake to accomplish it...." + +"What, you?..." + +"Yes," replied Maria, with resolution. "I have entered with all my heart +into a conspiracy.... I am working with all my might and main for the +triumph of the cause of the righteous.... God knows well that it makes +no difference to me whether one set of men or another rule over us, and +that no earthly consideration has tempted me to such a step. But I have +seen, and I still see religion and the ministry of religion, abused; I +see the salvation of many souls endangered, I see every day the divine +Jesus and his sweet name made a mockery by the impious men who chance to +rule in Spain, wearing a crown of thorns a thousand times more grievous +than what he bore at Jerusalem ... and I feel that his eyes implore me +and I hear his celestial voice begging me to lift that terrible crown a +little.... Do you think that I can weigh against the sublime interests +of religion, the safety of my soul, and the glory of Jesus, the childish +fear of displeasing the world?" + +"I know nothing about it," replied Ricardo, in a dull voice, buried in +deep thought. + +"You see how I was right! Now that I have confessed to you and told you +my secret, your love already grows dim, and you certainly will soon +drift away from me and abandon me!" + +The young girl's last word caused Ricardo to lift his head quickly. He +had a presentiment that something serious was at hand, and he replied in +a tone of ill humor,-- + +"And what is it that has moved you to confide to me all these things, +which you have kept so secret till now?" + +"Before all, forgive me for not having confided in you before.... They +were secrets that did not belong to me.... Besides, I imagined that you +would not think as I did, and would raise some objection to my plans.... +But now you have greatly changed: you are more religious, and you love +the name of Christian which you bear.... Therefore I decided to open my +soul entirely before you, and to put into your trusty, honest hands the +lives of many noble-souled men.... I am very weak, Ricardo mio; I am +only a poor girl, incapable of struggling and resisting; ... a shadow +makes me tremble, ... a word startles me and moves me to the very depths +of my being.... My eyes are more accustomed to shed tears than to direct +imperious glances, and my hands are folded with more pleasure than they +are raised in anger.... I have no cunning to avoid impositions, or +fortitude to endure pain.... I can do nothing, ... nothing, ... and I am +filled with despair; but thou art brave, thou art noble, and thou art +generous.... I can rely on thee as the bird in the air, and thanks to +thee, win heaven.... These moments are supreme for me.... I feel as +though I was near the abyss, and I have no power to stay my steps.... If +thou dost not reach me out thy hand, thou wilt very soon see me plunging +into it.... Ricardo mio, do not abandon me, ... for God's sake do not +abandon me!..." + +The young man felt that the danger was nearer than ever, and +exclaimed,-- + +"Let us have it done with at once, Maria. Let us know what it is all +about." + +"It is about a great act of merit which you can accomplish toward your +salvation if you will abandon the wicked suggestions of the world and +listen to the invitation of heaven.... In this town there is a mighty +weapon which, instead of serving God, as everything in this world ought +to serve Him, is an awful auxiliary of the devil. This weapon is the gun +factory...." Maria stopped a moment, and then, casting a frightened look +at her lover, continued in a trembling voice: "You can snatch this +weapon from the evil one and restore it into the hands of God by +delivering it over to the defenders of religion and--" + +Maria stopped a second time, and looked with horror at the livid, +contracted face of the young marquis, who grasped her by the arm, and +shaking her violently, roared, rather than spoke:-- + +"Who suggested to you the idea of proposing _that_ to me?... Answer +me.... Who was the vile, low wretch who advised you to do it?... I'll go +myself this very instant and tear out his tongue for him! Tell me, tell +me, Maria!... This thought never originated with you.... You couldn't +have supposed that your lover, the Marquis of Peñalta, the descendant of +so many noble gentlemen, a soldier of honor and loyalty, could calmly +listen to such a proposition!... You could not have imagined that the +man who adored you was a cowardly traitor, whom his comrades would +justly laugh to scorn!... Only thus can I pardon the horrible words +which you have just spoken.... Listen for God's sake, Maria.... Just now +my brain is on fire and my heart is frozen.... I hear within me a voice +which prophesies a great misfortune.... Yet still, at this moment I tell +thee that I love thee with all my soul.... Even to the point of giving +my life for thee gladly; ... but if this love which I have for thee were +multiplied a thousand-fold, and were not to be gratified in this world, +I would crush it, I would blot it out as a light is blotted out,--with a +breath,--and I would remain all my life long in darkness sooner than +consent to such villany.... What am I saying?... If God himself came +down to propose that to me, and threatened me with the eternal torments +of hell, I would refuse.... I would prefer to be damned with the loyal +than be saved with traitors." + +Maria hung her head in consternation. After some little time she +succeeded in saying in a weak voice:-- + +"You do not understand me, Ricardo, nor do I understand you any better. +In judging of the things of this world we put ourselves at very opposite +points of view: you look through the glass of the conventions +established by men, and I only through that of the law of God. For you +the renown of bravery, the reputation of being loyal and noble, is the +first thing; for me the main thing is the salvation of my soul.... +Pardon me if I have offended you, and let this _honor_ which you worship +so fervently serve you to forget forever what we have been talking +about." + +Ricardo gave the girl a long, sad look. He had just learned once and for +all that that woman could never be his; that he held only a very +subordinate place in that idolatrous heart, so full of mysterious +sentiments, grand and sublime, perhaps, but incomprehensible for him. A +tear sprang into his eyes and rolled tremblingly down his cheeks. + +"You are right, Maria.... I don't understand you.... My father was a man +of honor, and he also could not have understood you.... My grandfather +was a soldier who lost his life in the defence of his country, and he, +too, would not have understood you any better.... But my father and my +grandfather would have felt insulted, as I feel insulted, that any one +should remind them that they ought to keep secrets confided to them." + +Both maintained a protracted silence, gazing sadly through the panes +upon the great plaza of Nieva, which began to be concealed under the +gathering shades of night. The passers-by were going to their homes with +slow and lazy gait. A few lights were already burning in the depths of +the houses. The ragamuffins, who had been laboriously catching the +soap-bubbles sent out to them by the boy in the opposite house, had +disappeared, and he, tired of blowing through his pipe, finally flung it +to the ground together with his bowl of soap-suds, and set himself +making faces at Ricardo and Maria; but they, solemn and motionless, paid +no attention, as on other occasions, and the child, surprised to find +them so serious, likewise remained motionless, staring at them with his +bright, beautiful, cherub eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN. + + +The general commander kept by the fickle Spanish republic in the +province of * * * was a good deal of a barbarian,--be it said without +intention of hitting him too hard, for every man has the right to be as +much of a barbarian as he finds consistent with sound morals and good +habits. The first thing that he did, as soon as it was breathed to him +that the Carlists of Nieva were getting ready for a surprise +(_algarada_, battering-ram, was what he called it), and intended nothing +less than to get possession of the gun factory, was to summon the +commandant Ramírez and say to him:-- + +"Within an hour you must start for Nieva with two companies, together +with the inspector of police, and as soon as you get there, you arrest +and bring to me lashed arm to arm--do you understand?--lashed arm to +arm, all the individuals who are put down on this paper." + +"'Tis well, my brigadier!" + +"It will not need more than half a company to guard them. You, with the +rest of the force, put yourselves under command of the colonel-director +until I make other arrangements." + +"'Tis well, my brigadier!" + +As the commandant Ramírez, having made his salute, was going out of the +office door, the brigadier called him back,-- + +"Harkee, Ramírez, how did I tell you to bring the prisoners?" + +"Lashed arm to arm, my brigadier." + +"Correct; God go with you!" + +The night on which the two companies reached Nieva was the one chosen by +Don César's friends to sound the battle-cry and seize the factory. The +conspiracy was well planned. At one o'clock in the morning fifty men +were to meet in the garden of a rich Carlist proprietor, and fifty more +in the wine-cellar of another, to arm and equip themselves. At two +precisely they were all to march against the factory, the guard of +which, at this time under command of the young Marqués de Peñalta, did +not exceed twenty-five men, and attack it ostensibly at the doors, while +others should scale the walls in the rear. Once inside they would +quickly seize upon the arms already manufactured, loading them upon +mules which were in readiness, set fire to the workshops, and haste away +from the town. In case they should be attacked, they expected to raise +easily five or six hundred men well provided with arms and ammunition. +Don César had no doubt of the success of his enterprise, but the cursed +bird[62] traditional in all conspiracies, past and to come, upset the +brave caballero's project. At eleven o'clock that evening the commandant +Ramírez and the inspector of police had possession of all the +individuals of the committee, and ten or a dozen of the most outspoken +Carlists of Nieva, who, tied together and under the guard of half of a +company, according to the orders of the general commander, were under +the arcade of the town-hall, waiting the order of march. The only woman +among these was Maria. In vain did Don Mariano, with tears in his eyes, +beg the leader of the force to let him take her in a carriage. The +commandant Ramírez declared that he was deeply grieved at not being able +to gratify him, and that the only thing that he could do, out of respect +for him, was to give her parole-leave and wait a few moments until she +procured thick footwear and suitable outside garments, though to do this +exposed him to the wrath of the brigadier who ... (and here the +commandant Ramírez employed the term which we have already had the honor +of applying to him). + +At last the order was given, and the lieutenant set out on the march +with the prisoners. Don Mariano would not leave his daughter. Though it +did not rain at that particular moment, the night was very damp and the +roads truly abominable, as was proved by the spatterdashes of the +soldiers. In the town almost everybody was aware of what was going on, +and many dark, silent forms filled the balconies, straining their eyes +to see the prisoners pass by. As they went through a certain street, an +angry female voice cried from a balcony,-- + +"Villains, you will pay for all these things in hell!" + +The soldiers lifted their heads and dropped them again, silently +proceeding on their march, the measured sound of which inspired +melancholy and fear. They all felt on their caps a steady broadside of +looks of hatred, which, notwithstanding their innocence, they received +with the resignation of those accustomed to suffering injustice. They +soon left the last houses of the town and entered the high-road, the +first stretches of which were adorned with lofty poplars. The sky was +still dark and thick, wrapping the earth in darkness. Scarcely could +they see the trunks of the neighboring trees, or the shapes of the +houses or farm buildings along the roadside. The feet of the company no +longer produced the sharp clatter which they made when they were +walking over the paved streets, but a muffled sound still more sad. The +lieutenant, a pretty good-natured young fellow of twenty, ordered the +soldiers to march in parallel columns, with the prisoners in the middle. +Then he approached the latter, and asking them if he could do anything +for them, apologized courteously for taking them bound together, but +they must understand that the brigadier was somewhat of a ... (the young +lieutenant made use of the same expression which his commandant, and we +as well, has already applied to him). The prisoners muttered their +thanks and relapsed into a dignified silence. Soon it began to rain +furiously. Don Mariano, who had not exchanged a word with his daughter, +hastily spread his umbrella to shelter her, and held her long pressed to +his heart, whispering in her ear:-- + +"My daughter, what a bitter trial you are giving me!... Wrap yourself up +well!... Are you cold? oh, that obstinate brute shall answer me for +this!... I will go to Madrid and see the Minister of War, and have him +sent to prison!... Does the rain reach you anywhere, sweetheart +mine[63]? Do you want my waterproof?... To send and have my daughter +pinioned!... Oh, the confounded pig! in what sty did this farcical +government find him!... If you get sick, I will kill him without a +moment's hesitation.... But you, silly girl, who inveigled you into this +pack of conspirators without my permission?... If I had not let you +wander about so much among these churches, you would not at this time be +suffering such trials.... What have you to do with Carlists or with +Republicans?... A well-educated girl stays quietly at home, looking +after her father's shirts and knitting stockings.... Do you hear?... +knitting stockings!... The beast! wretch! to send and take my daughter +pinioned!... If I see him, I won't promise not to seize him by the +throat...." + +"Calm yourself, papa, ... calm yourself, for Heaven's sake. I am +perfectly comfortable.... When one suffers for God the suffering is +turned into pleasure.... Never did I feel better than at this moment ... +and it is because I feel in my soul the consolation of having done +something to restore Jesus to his holy kingdom.... The only thing that +makes me suffer, is to see you unhappy.... Ay! papa, what wouldn't I +give to have your faith as living and ardent as mine, so that you would +despise all the pains of earth, and march calm and content, as I am +marching, whither God may wish to take me!" + +Don Mariano felt a torrent of sharp, angry words choking him, but he +could not give them utterance. All that he did was to wrap his +waterproof around his daughter, emitting a sort of grunt significantly +eloquent. + +It ceased to rain at last. A slight breath of south-west wind made +itself felt, and the thick mantle over the sky began to thin away, +letting through a slender, feeble light which brought out the +silhouettes of the soldiers, and the trees, and the enormous forms of +the mountains girding the valley. The silence in the band was +sepulchral. The prisoners exchanged not a single word, devouring their +rage and grief. In the country, likewise, was heard none of those +pleasant sounds that increase the mystery of the night, and fill the +soul with soft melancholy. Only as they passed in front of some house, +they heard within the threatening bark of a dog, protesting against the +march of troops at such an unusual hour, and, now and then, the no less +gentle muttering of Sergeant Alcarez as he cursed the night, and his +luck, and the mother who bore him. + +The wind kept blowing stronger and stronger, a soft, moist wind which +the prisoners took to be of sufficiently evil import. The trees, lining +the sides of the road, twisted, as though in agony, scattering all the +rain drops with which they were laden. In the feeble light of the sky +the forms of the huge, black clouds began to appear, rushing swiftly +through the air, as though closely pursued by some monster of the night. +Back of these clouds the faint blue of the firmament could not be seen, +but a thick mantle of gray, seemingly impenetrable. Nevertheless, the +wind, still increasing in violence, began at last to rupture it in a few +places, making beautiful rifts, in the depths of which could be seen the +soft lightning of some star. The great, black clouds swept over them, +and blotted them out, but the mantle was constantly rifted again in +other places, and the little stars once more tipped friendly winks to +the earth. At last a great burst of silvery light suddenly bathed the +whole landscape: the moon had come out between two clouds, fair and +splendid as a virgin who opens the windows of her apartment. But hardly +had she cast one look of curiosity at our band, when the rude clouds +drew together, binding a fillet over her eyes, and leaving the earth +gloomy and dark. Again she appeared on high, and once more she was +hidden, as she saw a hurrying legion of clouds of every form and shape, +flying to unknown regions, pass before her face. In the space of half an +hour, she presented and hid herself an incredible number of times, +seeming to the eyes of the pilgrims like a ship ready to sink in some +restless, stormy ocean. + +Finally the tempest of the sky grew calm. Slowly the thick cloud +masses, which spotted the face of the sky, had disappeared behind the +mountains. A few, which still remained, and at long intervals, passing +across the moon, left the earth in darkness, likewise hid the +mountain-peaks. And the sky was left clear and bright, spreading out its +dark mantle adorned with stars. The moon traced a luminous circle around +her, in which, like a haughty queen, she let no other star shed his +light. The wide valley seemed to quiver gently with joy at feeling the +kiss of her silvery beams, and sent forth from the orange groves, and +the quiet streams, and the white hamlets scattered here and there, +millions of reflections vanishing with gentle mystery in the air. In +some places great, luminous sheets stretched out, where could be seen +with wonderful clearness the outlines of trees and fences; in others, +clustered shadows, guarding the dreams of flowers. The broad valley, +when thus illumined, had the semblance of a sleeping lake. + +After tramping along for a considerable time through the midst of the +valley, our band struck into the mountains girting it. It was necessary +to cross them to reach the plain surrounding * * *. The highway followed +the most accessible places, skirting the side of one of the mountains +with a pretty decided slope. The horizon widened wonderfully. As they +began to climb, the lieutenant commanded a halt before a huge tavern, +situated near the highway, and sending to the landlord obliged him to +arise and provide his people with food. The prisoners went into the +house and rested some time. Then they set forth once more, calmly +climbing the sharp declivity. + +The exuberant vegetation of the valley had ceased. The mountains, which +constantly shut them in closer, leaving barely room for the highway, +were clad only in ferns. From time to time they came upon the opening +of some coal mine, dug near the road. Don Mariano could not resist the +temptation of talking about the railway to Nieva, and he approached the +lieutenant and showed him where the line from Sotolonga was going, +explaining in full the advantages which it had over the line from +Miramar. The pathway was now considerably drier on account of the +hillside, and the moon from on high still lighted up the way, and fixed +her sweet, calm gaze on the pilgrims. The notes of a guitar were heard. +When did the guitar ever cease to sound during a march of Spanish +soldiers? And a voice of heroic timbre sang in the accents of the +South:-- + + "_Como cosita propria_ + _Te miraba yo_ + _Te miraba yo;_ + _Pero quererte como te quería_ + _Eso se acabó_ + _Eso se acabó._" + +Four or five soldiers scattered here and there likewise showed their +southern origin by shouting at the end of the strophe, _Olé, olé!_ That +song, born in the warm soil of Andalucia, was a magic wand which +banished sadness from all hearts. The stern mountains, as though +possessed by a sudden sympathy, re-echoed the soldier's voice, carrying +it far away across its gorges and ravines. Lively conversation arose in +the company, stopping every time that the Andalusian soldier struck up a +new verse. The prisoners persisted in their obstinate silence. All +marched negligently, with mouths open, instinctively enjoying the +favorable change which the night had undergone. Suddenly, as they were +doubling one of the numerous turns in the road, in the roughest part of +the divide, the report of a musket was heard. A soldier dropped to the +ground. Almost at the same time the portentous cry of _¡Viva Carlos +Septimo!_ was hurled into space. Lifting their heads, all saw at no +great distance, standing on one of the rocks commanding the road, a man +with long, white mustachios, dressed in a sheepskin _zamarra_ and Basque +cap.[64] The prisoners instantly recognized in him the president of the +committee, Don César Pardo. The lieutenant ordered the men to close up, +fearing an ambuscade, and gave the command to fire; but the volley had +no result. When the smoke cleared away Don César was still seen calmly +reloading his gun. As he fired it, he cried again with still more +fury,-- + +"_¡Viva Carlos Septimo!_" + +"May the lightning strike you, you old fox; you have spoiled my arm for +me," exclaimed Sergeant Alcarez, raising his hand to the wound. + +"Second column, aim! fire!" shouted the lieutenant. + +This time there was no better result. Don César fired again, crying,-- + +"_¡Viva la religión!_" + +Then the lieutenant angrily gave the command,-- + +"Fire as you please!" + +An incessant crackling of musketry followed from the half company, drawn +up in battle array; but the solitary enemy neither retreated nor fell. +Standing on the rock, without even deigning to shelter himself behind +it, he steadily loaded and fired his musket, always repeating in a +terrible voice,-- + +"_¡Viva Carlos Septimo! ¡Viva la religión!_" + +He rarely fired without causing some loss in the company. The moon +illuminated his proud, fierce face loaded with wrinkles, giving it a +fantastic appearance. His eyes gleamed like those of a madman, and his +tall, lusty frame stood forth in the luminous atmosphere, like that of a +supernatural being who had come down to punish offences committed +against heaven. + +"Do you know me, republicans, do you know me?" he cried, without ceasing +to fire. "I am Don César Pardo, an old Christian and a Carlist from head +to foot." + +"You're a scoundrel," replied a soldier. + +"Hearkee, little fellow; you're all of a tremble, and the balls you +shoot go wide of the mark." + +"Try this one then!" + +"No, sir!... it didn't hit.... If I had ten men with me how you would +all scatter, you lapdogs!" + +"Do what you please, boys!... Kill that whelp!" cried the lieutenant at +the height of irritation. + +The soldiers broke for the mountain, and began to climb it with the +agility of wildcats. The rage which possessed them redoubled their +powers. But at the same time the lieutenant, snatching a musket from one +of the soldiers, levelled at Don César and brought him down. + +"That'll do, boys!... Come back!... the hawk is winged at last," he +cried in triumphant accents. + +"It only wounded my leg; ... my bill is whole yet," replied the +ringleader, with hoarse voice. + +And in truth, though his hip was shot through, he managed to raise +himself up and load his musket, which he instantly fired at those who +were coming up against him. They roared with rage as they pulled +themselves up by the ferns, or dug their fingers into the moss to climb +faster. + +"Come, come, you cowards," screamed Don César, likewise maddened with +rage. "Come and learn how to fight!... You see how a Carlist officer +makes war!... You see how he is equal to fifty republicans!... To-morrow +tell your exploit to General Bum Bum who sent you!... Let 'em give you +the laurel wreath, you heroes! Now here goes a shot for Don Carlos!... +Ah! I know how you are taking off a girl as prisoner, you brave warriors +of the republic!... Here goes another for Doña Margarita!... Did the +pill taste bad, eh, fellow?... Oh, how glad I am to see you! _¡Viva +Carlos!_ ..." + +He was not allowed to finish. A soldier who had reached the summit put +the muzzle of his gun to his forehead and blew off his head, saying,-- + +"Die, you hog!" + +He killed him without heeding the voices of his comrades, who said, +"Leave him for me! Leave him for me!" + +As they reached him with pale cheeks and bloodshot eyes, they all +discharged their guns at the lifeless body of the terrible ringleader, +quickly destroying it in the most horrible manner. When that act of +barbarism, inspired by wrath, was accomplished, the soldiers remained +silent. Their irritation being calmed, they began to realize how they +had been fighting with one single man, and they were dissatisfied with +themselves. In spite of themselves they felt stirred to admiration. + +"The old man had gall," said one, as he wiped off a few drops of blood +which had spattered into his face. + +"He was well quit of his life," declared a second. + +"The truth is, that taking them one at a time, that old man would have +swallowed this whole division, uniform and all," said a third, finally; +and no one uttered a protest. + +In the company there were one killed and five wounded, as the result of +the skirmish. They placed them all, as well as they could, on improvised +stretchers, and again took up the line of march. Not only the soldiers, +but the prisoners, plodded on in silence and melancholy, profoundly +impressed by the tragic event which had just occurred. + +The night was still as calm and bright as before, and in the zenith the +moon, which had just been lighting that unequal combat with her soft +poetic beams, still shed them upon the company slowly ascending the +highway, and upon the livid, dismembered corpse which they had left +behind on the crag. The struggles, the joys, the griefs of us poor +devils who creep on the earth, what worth have they? what do they +signify before the august serenity of the heavens? For them the fall of +an empire and the fall of a leaf are of equal consequence; for them the +sigh of a maiden in love and the groan of a dying man are alike in +sound. "Nature is deaf," said the great Leopardi, "and cannot pity." + +But Maria walked along with her eyes fixed on the sky, regarding it with +far different thoughts. There where the poet found nothing but a blind +will, incapable of good, the pious girl saw a foreseeing and merciful +God, as merciful as terrible, who received the good into his bosom, and +sent the wicked to eternal torment--a God, who, like ourselves, was +appeased by prayers and tears. She felt stirred as she thought of the +fate which the soul of him who had just died would meet in presence of +divine justice, and by a quick, spontaneous movement of her heart, she +said in a loud, clear voice:-- + +"For the soul of the departed Don César Pardo: Our Father who art in +heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on +earth as it is in Heaven." The prisoners began to pray with fervor. +Some of the soldiers did the same. Then they relapsed into silence as +they marched along, and nothing was heard but the sound of labored +breathing, and occasionally the complaints of the wounded, not very well +accommodated in their litters. At last they crossed the highest point of +the watershed, and began to descend toward the wide valley of * * *. The +dawn was already appearing in the confines of the east. The dull blue of +the sky in that quarter was fading into a pale, melancholy light, which +at the same time blotted out the sparkling stars. The travellers felt a +chill, unpleasant breath of wind which turned their noses and hands +purple. Very soon a great golden fringe spread over the eastern hills, +and the band could regard at their pleasure the valley stretching out at +their feet, where the green of the meadows and the yellow of the plowed +lands shone in multitudinous tones, coarse or soft, like a rich mantle +of brocade. A few tufts of cloud were slowly rising from the depths of +the streamlets which furrowed it; and yonder, in the west, a great +curtain of black mountains, on whose summits the snow still gleamed +white, shut it in abruptly, casting across it a great mantle of shadow. +In spite of this shadow, the eyes of the travellers who knew the region +could distinguish in the very edge of the black curtain the spire of the +proud tower of the cathedral of * * *. The prisoners and their guards +reached the plain, and crossed the valley from one end to the other, +expending much time in the transit, principally because of the care +required by the wounded. Finally, at eight o'clock in the morning, they +reached the first houses of the suburb of * * *. + +The inhabitants of the capital had heard of the sudden blow struck by +the military governor against the Carlists of Nieva, and a great throng, +collected in the streets, was impatiently waiting to see the prisoners +pass by. It was composed almost entirely of what, during the +revolutionary period, was called the sovereign people; that is, of all +the ragamuffins and rough-scuff of the city, together with quite a +number of respectable people, though loungers, and almost all the +_ladies_ of the suburbs. + +On seeing the band from afar, the multitude was stirred tempestuously, +and there arose a dull, universal clamor:-- + +"There they are now! There they are now!"--"I was told that they +intended to assassinate all the liberals of Nieva last night."--"Ah! the +rascals! Fortunate they fell beforehand into the trap!" + +"They must be undeceived," declared a fat and highly-colored caballero, +with a good-natured face; "all the Carlists are either rascals or fools. +I would not employ any other means with them than extermination.... Fire +and sword!" + +"Let us sing them _El trágala_ when they pass," said a ragged lad to two +other swells accompanying him. + +The people pressed close as the band approached, those who could finding +standing-room on the street-walls and the trees along the way. On seeing +the wounded, and learning through the curt account of some soldier about +the incident of Don César, the inquisitive citizens felt justified in +manifesting their indignation, and though at first they contented +themselves with giving each other the benefit of their hostile thoughts, +finally they began to belch forth against the prisoners furious insults, +apostrophizing them in loud tones, as though they had all received from +their hands some wrong. Thus they continued escorting them through the +streets of the city, their fury and indignation ever on the increase, +until words were not enough to satisfy them. The prisoners marched with +sunken heads and flushed faces. + +"Oh, you hypocrites! saint-killers!" shouted one at them; "may the day +soon come when we shall see you strung up!" + +"See how those cursed rascals[65] hang their heads! If they had us in +their fists the meanest of them would be happier." + +"Now cry 'Long live Carlos Seventh,' you rubbish!" But the popular fury +was most madly excited against Maria. Neither her youth, nor her beauty, +nor her weakness, served to spare her from ferocious, filthy insults. + +"Who is that woman with 'em? They say she's a saint."--"Yes, a saint, +but she's a loose character!"--"See here, wench, if you are hunting for +a husband, you'll find one here!"--"That one needs a few dozen +lashes!"--"See what hypocritical eyes the harridan[66] has!" + +It is easy to appreciate the state of disturbance, wrath, anguish, and +excitement which overmastered Don Mariano Elorza, at being obliged to +listen to these rude remarks. In his impotent rage he bit his hands and +stopped his ears, fearing that his blood would boil over and lead him to +do something endangering his daughter's life. + +As we have already said, the crowd, not content with flinging insults, +took it into their heads to indulge in brutal treatment of them. One +rough youth gave the example by hurling a piece of orange. Many others +followed his example, and there fell on the unfortunate prisoners a +hailstorm of projectiles, more disgusting, it must be confessed than +deadly. However, a cabbage stalk thrown violently, hit Maria in the +face and made her lips bleed. + +Oh! then the unhappy Don Mariano's fury burst forth, terrible and +resistless, as the sea in its moments of tempests, as a volcano in +eruption. His athletic figure fell upon the group of loungers nearest +him, and he annihilated it with his onslaught, scattering the men on the +ground as though they had been made of straw; those who were left on +their feet fled without awaiting a second attack. The Señor de Elorza +would have made his way through the whole crowd, but meeting with +resistance in the serried ranks, he grasped the throat of the first +ruffian at hand and would have surely choked him to death, had not the +soldiers come to his aid and pushed back the angry father. His wrath +then broke out in a storm of frenzied words, which brought the throng to +silence. + +"Guttersnipes! vile guttersnipes! cowards! beasts!... If they had not +prevented me, I would have pulled your tongues out, one at a time.... +You have wounded my daughter.... Didn't you know she was my daughter, +you rascals! Here you showed your valor, you bullies! why don't you go +to Navarra to fight with armed men, instead of attacking the +defenceless?... Because you are cowards!... An indecent rabble that +ought to be scattered with whips! If there be among you any one worthy +of meeting me, let him come out so that I can spit in his face.... Let +go of me, let go of me, for God's sake! Let me kill one of these pimps +who have wounded my daughter. Let me go, señores, let me go!..." + +Don Mariano struggled to tear himself from the arms of the soldiers. The +rabble who had fallen back before his attack, seeing him in custody, +recovered from their alarm, and crowded back again like basilisks, +foaming at the mouth with rage. + +"This old coxcomb insults the people!"--"He's a crazy fool!"--"It's a +shame for the people to be so insulted!"--"Why don't you kill this +knave!"--"Kill him, yes, kill him!"--"Kill him!"--"Kill him!" + +And the throng pressed up to the band closer and closer, though slowly, +like an ocean of waves swelling and threatening, and would soon have put +an end to Don Mariano and the prisoners, had not the lieutenant +prevented such an act of barbarism by shouting at the top of his +voice,-- + +"Attention, company--ready--aim!" + +Then the swelling waves subsided as by magic. The lieutenant's voice was +Neptune's _sed motos prestat componere fluctus_. The sovereign people +turned tail, and saying in their hearts "escape if you can," started to +run in all directions, tripping up here, and scrambling to feet again +there. And it is reported that His Majesty ran so fast and so far, that +in less than three minutes he disappeared from before the guns of the +military. + +Thanks to this, the prisoners were left in peace until they reached the +prison, where they were lodged in a great hall, filthy enough, with a +wooden floor, filled with rat-holes in many places. Maria was assigned a +separate room, comparatively clean and comfortable. + +The hour set for the hearing before the council of war was twelve +o'clock; and when the clock struck, the prisoners, perfectly guarded, +were transferred to a handsomely decorated salon in the building where +it met. The officers composing it were seated behind a long table, +covered with red damask trimmed with gold lace, under a velvet canopy +which, in other times, before we had the republic, had served to give +regality and prestige to the portrait of the king. The presiding officer +was the military governor, who was anxious to have done with the +business in a rapid and violent manner. He wished to inflict exemplary +punishment upon all of the conspirators, or, what is the same thing, +"not to leave a mannikin with his head on," to use his own words. He was +a chubby man, with great blub-cheeks and a thin mustache: a perfect +image of what we, and likewise the Commandant Ramírez, and the +lieutenant of the convoy, have already called him. The other officers +had absolutely nothing remarkable in their faces: coarse features, black +eyes, twisted mustachios, sharp-pointed goatees, commonplace faces, on +the whole, though manly. At first sight, it was evident that they wore +their togas broad. When the prisoners entered, the doors and the +standing-room of the building were invaded by a great crowd, not so rude +and low as that of the morning; it was made up of people of more +respectability,--students for the most part, hidalgos and officeholders. +This throng preserved a thoughtful, compassionate silence at seeing them +enter. + +They were introduced one at a time in the great hall of state. The +captain, who acted as prosecutor,[67] took their depositions, having +before him documents in proof of the crime. The members of the Carlist +committee of Nieva gave their testimony as best suited their ideas of +propriety, denying the majority of the counts, astutely pleading guilty +to others, and, in fine, doing all in their power to be let off easily. +The fat-cheeked brigadier lost his temper not a few times during the +course of the hearing, interrupting the prosecutor to launch harsh +apostrophes at the prisoners, and threatening to have them shot in the +interim, if they did not reveal all the minutiæ and ramifications of the +conspiracy; but he accomplished little by his intimidations. When +Maria's turn came, he smiled sarcastically, and said with rough irony,-- + +"Have the goodness to draw near, señorita, and to reply to the questions +which this caballero capitán will put to you." + +"What is your name?" asked the prosecutor. + +"Maria de Elorza y Valcárcel." + +"_De, dee, dee_," snorted the brigadier, "always the same aristocratic +pretensions!" + +"You are accused of serving as intermediary in the correspondence +between the Marqués de Revollar, Don Carlos's minister and counsellor, +and the ringleader, Don César Pardo, lately exiled by virtue of sentence +of the counsel of war, which met on the 14th of March. Moreover, you are +accused of having been present as an active participant at various +meetings held by the conspirators of Nieva, with the assistance of the +same ringleaders who escaped, and various other political criminals. In +these meetings you have indulged in speech fomenting rebellion, and +making suggestions to help its success. It is said that you embroidered +the banner for the rebels, and have hidden hats and spatterdashes in +your house, and likewise have procured money for the conspirators...." + +The prosecutor stopped speaking. There were a few instants of silence. +The brigadier impatiently said,--"Come.... Reply! Are the deeds of which +you stand accused true?" + +Maria, with her clear gaze fastened on the president's supercilious +face, replied in firm, calm accents:-- + +"All that the Señor Fiscal has just set forth is pure truth, and I take +the warmest pride in it. It is true that I have served as intermediary +in the correspondence between my noble uncle, the Marqués de Revollar, +and the brave Don César Pardo (whom may God take to glory!). It is +certain that I have been present at the meetings, where a conspiracy was +planned against the impious government now existing, and that I have +endeavored, with my feeble speech, to stir the conspirators to the +combat, and it is equally certain that I embroidered the banner and +other articles for the defenders of the faith. It is likewise true that +I have furnished all the money that I could, but it is not enough to say +that I hid in my father's house hats and spatterdashes: I have also +hidden arms, muskets, and their bayonets and ammunition." + +The officers of the council were stupefied. The brigadier himself, in +spite of his choleric temper, remained for some instants dumb before the +girl's audacity. But if they had known her as we know her, it is certain +that they would not have had reason to be surprised. The eldest daughter +of the Elorzas had entered into the Carlist conspiracy, completely +persuaded that she was accomplishing a work very grateful in the eyes of +God, and she had firmly determined not to turn back before any danger. +Her ardent, all-powerful faith was eager to find means to serve Him, and +moreover the longing for imitation, for which we have already given her +credit, impelled her to imitate the conduct of those sainted virgins who +fought against the power of the cruellest tyrants, and gave a glorious +example of constancy in times of persecution. She knew by heart the +lives of Saint Leocadia, Saint Barbara, Saint Julia, Saint Eulalia, and +other illustrious martyrs of the Christian faith, and their +steadfastness was for her an example and further incentive in the road +to sanctity upon which she had entered. Countless times she had imagined +scenes of martyrdom in which she was the principal personage, and in +which she had always come forth conqueror; just as many men fond of +battles, dream that they are fighting with a dozen champions and making +them run ignominiously, and others enamored of oratory represent +themselves as speaking before multitudes, moving them and carrying them +away by their eloquence. With what admiration had she read about the +flight of the sainted maiden of Merida, from the battlefield of her +fathers to the city where she presented herself voluntarily before the +governor Calfurniano to confess her faith, and ask a martyr's death! In +the march which she had just made from Nieva, she had many times +recalled the details of that memorable flight, gladly seeing in it a +certain analogy with that of the saint. Now that she saw herself in the +presence of stern, angry judges, she found the resemblance still more +striking, and this encouraged her, in no small degree, in her +determination to stand firm in spite of danger. + +The brigadier, who was not very well informed in regard to what had +happened to Saint Eulalia at the hands of Calfurniano, believed honestly +that the silly girl was ridiculing him, and, giving a tremendous rap on +the table with his fist, he shouted:-- + +"Listen, señorita, do you know with whom you are talking? Do you know +that I am the military governor of the province, and that I have never +had any decided fondness for jests? Do you know what risk you run at +making sport of this most dignified council of war, over which at this +moment I preside? Do you know that I have a mind to send you to prison, +and shut you up in a cell, and keep you there on bread and water until +you rotted? Did you know it? heh!... Did you know it? heh!... heh?... +heh?..." + +"I know perfectly," replied Maria in steady, but modest tone, "that I +am in the presence of a council of war; but, though I were facing a +battalion of soldiers, aiming at me with their guns, I should say the +same thing without dropping or adding a letter. I am not accustomed to +tell falsehoods, and when it concerns acts which may be some service to +the cause of God, I should be unworthy of calling myself a Christian, if +I denied them in the presence of any one." + +"And what is it that you call the cause of God, my beautiful señorita?" +asked the brigadier with apparent calmness, while his eyes flashed +lightnings of wrath. + +"I call the cause of God that which is at the present time represented +by the legitimate and Catholic king, around whom are collected all those +who feel scandalized to see religion persecuted and its ministers +molested; those who mourn at seeing the infamous blasphemies uttered in +Congress, and daily spread broadcast by the journals; those who do not +wish to see impiety enthroned in Spain, the Catholic land, above all +others, granted by God one single faith and one single worship." + +The brigadier grew redder than a guindilla pepper; his lips trembled +with wrath; he was about to make some shocking remark, but at last he +controlled himself, and said to the prosecuting officer,-- + +"Continue your examination, Señor Capitán." + +For the first time in his life the brigadier smothered his barbarous +words. The fiscal, over whom the force of attraction for the opposite +sex had not yet lost its influence, perhaps from the reason that he was +younger, continued, all the time softening his voice and sweetening the +smile that distorted his countenance:-- + +"Very well; since you have the candor to confess that you have been a +party to the conspiracy, let us hope that you will continue to be as +frank, and tell us all its details and the names of the persons +connected with it." + +"Oh, no, ... that cannot be. I declare and confess my acts, but I cannot +those of the others. Even if they granted me permission, be very sure +that I would not do it, since it seems to me a sin to put into the hands +of the impious arms to murder good Christians...." + +"This cannot be allowed," vociferated the brigadier, overcome by wrath. +"Let us see, señorita; do you believe that I have not the means to make +you tell the whole story?[68] Let us have the session in peace, and do +you tell mighty quick what you know, for otherwise there'll be trouble +[_mal_]; ... there'll be trrrouble [_maaal_]; ... there'll be +trrrrrouble [_maaaaal_]...." + +"Señor Presidente, I am not willing to say a single word that might +compromise my friends, the pious and loyal defenders of the faith of +Jesus Christ. Do with me whatsoever you will, but you must know that I +shall accept with delight any chance to suffer something for Him who +suffered so much for us." + +"Heavens and earth!" [_¡Rayo de Dios!_] screamed the brigadier, giving +another terrible pound to the table. "This child has put an end to my +patience!... Orderly, see that this girl is instantly conducted to +prison, and keep her in solitary confinement until further orders." The +officials of the council, understanding that this would make a scandal +without any result, put it before the governor in a whisper, and he +became a little calmer. He himself understood it. + +"You are right," he said aloud; "all the information that this girl can +give is already known to us, and more too. I don't wish these scrubby +Carlist newspapers to be saying that we lost our temper with a +woman.... Harkee, orderly! see if this young woman's father is anywhere +about, and have him brought in." + +In a few moments Don Mariano entered. + +"I find myself obliged to tell you, Señor de Elorza," said the +brigadier, addressing him, "that you have a very ill-educated daughter, +and that thanks to the fact of your not figuring as a Carlist and to our +own benevolence, we do not adopt in her case the rigorous measures which +she deserves for her boldness. You can take her home whenever you +please, pledging yourself to us that she shall not directly or +indirectly enter into any conspiracy or into anything of the like.... Do +we agree?... Have a little more care of her if you don't want to expose +her to greater tribulations, and don't let her go so free and easy as +hitherto...." + +Don Mariano almost spoiled everything by hurling an insult in that rough +soldier's face; but the sorrows which he had been undergoing since the +night before kept him very humble. Besides, he feared to compromise his +daughter's situation, and seeing her free he had no wish to lose her +again. Reserving, then, _in pectore_ for more favorable times, the right +of demanding of the governor full satisfaction for his impudent words, +he gave the promise demanded, and immediately passed from the hall and +from the building with Maria, and went to call upon one of his +relatives. In the afternoon they set out for Nieva, reaching home just +at nightfall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PALLIDA MORS. + + +When the carriage stopped, Don Mariano perceived by the face of the +servant who came to open the door that nothing very delightful had +occurred during his absence. + +"The señora?" he asked in alarm. + +"The señora is in bed." + +"Oh, I might have known it! How could the poor soul have had strength to +resist this blow!" + +The faces of the other servants whom they met on the way had the same +expression of silent solemnity, and this greatly increased his +agitation. Maria followed him. When they reached Doña Gertrudis's room, +they saw that there were a number of people in it who, on catching sight +of them, came toward them with a warning gesture. + +"What! Is she so ill?" exclaimed the unhappy Don Mariano, in a hoarse, +trembling voice. + +"She is not very ill," said an officious lady: "but it is better that +you should not enter so suddenly, for a powerful excitement might be bad +for her. She has had a number of attacks since last night, and finds +herself rather weak.... Let me prepare her." + +The lady, in fact, went to tell Doña Gertrudis that her daughter was at +liberty, and would soon be back to Nieva. + +"My daughter is here!" cried the invalid, with that wonderful instinct +of mothers and hysterical women.... Yes, she is here!... I know she +is!... I see her.... Come, my daughter, come!" + +And at the same time she made a desperate effort to sit up in bed. Maria +entered her bedchamber, and kneeling beside the bed respectfully kissed +the hands which her mother extended to her. + +"Forgive me, mamma! forgive me for the anxiety which I caused you.... +You were made ill because of me, but the Lord will soon make you +well...." + +"No, my daughter; you have done nothing that needs my forgiveness; you +have done what God commanded.... It made me ill ... that is true ... but +it is because I have not virtue enough, as you have, to suffer the +trials God imposes upon us.... You are a saint.... I shall be well.... +Don't worry about me.... What frightens me now is, that I did not die +when I saw you marching off that way, among soldiers.... My poor +daughter.... Come, give me a kiss!" + +When Maria entered the bedroom, Ricardo and Marta were there; the girl +seated near the pillow, and Ricardo at the foot of the bed. The young +marquis, on learning at the factory that Maria was arrested, had asked +the colonel to be relieved that night of guard duty, and his request +being granted, he hastened to the Elorza mansion just as Don Mariano and +his daughter were outside of the town. Doña Gertrudis was in the midst +of a very severe fit, from which it was feared that she would not +recover; she came to herself but only to fall immediately into another. +What an anxious night! Don Maximo and the Señora de Ciudad remained with +poor little Marta to watch by the sick woman. Ricardo likewise was +unwilling to leave the house. The girl appreciating that her mother's +health and life depended on her behavior, kept up her courage, and did +not cease to busy herself about the bed, entering and leaving the room +hundreds of times. As soon as Don Maximo gave an order she fulfilled it +with admirable exactness. A multitude of remedies requiring much skill +and some practice were taken: mustard poultices, leeches, assafœtida +washes, various applications to the temples, etc., etc. Marta would not +consent for any servant to touch her mother; she did everything herself +without bustle, without noise, as though all her life she had done +nothing else. During the intervals of rest she sat by the bedside and +watched the invalid's face with anxious eyes. The bedroom was feebly +lighted by a lamp half turned down in the hall; a strong smell of drugs +and medicines arose from the vials accumulated on the dressing-table; +but Marta was not nauseated by any of the odors; her head was steady and +her never-failing health was the envy of all the household. Ricardo +likewise sometimes sat at the invalid's feet. The girl scarcely saw more +than his silhouette outlined against the brighter opening of the door, +but this was a great comfort to her. She was not alone; Ricardo was not +a stranger. Sometimes when the invalid asked for something and both +arose in haste to give it to her, if their hands met, Marta withdrew +hers hurriedly, as though she had touched a viper, and she let her +friend minister to Doña Gertrudis. Neither spoke. Marta, forgetful of +herself, thought only of her mother. Ricardo, more egotistical, thought +of Maria. The girl's whole soul was wrapped up in the dear being +painfully breathing by her side, and without making the slightest error, +with the accuracy of a chronometer, she counted her pulse and watched +her respiration. Don Maximo and the Señora de Ciudad were whispering in +the adjoining room, as though they were making confession. The lady was +explaining to the old doctor the character and temperament of each one +of her daughters; the conversation was long. In the course of nine hours +the sick woman had four severe attacks, leaving her so prostrated that +the doctor seriously feared a fatal result. Nevertheless, after the +fourth, she remained comparatively comfortable, and passed the day quite +easily. The danger, in spite of this, continued. + +After the first moments of effusion were over, Maria called her sister +aside into a corner of the room. + +"Tell me; has mamma made confession?" + +"No." + +"And why didn't you call the priest?... Didn't you perceive that she was +in danger?" + +The truth was, Marta had scarcely thought of doing such a thing. +Besides, she was afraid of frightening her mother, and thought that this +might be bad for her. In the bottom of her heart, likewise, there was a +great terror of that tremendous scene, and she wanted to banish it from +her mind. Maria chided her severely for her negligence, bringing before +her the terrible responsibility which she would have incurred had her +mother died. Marta saw that she was right, and hung her head. She sent +instantly to summon Doña Gertrudis's confessor, and Maria undertook to +prepare her mother. Wonder of wonders! Doña Gertrudis, who during her +life had asked an infinite number of times to have her confessor +summoned, now felt overwhelmed with surprise and fear when her daughter +told her that she must get ready. Possibly the fact was, that when she +had asked for it, she harbored the conviction that there was no real +danger of death, while now she understood that matters were really +serious. At all events, her daughter's words made a great impression +upon her, and she raised all the objection in her power against +receiving him, urging as an excuse that she felt better; that when +there should be danger, she would herself call for him. + +Maria opposed this delay, and found herself under the cruel necessity of +clearly explaining to the invalid the seriousness of her situation. Doña +Gertrudis yielded, but her face betrayed a great discouragement. + +When the priest arrived he was left alone with her, all retiring from +the apartment. Marta went to weep alone in her room, so as not to sadden +her father; he did the same, so as not to frighten his daughters. Maria +watched at the door for the signal that the pious act was accomplished. +At last the priest left the room, and, with the mask of solemnity which +all daily witnesses of death-scenes are obliged to assume, hiding the +real indifference, logically caused by such familiarity, he said to +those who were waiting:-- + +"You can enter: we have finished." + +"How is she?" was the question of each one. + +"Well!... well!... well!... The poor woman is calm.... I believe that +for her to receive the Divine Majesty will be good for her, as well for +the body as for the soul." + +"That is true.... You are right, Señor Cura," said several ladies. + +"I have seen in my own family a very notable case of the power of +faith," declared one of them. "My uncle Pepe had a very serious lung +trouble, confirmed consumption. He had consulted a multitude of +physicians, and had taken more than a cartload of medicine. Well, then +it was suggested that, unless he were prepared to die, he would not +recover. He had the priest called, made confession, received the +viaticum, and even wanted to have extreme unction.... But from that very +time, I don't know what it was, but it is a fact that he became more +comfortable, and began to improve ... to improve ... to improve, until +at last he became what you see him to-day." + +The other women confirmed this opinion. Each one related her experience +in support of it, and the priest summed up all the arguments, showing +that such miraculous effects were nothing more than was to be expected, +granting that the sick person's body received the presence of the Lord +of the Heaven and earth, in whose hands is the safety of all mankind. + +At eleven o'clock in the evening, they brought the viaticum to Doña +Gertrudis with all the ceremony required by such a solemn act. The house +of Elorza was filled with strange faces; a throng composed for the most +part of working people invaded the stairway, the corridors, and even the +invalid's sick-room, with wax tapers in their hands. The priest, with +the acolyte before him, and the holy box on his breast, passed by the +physician, and entered the sick-room. Don Mariano had gone to hide +himself. Maria, with a book of devotions in her hand, read to her mother +the prayers which were to be said before communion. Marta stood leaning +against the wall, pale and frightened, gazing at the solemn ceremony, as +though she saw some terrible vision. One of the women, who made their +way into the room, handed her a lighted candle, and she took it without +knowing what she did. When the priest brought forth the Holy Wafer, they +had to tell her to kneel. The scene was sad and stirring for any one: +how much more for a daughter! The wax candles lugubriously sputtered in +the silence of the sick-room, and cast tremulous yellow reflections on +the walls. The voice of the priest, as he raised the Host, was still +more lugubrious than the sputtering of the tapers. The invalid, +weakened by her illness, had grown terribly pale from emotion; she sat +up as well as she could and, supported by Maria, and with her hands +folded over her breast, she opened her mouth to receive the body of +Jesus Christ. Then the bystanders went out softly, and on the staircase +was heard the vibrating tinkle of the sacristan's little bell, +announcing that the Lord was departing from the house. Only the intimate +friends remained. A group of ladies invaded the sick woman's room to +congratulate her, and to ask after her health. Doña Gertrudis said that +she was more comfortable; and, taking her daughter Maria's hand, she +thanked her for having given her the pleasure of communion. Her recovery +was to be hoped for; all the ladies found her very much like herself, +and assured her that it would not be long before she was well. + +"God can do all things, Doña Gertrudis. When one's accounts are settled +with the Lord, there is no fear of any harm befalling. Nothing, this is +nothing, señora; you will see how you will soon recover." + +"I have offered a mass to the Sacred Christ of Tunis for the day on +which our señora shall get well," said Genoveva, Maria's maid. + +"Woman, why did you not offer it to the Ecce Homo of Mercy?" asked an +old laundress of the house, in some surprise. She had always lighted the +lamp before the said Ecce Homo, and kept the chapel clean, so that she +came to look upon it as her own property. + +"Ay, woman! because the Holy Christ of Tunis is more miraculous." + +"A cuckold on _him_," exclaimed the washerwoman, quickly, with angry +eyes. + +A furious altercation arose between the two, until Maria was +scandalized, and bade them be still, explaining that the Christ of +Tunis and of Grace was one and the same Lord, though every Christian was +free to have the most faith in whatever image he pleased. + +At last the ladies withdrew, leaving only two,--the widow De Delgado and +one of her sisters,--to spend the night with the young ladies. Don +Maximo went to rest awhile, promising to return before long. The +confessor did not wish to leave the house because he saw no improvement +in his penitent, and he threw himself down on the sofa. Ricardo likewise +remained. + +At two o'clock what Don Maximo feared took place. The attack was +renewed, and unfortunately with such violence that the unhappy lady very +narrowly escaped passing away in it. Marta, on seeing the danger, +recovered the activity which she lost before the lugubrious ceremony of +the communion; she prepared all the medicines; she rubbed the sick +woman's feet with a flesh-brush; she held her upright a long time, so +that she might not choke to death, and acted as Don Maximo had +prescribed in the former cases. All those who touched Doña Gertrudis +hurt her; only Martita's soft hands had the privilege of moving her from +side to side, and placing her in the most comfortable positions without +causing her pain. Finally the sick woman came to herself and spoke, but +Don Maximo, hastily summoned by the servants, found her pulse so feeble +on his arrival that he could not help making a slight gesture of alarm. +Marta noticed that gesture, and calling him alone into the passage-way, +she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing: "Don Maximo, my dearest, +for God's sake, save my mother!... yes, my mother is dying!... yes ... +she is dying.... I saw your gesture...." + +"Don't cry, child,"[69] said the old physician, drawing her head to his +breast; "as yet there is no reason for alarm.... I will certainly do all +in my power, and more, to save her." + +"Yes, yes, Don Maximo.... Do it, I beseech you by all that you most love +in this world!... by the memory of your wife, whom you loved so dearly!" + +"Don't! try not to cry any more! the thing to do now is to go and give +her a spoonful of quinine; then we will put a cataplasm on her stomach." + +The good Don Maximo, disguising the presentiment which he felt, +succeeded in calming the girl, and he set himself to applying the +remedies which his poor science but rich desire suggested. + +But he was not able to halt the swift approach of death which in full +career was fast approaching the noble lady's couch. At four o'clock in +the morning they noticed that she spoke with greater difficulty; her +pronunciation halted, and she often stammered. Almost all her words were +directed to Maria, asking her numberless times about the events of the +preceding night, and insisting on being told, showering boundless praise +on her for her bravery, and congratulating herself on having such a good +daughter. + +"My daughter, beseech God for my safety.... God cannot ... deny thee +anything." + +"Maria, perceiving that her mother was dying, replied: + +"Mamma, the one important thing is the safety of the soul.... If God +wishes to restore you, let it be a miracle to you of his sacred +grace...." + +"But ... am I dying ... my daughter?" + +"God only can tell.... Do you wish the señor cura to come in and give +you a short confession?" + +"Yes ... let him come in ... my daughter, let him come in!" + +The priest came, and remained a few moments alone with the sick woman. +Those who were in the adjoining room kept a sad silence. Don Mariano +lying on a sofa, with his cheek resting in one hand, shut his eyes and +gave evidence of deep dejection. After the priest had finished, Marta, +Maria, Ricardo, and Don Maximo returned. Doña Gertrudis's condition grew +continually more critical. There began to be noticeable in her a +restlessness of bad augury; she turned her head from one side to the +other as though she could not find a resting-place, as though she were +already searching for the pillow on which she was to repose eternally. +Her vacillating hands picked up and dropped the bedclothes incessantly, +while her eyes also restlessly rolled in their orbits, fastening, from +time to time, on the ceiling of the room; it seemed as though she found +no one on whom to rest them. Soon Martita noticed that her hands were +cold, and she mentioned the fact aloud, in a simple manner, without +appreciating its unfortunate significance. Don Maximo turned away his +head to hide his emotion; the priest let his fall on his breast. + +"I feel ... very well ... now," she said to Maria, raising her +daughter's hand to her lips. "As soon as I ... I am well ... we will go +... to Lourdes ... together ... will we not?... It is very ... pretty +... is it that one?... very pretty ... very pretty.... If you knew ... +what I see now!... The Virgin ... the Virgin coming ... surrounded by +stars.... Put on my ... velvet dress ... to receive her.... Come ... +quick ... quick.... Don't you see ... I am entering by the door?... Ay! +what trials!... Good day, Señora.... I have a daughter ... who much +resembles you.... She has a fair complexion ... and blue eyes ... very +beautiful!... very beautiful!" + +A slight hoarseness began to choke the sick woman's throat; the last +words were rather breathed than spoken; it was a dry, sharp huskiness +constantly growing more pronounced. The confessor hearing it made a sign +to Maria, and she quickly took a silver image of Christ hanging on the +wall, and put it in her mother's hand, saying:-- + +"Mamma, think on the Lord.... Think of what the Divine Saviour suffered +for us." + +"I ... am not ... dying," said the invalid. + +"Yes, mamma ... yes ... you are dying," replied the young woman with +kindled face, full of fear and anguish, fearing that she was not well +prepared. "Repent of the sins that you have committed!... You do repent, +and ask forgiveness of God for them, don't you?" + +"Yes ... yes," murmured the invalid. + +"Repeat the creed with me!" said the confessor, assuming a more solemn +tone: "I believe in God the Father Almighty ... maker of heaven ... and +earth...." + +Doña Gertrudis repeated the priest's words clumsily, and as though she +were not heeding what she did. She looked at the ceiling with strange +persistence, while the features of her countenance were rapidly +changing; a purple circle was drawn around her eyes, and her nostrils +became strangely pinched. When the priest was done she again began to +address Maria. + +"The truth ... is ... that I have ... no hat ... fit to make the journey +... to Lourdes in.... Those that I ... have ... are ... very +old-fashioned.... Do me ... the favor ... to write to Luisa ... and have +her ... send me one ... in the newest style.... You also ... need a +dress.... Attend to it, my daughter ... attend to it." + +"Mamma, leave the vanities of the world.... Think on God.... Consider +that you are going to appear very soon in his presence." + +"No ... no.... I am not dying." + +"Ay, mamma, by the Holy Virgin, I beg you to feel that you are going to +die.... Think on your salvation!" + +"I am thinking about it ... yes ... I am thinking about it," said the +invalid mechanically. + +The priest began to read from a book the Commendation of the Soul in +Latin. All knelt. Then the dying woman, raising her head a little, +asked:-- + +"Why are you all kneeling?" + +"To recommend you to God, mamma," replied Maria. + +And getting up and putting her face near her mother's, she continued in +a whisper:-- + +"Say with me, mamma: '_My Jesus_....'" + +The mother repeated listlessly: "My Jesus." + +_"By thy most sacred passion."_ + +"By thy most sacred ... passion." + +_"By the innumerable pains that thou hast suffered."_ + +"By the in ... numerable ... pains." + +"_That thou hast suffered_," repeated Maria. + +"That thou hast suffered." + +_"Pardon thou my offences."_ + +"Pardon thou ... my offences." + +_"And save my soul."_ + +"That'll do, that'll do!" said the dying woman, pushing her daughter +away with her trembling hand. "No, I am not dying.... I am well.... Come +here, Martita.... It isn't true ... that I am ... dying ... is it, +daughter?" + +"No, mamma," replied the girl, pressing her hands. "You are not dying, +mamita; no.... You must get well soon, and we will go to drive in the +carriage as we used ... now the weather is fine." + +"Yes, loveliest, yes.... We will go ... wait ... lift me a little.... I +am uncomfortable in this position." + +Marta helped her to sit up; but as she did so her mother's eyes rested +upon her, fixed, motionless, terrible. That look smote the poor girl to +the depths of her heart, and uttering a frightful, piercing cry, she let +her fall back on the pillow. The Señora de Elorza's head relaxed as +though the neck were dislocated, with open mouth and rigid lips; and +still from the pillow her great glassy eyes continued to follow her +daughter with the same fixed and terrifying gaze. + +"Mother of my heart!" cried the girl, instantly throwing her arms around +her. "Do not look at me so, for God's sake! Mamita mia, do not look at +me so. Ay! do not look at me so. Ay! how you terrify me!... Mamita! +mamita!... Ay! O God, what is it?" + +Don Mariano, who, on hearing the cry, had hurried into the bedchamber +with anxious face, and hair standing on end, tried to draw his daughter +from the corpse. + +"Come away! my soul's daughter, now you have no longer a mother!" + +"Yes, I have her.... Yes ... here she is.... Mamma! Mamita! You are +here, are you not?... Answer me!... Speak!... Kiss me, for God's sake, +mamita!... Let go of me, papa!... Let go of me!... Now she is going to +kiss me.... Wait a moment, for God's sake!... Let go of me, papa +darling!... Let her kiss me!" + +The girl had embraced the dead body of her mother with extraordinary +force, and covered it with eager loud kisses. Don Mariano, terribly +excited, almost beside himself, pulled her away brutally, as though the +welfare of all depended upon wrenching her from that position. Maria, +kneeling in one corner of the room, had lifted her eyes and her hands to +heaven, and was praying for the eternal glory of the departed. + +At last they succeeded in dragging Marta away, and took her to another +room. Without intending it at all, they caused her great harm. The +unhappy girl had not sufficiently mastered her grief; by taking her away +they choked the fountain of her tears, and they did not flow again. +Pale, completely altered, with eyes fixed on vacancy, she neither +listened to what was said to her, nor was willing to take what was given +to calm her. She did nothing else but repeat incessantly, in a low, +somewhat hoarse voice:-- + +"Mamma.... Mamma.... Mamma!" + +The priest went to her, and said:-- + +"My daughter, calm yourself, calm yourself. It is a test which God sends +you that you may show your resignation. Instead of rebelling against His +will, you ought to thank Him for His remembrance of you, showing that He +loves you...." + +"Don't say foolish things!" exclaimed the girl, in an angry voice, +casting upon him a look of scorn. "Is that a proof of God's love, that +he has taken away my mother?... Then that's a fine kind of love!... a +fine kind of love ... a fine kind of love!" + +Marta kept repeating the expression over and over again for some time, +in a tone of irritation. When she had calmed down a little the priest +said once more,-- + +"My daughter, you should take example of your sister. She feels her +misfortune as much as you, but she is giving proof of Christian +resignation and fortitude.... She does not rebel: she acknowledges the +working of the Almighty hand, and with her prayers is contributing to +the greater happiness and glory of her who is no more." + +Marta saw that the priest was right; she repented of her anger and hung +her head, murmuring,-- + +"Oh, my sister is a saint!" + +"You also can be one, my daughter. The road to perfection is open to all +who wish to follow it...." + +The girl received the counsels of the priest and of the others who were +with him, but did not answer a word. She continued in the same way, not +moving a finger, her face pale and distorted, and her eyes fixed. Her +indifference began to cause them anxiety, and they told her father. The +instant Don Mariano entered the room, she felt a shock, and suddenly +jumping up she threw herself into his arms sobbing bitterly. She was +saved. + +The friends of the family, by dint of strong pressure, made Don Mariano +and Martita go and rest for a few minutes, while the proper arrangements +were made for laying out the body and for the funeral. Maria remained +praying in her mother's room. The pale rays of the dawn found her still +on her knees, with her face turned to heaven. The wax tapers which she +herself had taken care to place around the deathbed were burning +funereally, their crude yellow beams struggling with the languid light +pouring into the room. No one dared to call her from her devout +meditations; those who penetrated into the dressing-room and saw her in +that attitude, whispered a few words of surprise, and retired silently +with emotion and admiration. + +Finally, all the outside people went away, and Maria shut herself in her +room to take the rest which she so much needed, after the cruel series +of changes and the great labors that she had undergone during the last +few hours. At noon the father and his two daughters met in the +dining-room, to begin the melancholy meal which all who have experienced +a family affliction will recall with horror: a meal in which tears +mingle with the food, and sobs fill the long intervals of silence. At +this first meal scarcely any one spoke; no one ventured to lift his eyes +lest they should meet those of the others, and only furtive, +grief-stricken glances were cast at the place left vacant by the being +who had just fled from this world forever. The courses were eaten +mechanically, without appetite, and handkerchiefs were lifted to the +eyes oftener than napkins to the lips; the rattle of the dishes cruelly +wounded their ears, and the rare words exchanged fell from their lips +tremulously and without animation. The spirit protested dumbly against +the brutal necessity imposed upon it by the body, obliging it, by such a +wretched act, to give over the expression of its bitter grief and break +the current of its melancholy thoughts. + +They arose from the table in the same silence. Maria shut herself in her +room again. Don Mariano, accompanied by Martita, likewise went to his. +They sat down together on a sofa, with their arms closely clasped about +each other for the larger part of the afternoon; the caresses which they +bestowed upon each other gradually changed their desperate sorrow into a +most tender feeling, melting into tears. They took turns in consoling +each other; the girl declared that her mother in heaven would be on the +watch for them all, and promised to be always good and prudent, and +never to cause her father sorrow; the father pressed her to his heart, +and blessed her mother for having given him such good and beautiful +daughters. When a servant came to tell them of the call of some ladies, +they felt an unspeakable annoyance, a painful impression, as though +they had been wakened from some melancholy sweet sorrow to plunge into +despair again. + +Don Mariano suspected the motive of the call. They wanted to distract +their attention, so that they might not notice the noise made by the men +in carrying the body from the house. And, in fact, a group of ladies and +a few gentlemen endeavored, by repeated entreaties, to persuade them to +go to more retired apartments; but their efforts, as far as Don Mariano +was concerned, were in vain; he strenuously urged his friends, in a tone +which gave no chance for reply, to leave him alone as they had done, but +to take Martita with them. + +Alone with his grief the Señor de Elorza felt more keenly his loss and +more deeply his misfortune. In youth there is scarcely any loss that is +not reparable; the passions, the feelings are more intense, but at the +same time more transitory. One lives for the future, and through the +darkest and most furious storms there never fails to shine some bright +spot, promising consolation. But at the age which our caballero had +reached hope is no more; the future exists not. Every misfortune +undergone is a new pain, coming to join those that are past, and waiting +for those that are to come: the affections which perish, like the hair +that falls, find no substitute. Don Mariano, with eyes closed and head +sadly bent upon his breast, let his thoughts fly back over all the +events of his long life, and in all of them, whether fortunate or +unlucky, he saw the image of his wife, the inseparable companion of his +manhood. He saw her awakening in his youthful heart a passion at once +tender and ardent: beautiful and pure as an angel, with delicate oval +face and blue eyes, looking at him with love. He remembered perfectly +the few times when he had had lover's quarrels with her, and the little +reason that there had been for almost all of them. Gertrudis had such a +peaceable disposition and such a gentle nature. It always ended in +making her weep. He saw her on the day of his marriage, in her black +satin (she was still in mourning for her father, the Marqués de +Revollar) with which the fairness of her complexion and the gold of her +hair made a dazzling contrast. A distinguished gentleman of Madrid, +present at the wedding, taking him into a corner of the drawing-room, +said to him: "Elorza, you are marrying one of the most beautiful women +of Spain. I tell you so, and I have seen many in my life." The same day +he started on a journey through foreign lands. He remembered, as though +it were but yesterday, the intoxicating, ineffable impression, perhaps +the sweetest and most blissful of his life, that he felt when he +suddenly found himself alone with his beloved, as the coachman whipped +up his horses, and they heard the farewells of the relations and +friends, who sped them from the door of the palace of Revollar. How the +poor little girl blushed when she realized that they were alone, and she +in her lover's power! But he was polite and generous. He merely asked +for one hand, and raised it timidly to his lips. All the enchanting +details of that journey were imprinted on the Señor de Elorza's memory. +Then he remembered the strange sensation of pleasure and surprise which +he felt at the birth of his first child, and the deliciously cruel +impression which his wife made upon him, by keeping him rigorously away +from her during those moments of anguish. But, ay! in a short time poor +Gertrudis became an invalid, and never recovered perfect health. In +spite of this, his love for her had never grown cool; he took the +greatest care of her, endeavoring, by all the means in his power, to +alleviate her sufferings. She appreciated his sacrifices, seeing in him +a Providence who always soothed her by his caresses. Even after many +years had gone by, and when no one at all took any notice of the good +lady's tribulations, still Don Mariano was the one who pitied her most, +though he made believe look upon her attacks with disdain, and she +comprehended it perfectly, and she still reserved for him in her heart +the same privileged place as in her youth. The harmony of generous, warm +sentiments in both, the affection which they had lavished upon their +daughters, the deep esteem which they mutually felt, and the ever vivid +recollection of their passionate loves, had been so woven into life that +neither of them understood it without being side by side. It was the +intimate, perfect, and absolute union ordained by God, such as men +rarely heed. + +A melancholy, ominous noise, heard through the walls of his room, caused +him to raise his head, and fix his eyes on space. Yes, there could be no +doubt; they were carrying her away, carrying her away. Don Mariano flung +himself, face down, on the sofa, and hid his face in the cushions to +choke his sobs. + +"My wife! wife of my heart!... They are carrying you away ... carrying +you away forever!... Ay! how terrible!" + +And the good caballero's tears soaked through the texture of the damask, +and his athletic form shook convulsively because of his sobs. Then he +felt a great curiosity, that terrible curiosity which exerts a +fascination at such moments, and leaves an indelible mark on the memory +of him who has satisfied it. He waited attentively and soon heard the +heavy shuffling of feet, and after a little the funereal, heart-rending +song of the clergy almost under the balconies. Then he got up quickly, +and cautiously lifted one of the curtains. And he saw the coffin, the +black, gilded coffin, borne like a boat above the throng. The sky was +cloudy and gray, leaving the great plaza of Nieva in shadow. The surging +multitude extended to the farthest corners, moving with a slow and +measured tread. And the boat, preceded by a great silver cross between +two lighted candles, was borne away, carrying from him for evermore his +treasure. + +He let the curtain drop and once more flung himself on the sofa, +muttering incoherent words. He knew not how long he remained thus. The +light was fading, leaving the room in shadow, and everything was +silent.... Everything except his thoughts, which spoke to him +ceaselessly, and the sobs which broke from his breast. + +And thus he remained a long time, a long time. At last he perceived that +the door of his room was softly opening; he turned his head and saw his +daughter Maria. She came and sat silently beside him. But he, as though +having a presentiment of a new sorrow, asked her no question, said +nothing. He merely took her hand and closed his eyes again. + +"Papa," said the young woman after a long period of silence, "we have +suffered a fearful misfortune, one of those misfortunes which cause even +the most sceptical to turn their eyes to heaven in search of +consolation. God alone possesses the key to them; He knows their reason, +and is able to turn them into a result advantageous for us. This +misfortune has confirmed me in a resolution which I made some time +since, to consecrate myself to God forever.... I know by a thousand +signs that He calls me, and I should be truly ungrateful if I did not +obey His call.... I am useless in the world.... All its amusements weary +me; thus, then, I make no sacrifice in confining myself in a +convent.... Besides, there I can better pray for you and be more useful +to you than here.... The idea of matrimony, which you have desired for +me, is repugnant to my heart, where fortunately there has sprung up +another and purer love which is immortal.... This resolution ought not +to surprise you.... I believe that you ought not to feel it.... At this +solemn moment in which afflictions weigh down upon you, perhaps it may +be a consolation to you to know that you are going to have a daughter +safeguarded from all deceit, from all disloyalty, who is living happily +in the service of God and praying for you." + +Maria had spoken with frequent pauses, as though she expected her father +to interrupt her. But she ended, and still there passed a long period of +silence without his opening his lips. At last the young woman asked him, +timidly,-- + +"Have you nothing to say to me, papa?" + +"Nothing," he replied, without looking at her. + +"But do you give me your consent to do as I said?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I knew you would!... You are so good ... and sufficiently +religious.... You are not like other fathers who are blinded, and would +rather their daughters were exposed to the dangers of the world than be +forever servants of the Lord, in the safe precincts of a holy house.... +Thanks, papa, thanks.... I was afraid ... it is true, I was afraid that +you would not approve my resolution.... But God has touched your +heart.... Now I will leave you.... Marta is waiting for me.... Adios, +papa!.... Let me kiss you.... Adios!" + +And the door opened and shut again softly. The Señor de Elorza remained +motionless in the same position in which his daughter left him, sitting +with his hands clasped and his head bent on his breast. + +The room remained in darkness. The noises outside slowly died away. An +immense, keen, cruel grief palpitated in that lonely room, and a pair of +fixed, stupefied, tearless eyes reflected the few rays of light that +still wandered lost in the atmosphere. + +How long did he remain so? + +Perhaps the little birds that came at dawn to perch on the bars of the +balconies might reply. But the pallor of his cheeks, the livid circles +around his eyes, and the deep wrinkles in his brow, doubtless more +exactly told. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LET US REJOICE, BELOVED. + + +In the small but pretty church of the nuns of San Bernardo, in Nieva, +there was great bustling. The sacristan, aided by three acolytes, the +two serving women of the convent, and a female from the city, celebrated +for her skill in dressing the saints, were stirring up a more than +ordinary noise in brushing the ornaments of the altars with fox tails +and feather dusters. They had no hesitation in standing upon them, and +even climbing upon the saints themselves, whenever it was required by +the need of dusting some carved work or placing a taper in the proper +place. The Mother Abbess from the choir, with her forehead pressed +against the grating, shouted her orders like a general-in-chief, in a +sharp, piping voice. + +"A candlestick there! Yonder a wreath of flowers! Lift up that lamp a +little more! Place the crown on that Virgin straight...." + +In the interior of the convent likewise reigned considerable excitement. +A group of nuns was watching at the door of a cell, as one of their +companions was giving the last touches to the poor bed which she was +making. She had just put up above the pillow the crucifix demanded by +the rules. A great silver waiter stood on the table, which was pine, +likewise according to the rules. When the nun had made the bed ready, +she came out of the cell, addressing a word or two to the others as she +passed. Then she returned with a bundle of clothes in her hand, and all +hastened to relieve her of them, unfolding them, pulling them, and +giving them a hundred turns. It was the complete dress of a novice,--the +white flannel tunic, the linen hood, the shoes, the rosary, the bronze +crucifix, and other things. The nuns looked eagerly at each one of the +articles, as though it were something that they had never seen before, +uttering in low voices many different opinions. + +"Ay! it seems to me that this rosary has very coarse beads."--"No, +sister, take yours and you will see that they are alike."--"I am going +to see, just for my own satisfaction.... It's true; they are alike.... +What a goose!"--"The flannel is too harsh."--"It is because it wasn't +well washed."--"This hood is beautifully ironed!"--"Hesús mio! what +stitches!... that is not sewing, it is basting!... Who made this +tunic?"--"The Sister Isabel."--"Then it's splendid!"--"Don't say so, +sister, perhaps you wouldn't have done it so well!"--"I? do it worse ... +Come ... come ... never in my life did I make such a botch!"--"How many +have you ever done, sister?"--"Never did I, never!" repeated the nun, in +angry voice. "I could sew better when I was seven years old." + +At this moment the Mother Superior appeared in the passage-way; the nun +who had chided her companion stepped aside from the group, and said to +her,-- + +"Mother, Sister Luísa has just boasted that she sews better than Sister +Isabel, and she lost her temper because I told her that she ought not to +do it." + +"Is it true, daughter?" demanded the Mother Superior, in a severe tone. + +Sister Luísa hung her head. + +The Mother Superior meditated a moment or two; then she said:-- + +"Daughter, you know well that here no one ought to boast of doing +anything better than any one else.... You ought to believe yourself the +least of all, for perhaps you are.... For some time you have been very +far from humble, and it is necessary for us to begin to correct this +fault.... First thing, go and ask pardon of Sister Isabel for your +fault, and then shut yourself in your cell and pray a rosary to the +Virgin.... Afterwards when I am in the reception-room with the novice, +you must present yourself there and kneel, so that the people may see +that you are in disgrace." + +Sister Luísa bent her head still lower and hurried away. A smile of +triumph hovered over the lips of the nun. + + * * * * * + +At the same time, the servants of the Elorza mansion were coming and +going, hither and thither, with various objects in their hands. Pedro, +the old coachman, was polishing the state carriage, while two +stable-boys were grooming the horses. Martin, the cook, was preparing a +splendid collation. The maid-servants were running up and down stairs, +from the principal floor to Maria's apartments, which were full of +people, though it was not yet ten o'clock in the morning. The fifteen or +twenty ladies who could scarcely find room to turn around, were all +talking at once, as is natural, turning that silent elegant retreat into +an insufferable hen-roost. Standing in the middle of it was Señor de +Elorza's eldest daughter, half-dressed, and around her were several +ladies, some of them on their knees, adorning her and adjusting her as +though she were a wooden virgin. Great emotion reigned everywhere. They +had already put on her a costly garment of white satin, decorated in +front, from the neck to the bottom of the skirt, with a fringe of orange +flowers. One lady was just putting on her feet a pair of diminutive and +most elegant boots of the same cloth, while another was hurriedly sewing +on a number of flowers, which had fallen off. Others were arranging a +garland of orange blossoms upon the top of her head; this proceeding +caused a great commotion. Amparito Ciudad claimed that the garland was +too large, and did not show enough of her friend's beautiful hair; the +rest believed that there was no need of making it smaller. After a +lively discussion, it was decided to adopt a middle course by taking a +number of flowers, though very few, from the wreath. Frequent +exclamations were heard from those who took no share in the +preparations. + +"Ay! what an expense it takes, Dios mio!" + +"Can it be her true vocation!... A girl so young and so lively!" + +"There is nothing else talked about in town.... Everybody is excited +over this fortunate event!" + +"Fortunate for her, my dear! I don't know as I shall have strength +enough to see the ceremony." + +"But I am going to see it, though it should cost me a fit of sickness." + +Some were already beginning to shed tears, putting their handkerchiefs +to their eyes; others were whispering about the preparations for the +festival, and the circumstances which had led the young woman to take +the veil. Much was said about a letter which she had written to the +Marqués de Peñalta, bidding him farewell, and exculpating herself. Some +pitied Ricardo, while others said in an undertone, that he would have no +trouble in finding somebody to marry him. "After all, if God called her +to Him by this path, had she any reason to turn from Him, because a +young lad was in love with her? If she had left him for another, that +would be different! but as it was for God, he had no right to complain." +This was the same argument that shone in the Señorita de Elorza'a +letter, written and sent to Ricardo a fortnight before the day of which +we are speaking. Thus it ran:-- + + * * * * * + +"MY DEAR RICARDO,-- + +"Though it is now some time since the course of our love was +interrupted, tacitly, and by virtue of providential circumstances, +rather than by my desire, I feel it my duty to explain to thee something +about the resolution which I have made, and which, of course, is known +to thee, I cannot forget, and indeed I ought not to forget, that thou +hast been my betrothed, with the approbation of my parents, and the +sincere affection of my heart. + +"Before renouncing the world forever, I must tell thee that I have +absolutely no reason to complain of thy behavior to me. Thou hast ever +been good, true, and affectionate, and hast estimated me higher than I +deserve. It is indeed true, that if I were to remain in the world I +would not give thee in exchange for any other man, and I should count +myself very happy in calling thee my husband, if I did not count myself +much more so in being the bride of Jesus Christ. The preference which I +make cannot offend or trouble a man who is as good and pious as thou +art. Henceforth no earthly love exists between us; there remains only a +pure and most sweet friendship, uniting us in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. +I shall not forget thee in my poor prayers. Forget me as far as +possible. Thou art good, thou art noble, handsome, and rich. Seek for a +woman who will deserve thee more than I deserve thee, and marry, and be +happy. I shall pray without ceasing for you. + + "Adios, + + "MARIA." + +Could he have had a better gilded pill? No; no; Ricardo had no right to +complain. + +While the most of the ladies added innumerable glosses to this document, +those who were robing the new bride-elect of Jesus were about finishing +their task and giving the last touches to her dress, with the same +complacency that an artist shows in laying the last shades on his +picture, stepping back and coming near a thousand times to realize the +effect produced. Here a pin; the throat a little more open to show the +beautiful alabaster neck; a few ringlets on her brow carelessly escaping +from among the orange flowers; a button that needed fastening. Maria +aided her maids of honor with quick motions. All admired her serenity. +And, in fact, the young bride could not have shown a face more joyous at +such moments. Nevertheless there was a certain agitation noticeable in +her joy. Her movements were too quick and eager, as though she were +trying to hide the slight trembling of her hands and the tremor that ran +over her whole body. Was it a tremor of delight? + +Oh, yes, Maria felt an intense delight. + +The brilliant rose bloom of her cheeks told the same story; the +unnatural glitter of her eyes likewise proclaimed it. Her lips were dry, +and her nostrils pink and more dilated than usual. Her white brow was +marked by a long, slight furrow, telling of the quick desire, the +restless, sensual eagerness hidden in her heart. It was the cheerful +eagerness of the epicure, who finds himself face to face with his +favorite food after a long fast. Over her excited brilliant face passed +a throng of warm flushes, in a vague, intricate confusion of dismay, +dread, and voluptuous desires. She was going to be the bride of Jesus +Christ and shut herself forever between four walls, passing her whole +life in a mysterious union, whose sweet delight she had not as yet +enjoyed in full. A great curiosity overwhelmed her, stirred her +unspeakably. The choir of the Convent of San Bernardo, where the half +light pouring in through the lofty windows slept in mystic calm upon the +gray oaken chairs, had always fascinated her. How many times she had +trembled, when she saw a silent white figure cross the floor and sit +down there in the body of the church. It was a sweet voluptuous +trembling, which made her eagerly long to enter that fantastic retreat. +The nuns, with their tall white figures, seemed to her like supernatural +beings,--angels come down to earth for a while, who would soon mount up +to heaven again. She was particularly attracted by one who was young and +beautiful; when she saw her enter the choir, she could not take her eyes +from her. The stern, classic beauty of that sister, and her clear, +steady gaze made an impression upon her, which she could not explain. In +her breast sprang up a certain extravagant attraction toward her, and a +quick, eager desire to be her friend, or rather her disciple; to kneel +before her and say: "Teach me, guide me." Oh, if she would permit me to +give her a kiss, even though it were the briefest! One evening a +tremendous temptation assailed her to ask her for it. The church was +empty; she looked back and saw that the beautiful nun had made her way +into the choir and was kneeling near the grating. And, without further +consideration as to what she was doing, she went to her and said in +trembling voice: "Señora, give me your hand, that I may kiss it." The +nun made a graceful sign that it could not be, but rising, she offered +her the crucifix of her rosary, with a smile so sweet and assuring, that +Maria, when she kissed it, felt deeply moved. + +Always when she entered the church of the convent she felt the same +rapture, a species of voluptuous somnolence penetrating her whole being +like a caress. From that choir came languorous, sweet murmurs, calling +her, inviting her to leave the pleasures of the world for others more +sweet and mysterious, which she had already begun to enjoy without full +knowledge of them. Jesus had granted her already rich enjoyments in her +prayers, but He would not abandon himself completely,--certainly would +not lose consciousness of self in the arms of the bride; would not give +His all to her with the infinite, immortal love which she eagerly +desired, except within that silent poetic retreat where no sound could +disturb them. + +At last the day had come for her to satisfy her desire; within an hour +she would be within that mysterious choir which had caused her so many +dreams, and would cross with floating tunic the warm sunlight falling +through the lofty windows. She felt impatient for the moment to arrive. +She was nervous, restless, but smiling. Never had she been so +self-satisfied. Her friends were not weary of exalting her virtue and +heroism; the town regarded her with surprise, and around her she heard +only praise and words of admiration. Maria really found herself upon a +pedestal. And like every one who is under the public gaze, our heroine +succeeded in hiding the emotions of her soul, and showed a serene and +joyous face. It was her day; it was the day of the great battle, and she +smoothed her brow and composed the expression of her face, like a +general when the hour of the attack has come. + +Nevertheless, from time to time she gazed with anxiety at one of the +corners of her boudoir. In that corner sat her sister, with her face in +her hands, sobbing. At last, not being able to control herself longer, +she suddenly left her maids of honor and went to Marta, and bending down +her face so that it touched her, she said:-- + +"Do not weep, dear, do not weep more; ... there is no misfortune here to +make you so sorrowful. On the other hand, think of the great favor which +God has shown in calling me to be his bride.... You ought to rejoice, my +little pigeon;[70] come, don't weep any more, darling [_monina_].... +Consider that you are taking away my strength." + +And as she said that, she kissed her pretty little sister's smooth rosy +cheek. The girl replied amid her sobs,-- + +"Ay! Maria, I lose you forever!" + +"No, monina, no ... you will often see me ... and you will speak with +me...." + +"What does that amount to?... I am going to lose you, my sister." + +And Marta could not help saying this "I lose you; I lose you +forever"--she could not because it was the only thought that filled her +heart at that instant, her heart that never was untrue; she was +accustomed to speak freely her beliefs and opinions. Marta accepted +without resistance the idea that her sister was doing well to enter the +convent, but she was absolute mistress of her heart; there no one held +sway but herself, and her heart told her that she had no longer any +sister, that all Maria's love, all her tenderness was about to evaporate +like a divine essence in the depths of a mysterious, vague something, +totally incomprehensible to her. + +Just as Maria's toilet was almost completed, a young man came rushing +into the room with the violence of a gust of wind. It was that youth +with the banged hair, who gradually had made himself indispensable in +all festivals, solemnities, ceremonies, and merry-makings of the town. + +"Mariíta! the secretary of the señor bishop sends me to tell you that +his eminence is ready, and is at this moment starting for the church." + +"Very well, I shall be right out." + +"I have attended to the organ-loft. I notified Don Serapio and the +organist.... Preciosa, Mariíta preciosa.... Do notice the blue hangings +which I put on the picture of the Virgin...." + +"Thanks, Ernesto, many thanks; I am deeply grateful to you." + +At a sign from Maria all the ladies arose, and hastened behind her down +the stairs, but for all that there was no cessation of their impertinent +chatter. The young woman went straight to her father's room, and +remained shut in it for some time. No one knew what passed within. Those +who were waiting at the door heard the sound of sobs, confused sentences +spoken in angry tones, the movement of chairs. The ladies, waiting in +the anteroom, whispered to those who came in, "She is taking farewell, +farewell of her father.... Don Mariano will not attend the ceremony." + +Shortly afterward, Maria re-appeared, smiling and serene as before, +saying, "Come, ladies, let us go!" + +With the same serenity she passed through the great room of the mansion +without giving a glance at the furniture, and descended the broad, stone +stairway without showing the slightest trepidation, as she walked along +in her dainty white satin shoes. + +And yet what recollections she left behind her! How many hours of light +and joy! The prattle of her childish lips, sweet as the trilling of a +bird; her father's somewhat gruff but, for that very reason, all the +sweeter singing, as he rocked her to sleep in his arms; the dreams, the +fresh laughter of her girlhood; the lovely sun of April mornings, +filling her room with light; the constant caresses of her mother, the +warmth of home; in short, that warmth which all the treasures of earth +cannot buy; all this remained behind her, imprinted on the walls, +ingrained in the furniture. And she left it all without a tear! + +At the door stood waiting a magnificent barouche, drawn by four white +horses. Pedro had shown his taste by decorating them with great blue +plumes, and by donning a livery of the same color. On that day +everything must be blue, the color of purity and virginity. Even the +sky, for greater glory, had clad itself in blue, and shone clear and +beautiful. Maria climbed into the carriage with the Señora de Ciudad, +her godmother, and the others took leave of her for the nonce, and +hastened to the church. + +Extraordinary agitation reigned in the town. The taking of the veil by +the Señorita de Elorza, though expected for some time, nevertheless did +not fail to make a profound impression. A young lady so rich, so +beautiful, so flattered by all that the world considered gay and +desirable! Interminable comments were made during these days, as people +met in the shops. "But didn't they say that she was to be married to the +marquesito?"--"No! not at all! there's no such thing. The marquesito was +greatly disappointed; the girl, after the strange experience of being +arrested, and her mother's death, returned with more zest than ever to +her pious occupations; it is decidedly her vocation: there is no +fickleness about her." Some looked upon it in one way, some in another; +but as a general thing, Maria's conduct aroused lively sympathy, and +over many, especially among the people, it exerted a certain fascination +like everything extraordinary, and up to a certain point, marvellous. +She had the reputation of being a saint: the quenching of all the +splendor of her beauty, wealth, and talent in the solitudes of the +cloister, was the unparalleled complement of her fame, the crowning +stroke in the process of her popular canonization. All those rough +women, who pitilessly elbowed each other in order to see her pass toward +the church, would have felt themselves defrauded, if she had wedded +prosaically, and had they seen her arm in arm with her husband, preceded +by a nurse-maid with a tender infant in arms. + +The plaza was full of spectators. When the young lady entered the +carriage, and Pedro, cracking his tongue and his whip, started up his +horses, there was a great tumult among the throng, which reached Maria's +ears like a chorus of flatteries. The people separated precipitately, +making way for her to pass. In presence of that magnificence, which only +some old woman had ever seen before, the peaceful inhabitants found +themselves overwhelmed with respect, and equally excited by a great +curiosity. The carriage rolled away, at first slowly, breaking the close +ranks of the spectators; the horses pranced impatiently, shaking their +blue plumes as though they were anxious to carry the bride to the arms +of the mystic Bridegroom. It was a royal procession; and, in truth, +Maria, from her elegant appearance, splendidly adorned, with her deep +blue eyes, shining with emotion, and her cheeks of milk and roses, was +worthy of being a queen. She was a figure of remarkable beauty, and +offered many points of resemblance to the fair Virgin of Murillo, that +we see in the Museum at Madrid. The women of the town could not +restrain their enthusiasm, and they burst out in a thousand flattering +adjectives. + +"Look at her! look at her! What a splendid creature,--a woman after my +very heart!" + +"I should like to devour her with kisses!" + +"And what a rich dress she wears!" + +"They say that it came expressly from Paris. She did not want to dress +in _tisú_; the chasubles which it will make into will be given away +separately, and the gown will remain for the Virgin of Amor Hermoso." + +"Oh, I never saw such a lovely creature!... She looks like an angel." + +The carriage followed its majestic course, and the young woman smiled +sweetly on the multitude. From two or three houses a deluge of flowers +was showered upon her, and their variegated petals for a moment enameled +the white cloth of her dress; a few remained entangled in her hair. The +people applauded. + +"Woman, this girl's vocation teaches us a lesson." + +"How fortunate she is!... Who would be in her place?" + +"It can't be said that she was obliged to.... I know that her father was +furious when he heard about it, and tried every way to dissuade her." + +"Come now, she is wedded to Jesus Christ, and her family don't like it," +declared a youth, who was listening to this conversation. + +The women turned around ready to crush the scoffer, but he made off, +laughing. + +And the carriage continued on its way under the radiant sun, which made +the panes of the balconied windows glitter, and reflected on the white +houses of the town with transports of delight. The sky opened up its +purest depths, smiling upon all the wishes for happiness, all the +joyful aspirations of mortals, even upon those of the beautiful maiden +who, of her own free will, was going to lose it from sight and shut +herself forever in the shadows of the cloister. The carriage passed by +the feudal palace of the Peñaltas, the ancient walls of which, spotted +here and there with moss, cast upon the street a mantle of gloom, making +still more vivid the blazing light of the sun. + +What was Ricardo doing during this time? + +Maria did not ask this; she passed by without casting even a furtive +look at the Gothic windows; on her lips still hovered the serene, +condescending smile. The shadow nevertheless caused in her a slight +tremor of chill. + +At the church door all her girl friends, including Martita, were waiting +for her. The temple was overflowing with people; they made way for her +to pass. At the high altar the bishop of----, who had come purposely to +give her the veil, stood ready to receive her. He knelt and prayed for a +few instants. The confused murmur of the congregation ceased; an intense +silence reigned. + +The prelate began to speak in a clear and solemn voice:-- + +"I know, beloved daughter, that you have formed the resolution to shut +yourself forever in this holy house, to the end that you may be all your +life long the servant of the Lord.... I know, likewise, that your will +is steadfast, and that you have been enabled to resist not only the vain +seductions of the world, but also those proper pleasures which the +goodness of God allows us to enjoy.... But life, my daughter, can be in +the midst of mortification and penance more broad than in the tumult of +pleasures; and while our spirit remains imprisoned in the flesh we are +the target of severe and constant temptations." + +The venerable bishop spoke with extraordinary deliberation, making long +pauses at the end of his sentences, which lent great dignity to his +discourse. His voice was sweet and clear, and rang through the silent +nave of the church like sweet music. He went on to trace with terrible +accuracy the details of the religious life, spreading out before the +young woman's eyes all the apparatus of mortification which it involved; +the pleasures of the world entirely forgotten, the senses crucified, +earthly affections, even the purest, crushed; and this, not for a day, +not for a month, not for a year only, but for all days, all months, all +years, until the hour of death, always eagerly seeking for pain as +others seek for pleasure. But after he had painted the gloomy picture of +the mortification, he went on to express eloquently the pure, lively +pleasures to be found in it. "To trust one's self to the arms of God, as +a child goes to its mother, that he may do with us as he pleases. To +find God in the depths of bitterness and grief, to unite one's self to +Him.... To possess Him ... and to be the beloved child in whom His +infinite grandeur can take delight.... To live eternally united to +Him.... To be His bride!... Is not that a sufficient recompense for the +petty sorrows that we may experience in a life so brief?" + +Began the profession of faith. The bishop asked, reading his questions +from a book, if she were ready to leave the life of the world and +intercourse with its creatures, to consecrate herself exclusively to the +service of God. Maria replied that she had heard the voice of the Lord +and hastened at the call. The prelate asked once more if she had +meditated well on her resolution, if she had made it from some mundane +consideration, wounded by some ephemeral disillusion. Maria replied that +she came of her own free will to give herself up to the Beloved of her +soul and rest in Him; all the armies of the earth could not make her +retrace her steps, for the Lord had made her steadfast and immovable as +Mount Zion. + +Over the heads of the faithful appeared a great silver waiter, the same +which a few hours before was in one of the convent cells, and on it the +habit of the novice of San Bernardo. The prelate blessed it. + +Then were heard the sharp, nasal tones of the organ, and the procession +took up the line of march: Maria in front, and at her side her godmother +and Marta; next came the bishop and behind him the clergy. Some of the +people followed and some stayed in the church. Near the door was the +entrance to the convent, through which they passed, penetrating into a +large, gloomy cloister, illuminated at intervals by a bright sunbeam +coming through the swell of the arches. At the end of one of the +galleries was an open door, and guarding it, silent, motionless, were +seen the white figures of two nuns with wax tapers in their hands. The +bride-elect again knelt, and instantly rising she convulsively pressed +her sister to her heart. It was the last embrace. When she wished to +extricate herself, Martita's arms were so tightly clasped about her neck +that it required the intervention of several ladies to accomplish it. +She also kissed all her girl friends, who wept bitterly, while she, +giving an example of sublime serenity, joyous and smiling, entered the +house of the Lord escorted by the two nuns. + +The doors closed. Though it was the month of August, Marta and her +friends felt a sudden chill in the cloister, and hastened to take refuge +in the church, where Don Serapio, accompanied by the organ, was +annihilating Stradella's beautiful prayer. + +All waited some time with impatient curiosity. No one paid any attention +to the cracked voice of the proprietor of the canning factory; the eyes +of the congregation were fixed, glued to the choir of the Bernardas, +gazing through the bars at the little door in the rear. + +At last she appeared. She came, escorted still by the two nuns. The garb +of novice made her look a little older. Yet she was beautiful; very +beautiful; for she really was beautiful, that saintly and extraordinary +creature. The people devoured her with their eyes, and repeated in a +whisper, "She comes smiling, she comes smiling." + +Ah, yes, the new bride of Jesus Christ was smiling, in her expectation +of the sweet reward for her sacrifice. But the venerable man who, at +that same instant, was walking alone through one of the state +departments of the Elorza mansion ... he did not smile! And the young +man who, at the same time, was sitting with folded arms, and head sunken +for his breast, face to face with a woman's portrait, was he perhaps +smiling?... No, no! neither did he smile. + +The prelate came to the grating, and said to the novice,-- + +"Thou shalt not call thyself Maria Magdalena, but, Maria Juana de +Jesús." + +The novice prostrated herself before the abbess, and respectfully kissed +the crucifix of her rosary. Then she embraced, one after another, her +new companions. While this scene was transpiring, many of the ladies in +the congregation shed tears. The bishop said the solemn mass, and +finally all the sisterhood, including Maria, took the Communion. The +organ shrilled, whistled, and snorted with more energy than ever, +spurred, perhaps, by competition. It seemed as though Don Serapio and +the organ had entered into a tremendous contest, a duel to the death, +and the obstreperous consequences fell upon the ears of the faithful. +But the organ mocked the manufacturer in most audacious fashion. When he +reached the highest point of ecstasy, emitting from this throat some +complicated _fioritura_, or _fermata_, a horrisonant bellowing broke in +upon him pitilessly, leaving him lost and inundated for a long time. Don +Serapio struck out again with a tender note, sure of the effect.... Zas! +the organ, like a blood-thirsty beast, fell upon it, and tore it in +pieces. Thus it wantoned for a long time, until, tired of amusing itself +and intoxicated with triumph, it suddenly broke in with all its voices +at once, clamoring in the silence of the church with a monstrous +insufferable shriek. The manufacturer remained choked in that diabolical +roar, and ceased to appear. + +Silence reigned for a few moments, but it was disturbed by a peculiarly +melancholy tinkling. It was the curtain of the choir being drawn. +Nothing more was seen. They began to put out the lights, and the people +withdrew in all haste. + +Maria's intimate friends went to the reception-room[71] to give her +their felicitations. + +The reception-room was a square, and rather gloomy apartment, cut in two +by a double iron grating. The novice appeared, accompanied by the Mother +Superior.... Still smiling, perhaps?... Yes, smiling. + +"What examples you have given us of courage and goodness, Maria," said +one to her. + +The young woman shrugged her shoulders, with a gesture of throwing from +her the glory which was heaped upon her. + +"Don't fail to pray for us!" + +"Yes, I will pray for you, dear. We"--she added with a little +emphasis--"we are obliged to pray for those who remain in the world." + +"If you knew how all the servants wept a moment since." + +"Poor people!... I love them all so much!" + +"Here is Marta, who wants to say good by." + +"Come nearer, Marta ... Are you becoming reconciled yet?" + +"What remedy have I, Maria," replied the girl, struggling to repress her +sobs. + +"No, sister; you must resign yourself gladly, and be thankful to the +Lord for the favors which he has heaped upon me.... You will always be +good, will you not?... Console papa.... Don't forget those prayers which +I gave you, nor fail to read the books of which I told you.... Come to +hear mass every day.... Try to be always earnest and humble...." + +Ah, no! Martita would not try, would not try. As she was born good and +humble there is no need of striving for it. In this regard the bride of +the Lord may be at rest. + +The small room where the two nuns stood near the grating seemed like a +prison cell by its ugliness and gloom. Their tunics stood out like two +white spots against the black lattice. + +The friends took turns in speaking, or all spoke at once to Maria, with +a strange mixture of admiration, of pity, of curiosity, and of +affection. They asked a thousand impertinent questions and many +ridiculous requests about prayers, medals, and other things. A few young +fellows who had belonged to the old tertulias at the Elorza mansion, +had slipped in with the crowd, and were gazing with wide-open eyes of +wonder at the new nun, but dared not speak to her. She showed herself +serene and lovely, and called them by name with a certain reassuring +condescension, giving them messages for their families. The boldest was +the ceremonious youth of the banged hair, who stepped up, and reaching +the grating, very much stifled, called the novice by her new name, +saying,-- + +"Sister Juana, I want to ask you a favor; please give me as a +remembrance a few orange blossoms from the crown which you wear...." + +"If the mother is willing...." murmured Maria, turning her face to the +Mother Superior. + +She bowed assent, and the gift of orange flowers was liberal and +gracefully granted. + +At that instant the Sister Luisa, the nun who was to be punished for her +vanity, came in and fell upon her knees, but not the slightest trace of +a blush passed over her face. The habit of performing such deeds +deprived them of all worth. + +The conversation wandered off upon festivals, novenas to come, the +journey of the vicar who was called to be canon of the cathedral, his +successor, and other subjects. Insensibly all were lowering the tone of +their voices until there was only a monotonous and melancholy +whispering. It seemed like a visit of condolence rather than of +congratulation. They continued to extol Maria's courage and virtue. "Ay, +Dios mio! to think that she is a prisoner forever and living a life of +so much labor...." + +The Mother Superior looking at the novice, with a sort of half smile not +very encouraging, exclaimed, "Poor little one! poor little one! "But +she, turning around with one of those graceful gestures so +characteristic, replied, "Rich little one, rich little one,[72] say I, +mother!" + +Gradually the young men had been getting near the girls, and without +respect to the holiness of the place, or heeding the stern crucifixes +fastened to the walls, they began to whisper more or less roguish +remarks. + +"When are you going to follow her example, Fulanita? The truth is, that +if all of you did the same, what would become of us? But you would be +sure to look lovely in the habit! See here, Amparito! If you should +become a nun, I should wish to be vicar!" + +"Now I wish you would be a little more serious, Suárez." + +"How long should I have to be a priest to become vicar?... the worst +thing is the grating.... Can't the vicar get behind the grating?" + +"Be silent, man alive! it is a sin to say such things in this place!" + +Rosarito and her lover had taken possession of a corner, only from time +to time making some insignificant remark roused into the category of the +sublime by the inflection of the voice and the trembling of the lips. +Only the old women, and a few young girls who had not succeeded in +finding mates, still continued talking with the nuns. At last the Mother +Superior arose from her chair, and Maria followed her example. + + * * * * * + +A man, a venerable man, crossed the plaza of Nieva with rapid strides; +he followed the winding streets, he reached the convent of San +Bernardo, he entered the court, mounted the stairway, pushed open the +door of the reception-room, forced his way through the people, and laid +heavy hands on the grating. He intended to say something solemn, +something tremendous. It could be seen by the wrathful expression of his +face, by the pallor of his cheeks, by the disorder of his white locks. + +But he let his head fall, and only murmured,-- + +"My daughter! my daughter!" + +And a flood of tears burst from his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA'S DREAM. + + +The transfer of the young artillery lieutenant, Ricardo de Peñalta, had +not yet arrived. He had applied for it a fortnight before the Señorita +de Elorza took the veil. A month had already passed since the great +ceremony ... and nothing! The influential personages whom our friend had +in Madrid, devoted to his interests, this time took little pains to +fulfil his desires. + +But why was our hero so anxious to leave Nieva? Be it said in honor of +the truth, that when Ricardo asked for the transfer he was exceedingly +desirous of turning his back forever upon those places where he had been +so happy, and where he was going to be so wretched; but now, after the +lapse of a month, the violence of his sorrow had somewhat subsided, and +he was beginning to get accustomed to his misfortune. Still he continued +to be greatly downcast; the whole town noticed it. + +From the day when his betrothed had made him that horrible proposition, +which he could not remember without being hot with anger, he understood +that he should never be the master of Maria's heart. A secret and +implacable voice kept ceaselessly whispering this to him. Thus the +letter in which she announced her determination to enter the convent +caused him no great surprise; for some time a rumor of this had been +current in society. Yet, in spite of his best efforts, he could not help +feeling a quick, keen pang and a melancholy that prostrated him +completely. The more or less well-founded belief that the beloved woman +does not return one's affection, is by no means the same thing as to see +it confirmed by a material tangible fact. Not any longer did he retain +the right to lose his temper and relieve his wrath by calling her +perfidious and treacherous, as happens in the majority of cases. As the +sincere Christian that he was, it became him to look with patience, even +with pleasure (the letter said so distinctly!), upon that pious +substitution of holy, sublime affections for those of earth, noble +though they were. Maria was blameworthy in no respect,--absolutely in no +respect; her conduct was worthy of all praise, and he saw how the whole +city spontaneously and warmly rendered her their tribute. Possibly in +this thought the young marquis found the only possible consolation; for +the certain thing was, that the beautiful girl had not left him for any +other man, but to follow the hard road that leads to heaven, for which, +doubtless, it must require the doing of great violence to self. And in +this violence our marquis took a little pride by thinking with delight, +and at the same time with pain, on the strength which the new bride of +Jesus must have employed, to tear up the roots of such a solid and +long-established affection. But amid the beautiful foliage of these more +or less consoling thoughts, a sad and cruel doubt often raised its +odious head. Though Ricardo employed all expedients to get rid of such +an idea, he could not help thinking very frequently that Maria had never +professed for him a sincere and vehement love, like his for her; that +she had been his betrothed through a compromise, through the influence +of the peculiar circumstances in which both had found themselves in +Nieva; that perhaps she had deceived herself in thinking that she loved +him, since if she had really loved him, the idea of taking part in +ridiculous conspiracies would never have entered into her head, still +less that of proposing to him odious acts of treason; that Maria was a +girl of much talent and great imagination, admirably fitted to shine in +the world, or to undertake some religious or secular enterprise, of no +matter how lofty a character, but incapable, perhaps from the very same +reason, of delicacy of sentiments, of constancy, of the modest and +humble abnegation which ought to characterize good wives and mothers. +Finally Ricardo came to the conclusion that his mistress had more head +than heart, or else he did not know what he was talking about. + +And gradually under the influence of these doubts, which went almost as +far as to be certainties, there sprang up in his mind a strong aversion +to the amorous memories, which were a drawback to him. When he thought +of the Maria of former times, so joyous, so lovely, so buoyant, his +heart would melt within him, and the tears would flow; when his thought +went back to the day on which, hidden behind the curtains, he saw her +pass by his house unmoved and smiling, without so much as casting a +glance at his windows, his heart was filled with a bitterness not free +from rancor. And when he saw her in his imagination in the garb of a San +Bernardin nun, entirely oblivious of the sweet scenes which had been the +enchantment of his life, despising them, perhaps, and looking upon them +with horror, as though they had been crimes, our young friend--may God +forgive him the sin--began to look with hatred upon the bride of Jesus +Christ. These doubts which constantly assaulted him were a genuine +cautery for his passion, painful and cruel, like all cauteries, but very +salutary in their effects. + +He did not for an instant cease to frequent the Elorza mansion as +before. There he found two human beings whom he pitied and who pitied +him. Moreover, it was a habit of his to spend a few hours each day +between those four walls, and not only a habit, but a debt of gratitude +for the affection lavished upon him, and not only a debt, but also--and +why should we not say so?--also a pleasure, a great pleasure, since he +could not fail to find it so in being with such an accomplished +gentleman as Don Mariano, who had showed that he loved him like a son, +and with such a good and beautiful girl as Marta, whom he loved like a +sister. Grief had still further limited the circle of his affections. In +proportion as the recollection of Maria became less pleasant to him, the +sweeter did he find the love of that family, and he clung to it as to +the last plank in the shipwreck of his hopes. If he let this plank +escape him, he would be left alone. Alone! alone! This word brought back +to him that terrible night spent in the train, when he returned to Nieva +after his mother's death. Cruel fate sounded it in his ears when he +least expected it. Finally, while he stayed in Nieva, it did not ring +with such a mournfully and disconsolate accent, because all that he saw +and touched in his own house spoke to him of his mother's tenderness; +and all that he found in the Elorza mansion, recalled Maria's love; but +how would it be in the future?... What would the desert fields of +Castilla say to him, across which the swift locomotive would carry him? +What would the indifferent multitude in the streets of Madrid say to +him?... Therefore Ricardo feared more than he desired the transfer which +he had asked for with so much eagerness. + +Every day when he reached the Elorza's, Martita asked him, "Has it come +yet, Ricardo?" + +Sometimes he replied between jest and earnest,-- + +"Perhaps you are anxious for me to go away, Martita?" + +"Oh, no," would be the young girl's reply, with an inflection of voice +equal to a poem. + +But Ricardo did not have the power of reading it. These love-wrecked +men, these men wounded by disenchantment, cannot read other poems than +their own. + +Marta, after the death of her mother, in whose illness Ricardo had so +much aided and consoled her, once more treated him with the same +confidence and affection as of old. For some time she had been rather +cool toward him. Don Mariano's younger daughter had passed through a +terrible crisis, and no one in the house had a suspicion of it. While it +lasted she was rather more brusque in her behavior, more restless, more +serious and reserved; but at last her calm spirit and her healthy and +well-balanced nature came out victorious. Doña Gertrudis's death, which +was a more serious and genuine calamity than anything else, had no small +effect in calming the disturbances and commotions of her heart. She was +once more the same Marta, tranquil, serene, and affectionate as before, +always anxious to free obstacles from the path of others, though her own +were blocked by an unsurmountable wall. Fortunate are they who in life +meet with these blessed beings who found their own happiness in that of +others, and who offer the flowers and content themselves with the +thorns. + +Ricardo spent long hours at the Elorzas'. Whole afternoons, especially, +he devoted to Don Mariano and his daughter, going to walk with them when +the weather was fair, and staying in the house when it rained. +Sometimes, too, he came in the morning, and then Don Mariano would +invite him to stay to dinner. While Ricardo refused and the caballero +insisted, Marta did not open her lips, but her anxiety was betrayed in +her face, and her eager desire to keep him shone in her supplicating +eyes. When, finally, he accepted, the girl's joy was evident, and her +solicitude was evident in the way that she took charge of everything, +going to and from the kitchen any number of times, preparing the dishes +which she knew were most to the young marquis's taste, and keeping the +servants alert; the _beefsteak à la inglesa_ (for Ricardo had learned in +Madrid to eat it rather rare), the cold fish, the boiled rice, the slice +of lemon (Ricardo put lemon on almost all his food), the English +mustard, the olives, and other things. But where Marta used her five +senses was with the coffee. Ricardo was a perfect Arab, a Sybarite in +regard to coffee. Thus it was that the girl bestowed a more lively and +vigilant care upon the preparation of this liquid than a chemist on the +analysis of some precious metal. While she came and went, making all the +preparations, the young fellow did not cease to rally her in the same +affectionate tone as of old; and this, too, though Marta, if still a +little short for her age, was now a real woman, and not among the worst +favored, either, as we have already had occasion to remark. She had +grown slightly, nevertheless. + +"Come, _caponcita_,[73] when did you stop growing?" said Ricardo, +detaining her by one of her braids of hair, as she was passing in front +of him. + +The girl smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and continued on her way. + +From the day on which he had been vexed with her, Martita had never +asked him about the transfer, but whenever he entered the house, all +gave him a keen, anxious look, as though trying to read some tidings in +his face. As it did not come, the girl recovered her tranquillity and +resumed her work, which she rarely failed to have in her hands. Ricardo +likewise said nothing about going away; either he did not remember his +petition, or affected not to remember it, or wished not to remember it. +Perhaps it was a little of all. The Marquis de Peñalta had passed from +disconsolateness to melancholy, and from this he was gradually letting +himself drift on toward a happier frame of mind. The house where Marta +sewed began to inspire jocund ideas of sweet ease and happiness. + +One morning, Ricardo, as though it was the most natural thing in the +world, as though the tidings did not tear any one's heart, as though it +were some mere trifle of little consequence at issue, came into the +Elorzas', and said,-- + +"Yesterday evening at last my transfer to Valencia came!" + +Blind! blind! dost thou not see that girl's pallor? Dost thou not notice +the painful trembling that runs over her body? Look out! she is going to +fall! Run, run to her assistance! + +Nothing, the young marquis perceived nothing! He, too, was a little +pale. The indifferent tone in which he made the announcement was pure +comedy, for I know on good authority that he walked up and down his room +the night before, till he was tired out, and that the rays of the +morning found him still unable to close his eyes. + +Don Mariano made a gesture of disappointment, exclaiming,-- + +"There, my son, there!... I feel that we are going to lose you!... +However, if it is your pleasure...." + +Ricardo preserved a gloomy silence. Gladly would he have exclaimed, +"How can it be my pleasure? My pleasure would be to ask for a discharge +at this very moment, and stay here forever and live calmly near you! +Near you, the people whom I love most in this world!" But he had the +weakness to hold his tongue, and such weaknesses as these generally cost +very dear in life. + +"And when do you expect to go?" pursued the caballero. + +"To-morrow. I must stop in Madrid a few days to attend to some business. +I shall reach Valencia the tenth of next month." + +"Are you going to some regiment?" + +"To the First Cavalry." + +"Ah!" + +And there was silence. Sadness ruled them all, choking conversation, +which usually was very animated, even though it touched upon the details +of domestic affairs. Don Mariano renewed it in a sad and distracted +tone. + +"Have you ever been in Valencia?" + +"Yes, sir; I spent a month there a few years ago." + +"It is very pretty, isn't it?" + +"Yes; very pretty." + +"Many oranges, eh?" + +"A great many." + +"I think it is a very gay city." + +"No, not gay; it seemed to me very melancholy." + +"Then, my dear fellow, I should think...." + +But they relapsed into silence. Their hearts were oppressed, and the +indifferent tone of the words was not sufficient to hide it. Marta had +not once spoken during all the time, and, as she sat in a low chair next +the window, paid close attention to her crochet work. Ricardo was +lounging on the sofa near Don Mariano. A thousand melancholy thoughts +sifted through the minds of all three, and that cheerful room, bright in +the pure, brilliant morning light, was nevertheless filled with sadness +and silence. When the Señor de Elorza spoke to Ricardo again, his +emotion shone through his slightly hoarse and tremulous voice. + +"And what arrangements have you made about your house?... Are you going +to dismiss the servants?" + +"All except Pepe, the gardener, and César, the inside man." + +"Have you packed yet?" + +"No; I shall have time this afternoon and to-morrow morning." + +"And your calls?" + +"Really, Don Mariano, the only people with whom I am intimate are you +here.... Three or four other calls, and I am done.... I shall send cards +to the rest.... What I am most sorry about is, to leave the improvements +in my garden unfinished, and the two pavilions in the corners just +begun...." + +"Don't be troubled about that, I will attend to it.... I will attend to +it.... I will attend to it...." + +He could say no more. Emotion choked him. Those pavilions had been +Maria's idea before the engagement was broken, and this recollection +brought in its train many others, all painful, in which his wife, his +daughter, and Ricardo were mingled, bringing before his eyes the +terrible misfortunes which he had recently suffered. He hastily arose +and left the room. + +Ricardo, likewise moved and overwhelmed by great dejection, remained +with bent head, and silent. Marta kept on busily with her task, as +though she felt no interest in what was going on. She did not once lift +her head during the conversation, nor even when her father left the +room. Ricardo looked at her fixedly a long time. The girl's impassive +attitude began to mortify him. He had presumptuously imagined that it +would affect Martita very deeply to hear the announcement of his +departure, for she had always given evidence of being fond of him. He +had blind confidence in the goodness of her heart and the strength of +her affections; but when he saw her so serene, moving the ivory needle +between her slender rosy fingers, without asking him anything about it, +without urging him to postpone his journey for a few days, without +speaking a word, he felt a new and painful disenchantment. And he +allowed himself, by the weight of his gloomy thoughts, to be drawn away +into a desperate, pessimistic philosophy. + +"Then, sir," he said to himself tearfully, "you must accept the world +and humanity as they are.... This girl whom I believed to be so +tender-hearted.... What is to be done about it?... In woman exists only +one true affection.... Can it possibly be that this child is in love +with some one?" + +Ricardo had no reason to be indignant at such a thought. But it is +certain that he was indignant, and not a little. He tried to drive it +away as an absurdity, and succeeded only in convincing himself that, not +only it would not be an absurdity, but would not even be strange. But as +he was downcast, indignation very soon gave way to sadness; deep, +painful sadness. + +"Aren't you sorry that I am going away?" he asked, with a sort of +melancholy smile creeping over his face. + +"Not if it is your pleasure to go...." replied the girl, not lifting her +head. + +Confound the pleasure! Ricardo had no longer any desire to go away; he +was furious with himself for having asked to be sent. Gladly would he +give everything to exchange.... But he did not say a word of what he +thought. + +His sadness and depression kept increasing. He felt a cruel desire to +weep. He dared not say a word to Marta, lest she should notice his +emotion. Besides, what reason had he to speak to her?... Such an +unfeeling child! + +He found himself in one of those moments of dejection in which +everything appears clad in black, and he took a certain bitter delight +in it; moment, in which one (if the expression be permissible) wallows +voluptuously in sadness, endeavoring to add to it by unhappy +recollections and expectations. He dropped his head on the pillow of the +sofa, and shut his eyes, as though he were meditating. Our hero had been +meditating deeply, deeply, for many hours. His nerves had been on the +strain for a long time, and he began to feel the attack of a languor +akin to faintness. He lifted his head a little, to prove to himself that +he still had the power of motion, and he looked once more at Martita, +who was still in the same position; but very soon he let it fall again. +It seemed to him as if he were seized against his will, and kept lying +there, without the possibility of moving a finger. He still had his eyes +open, but they were as heavy as if the lids had been made of lead. At +last he closed them, and fell asleep. That is, we cannot say that he +slept, or only napped. It is certain, however, that the Marqués de +Peñalta, thus stretched out, with eyes closed, seemed to be asleep, and +his face looked so pale, there were such dark rings under his eyes, and +his whole appearance was so lifeless that it inspired alarm. + +In the space of a few moments one can dream of many and very different +things. All have experienced this phenomenon. Ricardo had not as yet +entirely lost the idea of reality, when he found himself in a room like +the one in which he really was. However, there was this difference, that +in the new one the window had very thick iron gratings, like lattices, +and one of the walls was likewise grated, through which there could be +seen in the background, gilded altars, images of saints, lamps hung from +the ceiling; in fact, a real church. Looking attentively from the sofa, +he perceived that a great throng was pouring into the church, causing a +low, but disagreeable noise, until they filled it entirely, and there +was no more room. Then he began to hear the tones of an organ playing +the waltzes of the Queen of Scotland, which made him suspect that the +organist was Fray Saturnino, the capellane of San Felipe. Then, rising +above the heads of the people, he saw the gilded points of a mitre. The +organ ceased, and he heard the nasal voice of a preacher delivering a +long sermon, although he could not understand a word of what he said. +When the sermon was over, he heard a sweet song which made him tremble +with delight; it was Maria's sweet voice, singing with more sweetness +than ever, the aria from _Traviata_: "Gran Dio morir si giovane." When +this was finished, prolonged applause rang through the church. Then all +the people crowded up to the great altar, leaving the spaces near the +grating free. Something was going on there, for he clearly heard some +voices saying,-- + +"Now he gives her the benediction ... now ... now." + +And at the same instant Don Maximo appeared in the door of the room, and +said,-- + +"What are you doing, lying down here? Didn't you know that Maria is +being married?" + +"Whom is she marrying?" + +"Jesus Christ! Come and see the ceremony!" + +He desired to arise, but could not. Then the physician said,-- + +"Well, since you cannot move, I will go into the church, to see if I can +persuade the people to stand aside a little so that you may see from +here." + +And in fact, he soon perceived that the congregation was making a +sufficiently wide passage from the grating, so that he could see afar +away, over the steps of the great altar, Maria's proud figure in bridal +array. At her side stood another little human figure holding her by the +hand. The bishop was giving them his blessing. It was no more Jesus +Christ than it was a pumpkin! The person whom Maria was marrying was +neither more nor less than Manolito Lopez, that most impertinent and +uncongenial of urchins! He was like one who saw a vision! Could it be +possible that a girl so beautiful and wise, would unite herself to this +cub and leave him, who in every respect was a man abandoned to despair? +The truth is, he had reason for serious and painful reflections. But +just as he was getting deeper and deeper involved in them, behold the +same Maria enters the room in the garb of a San Bernardo nun, and coming +directly to him said, sweetly smiling,-- + +"Art thou sad because I marry?" + +"Why should I not be?" + +"Fool," says the young woman, coming still closer, "though I am wedded +to Jesus Christ, yet I love thee the same as before." + +Then Ricardo began to sigh and groan. + +"No, Maria, you do not love me; you love Manolito Lopez." + +"Come, Ricardo mio, don't talk nonsense. How could I love this urchin?" + +"Have you not just married him?" + +"You must be dreaming; don't say any more absurd things.... Wake up, +man--wake up ... or wait a little, I am going to wake you. But see in +what a sweet way!" + +And in fact, the beautiful nun came even closer still, and took his face +between her dainty hands with an affectionate gesture. Then she brought +her own close to his slowly, and gave him a warm and prolonged kiss on +the brow. + +Oh! wonderful chance! Ricardo noticed with amazement, that just as she +gave him the caress, Maria's face had suddenly changed into Marta's. +Yes; it was her bright black eyes; her fresh rosy cheeks; her dark hair +falling in ringlets around her brow. But her face seemed so sad and +mournful that he could not do less than cry,-- + +"Marta, Marta! what ails thee?" + +And the very cry that he made awoke him. + +Marta still sat in the low chair beside the window, apparently absorbed +in her work. And nevertheless, the young man, though awake, was sure +that he had cried out. All that had passed was a dream; but neither the +cry nor the warm, moist lips which he felt imprinted on his brow were +imaginary; though he were killed, he could not be convinced of it. + +What was it? What had passed? + +He remained some instants looking at Martita, while he slowly collected +his ideas. At last he decided to speak to her. The girl lifted her face +which was flushed and disturbed. + +"Did I not just cry out?" + +Martita grew still more flushed and disturbed, and scarcely could she +answer in trembling voice,-- + +"No.... I heard nothing." + +Ricardo looked at her steadily and with surprise: "Why was that girl +blushing so?" + +"I was asleep, but I would take my oath that I cried out ... and I would +also take my oath--such a strange thing!--that you gave me a kiss." + +Marta's color, when she heard these words, suddenly changed from rosy to +pale, betraying a profound consternation. Her tremulous hands could not +hold her crochet work, and dropped it in her lap. At the same time her +eyes rested on Ricardo with such an expression of fear, of tenderness, +of supplication, of dismay, that he felt a strong shock, like that +caused by an electric discharge. + +It was the same look--the same that he had just seen in his dream. + +He felt himself inundated by a great light, a divine light. At that +supreme moment he saw everything, he comprehended all. The mist that +blinded his eyes faded away, and he saw himself face to face with the +scene in the garden, when Marta seemed so offended because he kissed her +hands ... and he saw and comprehended. The strange dismay following that +scene he likewise saw and comprehended. Then he went back in imagination +to the beach on the island. The sun pouring floods of light over the +sand; the blue and white waves girdling a peninsula where two young +people had been long sitting; the sob which broke the silence of the +tunnel; then a girl falling into the water, and a young man plunging in +after her and saving her. "Thanks, Señor Marqués, it is not so bad down +below there." This also he saw, he comprehended. Then a sudden and +extraordinary estrangement: a pair of eyes that did not look at him, two +lips that did not speak to him, a pair of hands that did not touch him. + +Ah, yes; he saw all; he understood all. + +He sprang up hastily from the sofa, and bringing his face close to +Marta's, said to her in sweet, affectionate tones, but with innocent +petulance,-- + +"Don't deny it, Martita; you just gave me a kiss!" + +The girl raised her hands to her face, and broke into a passion of +tears. A thousand emotions of fear, of penitence, of affection, of +doubt, of joy, of anxiety, instantly crossed the heart of the young +marquis who bent his knee before her, exclaiming in accents of +emotion,-- + +"Marta, for God's sake, forgive my stupidity.... I am a fool!... I just +dreamed such sad things, and they suddenly all ended so well!... I could +not resign myself to let happiness escape so ... an absurd idea came +into my head, inspired by the very idea of seeing it realized.... But no +... no! I cannot be happy on earth.... I was born to be unfortunate.... +Luckily I shall die early, like my father ... and like my mother.... +Forgive me that momentary folly, and don't weep.... Do you want to know +what I was dreaming?... I am going to tell you, because perhaps it will +be the last time that you will see me.... I dreamed ... I dreamed, +Marta, that you loved me." + +The girl opened her hands a little, and ejaculated with a certain +wrathful, but adorable intonation these words, which were immediately +cut short by sobs,-- + +"You dreamed the truth, ingrato!" + +The Marqués de Peñalta, beside himself, entirely carried away by his +emotions, his heart ready to burst, pressed her in his arms without +being able to speak a word. At last, very softly, very softly, with the +sublime incoherence of the heart, like a murmur of celestial harmony, he +whispered into the ears of his friend the hymn of love. Dios mio! how +sweet sounded that hymn in Marta's ears! I do not intend to repeat it: +no; the pen cannot reproduce that mysterious language which comes +directly from the heart, scarcely touching the lips,--accents escaping +from heaven and hastening to take refuge in the breast of virgins,--for +the earth does not understand them, notes perhaps lost from the song +with which the angels celebrate their immortal bliss. + +Marta listened. Tremulous, confused, she hid her head in her lover's +breast, shedding a flood of tears. Ricardo pressed her closer and closer +to his heart without wearying of repeating the same phrase,--the most +beautiful phrase that God ever suggested to man. Once the girl raised +her head to ask in low and tremulous voice,-- + +"You will not go now, will you?" + +Little desire had Ricardo at that moment to go away! Not for all that +was precious in earth and in heaven would he go away. His spirit did not +dare to pass by even the window-panes, fearful lest it should lose the +bliss in which it was bathed. Nevertheless, he had sufficient +self-control to tear himself away a moment and rush to the door, +crying,-- + +"Don Mariano! Don Mariano!" + +The Señor de Elorza, alarmed, nervous as he had been for some time, came +in haste, fearing some new misfortune. Ricardo's face, wherein shone the +deep emotion which overmastered him, was not calculated to calm any one. +What was the matter? Why did they call him? + +"Don Mariano," said the young man, and his voice stuck in his throat.... +"I have the honor of asking the hand of your daughter Marta." + +That was a thunder-stroke; but what the devil! Had he gone crazy?... +What did it mean, sir? We shall see, we shall see! Nothing; Don Mariano +could say nothing, could do nothing, could think of nothing, for before +he could say, do, or think of anything, his daughter's arms were around +his neck, and she was weeping as though her heart would break.... What +was left for the noble caballero? To weep likewise. Why, this was +exactly what he did, pressing his beloved child with one arm, and +squeezing with his other hand the Marqués of Peñalta's. + +"You will not abandon me, will you, my children?" entreated the +venerable man, lifting his noble, manly face bathed in tears. + +Ricardo pressed his hand more warmly. Marta clung to his neck more +fondly. + +There were a few moments of silence, during which all the angels of +heaven swept through the room, which was bathed in the morning sun, and +gazed with radiant eyes of joy upon that interesting group. But now +Martita lifts her face a little from her father's breast, and, smiling +through her tears, asks her lover coyly: "Will you dine with us to-day, +Ricardo?" + +"Yes, preciosa mia," replied the young marquis, falling on his knees, +and kissing the girl's hands again and again; "I will to-day, and +to-morrow, and every day forever!" + +Marta hid her face again on the paternal breast! Her heart was so full +of joy! The three shed tears in silence; but what sweet tears! + +O eternal God, who dwellest in the hearts of the good! are they perhaps +less pleasing to Thee than the mystic colloquies of the Convent of San +Bernardo? + +THE END. + +_"The demand for these Russian stories has but just fairly begun; but it +is a literary movement more widespread, more intense, than anything this +country has probably seen within the past quarter of a +century."_--BOSTON TRAVELLER. + +=DOSTOYEVSKY'S WORKS.= + +=Crime and Punishment=, 12mo. $1.50. + +=Injury and Insult.= In press. + +=Recollections of a Dead-House.= In press. + +"The readers of Turgénief and of Tolstoï must now add Dostoyevsky to +their list if they wish to understand the reasons for the supremacy of +the Russians in modern fiction."--_W. D. Howells, in Harper's Monthly +for September_. + + * * * * * + +=Anna Karénina.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOÏ. Translated from the Russian by +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. Royal 12mo. $1.75. + +"Will rank among the great works of fiction of the age."--_Portland +Transcript_. + +"Characterized by all the breadth and complexity, the insight and the +profound analysis, of 'Middlemarch.'"--_Critic, New York_. + +=My Religion.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOÏ. Translated by HUNTINGTON SMITH. +12mo. Gilt top. $1.25. + +"Every man whose eyes are lifted above the manger and the trough should +take 'My Religion' to his home. Let him read it with no matter what +hostile prepossessions, let him read it to confute it, but still read, +and 'he that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'"--_New York +Sun_. + +=Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOÏ. Translated by +ISABEL F. HAPGOOD. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.50. + +"Will make profound impression on all thoughtful people."--_Nation, New +York_. + +"A rare and veracious picture of character development."--_Star, New +York_. + +"These exquisite sketches belong to the literature which never grows +old, which lives forever in the heart of humanity as a cherished +revelation."--Literary World. + +=Taras Bulba.= By NIKOLAÏ V. GOGOL. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1. + +"For grandeur, simplicity of conception, and superbness of description, +can hardly be equalled."--_New York Times_. + +"A wonderful prose epic, having all the charm and style of a stately +poem,--one of the masterpieces of literature."--_New York Star_. + +=St. John's Eve, and Other Stories.= By NIKOLAÏ V. GOGOL. 12mo. $1.25. + +In these tales of Gogol, the marvellous abounds. His field of +observation is the village. His heroes are unimportant people, with +superstitious imaginations,--very simple souls, whose artless passions +are shown without any veil, but whose very ingenuousness is a +deliciously restful contrast to our romantic or theatrical characters, +so insipid and perfunctory in the refinements of their conventionality. + +This volume is the second of a series of Gogol's Works which we have in +preparation, and will be followed by "Dead Souls," now in press. + +=A Vital Question; or, What is to be Done?= By NIKOLAÏ G. TCHERNUISHEVSKY. +With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.25. + +"A famous but crude novel."--_New York Tribune_. + +"Yet it so touches the deep realities of life that in its force one +forgets its crudity of form."--_Evening Traveller, Boston_. + +"People accustomed to think out of leading strings will be glad to read +it."--_Hartford Post_. + +=Great Masters of Russian Literature.= By ERNEST DUPUY. Sketches of the +Life and Works of Gogol, Turgénief, Tolstoï. With portraits. Translated +by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. 12mo. $1.25. + +"This volume, with its clear outline of the lives of these three great +novelists, and its delineation of their literary characteristics, will +be found a most available and useful hand-book."--_Traveller_. + + * * * * * + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., +13 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Anglice_, oil of birch. + +[2] _Paraphernalia bona_, in Spanish _bienes parafernales_, are the +goods and chattels brought by a wife independent of her dower. + +[3] _tertulia_. + +[4] _buenas noches_. + +[5] _pataches_ and _quechemarines_. + +[6] _palomita_. + +[7] _mi corazón_. + +[8] _cordera_. + +[9] 1 John ii. 1. + +[10] Psalms xxxiv. 8. + +[11] _gracias_. + +[12] _criatura_. + +[13] _Buenas noches_: _que usted lleve feliz viaje!_ + +[14] _querido_. + +[15] _vaya gracias á Dios_! + +[16] _licenciado_. + +[17] _chica_. + +[18] _Fulanito_, diminutive of _Fulano_, such an one; hence, little +master, little miss. + +[19] _mira_, _chica_. + +[20] _secretas y santas fantasías_. + +[21] _quinque_. + +[22] _con mil amores_, literally, with a thousand loves. + +[23] _tonta_. + +[24] _mi palomita del alma_. + +[25] _monina_, literally, little monkey. + +[26] _pasacalle_. + +[27] _pesado_. + +[28] The epoch of _novatada_. + +[29] _antiguos_. + +[30] _nuevos_. + +[31] _Dios mio_. + +[32] _novetada_. + +[33] _chica_. + +[34] _majadero_. + +[35] _un adan_. + +[36] _ayuntamiento_. + +[37] Luke xiv. 26. + +[38] + + _Ay! quién podrá sanarme!_ + _Acaba de entregarte ya de vero,_ + _No quieras enviarme_ + _De hoy mas ya mensajero_ + _Que no saben decirme lo que quiero._ + + +[39] _El Tiempo_. + +[40] _Calle de la Industria_. + +[41] _Doña Fulana de Tal to Don Zutano de Cual_. + +[42] _Ez uzté mu bonita, pero ez uzté mu redondita_. + +[43] _tertulianas_. + +[44] _mestiza_. + +[45] _Ay Dios_. + +[46] _Caramba con el agua_. + +[47] La Isla. + +[48] _tonta_. + +[49] _Ay, Dios mio_. + +[50] _aaaguanta_. + +[51] _aduana_. + +[52] _ponerle en Berlina_. + +[53] _persona mayor_. + +[54] _jéfe de orden publico_ + +[55 1] _hasta luégo._ + +[56] _junta._ + +[57] _boinas blancas y polainas._ + +[58] _guardias civiles._ + +[59] _fábrica de armas._ + +[60] _casas consistoriales._ + +[61] _vosotros, not te._ + +[62 1] _soplo: literally breath._ + +[63] _corazón mio._ + +[64] _boina._ + +[65] _tunantes._ + +[66] _pendanga._ + +[67] _fiscal._ + +[68] _cantar de plano_. + +[69] _chiquita_. + +[70] _pichona_. + +[71] _locutorio_. + +[72] _riquita_. + +[73] little stopple. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Peñalta (Marta y María), by +Armando Palacio Valdés + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PEÑALTA *** + +***** This file should be named 37969-0.txt or 37969-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/6/37969/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37969-0.zip b/37969-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0de803 --- /dev/null +++ b/37969-0.zip diff --git a/37969-8.txt b/37969-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..383695c --- /dev/null +++ b/37969-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11290 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Pealta (Marta y Mara), by +Armando Palacio Valds + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Marquis of Pealta (Marta y Mara) + A Realistic Social Novel + +Author: Armando Palacio Valds + +Translator: Nathan Haskell Dole + +Release Date: November 10, 2011 [EBook #37969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA + +(MARTA Y MARA): + +A Realistic Social Novel + +BY + +DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALDS. + +_TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY_ + +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. + +NEW YORK: + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., + +No. 13 Astor Place. + + +_Copyright_, 1886, + +BY T. Y. CROWELL & CO. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE 1 + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE STREET 5 + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOIRE AT THE ELORZA MANSION 16 + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF +JESUS 47 + +CHAPTER IV. + +HOW THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE +OF THURINGEN 76 + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ROAD TO PERFECTION 100 + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN SEARCH OF MENINO 122 + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBAND OR SOUL 144 + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AS YOU LIKE IT 161 + +CHAPTER IX. + +EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND 178 + +CHAPTER X. + +THE EXCURSION CONTINUED 195 + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE 217 + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERED THREADS 230 + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN 257 + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PALLIDA MORS 281 + +CHAPTER XV. + +LET US REJOICE, BELOVED 303 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA'S DREAM 325 + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE. + + +The work which I now have the honor of presenting to the public is not +based upon ordinary every-day occurrences; nor are the incidents +narrated in it such as we are wont frequently to witness. Very likely it +will be called untrue or improbable, and regarded as a fanciful +production, remote from all reality. With resignation I bow myself in +advance to these criticisms, though I claim the right to protest in my +own heart, if not publicly, against the unfairness of such a charge. For +the chief events of this novel--I must say it, though my glory as an +originator may be destroyed--have all actually taken place. The author +has done nothing more than recount them and give them unity. + +I have the presumption to believe that, though _Marta y Mara_ may not +be a beautiful novel, it is a realistic novel. I know that realism--at +the present time called naturalism--has many impulsive adepts, who +conceive that truth exists only in the vulgar incidents of life, and +that these are the only ones worth transferring to art. Fortunately this +is not the case. Outside of markets, garrets, and slums, the truth +exists no less. The very apostle of naturalism, Emil Zola, confesses +this by painting scenes of polished and lofty poetry, which assuredly +conflict with his exaggerated sthetic theories. + +The character of the protagonist of my novel is an exceptional +character. I take delight in acknowledging this. But to be exceptional +is not to be less true to nature, less human. Mystic temperaments are +not apt to abound in Madrid: the frivolous and sensual life of the court +is little adapted for their development. But all who have lived in a +province will have known, just as I have, certain passionate and pious +souls, who, without any motive of a temporal kind, have renounced the +world and consecrated themselves to God. Take the periodicals, and +scarcely a day will pass without your seeing the announcement of some +young woman becoming a nun. Among these young persons are beautiful +girls, daughters of wealthy families, rejoicing in all the gifts of +nature and the flatteries of society. Is not, peradventure, the careful +study of such souls worthy of the literary man, even though he call +himself a naturalist? + +The motive or occasion of this book being written is as follows: I found +myself one afternoon in Don Fernando Fe's bookstore, turning over recent +publications and periodicals, when there fell into my hands a number of +the _Ilustracin Espaola y Americana_, in which appeared a capital cut +representing "The Taking of the Veil in a Convent of Carmelite Nuns." A +pretty young girl was seen on her knees before the inner door of the +convent, from which three sisters, bundled up in great thick robes of +black, were coming forth to receive her, with a coarse wooden cross. In +the background an aged bishop was calling down upon her the blessing of +heaven; and a lady, in whom the mother was to be instantly recognized, +was looking on with ecstatic and troubled eyes. Still farther back there +was a numerous group of people, pre-eminent among them being two other +young ladies, elegantly dressed, whose resemblance to the novice +quickly told that they were her sisters. The first was sadly +contemplating the ceremony, while the other hid her face in her hands, +as if she were trying to smother her sobs. + +I felt impressed in presence of this scene so admirably interpreted by +the artist, and as a natural consequence I was assailed by many memories +and not a few reflections connected with the same subject, and I came to +the conclusion that it was worth while to make a study of it. It did not +deal with anything ancient and remote which might serve merely as a +theme for the investigations of the historian, but with a most curious +and interesting fact taking place before our very eyes. The enthusiasm, +the ardent raptures, the ecstasies, and even the frenzies of these souls +at once simple and passionate, who find no way to quench the thirst +devouring them, to calm the unrest torturing them, by intercourse with +the world, and who seek in the mystery of the cloister, medicine for +their ills, seemed to me a theme worthy for the contemporary novelist to +master and offer with due respect to the consideration of the public. A +certain series of events which took place a few years ago, and happened +to come under my observation, occurred to my mind, and instantly the +desire seized me to write a novel. But one circumstance proved to be a +stumbling-block. It had never entered into my calculations to write +novels with transcendental themes, especially those based upon religious +subjects. This I declared without qualification in a little line of +parenthesis which I put under the title of my first novel, _El Seorito +Octavio_ (a novel without transcendental thought). And in truth I was +afraid to bring myself so soon into conflict with my sthetic programme +in a country where everything is pardoned except contradiction. But +among the honorable pleasures conferred by the Supreme Creator upon the +heroic Spanish public, there is none more keen and delectable than that +of breaking the laws and programmes which they have freely imposed upon +themselves. In this particular, sybaritism has reached the point of +making itself every morning some rule for the pleasure afforded by +breaking it in the afternoon. Therefore as soon as I saw the +contradiction, the problem was solved. I will write the novel, I said, +for my conscience, so that I may have to endure fifteen literary +sessions of the Athenum without stirring from my place. + +The novel is now written. The subject is one sufficiently rude and +liable to be carried away by prejudices and extravagances which the +novelist who has a wish to paint the reality must avoid with care. I +have striven with all my power to bring myself into a point of view +relatively neutral (granting that the absolute cannot be attained), and +to study the theme with the calmness of the physiologist. Whatever my +sympathies may have been, I have tried always to subordinate them to the +truth and to the profound respect which all noble sentiments and all +honest beliefs deserve from me. You shall say if I have succeeded. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE STREET. + + +Within the arcade the people were crowding relentlessly; each and every +one was performing prodigies of skill to flout the physical law of the +impenetrability of bodies, by reducing his own to an imaginary quantity. +The night was unusually thick and dark. The feet of the loungers found +each other out in the darkness, and when they met they indulged in +somewhat expressive forms of endearment; the elbows of some, by a secret +and fatal impulse, went straight into the eyes of others; the passive +subject of such caresses instantly raised his hand to the place of +contact, and usually exclaimed with some asperity, "You barbarian, you +might at least--" but an energetic "Sh--sh--sh" from the throng obliged +him to nip his discourse in the bud, and silence again began to reign. +Silence was at this time the most pressing necessity which was felt by +the inhabitants of Nieva there gathered together. The least noise was +regarded as an act of sedition, and was instantly punished by a +threatening hiss. Coughs and sneezes were prohibited, and still more +condign punishment was meted out to laughter and conversation. There was +profuse perspiration, although the night was not among the mildest of +autumn. + +In the arcades of the houses opposite, more or less the same state of +things existed; but in the street itself there were few people, because +a very fine rain was slowly falling, and this the natives of Nieva had +learned not to despise, since in the long run and notwithstanding its +gentle and insinuating ways, it was like any other. Only a few people +with umbrellas, and some others who, not having them, sheltered +themselves with their philosophy, maintained a firm footing in the midst +of the gutter. + +The balconied windows of the house of Elorza were thrown wide open, and +through the embrasures streamed a bright and cheerful light which made +the dark and misty night outside still more melancholy. Likewise there +streamed forth from time to time torrents of musical notes let loose +from a piano. + +The house of Elorza was the principal one in a long, narrow street, +adorned with an arcade on both sides like almost all the rest in the +town of Nieva. Its most important faade looked into this street, but it +had another with balconies facing the town square, which was wide and +handsome like that of a city. Though the darkness does not allow us to +make out exactly the appearance of the house, yet we can prove that it +is a building of faced stone and of one story, with spacious arcade, the +elegant and stately arches of which instantly declare the rank of its +owners. This arcade, which might be called a portico, makes a notable +contrast with that of the succeeding houses, which is low and narrow and +supported by round, rough pillars without any ornamentation. Likewise +the same difference is to be seen in the pavement. In the arcade of +which we are speaking, it is of well-set flagging, while the others +offer merely an inconvenient footway paved with cobble-stones. Without +venturing, indeed, to call it a palace, it is not presumptuous to assert +that this mansion had been built for the exclusive use and gratification +of some person of importance; the fact that it had only one story very +clearly decided this point. The truth demands that we set forth +likewise the fact that the architect had given undeniable proofs of good +taste in laying out the plan of the building, since its proportions +could not be more elegant and correct. But what most struck the eye was +a certain attractive and aristocratic thriftiness about it perfectly +free from presumption, which, though calculated to inspire envy, +certainly did not arouse in the minds of the people those hatreds and +heart-burnings always excited by overweening wealth. The frowning +firmament ceaselessly poured down all the moist and chilly mist with +which its clouds were surcharged. The shadows shrowded and concealed the +outlines of the house, crowding together underneath the arches and in +the hollows of their stone mouldings, but they did not dare so much as +to approach the bright, joyful openings of the balconies, which drove +them away in terror. They gazed clandestinely into the heavenly _el +dorado_ of the interior, and eaten up with envy, they poured out their +spite upon the heads of the philosophers who were listening in the open +air. The pyramidal group of loungers, enjoying the protection of the +opposite arcades, did not take their eyes from the balconies, while +those who clustered under the arches of the house itself, as they lacked +this expedient, entirely trusted to their ears, the receptive capacity +of which they strove to increase by placing the palms of their hands +behind them and doubling them forward a little. The darkness was dense +in both arcades, for the town lanterns shed their pallid rays at +respectable distances. Each served only to light up a sufficiently +circumscribed area at wide intervals in the plaza, making melancholy +reflections on the wet stones of the pavement. Amid the shadows now and +then the light of a cigar flashed out for an instant, causing a ruddy +glow on the smoker's mustachios. A little further away, on the corner, a +variety shop still remained open; but the shopkeeper's shadow could be +seen often crossing in front of the door as he was putting his wares in +order before shutting up. On the principal floor of the same house the +balconied windows were all thrown wide open; through them rang voices, +coarse outbursts of laughter, and the clicking of billiard balls, sounds +which fortunately reached the arcades greatly softened. This was the +Caf de la Estrella, frequented until the small hours of the night by a +dozen indefatigable patrons. Otherwise, silence reigned, although it was +impossible to get rid of the peculiar rumble inseparable from the +thronging of people in one place, which is caused by the shuffling of +feet, the stirring of bodies, and above all by the smothered phrases in +falsetto tones let fall by some in the hearing of others. + +At the moment when the present history begins, the vibrating tones of +the piano were heard preluding the passionate _allegro_ of the aria from +"La Traviata": _gran Dio morir si giovine_. When the prelude was ended, +a soft and appropriate accompaniment began. The expectation was intense. +At last, above the accompaniment arose a clear and most dulcet voice, +echoing through the whole plaza like a sound from heaven. The two groups +of listeners were stirred as though they had touched their fingers to +the knob of an electric machine, and a subdued murmur of satisfaction +ran up and down among them. + +"'Tis Maria," said three or four, hoping that the ears of the walls +would not overhear them. + +"It was high time!" remarked one, in a little louder voice. + +"It is she that is singing now; hark! and not that beast of the canning +factory!" exclaimed a third, still more impulsive. + +"Have the goodness to keep quiet, gentlemen, so that we can hear!" cried +a very angry voice. + +"Let that man hold his tongue!" + +"Out with him!" + +"Silence!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhh!" + +"I have always insisted that there are no people more ill-bred than +those of this place!" again cried the angry voice. + +"Hold your tongue!" + +"Don't be a fool, man!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhh!" + +Finally all became silent, and Verdi's passionate melody could be heard, +interpreted with remarkable delicacy. The lovely, limpid voice, issuing +from the open balconies, rent the saturated atmosphere out of doors, and +vibrating with force, went the rounds of the plaza, and died away in the +mazes of the town. The loneliness and gloom of the night increased the +power and range of that lovely voice, lovely beyond all praise. I do not +say that, for any one of those clever people who feel themselves wrapped +up in the vocalism of the paradise of the Royal Theatre, the singer was +a prodigy in her mastery of attacking, sustaining, and trilling the +notes; but I affirm that for those whom we do not see tortured by +musical scruples, she sang very well, and she possessed, above all, a +bewitching voice, of a passionate _timbre_, which penetrated to the very +depths of the soul. + +The loungers of both arcades, and likewise the philosophers of the +gutter, gave unmistakable proofs of feeling moved. The taste for music +in country towns always partakes of a more violent and impetuous nature +than is shown in large cities, and this is due to the fact that the +latter are furnished with an excess of theatres and salons, while the +former can only from time to time enjoy it. No one whispered, or moved a +step from his place; with open mouths and far-away eyes, they followed +ecstatically the course of that despairing melody, in which Violetta +mourns that she must die after such sufferings undergone. The most +sensitive began to shed tears, remembering some gallant adventure of +their youthful days. The sky, still relentless, kept sending down its +inexhaustive deposit of liquid dust. Two of the philosophers of the +gutter felt of their garments, shook their sombreros, and muttering a +curse against the elements, took refuge in the arcade, causing by their +arrival a slight disturbance among their neighbors. + +At some little distance from both groups, and near a column, were seen, +not very distinctly, three small bodies, with whom we must bring the +reader into contact for a few moments. One of them struck a match to +light a cigar, and there appeared three fresh, laughing, mischievous +faces of fourteen or fifteen years, which resolved into darkness again +as the match went out. + +"Say, Manolo," asked one, lowering his voice as much as possible, "who +gave you that mouth-piece?" + +"Suppose I ragged it of my brother!" + +"Is it amber?" + +"Amber and meerschaum; it cost three duros in Madrid." + +"I pity you, if you should get caught by your--" + +"Hush up, you fool you! What have we got a servant in the house for, if +not to blame for such faults?" + +A man who was standing nearer than the rest, harshly bade them hold +their tongues. The urchins obeyed. But after a moment Manolo said, in a +barely perceptible voice, "See here, lads! would you like to have me +break this all up in a jiffy?" + +"Yes, yes, Manolo!" hastily replied the others, who evidently had great +faith in the destructive powers of their companion. + +"Then you just wait; stay quiet where you are." + +And moving a little aside from them, he hid himself beside a door, and +set up three extraordinary yelps, precisely like those emitted by dogs +when they are beaten. A tremendous, furious, universal barking +immediately resounded through the spaces. All the dogs of the community, +united and compact, like one single mastiff, protested energetically +against the punishment inflicted upon one of their kind. Maria's singing +was completely lost beneath that formidable yelping. The listening +multitude experienced a painful shock, stirred tumultuously for some +moments, uttered incoherent exclamations against the cursed animals, +endeavored to bring them to silence by shouting at them, and at last, +seeing the uselessness of their efforts, resigned themselves to the hope +that they would cease of themselves. The howls, in fact, were gradually +dying away, all the time becoming more and more infrequent and remote; +only the dog belonging to the variety shop, which had just been closed, +continued for some time barking furiously. At length even he ceased, +though most unwillingly. The song of the dying Violetta was once again +heard, pure and limpid as before, and once again the auditors began to +experience the softening impressions which it had made upon them, +although they were somewhat restless and nervous, as if fearing at any +moment to be deprived of that pleasure. + +Manolo, choking with amusement, rejoined his companions and was received +with stifled laughter and applause. + +"Come, Manolito, yelp once again." + +"Wait, wait awhile; we want to take 'em by surprise." + +After some little time had passed, Manolo once more cautiously crept +away, and, skirting the group, stationed himself at the opposite +extreme. From there he set up three more howls like the first, and the +same thunderous barking filled the spaces, giving back kind for kind. +The multitude underwent a new excess of vexation, but accompanied by far +greater tumult; everybody was speaking at once, and uttering furious +ejaculations. + +"This is horrible!" + +"Here's a concert for us given by those confounded dogs!" + +"The dog that howled is the one to blame." + +"Curse him!" + +"Confound it!" + +"Silence! silence! give us a chance to hear something!" + +"What can you hear?" + +"Deuced bad luck!" + +"Silence! silence!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhhhhh!" + +The dogs one after another were beginning to quiet down, according to +their own good pleasure, and little by little calm was reasserting its +sway. Violetta's song re-appeared, full of melancholy, sweetness, and +passion. Maria's voice, in her interpretation of it, expressed such +pathos that the heart was melted, and tears sprang into the eyes. One +single dog, the one at the variety shop, kept on barking with a +persistency that was in the highest degree exasperating, since it +prevented the singer's voice from reaching the ears of the public with +the clearness desired. A man with a cudgel in his hand detached himself +from the throng, and braving the elements, crossed the plaza to stop his +barking, but the dog immediately smelt the stick and took to flight. The +man came back into the arcade. At length perfect silence reigned in the +plaza, and the music lovers could enjoy to their hearts' content the +concert in the house of Elorza. + +What had become of Manolo? His companions waited for him for some time, +so as to congratulate him on his praiseworthy conduct, but he did not +put in an appearance. The smaller urchin at length timidly asked the +other,-- + +"Say! what would they do to him if they'd caught him yelping?" + +"Why, nothing; they'd treat him to a little cane syrup."[1] + +He who had propounded the question trembled a little, and held his +peace. + +"But then," continued the other, "they haven't caught him, not a bit of +it; he's too cute to let himself get caught." + +At this instant Manolo raised two shrieks still more maddening in the +opposite arcade, and with the same madness the dogs of the neighborhood, +barking, took up the refrain. It is impossible to describe what happened +thereupon in the multitude of listeners in both arcades. The tumult +which ensued was in reality overpowering. A goodly number of hands flew +about in the darkness, flourishing terrible canes and umbrellas, and +from both the throngs arose a chorus of imprecations far from flattering +to the canine race. The confusion and disorder took possession of all +minds. Breasts breathed nothing but vengeance and extermination. + +"Kill that beastly cur! cried a voice above the tumult. + +"Yes, yes, break his back for him!" replied another, instigating the +fittest method of slaughter. + +"That dog, that dog!" + +"But where is that cursed beast?" + +"Find him and break his back!" + +"And if you can't find the dog, break his master's back!" + +"That's the idea! his master's!" + +"Thunder and lightning! kill 'em both!" + +The disorder had increased to such a degree, and the shouting had become +so scandalous, that some of the balconied windows in the vicinity +emitted a sharp sound, and were cautiously opened; the inquisitive heads +which were thrust forth, not being able to discover what had caused the +disturbance, and fearing to catch cold, were incontinently withdrawn. In +the house of Elorza three or four people likewise peered out and +likewise hurriedly drew back, and oh! the grief of it! closed the +windows as they went. + +"Well now! we shall hear what we must hear." + +"Have they shut the windows?" + +"Yes, seor, they have, and shut 'em up tight." + +From that multitude escaped a submissive sigh of weariness and rage. +There was silence for a moment as a tribute rendered to their vanished +hopes. No one moved from his place. At last some one said in a loud +voice: "Seores, good night, and good luck to you. I'm going home!" + +This salutation shook them from their stupor. The groups began to +dissolve slowly, not without uttering choleric exclamations. A few +individuals walked off under the arcades. Others crossed the plaza with +umbrellas spread. A few remained in the same place, making endless +commentaries on what had just occurred. At last a half-dozen loafers +remained, and these, tired of complaining in that locality, adjourned to +the Caf de la Estrella, to do the same. While they were crossing the +space that lay between the arcade and the caf, an angry voice, the same +which had raised its protest against the faulty manners of that town, +said, with still more anger,-- + +"I have always declared that there aren't any worse trained dogs than +those in this city!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOIRE AT THE ELORZA MANSION. + + +"What a shame, Isidorito, that you did not study for a doctor! I don't +know why it is I imagine you must have a keen eye for diseases." + +The young man turned red with pleasure. + +"Doa Gertrudis, you flatter me; I have no other desert than that of +sticking fast to whatever I undertake, and this seems to me absolutely +necessary in whatever career one devotes himself to." + +"You are quite right. The main thing is to apply one's self to what lies +before him, and not go wool-gathering. Now, for example, take Don +Maximo. It cannot be denied that he has great knowledge, and I wish him +well, but he has the misfortune of not applying himself to anything that +is said to him, and therefore he scarcely ever hits the mark. Please +tell me, Isidorito, how is it possible for man to succeed in curing one, +if when the invalid is telling him her sufferings, he sets himself to +work sharpening lead-pencils or drumming with his fingers. You don't +know how I have suffered on account of him. I pray God may not set down +against him the harm he has done me. My husband is very fond of him--and +so am I too, you must believe me. In spite of all, he is a good man, and +it's twenty-four years since he first entered this house; but I must +tell the truth though it is hard: the poor man has the misfortune of not +applying himself--of not applying himself little or much." + +"Just so, just so. Don Maximo, in my opinion, lacks those gifts of +observation indispensable to the profession to which he belongs. Perhaps +it may surprise you to know what qualifications are needed for the +practice of medicine from a scientific point of view; it is my own +private opinion, which I am ready to sustain anywhere, either in public +or in private. Medicine, in my judgment, is nothing else whatever than +an empirical profession, purely empirical. I repeat that it is my +private opinion, and that I expound it as such, but I harbor the belief +that very soon it will be a truth universally accepted." + +"The truth is, Isidorito, that he has simply not understood me. Day +before yesterday I spent the whole day with a roaring in my head as +though a lot of drums were beating behind it. At the same time this left +knee was so swollen that I could not even walk from my room to the +dining-room. I sent a message to Don Maximo, and he did not appear till +it was dark. I assure you I passed a wretched day, and if it had not +been for some tallow plasters which my daughter Marta put on my temples +at midnight, I should certainly have died, for Don Maximo did not think +it necessary even to have a lamp lighted to see me." + +"What you point out still more confirms my assertion. You see how +domestic remedies, administered without other judgment than that +suggested by experience, by the results obtained in a long series of +cases, sometimes operate on the organism in a more successful way than +scientific medicine. Such a thing could not happen in our profession, +seora, where all the chances that may occur are foreseen in advance by +the laws, or by jurisprudence raised into the category of the law. There +is not a single litigation which does not find its adequate solution in +the civil codes, nor can any crime or misdeed whatsoever be committed, +without provision being made for it in some article of the penal code. +And in order that nothing may even be wanting the free will of the +tribunals (I except the usual interpretation), we have as a supplement +the canonical law, which is an abundant source of rules for conduct, +though these all are based principally on equity." + +"Certainly, certainly, Isidorito. Doctors absolutely do not understand a +single thing. If I could measure out into bottles, once for all, the +medicine that I have taken, I could very easily open an apothecary shop. +And yet here you see me just as I was at the very beginning,--at the +very beginning,--without having made a single step in advance. God +grants me great resignation, otherwise--Just consider! yesterday I was +as usual, but to-day, my fte-day too, what I suffer I'm sure will be +the death of me, the death of me;--an uneasiness throughout my body,--a +crawling up and down my legs like ants,--a rumbling in my ears. You who +have so much talent, don't you know what it is to have a rumbling in the +ears?" + +"Seora, I think--ahem--that a purely nervous state is answerable for this +infirmity,--nervous alterations are so varied and extraordinary--ahem--that +it is not possible to reduce them to fixed principles, and so it is much +better not to lay down any rule, but to study them in detail, or let +each one stand separately." + +It was hard work, but at last he extricated himself from the difficulty. +Isidorito was a lean, bashful young man, with deep precocious wrinkles +in his cheeks, with thin hair and goggle eyes. He was regarded as one of +the most serious-minded youths, or perhaps the most serious-minded +youth of the town, and always served as a mirror for the fathers of +families, to hold up before their rattlebrain sons. "Don't you see how +well Isidorito behaves in society, and with what aplomb he talks on all +sorts of subjects?" "Ah, if you were like Isidorito, what a happy old +age you would make me spend!" "Shame on you for letting Isidorito be +made doctor of laws these four years, while you have not succeeded in +graduating as a licentiate yet, you blockhead!" + +Doa Gertrudis, wife of Don Mariano Elorza, the master of the house in +which we find ourselves, is seated, or, to speak more correctly, is +reclining, in an easy-chair at Isidorito's side. Although she had not +yet passed her forty-fifth year, she appeared to be as old as her +husband, who was now approaching his sixtieth. Not entirely lacking in +her cadaverous and faded face were the lines of an exceptional beauty, +which had given much to talk about there from 1846 to 1848, and which +had redounded to her in a multitude of ballads, sonnets, and acrostics, +by the most distinguished poets of the town, inserted in a weekly +journal entitled _El Judio Errante_, which was published at that time in +Nieva. Doa Gertrudis preserved with great care a gorgeously bound +collection of _Judios Errantes_, and was in the habit of assuring her +friends that if the young man who signed his acrostics with a V and +three stars had not faded away with quick consumption, he would have +been by this time the fashionable poet; and that if another lad, named +Ulpiano Menndez, who disguised himself under the pseudonym of _The Moor +of Venice_, had not gone off to America to make his fortune in business, +he would have been, at least, as great as Ayola, Campoamor, or Nuo de +Arce. Don Mariano, her husband, shared the same conviction, although at +another epoch the lyric poet, as well as the merchant, had caused him +great anxieties, and not a few times had disturbed the peaceful course +of his love; but he was a just man and fond of giving every one his due. + +Doa Gertrudis was wrapt up in a magnificent plush comforter, and her +head was covered with a net, underneath which appeared her hair turning +from auburn to white. Her features were delicate and regular, and of a +singularly faded pallor. Her eyes were blue and extremely melancholy. +The marks of close confinement rather than of illness were to be seen in +that face. + +"This roaring in my ears is killing me, killing me. I cannot eat, I +cannot sleep, I cannot get any rest anywhere." + +"I think that you ought to stay in your room." + +"That is worse, Isidorito, that is worse. In my room I cannot distract +my thoughts. My mind begins to grind like a mill, and it ends by giving +me a fever. I am much sicker than people give me credit for. They'll see +how this will end. To-day I am so nervous, so nervous.--Feel my pulse, +Isidorito, and tell me if I am not feverish." + +As she drew out her thin hand and gave it to the young man, Don Mariano +and Don Maximo, who were engaged in lively discussion in the recess of a +balconied window, turned their faces in her direction and smiled. Doa +Gertrudis blushed a little and hastened to hide her hand under her +comforter. + +"Your wife already has a new physician!" added Don Maximo, in a tone of +irony. + +"Bah, bah, bah! What cat or dog is there in town that my wife won't have +taken into consultation? These days she is furious with you, and says +that she is going to die without your paying any attention to her. I +find her better than ever. But we shall see, Don Maximo. Do you really +believe that we can accept the line from Miramar?" + +"And why not?" + +"Don't you comprehend that it would swamp us forever?" + +"Don Mariano, it seems to me that you are blinded. What is of importance +for Nieva is to have a railroad right away, right away, I say!" + +"What is of importance for Nieva is to have a decent road, a decent +road, I say. The line from Miramar would be our ruin, for it ties us to +Sarri, which, as you know very well, has far greater importance as a +commercial town and a seaport town than we have. In a few years it would +swallow us like a cherry-stone. Moreover, you must take into account +that as it is fifteen kilometers from the junction to Nieva, and only +twelve to Sarri; trade would not fail to select the latter point for +exportation, on account of the saving in the rate, for those three +kilometers of difference. On the other hand, the line from Sotolongo +offers the great advantage of uniting us to Pinarrubio, which can never +enter into rivalry with us; and at the same time it decidedly shortens +the distance to the junction, bringing it down to thirteen kilometers. +The difference in the rates, therefore, is a mere trifle, not sufficient +to induce trade to go to Sarri. If you add to this the fact that sooner +or later--" + +A violent coughing fit cut short Don Mariano's discourse. He was a +large, tall man, with white beard and hair, the beard very abundant. His +black eyes gleamed like those of a boy, and in his ruddy cheeks time had +not succeeded in ploughing deep furrows. Doubtless he had been one of +the most gallant young men of his day, and even as we find him now, he +still attracted attention by his genial and venerable countenance, and +by his noble athletic figure. The violence of his cough had a powerful +effect on his sanguine complexion, and he grew exceedingly red in the +face. After he had stopped coughing, he resumed the thread of his +discourse. + +"If you add to the fact that sooner or later we shall have a good port, +either in El Moral or in Nieva itself,--for the war isn't going to last +forever, nor is the government going to leave us always in the condition +of pariahs,--you will see at once what an impulse will be instantly +given to the trade of the town and how soon we shall put Sarri into the +shade." + +"Well, well, I agree that the line from Sotolongo offers certain +advantages; but you very well know that neither at the present time, nor +for many days to come, can we do anything but dream about that one, +while the road from Miramar is in our very hands. The government is +deeply interested in it because there is no other means of protecting +our gun-factory. You certainly realize that if the Carlists succeeded in +breaking the line of Somosierra, they would overrun us and make +themselves at home; they would take the arms on hand, dismantle the +factory, and without the slightest risk they could set out for the +valley of Caedo. At present there is no danger of their breaking the +line; I grant that, but who can guarantee what the future may bring +forth? Moreover, may not the day come when the Carlist element which we +have here will raise its head? Then if there were a railroad, no matter +from what point, nothing would be more easy than to set down here in a +couple of hours four or five thousand men--" + +"In the first place, Don Maximo, a military railroad, as you yourself +confess that the one from Miramar is to be, is not such as we have the +right to ask of the nation. We need a genuine railroad, suitable for the +promotion of our interests, and not to serve merely for the protection +of a factory. Just consider that it is a work to last for all time, and +that if from its very inception it suffers from a gross mistake, this +mistake will hang forever over our town. In the second place, the +Carlists will never get beyond Somosierra. As to their raising their +heads here, you understand perfectly well that it is impossible because +they have very few elements to rely on--and, as to their doing this--" + +"I have reason to believe that they are! We must be on the watch, and +not be found napping. And, as a final reason, a sparrow in the hand is +worth more than a hundred flying.--But tell me, Don Mariano, to change +the subject, have the stables been put in order yet?" + +Don Mariano, instead of replying, felt in all the pockets of his coat +with a distracted air, and not finding what he was looking for, turned +towards a corner of the room. + +"Martita, come here!" + +A young girl who was seated at one end of a sofa, not talking to +anybody, came running to him. She might have been thirteen or fourteen +years old, but the proportions of a woman grown were very distinctly +observable in her. Nevertheless, she wore short dresses. She had a light +complexion, with black hair and eyes, but her countenance did not offer +the exasperating expression so commonly met with in faces of that kind. +The features could not have been more regular and their _tout ensemble_ +could not have been more harmonious; nevertheless, her beauty lacked +animation. It was what is commonly called a cold face. + +"Listen, daughter: go to my room, open the second drawer on the +left-hand side of my writing-table, and bring me the cigar-case which +you'll find there." + +The girl went off on the run, and quickly returned with the article. + +"Let us go and have a smoke in the dining-room," said Don Mariano, +taking Don Maximo by the arm. + +And the two left the parlor by one of the side doors. + +Marta sat down again in the same place. The ladies on one side were +engaged in lively conversation, but she took no share in it. She kept +her seat, casting her eyes indifferently from one part of the parlor to +the other, now resting them on one group of bystanders, now on another, +and more particularly dwelling on the pianist, who at that moment was +executing an arrangement of _Semiramide_. + +Scarcely ever had the parlors of the Elorza mansion presented a more +brilliant appearance; all the sofas of flowered damask were occupied by +richly dressed ladies with bare arms and bosoms. The chandelier +suspended from the middle, reflected the light in beautiful hues which +fell upon smooth skins, making them look like milk and roses. Those fair +bosoms were infinitely multiplied by the mirrors on both sides: the +severe bottle-green paper of the parlor brought out all their whiteness. +Marta turned to look at the Seoras de Delgado; three sisters: one, a +widow, the other two, old maids. All were upwards of forty; the old +maids did not trust to their youthfulness, but they had absolute +confidence in the power of their shining shoulders and their fat and +unctuous arms. Near them was the Seorita de Mor, round-faced, +sprightly, with mischievous eyes, an orphan and rich. At a little +distance was the Seora de Ciudad, napping peacefully until the hour +should come for her to collect the six daughters whom she had scattered +about in different parts of the parlor. Yonder in a corner her sister +Maria was holding a confidential talk with a young man. The girl's eyes +wandered slowly from one point to another. The music interested her very +slightly. She seemed to be sure of not being noticed by any one, and her +face kept the icy expression of indifference of one alone in a room. + +The gentlemen in black dress-coats properly buttoned, languidly +clustered about the doors of the library and dining-room, staring +persistently at the arms and bosoms occupying the sofas. Others stood +behind the piano, waiting till a period of silence gave them time to +express by subdued exclamations the admiration with which their souls +were overflowing. Only a very few, well beloved by fortune, had received +the flattering compliment of having some lady calm with her hand the +exuberant inclinations of her silken skirts and make a bit of room for +them beside her. Puffed up with such a privilege, they gesticulated +without ceasing, and spread their talents for the sake of entertaining +the magnanimous seora, and the three or four other ladies who took part +in the conversation. The torrent of demisemiquavers and double +demisemiquavers pouring from the piano which was situated in one corner +of the parlor, filled its neighborhood and entirely quenched the buzzing +of the conversation. At times, however, when in some passage the +pianist's fingers struck the keys softly, the distressing clatter of the +opening and shutting of fans was heard, and above the dull, confused +murmur of the thoughtless chatterers some word or entire sentence would +suddenly become perceptible, making those who were drawn up behind the +piano shake their heads in disgust. The heat was intense, although the +balconied windows were thrown open. The atmosphere was stifling and +heavy with an indistinct and disagreeable odor, compounded of the +perfume of pomades and colognes and the effluvia of perspiring bodies. +In this confusion of smells pre-eminent was the sharp scent of +rice-powder. + +Doa Gertrudis according to her daily habit had gone sound asleep in her +easy-chair. She asserted an invalid's right, and no one took it amiss. +Isidorito, getting up noiselessly, went and stood by the library door. +From that impregnable coigne of vantage he began to shoot long, deep, +and passionate glances upon the Seorita de Mor, who received the fires +of the battery with heroic calmness. Isidorito had been in love with the +Seorita de Mor ever since he knew what dowry and paraphernalia[2] +meant, rousing the admiration of the whole town by his loyalty. This +passion had taken such possession of his soul that never had he been +known to exchange a word with or speed an incendiary look towards any +other woman except the seorita aforesaid. But Isidorito, contrary to +what might have been believed, considering his vast legal attainments +and his gravity no less vast, met with a slight contrariety in his +love-making. Seorita de Mor was in the habit of lavishing fascinating +smiles on everybody, of squandering warm and languishing glances on all +the young men of the community; all--except Isidorito. This +incomprehensible conduct did not fail to cause him some disquietude, +compelling him to meditate often on the shrewdness of the Roman +legislators who were always unwilling to grant women legal capacity. He +had lately been appointed municipal attorney of the district, and this, +by the authority conferred upon him, gave him great prestige among his +fellow-citizens. But, indeed, the Seorita de Mor, far from allowing +herself to be fascinated by her suitor's new position, seemed to regard +his appointment as ridiculous, judging by the pains she took from that +time forth to avoid all visual communication with him. Still our young +friend was not going to be cast down by these clouds, which are so +common among lovers, and he continued to lay siege to the restless +damsel's chubby face and three thousand duros income, sometimes by means +of learned discourses, and sometimes by languishing and romantic +actions. + +At one side of Marta a certain young engineer who had just arrived from +Madrid, turned the listening circle (_tertulia_) gathered around him +into an Eden by his wheedling and graceful conversation. It was a +tertulia, or _petit comit_, as the engineer called it, consisting +exclusively of ladies, the nucleus of which was made up by three of the +De Ciudad girls. + +"That's only one of your gallant speeches, Surez," said one lady. + +"Of course it is," echoed several. + +"It is absolute truth, and whoever has lived here any length of time +will say so. In Madrid there's no halfway about it; the women are either +perfectly beautiful or perfectly hideous. That union of charming and +attractive faces which I see here is not to be found there; and so don't +let it surprise you when I tell you that the hideous are much more +numerous than the beautiful." + +"Oh, pshaw! Madrid is where the prettiest women are to be seen, and +especially the most elegant." + +"Ah! that is quite a different matter; elegant, certainly; but pretty, I +don't agree with you!" + +"It is so, though you don't agree with us!" + +"Ladies, there is one reason why you are more beautiful than the +Madrileas; it is a reason which can be better appreciated by those who, +like myself, have devoted themselves to the fine arts: here there is +color and form, and there they do not exist. By good fortune, this very +evening, I have the opportunity of noticing it and of making +comparisons, which show most favorably for you. Now that we are allowed +to contemplate what is ordinarily draped with great care, I can take my +oath that you have those beautiful forms which we admire so much in +Grecian statues and Flemish paintings, soft, white, transparent; while +if you enter a Madrid drawing-room, you don't stumble upon anything else +than skeletons in ball dresses--" + +The ladies broke into laughter, hiding their faces behind their fans. + +"What a tongue, what a tongue you have, Surez!" + +"It only serves me to tell the truth. The Madrid girls have the effect +upon me of shadow-pantomimes. In you I find visible, palpable, and even +delectable beings--" + +Marta noticed that the wax of a candelabrum was burning out, and that +the glass socket was in danger of cracking. She got up and went to puff +it out. Then when she sat down again, she took a different position. + +The pianist ended his fantasy without stumbling. The conversations +stopped abruptly; some clapped their hands, and others said, "Very good, +very good." No one had been listening to him, but the pianist felt +himself rewarded for his fatigues, and raising his blushing face above +the piano, he acknowledged his thanks to the company with a triumphant +smile. A young fellow who wore his hair banged like the dandies of +Madrid, profited by this blissful moment to beg him to play a +waltz-polka. + +At the very first chords an extraordinary commotion was observable among +the young men near the doors, who were evidently suffering from lack of +exercise. A few began to draw on their gloves hastily; others smoothed +back their hair with their hands, and straightened their cravats. One +asked, with constrained voice,-- + +"It's a mazurka, isn't it?" + +"No, a waltz-polka." + +"What! a waltz-polka?" + +"Can't you tell by your ears?" + +"Ah, yes. You're right. But then, seor, this wretched fellow at the +piano will prevent me from dancing with Rosario this evening." + +All seemed restless and nervous as though they were about to pass +through the fire. The boldest crossed the drawing-room with rapid steps, +and joined the young ladies, hiding their trepidation behind a +supercilious smile. As soon as the seorita who had been invited stood +up and took the proffered arm, they began to feel that they were masters +of themselves. Others, less courageous, gave three or four long pulls to +their cigars, puffing the smoke out toward the entry, and having keyed +themselves up to the right pitch, slowly directed their steps to some +young lady less fascinating than the others, receiving for their +attention a smile full of tender promises. The more cowardly struggled a +long while with their gloves, and finally had to ask some grave seor to +fasten the buttons for them. When this operation was finished, and they +were ready to dance, they discovered that there were no girls sitting +down. Thereupon they resigned themselves to dance with some mamma. + +One after another all the couples took the floor. Marta remained +sitting. Two or three very complaisant and patronizing young fellows +came to invite her, but she replied that she did not know how to dance. +The real motive of her refusal was that her father did not like to have +her take part in society while she was so young. She sat, therefore, +attentively watching how the others went round. Her great black eyes +rested with placid expression on each one of the couples who went up and +down before her. Some interested her more than others, and she followed +them with her glance. Their ways, their movements, and their looks were +so different, that they made a curious study. A tall, lean youth was +bending his back as near double as possible, so as to put his arm around +the waist of a diminutive seorita who was endeavoring to keep on her +very tip-toes. An elderly and portly lady was leaning languidly over a +boy's shoulder, besmearing his coat with Matilde Dez's wax-white. Some, +like Isidorito, did not succeed in steering, and frequently stepped on +their partners, who soon declared that they were weary and asked to be +excused. Others put down their heels with such force that they scratched +the floor. Marta looked at these with considerable severity, like a true +housewife. After a while the faces began to show signs of weariness, +some becoming flushed, others pallid, according to the temperament of +each. With mouths open, cheeks aglow, and brows bathed in perspiration, +they gave evidence of no other expression than that of absolute +stupidity. At first they smiled and even dropped from their lips a +compliment or two; but very soon gallantries ceased, and the smile faded +away; all ended by skipping about silent and solemn, as if some unseen +hand were laying on the lash in order to make them do so. Marta from +time to time shut her eyes, and thus she avoided the dizziness which +began to attack her. + +At last the piano suddenly ceased to sound. The couples, in virtue of +the momentum which they had acquired, gave three or four hops +unaccompanied by the music, and this made Marta smile. Before they took +their seats the girls walked around the drawing-room for a few moments +arm in arm with their partners, engaged in lively and interesting +discourse. The pianist accepted the effusive thanks of the smart young +man with the bangs. At length the ladies were all seated in their +respective places, and the gentlemen fell back once again to the doors, +mopping their brows with their handkerchiefs. Those who had danced with +the beauties of the drawing-room showed faces shining with beatitude, +and smilingly received the jests of their friends, while those who had +pressed the less favored to their bosoms, praised to the skies their +partners' Terpsichorean skill. + +The youth with the hair over his forehead conceived the idea of Don +Serapio singing a song, and he went from group to group around the room, +making an instantaneous and satisfactory propaganda with his happy +thought. + +"Yes, yes, Don Serapio must sing!" + +"Don Serapio must sing! Don Serapio must sing!" + +"Gentlemen, for Heaven's sake--I have a very bad cold!" + +"No matter; you will sing well enough, Don Serapio." + +"A thousand thanks, ladies, a thousand thanks. I should wish at this +moment that I had the voice of an angel, for angels only ought to sing +to angels." + +This compliment produced an excellent impression upon the feminine +element of the company. The masculine element received it with derisive +smiles. + +"We always enjoy great pleasure in listening to you; you know it very +well." + +"Because generosity ever goes in company with beauty. The face is the +mirror of the soul, they say, and if that is true, how could you help +being benevolent toward me?" + +The second compliment was likewise received with a laugh of complacency +by the ladies. The men continued to smile scornfully. + +"Sing, sing, Don Serapio!" + +"But supposing I am not in practice--I don't know how I can repay such +kindness. Besides, I have lost my voice entirely." + +Don Serapio let himself be urged for some time. At last he went toward +the piano, escorted by a circle of ladies, to whom he addressed smiles +and words full of honeyed sweetness, and managed to extract +clandestinely a roll of music which he carried in the inner pocket of +his coat. The pianist instantly saw through this manoeuvre, and came +to his assistance by quietly taking the music from his hand. + +"Don Serapio is going to sing--you are going to sing the romance +_Lontano a te_," he said as he spread it out on the rack. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake! it is too sentimental, and these ladies are not +now in favor of romanticism--" + +"On the contrary, Don Serapio!" exclaimed one of the Delgado girls; "we +women in this age of selfishness and calculation are the very ones who +ought to worship sentiment and heart." + +"Always as graceful as you are felicitous!" declared the vocalist, +bowing to the floor. + +The pianoforte introduction began. Don Serapio, before he uttered a +note, kept arching his eyebrows, and he stretched his neck as much as +possible, as a token of his feeling. He was upwards of fifty, although +pomades, dyes, and cosmetics gave him from a distance the appearance of +a young man. Near at hand, his mustachios, though waxed to perfection, +were not sufficient to make up for the crows'-feet and wrinkles of every +sort which lined his face. He was a manufacturer of canned goods, and a +confirmed old bachelor; not because he failed to honor the fair sex and +hold it in esteem, but because he thought that marriage was death to +love and its illusions. Never was there a man more soft and honeyed in +his conversation with ladies, and never was there a gallant who had a +more abundant assortment of flatteries to lavish upon them. He made +great use of such expressions as _the fire of passion_, _the loss of +will power_, _perfumed breath_, _palpitations of the heart_, and other +like elegancies, all sure of hitting the mark. This was as regards +society women. As for work-girls and serving-maids, Don Serapio's +gallantries did not stop with compliments. He was regarded as one of the +most formidable and successful of seducers among such, and it was a +matter of common knowledge in Nieva that more than one, and more than +two, had had seriously to complain of his behavior, so that it brought +about his head a tremendous scandal which he had hastened to hush with +the fulness of his locker. As a general thing he led a regular life, +rising very early, going to his factory to attend to his accounts and to +inspect the spicing of his fish and oysters, and coming home about five +o'clock in the afternoon to wash himself and dress for his promenade or +his calls, which were not few, and which always ended at eleven o'clock +in the evening. The only reading for which he cared was that of +detective stories. + +Don Serapio's voice was a trifle disagreeable. As one of the young wags +among those clustering about the door said, no one could tell for a +certainty if it were tenor, baritone, or bass. In compensation, he sang +with sentiment fit to melt the rocks, as could be judged by the infinite +movements of his eyebrows, and by the expression of disconsolateness +which came over his face as soon as he stood in front of the piano; no +one ever saw a face so wrinkled, so long drawn, so full of compunction. +The romanza _Lontano a te_, better than any other, had the power of +exciting his sensibility and giving his eyes an exceedingly hopeless +expression. + +While the proprietor of the canning factory was expressing in Italian +his grief at finding himself far from his lady love, the elder daughter +of the family was in the most retired part of the room still engaged in +conversation with a youth of a pleasant, open countenance, with swarthy +complexion, black eyes, and a young mustache. + +"Enrique misunderstood my commission," said the youth. "I asked him to +send me some jewelry worth something, but what he sent me is just about +as commonplace as could be; so much so that I am thinking of sending it +back to-morrow without showing it to you." + +"Don't trouble about it any more; it's all the same one way or the +other." + +"What do you mean, 'all the same'? Since when, seorita, have you grown +so indifferent to matters of the toilet? I am certain that if I were to +bring you this jewelry, you would laugh me to scorn." + +"Don't imagine such a thing." + +"Perhaps you think I don't remember how you made fun of that hat that +your aunt Carmen presented you a few days ago!" + +"It was very wrong of me to make fun of it; but you are just as bad when +you throw it in my face. The truth is that in the end one hat or one set +of jewelry is as good as another." + +"Be it so! Keep it up! I know you well, and you can't cheat me. The +jewelry shall be sent back, and in its place we'll have another set to +my taste and yours. But let's drop the subject. I had something to tell +you, and I can't remember what it was. Oh, yes! we must write to your +uncle Rodrigo, for judging by the note I have just received from him, he +doesn't know yet the day on which we are to be married. I think we ought +to write him both of us in the same letter; doesn't it seem so to you?" + +"Just as you like." + +"All right; I'll come round to-morrow before dinner, and we'll write +it." + +Both remained silent a few moments and listened to the singing of Don +Serapio, who was lamenting always with a more and more pathetic accent +the solitude and sadness in which his mistress kept him. One of the +Delgado seoritas lifted her handkerchief to her eyes, declaring in a +low voice to those standing near that hitherto there had been few things +that ever brought the tears into her eyes. + +"What a bore that wretched Don Serapio is! he wrinkles up his forehead +so that his wig is almost lifted off behind." + +"Don't be so unkind. Have a little charity, and let the poor man enjoy +himself without harming God or his neighbor." + +"As far as I am concerned he may sing till doomsday. But I notice, +lassie, that for some time you have been becoming a great preacher. Are +you thinking of entering into competition with the cur of the parish?" + +"What I am anxious for is that you shouldn't be a backbiter. If you love +me as you say you do, my good advice ought not to make you vexed." + +"It doesn't make me vexed, loveliest; quite the contrary. I always +listen to it with pleasure and follow it--when I can. You surely are +acquainted with my ways, and know that I can't help making fun. However, +you'll have time enough to preach to me all you want, won't you? Not +only time enough but space enough. You can go on giving me sermons from +Nieva to Madrid, then from Madrid to Paris, and from Paris to Milan, and +from Milan to Venice, and thence to Rome and Naples, and back by Geneva, +Brussels, Paris, and Madrid, home again. With what delight I shall +travel through all these foreign countries listening to a preacher so +devoted! How do you like the itinerary of our journey?" + +"Well enough." + +"Well enough! That isn't saying anything. One would think the subject +didn't interest you as much as it did me. I won't fix it definitely till +you have made such changes as you like in it, or vary it entirely, if it +seem good to you. I am just as much interested in going to Berlin or +London as to Paris and Rome. You can imagine how much difference it +makes to me, if I go with you, which way we travel!" + +"Whatever you decide upon will be well." + +"Let us have it decided. Do you like the plan I propose? Yes or no?" + +"I have told you yes already." + +"But, lassie, what is the matter with you? You have scarcely allowed +yourself to smile this whole evening, and you haven't said a word more +than was strictly necessary. What is the reason of such solemnity? Are +you put out with me?" + +"What reason should I have to be?" + +"Then I'll ask you _why_ you are. You must be, since there's no other +way of explaining the curt way in which you have been answering me this +long time." + +"That's your own imagination. I answer you just as I always do." + +Ricardo, without speaking, looked at his betrothed, who turned away her +eyes, fixing them on Don Serapio. + +"It must be so, but I don't understand it. If you are really angry with +me, it would be very unkind of you not to tell me why, so that I could +repair my mistake, if perchance I had committed any. My conscience does +not accuse me of anything--" + +"I tell you that I am not angry; don't be so tiresome!" + +Maria said these words with evident asperity, not turning her face from +the singer. Ricardo again looked at her for a long time. + +"Very good--it is better so--still I thought--" + +Both kept silence for some moments. Ricardo broke it, saying,-- + +"When Don Serapio has finished, they are going to make you sing; I am +sure--all get good out of it except me." + +"Why?" + +"For two reasons: the first is, because much as I enjoy hearing you when +we are alone, I don't like it when you sing before people; the second +is, because they will take you away from me." + +"I don't see why you should dislike it because I sing before people. I +am the one not to like it--and I don't at all. As to the separation, +that's nonsense, because we are together much more than we ought to be." + +"It would be a long and difficult task for me to explain why I don't +like you to sing in public. As to the separation which you call +nonsense, it's the solemn truth. In spite of our being together several +hours a day it seems to me very little. I could wish that we were +together all the time. For a man who is going to be married inside of a +month and a half, I don't think that such a wish is very extraordinary." + +And lowering his voice, he added in a passionate tone:-- + +"I am never satisfied, and never shall be satisfied, however much I am +with thee, my own life. In all the years since I have adored thee, never +for a single instant have I felt the shadow of satiety. When I am near +thee, I think that I could not be more content, even in heaven; when I +am away, I think how much happier I should be if I were with thee. This +is a guaranty that we should never get tired of each other's society; +isn't it so? For my part, I give thee my word that if we reach old age, +I shall enjoy more by thy side than sitting in the sunshine! What a +happy life is waiting for us, and how long it is that I have dreamed +about it! Do you remember how one day in the big garden, when you were +eight years old, and I was ten, my dear mamma made us take each other's +hands, saying to us in a serious tone: 'Would you like to be husband and +wife? Then kiss each other, and look out that you don't quarrel any +more.' From that time forth I have never dreamed of the possibility of +marrying any other woman than you." + +Maria made no reply to this fervid declaration. She kept looking at the +proprietor of the canning factory, with a strange expression, as though +her thoughts were far away. + +"Do you know one thing?" + +"What?" + +"That the chests have come with thy clothes, but I have not opened them +yet. Both of them have on the lid thy cipher with the coronet of +marchioness above. You may laugh at me, but I shall tell thee, all the +same, that it made my heart leap to see the coronet. I imagined that we +were already married, and that I hadn't to wait these everlasting +forty-five days. I don't know what I wouldn't give if to-day were the +last day of December. Tell me, don't you feel any inclination to call +yourself the _Marquesa de Pealta_? to be mine, mine for ever?" + +Maria arose from the sofa, and with a scornful gesture, nor deigning to +look once at her lover, replied,-- + +"Well enough." + +And she went and sat down beside one of the numberless De Ciudad girls. +Ricardo remained for a few moments glued to his seat, without stirring a +finger. Then he got up abruptly and hastened from the room. + +Don Serapio at last ceased mourning his lady's absence, declaring in a +finale that if such a state of things existed longer, he should die +without delay. The pianist added force to this wail of woe by performing +a noisy run in octaves. A great clapping of hands was heard, and +affectionate smiles of approbation were lavished by the ladies upon the +vocalist. The young fellows near the doors, always ready for fun, did +their best to bring about a repetition of the romanza, but Don Serapio +was shrewd enough to perceive that the plaudits of these boys were not +in good faith, and he refused to grant the favor. + +Then the stripling with the banged hair made the following little speech +to the assembled audience:-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that now is the time for us to listen +to the great artiste. We are all waiting impatiently for Maria to +delight us--one of those happy moments--with which she has in days gone +by delighted us. Isn't it a good idea?" + +"That's it; Maria must sing!" + +"Of course she will sing; she is very accommodating." + +The spokesman offered his arm to the young seorita, and led her to the +piano. + +When Maria was left standing alone, facing the audience, a thrill of +admiration was excited as usual. "How lovely, how lovely she is!" "That +girl grows prettier every day!" "What exquisite taste she shows in her +dress!" "She looks like a queen!" These and many other flattering +phrases were whispered among the friends of the Elorza family. + +Without being very tall she was of stately stature and presence. She was +slender, lithe, and graceful as those beautiful dames of the +Renaissance, which the Italian painters chose as their models. The line +of her soft lustrous neck reminded one of Grecian statues. This neck +supported a shapely head; the face fair, the cheeks slightly +rose-tinted, delicate, regular, transparent, with ruby lips and blue +eyes. She bore a notable resemblance to Doa Gertrudis, but she had an +attractive and fascinating expression which that celebrated lady never +had, whatever may have been the persuasion of the lyric poet of the +acrostics. Around her clear and brilliant eyes showed a slight violet +circle, which gave her face a decided poetical tinge. + +"Now Surez, you will see what kind of a singer this girl is," said one +lady. + +"I shall appreciate her, for this Seor Don Serapio has spoiled my ears +for the time being." + +"Oh! Maria is an artist." + +"What I perceive just now is, that she has a stunning figure." + +"You just wait till you hear her." + +"That girl does everything well! If you could see how she draws!" + +"Haven't the Elorzas any other daughters than this?" + +"Yes, that other girl, who is sitting down over there; her name is +Marta. She is going to be very handsome, too." + +"Indeed, she is pretty; but she hasn't any expression at all. It's a +common kind of beauty, while her sister--" + +"Hush! she's going to begin." Then ensued a silence in the company such +as had always been Don Serapio's ideal--unrealizable like all ideals. +Maria sang various operatic pieces which were asked for, and needed no +urging. When she finished, the plaudits were so eager and long that it +made her blush. + +Surez assured his circle[3] of ladies that she had a voice which +resembled Nantier Didier's, and that a short time at the conservatory +would put her on an equality with the leading contraltos. + +When the congratulations had ceased, and the looks of all had ceased to +be fastened upon her, a shade of sadness came over Maria's lovely face. +She went to Doa Gertrudis and whispered in her ear,-- + +"Mamma, I have a very severe headache." + +"Ay! daughter of my heart, I sympathize with you. I, too, am having my +share of pain." + +"I should like to go to bed." + +"Then go, my daughter, go. I will say that you are feeling a trifle +indisposed." + +"Adios, mamaita! Good night, and sleep well." + +Maria kissed her mother's brow, and gradually, taking care not to be +noticed, she left the parlor by the dining-room door. She stopped to get +a drink of _eau sucr_, and stood a moment motionless, with her eyes +fixed on vacancy. The shade of melancholy had greatly dulled the +brilliancy of her face. + +She passed out of the dining-room and crossed a long and pretty dark +entry. At the end there was a door which led to a back stairway. She had +mounted only four or five steps when she felt herself seized roughly by +the arm, and uttered a cry of terror. Turning round, she saw with +embarrassment the pale and troubled face of her betrothed. + +"Ricardo! what are you doing here?" + +"I saw that you left the dining-room, and I followed you." + +"What for?" + +"To hear for a second time from your lips the infamous words you said to +me in the drawing-room. Do you think, perhaps, it isn't worth while to +repeat them? Do you think, perhaps, that I can give up a whole past of +love, a whole future of happiness, all the sweet dreams of my life, +without calling you infamous, a hundred times infamous, a thousand times +infamous, now right here, while we are together alone, afterwards in +open society, and then before the whole world? Come, come back, you +miserable girl--come back, and let me call you so before everybody!" + +And Ricardo, pale and trembling like a gambler who has staked his last +remaining money on a card, firmly grasped his sweetheart by the wrist +and tried to drag her back to the parlor. + +Maria hung her head and said not a word. Without offering any resistance +she allowed him to pull her down the four or five steps of the +staircase. But on reaching the passage-way, Ricardo felt on his cheek a +warm kiss, which caused him to loose his captive and fall back with +horror; instantly Maria's arms were wound around his neck, and on his +lips he felt the imprint of other lips. + +"Ricardo mio, for heaven's sake, don't put me to shame!" + +These words, whispered in his ear with a passionate accent, were +accompanied by a cloud of caresses. The young man pressed her close to +his heart without answering a word; his emotion choked his utterance. +When he became a little calmer, he asked her with trembling voice,-- + +"Do you love me?" + +"With all my soul!" + +"Was that nothing else but a moment of ill humor?" + +"That was all." + +"Oh, what a wretched time you have made me have! Not for all the gold in +the world would I go through it again!" + +"Tell me, haven't I made up for it now?" + +"Yes, loveliest." + +"Let me loose. I am going to lie down. I have such a headache!" + +"Wait a minute. Let me kiss thee on thy forehead,--now another on thy +eyes,--now another on thy lips,--now on thy hands!" + +"Adios!" + +"Adios!" + +"Let me go, Ricardo, let me go!" + +The young fellow, laughing with happiness, still held her by the hand. +Maria struggled to escape, though she also was laughing. + +"Come, let me go, don't be foolish." + +"It shows I'm not foolish because I don't let you go!" + +"Think how my head aches!" + +"All right, then, I'll let you go." + +"Till to-morrow! Be careful whom you dance with now." + +"Don't you worry. I am going immediately. Till to-morrow!" + +Maria tore herself away. Ricardo tried to catch her again, leaping up +the dark staircase, but he did not succeed. The girl said good night[4] +with a merry laugh from the top of the stairs. + +When Ricardo returned to the parlor he was smiling like a happy man. The +light of the chandelier somewhat dazzled him, and he hastened to sit +down. + +Maria's room, when she entered it, was plunged in darkness. She groped +about for the matches and lighted a lamp of burnished iron. The room was +furnished with a luxury and good taste rarely to be found in provincial +towns. The furniture was upholstered in blue satin; the curtains and +paper were of the same color. In the recess between the windows was a +mahogany wardrobe with a full-length mirror. The dressing-table loaded +down under the weight of its bottles stood against the opposite wall; +the carpet was white, with blue flowers. The exquisite niceness with +which all these objects were put in place, the elegance and coquetry of +the furniture, and the delicate fragrance perceptible on entering, +clearly declared the sex and the station of the person who dwelt there. + +When Maria lighted her lamp, her eyes met the eyes of an image of the +Saviour which stood on the centre of the table where the light burned. +It was on wood, beautifully carved and painted, with a decidedly sad and +meek expression of the face, and it was this which had led the young +woman to buy it. When she caught sight of the sweet but icy face of the +image, the happy smile which still hovered over her lips died away, +leaving her motionless and deeply thoughtful. Little by little, +doubtless under the influence of the ideas which came into her mind, her +face lost its usual expression and assumed one as melancholy and humble +as that of a Magdalene. At that moment the sound of the piano came +vibrating through the dark stairway, telling of the first movement of a +fascinating rigadoon. She fell on her knees and bent her head. Every now +and then she sobbed. Her lips were pressed convulsively against the +naked feet of the Saviour, and muttered unintelligible words. + +After a long time she raised her face bathed in tears, and exclaimed in +a tone of woe:-- + +"My Jesus! what treachery! what treachery! How illy do I repay the love +which thou hast bestowed on me. Punish me, Lord, so that I may again +have peace of mind!" + +Arising from the floor, she took the lamp in her hand and went into her +bed-room. It was tiny and warm as a nest, and it was ornamented with a +profusion of engravings of Jesus and the Virgin. The bed, covered with +satin curtains, was white and delightful as a baptismal altar. She +placed the lamp on her dressing-table and with more tranquil face +quickly undressed. + +Then she took a travelling-mantle from the wardrobe, wrapped herself in +it, blew out the lamp, made the sign of the cross time and again on her +forehead, her mouth, and her breast, and lay down on the floor. The +white bed, covered with satin and lawn, warm and perfumed, and full of +sensuous delights, awaited her in vain all night. Thus she remained +stretched on the floor till daylight dawned. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. + + +Day had hardly dawned, when our maiden arose suddenly from the floor. +She stood motionless a moment with ear attent, but she did not catch the +sound of the bells of San Felipe, which she thought she had heard in her +dreams. She was mistaken; it was not yet six o'clock. She lighted her +lamp, and going to her boudoir prostrated herself in humiliation before +the image of Jesus and began to pray. As she wore nothing but a thin +cambric night-dress, she naturally felt the cold through it, and began +to shiver, but she would not yield, and she kept on with her prayers +until her teeth chattered. Only then she decided to quit the position +which she had taken and dress herself. Thereupon, she opened the four +windows of her boudoir and blew out the lamp. + +A peevish light, cold and chill, made its way into the Seorita de +Elorza's room, giving the articles of furniture a lugubrious aspect +quite different from what they usually bore. The morning chill also +penetrated them as well as their mistress, and they stood silent and +melancholy, doubtless hoping for the rays of the sun to show forth their +beauty and splendor. Only in one spot or another, as the light fell on +the varnish, there was a pale reflection which looked like the glassy, +filmy eye of a dying person. The room was situated in a sort of square +turret which was built in one of the rear angles of the mansion; it +rose some yards above it, and was open to the light on all its four +sides. The tower held only two apartments,--Maria's, composed of boudoir +and bedroom, and her maid Genoveva's chamber, which was single. They +were the coldest but at the same time the most cheerful rooms in the +house. The few times that the sun deigned to visit Nieva he went +straight to lodge in them, entered without as much as asking leave, in +the way of sovereign guests, and spent the day, shining in the mirrors, +brightening up the satin of the chairs, dulling the varnish of the +clothes-presses, and in a word disporting himself in a thousand +different ways,--all this, it may be said, would have been, had not +Genoveva taken the precaution to draw the curtains in time. They were +likewise the quietest; the noises of the house did not reach them, and +those from outside had no possibility of disturbing them, owing to their +situation. Only the wind, which almost never ceased to blow heavily +around the tower, made strange noises, especially at night, sometimes +moaning, sometimes screaming, and constantly complaining because the +windows were kept hermetically sealed. During the daytime it was neither +melancholy nor petulant, but contented itself with a perpetual but very +dignified murmur like sea-shells held to the ear. + +Maria, still shivering though she was wrapped up in her shawl, went to +one of the windows which looked down into the garden whose earthwall was +contiguous to the quay. From that window the whole length of the Nieva +River could be seen down to El Moral, which was the place where it +emptied into the sea. It would not measure more than a league in length, +but its breadth varied wonderfully, according as it was seen at high or +low water, at spring tide or neap tide. When there were full tides, it +spread out half a league, lapping up against the foot of the +pine-covered hills which shut in the valley on both sides. At low tide +the water drew out almost completely, leaving barely a narrow, sinuous +thread in the centre. Between the conterminous line of hills there lay +on both sides of the channel wide flats of soft gray mud, dotted with +pools of water where the ragamuffins of the quay took delight in +splashing and wallowing until they had besmeared themselves thickly +enough to go straight and wash it off by diving head first into the +channel. Above the garden wall rose the masts of a few vessels, not a +dozen in all, anchored by the quay, the majority of them smacks and +schooners[5] of insignificant draught. + +The young girl looked for an instant at the sky, which was still +profoundly dark towards the west, hiding and confusing the outline of +the distant mountains. In the zenith she noticed that it was completely +overcast, of an ashen color, which grew lighter as she turned her face +toward the east. There the clouds were not as yet compacted into a solid +mass as in the opposite quarter; they stood out against the sweep of the +sky in monstrous black piles, and opened sufficiently to let the few +feeble, melancholy, ruddy rays pass through, which the sun, like a dying +fire, was beginning to shed upon the earth. The tide was rising. The +surface of the river absorbed the slender light of the sky, and gave +forth nothing more than a tremulous metallic reflection in the far +distance. + +After watching the sunrise for a time, our maiden got a book which lay +on the dressing-table in her room, and came back to the window to see if +she could read; but it was not yet light enough. She laid the book on a +chair and again went to the window, leaning her forehead against its +panes. The sky kept growing brighter in the direction of El Moral; but +it added no life or good cheer to the earth. The growing light seemed +only to make more distinct its stern, forbidding face. A wretched and +disagreeable day was in prospect, such as the natives of Nieva were +accustomed to enjoy the larger part of the year. + +But soon the windows of the east were closed; the huge, thick clouds +which had stood out separate, allowing the light to pass, once more made +one unbroken mass, by the impulse of some breath of air, and the rosy +flush faded away. In their place remained a uniform pallid light, which, +little by little, spread over the heavens, lazily struggling with the +shadows in the west. The far-away reflections on the river likewise died +out, leaving it all a monotonous color, like unpolished steel. The +boudoir slowly filled with light; the pretty articles of furniture, and +the objects adorning it, emerged from the obscurity, graceful, dainty, +and fascinating, like the dancers in the opera, when at an outburst from +the orchestra they throw aside the spectral mantles in which they had +wrapped themselves. The light, however, did not smile; all the time it +grew more melancholy and forbidding. Across the mighty masses of dark +violet cloud which were rising above the four or five houses of El +Moral, others, small and white, began to fly like wisps of gauze--a sure +sign of storm. + +Maria quickly felt the pane against which she was leaning tremble. A +gust of wind and rain had savagely lashed the window. She stepped back a +little and saw that all the panes were weeping at once. For some little +time she occupied herself in watching the more or less rapid and uneven +course which the drops of water followed as they rolled down the smooth +surface of the glass. The sharp, intermittent pattering of the rain +brought back to her memory the many afternoons that she had spent near +that same window listening to it with an open book in her hand. The book +had always been a novel. For more than four months she had incessantly +begged her father to let her have the use of the boudoir in the tower so +that she might give herself up entirely to her favorite occupation +without fear of any one interrupting her. But Don Mariano feared to give +his permission, because the apartments in the tower were cold, and the +girl's health was delicate. At last, overcome by her entreaties and +caresses, he yielded, after having the rooms carefully carpeted, and +exacting the condition that Genoveva should sleep near by. It was a +happy period for Maria. She was sixteen, and her mind was restless and +high-spirited. Her music, in which she had made prodigious strides, had +stimulated in her heart a decided tendency to melancholy and tears. She +wept at the slightest provocation, sometimes without reason, and when it +was least expected, but her tears were so sweet, and she experienced +such intense pleasure in them, that on many occasions she fostered them +artificially. How many times, gazing from that window upon the delicate +clouds of the horizon tinted with rose or the last splendors of the +dying sun, she felt her heart overcome by a depth of melancholy which +found relief only in sobs! How many times she had pained her father with +a storm of tears, the cause of which she could not tell, because she +herself knew not! The knowledge of painting, in which she also excelled, +turned her inclinations towards light and a wide outlook, and this +equally contributed to make her long for the rooms in the tower. When +once she had taken her quarters there with her piano, her paints, and +her novels, Maria looked upon herself as the most fortunate girl on +earth. If at noon of some magnificent sunny day, under an effulgent +azure sky, she opened all the windows of her boudoir and admitted the +fresh, keen wind which toyed with her hair and scattered the papers from +the table over the floor, she imagined with delight that she had mounted +upon a star, and that she was in the midst of space, swimming through +the air at the mercy of every chance. And this illusion, though it was +hard for her to keep it up, made her happy. Sometimes at night she used +to open the blinds and light not only her lamp, but all the candles in +the candlesticks, so as to imagine that she was stationed in a lofty +lighthouse. "From the river this tower must seem like a beacon, and my +room the lamp which has just been lighted," was what she used to say, in +childish delight. And then she began to peer through the panes to see if +any ship were on its way down to El Moral, until, frightened by the +darkness without and dazzled by the light within, she finally grew +terror-stricken at such an illumination and hastened to extinguish the +lights. + +Don Mariano called that gay, aerial boudoir _Maria's bird-cage_; and in +truth the name was admirably appropriate, for the girl was constantly +flitting about in it, moving the furniture and changing the things from +one place to another, nervous and restless as a bird. To make the +resemblance more complete, it often happened that when the family were +gathered in the dining-room they heard the distant trills of some +cavatina or romanza which Maria was studying. Don Mariano never failed +to exclaim, with his usual benignant smile, "Our little bird is +singing." And all would likewise smile, full of content, for everybody +in the house loved and admired the girl. + +In two or three years a cargo of novels had made their way into the +tower boudoir, and been sent away again, after having diverted the long +leisure hours of our young friend, who put under contribution, not only +her father's library and her own purse, but likewise the book-shelves of +all the friends of the family. Don Serapio was her first purveyor, and +thus for a long time she read only blood-thirsty accounts of terrible +and unnatural crimes, in which the proprietor of the canning factory +took such intense delight. In this period she did not enjoy much, for, +though these novels excited her curiosity to the highest degree, keeping +it in suspense and under the spell of the reading a large part of the +day and night, yet no sweet or poetic aftertaste was left in her mind +for her delectation, and she forgot them the day after she read them. + +Moreover, they terrified her too much; many and many times they +disturbed her dreams, and even on some occasions she begged Genoveva to +lie down beside her, for she was frightened to death. After exhausting +Don Serapio's library, she asked one of the Delgado sisters to give her +the freedom of hers, which had the reputation of being abundantly +supplied. In fact, it was furnished with a great quantity of novels, all +of the primitive romantic school, and elegantly bound, but many of them +soiled by use. In the more tender passages many of the pages were marked +by yellow spots, which was a manifest sign that the various ladies into +whose hands the book had fallen had shed a few tears in tribute to the +misfortunes of the hero. We already know that one Seorita de Delgado +wept with great facility. Among the novels which she read at this time +were _Ivanhoe_; _The Lady of the Lake_; _Maclovia and Federico_, or _the +Mines of the Tyrol_; _Saint Clair of the Isles_, _or the Exiles on the +Island of Barra_; _Oscar and Amanda_; _The Castle of Aguila Negra_; and +others. These gave her very much greater enjoyment. Absolutely absorbed, +heart and soul, she explored the region of those delicious fantasies +with which the illustrious Walter Scott, and other novelists not so +illustrious, delighted our fathers, creating for their use a middle age +peopled with troubadours and tournaments, with stupendous deeds of +prowess, with Gothic castles, heroes, and indomitable loves. What +exercised the greatest fascination upon the Seorita de Elorza was the +unchangeable steadfastness of affection always manifested by the +protagonists of these novels. Whether man or woman, if a love passion +seized them, it was labor wasted to raise any barriers, for everything +was idle; across the opposition of fathers and guardians, and in spite +of the crafty schemes laid by jilted suitors, purified by a thousand +different tests, suffering much, and weeping much more, at the end they +always came out triumphant and well deserved it all. The Seorita de +Elorza vowed secretly in the sanctuary of her heart to show the same +fealty to the first lover whom Providence should send her, and imitate +his fortitude in adversities. Each one of these novels left a lasting +impression on her youthful mind, and for several days, provided that the +characters of some other did not succeed in captivating her, she +ceaselessly thought of the beautiful miracles accomplished by the +heroine's love, pure as the diamond and as unyielding, and taking up the +action where the novelist had left it, which was always in the act of +celebrating the nuptials of the afflicted lovers, she continued it in +her imagination, conceiving with all its minuti the after-life spent by +the husband and wife surrounded by their children, and re-reading with +folded hands the places where her tears had so often been shed. Our +maiden was anxious for one of these irresistible and melting passions to +take possession of her heart, but it never entered her mind that any of +the young fellows who visited her house dressed in a frock-coat or +_Americana_ could inspire it. Love, for her, always took the form of a +warrior, whom she imagined with helmet and breastplate, coming +breathlessly and covered with dust, after having unhorsed his competitor +with a lance-thrust, to bend his knee before her and receive the crown +from her hand, which he would kiss with tenderness and devotion. Again, +stripped of his helmet, and in the disguise of a beggar, yet evincing by +his gallant port the nobility and courage of his race, he came by night +to the foot of her tower, and accompanying himself on the lute, sang +some exquisite ditty in which he would invite her to fly with him across +country to some unknown castle, far from the tyranny of her sire and the +hated spouse whom he wished to force upon her. The night was dark, the +sentinels of the castle benumbed with a philter, the ladder already +clung close to the window, and the champing steeds were pawing the +ground not very far away. "Why dost delay, O mistress mine, why dost +delay?" Maria heard a gentle tapping on the panes, and more than once +she had risen from her bed, in her bare feet, to satisfy herself that it +was not her warrior but the wind who called her, sighing. At that time +she could not see a vessel making for the port at night, without +trembling; the mystery which always attends a vessel seen in the +darkness made her vaguely imagine an ambuscade laid by some ignorant, +brutal suitor, who, fearing lest he be rebuffed, wished to ravish her +away by main force from her home, and bear her away to distant strands +where he might enjoy with her his barbarous pleasure. All that she +needed to become disillusionized was to perceive the vessel carefully +warping up to the quay and discharging a few barrels and boxes. But the +romance which made the profoundest impression upon her was, without +question, that entitled _Matilde_, _or the Crusades_. This, better than +any other, was able to carry her mind back to that strange, brilliant +epoch of which it treated, causing her to be present during that heroic +struggle under the walls of Jerusalem. It is easy to comprehend, +however, that it was not the battles between Infidels and Christians +which most interested her in the tale, but that weird, improbable love, +tender and passionate at once, which sprang up in the heroine's heart +for one of the Mohammedan warriors who had laid violent hands on the +Sepulchre of the Lord. The Seorita de Elorza absolved and almost with +her whole heart sympathized with this passion where the sin of loving +one of the most terrible enemies of Christ offered a more powerful +attraction and a keener zest. How was it possible not to fall in love +with that famous Malec-Kadel, so fiery and terrible in battle, so gentle +and submissive with his ladylove, so noble and generous on all +occasions! Ah! if she had been in Matilde's place, she would have loved +in the same way in spite of all laws, human and divine! This Infidel was +the character who captivated her the most of all, even to the point of +inspiring her to make a very clever painting in which she represented +him on the deck of a ship where he was sailing with Matilde, saving her +from the snares of her enemies, protecting her with his left hand, and +hewing off heads with his right hand, as one reaps the grain in summer. +What best brought her to realize her enthusiasm, was the arrival of a +Turk at Nieva, selling mother-of-pearl ornaments and slippers. She was +so surprised to see him pass in front of the house, and her curiosity +was so excited, that she was not content until she had addressed him, +and made him undergo a long series of questions about the fields of +Jerusalem where the love scenes which so impressed her had taken place, +about the customs, the dress, and the government of the Mohammedans; but +the Turk, either because he was not in the humor of parleying, or +because of his being a native of Reus in the province of Tarragona, and +having never been in Palestine in his life, answered her questions with +impudent curtness. + +It had now been a long time, however, since Maria had taken up a novel. +The recollection of the time when she had devoured so many caused a +slight contraction of her features, and drew in her smooth brow a wide, +deep furrow. + +The blasts of wind fraught with rain lashed the panes of glass for a +long time, until they had given them a thorough washing. Gradually its +gusts became less frequent, and at last they completely ceased. The +light, meantime, had increased, mantling the whole of the murky heavens, +and now bringing into relief the forms of the far western hills which +were visible through the opposite casement. But the windows of the sky +which gave passage to the rosy rays when the sunrise first began, did +not open again, and all the clouds of the celestial vault united into +one, like an ash-colored or grayish mantle, which gave free course to +the rain and hindered the light. The storm, as usual, dissolved into a +fine drizzle, which began to fall slowly, filling the atmosphere with an +evanescent, tremulous veil, woven of watery threads, which still more +diminished the brilliancy of the growing light, and hid the outlines of +distant objects. The tide was still flowing; the wide sheet of water +which stretched away to El Moral assumed a color earthy near its edges, +but dark and heavy in the centre. + +Maria again took up her book, brought her chair to the window, and +sitting down, began to read, it now being light enough to allow it. It +was the _Life of Saint Teresa_, written by herself,--a book bound in +solid pasteboard covers, which were stamped with the gilt ornamentations +characteristic of religious works. + +According as the young girl became absorbed in her reading, her face +grew more and more serene, and the deep frown on her brow disappeared. +She was reading the second chapter in which the Saint sets forth how in +the years of her youth she was enamored with books of knight-errantry, +and the vanities of the toilet, and hints at the love affairs which at +the same time she had passed through. When Maria raised her eyes from +the book, they shone with a peculiar delight of inward content. + +The bells of San Felipe at last actually began to ring. Maria quickly +threw down her book and opened her maid's chamber-door. + +"Genoveva! Genoveva!" + +"I am awake, seorita." + +"Get up; San Felipe's bells are ringing!" + +In a twinkling Genoveva was up, dressed, and on hand in her mistress' +room. She was a woman of forty years, more or less, short, fat, swarthy, +with puffy cheeks, with great, protuberant gray eyes which were +expressionless, absolutely expressionless, and with thin hair waving on +her temples. She wore a plain carmelite skirt, and the black merino +cloak gathered at the shoulders, such as are used by all provincial +serving-women. She had entered the household when Maria was not yet a +year old, to be her nurse, and she had never left her, being a notable +example of a faithful, steadfast servant. + +"How long has my little dove[6] been dressed?" + +"About an hour already, Genoveva. I thought I heard the bells, but I was +mistaken. Now they are ringing in good earnest. Let us not lose any +time; take the umbrellas, and let us go." + +"Whenever you please, seorita; I am all ready." + +Both put on their mantillas, and trying not to make any noise, they went +down to the entry, carefully unlocked and opened the door, and sallied +forth into the street, which they crossed with open umbrellas until they +reached the opposite arcade. + +The little city of Nieva, as it seems to me I have already said, has +almost all of its streets lined with an arcade on one side or the other, +sometimes on both. As a general thing it is small, low, uneven, and +supported by single round stone pillars, without ornamentation of any +sort. Likewise it is ill paved. Only in occasional localities, where +some house had been reconstructed, it was wider and had more comfortable +pavement. If all the houses were to be rebuilt,--and there is no doubt +that this will come in time,--the town, owing to this system of +construction, would have a certain monumental aspect, making it well +worthy of being seen. Even as it is now, though it does not boast of +much beauty, it is very convenient for pedestrians, who need not get wet +except when they may wish to pass from one sidewalk to the other. And +certainly its illustrious founders were far-sighted, for, as regards +constant, ceaseless rain, there is no other place in Spain that can +hold a candle to our town. + +Protected from the rain, mistress and maid crossed through one corner of +the Plaza, and entered a long, narrow, solitary street. The worthy +inhabitants were sleeping the sweet sleep of morning. Only from time to +time they met some sailor wrapped up in his rough waterproof capote, +who, with fishing utensils in his hand, and making a great clatter with +his enormous boots, was striding towards the quay. + +"Are you well protected, seorita? See, there's been a frost; one would +think it was already January." + +"Yes; I put on a velvet waist, and besides, this sacque is well wadded." + +"Well, well, sweetheart.[7] If your papa knew that we were out so early, +he would scold me for consenting to it. You are exceedingly virtuous, +seorita. Few or none would lead such a saintly life at your age." + +"Hush, hush, Genoveva! don't say such a thing. I am only a miserable +sinner; much more miserable than you have any idea of." + +"Seorita, for Heaven's sake--I am not the only one who says so; but +everybody. Yesterday Doa Filomela told me that she was edified to see +you go to mass, and take the Blessed Sacrament, and she would give +anything if her daughters would do the same. And I don't wonder she +wishes so, for one of 'em, the youngest, is the devil's own. Would you +believe, the other day, seorita, she scratched her sister right in +church because one was to confess before the other. Pretty kind of +repentance! It's shameful, seorita, it's shameful to see how some women +go to church! One would think that they were in their own houses! Ay! +the poor little things don't realize that they are in the house of the +Lord of heaven and earth, who will ask them to give account of their +sin. Hasn't Doa Filomela shown you the rosary which her brother sent +her from Havana? It is a marvel! all ivory and gold, with a great +crucifix of solid gold. To say your prayers there's no need of such +extravagance, is there, seorita?" + +"To pray one needs only a pure and humble heart." + +"Ay! seorita, how well you speak! It seems as if they were mistaken who +say that you are not more than twenty years old. But when God wishes to +pour out his gifts on one of his creatures, it makes no difference +whether she be young or old, rich or poor. Every day I pray the most +Blessed Virgin to preserve your health, so that you may serve as an +example for those who are in mortal sin." + +"What you ought to pray for, Genoveva, is that He will purify my soul +and pardon the many sins that I have committed." + +"God have mercy! if you need to be forgiven, you who are so pious and +humble-minded, what would the rest of us need? Don't be so severe upon +yourself. Fray Ignacio has so much esteem for you that he never wearies +of sounding your praises; and that too, though he's not very indulgent, +as you know. At this very moment I suppose that holy man's in the +sacristy, listening to people! What a healthy man he is! It must be +because God makes him so. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't +rest a moment. And yet every day he grows stronger and stronger, and has +greater and greater zeal in serving God. I don't see how he can spend so +many hours in the confessional, without taking something to eat. Only +the Lord can give him the power. Blessed be His name forever! Amen!" + +"That's true; God works real miracles in him because there is need in +the world. Oh, God! what would have become of my soul if these holy +missioners had not come to open my eyes!" + +"Though they have helped greatly in the way of salvation, still, before +they came you were very good and used to attend the Sacraments." + +"How little that amounts to, Genoveva, when the deepest nooks and +corners of the conscience are not looked into!" + +"Tell me, seorita, did you see in your dreams last night that beautiful +bird with fiery feathers, with a cross in its bill, which you have seen +lately?" + +Maria stopped suddenly short and raised her hand to her breast as though +she had received a blow. Then she began to walk on again, exclaiming in +an undertone,-- + +"Last night I was not allowed to see it!" + +"Why not, sweetheart?" + +She made no reply. She walked on a while, and a groan escaped her. Then +she stopped once more, and throwing her arms around her maid's neck, she +began to sob bitterly. + +"I am very wicked, Genoveva, very wicked! My heart has not yet been +freed from impurities; the flesh and the devil will hold me in their +sway. If you knew what a sin I committed yesterday!" + +"Hush, hush! don't be discouraged! What sin could you have committed, +you lamb?"[8] + +"Yes, yes; I am more wicked than you imagine. The more light I receive +from God, the deeper I seem to sink into the darkness; the more He +heaps blessings upon me, the more ungrateful I am toward Him." + +"God is infinitely merciful, seorita." + +"But infinitely just, as well." + +"Beseech the aid of Saint Joseph the blessed; there is no fault which +the Lord does not forgive through his intercession. Come, stop crying +now; you are going to confession, and all is going to be forgiven." + +After the girl had calmed down a little, they proceeded on their way, +till they reached a rather diminutive plaza, fronted by the stern, gray +faade of a great church which attracted attention neither by its beauty +nor by any other quality, good or bad. They crossed a portico, huge and +gray like the faade, and entered the temple, which was likewise gray +and enormous; these qualities were its only characteristics. It +consisted of three naves, the central one broad and lofty like a +cathedral; those on the sides narrow and low; all three had been +whitewashed at some time very remote, but were now thick with dust, +peeling in various places and stained with wide-spread, mysterious +spots. The altars, which were profusely adorned, presented a gray color, +very distinct from the gilding which originally had covered them. +Through its dirty glass could be seen the stiff image of some saint with +metal aureole, or the sad anguished face of an Ecce-Homo. + +It was too early in the morning to find many people. Nevertheless, +scattered here and there, praying on bended knees before the altars, a +few women with covered heads were to be seen; others pressed up to the +latticed windows of the confessional and held their mantillas on both +sides of their faces, while with a half-audible whispering they confided +their misdeeds to the sacred tribunal of the Church. A few priests, who +kept the doors of the confessionals open, could be seen in cassock and +hood, bending forward, with their ears to the window, reflecting in +their frowning faces and negligent attitude the weariness which they +felt; others kept theirs hermetically sealed, and scarcely could any one +in passing perceive the presence of a human being. + +A few places in the sanctuary were bathed in a melancholy light, but the +corners and the hollows between the pillars were left in almost perfect +darkness. The huge brazen lamps swung in the spaces on cords attached to +the roof. The leaded window of the two huge, open oriels, high up in the +walls of the great central nave, admitted a sad sheet of light, +extending like a pale altar-cloth before the principal shrine. On one +side of this, at some little distance, was another small portable altar, +upon which was raised an image of the Saviour with perforated breast, +wherein was seen a bleeding heart, wearing a crown of thorns and haloed +with flames; around the image were a host of lighted candles, the +hissing and crackling of which sounded lugubriously in the immense, +silent circuit of the church. It was a temporary altar set up because of +the Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was +celebrated at that time. + +Genoveva went to the sacristy to ask Fray Ignacio if her seorita could +make her confession. The latter remained kneeling near the confessional, +waiting for the priest. She felt a peculiar, timid impatience; a bit of +fear mingled with anxiety and desire. The sanctuary was filled with a +mingled odor of dampness and dust, of extinguished candles and of faded +flowers, which inspired her with veneration. The moments preceding +confession were filled with a delicious suspense for Maria. The +circumstance and mystery which surrounded that intimate confidence, the +most intimate in the world, exerted a certain fascination over her mind, +and agitated her to the very depths of her being, without loathing. She +felt slight chills run over her body, followed by flushes of heat, which +mounted to her face and set it on fire. At that moment she thought not +so much of her sins as of the way in which she should try to tell them. + +Fray Ignacio's dark, resolute, and stern figure hastened up to the +confessional, and without vouchsafing his penitent a single glance, took +his place within it. Maria, tremulous and with melting heart, drew near +the little window. When at the end of a half-hour she turned away, her +eyes were red and her cheeks were pale. + +The church, meantime, had been slowly filling, although almost +exclusively with women. A few ventured as far as the centre, making with +their wooden shoes a real clatter as they walked on the tiled pavement; +the most took them off at the door and carried them in their hands. The +women of the people were in the majority, but there were a goodly number +of seoras: men were few. The multitude for some time remained scattered +about, kneeling at the altar rails, all making their devotions. From +time to time an acolyte in flesh-colored balandran and white surplice, +with shaven head and crafty eyes, rang his bronze hand-bell, and a few +women left their places and stationed themselves before some altar where +a priest, decked with golden ornaments, was beginning the sacrifice of +the mass. After consuming the elements, he would administer the +communion to two or three sets of women. Maria, with head bent on her +bosom and hands devoutly crossed, joined them to receive the Holy +Eucharist. When the priest placed on her tongue the consecrated +particle, amid the dull, hushed murmur of the throng, she felt her +cheeks slightly inflamed by the grandeur of the miracle which had taken +place within her; then she withdrew three or four steps from the altar, +overwhelmed with veneration, and without venturing to cast a look on +either side, at the end of a short space she left her place and went to +repeat the prayers imposed as her penance. An elderly clergyman in a +surplice mounted the pulpit, which was covered with a cloth of gold +tissue. The faithful came flocking from the remotest parts of the church +towards the centre, forming a dense throng about the pulpit. Maria and +Genoveva stood in the midst of it. The priest made the sign of the +cross, and began his Ave Marias and Pater Nosters in a loud voice. When +the rosary was ended, he began the service, the novena of the Sacred +Heart of Jesus. The clergyman put on an enormous pair of spectacles, and +in a snuffling, doleful tone exclaimed:-- + +"_O Heart_ (_Corazn_)"--the multitude repeated after him with solemn +acclaim, prolonging the words--"O Heart (_Corazooon_)--_most lovable_ +(_amantsimo_)--most lovable (_amantsimooo_)--_most sacred_ +(_santsimo_)--most sacred (_santsimooo_)--_and honey-sweet_ +(_melfluo_)--and honey-sweet (_melfluoo_)--_of my divine Jesus_--of my +divine Jesus--_full of flames_--full of flames--of _purest love_ +(_amor_)--of purest love (_amooor_)--_consume me entirely_--consume me +entirely--_and grant me_--and grant me--_a new life_--a new life--_of +love and of grace_--of love and of grace;--_kindle and consume_--kindle +and consume--_my lukewarmness_--my lukewarmness.--O Heart (_Corazn_)--O +Heart (_Corazooon_)--_most comfortable_ (_dulcsimo_)--most comfortable +(_dulcsimooo_)--_I adore thee_--I adore thee--_most profoundly_--most +profoundly.--_Grant me grace_--Grant me grace--_O loving Heart_ +(_Corazn_)--O loving Heart (_Corazoon_)--_to atone for_--to atone +for--_the insults and ingratitudes_--the insults and ingratitudes--_done +against thee_ (_Vos_)--done against thee (_Vooos_)--_and what I pray +thee for_--and what I pray thee for--_in this novena_--in this +novena--_is for the greater glory of God_ (_Dios_)--is for the greater +glory of God (_Diooos_)--_and of my soul_--and of my soul--_Amen_--Amen." + +Maria merely whispered the words of the orison and kept her eyes +fastened on the ground. Genoveva repeated them aloud, looking straight +into the priest's face. The multitude sighed after they said Amen. + +When the orison was ended, the priest repeated three Pater Nosters and +three Ave Marias in honor of the three marks of the passion with which +the divine Heart of Jesus showed itself to the Blessed Mother Margarita +of Alacoque. The faithful knelt in reply. Immediately began a new orison +like the first, addressed to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Then +the priest recommended all to beseech God through the mediation of the +Sacred Hearts for whatever each most needed, and the congregation +meditated silently for a few moments. Maria prayed fervently that God +would make her a better woman. Genoveva spent some time in hesitation, +without knowing what to ask for, and at last she asked for patience to +endure the suffering of her influenza. The priest read with his +snuffling voice, which drawled over the syllables like a lamentation, +the following + +ILLUSTRATION. + +"In the city of Munich there lived not many years ago a lady of +extraordinary beauty, who led such an exemplary life, that all gave her +the name of saint. It happened that one day there came to her house a +very lively young man to visit her, on the ground that she was one of +his own cousins, and instantly the devil managed to get complete +possession of him. His passion was so mad and wretched that at the end +of some time she yielded to an impure sin, thus gravely offending God. +After she fell into this sin she found herself sunk in a deep abyss of +melancholy, for though the unhappy woman immediately sent away the one +who had been the cause of her fault, she believed that she was doomed to +hell. She began to lead an austere life, mortifying herself with fasting +and penitence, and yet she could not escape the horrible thought. At +length, by the advice of a pilgrim who happened to pass that way, she +determined to make a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the night +of the fifth day of constant prayer, being in bed, she heard a great +disturbance, and saw flying from her house a demon, horribly howling and +leaving behind him an intolerably fetid odor. On the following morning +she found herself cured of her melancholy, and very confident of the +infinite mercy of God." + +The faithful crowded closer around the pulpit to hear the illustration, +and they took in with delight its romantic flavor. The novena ended with +a sermon in Latin. The congregation repeated an Ave Maria and a Credo. +The clergyman descended from the desk. + +There was a loud and prolonged noise in the church. The throng of women +spread out, dispersed, moved to and fro, gossiping and chattering all at +once. The clattering of the wooden shoes again was heard on the damp and +filthy blocks of the pavement. An acolyte began to snuff out the candles +burning around the image of Jesus and, standing on the altar, with his +shorn head and mischievous eyes made profane grimaces at the other +boys, whose mothers kept them on their knees saying their prayers. A few +of the clergy issued from the confessionals and crossed over to the +sacristy with long strides. One was detained in the centre of the church +by various ladies, and stood talking with them a long time, though with +evident anxiety to escape from them. Through the leaded panes of the +great oriels poured all the daylight evaporating the mysteriousness of +the temple, and making it seem melancholy, wretched, and dirty, as in +reality it was. Two or three gay fellows, with coat-collars turned up +and sleeves well pulled down, came in, casting quick glances of +curiosity at all the places. A sacristan took it into his head to throw +wide open the wooden screen at the door, and a restless, noisy +multitude, who had not been early enough to take part in the novena, +surged into the vast room to listen to the word of a missioner, who at +that moment mounted the pulpit with a contemplative, zealous gesture. + +When he stood up dominating the multitude, with the sacred dove made of +painted wood above his head, the noise gradually subsided. The +congregation, wonderfully increased, again crowded together beneath the +lecturer. There were many men who came not out of pure devotion, but +rather with the intention of judging the sermon from a literary point of +view. + +Meantime great throngs of people came pouring in through the door, +disturbing the faithful, and hindering the establishment of silence. +Maria and Genoveva were pulled to and fro many times by the fluctuation +of the multitude. The orator waited vainly for the bustle to cease. At +last he extended his arm in academic style toward the door, and shouted +emphatically, as though he were in the heart of his discourse,-- + +"Close that screen!" + +The doors closed slowly, as though no one had touched them. The faithful +were seating themselves in their places. For a time much coughing was +heard; at last it ceased, and the church preserved a fragile, artificial +silence, frequently broken by some stubborn cold or by the trumpet blast +of some nose being blown. The jet and mother-of-pearl beads of the +ladies' rosaries, clinking together, made a soft, melancholy +tintillation. + +The orator was young, tall, and slender, with great black eyes deep set +in a pale, classic face. He also wore a cassock with surplice and cowl. +He inspired respect by his sweet, gentle gravity. + +He took off his cowl, and said a few words in Latin which no one could +hear. Then putting on his cowl again, and leaning far over the railing, +he exclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"Beloved Brethren in Jesus Christ!" + +He possessed a ringing voice, of a sweet and sympathetic quality, which +lent a greater effect to the solemnity of the face. He began by showing +an ironical astonishment that there were to be found any at all willing +to abandon the vanities of the world to listen to the word of God, and +he warmly congratulated the faithful who had come to take part in the +Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of all the forms of +devotion, invented by piety, most grateful in the eyes of the Lord was +this; for it summed up and included all the rest, since, "as the heart +in the human body represents the sum and substance,--the very centre of +the physical life,--so in the same way the Sacred Heart of our Redeemer +is the centre of pious souls and the focus of light around which revolve +our aspirations for immortal glory." He ended his exordium by invoking +with impassioned phrases the aid of this Sacred Heart in letting his +discourse bring forth fruit. He offered in behalf of all an Ave Maria. + +He devoted the first part of his sermon to the description of the +torment of the soul alienated from God by sin, and he drew a +circumstantial and complete picture of the griefs and insults which we +daily inflict upon the gentle Heart of Jesus. When he came to paint the +sufferings caused by sin, he abandoned the beaten track of speaking of +the material torments of hell and described nothing but the spiritual +anguish, the pangs, and the heartbreak felt by the soul when it sees +itself deprived through its own fault of the love of the Creator; but he +painted them in such gloomy colorings, and with such power of +expressions, that that infinite affliction, that depth of solitude, that +silence and darkness made a greater impression on the imagination of the +throng than the fire and the worm usually invoked. + +Maria was filled with fear and sadness. She remembered her sins, and +thought with horror that she might die suddenly and be lost forever. +Thereupon she made a solemn vow to grow better. But how? To change her +way of living meant nothing else than to break the bond which most +powerfully fettered her to the earth and sin. She became the prey to a +profound disturbance replete with tears, and she could not throw it off. +The clear, musical voice of the priest resounded through the great room, +unweariedly relating one by one the sufferings of the damned. The +congregation listened motionless and terrified. Far away in the +background, near the principal altar, the image of the Saviour, +encircled with candles, looked like a great red blur whose rays cast +fugitive shadows across the walls of the edifice. + +"But the divine compassion is inexhaustible. There is no sin so enormous +that it cannot be blotted out by the mercy of God. The Saviour's love +for the souls that he has redeemed by his blood is not weak and limited +like that of men; like a loving father, like an affectionate spouse, He +is even ready to open his arms for the repentant sinner. Man sooner +tires of sinning than God of granting forgiveness, for we have at His +right hand an advocate who never wearies of interceding for us. Sin not, +offend not the Divine Majesty, either with words or deeds; but if ye +should give way to sin, be not discouraged, keep up good heart and +return to God. _Sed et si quis pecaverit_, _advocatum habemus apud +Patrem_, _Jesum Christum justum_, says Saint John.[9] If ye should sin, +wash with repentant tears the Redeemer's feet after the pattern of Saint +Mary Magdalene, and ye shall be saved. Remember that sad, sinful woman, +who, worn out with grief, appalled with love, threw herself at Jesus' +feet and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair and +anointed them with ointment, while not a word fell from her lips because +she was consumed with the fire of love. Oh, tears shed for God! how much +ye avail, how great your power, how mighty your results! In winning +forgiveness tears are more potential than words; for tears, as Saint +Maximus says, are silent prayers, and demand not forgiveness if +forgiveness be undeserved. There is no deception possible with tears as +with words, and thus it was Saint Peter to win forgiveness for his fault +used not words, since with them he had sinned, had blasphemed and denied +his Lord; but he wept with bitter lamentation and was believed and +pardoned. Tears are money which cannot be counterfeited, our only +refuge: they purge the spots caused by our transgressions, they appease +the anger of God, they win us forgiveness, they enliven the soul, they +strengthen faith, magnify hope, kindle charity. The divine Jesus himself +has said, 'Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted.'" + +Maria felt her heart melt within her. That fervid eulogy of tears drove +fear from her breast. The thought of the inexhaustible good will of +Jesus Christ, who, after suffering so much and shedding his precious +blood for us, forgets each moment the greatest sins, if only they are +confessed to him with repentance, stirred her to the depths of her soul. +She seemed to see the saint whose name she bore, Mary Magdalene, bathed +in tears at the Redeemer's feet, and she felt that she had done the +same. A torrent of tears burst from her eyes as she imagined herself +prone before Jesus. The women around her saw her weep, and they cast +respectful glances of admiration at her as they whispered among +themselves. + +The sermon ended by exhorting the faithful, with lofty flights of +eloquence rich in imagery, to devote themselves to the Sacred Heart of +Jesus. "A quarter of an hour every day of loving discourse with this +Sacred Heart brings to the soul the purest joy that it can have on +earth. _Gustate_, _et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus_.[10] Try to +hold converse a while with the Lord, and ye will enjoy the delights of +heaven and the rarest satisfactions, such as those have who love. All +that is in this world is folly and deception: banquets, comedies, +receptions, amusements, and all the rest that the world considers good +are mingled with gall and sown with thorns. Doubt not that the Heart of +Jesus gives greater delight and comfort to those souls which seek it +with devotion and self-abnegation, than the world with all its pastimes +and insipid pleasures. What delight to be speaking for one instant with +the most lovable Jesus, forever ready to hearken to our prayers! To +unbosom one's self to him alone as to a most intimate friend. To demand +his grace, his love, and his glory! Oh, my dear friends _gustate et +videte_, _gustate et videte!_" + +The orator ended the final clauses of his sermon always with those +words, gustate et videte, gustate et videte. When he ended by expressing +his wish that all might have eternal glory, he was pale with weariness. +Drops of perspiration rolled down his wide brow. He had uttered the last +part of his discourse with growing agitation and enthusiasm which he +succeeded in communicating to his hearers. Maria, after her first fit of +weeping, remained comforted and almost happy. Genoveva whispered in her +ear while the priest was descending from the pulpit,-- + +"Seorita, I just saw Don Csar in the congregation." + +The young girl's face changed slightly. The crowd began to dissolve, +spreading out over the whole area of the church. The majority of the +people crowded tumultuously to the door, struggling to get out. After +some difficulty Maria and Genoveva succeeded in reaching the portico, +and started on their homeward way. But the Seorita de Elorza kept +frequently turning her head. An elderly gentleman, tall, slender, and +pale, with goatee and long white mustachios, dressed in black from head +to foot, was following them at a considerable distance. As they entered +the arcade of a narrow and lonely street, the caballero hastened his +steps, and the two women lingered for him, so that very soon they were +together. The caballero turned to Maria and said in a low voice,-- + +"Seorita, last night I returned from where you know." + +"I have prayed God to bring you back in safety, Don Csar." + +"Thanks, thanks.[11] Have you finished embroidering the banner?" + +"Yes, seor!" + +"And the flannel hearts?" + +"Those also." + +"That is good, seorita; I shall not forget your diligence and +enthusiasm." + +Don Csar did not move a line of his vigorous face during this +conversation. His eyes, which were of a strange intensity gleaming with +ferocity, did not for a moment leave the girl's face. He said nothing +for a time, having something in his mind, and then he broke the silence, +speaking in the curt tone of command,-- + +"To-morrow at this time be on hand again. We have some commissions to +give you." + +"I will not fail you." + +Don Csar noticed that two young men had just turned the corner and were +coming toward them; thereupon, without saying farewell, he left the +women, crossing to the opposite sidewalk. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HOW THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE OF THURINGEN. + + +A few days later Ricardo set forth from home as usual about ten o'clock +in the morning and turned his steps toward the house of his betrothed. +It was not love alone that impelled him to walk the street so early, but +as much the melancholy solitude that reigned at the present time in the +vast seignorial mansion where he lived: for our hero had been alone in +the world a little more than a year. His father, the old Marqus de +Pealta, had died when he was under six, and he had scarcely more than a +vague remembrance of his pale face between the sheets of the bed when +they raised him up to give him a kiss a few hours before he died. He +remembered also how on that same day every one had hugged him and kissed +him, with tears, and this had attracted his attention and made him ask, +"Why are you all crying to-day?" + +His mother had loved him with one of those concentrated and fierce +affections which destroy by very reason of over care. During his boyhood +she had kept him tied to her apron-strings, never consenting for him to +take part in the games of the other lads, lest he should hurt himself. +Even when he was quite a youth, she always used to put him to bed, +offering with him a series of innocent prayers, and sitting by his +bedside with folded arms until he fell asleep, when she would silently +leave his chamber on tip-toe. When he reached early manhood, she had +nothing to do but think of her son's career, for the late marquis had +provided that he should follow one. Ricardo wanted to enter the +artillery. How many tears the lad's resolute decision cost the mother! +The first time that he went to Segovia, the good lady thought she should +die: she made up her mind not to leave the house until her son returned, +and she carried out her intention. When he came home to spend his +vacation, she could not be enough at his side, caressing him and reading +in his eyes his slightest caprices, so as to carry them out instantly. +Two or three days before it was time for him to return, she would begin +to sob and cry: she held him close to her bosom for long moments and +made him promise a thousand times to write her every day, to cover +himself up warm during his journey, and not to go out nights. The only +thing which served to divert her for a short time was the preparation of +his cadet's chest, with which she took so much pains that it lacked +nothing, from the more usual articles of dress, down to a piece of court +plaster and a package of lint in case he were wounded. Ricardo always +avoided leave-taking by escaping on the sly. + +Thanks to his genial, happy, and sympathetic nature, rather than by his +application, the young Marqus de Pealta finished his course. At +college everybody loved him, students as well as professors. He was one +of those frank and friendly young fellows with whom it is difficult to +quarrel, and whom we all go to as a confidant worthy of sharing the +secrets of our hearts in the bitter misfortunes of life. He was always +found smiling and unreserved, bringing joy and confidence wherever he +went, and rarely did a dispute arise between two cadets which he did not +succeed in bringing to a friendly issue. In spite of his conciliatory +temperament no one in college or out of it questioned his courage, much +less the remarkable prowess of his fists. More than once, in the +frequent quarrels between the cadets and the peasants, which generally +broke out in candle-light balls, he had floored three or four stout +carls with as many blows, which attracted all the more attention from +the crowd because there was nothing stout or athletic in his figure. + +One day, while encamped in the park at Sevilla, the colonel called him +into his tent and asked him,-- + +"Isn't it a number of days since you have had a letter from your mother, +Pealta?" + +Ricardo grew as pale as death. + +"What is it, colonel? what is it?" + +"Don't be alarmed, child;[12] I happened to learn that she wasn't very +well." + +Ricardo understood perfectly, and fell into the colonel's arms, shedding +a flood of tears. That night he took the train for the north. + +The dismal night spent in that journey remained deeply impressed upon +his mind. When the engine whistled, and his comrades, who had come to +see him off, standing on the platform, waved their _adios_, he went and +sat in a corner of the carriage, wrapped up in his cloak, feigning to +sleep, in order better to abandon himself to his painful, gloomy +thoughts. Oh, how painful and gloomy his thoughts! He imagined the +guardian angel of his infancy, the mother of his heart, dying alone, +without receiving her son's last kiss, perhaps calling for him with +yearning in the supreme moment of her agony. He remembered that when he +had last left her, her health was rather feeble, and the embrace which +she gave him was much longer than usual, and her kisses more numerous, +as though the poor woman had felt a presentiment that she should never +see him again. In her wide, moist eyes he read a fervent silent prayer +that he would abandon his profession and not leave her. But he, pleased +with the vanities of society, and seduced by the voice of selfishness, +had paid no heed to this prayer which the unhappy woman had not dared to +formulate with her lips. He felt deeply angry with himself, and called +himself the most insulting and humiliating names. From time to time he +put his head out of the window and breathed the cool night air, to +prevent the sobs from choking him. The vague, mysterious outline of the +undulating landscape, wrapt in shadows, transformed his despair into +grief, which gradually changed into a solemn melancholy like the gloomy +clouds hovering above the still more gloomy earth. The silent majesty of +inanimate nature calmed his agitation, but it made him think with cold +chills of the perfect loneliness awaiting him. The tie that bound him to +earth, and through which he felt that all human beings were his kin, was +cut; now he had no one in the world whom he could call his own. The +wind, stirred by the swift rush of the train, hummed in his ears and +seemed to say to him, Alone! alone! The harsh racket of the wheels and +engine violently excited his morbid state of mind, giving him a +sensation almost of pain like that caused by the thoughts rushing +through his brain. The noisy, metallic rhythm of the wheels likewise +seemed to say, with still more relentless accent, Alone! alone! His sad +face followed the far-off line of the horizon, and this came back to him +in quivering, prophetic reflections, which barely sufficed to cleave +asunder the network of shadows, gloom upon gloom. The light from the +engine cast a reddish gleam, tingeing as with blood the ground and the +trees lining the track. Where there were no trees, the telegraph poles +flew past him with bewildering rapidity like the happy hours of his +youth. Above his head floated the huge black plume of the smoke, emitted +by the smoke-stack of the engine, and this, as it disappeared in the +atmosphere, in dying made a thousand strange and monstrous phantasms. +These phantasms, as they fled away, rolling along just above the ground, +seemed also to say mournfully, Alone! alone! Thereupon, being no longer +able to endure the icy breath of the deserted landscape which penetrated +his breast and parched his eyes, he shut the window and again returned +to his corner and his tears. + +In the car were four other people: an elderly seora and a young man of +twenty or twenty-five, a girl of eighteen or twenty, and a little girl +of five or six years old,--all of whom seemed to be her children. The +seora went to sleep, though she kept opening her eyes to watch the +child, who was incessantly running from one side to the other; the two +young people were chatting quietly and confidentially together. The +sight of this mother surrounded by her children and often looking at +them lovingly still more deeply affected Ricardo. The gentle murmur of +the brother and sister's conversation, repeatedly broken by repressed +laughter, roused in his heart a keen, melancholy envy. The young girl +was beautiful, with a noble, fascinating face. Ricardo, without +realizing it, watched her all night, but she seemed to give no heed to +him. When the guard of the station shouted, "Cordoba! twenty minutes for +refreshments!" all hastily got up and collected their things in +preparation to leave the train. Then only the young lady gave him a +long, sweet look, and as she went out, said with a sad, sympathetic +smile, "Good night, and a happy journey to you."[13] There was no doubt +that she had noticed his grief. + +Ricardo felt deeply sorry to have them take their departure, as though +some tide of affection bound him to that family, and he felt an +inclination to say to the mamma, "Seora, I have just lost my mother; I +am alone in the world, and I have no one to love me, and no one to love. +Won't you take me home with you as your son?" The car door closed with a +bang, the bell rang, the hoarse shriek of the engine was heard, and the +train sped on its way with its metallic clatter, which ceaselessly cried +in the silence of the night, Alone! alone! alone! + +A few relatives and friends were waiting for him, and they went with him +silently to his home, where they left him after a few meaningless words. +During the days that followed he received many visits of condolence from +people who extolled his mother's virtues and recommended great +resignation. All called him Seor Marqus. Never did he suffer so much +as at such times. The only person with whom he enjoyed talking was Don +Mariano Elorza, who had been a good friend of his father's, and whose +house he visited very familiarly whenever he came to Nieva during his +vacations. Don Mariano, who was cordial and friendly to everybody, could +not well help showing himself doubly affectionate to him on account of +the sorrowful situation in which he was placed. His house during the +period which followed the marquesa's death, was a place of refuge for +our young friend, where his grief was consoled, and he found a little of +that family life which he so greatly missed. On the other hand, it must +be said that Ricardo had always felt toward Don Mariano's eldest +daughter a strong admiration and affection, which easily changed into +love when age and occasion offered, and frequency of intercourse +stimulated it, and there was still greater reason for it since neither +he nor she had ever been in love before. Long before they were formally +engaged, the marriage of the young Marqus de Pealta and the Seorita +de Elorza used to be talked about in the city. It was a marriage desired +and demanded by public opinion; for it must be remarked that the +families of Pealta and Elorza were the richest in town, and the public +always consider it logical for wealth to seek wealth as rivers seek the +sea. Accordingly, Ricardo and Maria were declared husband and wife not +long after they were born, and the truth is, the gossips of the town +would never have forgiven them if they had failed to carry out the edict +passed by all the tertulias of Nieva. We know on good authority that the +young people had no thought of any such intention, and that they had +accepted the sovereign decree with the greatest meekness. + +Returning now to where we left off, it is sufficient for us to remark +that Ricardo very quickly reached the porch of the house of Elorza, +which was large and gloomy. From the great solid door, darkened by time +and use, hung a bronze knocker, with which he rapped. He was immediately +admitted into a rather large court, with a fountain in the centre. A +broad flight of stone steps with balustrade of the same material led +from it. It was now somewhat the worse for wear, and needed repairs in +many places. On the first landing this stairway divided into two arms, +one of which led to the apartments of the owners, the other to those of +the servants. The former ended in a wide corridor, or gallery, from +which one looked through windows into the court. The whole house +presented the same elegance as that of the old palaces, although it was +built at a comparatively modern period. It had the advantage over those +old ancestral mansions, like the Marqus de Pealta's, in that it had +not been designed to minister so much to the vanity of its masters as to +the suitable distribution of its rooms for the conveniences of daily +life. It was not dark and gloomy, as those are apt to be; on the +contrary, its whole interior spoke of joy, comfort, and elegance. It +was, in fact, a great building, without being pretentious, and +comfortable, without falling into the unpleasing vulgarity of many +modern constructions. It held a conciliatory middle course between +aristocratic and middle-class ideals, combining the proud lordliness of +the one and the practical luxurious tendencies of the other. + +The house in a certain way mirrored the position of its master and +mistress. Both were children of the most important families not only in +Nieva, but in the whole province in which the city is situated. The +seora was sister of the Marqus de Revollar, who cut such a figure in +Madrid a few years ago by his incredible dissipation and prodigality, +and who afterwards, being totally ruined and driven away by his +creditors, had taken refuge in the army of the Pretender, whom he served +as minister and adviser. Don Mariano came from a family less ancient and +glorious but far more opulent. His grandfather had made an immense +fortune in Mexico during the final years of the last century, and with +it he had become the most important landowner in Nieva, and had built +the house of which we are speaking. Not only himself, but his son and +his son's son, had succeeded in giving lustre to their millions by +allying themselves with noble families. + +Ricardo made his way through the various rooms of the house of Elorza +with as much familiarity as though he had been at home, without even +taking off his hat. When he entered Doa Gertrudis's boudoir, this +seora, assisted by two waiting-women, was taking a dish of broth. On +seeing our hero, she placed the cup on the little stand in front of her, +and pushing back her easy-chair, she exclaimed in a doleful tone,-- + +"Ay, my dear,[14] you come at an evil hour." + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +"I'm dying, Ricardo, I'm dying." + +"Do you feel worse?" + +"Yes, my son, yes; I feel very ill; it is beyond the power of words to +say how ill I feel. If I don't die to-day, I shall never die. I spent +the whole night doing nothing but groan, and then--and then--that tiger +of a Don Maximo has not come yet, though I have sent him two messages. +May God forgive him! May God forgive him!" + +Doa Gertrudis shut her eyes as though she were making ready to die +without either temporal or spiritual comfort. + +Ricardo, accustomed to these vaporings, remained a long time silent. At +length he said in an indifferent tone,-- + +"Did you know Enrique has succeeded in exchanging the jewelry, and the +new set came yesterday all right?" + +"Indeed? thank God!"[15] replied Doa Gertrudis, opening her eyes; "I +certainly thought they wouldn't be willing to exchange it." + +"Why not?" + +"Of course, because by selling the other they got rid of an old thing, +which I don't know how they will ever sell now." + +"Yes, but they would lose a customer who brings them much gain. Don't +you see, Enrique receives commissions from the whole province?" + +"That's true enough; but don't you know that these traders are blinded +by avarice? Uph! what wretched people. I tell you I can't bear to see +tradesmen, Ricardo; I can't bear to see them, nor painters either!" + +After expressing this unfavorable opinion of commerce, which, in the +tribunal of her mind, she made coextensive with all industry and to the +mechanical arts in general, Doa Gertrudis again closed her eyes with a +gesture of woe, and continued in this strain:-- + +"What I am sure of, my son, is that I am not going to see you married, +and that you will be obliged to postpone the wedding on my account. I +feel very ill, very ill; my heart tells me that I am going to die before +the day of your marriage; and the truth is, that it would be better for +me to die if I have got to suffer so much." + +"Come, Doa Gertrudis, don't say such things. Who is going to die? You +must surely get better gradually; you will be cured, and you will be +well and plump so that it will be a delight to see you." + +Instead of brightening up at these words, Doa Gertrudis grew angry:-- + +"That's nonsense, Ricardo; my illness is mortal, even if no one thinks +so; my husband won't believe it, but very soon he will be convinced of +it; I don't complain merely from habit, not at all. Ay! my dear, if you +knew how I suffer, sitting in this easy-chair!" + +It may be declared with certainty that from the day on which the priest +had invoked the nuptial blessing on Doa Gertrudis, this noble seora +had done nothing else but nurse her bodily woes and tribulations, +dragging out a petty existence amid the strangest and obscurest +ailments that were ever known. Before the birth of her eldest daughter, +Maria, she had suffered from hemorrhage and consumption. Then for +several years afterwards, until her second daughter, Marta, was born, +she complained of a terrible pain in her heart, so sharp and cruel that +many times she had fainted away. The symptoms of this disease, as +related by the patient, would fill any one with terror. Sometimes she +thought she felt her heart handled and squeezed to the last degree; at +others she thought that it was freezing, and then they had her shivering +so that all the furs and flannels which they put on her breast had not +the slightest effect, until by an abrupt transition she went into a +heated oven, where she was roasted to such a degree that her hands in +her paroxysms tore into fragments whatever garments she had on; again, +finally, she was conscious of some animal gnawing it with his teeth, and +of causing such exquisite agony that she could not refrain from +shrieking. Don Maximo, the young graduate in medicine,[16] was +absolutely nonplussed by such a pathological case, and at each visit he +prophesied the immediate death of his patient unless the remedy for +spasms which he prescribed should not instantly restore her safe and +sound. As Doa Gertrudis did not make haste to die, nor did her +extraordinary malady disappear, Don Maximo came to lose all faith in +her. He kept up his visits to the house, but always at his regular hour, +from which he rarely deviated even though Doa Gertrudis often sent for +him by messengers, begging him to play the old farce over again in her +sick-room. Don Maximo ended by having the greatest contempt for his +noble client's infirmities, and he went so far as to characterize them +publicly in the apothecary shop, where he was an assistant, as woman's +_cajigalinas_. The exact meaning of the word _cajigalinas_ was never +known by the public or anybody else, nor can it be decided whether it +was a private invention of Don Maximo's, or whether it was derived from +some very ancient, even some dead, language which the licentiate had +studied. The word, from its root, seems to be of Semitic origin, but I +do not venture to settle this question off-hand; let the wise men +decide. What is indubitable is that Don Maximo intended thereby to mean +something that was insignificant, mean, or of little account; and this +is enough for us to know what to make of the opinion of science in +regard to Doa Gertrudis's ills. + +After Maria's birth Doa Gertrudis's sufferings did not disappear, but +they returned in a new form. Her heart was considerably calmed down, but +instead, all the afflicted seora's muscles and tendons began to suffer +contraction, causing powerful pains, preventing her for some months from +using her limbs at all, and finally leaving her, though greatly +improved, yet obliged when she walked to lean on her husband or one of +her daughters. Don Maximo at the beginning of this new phase showed +himself preoccupied and captious to the last degree; he studied with +watchful eye all the symptoms and causes, prescribed remedies for spasms +by the gallon, made use, in a word, of all the resources which science +(that is, Don Maximo's science) offers for such emergencies, but without +reaching any satisfactory results. At length the word _cajigalinas_, of +Semitic origin, once more appeared on his lips, and from that time on he +never entered the seora's room without a slight smile of incredulity +hovering on his dark face. + +Ricardo still remained a while at Doa Gertrudis's side, and then he +left her to scour the house in search of the girls. He found Marta in +the kitchen busily engaged in making pastry for pies. + +"Where's Maria, _ma petite mnagre_?" + +"She's in her room, dressing; she'll be down soon." + +"If I disturb you in your work, I'm going; if not, I'll stay." + +"You don't disturb me, if you'll only stand out of the light a +little--there, that'll do!" + +"All right! I'll stay and learn how to make--what is it you're making?" + +"Pork pies." + +"Well, then, to make pork pies." + +The girl raised her head, smiling at her future brother-in-law, and then +she resumed her work. She was standing at a low table which, judging +from its shining surface, was meant for the operation now going on. She +wore an enormous white apron like the kitchen girls, and on her head a +cap no less white. Her great bright black eyes made a more brilliant +contrast with this costume, and so did her jetty hair. She had rolled up +the sleeves of her dress and bared a pair of soft arms, which were more +fully rounded than might have been expected at her age. Her arms bespoke +a woman in full possession of all the piquant attractions, all the +graceful curves of her sex; they were the smooth white arms of a Flemish +maiden, but solid and well-knit like those of a working-girl; they might +have served as a model for a sculptor, or to keep a room in daintiest +order. With them she rolled from side to side, on the top of the table, +a great lump of yellowish dough, manipulating it and doubling it over +and over constantly without thought of rest. The dough spread out softly +over the table because of the lard which shortened it, making a slight +noise like the rustle of silk. A few maid-servants were bustling about +the kitchen, attending to their duties. Ricardo watched the operation +for an instant without speaking, but before long he exclaimed with signs +of astonishment,-- + +"What an extraordinary thing! what an extraordinary thing!" + +The maid-servants turned their heads around. Marta likewise looked up. + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +"But child, where did you get those plump arms of yours?" + +The young girl blushed, and half-laughing, half-vexed, raised her hand +and pulled down her sleeve a little. + +"Come! will you begin now? See here, I did not tell you that you might +stay to behave like this." + +"Then I deserve the punishment of staying, though you should demand the +opposite." + +"Well, do what you please, but let me work in peace." + +"I will let you work, but I must say it never entered into my +calculations that the Seorita Marta had such arms. I knew that she was +pretty, comely, round, and solid--but how could I suspect such a +thing?... Come now, I tell you that no one would believe it without the +evidence of his eyes." + +The servants laughed. Marta went on industriously kneading her dough, +making a gesture of resignation as one who has made up her mind to +endure a jest to the end. Ricardo kept on:-- + +"And that, too, though I have heard Maria speak of them--but vaguely.... +Her information wasn't definite. The best way in these matters, if one +wants to know about a thing, is to see for himself.... Look here, +lassie,[17] supposing one were to quarrel with you, I wouldn't answer +for the consequences!... And the beauty of it is, that their strength +doesn't injure their elegance; they are muscular but well-shaped; ... +they taper gracefully down to the wrist, which is slender and dainty. +The truth is, that all things considered, a girl only fourteen has no +right to have such arms as those!" + +Marta suspended her work and burst into a merry peal of laughter. + +"What a plague you are, child! there's no resisting you!" + +Then her face once more resumed the placid, grave expression which +characterized it, and she resumed her work, plunging again and again her +firm, rosy fists into the pliant dough. The paste kept taking different +forms under the steady pressure of the girl's small but strong hands. +Sometimes it made a thick, short roll or cylinder, which, little by +little, as it was worked over the table, kept growing longer and +slenderer; again, it assumed the fashion of a great ball, the roundness +of which Marta brought carefully to greater and greater perfection, +until she suddenly fell upon it with both hands and flattened it out; at +other times it presented the appearance of a thin sheet taking up half +of the surface of the table, and which kept spreading more and more, +until she began to double it over with repeated folds as one does with a +garment; again, she built it up like a pyramid on the slopes of which +the graceful little baker bestowed soft pats, as though she were +caressing it, but not hesitating fiercely to tear it in pieces in order +to give it immediately some new and capricious figure. When it seemed to +her that the paste was sufficiently kneaded, she cut it into a number +of lumps with a knife, and taking a wooden rolling-pin, she began to +shape them with great care. Ricardo asked timidly,-- + +"Will you let me help you, Martita?" + +"You don't know how." + +"You can tell me what to do, and under your direction it will go +first-rate." + +"Now, you flatter me! All right, I'm willing; but you must wash your +hands first." + +Nothing was left for Ricardo but to go and wash his hands. + +"That's good. Now take this rolling-pin and flatten out this lump of +dough till you make it into a thin, round piece." + +The new baker applied himself to his work with ardor; with too great +ardor, for the dough was sometimes rolled so extremely thin that it was +nothing but holes. The servants looked on with broad smiles of +admiration, while Marta kept gravely intent upon her task. In the +kitchen the atmosphere was suffocating, as it was heated by the red-hot +iron covers of the oven, and impregnated with the heavy odors of cooking +viands, which disturb and revolt the stomach when it is surfeited, but +excite and stimulate it when it is empty. + +Ricardo could not keep his tongue still a single instant. While he was +passing the rolling-pin over the dough with greater circumspection than +if he had been engaged in preparing a magic philter, he did not cease to +ask questions and make remarks of all sorts to Marta, principally in +regard to the pie which they had undertaken to make: "How many eggs did +you put in the flour? How much lard? Who taught you to make pies? How +long does it have to stay in the oven?" etc., etc. Marta gave laconic +answers, and did not lift her face to all his questions, allowing a +vague smile of condescending superiority to hover over her lips. + +"Aye! Marta, what would Manolito Lopez say, if he were to see us at this +moment?" + +"What has he to say? It's nothing to him," replied the girl, slightly +blushing. + +"Wouldn't he be jealous, to see us so near together?" + +"Why?" + +"Oh, I know! I know he's in love with you, according to what they say." + +"Why do you wish to plague me so?" + +"Lassie, everybody is talking about it; it's no invention of mine." + +"Very well; then keep it up, as you say." + +"I will, so far as I see it." + +"Come, don't be foolish!" + +Marta's tone in saying this showed some signs of vexation. It was +evident that she did not quite relish the joke. Ricardo's ground for +making it was slight enough, as is almost always the case with children; +but it was true to a certain degree. Little urchins of fourteen or +fifteen, called, in popular language, _pipiolos_, run after the small +girls of the same age; and they establish, for the most part tacitly, +certain relations with them which resemble or imitate the love affairs +of their seniors. It is said, for example, among them that Fulanito[18] +is Fulanita's sweetheart, without any reason why; and Fulanito, merely +from this fact, without Fulanita meaning much to him, goes to wait for +her, with other friends, at the schoolroom door, and follows her home, +greatly to the vexation of the tending maid; at the little parties which +are given from house to house he takes her out to dance more frequently +than the others. If he be somewhat daring, he is apt to offer her candy +in cones of gilt paper; and he passes in front of her house several +times a day, when he begins to wear new clothes or a new hat; he +manages, when he walks behind her, to speak loud and distinctly for her +to hear, and plumes himself on his clever talk; and he is quick to roll +up his sleeves for the most insignificant thing, so as to exhibit in her +presence a boldness and courage which he would not have if she were +absent; he spends the pennies which he possesses on pomade or scented +oil, and comes to mass when she is present, his hair brushed and as +shiny as a cat just out of the water; in the afternoon, when his heart +is sore because she does not take any notice of him, he follows behind +her with some of his friends, indulging in naughty words and stupid +laughter; and sometimes, coming close up to her, he pulls her by the +hair-ribbon, until, with these and other trickeries, he succeeds in +making her cry. + +Fulanita's conduct is generally of a piece. In reality she doesn't care +a fig for Fulanito; but as they say he is her sweetheart, she does all +she can to carry out the idea, and so she keeps turning her head to look +for him when she comes out of school; at the German she selects him as a +partner more times than the others; she hurries to the window when he +passes, and blushes when they joke her about him. But these +pseudo-affections are almost never lasting, and rarely become real. They +begin silently, they live their day silently, and silently they pass +away when the girl puts on long dresses. The reason for such fickleness +is very obvious. Fulanito has as yet attained the age, not of love +affairs, but of the gymnasium, _suspensos_, and sage cigars. Fulanita is +already far more perfectly developed as far as the life of the heart is +concerned, and in her inmost soul she has a profound scorn for Fulanito, +who does not know how to descant on affinity and love, is incapable of +kissing a fan fallen from the hand, and hasn't a sign of a mustache. + +Of this sort, though with slight variations, was our Marta's friendship +with Manolito Lopez. To the general causes which tend to wither and nip +in the bud such predilections must be added in this case the very slight +similarity of their characters. Manolito, though he had an expressive +and even handsome face, was mischievous, obstreperous, quarrelsome, and +saucy; one good quality was observable in him: he was not inclined to be +spiteful. Marta was placid, taciturn, and reserved; the fault which they +found with her at home was that she was somewhat obstinate. It was not +possible, therefore, to have a more complete antithesis. If this had not +been so, Marta would have come to love Manolito, for her temperament was +opposed to change not only in the furniture of her room, but in the +sentiments of her heart. + +When they had finished moulding various thin covers of pastry, Marta +went to work to put some of them on top of others in copper +baking-dishes, which made the bottom of the pie. Then one of the maids +put in the pork, neatly trimmed and cut into small bits. The lard, well +seasoned with spices, exhaled a stimulating, appetizing odor, which made +the mouth water. When once the bits were laid on the bottom crust in the +most accurate order, the girl went to spreading new covers of pastry +which she laid over the pork. Ricardo no longer helped her; he was +evidently tired of it. But when it came to making the ornaments for the +top, he once more hastened to offer his services, and he took great +delight in designing in the dough a thousand kinds of mosaics, +arabesques, and figures of every species that was ever seen. Marta put +an end to such dilettante labors by taking the pastry from his hand, for +he was never done. When the pie was made, the girl herself put it in the +oven, and following a pious custom traditional in that part of the +country, she made the sign of the cross over it, and repeated a Pater +Noster so as to obtain a happy result. + +"Do you know one thing, Martita?" + +"What is that?" + +"That kitchen odors and the labor on these pies have given me an +abnormal appetite!" + +"Really?" + +"It's the honest truth!" + +"Then see here; something to eat will cure it. Come with me." + +And she drew him to the dining-room near by and seated him at the table. +Then she took out of a sideboard a napkin, bread, wine, a plate of cold +turkey, and a jar of preserves, and put them down one after the other +with the carefulness and system which characterized all her movements. + +"Eat, Seor Marqus, eat." + +To call Ricardo "Seor Marqus" was one of the most audacious jests +which Marta allowed herself to indulge in toward her future brother. It +was not in accordance with her nature to make jokes and epigrams about +any one. Those that occasionally came from her lips were meant to +disguise a tenderness which her reserved nature prevented her from +showing openly to any one, even to her own sister. + +Ricardo proceeded to despatch a slice of turkey with all solemnity, +occasionally washing it down with draughts of Valdepeas, while the +girl, smiling and happy, stood enjoying her friend's voracious appetite, +and looking out to fill his glass with wine and change his plate when +there was need. + +"You are a fine woman, Martita," said Ricardo, with his mouth full. +"You're worth your weight in gold, and certainly you would not weigh a +little, judging by the signs which I won't mention for fear you would +call me a bore. When I see Manolito Lopez, I shall tell him not to think +of any other woman if he wants to get fat and plump; and that's what he +very much needs. If you take such good care of me, what care you would +take of him!--That's enough, that's enough, Martita! don't give me so +much preserve. One would think that you wanted to give me dyspepsia +here, on the sly.--This turkey is excellent; it deserves the honors +which I have done it;--a little more wine, please!--" + +Marta poured out the wine, and looked at him out of her great, calm +eyes, in which gleamed an evanescent smile of comfortable satisfaction. +It seemed as if it were she who was feasting. + +"See here, lassie[19]! do me the favor to eat something too, because it +grieves me to see you so abstemious. I should think you were being +punished." + +The girl was not hungry, and she refused to take the plate which Ricardo +offered her. However, she cut a small piece of bread, and began to +devour it solemnly with her little white teeth. + +"I prophesy that it won't be long before you dispose of this saucer of +preserve, Martita. The thing is to begin. The worst of it is, it's now +twelve o'clock, and at dinner-time I shan't have any appetite.--Yet I +don't know how far that's certain, for my stomach is a good +one!--Martita, don't be foolish, but eat this preserve, which you will +find appetizing." + +While Ricardo was bringing his task of feasting and chattering to an +end, Genoveva came into the dining-room, saying,-- + +"The Seorita Maria has a little headache and is resting in her room." + +"I'll go to her," cried Marta, hurrying away. + +"And I bring you this message from her, seorito," added the maid, +handing him a note. + +But seeing that the young man was about to break the seal, she said,-- + +"The seorita wanted you not to read it till after you had left the +house." + +"Very good," muttered Ricardo, somewhat disturbed. + +And taking his hat, and without saying farewell to any one, he hurried +home devoured by impatience, and tearing open the envelope with +trembling hand, he read the following letter:-- + + * * * * * + + "MI QUERIDSIMO RICARDO,-- + +"For some time I have been anxious to tell you a thought that has filled +my mind, but I have not had the courage. I know your nature well: you +are extremely impetuous, and thus many times, instead of reflecting on +my words and trying to understand their meaning, you would flare up like +gunpowder, spoil everything, and frighten me terribly, as on the evening +when we celebrated mamma's fte-day. Accordingly, after much +vacillation, I have decided to tell you by letter and not by word of +mouth. + +"The thought that disturbs me of late is to ask you to postpone our +wedding still a little longer. Don't get angry, Ricardo mio, and read on +calmly. I am sure that the first thought that will occur to your mind is +that I don't love you. How mistaken you would be to think such a thing! +If you could read in my soul, you would see that love holds my +conscience in its sway, and this I deplore bitterly. But that is not the +question now. + +"Are you sure, Ricardo, that you and I are properly trained to enter +upon a state which entails so many and such serious responsibilities? +Have you thought well of what the sacrament of marriage means? Is there +not in our hearts rather an unreflecting inclination, mixed, perhaps, +with carnal impulses, than a serious desire to undertake an austere, +religious life, becoming in a Christian family, educating our children +in the fear of God and in the practice of virtue? If you reflect a +little on how frivolous hitherto our love has been, and on the sins +which we are constantly committing, you cannot but agree with me that +two young people, so wanting in gravity and genuine virtue, are not +authorized by God to bring up and direct a family. I should feel a great +smiting of the conscience if I were married now (and you ought to feel +the same), and I believe that God could not bless or make our union +happy. If it is to be blessed, we must make ourselves worthy of +celebrating it, by leaving forever behind us our frivolous, worldly +manner of loving, for another, more lofty and spiritual, by refraining +absolutely from certain earthly manifestations to which we are impelled +by our great love, and by making preparations for it, during a few +months at least, by a virtuous and devout life, by performing a few +sacrifices and works of charity, and by constantly imploring God to +illumine our minds, and give us power to fulfil the duties imposed upon +us by the new state. + +"There is an example in history which ought to encourage us greatly in +doing what I propose. The beloved Saint Isabel of Hungary had been +betrothed from early youth to the Duke Luis of Thuringen, but the +nuptials were not celebrated until both reached the proper age. After +the betrothal was celebrated, Isabel and Luis did not separate, but +lived in the same palace, as though they had been brother and sister, +until, by the will of God, they became husband and wife. The pious +sentiments of the lovers, together with the austere education which was +given them, made their affection always pure and upright, founding the +unchangeable union of their hearts, not on the ephemeral sentiments of a +purely human attraction, but on a common faith and the stern observance +of all the virtues inculcated by this faith. Until they were united by +the indissoluble bond of matrimony, they always called each other +brother and sister; and even after they were married, they frequently +used to apply this sweet name to each other. + +"I confess, Ricardo, that the spectacle of those noble and holy young +people has an unspeakable attraction for me. Love sanctified in such a +way is a thousand times more beautiful, and bestows upon the heart purer +and loftier pleasures. Why should we not follow, as far as possible, the +steps of that illustrious husband and wife, the pattern of abnegation +and tenderness, as well as of purity and fidelity? Why should you not +imitate, my beloved Ricardo, the stern virtue of the young Duke of +Thuringen, the nobleness and dignity of all his actions, the innocence +and modesty of his soul, never found guilty of falsehood,--virtues which +in no respect were opposed to the valor and boldness of which he always +gave eminent proofs? For my part, I promise you to imitate, according to +the measure of my feeble strength, the tenderness, the obedience, and +the faithfulness of his saintly spouse Isabel, living subject to the law +of God, within the affection which I profess for you. + +"This is what I propose to you, and desire to do. Don't get angry, for +God's sake, dear Ricardo; reflect over what I have just said, and you +will see how right I am. Doubt not that I love you much, much,--I, who +am, for the time being, + + "Your sister, + + "MARIA." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ROAD TO PERFECTION. + + +The letter which we have just read led to a very important crisis in the +lives of our lovers. Ricardo at first was furious, and wrote a long +answer to his betrothed, announcing the end of their acquaintance, but +he did not send it. Then he held a consultation with her in which he +overwhelmed her with recriminations and insults, saving that all she had +written in her letter was nothing but a tissue of follies and +absurdities, manufactured on purpose to hide her treachery; that she +might have dismissed him in some way not so grotesque; that although he +had no claim upon her love, at least he might and ought to demand the +frankness and loyalty which he had always shown; that for a long time +back he had noticed her coldness and indifference, but he could never +have believed that she would make use of a pretext so ridiculous and so +absurd for breaking the tie that united them, etc., etc. Maria received +this storm of contumely with great humility, assuring him with gentle +words of persuasion, when he left her a moment's chance to speak, that +she still loved him with all her soul; that he might put her love to the +test as often as he pleased, since she was ready to make whatever +sacrifice he demanded, except what went against her conscience; that his +suspicions of her untruth and treachery cut her to the heart, but she +forgave him because she was aware of his excited state of mind; that she +likewise felt it keenly that he should call the motives of her +resolution grotesque and ridiculous when she found them so worthy; and, +in fine, that she begged him to calm himself. + +After the young marquis had thoroughly vented his ill feeling without +result, he began to get off of his high horse and try the effect of +skilful reasoning, and then he changed to entreaties, but without any +better results. He employed all the device of genius and all the tender +and expressive words dictated by his honorable heart, in order to +convince her that neither of them was fortunately under the necessity of +mourning for their sins like two criminals; since if they were not +better than the average of humanity, they were at least as good; and as +for their skill and judgment in governing themselves and their children +in matrimony, he believed that they were no less fitted than the rest, +and that in the end they would come out as well as other people. All was +useless. The young woman met argument with argument, and her lover's +prayers, sprinkled with endearments, with a firm and obstinate silence. +Ricardo, in a state of tribulation which Father Rivadeneira does not +take account of as a matter of merit in his treatise, went straight to +Don Mariano, whom he loved like a father, to tell him the state of +things, and ask his aid and advice. The latter was highly surprised and +disturbed when he read his daughter's letter. He read it over many times +as though he could not get the key of it, and at each new reading he +found it more obscure and inexplicable. Finally he handed it back with a +gesture of dismay, signifying that his daughter must have lost her wits, +for he could not understand any such nonsense. + +In point of fact, Don Mariano was a sincere believer, fulfilling +scrupulously the moral precepts of religion, but he looked upon the +things which relate to worship with some coolness, if not with scorn. He +had never doubted the religious truths learned in his childhood, but he +had never made much account of masses and sermons, and he never went to +church more than was strictly necessary. He could make a distinction, +when these subjects were up for discussion, between religion and the +priest, professing for these latter a decided Voltairian hostility, +which came from inheritance, according to Doa Gertrudis, since his +grandfather, the Mexican, had kept up friendly relations and a +voluminous correspondence with a member of the French Convention. He had +an insuperable faith in modern progress, and he made use of the +inventions constantly realized by human industry, in order to combat and +crush the fragile arguments of his constant enemies, the partisans of +tradition, among whom not the least obstinate and vexatious was his +wife. If, for example, a telegram from any relation or friend was +received in the house, Don Mariano, after reading it, would hold it out +to his wife with a triumphal smile, saying,-- + +"Here, this miserable modern invention brings us word that your brother +has reached Paris safely." + +He delighted in making humorous conjectures on the fright that would +seize our forefathers if they were suddenly put in a railroad car, or +were told that they could communicate whenever they pleased with a +friend residing in Havana. Whenever he found in the papers a notice of +any wonderful invention, the audacious man hastened to read it to his +wife, and he kept the paper so as to read it also to the many +conservatives who frequented his house. If the invention was not costly, +he had the machine sent him, although it was not of the slightest use to +him; and so he kept the house stored with curious manufactures, almost +all of them covered with dust, and out of order by want of +use,--ice-making machines, churns, cider-mills, organs, etc., parlor +telegraphs, stereopticons, pans for cooking meat with a piece of paper, +life-preservers, canes with chairs and guns, waterproof umbrellas with +tent arrangement, and an endless array of strange articles. When the +machine did not work, Don Mariano was disgusted and felt humiliated, and +fearing lest the glory of modern science should be diminished in +consequence, he did not speak of the apparatus before his seora; or if +he were obliged to do so, he escaped the difficulty on a tangent, as he +used to say, by always attributing the unfortunate result to his own +stupidity, and not the quality of the machine. This eager love which he +professed for the incredible advances of the present age, and the +struggle which he waged both in his house and out of it with the friends +of tradition, occasionally impelled him to employ forbidden weapons, as +for example to exaggerate the power of modern industry, giving +fictitious accounts of the beginning of stupendous new enterprises which +had never as yet entered into the mind of man. One day he startled his +friends by assuring them that it was seriously intended to establish a +floating bridge between Europe and America, over which one could travel +by rail to the New World; another time he astonished them by declaring +that a telescope was in construction, which would bring the moon within +half a league of the earth, so that we could discover whether that +satellite had inhabitants. Again, he filled them with wonder by +informing them that in the United States a whole cathedral had been +moved at once from one town to another by means of hydraulic pressure. +In regard to mechanical advances, Don Mariano had more imagination than +Shakespeare. National politics engaged his attention little in +comparison with the incessant and sublime progress realized by humanity, +and he detested the exaggerations which in his view tended to hinder it. +His affiliations were with the liberal conservative party. + +With these peculiarities, it is easy to imagine the effect made upon him +by his daughter's letter. He looked upon it as one of those many +extravagant hobbies which she had passed through in her life, and he +solemnly promised Ricardo to make her desist from such folly. But after +he had called her to his room and spent about two hours closeted with +her, he began to suspect that the thing was not so easy as it appeared +at first sight. Neither by turning her austere plan into ridicule by his +jests, nor by showing that he was annoyed, nor by descending to +entreaties, was our worthy caballero able to accomplish anything. Maria +met these attacks like her lover's, with a humble but resolute attitude +impossible to overcome. No other way was left them but to resign +themselves, and this they both did perforce with the secret hope that +the girl would very soon change of her own accord when once her caprice +was satisfied. Accordingly the wedding was indefinitely postponed, and +poor Ricardo began to play his part as Duke of Thuringen almost as ill +as a Spanish actor. From that time forth his interviews with Maria +became less frequent and familiar. The girl seemed to shun him and to +avoid opportunities of talking confidentially with him as she used. +Ricardo eagerly sought them, sometimes employing them in bitter +expostulations, at others in softly whispering a thousand passionate +phrases. She always appeared sweet and affectionate, but endeavored to +turn the conversation to serious subjects. Ricardo still caressed her +whenever he had an opportunity, but he no longer obtained from her the +usual reciprocation in spite of the incredible efforts which he made to +obtain it. And not only he did not obtain this grace, but little by +little the girl came to avoid his familiarities by always talking with +him in the presence of others. One day when he found her alone in the +dining-room, he said to himself with inward delight, "She is mine." And +creeping up behind her carefully, he gave her a ringing kiss on her +neck. Maria sprang suddenly from her chair and said, with a certain +sweetness not free from severity,-- + +"Ricardo, don't do that again!" + +"Why not?" + +"Because I don't like it." + +"How long since?" + +"I never did; don't be foolish." She said these words with asperity, and +another unpleasant stage in Ricardo's love was signalized. Almost +absolutely ceased those happy moments of fond raptures, sweet and +delicious as the pleasures of the angels in which the poesy of spirit +and matter is indistinguishable, the prospect of which kindles and stirs +the deepest roots of our being, and their remembrance throws over all +our lives, even for the most prosaic of men, a vague and poetical +melancholy helping us to endure the rebuffs of existence and to +contemplate without envy the felicity of others. The most that the young +marquis obtained grudgingly from his sweetheart was the permission to +give her a brotherly kiss on the forehead from time to time. And there +is no need of telling my experienced readers, for they must be able to +imagine it, that with this enforced fast the young man's love far from +growing less, increased and became violent beyond all power of words. + +Maria was able fully to devote herself to the life of perfection toward +which she had felt such vehement aspiration. The hours of the day seemed +to her too few for her prayers, both at church and at home, and for the +repentance of her sins. She attended the sacraments more and more, and +she was present and assisted with her sympathy and money in all the +religious solemnities which were celebrated in the town. The time left +free from her prayers she spent in reading books of devotion, which, in +a short time, formed a library almost as numerous as her novels. The +lives of the saints pleased her above all, and she soon devoured a +multitude of them, paying most attention, as was logical, to the lives +of those who reached the greatest glory and brought the greatest +splendor to the Church,--the life of Saint Teresa, that of Saint +Catalina of Sienna, of Saint Gertrudis, of Saint Isabel, Saint Eulalia, +Saint Monica, and many others who, without having been canonized, were +celebrated for their piety and for the spiritual graces which God +bestowed upon them, like the holy Margarita of Alacoque, Mademoiselle de +Melun, and others. These works made a very profound impression on our +young lady's ardent and enthusiastic mind, driving her farther and +farther along the road to perfection. The incredible and marvellous +powers of those heroic souls, who, through love and charity, succeeded +in lifting themselves to heaven, and in enjoying through anticipation, +while still on earth, the delights reserved for the blessed, filled her +with deep, fervent admiration. She felt an ecstasy over the most +insignificant incidents in the lives of the saints, where God often +showed them that He held them as His chosen ones, and would not let the +world entice them away, as, for example, the scene of the miraculous +toad which Saint Teresa saw talking in the garden with a caballero +toward whom she felt a drawing; the sudden death of Buenaventura, Saint +Catalina's sister, who was leading that holy woman along the worldly +path of bodily adornments and pleasures; and many others which filled +the books aforesaid. Maria regarded these notable heroines of religion +with the same emotion and astonishment as one regards the phenomena and +marvels of nature. A long time passed before she dared to lift her eyes +toward them in the way of imitation; she contented herself with +beseeching them, through interminable prayers, to intercede with God to +pardon her sins. She bought the finest effigies that she found and, when +she had caused them to be richly framed, she hung them up on the walls +of her room. To do this she had to take down Malec-Kadel and many other +warriors of the Middle Ages which had invaded them. She was especially +carried away by the scenes of their infancy, and by the first steps +which these blessed women had taken along the road to perfection; but +when she reached that part of their lives which marked the apogee of +their glory on earth, when God, overcome by their steadfast love, their +fidelity, and the wonderful penances imposed upon themselves, began to +grant them favors and spiritual gifts by means of ecstasies and visions, +she remained somewhat disturbed and even cast down. She did not as yet +comprehend the mystic delight of direct communication through the senses +between the soul and God, and she confessed with great compunction that +if one of these miraculous visions were to be vouchsafed her, she should +feel much greater fear than pleasure. + +Nevertheless, before long, the desire to imitate them sprang up in her +heart. It is always a short step from admiration to imitation. She +began where it was proper, that is, by imitating their humility. +Hitherto she had been modest, but not to such a degree as not to enjoy +being flattered and applauded; but from this time forth she not only +carefully avoided all praise, but she repelled those who offered it, and +even tried to hide her talents so as to give her friends no chance to +praise her. She began to talk as little as possible with friends or +members of the family, and to do on the instant whatever they asked her +to, lamenting in her heart that they did not give her harsh commands. +She managed to have the servants help her at table after all the rest, +and always give her stale bread instead of fresh. To conquer the natural +impulses of selfishness she showed those who had offended her more +affability than others, and any one had only to offend her pride more or +less for her immediately to overwhelm them with attentions, as though +she owed them gratitude. On the other hand, to those who, as she knew, +loved and admired her, she took delight in seeming peevish, so that they +might not think her better than she really was. + +Having started out on this pious path, which has been travelled by all +the saints for the glory of God and of the human race, since the virtue +of humility raises man above his own nature, conquering the passions +deepest rooted in the human heart, and, of all virtues is the one that +best proves the power of the spirit, and inspires respect even in the +most unbelieving of men; having started out, I say on this pious path, +and being aided by vivid imagination, she performed a number of strange +deeds, wellnigh incomprehensible to those whose attention is turned to +the world and not to religious things, deeds which the illustrious +biographers of Saint Isabel calls _secret_ and _holy fancies_,[20] +serving as the mystic steps whereby the soul mounts to perfection and +communicates with God. One day, for example, it came into her mind to +eat humbly with the servants as though she were one of them. In order to +do this, when dinner-time came, she pretended to have a headache, and +kept in her chamber; but when the family were gathered in the +dining-room, she softly ran down stairs to the kitchen, and there she +stayed all through the dinner-hour, helping herself to the remains of +the food, to the surprise and admiration of the servants. Another day, +when it seemed to her that she had not answered her father with +sufficient respect, she suddenly presented herself in his office, fell +on her knees, and begged his pardon. Don Mariano lifted her from the +floor, with startled eyes:-- + +"But, my daughter, suppose you have not offended me or committed any +fault? And even if you had, there is no need of going to these extremes. +What nonsense! Come, give me a kiss, and go and sew with your sister, +and don't frighten me again with such absurdities!" + +Maria did not meet with the contrarieties in the bosom of her family +that she would have liked, in the way of test. Her father and sister, +though they did not encourage her in her devotions, said nothing to +oppose her; and each day they showed her more and more affection, which +was the natural consequence of the growing sweetness and gentleness of +her character. Her mother adored her with foolish frenzy, blindly +applauded all her acts of piety, and never wearied of praising to the +skies the virtue and talent of her first-born. The servants, and +particularly Genoveva, likewise joined their voices in a chorus of +flatteries, spreading all over town the fame of her virtues, and +crowning her with a halo of respect and sanctity. As far as such things +influenced her salvation, our maiden would have preferred a cruel, +tyrannical father, who laid harsh commands upon her, or a disagreeable +mother or an envious sister, who would not let her live in peace, since, +according to the biographies which she read, no saint had been free from +suffering persecutions in her own family. She grieved inwardly at the +ease and comfort which she enjoyed at home, and she thought that she +suffered nothing for the God who had redeemed us with His blood. She +would have liked it had a calumny been breathed about her, such as +Palmerina caused Saint Catalina of Sienna to suffer, so that she might +be scorned and maltreated; but no one in the house or out of it dreamed +of doing such a thing. + +To compensate for this absence of persecutions, she mortified her flesh +with fasting and penances, always performing those which were most +unpleasant to her. Some dish on the table was distasteful to her; then +she imposed upon herself the penance of eating it, leaving others, of +which she was extremely fond, untouched. She went so far as to put aloes +in some, in imitation of what was done by Saint Nicolas of Tolentino. On +Fridays she fasted rigorously on bread and water, performing miracles of +shrewdness to prevent her father from discovering it; for she felt +certain that if he knew it, he would not give his consent. + +She always wore a locket around her neck, containing the picture of her +betrothed. One day, when he had succeeded in having a moment's +conversation alone with her, she said to him,-- + +"Listen, Ricardo; if you would not be vexed, I would tell you +something." + +"What is it?" hastily asked the young man, with the sudden alarm of one +who is always afraid of some misfortune. + +"I see that I am going to offend you--but I will tell you. I have taken +your picture out of the locket." + +Ricardo's face expressed amazement. + +"And the worst is, that I have put another in its place." + +The expression of amazement changed into one of such pain, that Maria, +on looking in his contracted and grief-stricken face, could not refrain +from breaking out into a fresh, ringing peal of merry laughter, such as +in former times used to ripple from her lips all the time, and which +little by little had decreased, as though the fire of light and joy from +which they came had died down. + +"Good Heavens! what a long face!--Wait! Now I'll show your substitute, +so as to make you suffer more." + +And taking the locket from her neck she showed it to him. It held the +effigy of Jesus crowned with thorns. Ricardo, half satisfied and half +vexed, answered with a smile. + +"Now kiss it!" + +The young man obeyed instantly, placing his lips on the picture of the +Lord, and at the same time touching the rosy fingers which held it out +to him. Maria withdrew them and ran away. + +Equally as she schooled herself in humility, so she gave much heed to +that other virtue, which is, so to speak, the foundation of our religion +and the chief crown of glory that the creature can offer to God,--the +virtue of charity. Our maiden's excellent heart and the example of her +parents were sufficient reason for her to alleviate as far as possible +the miseries of her neighbors, but beside this there was now the +continual inducement in the incredible powers of abnegation and charity +shown by the saints, whom she worshipped with the greatest fervor, +particularly the holy Duchess of Thuringen, who bore the name of Mother +of the Poor. And so she visited her compassion on all the wretched, and +lost no opportunity to supply their needs with lavish hand. All the +money which her father gave her she employed in almsgiving. In company +with Genoveva she visited the houses of many poor people, whom she +assisted not only with money but also with words of council, on the +ground that man lives not by bread alone. In order to school herself in +humility in the same way that was practised by Margaret, the sainted +queen of Scotland, she had some beggars come secretly to her room, and +washed their feet with the greatest scrupulousness. Each one of these +pious deeds filled her with a holy inward joy such as she had never +before experienced. She took up the habit of never allowing any poor +person who asked alms to go without receiving them, since in addition to +the dictates of her heart she remembered the multitude of cases in which +our Lord or the Virgin had appeared to many saints in the disguise of +beggars. Her desire, mixed with fear, that something of this sort might +happen in her case, impelled her to scrutinize with considerable care +the faces of the poor. But as her own resources did not suffice for her +attention to such numerous charities, she had to scheme in order to +obtain money from her father, using a thousand innocent devices: one day +asking it for a parasol, another for a clock, another for a case of +scissors, etc., etc. She went to such extremes, however, that Don +Mariano began to suspect the truth, and put a limit to his munificence. +His daughter had impoverished him with the greatest innocence. + +Carried away by her ardent charity, she likewise wanted to put herself +to the test by caring for the sick; above all, for those who were +suffering from disgusting diseases. She heard that a woman near her +house was suffering from a sore breast, and she made the resolution to +go every morning and dress it, and this she instantly put into practice; +but at the very first visit, wishing to add what she had read in the +history of Saint Catalina, that is, wishing to kiss the sick woman's +sore, the loathing and horror which overcame her were so great that she +grew faint, became very ill, and Genoveva had to take her in her arms +and carry her home. + +The poor girl attributed her misfortune not to the feebleness of her +stomach, but to her lack of virtue, and she applied herself with +increased anxiety to better her life. + +Genoveva took part in all these exercises of piety, but rather as her +companion and confidential friend than as her maid. She aided her, +oftentimes without understanding where she was going to stop, absolutely +persuaded that she could not go on the wrong track, for she had blind +faith in her seorita's discretion. It was not so much affection which +she felt for her, as a species of idolatry in which was mingled +admiration for her beauty, respect for her talent, and pride in having +seen the birth of a prodigy in the creation of which she had had a +share. Maria was unable to arouse in her the mystic enthusiasm which +possessed herself, for Genoveva was not of an inflammable nature, and a +supine ignorance shielded her from all sorts of enthusiasms; but she +succeeded through her acts and religious discourses in awakening in her +the fanaticism which is always dormant in the depths of vulgar, ignorant +souls. + +One night after Maria had retired from the family circle, and Genoveva +had left the kitchen, they found themselves in the boudoir in the tower. +Maria was reading by the light of her polished iron lamp,[21] while +Genoveva was seated in another chair in front of her, engaged in +knitting stockings. They often spent an hour or two in this way before +going to bed, since the seorita was accustomed of old to read till the +small hours of the night. + +She did not seem so absorbed in her reading as usual. She often laid the +book on the table and remained a long while thoughtful, with her cheek +resting in her hand: then she took it up again, only to lay it down very +hastily; she was nervous, judging by the creaking of the chair. From +time to time she fastened a long gaze on Genoveva in which gleamed a +timid, restless desire and a sort of inner struggle with some thought +preoccupying her. Genoveva, on the other hand, was more than ever +absorbed in her stocking, doubtless mixing with her stitches a crowd of +more or less philosophical considerations which obliged her, from time +to time, to lean forward towards her hands just as if she were asleep. + +At last the seorita decided to break the silence. + +"Genoveva, don't you want to read this passage from the life of Saint +Isabel?" she asked, handing her the book. + +"With all my heart,[22] seorita." + +"Look here where it says: 'When her husband.'" + +Genoveva began to read the paragraph to herself, but very soon Maria +interrupted her, saying,-- + +"No, no; read it aloud!" + +Whereupon she obeyed, reading what follows:-- + +_"When her husband was absent, she spent the whole night watching with +Jesus, the spouse of her soul. But the penances which the innocent young +princess imposed upon herself were not limited to this alone. Under her +most splendid garments she always wore a haircloth cilicium next her +flesh. Every Friday she let herself be severely whipped in secret in +memory of the dolorous passion of our Lord, and daily during Lent (in +order, says a biographer, to requite the Lord in some measure for the +punishment of the lash), coming thereafter to Court, her face full of +joy and serenity. As time went on she carried this austerity into the +small hours of the night, and entering into an apartment next the +chamber where she slept with her husband, she caused her damsels to +inflict a severe scourging upon her, thence returning to her husband's +side more joyful and amiable than ever, having gained comfort from these +severities practised on herself and against her own weakness. Thus it +was, as a contemporary poet says, she succeeded in drawing near to God +and breaking the bonds of the prison of the flesh like a brave warrior +of the love of the Lord."_ + +"That'll do; don't read any more; what do you think about it?" + +"I have often read that same thing before." + +"That's true; but what should you think if I decided to do the same?" +she asked impetuously, like one who determines to propose something long +thought about. + +Genoveva stared at her with wide-open eyes, failing to understand her. + +"Don't you understand?" + +"No, seorita." + +Maria got up, and throwing her arms around her neck, she whispered, her +face aflame,-- + +"I mean, silly one,[23] that if you would be willing to do the office of +Saint Isabel's damsels, I would imitate the saint to-night." + +Genoveva vaguely understood, but still she asked,-- + +"What office?" + +"Oh! you stupid and more than stupid, that of giving me a few blows with +the lash in memory of those which our Lord received, and all the saints +in example of him." + +"Seorita, what are you saying? How did such a thing ever enter into +your head?" + +"It entered my head because I wish to mortify and humiliate myself at +one and the same time. That is the true penance and the most pleasing in +the eyes of the Lord, for the reason that he himself suffered it for us. +I intended to inflict it upon myself, but I could not; and besides, it +is not so efficacious as to suffer the humiliation of receiving it from +the hands of another. And so you won't be willing to do this for me?" + +"No, Seorita, not for anything. I couldn't do it--" + +"Why not, _tonta_? Don't you see that it is for my good? If I should +fail of freeing myself from a few days of purgatory because I did not do +what I ask you, wouldn't you feel remorse?" + +"But, my heart's dove,[24] how could you want me to maltreat you even +though it were for your good?" + +"Why, you have nothing left but to do it because it is a vow, and I must +fulfil it; you have helped me hitherto in the road to virtue. Don't +abandon me when I least expect it. You won't, Genovita? You won't, will +you?" + +"Seorita, for God's sake don't make me do this!" + +"Come, Genovita, I beg of you by the love that you bear me--" + +"No! no! no! don't ask me to do it--" + +"Come, you old darling,[25] do this favor for me. You don't know how bad +I shall feel if you don't do it. I shall believe that you have ceased to +love me." + +Maria exhausted all the resources of her genius to convince her. She sat +on her lap and overwhelmed her with caresses; she fondled her, now +getting vexed, now entreating her, and always fixing her eyes upon her +in a wheedling way impossible to resist. She was like a child asking for +a forbidden toy. When she saw that her maid was softening a little, or +rather was very tired of refusing, she said, with fascinating +volubility:-- + +"Truly, _tonta_, don't believe that it is a thing of such great +consequence. A bad toothache is much worse, and you know that I have had +them often enough. Your imagination makes you think that it is terrible, +when in reality it is a trifling thing. It all comes from the fact that +it isn't done nowadays because virtue is vanished from the world, but in +the good old times of religion it was a common, every-day occurrence, +and no one who claimed to be a good Christian failed to perform this +penance. Come, make up your mind to grant me this favor, and at the same +time to do a good work.--Wait a moment, I will find what we need--" + +And running to the bureau, she opened a drawer, and took out a scourge, +a genuine scourge, with round wooden handle and leather cords. Then, all +excited and nervous, with her cheeks on fire, she brought it to +Genoveva, and thrust it into her hand. She took it mechanically, without +knowing what she did. She was perfectly stupefied. The girl began to +caress her again, encouraging her with persuasive accents; but she did +not answer a word. Then the Seorita de Elorza, with trembling hand, +began to unloose the blue silk dress which she wore. On her face glowed +the excited, anxious joy of a caprice about to be gratified. Her eyes +shone with unwonted light, hinting at keen, mysterious joys; her lips +were dry, as one athirst; the violet circle around her eyes was larger +than usual, and bright crimson spots burned in her cheeks. She breathed +excitedly through her nostrils, which were more than ordinarily dilated. +Her white, aristocratic hands, with their slender fingers and rosy +nails, loosed with strange haste the buttons of her dress. With a quick +movement she freed herself from it. + +"You shall see; I have on only my chemise and underwaist. I am all +ready." + +In truth, she took off, or rather tore off, her underwaist and a skirt +or two, and was left only in her chemise. She stood an instant, glanced +at the instrument in Genoveva's hand, and over her body ran a tremor of +chill, of pleasure, of anguish, of terror, and of eagerness, all at +once. In a low voice, changed by emotion, she said, "Papa must not know +this." + +And her linen chemise slipped down on her body, catching for an instant +on her hips, and then falling slowly to the floor. She was now entirely +naked. Genoveva looked at her with ecstatic eyes, and the girl felt +somewhat abashed. + +"You won't be angry with me, Genovita?" she asked, smiling. + +The serving woman could only say,-- + +"Seorita, for God's sake!" + +"The sooner, the better, for I shall get cold." + +In this way she wished to bring still greater pressure to bear on her +servant. With a nervous movement she snatched the scourge from her left +hand, thrust it into her right; again threw her arms around her neck, +and giving her a kiss, whispered very softly, in a joyous tone,-- + +"You must ply it vigorously, for so I have promised God." + +A violent trembling took possession of her body, as she said these +words; but it was a delicious trembling, which penetrated to the very +depths of her being. Then, taking Genoveva by the hand, she pulled her +toward the table where the Saviour's image stood. + +"Here it must be,--kneeling before our Lord." + +Her voice choked in her throat. She was pale. She bent humbly before the +image, rapidly made the sign of the cross, folded her hands over her +breast, and turning her face toward her maid, said, with a sweet +smile,-- + +"Now you can begin." + +"Seorita, for God's sake!" exclaimed Genoveva, in perfect trepidation. + +Through the seorita's eyes flashed a gleam of anger, which instantly +died away; but she said, in a tone of considerable irritation:-- + +"Do we believe in this? Obey me, and don't be obstinate." + +The woman, overawed, and persuaded that she was aiding in a work of +piety, obeyed, laying the scourge gently enough on the seorita's naked +shoulders. + +The first blows struck by the maid were so soft and gentle that they +left no sign on that precious skin. But Maria was excited; she desired +them to be heavier:-- + +"No, not like that; but with force--but wait a moment; let me take off +these jewels, which are out of place at such a moment." + +And hastily she tore off all the rings from her fingers, pulled out her +earrings, and laid the handful of gold and precious stones at the feet +of Jesus. In that same way Saint Isabel, when she prayed in church, laid +her ducal crown at the foot of the altar. + +She resumed her humble posture, and Genoveva, seeing that there was no +escape, began relentlessly to bruise her pious mistress's flesh. The +lamp shed a soft, diffused light, bathing the little boudoir in subdued +brilliancy; only as it touched the jewels lying at the Redeemer's feet, +it broke into beautiful fleeting sparkles. The silence at this moment +was absolute; not even the mournful voice of the wind in the casements +was to be heard. The room breathed an atmosphere of mystery and +seclusion, which enraptured Maria and filled her with an intoxicating +pleasure. Her lovely body, bared, shuddered every time that the straps +of the scourge curled around it with a pang not without voluptuous +pleasure. She pressed her brow to the Redeemer's feet, breathing quickly +and with a certain oppression, and she felt the blood beating in her +temples with strange violence, while the light golden hair at the back +of the neck rose slightly under the impulse of the emotion which filled +her. From time to time her pale, trembling lips said softly,-- + +"Go on, go on." + +The lashes had already raised many rose-colored weals in her shining +skin, and she did not ask for a truce. But at last the barbarous +instrument brought a drop of blood. Genoveva could not restrain herself; +she threw the scourge far from her, and hastened to embrace her +seorita, covering her with caresses and begging her by the salvation +of her soul not to make her do such an atrocious thing again. Maria +consoled her, assuring her that the flagellation had hurt her very +little; and now that her ardor was somewhat cooled, and her ascetic +impulses calmed, she said good night and went to her bedroom to lie +down. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN SEARCH OF MENINO. + + +"I know it's you, Ricardo; let me go!" + +Ricardo did not reply. + +"Come, let me go; you see I must hurry and carry the broth to mamma." + +Ricardo still blinded her eyes from behind without saying a word. + +"For pity's sake let me go, Ricardo! It isn't fair, after I have told +who you were." + +"In punishment for your not taking the joke gracefully, I won't let you +go," said Ricardo, still clasping her eyes. + +"All right, then; I admit that it's perfectly fair." + +"Ah, that's another thing! if you submit, I will let you go. But you +must pay a forfeit." + +Marta, as soon as she found herself free, ran behind him with uplifted +broom, so that he could not get hold of her; thereupon she went back and +again began her task of brushing up the dining-room. She had not dressed +for the day. She wore a loose red gown somewhat the worse for wear, and +her hair was put up in a white redicilla. But there was one very strange +thing about this girl; in an old morning dress, sometimes even ripped, +and with her hair in disorder, she was prettier than when she put on her +fine clothes. It may have been because her peculiar style of beauty was +not best brought out by rich and splendid dresses as her sister's was, +or because she was not used to wearing them (for it was rare for her to +put on those which were bought for her), so that she appeared awkward +and constrained when she went out; but at all events, on the street and +at the theatre, Marta certainly attracted little attention, and remained +entirely overshadowed by her sister's proud and splendid beauty. On the +other hand, at home her graces were greatly increased; her motions were +easy and unembarrassed; her eyes gained brilliancy and animation, and +her whole body acquired a freedom which it lost as soon as she set foot +in the street. + +She swept without haste, firmly and easily, like one who always expects +to finish in time, and she kept humming a march[26] very softly. She had +no voice for singing or any great love for music, and all the exertions +of her teachers and her liking for study struggled with this lack of +musical ability. The masterpieces of music, and even the _fantasas_, +_rveries_, and nocturnes, which Maria played on the piano left her cold +and incapable of understanding their worth. On the other hand, she +confessed with shame that certain operatic airs and many popular songs +delighted her. Another thing she did not confess, though it was no less +true: the bands which sometimes accompany funerals, and are, as a +general rule, of the very worst sort, composed almost entirely of brass +instruments, moved her deeply, even to tears. She almost never sang, but +she was apt to hum softly when she was doing any work as now. From time +to time she stopped to take breath, leaning for a moment on her broom, +and after brushing back one or two curls which fell on her forehead, she +went on with her task. + +Ricardo appeared again in the door. + +"Martita, are you still vexed with me?" + +"If I am," she replied, between a frown and smile, "you had better make +your escape, seor marqus, quick, before I dust you with the +broomstick." + +"But are you really vexed?" + +"Certainly I am." + +"Very well, then; I humbly ask your pardon," said Ricardo, getting down +on his knees. "Give me all the blows you want, for I have no idea of +moving." + +"Come, get up, and don't be foolish! See how you are soiling your +trowsers!" + +"Though I should soil the very collar of my shirt, I wouldn't move until +you pardoned me!" + +"What a boor you are, Ricardo!" + +"Many thanks!" + +"Will you get up, child?" + +"No; not till you pardon me." + +"You must be serious, Ricardo!" + +"We will speak of that by and by. Do you pardon me?" + +"Yes; bother[27]! yes; get up!" + +Ricardo arose, went up to Marta, and taking her by the arms and shaking +her violently, exclaimed,-- + +"How very pretty you are, little one! I don't wonder that Manolito--Of +course you understand me." + +"This is a great way of trying to be serious!" + +"I shall be in time. Don't you worry!" + +"Very well; then let me have a chance to carry mamma's broth to her." + +"Do you know, I have searched the whole house and not found a soul?" + +"Mamma has not left her room yet, and papa and Maria are out." + +"Maria is at church as usual, isn't she?" + +"She only went to mass; she will be back soon." + +"Of course," replied the young man, becoming suddenly serious and +silent. + +Marta finished her work under her future brother's grave and not very +careful inspection. + +"Will you wait for me? I'm coming right back." + +Ricardo nodded assent; and while the girl was gone, he went to one of +the balconied windows and began to drum with his fingers on the glass, +casting a vacant, absent look at the neighboring houses. + +Marta came hurrying in again. + +"Come, go with me; I am going to put the linen away." + +Ricardo followed the girl like a lamb into a bright room full of +clothes-presses. It looked into the garden. In the centre of it was a +table on which stood a great basket heaped up with white clothes just +from the wash. + +"Will you help me take down this basket and put it there, near that +clothes-press?" + +"Why didn't you put it a little further off?" + +The basket was a huge one, and it was a tug to carry it to the place +designated: while they were carrying it, they got into such a frolic +that more than once they had to set it down. Ricardo with his efforts +grew very red in the face, and this made the girl laugh until she had no +strength left. She rarely laughed; but when the floodgates were opened, +nobody could stop it. Ricardo, with his inclination to make fun, puffed +out his cheeks and grew redder yet. All ill humor had completely +disappeared. The basket made very little progress, and both stood +bending over it and struggling with it, being unable to lift it an inch +from the ground, the one splitting with laughter, and the other +affecting a comic desperation. + +"What a valiant soldier, to be vanquished by a basket of clothes!" +exclaimed the girl, in the height of glee. + +"I should like to see Prim or Espartero or even Napoleon himself here! +This isn't a basket at all! There is linen enough here for an army!" + +"Let go, then! If you didn't make me laugh, I could lift it by myself." + +After much laughter, and no little bantering, the basket reached its +destination. Marta opened the clothes-press, from which came the +distinctive, fresh, penetrating odor of fresh linen. The girl for +several moments breathed it in with delight, while she was transferring +the pieces from one shelf to another in order to make room for the clean +clothes that she was going to put away. Then she started to call +Carmen--one of the maids--to help her, but Ricardo asked timidly,-- + +"Listen, child, couldn't I help to do it?" + +"Oh! if you would like--" + +"But it isn't for me to like. Pure gold though I were, _preciosa_, it is +for you to command me, as queen and mistress." + +"It won't do at all." + +"It's no condescension on my part; you can put me to the test." + +"Well, then, this time I command you to take the two corners of this +sheet and stretch them out in that direction hard--not so hard, man, how +you pull me! That's the way! that's the way! Now double it as I +do--so--one corner over the other--good!--now stretch it out +again--more, ever so much more--that's it! Now fold it again; pull it +out once more! There, that'll do. Now come towards me,--let me have it; +I can manage it now. Here's another. Take the two corners--shake it +well and stretch it out. Be careful, for this one has a ruffle--don't +tear it! These are mamma's and Maria's sheets." + +"How it would shock Maria if she knew I were folding her sheets!" cried +Ricardo, laughing. + +"Why, yes; the sheets themselves are. Mamma and she like very fine ones, +and have theirs made of batiste; but papa and I like them coarser. I +can't bear fine sheets; I slip about in them and can't get settled. We +are careful not to put any kind of ruffles on papa's, for the touch of +starch tries his nerves, and the rustling keeps him awake. It's a hobby +of his. Just imagine when he is travelling, and at some house they put +on sheets with trimmings, he takes the trouble to pull the bed to pieces +and put the ruffling under the mattress at his feet. I don't like them +either, but if I find them on, I put up with them. Papa has a good many +hobbies. Every night he has to go asleep with a cigar in his mouth. I +walk up and down near his room until I see that he is asleep, and then I +go in very gently and take the cigar from his mouth and put out the +light.--Don't pull so hard, for my arms ache already. The truth is, I +make you do very improper things for a military man; isn't that so?" + +"Don't you believe it! At college, and even after we left, at +boarding-houses we had to do much worse things. How many buttons have I +sewed on in my life! And how many times I have patched my trowsers when +they were worn through!" + +"Really?" + +"Certainly!" + +Marta was sincerely astonished. She could not understand that a man +should have to descend to such duties when there are so many women in +the world, and she asked particularly about his college life,--how they +were treated, what they ate, at what time they went to bed, who attended +to their rooms, who did their washing and ironing, were their mattresses +hard or soft, did they drink wine, how many times a week they gave them +clean towels, etc., etc. Ricardo answered all her questions, giving a +circumstantial account of his college habits with the fulness of one who +has very fresh recollections, and is not bored in recounting them. From +college customs he passed to his adventures, relating those which might +be told to a young girl, and amusing himself above all in painting in +the darkest colors the tribulations of freshman year[28] and the +cruelties practised upon them by the seniors,[29] who compelled them to +spend whole nights making cigarettes of sand so as to learn to make +better ones of tobacco; in the street they would make them sit down on +the stone seats and not let them get up till they gave them permission; +they seated them at table, even though they had dined, just for the fun +of the thing; those who were weakest would vomit or faint; one fellow +who ventured to rebel against a _galonista_ they kept for six months +face to face with a stone wall, during all play hours, until he was +taken ill with jaundice and almost died. One Sunday afternoon, while he +was in the hall with five other freshmen[30] reading a novel, two +seniors came in and beat them furiously with cudgels until they were +tired out, and gave him a painful cut near his eye. + +Marta listened with profound attention, showing in her face all the +phases of indignation. She pulled with greater and greater force on the +sheets, and folded them any way, without taking her eyes from the +narrator's. From time to time she exclaimed, "But, good Heavens,[31] +that is abominable! Those men are crazy; why didn't you tell the +president about such cruelties?" Ricardo could not persuade her that it +would have been useless to rebel or tell the colonel, since hazing[32] +was a traditional custom in the college which the officers did not care +to root out. To all his reasonings she replied, "Well, I would have gone +to the colonel, and if he had not made it right for me, I would have run +away from college." + +"Come, don't be excited, Marta, over what I went through. The men who +suffer this way do the same thing. Now I am going to tell you something +that took place between me and the colonel. After I became lieutenant--" + +And changing his tack, he began to tell amusing adventures and jolly +incidents, which smoothed out the frowns on the girl's face, and finally +made her laugh heartily. Gradually the basket was emptied, and its +contents were transferred to the clothes-press, which still exhaled its +fresh and somewhat pungent odor of newly washed clothes. This odor +filled the whole room, and gave it a refreshing perfume of health and +cleanliness pleasanter than any perfumery or pomade. It was the perfume +which always clung about Marta, as her father said, and seemed +especially created for her. When she went alone to open the +cloth-presses, she took a great delight in putting her head into them, +and burying it in the clothes, enjoying the coolness of the linen +against her face, and breathing with keen pleasure its healthful aroma. +The light pouring through the white tulle of the curtains, the +ceaseless chatter and the merry laughter of the young people filled the +room with joy and animation; it was called the "ironing-room," for all +the linen of the house was ironed there. The walls not occupied by the +clothes-presses were painted a plain white. + +Carmen burst into the room like a hurricane, crying,-- + +"Seorita Marta, Seorita Marta!" + +"What's the trouble?" asked Marta, in alarm. + +"Menino has got out, seorita!" + +Marta dropped the sheet which she had in her hands, and exclaimed in +astonishment,-- + +"Has got out?" + +"Yes, seorita; as I was just going through the gallery, I looked at the +cage and found the door open and the bird gone!" + +"Come along, come along!" + +And all three rushed to the gallery. Indeed, Menino had flown away. By +an incredible piece of carelessness Marta, when she fed him, and hung +him up to enjoy the view of the garden and the singing of the other +birds, had left the cage door open. For three years Menino had been +under the young maiden's care, and during all this time he had showed no +sign of cherishing plans of escape; on the contrary, hitherto the little +hypocrite had always shown, as far as possible, that he did not care a +straw for liberty, and that he had renounced it willingly for the sake +of his dearly beloved mistress. For a long time he had been in the habit +of coming out of his cage to eat chocolate with her; he would perch on +her shoulder, peck softly at her hand to show his affection, hop about +here and there over the furniture, and when it was time to retire, he +would go back into the cage, meek as a lamb. By every presumption he was +a happy canary, who regarded the loss of liberty as compensated by the +care and attention of such a lovely girl, and by the permission to peck +her rosy cheeks whenever he pleased. And aside from these more or less +spiritual enjoyments, for which more than one lad in the town would have +made stupendous sacrifices, and looking only at the material aspect of +existence or bodily comforts, it must be laid down as a fact that Menino +lived in his cage like an archbishop, with every want satisfied, +supplied with hemp-seed on one side, with canary-seed on the other, at +one time treated to lettuce, at others to lumps of chocolate, at others +to crumbs soaked in milk; indeed, to ask more was to offend God. And as +for neatness and cleanliness of habitation, he had just as little cause +for envying any one; every morning Marta herself cleaned it out, leaving +the cage like a mirror. But contrary to the general belief that he found +himself perfectly satisfied, and would not change places even with the +director of the mint, Menino was certainly waiting impatiently for a +chance to escape; he had allowed himself to be overwhelmed with +melancholy, his character had been soured, and his bile excited by lack +of exercise. If he had not gone out to breathe the fresh air on the day +least expected, he would have dashed the top of his head against the +bars of his cage. + +As our young people stood under the cage, they deliberated briefly what +to do. Marta was heart-broken. It was decided that Carmen, with the +laundress and the gardener should scour the garden, for they thought +that from lack of practice he would not fly very far at first; meanwhile +Marta and Ricardo should make a thorough search through the house in +case he had remained inside, flying through the halls as he had done +once before. Marta acted as guide, and they immediately began to look +through the suite of rooms next the corridor, a great square chamber +with two sleeping-rooms leading from it, in which she and Maria, when +they were children, had slept with their respective nurses. The paper on +the room represented hunting-scenes, which used to make a great +impression on Marta when she was small, especially one illustrating a +dying stag, conquered by half a dozen ferocious hounds. Then they passed +through several rooms designed for the guests who visited the house; +they inspected the girls' rooms, they went down into the kitchen, which +was in an entresol, and returned up stairs without any success. Then +they visited Don Mariano's library, which was a magnificent room with +two balconied windows facing the plaza, decorated in severe classic +taste; great leather armchairs, rich tapestries, an ebony writing-desk, +and bookcases of the same wood; on the walls hung a few family +portraits, painted in oil. Marta always felt in this library a sensation +of happiness and well-being which she did not enjoy in the other parts +of the house; in this sensation there was a delicious union of reverence +and tenderness wherein were blended all her childish recollections, +which overflowed with this exclusive, eager, and absorbing love, such as +cause the unreasonable anger of children when the nurse tears them from +the paternal arms, and the yearning to go to them when they are held out +to invite them. As soon as she had strength and skill enough to put his +room in order, she never allowed any one else to do it. In the morning +she always spent half an hour of delicious ease and comfort, dusting the +huge chairs, which cost her a great effort to move from their places, +and making Don Mariano's huge bed. She felt happy in that solemn +patriarchal chamber. The colossal bookcases, the table, the chairs, the +pictures, and the dignified figures of the tapestries fixed on her a +silent, benevolent gaze in which she felt as it were alive, her father's +great, protecting shadow. + +Ricardo halted lazily before a portrait:-- + +"Is that your aunt? How much you resemble her! What a pity she died so +young! She was a very fascinating woman." + +"I should like to resemble her. She was very tall, and I am short." + +"What difference does that make? You are like her, very much like her. +And that is natural, after all, for you are like your father, and you +are an Elorza from head to foot. What huge bookcases Don Mariano has! +there's enough here to keep one busy a good while." + +"Still, Maria has read the most of them." + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I don't read very much. I am very lazy. Papa says I don't like the +black," replied the girl, with her frank smile, and looking a little +ashamed; then she added: "But look, Ricardo, it isn't absolutely true, +what papa says; though I don't care much for books, some of them please +me; but one doesn't get time to take them up. I don't know how I manage +not to have an hour for myself. Sometimes it's one thing, sometimes +another." + +"Confess, little one,[33] that you don't like them, and I won't say any +more!" + +"If you like, I will confess it; but it isn't true. I like some of +them." + +"How about Menino?" + +"Ay! yes! come, come!" + +They went to the next room, which was Doa Gertrudis's, and this alone +was proof positive that no sign of Menino was there, though occasionally +she had in her head such a singing, as of a whole nest of birds, that it +prevented her from resting. Therefore they went to the next room, which +was Marta's. It was a room which seemed lined with mirrors, since +everything in it was polished, from the wooden floors to the railing of +the balconies; whatever was not varnished by the cabinet-maker was +rubbed bright with cloths. Marta's great hobby which gave her the most +joy and the most trouble was keeping things bright. Her exaggerated love +for cleanliness had quickly brought her to the point of trying to put a +shine on all the articles of furniture in the house, and more especially +those in her own room. Every day, aided by the maid, she rubbed them +with a dry flannel, polishing them with unwearied zeal, until you could +see your face in them. Then, all out of breath, sometimes dripping with +perspiration, her hair in disorder, and her cheeks ablaze, she lifted +the flannel and stood awhile contemplating her work, the lovely +scintillations made by the light in the polished surface, with a genuine +inward satisfaction, with almost mystic enthusiasm. The household made +much fun of her, which caused her to hide herself while performing this +task, and induced her to lock her room to everybody. Ricardo had never +been in it. And so without any thought of Menino he began to inspect it +with bold, inquisitive attention; he gazed at the pictures, halted in +front of the toilet-table, opened the bottles, felt of the curtains, and +even went into the bedroom to see the bed, uttering exclamations of +astonishment at the perfect order which he found everywhere, and +especially at the wonderful polish of all the furniture. + +"What a pretty room you have, child. It's like a silver cup! What a +lovely white little bed!" + +"Ricardo, don't be inquisitive. Go away; come, Menino isn't here!" + +The girl felt annoyed by the young man's curiosity. Every woman of +gentle birth feels a certain modesty, if we may say so, in regard to her +room, for the reason that there clings about it something like the +essence of her very self which she hesitates to let a man approach; but +in Marta's case, in addition to this modesty, there was a sense of shame +in having her stubborn, childish fancies brought to light, like that of +keeping things bright, that of placing the bottles of her dressing-table +in a sort of symmetry worthy of an altar, and other such things which +served her family as subjects for merriment at dinner time. Consequently +she tried to push him out by main force. + +"Come Ricardo; there's nothing to see here. Come along, come along!" + +"Do let me, nia, do let me have a look at this charming room! How +exquisite!" And putting his nose to the bed, he said with great +seriousness, "It smells like Marta!" + +"Will you be quiet, you foolish fellow!"[34] + +"It may not give you any trouble to keep your room in this way, but let +me tell you, child, I couldn't keep it so if my life depended on it. If +you were to see my room, Martita!" + +"Yes, yes, it must be fine! You always were a disorderly fellow.[35] But +come, dear, come; let us go!" + +"We'll go whenever you please. My room is a stable compared with this; +but just consider that it's open to dogs and cats, the gardener, with +his dirty feet, the coachman, with the smell of the stable, and, in +fact, to every living creature. It is not my fault." + +From Marta's room they passed through various other apartments, the +dining-room, the parlor, the gallery of the court, another private room, +and a few others, without finding Menino anywhere. As they were standing +in the midst of a passage-way without knowing whither to turn, an idea +suddenly struck Marta, and she said,-- + +"Let's go to the terrace; we haven't been there yet." + +The terrace was now only a large hall tiled with marble and covered over +with stained glass. It was called the terrace because it had been one in +former times; but Don Mariano had had it closed in with glass a few +years before, transforming it into a handsome, fantastic room in Moorish +style, where he went to drink coffee on summer evenings with his +daughters and friends. It was for the most part unfurnished, having only +in one corner three or four small marquetry tables and a few +rockingchairs. When our young people reached this hall, they found it +flooded with light: the sun, that morning leaving his long seclusion, +came forth bright and warm, resolved on visiting all the corners of the +city; and when he found the thousand crystals of the Elorza terrace, not +caring to see anything better, he passed through them and revelled +inside with a lively, eager pandiculation which occupied the whole +circuit of the room. It was a magical sight. Thousands of rose, green, +yellow, purple, gray, and blue lights burned within it, pouring over the +floor, the ceiling, and the walls, and dissolving into an infinity of +tints, delighting and dazzling the eyes. Over the mosaic pavement fell a +shower of blinding rays, reflecting up in a delicate, many-colored +vapor; and these rays were crossed and interwoven in the air, making a +flame-bearing web, subtile and beautiful, through the interstices of +which passed the intangible scintillations of other rays more +diaphanous, from which arose a vapor still more aerial. And these veils +of dust, of rays, of scintillations, and of colors, stretching one +behind the other, in spite of their transparency scarcely allowed you to +see with vague indefiniteness, as through a mist, the crystals and +arabesques of the windows. The sun squandered his treasures of light and +color like a Turkish pasha within the walls of some chamber in the East, +proving once more that when he endeavors to make a brilliant and +fanciful decoration with them, there is no stage director with all his +spangles, _Bengalas_, and curtains who can equal him. + +Our young people, entirely forgetting Menino, stopped an instant in +surprise at the whimsical, magical work of the light; and without saying +a word they entered the hall and went to the centre with the slow, +uncertain step of one who goes into a bath. In point of fact they stood +submerged and inundated in a luminous vapor wherein all possible colors +were floating. + +"How beautiful the terrace is to-day!" said Marta at last. + +"It seems like a room in an enchanted palace. It would be more +appropriate if, instead of us, a Moor in a white turban stood here, and +an odalisque covered with brocade and precious stones. How many +capricious effects of light! Wait a moment, Martita; step into this ray +of rosy light. If you could see what a peculiar expression it gives your +face now! You look like a gypsy,--a daughter of the desert." + +Indeed, that light turned the girl's fair complexion to brown, kindled +it with a sunset tinge, and animated it with the ardent, cruel +expression of southern natures. All the innocence of her eyes, all the +purity of her maidenly form were lost under the power of that perverse, +luxuriant flame, which transformed her into another being, fiery, and at +the same time voluptuous, and certainly far from her own true nature. +Ricardo understood this, and said,-- + +"No! that color does not suit you. Come into this one!" + +And he drew her under a ray of greenish light:-- + +"Heavens! you look like a dead person! No, no; that's just as bad! Here, +try the yellow color; that goes well, but it makes you ruddy, and +brunettes ought to stay brunettes,--I mean dark-haired people,--for of +course we know that your complexion is light; come, try the blue. Oh, +superb! wonderful! How beautiful you are, child!" + +The young marquis was right. Blue, which is the most spiritual, the +purest, and the sublimest of colors, was admirably adapted for Marta's +bright face. The sun-ray fell on it like a caress from heaven, bathing +it sweetly in a diaphanous light. Her long black hair assumed a purplish +tint, while the adorable oval of her face and her firm, mellow neck were +softly tinged with a heavenly blue. The delicate line of her regular +features acquired an ideal perfection, and her whole countenance was +transfigured with an angelic expression of beatitude. + +Nevertheless, there was a certain exaggeration not in good taste in that +rapturous, celestial expression given by the blue light. It was not the +true Marta, ingenuous and modest in her looks as in her features, but a +different Marta, affected, theatrical, and fantastic. Ricardo finally +declared that no light was so becoming to her as the natural. + +The girl suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"And Menino!" + +"It's true; we had forgotten him. But where shall we go now? we have +looked everywhere." + +"Let us go to Maria's room; perhaps it has flown up there." + +"It does not seem to me likely; however, let's go there." + +They mounted to the tower, but without any better success; neither in +Maria's room nor in Genoveva's did they find any sign of the +canary-bird. Ricardo felt a peculiar emotion in entering his lady-love's +room, and Marta did not fail to notice it. He became graver and more +silent, and began to examine with interest everything there, moving the +articles, opening the scent-bottles, and even pulling out the drawers, +so that the girl felt obliged to interfere. + +"Don't meddle with her things. When Maria comes and sees her things +tumbled up, she will be angry." + +"And what if she is?" replied the young man, with a touch of asperity. + +"The blame will be thrown on me." + +"All right; then tell her that it was mine, and that'll settle the +matter." + +He stepped into the bedroom, lifted the bed-curtains, took up the books +from the dressing-table, laid them down again, and finally pulled out +the table drawer. In it were a number of articles laid away, but he +thrust in his hand, pulling out one more extraordinary than the rest. It +was a large leather cross, full of brass brads on one side, and with a +cord to attach it to the neck. + +"What is this?" he asked, turning it over and over in his hand, with +amazement. + +Marta guessed what it was. + +"Put it back, put it back! for God's sake, Ricardo! Maria will be very +angry." + +"Horrors! What an abominable thing! This must be a cilicium." + +"It may be; but put it back, put it back for Heaven's sake!" + +The young man threw it violently into the drawer again, with a gesture +of scorn and disgust,-- + +"Maria has become crazy. It is an abomination, and there's no good in +it." + +"Don't say that; it's wrong. Maria is very religious,--" + +"Religious! religious!" muttered the young fellow, angrily. "So are you, +and you don't have to perform these penances--" + +"Don't compare me with Maria!" + +Ricardo began to pace up and down the room excitedly and without +speaking. Then he returned to the chamber, and pulled out the leather +cross once more, examining it with more care. + +"It seems to me that these nails form letters. Look! Can you make out +what they say?" + +"No; I don't see anything; it's your imagination." + +"Yes, yes; there is an inscription on it. But, however, I don't care to +bother with deciphering it. All these things are only absurdities. Come, +child, come along! Let every fool have his folly!" + +And shutting the drawer angrily he left the chamber, followed by Marta. +As they were passing by one of the windows of the boudoir, the girl +uttered a cry of surprise and joy,-- + +"Look, look! Ricardo! Look! there's Menino!" + +The young man hurried to the window, and saw, on the roof of the house, +not very far away, Menino himself, hopping about with delight, and full +of pride and stateliness. + +"What a rascal! And so that's where he's gone! We must catch him. Where +do you get out on the roof?" + +"Not here; we must go down to the house first, and climb up through the +skylight." + +"Come on, then!" + +They left the tower, and after crossing several rooms, they mounted the +garret stairs leading from one of them. It was extremely dark, and the +young man met with much difficulty. On the second step he received a +tremendous knock. + +"Oh, of course you aren't used to it. You'll hurt yourself; give me your +hand and I'll guide you." + +He took the girl's hand, which was small but firm and solid like an +Amazon's; it was not so satiny as Maria's, for her work about the house +had hardened it somewhat; in compensation it had the lovely smoothness +which testifies to health and good blood. It was not feverish either +like Maria's, but was always cool and moist and ready for any emergency, +like those of a daughter of the people. + +The young marquis did not think of making these observations, for he was +going along, intent only on not falling. They reached the +garret,--feebly lighted here and there by a few very tenuous rays of +sunlight which filtered through the cracks in the tiles. After they had +gone quite a distance, Marta dropped his hand, saying,-- + +"Wait here; I am going to open the window." + +And nimbly hurrying ahead, she ran up a half-dozen steps which led to +the skylight, and threw open the door. A burst of intense, bright, +comforting sunshine suddenly invaded the whole garret, dazzling our +young hero. + +"Here is Menino! Here's Menino!" cried Marta, enthusiastically, as she +stood on the top step. "He's very near! Menino! Menino! Come, _tonto_, +here! here! Don't you know me?" + +Menino, who was only six or eight steps away when he heard his +mistress's voice, bent his head gracefully, as if to listen. The +sunlight, falling full on him, bathed his yellow plumage, making him +contrast so vividly with the red-colored roof that he seemed like a bit +of living gold. He hopped thrice or four times, as though he were going +to Marta, and said, _Pii_, _pii_. + +"Do you want me to try to get him?" asked Ricardo. + +"No; hold still a moment; he seems to be coming of his own accord. +Menino, Menino! come here, pretty one; come here, come!" + +Menino came two or three hops nearer, and seemed to be cocking his head +to listen. I don't know what then passed through his brain; something +low, and base, and shameful, it must have been, according to the +morality of his species, for, forgetting his mistress's tender +attentions, her ceaseless caresses, the many bits of chocolate shared +with her, the feasts of biscuits, and his overflowing dishes of +canary-seed, he cleaned his feathers in her presence with perfect +indifference, several times repeated his pii, pii, with affected +laziness, and spreading his wings, he launched into space, flying out of +sight amid the foliage of the neighboring gardens. + +Marta uttered a cry of grief. + +"My stars, he has gone!" + +"Has gone?" + +"Yes!" + +"Very far?" + +"Out of sight." + +"Then, sir, he's gone for good!" + +Ricardo mounted to the window, and following the direction indicated by +the girl's finger, he looked and looked again, until his eyes pained +him, without seeing the slightest sign of anything resembling a canary +bird. When he looked at Marta again, he saw a tear rolling down her +cheeks. + +"Aren't you ashamed to cry for a bird, tonta!" + +"You are right!" replied the girl, trying to laugh, and wiping away the +tear with her handkerchief. + +"But I felt as much affection for him as for a person; yes indeed, for +three years I have been taking care of him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBAND OR SOUL. + + +The dew of grace kept falling copiously on the soul of the eldest +daughter of the Elorzas. The Christian virtues flourished in her like +mystical roses replete with fragrance, and with the impatience and ardor +which characterized all her actions, she continued to mount one by one +the rounds on the ladder of perfection leading to heaven. Her deeds of +charity and humility not only filled those who lived near her with +astonishment, but were bruited about the whole town, serving as an +edifying example for young and old, and as a theme of conversation among +the clergy. Her fasts and penances, always growing more frequent and +severe, increased the enthusiasm and seraphic joy of her soul; but at +last they had a naturally weakening effect upon her health. Her delicate +constitution began to rebel against so much mortification of the flesh, +and to protest at every instant by pains, sometimes in her heart, at +others in her stomach, at others in her head, and yet she endured it all +with enviable resignation, and did not let it discourage her saintly +endeavors. She suffered frequently from fainting fits in which she +remained long unconscious, and from severe convulsions; some days she +could not retain the food that she ate, and on others she complained of +acute headaches. Don Maximo began to prescribe preparations of iron, +sea-baths, and wine of quinine, and this treatment brought about some +improvement, but not much; the doctor finally declared that unless she +entirely changed her mode of life, these attacks would not cease; but +it was impossible to persuade her. + +Maria began to notice with a secret pride, of which she tearfully +accused herself to her father confessor, that she inspired admiration +and something more than respect among the people; that when she went +along the street, many saluted her with words of praise, and when she +was at church, all the faithful gazed at her with peculiar persistence. +Through the mouth of the servants many such flattering phrases came to +her ears, as that her virtues were worthy of the most venerable priests +and the most pious souls of the community, and, as she perceived a +certain sweet savor in them, she forbade their being repeated to her. +Many ladies consulted with her on matters concerning their consciences, +and she was appointed teacher of a Sunday-school for adult women, to +whom she began to explain the doctrine and moral precepts of +Christianity with so much clearness and eloquence that nothing else was +talked about. On the second Sunday the hall granted by the board of +magistrates[36] in an old convent was crowded not only with servants and +working-girls, for whom the institution had been founded, but also with +the most distinguished ladies in town, desirous of seeing for themselves +what was reported of the young woman. And indeed they had to agree that +she had decided gifts for teaching,--an artless, animated discourse, +manners free from conceit, and unwearied patience. The girls made +notable progress under her direction. Not satisfied with this, she asked +and obtained from her father permission to use a pavilion which he had +in his garden, and there she gathered every day a dozen orphan children, +whom she taught to read, write, and say their prayers, giving them an +education suitable to their sex and social position. The extreme +gentleness with which she treated her scholars soon won their love, and +even their adoration. + +From every side our virtuous heroine received unimpeachable evidence of +the great regard in which she was held, but more especially in the +society of the devout and saintly, among whom she was considered as a +brilliant beacon kindled for the advantage of religion. In the age of +unbelief, whereunto we have attained, the spectacle of such a beautiful, +well-educated, and illustrious maiden, consecrating herself exclusively +to the practice of the virtues and religious deeds, could not fail to +have a heartfelt influence on the morals of the town. + +One morning, as she was leaving the steps of the altar, where she had +just received holy communion, her face presented such a sanctified +expression that a woman left the throng, and, kneeling before her, asked +for her blessing. Maria, disturbed and perplexed, would have refused, +but finally she had no other escape than by yielding to her entreaties. +On another occasion, as she was going through one of the suburbs with +Genoveva, a poor woman, who was standing at the door of a wretched hovel +with a dying child in her arms, begged her to take him into hers and +offer a Pater Noster for him; Maria did so to satisfy her, but protested +that she was a miserable sinner, to whom God could not listen. The +child, however, had scarcely felt the tender caress of her lovely hand +before it began to smile, and in a few days was entirely restored to +health. This miraculous cure, proclaimed by the grateful mother, made a +great noise among the people; whereupon the house of Elorza was besieged +by a throng of women who came with their sick children to ask Maria to +take them in her arms and bless them. As this partook of the nature of +wonder-working, according to report, Maria hastened to consult her +confessor whether she ought to continue yielding to the entreaties of +these afflicted mothers; and the priest, after taking a day to reflect, +replied that he saw no harm in it, but, on the other hand, believed that +it might redound to the advantage of the faith. "How is it possible," +asked Maria, "for God to be willing to perform miraculous deeds through +the medium of such a low and sinful creature as I am?" And the confessor +replied that it showed great audacity to think of searching the high +purposes of God, and that she should abstain from making such irreverent +remarks; that God chose whomever He pleased to manifest His sacred will, +and that, at all events, even though no miracle took place, it was never +wrong to attribute to the power of the Almighty the blessings which we +experience both in soul and body. Maria accepted this reasoning, and +endeavored, by all the means at her command--by prayer, humility, and +penance--to make herself worthy of these incredible favors which God +gave into her hand. + +Gradually, through the renunciation to which she was compelled by her +pious life, all the ties that bound her soul to things earthly began to +be relaxed. At first she shunned all worldly recreation and amusement, +such as balls, theatres, and promenades, where she used to shine by her +beauty and elegance, and she came to the point of abhorring them. Then +she abstained from certain proper recreation, such as singing and +playing secular music, taking part in games of cards, walking in the +garden, being present at tertulias at her home; in her craze for +crucifying the flesh, she went to the extreme of not gazing often at the +landscape from the windows of her room, and of depriving herself of +breathing the scent of the flowers and the perfume of her colognes. +Still, however, and for some time, she took pleasure in dressing +elegantly; this arose from a reflection that she had read in a French +devotional book, counselling young people not to neglect the neatness +and adornment of the body, since God took delight in seeing them +beautiful and knowing that they adorned themselves for Him alone. At the +same time that she grew more and more to hate the pleasures of this +world, she crushed out in her heart the sentiment of love towards human +beings, even towards those who were nearest and dearest to her. +Understanding that if one would love God, he must free himself from +earthly affections, since no other is worthy of entering into a heart +consecrated to the Creator, she constantly struggled against her love +not only for her betrothed but also that for her parents and sister. She +ceased those frequent outbursts of affection which she used to lavish on +them all and which had always proved the tenderness of her affectionate +spirit; when she met her father in the morning, she no longer threw her +arms around his neck and covered him with caresses; she no longer +revealed to her sister the secrets and sorrows of her heart; she kept +everybody at a distance by a cautious reserve veiled in sweetness and +humility. The Seorita de Elorza compelled herself to follow literally +the solemn words of Jesus: "_If any man come to me, and hate not his +father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, +yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple_."[37] + +The fervor which constantly died away, as far as human beings were +concerned, burned like a sweet-smelling incense on a lofty altar, to an +object infinitely more worthy of it. Her heart could not remain +inactive; she had to love, for it was the law of her being; she had to +overflow with enthusiasm for something on which she should engage her +thoughts every instant of her life, and offer continual sacrifices. +Maria could not desire anything or love anything, without feeling +herself stirred by a consuming fervor. When she was a child, she had +loved another little girl of her own age, a child of dark complexion, +with great, cruel, black eyes, and she loved her so passionately that +she became her willing slave; the little black-eyed girl, the daughter +of a poor mechanic, treated her with the authority of a queen and +mistress, demanded from her all the playthings that she possessed, +compelled her to submit to all her caprices, humiliated her whenever she +felt like it, and oftentimes abused her in word and deed, without the +affection of her enthusiastic friend being diminished in the least. On +one occasion, when the two were ironing a doll's skirt, the cruel little +girl said, in a disagreeable tone of mockery, "If you love me so dearly, +why don't you put this hot iron on your arm for me?" Maria, without a +moment's hesitation, pulled up the sleeve of her dress, and laid the +heated iron on her arm, making a terrible burn. On account of other such +actions as these, which had attracted Don Mariano's attention, he drove +this unworthy friend out into the street, and forbade her ever darkening +the door of his house again, a prohibition which broke his daughter's +heart with grief. + +When a heart is to this degree inflammable, its constant tendency is to +take fire and be consumed with some extraordinary love; and if the +object is not at hand, it seeks for it as one athirst seeks the fountain +of crystalline water. Maria had sought hard for it and found it,--a love +pure and immortal, sublime and marvellous; love for a God who crushes +the stars to powder and enters the enamored soul like a gentle lamb. +This love, which took more and more violent possession of her soul, was +not only manifested in almost incomprehensible deeds of humility and +mortification, but also escaped continually from her lips in passionate +phrases, which winged themselves away like timid birdlings to take +refuge in the sacred heart of Jesus. At first she had prayed with +respectful worship, with soul and body prostrate, terrified rather than +melted, like one who makes a declaration of love; but according as she +understood, by a thousand manifest signs, that Jesus replied to her +passionate affection and returned it with increase, she found greater +freedom and eloquence in her words and a more enduring felicity in her +whole being. + +The happiest moments of her life were those which she consecrated to +prayer, which in her case was a sweet colloquy of two lovers, +incomprehensible for those who have never fathomed the secret depths of +the divine love or tasted the delights of the mystical union. By dint of +holding converse with God, of communicating to Him her most occult +thoughts and feelings, of confessing with tears each day the most +trivial spots on her conscience, she succeeded in bringing about with +the Almighty a sacred familiarity, full of joy and consolation. At the +twilight hour, after she had ceased from the pious tasks which kept her +busy all the day, she was in the habit of retiring to her room to enjoy +at her ease the sweet delights which Jesus granted to her fervent +prayers as a recompense for the labors and humiliations of the day. + +One calm, quiet evening, toward the end of winter, Maria found herself +in her room, prostrate in prayer, before the image of Jesus. All the +blinds were open to let in the slowly fading light. From the one that +looked inland could be seen the wide stretch of level meadows, and the +gentle hills on the horizon bathed in a purple vapor, which grew thicker +and thicker till it changed to mist. From the one facing the river could +be seen its tranquil surface, motionless as though all that sheet of +water had been suddenly changed to stone; near El Moral were four or +five low sand-hills called appropriately Los Arenales, which, struck by +the last rays of the setting sun, gleamed like mighty topazes. Not the +slightest sound disturbed the silence of the boudoir, which at that +moment, by reason of its gloom and loneliness, was like a great +confessional. + +For a long hour the young woman had been communing with the Beloved of +her heart, and no earthly thought had made its way into her enraptured +spirit. Never had she felt herself so abstracted and lifted above the +flesh, above mundane interests. All the life of her body had gone to her +heart, which beat with unwonted violence. She kept her eyes closed. +After she had repeated all the prayers that she could remember, some of +them composed purposely for her, she allowed her lips to rest, and +abandoned herself to a delicious meditation in which her imagination +wandered away as if in a boundless field enamelled with flowers. Both +her confessor and her books of devotion counselled her to think often on +the bloody passion and death of the Redeemer, and so she had done until +she was filled with grief and burdened with tears. In her mind she saw +that agonized, grief-stricken face of Jesus nailed upon the cross, those +dying eyes lifted, wherein still burned the eternal love and compassion +of a God. When she saw him going toward Calvary, laden with the heavy +cross and stumbling, once, again, and yet again, overcome by fatigue, +not finding in the bloodthirsty faces of those who surrounded him one +look of sympathy, she felt her throat contract and her breast choke with +sobs. She had been present at all the agonies of Christ, one after the +other, from the memorable night in the garden until the moment when he +closed his eyes forever between the two thieves, the victim of the +perfidy of men. The sublime words of pardon which he uttered as he died +rang in her ears like a promise of heaven and a hope of seeing him once +more, haloed with glory, in the other life. + +But at this moment her thought shunned the death scenes. Around her +floated smiling, glorious forms, which filled her with a delicious joy +such as she had but few times experienced before, accompanied by an +unspeakable physical comfort. It seemed to her that she felt a most +delicious sensation of warmth radiating from her heart even to her hands +and feet, as though she were plunged in a bath of warm milk. At the same +time soft fragrant hands held her eyelids closed, while a gentle breeze +cooled her brow. The boudoir in the tower was filled with vague, subtle +sounds, which her imagination transformed into mysterious harmonies. She +was so beside herself that she could not tell whether she was in reality +awake, although she had possession of all her faculties. Little by +little she began to lose her power of volition; she tried to open her +eyes and could not; she tried to separate her hands, which she kept +folded, and she had no better success. A superior power held her in its +sway, but so gently that for nothing in the world would she have broken +those bands; it was a celestial swooning of her whole being, which +carried her away into ecstasies such as she had never known before. +Tears streamed down over her face like an exquisite ichor, bathing her +lips with sweetness, and flowing from her lips into the very centre of +her being, filling her heart as with a most gentle unction, as with a +mighty perfume. This ichor intoxicated her and strengthened her at once, +and she did not weary of drinking it. Its salubrious strength penetrated +her emaciated body, bestowing on it an incomprehensible force. She +entered into a life full and divine, where no pains existed; into an +ecstatic lethargy full of soft delight, from which were born a throng of +vague longings, like flowers opening for an instant and shedding perfume +from their calyxes. The longings of her soul likewise spread and were +quenched in the immense joy which took hold of her. + +While her body was sleeping in this sweet hallucination of the senses, +her mind was attent with a marvellous activity. Her memory was bathed in +brilliancy, and her imagination, in precipitate flight, darted out into +the universe. Instead of meditating on the death of the Lord, she +thought with deep delight about his adorable life, and, completely +enchanted, she reviewed all its occurrences, representing them with as +much accuracy as though she had really been present at the time. First, +she beheld Jesus at his birth in the grotto near Bethlehem, embracing +with his sweet arms the Virgin's neck, and smiling at the shepherds and +the Magi, who from far-distant countries came to adore him. She beheld +him secretly transported to Egypt, crossing the deserts of Arabia, +sleeping on his mother's lap under some tree or in the depths of some +cavern. Then she found him in the porticos of the Temple of Jerusalem, +seated in the midst of the doctors, though he was only twelve years of +age, with his long golden hair curling in ringlets over his shoulders, +and his white tunic falling in graceful folds till it hid his feet, +astonishing them all by his more than human beauty as well as by the +profound wisdom of his words. She contemplated him in his modest +dwelling in Nazareth in the peace of an obscure and contemplative life, +nourishing his divine spirit with the sublime truths which the Eternal +Father vouchsafed him during his frequent solitary walks. Then she was +present at his first ministrations through Galilee, and at the first +miracle, with which he manifested his infinite power at the wedding of +Cana. She accompanied him to Capernaum when, as he stood in a +fishing-boat gently rocking on the waves, he addressed to the multitude +gathered on the shore his discourse, clearer than the sun which shone +upon them, sweeter than the evening breeze. She returned with him to +Nazareth, where his stubborn, ungrateful countrymen were unmoved by his +gentleness and power of speech and rejected him. She went to Bethany, +where her name-saint Mary Magdalene and Martha her sister had the +blessedness of giving him hospitality, and the former of sitting long at +his feet and listening to his words. She saw him everywhere serene and +beautiful, as he is represented by tradition, with his blue eyes of +wonderful sweetness, his skin rosy and transparent, his beard pointed, +and his golden hair parted in the middle and falling in waves on his +shoulders. The numerous pictures which she had seen, not only of his +divine person, but of the country where his ministrations had taken +place, united to her powerful imagination, carried her back to the time +of the Redeemer's life more vividly than one could conceive. But where +her imagination most revelled was in seeing his entrance into Jerusalem +followed by a multitude carried away by enthusiasm, amid hosannas and +shouts of welcome; then his beautiful face, which almost disappeared +amid the foliage of the palm-branches, assumed an expression of +divinity, his eyes so gentle flashed with the effulgence of omnipotence, +and he spread out his hands toward the city, granting it pardon in +advance for its barbarous deicide. Oh, how her soul delighted in this +fine, poetic scene where Jesus was given on earth a little of the +adoration which was his due! If she had been in those happy places, she +would have taken part in the cortege of the King of kings, and raised +her voice in acclamation. The union in him of power and humility, of +force and gentleness, filled her with enthusiasm and admiration. + +She knew, however, that Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem was +repeated daily in a mystic sense; that the divine Lord takes more +pleasure in entering into the soul of his elect than into the ungrateful +daughter of Zion; that love was efficacious against the absolute master +of all things, and took pleasure in receiving whoever professed his +name. But for this it was necessary to love him much, to love him in +such a manner as to prefer pain and torment coming from his hand to the +most exquisite delight of earth, to love him even to fainting and dying +in his presence and falling prone at his feet under the majesty of his +gaze; it was necessary to spend long hours watching for him in the +depths of the sky, in the calm of the eventide, in the beauty of +flowers, of birds, and of all creatures, at the bedside of the sick and +dying, in the midst of sorrows and penances; it was necessary to let the +hours pass in ecstatic prayer, feeling the tears stealing down, and the +cheeks on fire; it was necessary to be obedient to all men, the humble +servant of all men, to turn the mind from accepting all favors, even +from one's parents, and to despise one's self, to be the beloved of +Jesus. Thus, thus she loved him! How many hours of the day and night she +had spent thinking of him! How many tears she had shed for his sake! How +many times in the silence of the night had her soul gone forth, fired +with sickness of love, like the bride of the mystic Song of Solomon, in +search for the Lord and Master of her heart! And when she had, in this +manner, sought for him, kindled with amorous yearning, she never failed +to find him. On one occasion, having spent the whole day ministering to +the sick in the hospital, she had felt at the hour of retiring such keen +delight in her soul and body that she almost fell n a swoon. When she +humbled herself before any one, she felt an exquisite delight; in +crucifying her flesh with sharp cruelties she had felt more pleasure +than the world with its harassing joys had ever given. In this way Jesus +began to return a thousand-fold the love which she professed for him, +transforming in her case into comfort what to others was pain and +penance. + +This last consideration pierced so sharply into her spirit that it +caused her to indulge in an infinitude of thanksgivings and blessings, +which remained locked in her heart without issuing from her lips. Her +lips were silent, motionless as those of the sphynx; for she did not +dare to reproduce by the medium of sounds the ineffable thoughts that +passed through her mind. She heard within herself a thousand sweet +voices speaking to her, but she could not understand what they said; she +felt as though she were lifted up by gentle arms which ceaselessly +lavished caresses upon her, and she was conscious, though not by visual +proof, of the presence of a supernatural being, consoling her with its +power. Then she became suddenly convinced that the Lord loved her; she +saw clearly with the eyes of the Spirit that the Bridegroom listened to +the voice of the bride, and had no deeper desire than to take her to +himself, to pour out upon her all riches and joys forevermore. Even now +he was near at hand; she felt him at her side, and she was melted with +desire to look upon him; but he showed himself not; he refused to yield +to her warm, affectionate entreaties. As one who shows a dainty to a +child and then hides it, and again brings it forth and once more hides +it in order to stir his appetite, so the heavenly Bridegroom kept her in +suspense and ravishment, kindling more and more her desire. The +impassioned stanza of San Juan de la Cruz came into her mind:-- + + _"Ay! who else has power to mend me!_ + _Prithee deign to make my humble heart thy dwelling;_ + _I beseech thee now to send me_ + _Faithful angels not incapable of telling_ + _Truly all the longing in me welling!"_[38] + +And a thousand times she repeated it mentally, with a sublime +solicitude, in which it seemed as though her soul were going to burst +forth through her lips. But her lips remained speechless; she wished to +cry out, to break into praises of Jesus, to give vent to the passionate +impulses of her breast, and it was impossible. She felt a strange +oppression, torturing her with celestial death, which she would not +exchange for a hundred lives. + +A keen, eager, resistless desire suddenly took possession of her heart. +Jesus, the King of souls, had granted to more than one favors which +were terrible by their very grandeur and incomprehensibility. He had +appeared to Saint Isabel after her prodigious deeds of charity and +penance, and had said, "Isabel, if thou art willing to be mine, I also +am willing to be thine and will never leave thee." Frequently he had +come to Saint Catalina of Siena in her convent cell, had conversed with +her, had walked with and many times had helped her offer up her prayers. +He had taken Saint Teresa in his arms so that she could not move, and +had lavished caresses and kisses upon her. If she might only win such +regalement! Scarcely had this overweening thought been born in her mind +before she was filled with fear, and felt such shame that she would +gladly have had the earth open and swallow her up. "Oh, no, my God! Who +am I to receive such a favor, granted only to the martyrs of charity and +the seraphic virgins who shine in heaven like bright stars. Pardon me, +Jesus mine, pardon me!" + +But her audacious thought would not depart from her mind; it kept +following her in spite of her strongest efforts to shake it off. She was +unworthy of such glory, she knew well, but her yearning was the child of +the love with which the divine Jesus had filled her heart to +overflowing; thus not she but Jesus himself was the author of this +desire. If he had not kindled in her his celestial love, and had not +begun to pour out upon her favors as sweet as they were undeserved, such +an absurd idea would never have entered her head. No; she asked not so +great a grace, so great a consolation; it was enough for her that Jesus +was willing to give himself to her, that she had a few particles of his +immortal love. She should consider herself the most blessed among the +virgin daughters of heaven, if at the end of long years of prayer and +penance, of bitterness and tribulations, Jesus should allow her once +only to touch her lips to his divine face. "O Jesus mine, is it sinful +to ask this? Could such a base worm as I ever deserve a joy so +infinite?" + +She opened her eyes. Jesus, with his golden aureole shining amid the +shadows, as it reflected the last melancholy light that came through the +window, lifted his hands towards her, at the same time fastening upon +her a profound, sweet gaze. Through her veins ran a sensation of chill, +as though she were near to death; but instantly this was supplanted by +another of such intense heat that it made the sweat start from all the +pores of her body. She comprehended vaguely that an adorable mystery was +taking place in her presence, and a holy fear seized her. The boudoir +was wrapt in shadow: the windows seemed like great, colorless eyes +gazing through the walls. A sweet, languid delectation took possession +of her whole being, and overwhelmed her with bliss. Her fear vanished. +She was filled with the certainty that she was loved by Jesus, that she +was the bride-elect of a God. Tenderness, worship, joy, welled up in her +bosom, and she could not take her eyes from the eyes of the Lord, +drinking from them the mysterious, ineffable delight of glory. + +Once more the desire came back to her mind. This time she promulgated it +with words, the warm breath of which stole through her hands crossed +before her face. + +"Jesus mine, wouldst thou permit thy servant to touch her lips to thy +divine person?" + +Jesus bent forward still more graciously. Maria felt her hair stand on +end, and her heart wanted to leap from her breast. His voice like music +penetrated into the soul of the young girl, who believed that she was +dead and translated to heaven. + +Jesus had said,-- + +_"Arise, my beloved, my fair one, and come."_ + +"Lord, I am not worthy!" exclaimed Maria, with a cry at once of anguish +and of joy. + +Again Jesus said,-- + +_"Thou art all beautiful, my beloved; there is no blemish in thee."_ + +"My Jesus, thee I love above all things!" + +_"My dove, show me thy face, let thy voice sound in mine ears, for thy +voice is sweet, and thy face is beautiful,"_ replied Jesus, bending +still nearer. + +Then the girl, carried away by glory and enthusiasm, threw her arms +about the knees of the Lord, and flooded them with her tears, saying, +between her sobs, like the bride in the sacred book,-- + + "My soul melted within me when my beloved spake." + +And little by little, her arms clinging to the body of Jesus, stole +slowly, slowly upwards, till they were fastened around his neck. Her +breath failed her, and she felt her memory, her imagination, and all her +powers give way, fading into an immense, eager bliss, in which her whole +being was plunged as in the purest ether. Her face drew near the Lord's. +She touched with her cheeks the cheeks of the Bridegroom; she put her +lips to the whiteness of his brow, to the effulgence of his eyes, to the +coral of his lips. + +And in the chief room of the tower, silent, buried in darkness, was long +heard the sound of sobs and subdued kisses. At last, a human body, the +body of the Seorita de Elorza, senseless, fell heavily at full length +upon the floor. Genoveva, when she came in with a light, found her there +still in the swoon, with eyes open and fixed, reflecting in her face a +celestial joy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AS YOU LIKE IT. + + +The spring came. The northeast winds, like a gigantic besom swung by the +hand of some god with a passion for cleanliness, constantly swept away +the dust and ashes of the firmament. The sailors who put out at daybreak +after fish, as they set foot on the quay often saw above the distant +houses of El Moral a wide strip of azure sky, which went on slowly +spreading to the four points of the compass, leaving a few tenuous +shreds of violet cloud like great eyebrows overhanging the horizon. The +vast sheet of the river now gave forth lovely blue sparkles in place of +the melancholy, metallic reflections of the winter; and the wooden hulks +called _barcos_ by a misnomer, pitched in the dock like colts impatient +to be off. But in the afternoon winter still clung to its rights; now +spreading over town and river a thick mantle of fog which quickly +changed into storm; now furiously driving across the sky colossal black +clouds which discharged their freight as they flew inland. Some days, +however, at sunset a breath of genial air came from the land, and +brought the delightful tidings to the peaceful inhabitants of Nieva that +the most lovely and coquettish of the seasons was present in that +jurisdiction; and this breath of air laden with perfumes, reaching by +the medium of the nostrils to the brains of those inhabitants who were +most inclined to poesy and sweet expansions of the heart, manifested +itself as the avowed enemy of tranquillity in feminine minds, and as +the infamous disturber of peace in families. The town slept placidly +like a sultana, receiving the adulatory caresses of this breeze. +Nevertheless, the calm underneath the roofs was more apparent than real; +a large part of the inhabitants slept the sleep of the righteous as +before, but another no less numerous and estimable, without knowing any +reason for it, awoke more than once in the course of the night, and +occasionally spent an hour unsuccessfully wooing sleep by lighting the +lamp, and reading the articles in _The Times_.[39] They drank great +goblets of water; they dreamed fifty thousand absurd dreams, which, when +they remembered them in the morning, made the worthy natives smile, and +more than one, and more than two, caught colds on their lungs by getting +uncovered at night. In the two apothecary shops of the town a prodigious +quantity of pearl barley was disposed of; some banished wine from the +table to the astonishment of their wives; and the behavior of young men +toward the girls became extremely dulcified. The Market Street[40] +bookseller sent to Madrid for a quantity of novels by Paul de Kock and +Adolphe Belot on commission for his customers, and the professor of the +piano made a similar demand on the music publishers, for various +sentimental romanzas with erotic titles, such as _Vorrei morir_, _Tutto +per te_, _Non posso vivere_, and others of like quality, at the request +of his pupils. The swallows began to take possession of the corridors, +and after making love for a few days, chasing each other through the air +with obstreperous chirpings and then retiring couple by couple to the +most remote corners of the gardens, without any thought of Mrs. Grundy +or of due formality; they celebrated their nuptials with the same +freedom, without consulting the desires of papas or asking for a special +dispensation, or by publishing the banns through the office of the +parochial priest, or by ordering a trousseau from Paris, or by receiving +a miserable coffee service from relatives, or sending cards to friends +and acquaintances, announcing their indissoluble union; or even by +having a notice inserted in the _Correspondenca de Espaa_, saying: +"Yesterday, before a numerous and select assemblage, in which were +included the most illustrious members of the nobility and the world of +politics and literature, were celebrated in the house of the bride the +long announced nuptials of the most beautiful and distinguished dame +swallow, Lady Such an One, to the wealthy sir swallow, Lord Somebody or +Other.[41] After enjoying a splendid collation, the newly married couple +departed to their noble domain of Robledales in Aragon." And whoever +speaks of the swallows may clearly say the same thing of the whole +throng of birds which had encamped both in the gardens of Nieva and in +the immense pine groves which lined the banks of its river. + +To be reckoned among the people most manifestly influenced by this +spring breeze (leaving aside, of course, the Seorita de Delgado, with +whom no one would dare to maintain any rivalry in the matter of +sensations, sentiments, emotions, and all that refers to the life of the +heart), was our acquaintance, Manolito Lopez. His worthy family noticed +with grateful surprise, not only that the lad's character was manifestly +softening, but likewise that the habits of orderliness and an +inclination toward sedateness had sprung up, and were growing in him +with unusual rapidity. This praiseworthy inclination was manifested in +everything that pertained to the adornment of his person, but most +particularly to that of his feet; a box of superior blacking every +fortnight was not sufficient for the demands of his shoes, and he spent +a large part of the morning and of his physical powers in making them +shine like a looking-glass, and even thus he was not content: Manolito +would not have been satisfied if anything less than the brilliancy of a +Brazilian diamond, of all the jewels of the royal crowns of Europe, of +the seas and the stars had been put into them. After giving the last +finishing touch to his hair, Manolito always sallied forth in the +amiable company of his glistening boots to promenade in front of the +house of Elorza, and up the street and down the street he went all the +time allowed him by his occupations, and also a good part of the time +when he had no business to be there. The balconies of the house, as a +rule, remained hermetically sealed; but Manolito, judging by the +graceful gait which he affected as he passed, must have suspected that a +pair of steady, love-stricken eyes were always observing him through the +cracks. Once in a while the balconies were thrown open, giving a glimpse +of Carmen, of Genoveva, of Adela, or some other servant, who looked at +him without sufficient respect considering our young lad's age (fifteen +years and three months) and his character. Very, very rarely likewise +appeared Marta's pretty head. She looked out for an instant with an +expression of indifference which, be it said for the sake of the truth, +did not change into one of affection and tenderness at sight of +Manolito, but certainly remained exactly as calm and serene as though +our youth had no more personality than a column of the arcade, or the +clock on the town-house, or the sign of the Caf de la Estrella, or any +other of the inanimate objects whereon the girl's eyes rested. +Manolito, for a few moments, felt as much disturbed as one who, sailing +through the Arctic Ocean, should suddenly see an enormous iceberg coming +down upon him; but soon he recovered his spirits, saying, for the +encouragement of his heart, "What a sly one she is!" And though the +balconies were immediately shut with a scornful screak, and remained +closed all the day, yet Manolito did not cease to promenade back and +promenade forth, fortified always in his conviction that through the +interstices of the curtains a pair of ecstatic, love-softened eyes were +launching at him a thousand passionate darts. + +But where the spring held a more absolute and even despotic sway (always +excepting, of course, the Seorita de Delgado's poetical soul) was the +Elorza garden. There, without consulting in the slightest degree the +will of the flexible mimosas or of the round acacias or of the dignified +catalpas or of any other tree or shrub, flower or plant, however +respectable, she began to clothe them all in green, carefully +variegating their garments, making this one deep and dark, that one +bright and dazzling, and the other pale and yellow, playing with them a +sort of gay, original masquerade delightful for those to see who still +persist in feeling affection for the works of nature. Above this +habiliment there shone like decorations of honor many flowers, yellow, +white, blue, or pink, quick to fill the ambient air with the sweet +perfumes stored up in their hearts. The garden was unusually extensive, +stretching out from the plaza where Don Mariano's mansion was built to +the quay on one side, and on the other to the farthest houses of the +town. And whether because it was not very easy to take the most perfect +care of such a large piece of ground, or because Don Mariano as a man +of taste did not wish to impose upon Nature his own law, by establishing +in her demesne a tyrannical system of geometrical crosses and lines, at +any rate it offered all the lawless vigor, the exuberance, and the +spontaneity, which it is not customary to find any longer except in +provincial gardens managed according to a broad and tolerant Spanish +fashion. The paths, though originally laid out in straight lines +according to the style in vogue at the time when they were first +designed, were now fluctuating, thanks to the growing up or +disappearance of quince-tree, boxwood, or rose hedges. The trees in many +places enclosed these paths with a thicket, giving them an air of long +mystery, which, according to amateurs, is the greatest charm of gardens, +and I appeal to the testimony of all ardent and elevated souls, +particularly to the Seorita de Delgado. Back of the trees, through the +hedges, could be seen a stone faun or satyr, discolored by great green +spots on the muscular shoulders, spurting water from mouth and nostrils; +in this agreeable occupation its whole life had been spent. Flowers in +the Elorza garden did not possess those inordinate privileges which they +are wont to obtain in flashy parks of modern times, but a number of +succulent vegetables had established themselves on a footing of equality +with them. At the side of a group or clump of dahlias grew an +asparagus-bed, and within sight of a splendid bunch of canna indica and +calladium flourished a thicket of artichokes and a bed of Alsatian +cabbages. And why not? However indisputable the superiority of flowers +may be, we must not deny to vegetables sthetic qualities worthy of the +consideration and respect of French gardeners, who at the present time +have declared a merciless war upon them. Perhaps they consider that if +vegetables are banished from parks, they bury prose forever and have +poetry only left, according to the example of those ancient novelists +who did not dare to show their heroes and heroines in the act of eating +for fear of soiling or tarnishing them. In one of the angles there was a +great storehouse where were piled old furniture from the house, a number +of broken-down carriages, the gardening utensils, and other things. The +whole garden was surrounded by a wall of considerable thickness and +elevation, over which climbed ivy and honeysuckle cautiously letting +their leaves peer over the top, like two rogues coming in to rob fruit +and get away before they should be discovered by the gardener. Over one +of the faces of the wall arose the masts of the vessels at the quay, +which with their multitudinous cordage enlacing and crossing in every +direction, looked from a distance like monstrous spiders. A great gate +barred with iron led from the garden to the quay. + +The younger daughter of the proprietor of this garden found herself in +it one morning culling flowers with a pair of shears suspended from her +belt, and afterwards placing them very daintily in a small osier basket. +She went about taking them now from this side and now from that, seeming +at times to ponder before some, leaving them untouched to go straightway +to others, and then coming back to them, thus endlessly meandering in +every direction with hesitating step. She was so immersed in the depths +of some combination for her bouquet that she allowed herself to be +pitilessly burned by the sun, more splendid in his anger and pride than +was his wont. Since we last saw her, a slight change not easy to define +had taken place in her figure. She had just finished her fourteenth +year. Her physical development, always exuberant and vigorous, had taken +a sudden start during the last three months, not causing her to grow at +once tall and thin, as is apt to be the case with girls at this age, but +bringing her beauty to a more ideal perfection. Marta was destined to be +rather stout: nature had been giving the last touches to her figure, +strengthening the line of her hips, rounding her arms, filling out her +virginal bosom, and perfecting the oval of her face, without being +willing, on any consideration, to grant her three inches more of +stature, though she really needed them. On this account an Andalusian +cavalry lieutenant, while saying something in her praise and dispraise +in a game of forfeits, recently declared, "You are very charming, but +your roundness is alarming."[42] And this had given occasion for the +friends of the house to call her in fun _la redondita_ (the round), and +to plague her continually with the Andalusian rhyme. The expression of +her face was as placid, grave, and as gentle as before. Nevertheless, +her great black eyes, calm and liquid, which, as we have said, used to +present a certain strange immobility, such as is seen in those suffering +from gutta serena, acquired a movement so gentle and sweet that one of +the De Ciudad girls, the very one who had pointed her out to the +engineer Surez, could not help exclaiming the other night,-- + +"Don't you see how sweet Martita is looking!" + +"Certainly," replied the engineer, "that girl seems to caress you with +her eyes when she looks." + +At the same time they inclined to grow liquid, which still more +increased their brilliancy and gentleness. At this particular moment she +wore a dark violet dress, extremely snug and well fitted to her body, +and, although at her earnest request it had been made a little longer +than before, still, as she stooped over to cut the flowers, it allowed +more than a glimpse to be seen of a pair of beautiful, well rounded +ankles, comparable with the arms which Ricardo had admired. + +After she had cut as many flowers as she wanted, she sat on a stone +bench in the shade, and placing the basket by her side and taking out a +ball of thread, proceeded, with great calmness, to make a nosegay. First +she took a magnificent white tea-rose, and pulled off all its thorns, +tying around it instead some leaves of althea. As she reached this stage +in her operation, Ricardo made his appearance. Marta raised her head, +hearing his steps, and quickly dropped it again, continuing her work. + +"I have been hunting for you, Martita." + +"What for?" + +"Nothing ... only to see you.... Is that a little thing?" + +"If that's all, it seems to me a very little thing; yes!" + +"Perhaps you don't want me to see you?" + +"I didn't say so ... but as it hasn't been twenty-four hours since you +got home...." + +"Well, at any rate I wanted to see you." + +Marta said nothing, and kept on with her task, placing around the rose +and in the althea three pansies. Ricardo also had changed a little since +the last time that we saw him. His face had grown somewhat thinner, and +in place of its ordinary expression of contentment had come another as +of fatigue sometimes approximating to gloom and bitterness. +Unquestionably he had not been very happy during the last months, and we +know very well that he had no good reason for being. The perpetual +struggle which he had to sustain with Maria's scruples, and the sincere +or simulated coldness which he saw in her, caused a steady, dull +discomfort which embittered his existence. The brief moments when he +succeeded in talking with his beloved, instead of being brightened by +the sweet expressions of love, were generally spent in bickerings and +recriminations, or at least in long exhortations on one side and the +other,--Ricardo trying to prove to Maria that her pious practices were +an exaggeration incompatible with human nature; Maria urging Ricardo to +abandon the frivolities of the world and enter upon the road of virtue, +which is that of salvation. + +After he had silently watched Marta's work a moment, he asked her,-- + +"Whom is that bouquet for?" + +"For Maria, who wants to begin her flowers for the Virgin this evening. +She asked me to make two, and I keep one in the house." + +A flash of joy passed through the young man's eyes at the mention of his +sweetheart's name, and he began to take an interest in the formation of +the nosegay. Marta noticed particularly her future brother's joy and +interest. Between the three pansies she placed three pinks,--one red, +one rose-colored, and the other white. Then she took a number of leaves +of sweet marjoram and rose, and tied up with them the growing bouquet; +thereupon she placed all around it a row of marguerites, alternating the +colors,--purple, white, blue, and mottled. + +"Now, you ought to put in some pinks," added Ricardo, with the boldness +of ignorance. + +"Hush, Ricardo, you don't know what you are talking about.... Now you +want a filling of sweet marjoram and althea, so that the marguerites may +have a background.... Flowers must be loose and not touch each other, so +that each may preserve its form in the bunch.... Do you see?... Now a +row of roses can be added without fear of crushing the marguerites ... +a white one, then a red one ... a white one ... another red one ... +there! that'll do!" + +The thread unrolled between her fingers, gently binding the flowers +together; the nosegay went on assuming a pyramidal form very well +proportioned. Ricardo, looking into the basket, saw some extremely +bright-colored geraniums, and cried out,-- + +"Oh, how lovely those geraniums are!... Such a bright color ought to +become you, Martita; put one in your hair." + +The girl, without more ado, took the one that he offered her, and stuck +it in her dark locks above her ear. This combination of red and black, +which is vulgar, as all girls know, appeared more harmonious than +ordinarily, through the exceptional intensity not only of the black, but +of the red. The geranium, on being translated to that position, seemed +to have fulfilled its destiny on earth, or to have realized its essence, +as my friend Homobono Pereda, shining with more beauty and satisfaction +than ever, would say. Ricardo contemplated Marta's head with genuine +admiration, while an innocent smile of triumph hovered over her lips and +in her eyes. + +Around the roses she placed, instead of the green setting of sweet +marjoram and althea, another of white and blue violets, and next a row +of geraniums of all colors, combining them exquisitely. The bouquet was +finished. To add a crowning grace she put in a few handfuls of thyme, +arranging them in such a way that they might serve as a support. The +flowers, all artistically combined, appeared loose, each one showing its +own individuality, or, as my friend Homobono would add, perfectly united +in the whole. + +Marta lifted the nosegay up, saying, with childish delight,-- + +"Isn't that fine!... isn't that fine! + +"Admirable!... admirable!" cried Ricardo, and in the height of his +enthusiasm he took the nosegay, waved it several times, and then laying +it down in the basket, seized the girl's hand and lifted it to his lips. + +Marta grew as scarlet as the geranium that she wore in her hair, and +snatched her hand away. Ricardo looked at her with a mischievous smile, +and said:-- + +"What's does this mean, seorita, what does this mean? You are ashamed +to have any one kiss your hand, when it isn't four months since we all +kissed you on the cheek? That won't do ... that won't do at all...." + +And forcibly seizing her two hands he began to shower kisses on them +without stopping, until he thought he felt something strange on his +head, and lifted it. Marta was in tears. The young man's surprise was so +great that he dropped her hands without saying a word. The girl hid her +face in them, and began to sob with keen pain. + +"Martita, what is it? What is the matter with you?" he asked, thoroughly +terrified, stooping down to look into her face. + +"Nothing! nothing!... Leave me...." + +"But what are you crying about?... Have I hurt you? Have I offended +you?" + +"No, no!... Leave me, Ricardo ... leave me, for Heaven's sake!" + +And jumping from the bench, she started to run toward the house, wiping +her eyes. Ricardo grew more and more surprised, as he saw her +disappearing, and he stayed some time at the bench, trying in vain to +explain the girl's behavior. Then he got up, and began to promenade in +the garden. In a short time he had entirely forgotten Marta's tears; +more painful memories came to disturb his mind and absorb his +attention. An hour, at least, he spent in walking up and down the park, +thinking about them, until at last, as he passed in front of the bench +where he had been sitting with the girl, he noticed that her bouquet +still remained in the basket, as she had left it, and thinking that it +was not good for it to be there, he started with it to the house. He +asked the first servant whom he met where the seorita was to be found. + +"I think she is in the seora's room." + +He turned his steps thither. At Doa Gertrudis's room he met Marta, who +was doubtless bound on some errand for her mother. The girl, who still +wore the red geranium in her hair, as soon as she saw him, gave him a +sweet smile, and showed signs of being somewhat confused. + +"Are you still vexed, Martita?" asked Ricardo, in a whisper. + +"I wasn't vexed at all, Ricardo." + +"But those tears?" + +"I myself don't know what made me.... I have not been quite well for a +few days, ... and I cry without any reason." + +"Then I am relieved in my heart, preciosa. You can't imagine how I felt +at having caused you any pain!" + +"Bah!" + +"And how violently you wept! I believed that something really serious +had occurred.... Has anything happened to grieve you to-day?" + +"No, no; nothing at all.... I shall be right back. Good by." + +The Marquis of Pealta went into Doa Gertrudis's room, where at that +time Don Mariano and Don Maximo were conversing together, neither of +them showing in their faces any of the painful anguish, the pallor, and +the fear of those who are witnessing the last agony of the dying; and +this irritated Doa Gertrudis to such a degree that she would almost +have taken delight in dying at that moment, for the sake of giving them +a scare. She was reclining, as usual, in her easy-chair, her feet and +legs wrapt up in a magnificent mountain goat-skin, casting looks of +bitter desolation, now at the ceiling, and now at a cup of milk which +she held in her hand. From time to time she carried it to her lips, and +swallowed a portion of its contents, thereupon lifting her eyes, and +exclaiming inwardly, "My God, may this cup pass from me!" Again and +again she looked at her persecutors with ineffable serenity, saying, in +a touching manner, that if God forgave their cruelty, she, for her part, +did not find it hard to grant them a full and generous pardon, though +she greatly doubted whether the Supreme Creator would grant it. + +Ricardo sat down near the persecutors, without any ceremony, for that +very morning he had had the opportunity of spending a good hour over +Doa Gertrudis's nerves. She, considering that whoever has to do with +sinners is prone to fall into sin, included him in advance in the +universal and liberal amnesty which she had declared in favor of those +who offended her. + +"I would never permit either traitorous periodicals, like _El +Tradicin_, or magistrates who would not obey the government punctually +and unconditionally, Don Maximo." + +"I agree with you up to a certain point; yet we find ourselves in a time +of conflict, and it is necessary to proceed by exceptional measures. But +you will not deny that, in a normal state of things, liberty--" + +"Liberty and not license!... Liberty to work ... that's the only kind +that we need. Roads, bridges, factories, land improvements, railways, +and ports, that is all that our unfortunate nation asks for.... The +liberty that you progressists are ambitious to get is liberty to starve +to death.... When I consider that, if it had not been for _la gloriosa_, +our railway would have been at point of completion, such desperation +seizes me that--" + +"This is only a passing conclusion, Don Maximo.... You will see how very +soon the rainbow of peace will shine!" + +"Yes, yes ... it is certainly raining now.... Have you read the leading +article in _La Tradicin_? [_La Tradicin_ was a Carlist journal, +published in Nieva every Thursday.] Then, when you read it, you will see +what rainbows the partisans of the Church and the throne are getting +ready for us...." + +"Is it very strong?" + +"It's a trifling thing!... It says that all good Catholics ought to take +arms to exterminate the horde of the impious and ruffianly who govern us +to-day...." + +At this moment Marta entered the room. As she passed in front of +Ricardo, he took her by the hand, and obliged her to sit on his knees, +giving her a speechless look of tenderness with his eyes, without losing +any of the conversation. The girl sat down without resistance, and +likewise listened in silence. + +"But does it really say that?" asked Don Maximo. + +"It certainly does.... Read it for yourself, and you will be edified.... +In my opinion the Carlists are meditating and even plotting some _coup +de main_. The general commander is taking too little care of this +region, and is carrying off all the forces to drive the guerillas from +the highlands.... The factory always requires a strong garrison for +what might happen.... It is a prize coveted by them." + +"I don't believe that they would ever dare to make any attempt in that +direction. And except that the seor marqus says...." + +Ricardo did not catch Don Maximo's last words, for, with an affectionate +smile, he was saluting Maria, who at that moment came in. After she had +sat down near Doa Gertrudis, and exchanged a look or two with him, he +remembered the remark that had been directed to him. + +"What did you say Don Maximo?" + +"That I don't believe the Carlists have any intentions against the +factory.... It would be a ridiculous undertaking." + +"Oh, no indeed! Not so ridiculous as you imagine, Don Maximo.... This +very day, with the small garrison which we have there, it would not be +impossible or very difficult to take it by surprise.... How many times I +have thought, when on guard at night, that thirty decided men might get +the better of me! If they succeeded in procuring a foothold inside, the +thirty would be settled, you may believe...." + +"Do you hear what he says, you stubborn man? do you hear him? Now you +shall see how we must look out for our powder magazine, now that +thunderbolts and meteors are falling. But listen to one thing, Ricardo, +why don't you utilize for the defence of the factory the last advances +made in electric lighting?" + +"How?" + +"I should suggest that if a number of electric lamps were put in +different parts of it, which the officer on guard could set going by +simply pressing a button, all danger of a surprise could easily be +avoided; and if at the same time a goodly number of heavy bells were +set up, likewise worked by electricity, which would give an instant +alarm in the city and wake the workmen, who for the most part live +near.... Martita! what's the matter?" he exclaimed, suddenly breaking +off the thread of his discourse. + +All hastened to her assistance. The girl, who was still seated on +Ricardo's knees, had grown pale without any one noticing it. When Don +Mariano casually glanced at her, she was white as a sheet of paper. + +"What is it, my daughter?" + +"What is the matter, Martita?" + +"I don't feel quite well. Give me a glass of water." Maria ran to get it +for her. Don Maximo felt of her pulse and said,-- + +"It's only a little giddiness, which water will cure." + +In point of fact, as soon as she drank the water, and had sat down on +the sofa, she began to feel better, and in a few moments was perfectly +well. The conversation went on. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND. + + +For a fortnight at least there had been talk of an excursion to El Moral +and the island. During the spring the young ladies[43] who went to the +parties at the house of the Elorzas had been anxious to form a capital +with the products of the tax and lottery to defray the expenses. Don +Mariano allowed them to do so, smiling roguishly every time that he was +told the state of the funds; but when the time came which was fixed for +the excursion, in presence of the whole tertulia, he took the handful of +silver from the little box in which it was kept and handed it to the +parish priest of Nieva to divide among the parishioners who most needed +it. + +"Why!" exclaimed the noble caballero at the same time, "is it not a +hundred-fold better to spend this money in alleviating the hunger of one +or two poor people than in a frivolous and unnecessary amusement?" + +"Certainly, certainly," said the girls, putting on an expression which +in truth did not give evidence of the purest delights of virtue and the +joys of the righteous. + +That evening there was very little talking, singing, and dancing at the +Elorza tertulia. Virtue, stern by nature, does not approve of noisy +demonstrations. The young people of both sexes expressed the deep, pure +satisfaction with which their sacrifice had inspired them by an +ineffable severity, making them demure and silent the most of the time, +as though they were meditating deeply on some Gospel text. Great, +therefore, must have been the displeasure felt by all when Don Mariano +said to them at the last moment:-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, I +should be greatly pleased to have you meet at the quay, properly +provided with hats, parasols, wraps, and so forth and so forth. Nothing +is more likely than that the sailors of my fala will be anxious to take +us down to El Moral, and, as you well know, it wouldn't be polite to +disappoint them." + +The tertulia deplored this determination which deprived them of making a +sacrifice for the universal brotherhood, and manifested it with a +running fire of laughter, remarks, and disorderly movements: "What a man +Don Mariano is!" "He always has to be playing these jokes!" "Thursday, +Thursday!" "What engagement have I for Thursday? Oh, none, I believe." +"Must we take waterproofs?" "I think cloaks will be enough." And so on. + +And in fact, on Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning, Don Mariano's +launch and the quarantine boat, both clean and adorned like damsels on a +fte-day, were impatiently waiting for the people, tossing side by side +in the slip by the quay. Four sailors in each were making the final +arrangements, from time to time casting inquiring glances now at the +river, now at the streets which led from the quay. The passengers were +not in sight, and the tide had already gone down two feet and a half. +One of the sailors expressed his dislike of tardiness in a rough voice +which was far enough from fashionable. At last appeared a variegated +group of women and men among whom straw hats and red cloaks +predominated, and the old sea-dog who had just been swearing like a +pirate blasphemed once more out of pure satisfaction, and put down a +gang-plank between the dock and the fala for the people to cross on. +The first to leap on board was Don Mariano. The boat gently tipped on +one side when she received her master's weight, as though making him a +loving bow. All the young ladies, including, of course, the Delgados, +next came tripping on board, leaning on Don Mariano's strong hand: the +gentlemen followed. When the first fala was full, they began to load +the second, and this was quickly accomplished. In the first, among other +people of distinction, were the two Misses de Delgado with their sister, +the widow, who chaperoned them; the De Merinos with their brother +Bonifacio, the most self-satisfied of all brothers; three or four +officials from the factory, Don Mariano, Don Maximo, Martita, and +Ricardo. Maria did not go because she would not break her vow to refrain +from all recreation. Likewise Doa Gertrudis's indisposition prevented +her from taking part in the excursion. In the second boat excellent +accommodation was found by our friend, the fascinating, sprightly +Seorita de Mor, under the watchful goggle eyes of the illustrious +Isidorito. Likewise, we can distinguish among others a very pretty young +girl named Rosario with whom the young swell at her side was not able to +dance on the evening of the Elorza soire, on account of the war +proclaimed by the pianist against the German. The sailors were just +going to cast off the lines for starting when from one of the falas +came a voice, asking,-- + +"But the De Ciudads?" + +The De Ciudads were missing. Don Mariano and the quarantine doctor were +in consternation at the mention of this name, which was such a guaranty +of respectability. Before they had recovered from their consternation, +there appeared at the end of one of the streets leading to the quay the +six seoritas accompanied by their papa, their mamma, their engineer +Surez, and two small brothers. It was impossible to accommodate so many +people in the two falas; they had to hunt up another, and man it with +the first sailors they could find, and thus precious time was lost. But +at last, as everything in this world can be managed except death, the De +Ciudads and their friends were well bestowed in a fishing-boat, and the +captain of the quarantine gave the signal for the start. The twelve oars +of the falas began to strike the water in time with a gentle splash, +like the arms of one stretching. + +The level of the river was smooth, motionless, and bright as a mirror; +the sun cast upon it wide, silvery spots towards the centre, and darker +ones near the edges. The sky was covered by a delicate veil of clouds, +making a splendid rival for the ladies' hats and parasols. Only a gentle +breeze laden with the keen odor of pines on the shore came timidly +kissing the soft back of the waters, and the no less soft and fresh +necks of the ladies. It was not as yet a legitimate sea-breeze, but a +hybrid kind[44] with the characteristics both of sea and land. The oars +now put out all their agility, and with their blades lifted the crystal +of the waters, causing fleeting, foamy whirlpools; all faces showed the +healthful joy which is always caused by motion and the ever new and +beautiful spectacle of nature. The girls, bending over the gunwale of +the boat, delighted in taking off their rings and plunging their hands +into the water, letting it pour with a murmur through their white +fingers: they talked, they screamed, they laughed, and they exchanged +greetings from one boat to the other. The young fellows spattered their +faces with their canes or suddenly leaned to one side to scare them, +taking great pleasure in their cries of desperation. All was noise and +hubbub in the little squadron. As they came near El Moral, the marine +characteristics of the breeze began to get the upper hand of the inland +ones; it grew stronger, sometimes even blowing violently, as when the +falas passed by some glen made through the hills or sloping banks which +shut in the river valley. The ribbons on the hats, the pennants on the +mast-heads, handkerchiefs and neckties began to flutter violently. The +voyagers felt the sweet deafness caused by the keen, salt-nurtured wind +of the sea. A few aquatic birds of little account flew out from one +shore and went flapping above the falas, which was sufficient cause for +Don Serapio, in a fit of enthusiasm for the sea, to get upon deck and, +leaning over the flagstaff like one possessed, to sing the song which +begins:-- + + "_Al ver en la inmensa llanura del mar._ + + When o'er the mighty prairie of the sea, + I watch the sea-gulls in their rapid flight, + My soul is filled with envious thoughts," etc. + +If the river could blush, it would not have failed to do so on hearing +itself called so hyperbolically the _mighty prairie_; but it took it in +bad part, believing that there was some joke intended, and was seriously +angry. At all events, the wind undertook to wreak vengeance for it by +suddenly snatching off the inspired singer's sombrero and cutting short +the current, not to say the torrent, of his voice. The fala in the wake +picked up the hat and restored it in a very water-soaked condition to +its owner, who showed no more desire for the time being to continue +apostrophizing the sea-gulls. + +The little squadron stood nearer and nearer to the handful of houses at +El Moral, distant from Nieva about a league and a half. The town kept +growing more distant from our voyagers, offering them a beautiful +spectacle. It was situated under the brow of a not very lofty mountain, +decorated with green gardens and groups of laurel and orange trees on +all sides; its white-walled houses seemed to have been placed in such a +situation by the hand of an artist who believed in combining the +advantages of nature so as to produce the sthetic emotion, as a stage +manager would say; the dazzling whiteness of the town stood out against +the dark green of the mountain like a great patch of snow stretching +down from the top; the silvery sheet of the river extending at its feet +waited motionless and humble till it should melt into its bosom. The +gentle, pine-clad hills which bordered the shores, and which our +voyagers left one after the other, seemed like the bristling backs of +huge, fantastic monsters. + +The remarks made by one fala to another gradually ceased. Each of the +boats recovered self-jurisdiction, living for itself alone. Let us +listen to what is said in them. + + +IN THE ELORZA FALA. + +"I am well in years, Don Maximo, but I expect that my daughters are +going to see this river perfectly channelled. The amount of water +entering the mouth of the port would be sufficient to float vessels of +the greatest draught, if it were not so spread out. The question is to +utilize it. And how can this be done? Why, it must be done by force, by +means of two parallel jetties, which should begin at the very bar and +come up as far as Nieva. The water, both at ebb and flow, will pass +between them with greater rapidity, working over the bottom until it +deepens it. Gradually the space included between the channel and the +shores will be left dry, and can be easily improved. To accomplish the +drainage, all that is needed is to construct a clay dike against each of +the jetties, and open large gates through which the water can flow out +but not come in.... Excuse my earnestness!... I know well that this is +not a work of months, but of many years; still there is nothing +impossible about it.... Once reclaimed, these wide spaces would +doubtless be utilized by the population of Nieva, even to the very bank +of the beautiful canal, which would be constantly crowded with every +kind of craft. The new city built on such a wide level would most +certainly have its streets laid out at right angles, like those of the +American cities, and magnificent wharves. The true port, however, cannot +be here, but near the roadstead of Los Arenales, ... very soon we shall +be passing by it. It is a well-sheltered and extensive site, where a +whole fleet could have stay-room.... At present it is not very deep; I +am perfectly aware of that, but it has a sandy bottom, and you know that +with the powerful dredging-machines which we have nowadays, in a very +short time, it could be made two or three metres deeper.... Then Nieva +will be the most important part of El Cantbrico; the larger part of our +mineral products will be exported through it, for the dock at Sarri is +very small, and there is no chance to increase it; instead of going to +French watering-places to spend the summer, the Spaniards will come to +these beautiful Northern Provinces, neglected to-day for lack of means +of communication.... How is Biarritz to be compared in spring with these +fresh, delicious regions? What sea-coast of Arcachn can enter into +rivalry with ours at Miramar and Las Huelgas?..." + + +ON BOARD OF LA SANIDAD. + +"Last night I slept splendidly, after a number of nights when I didn't +close my eyes hardly at all," said the Seorita de Mor to her friend +Rosario, who was seated near her.... "I don't know what has been ailing +me this long time.... I feel nervous.... My head aches when I get up.... +I think I need a tonic." + +"Sometimes you need to give the heart a tonic, seorita," said +Isidorito, boldly, with his face frightfully contracted by a smile. + +"I didn't know that the apothecary shops furnished tonics for the +heart," replied the young lady, with a scornful gesture, directing her +words to Rosario. + +"Oh, no, seorita; not in the apothecary shops; the heart is not cured +by the preparations of ordinary therapeutics, nor by any formulas of the +pharmacopoeia, for it has, apart from its physical nature, which is +not unlike the rest of the viscera, another nature purely spiritual as +we are generally accustomed to speak of it, and this cannot be treated +except by moral medicaments. When I said that sometimes you need to give +your heart a tonic, I meant to indicate that possibly it would be good +for you to drive away certain preoccupations of an amorous character, +which often are wont to affect it." + +"I am not troubled by these _preoccupations_ of which you speak, nor do +I intend to have them at present, God helping me," replied the seorita +with the same air of dissatisfaction as before, and addressing herself +only to Rosario. + +"You cannot affirm that in such a categorical manner." + +"And why not?" + +"For in the state in which you find yourself it is very difficult, not +to say impossible, to fathom all the profundities of the spirit and +scrutinize all of its hiding-places. Frequently impressions make their +way into our souls in a surreptitious manner without our taking note of +it; they begin by being vague and fugitive, and for that very reason +pass without being observed; but slowly they go on taking shape, growing +in strength, and finally they conquer the individual and rule him at +their will. Then they pass into the category of the passions." + +"But I know perfectly well what I feel and what I don't feel." + +"Oh, no, seorita; allow me to contradict you. You cannot know." + +"Man, for goodness' sake! Can't I know what I feel?" + +"Why, then, you must know that--" + +"Perhaps I know better than you do. Self-observation, according to all +the philosophers and moralists, is more difficult than to observe +others, and there are very few who are able to reach to it. On the other +hand, youth is little prone to reflection, and above all women are +incapable of taking perfect account of their inclinations and of the +vague emotions passing through their hearts." + +"Look you! women are as God created them, and so are men." + +"I don't doubt it; but God has so created them, with a sensitive +capacity (if I may express myself in this way) more quick and delicate +than that of men. It may be said that they are born exclusively for +love, and that love ought to fill the measure of their existence. Love +and the consequences which arise from love constitute the first end of +conjugal union or, in other words, matrimony. Thus it has been +established in all legislative codes, and particularly in the canonical, +which is the purest fountain of all. Woman consequently works more +under the impulse of fancy and sentiment than of reason...." + +"Heavens! how much Isidorito knows about us poor women!" exclaimed the +Seorita de Mor, in a tone between anger and jest. + +The district attorney was somewhat crushed, but at length he went on +with his remarks, without ceasing the pseudo-smile which afflicted his +face. + +"Love being, for the reason above given, the most powerful, not to say +the only, motive of a woman's life, there is nothing wonderful in the +supposition that a young lady like you may find herself agitated by this +omnipotent feeling, and paying tribute to what constitutes an +irrecusable law of life. You may now see how I was not out of the way +when I affirmed that sometimes it is necessary for you to give your +heart a tonic or--and this is the same thing--alleviate it of some too +grievous impression." + +"O my![45] what a bore!" said the Seorita de Mor in a whisper; but she +replied aloud, "Why, you are absolutely mistaken, Isidorito; nothing +grieves me or disturbs me at present!" + +"Allow me to doubt it." + +"You are welcome to doubt it; but I assure you that I have the best +reason for knowing." + +"Certainly, according to all logic, although you may declare the +contrary, yet there is no possibility of sustaining such an opinion; not +only reason and good sense oppose it, but from the most superficial +observation of the facts it results, first, that love is a natural and +constant sentiment in young ladies; second, that you have no reasons for +escaping from it; and third, that the fact of sleeping little and +uneasily makes the supposition that you are in love a very reasonable +one." + +The Seorita de Mor shrugged her shoulders, made a scornful grimace +with her lips, and without deigning to reply, resumed her conversation +with her friend Rosario. + +Isidorito had triumphed over his opponent as usual; for always the woman +with whom he was conversing was in his eyes his opponent, and he +believed in the necessity of involving her in the meshes of his logic, +and of getting her close in his grasp, until he subdued her like a +rebellious rival in the law. Thus he expected to win the admiration and +respect of the feminine sex. But the feminine sex (be it said to its +dishonor) not only did not admire Isidorito for his belligerent logic, +for his sedateness, and for his vast legal knowledge, but it looked upon +him with marked disfavor, and avoided his conversation as though it were +a disgusting clatter. The Seorita de Mor, with whom he had carried on +the most pugnacious argument on the nature of love and friendship, the +sweets of remembrance, the bitternesses of forgetfulness, sympathy, and +all else relating to the heart, in which he always came out instantly +victorious, had learned to hate him like death. Consequently our wise +youth was really more than a hundred leagues from the lovely heiress's +three thousand duros income, while he believed that he could touch them +with his finger-tips. His never-failing sedateness, his self-possessed +and serene eloquence, his long-tailed coats, his ideas of order, and his +legal diction had aroused against him a prejudice as cruel as it was +unjustified. + + +IN THE DE CIUDAD FALA. + +"Maria, Julia, Consuelo, just see how lovely the water feels when you +put your hand in!" + +"How lovely! how lovely!" + +"You'll wet your clothes, Amparo!" + +"See what cunning white feathers the water makes between the fingers, +Surez!" + +"Splendid!... but you'll wet the sleeve of your dress." + +"Wait a moment.... I am going to tuck it up.... There, that's good.... +Look! look!..." + +"It still seems to me as though it would get wet.... Tuck it up a little +more." + +"More?" + +"Yes." + +"But I shall show my whole arm!" + +"What difference does that make?" + +"Be sensible; it isn't the time to give one a cold.... Now it seems to +me all right.... Uf! how cold this water is!... It isn't noticeable on +the hands, but on your arms! Look! Look how it jumps up!... If you put +your palm flat against the current, it runs clear up your arm. Don't you +see how beautiful and clear it is to-day?" + +"Speaking frankly, I will tell you," whispered the engineer in Amparo's +ear, "that at this moment my attention is attracted more by your fair +arm!" + +"If you don't hush, you rogue, I shall spatter the water in your face," +replied the girl, threatening him with her chaste vengeance. + +"Though you should throw me into the river, I should still say so.... I +am an artist, above all things, as you well know.... There is nothing so +beautiful as the human form, ... when it is beautiful; and that arm of +yours stands comparison with the most perfect models of the sculptor's +art." + +"Come, come! don't be absurd!... My arm is like any one else's. The +main thing is, that it is beginning to feel cold.... Whew! what +water.[46] It seemed so warm at first!... And how it keeps on growing +colder and colder, till at last it chills one to the bone!..." + +"Take it out, take it out ... we must dry it!" + +And Amparito obeyed, taking her arm out of the water, and innocently +holding it towards the engineer, who began to wipe it with his +handkerchief, lavishing upon it delicate attentions, and saying, at the +same time:-- + +"But what a lovely arm you have, Amparito! How white! what soft skin! +and how round it is, above all!... A woman's arm ought to be so, ... +round and slender, like that of the Venus di Medici ... the arm ought to +diminish gradually and symmetrically to the wrist.... The truth is, with +such an arm you ought to be worthy of being a sculptor's model.... +Well-formed women are scarce enough nowadays. To this is due the decay +of sculpture, according to some critics.... If there were many like you, +this certainly could not be said.... What an arm! what a lovely arm!... +You can't imagine the pleasure I feel in touching it with my hand...." + +The engineer, as he said this, suited the action to the word, and rubbed +it so hard that Seor de Ciudad, who, with grim eyes, was watching the +operation from the bow, could not help exclaiming, in an angry tone,-- + +"Amparo, please pull down your sleeve.... You most foolish girl!" + +The girl blushed, and pulled down her sleeve. The engineer, not being +able to evolve his artistic theories with his model in sight, renounced, +for some time, the use of speech. + +The falas were now over against the Arenales. The sun had succeeded in +making a few rifts in the veil of cloud, and was threatening, sooner or +later, to rend it in pieces. The pencil of rays which penetrated through +these rifts, and fell on the sand-hills, made them gleam like enormous +flakes of gold, shedding their splendors over the whole breadth of the +watery sheet; occasionally, when the sunbeams were cut off a moment by +the interposition of some cloud, the splendors paled, and the sand +assumed the grayish or gilded shades of webs of yellow silk. The +voyagers all agreed that those sand wastes gave a very good idea of the +deserts of Africa; and Don Mariano expressed his opinion that it would +be very easy to control the sand by means of feather-grass and other +suitable vegetation, and soon convert them into magnificent groves of +pines. + +The valley, which in the midst of the way opened out till it acquired +considerable breadth, became narrower again as it neared El Moral. The +waters became more restless, revealing the proximity of the sea; the +hills, protecting the village with their stony slopes and their bare, +melancholy tops, likewise made it evident. The breath of the monster +began to be felt, blowing freshly and proudly through the narrow mouth +of the river; and far away could be heard the low, portentous beating of +his heart. The falas now and then pitched upon patches of foam, which +came rolling over the water, like tatters torn from the mantle of some +god who had been battling all the night with the monsters of the ocean. + +They reached El Moral. Don Mariano had prepared for them a delicious +luncheon in a large ware-house, which he owned there, and the numerous +company gave one more proof that the sea breezes are the most excellent +stimulant for the appetite. When they had done good justice to it, and +rested a little while, they re-embarked to continue their excursion. A +short distance from El Moral was the mouth of the harbor from which they +put out to sea, leaving on the starboard quarter the lighthouse tower +set on a bluff. The sailors dropped their oars and hoisted the sails to +take advantage of the fresh north-east wind which forced them ahead. It +was eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The cloud veil had entirely vanished +down the horizon, leaving in view a beautiful, diaphanous blue sky +wherein the sun swam haughty and brilliant as never before. The sea +stretched out before our voyagers' eyes like one enormous, measureless +blue plain, shutting in on all sides the celestial vault to collect its +light and its harmony. Above this azure plain the luminous disk of the +sun made a wide path of shining silver peopled with tremulous, sparkling +gleams and extending in a direct line towards the east. In each one of +the crests which the breeze raised on the water the sunbeams left a +fugitive, vivid light which, on mingling and joining with the rest in an +incessant dance, seemed like the monstrous, fantastic ebullition of the +treasures hidden in the depths of the ocean. The voyagers followed that +silvery path with their gaze, and did not open their lips for a long +time, enjoying the deeply fine and solemn impression which the sea +always makes on the mind. The outlines of the island, dimmed and +confused by the excess of light, stood out opposite the very mouth of +the river, about five miles from the coast. Around it could be seen +great flocculent shreds of foam which alternately grew and narrowed down +again, girdling it with a white belt of lace-work. The wind blew strong, +but with generous benignity, for it had plenty of room to exercise its +powers. The three falas, with sails spread, cut through the water, one +behind the other, like so many sea-gulls chasing them. The cordage +whistled, the masts creaked in the holes imprisoning them, and the sails +bellied under the breath of the breeze which tipped the boats more than +was relished by the ladies. The water, as it passed, broke into foam, +making a musical murmur against the bow, and sliding along on both sides +with a rustle like the unrolling of silk. + +Don Serapio felt himself attacked by a maritime ecstasy, and, holding +his hat in one hand and gesticulating dramatically with the other, he +sang:-- + + "How blessed that man who can number + His joys on the ocean; + For the billows rock him to slumber + With somnolent motion." + +The almost imperceptible voice of the proprietor of the canning-factory +had the honor of joining in with the eternal concert of the seas, like +one of so many noises of tumbling billows or rattling pebbles. The wind +would not deign to carry it twenty yards away. + +The falas, as they glided out on the swelling breasts of the waves, +mounted and fell with a gentle, lazy motion which at first was +delightful to the passengers. They began to sway, softly closing their +eyes with a smile of delicious content, surrendering themselves in full +to the vague, poetic dreams awakened in their hearts by the sea. Who +would have said, alas! that those who were dreaming so comfortably, and +rejoicing in a smiling world of gentle fancies and gilded illusions, +would be seen in a few minutes with heads sadly bent over the sea, necks +leaning on the gunwale, as though it were a chopping-block, faces livid +and eyes fixed upon the water, as though they were trying to sound the +secret arcana of the ocean! Oh terrible fickleness of human affairs! + +But what was taking place in the quarantine boat, that she should come +about and leave her companions? An unforeseen contingency, and certainly +one most annoying. Isidorito's breakfast had played him false. Hardly +were they clear of El Moral when he began to be pale and silent, though +no one noticed it; but at last the pallor increased to such a degree +that he really looked like a corpse. Then it was suspected that he was +seasick, and they advised him to put his fingers in his mouth; but the +municipal attorney, very thoroughly acquainted with the tragedy at that +moment enacting in his stomach, would not do any such thing, and begged +humbly that, if it were possible, they should turn about and leave him +on shore. All were stupefied at this proposition, and the fala +continued on her swift course, as though she had not heard. But, after a +time, Isidorito propounded it in a still more energetic manner, and the +sailors were obliged to reply that, though it was not impossible, still, +to return to shore would cost them an hour's time. Another interval +passed. Isidorito got up suddenly, with his face convulsed, and, +extending his right hand toward the shore, he exclaimed with a voice of +mighty anguish, "Turn around, turn around for God's sake, or I shall +jump into the water!" Then the fala, not wanting to be an accomplice in +a suicide, veered around, dropped sail, and, putting out oars, began to +make its way, as quick as possible, to the nearest point on the shore. +There are reasons, however, for believing that the distinguished legal +gentleman did not reach land in sufficient time. The Seorita de Mor +felt sufficiently avenged for the many annoyances which his inflexible +logic had occasioned her. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE EXCURSION CONTINUED. + + +Meantime the ocean, indifferent to the laughter and the discomfort of +those petty insects which skim over its burnished surface, reflected the +fire of the sun over all its immensity, enjoying this lofty pleasure +with the same calmness as in the first days of the world. The light +could wander freely over its humid surface, running leagues upon leagues +in a second, shooting its blazes to the furthest confines of the +horizon, or gathering them in a splendid bundle. It could sport over the +foamy crests of its waves, or timidly kiss the diaphanous mirror of the +waters, or spatter it with fine silver powder, or fall in a swoon with +languid, voluptuous tremors, losing themselves amid the folds of the +billows: nothing could change the solemn peace of his heart or cause him +to utter a note lower or a note higher in the grandiose air in basso +profundo which he has sung since the beginning of the world. + +The outlines of the island now stood out with clearness, black and burnt +as though they had just emerged from a fire. As they came nearer, the +white belt, which from a distance seemed to girdle it, broke into a +thousand separate pieces, a considerable distance from one another. The +formidable roar as of multitudes fighting, chains dragging, and rocks +crashing, came from that direction, announcing to our voyagers that they +were approaching their destination. At the end of an hour they +succeeded, not without difficulty, in effecting a landing on its +rockbound shore; then they had to climb up by a narrow, perilous footway +hollowed out of the rock, before they reached the solid, level land. The +island did not deserve this name.[47] It was an islet two or three +kilometers long, belonging to Don Mariano Elorza, who made use of it +only for occasional hunting excursions, and for collecting a few hundred +gulls' eggs from it every year. It was covered here and there with +pines, but for the most part it was clad in furze, where hares and +rabbits had their warrens: on nearly all sides it presented +perpendicular cliffs to the sea, which beat incessantly against it, +furiously rushing in and out of the hollows in the rocks everywhere +abounding. Don Mariano had built in the centre a small house as a +hunting-box which, little by little, he had provided with many +conveniences. It contained only a large parlor, a dining-room, a few +bedrooms, and the kitchen; but it was quite well furnished, and was +surrounded by a small garden where a few shade-trees reluctantly grew. + +While the dinner was in preparation and they were waiting for the +quarantine fala, which had gone to deposit Isidorito like a melancholy +exile on a barren coast, the ladies and gentlemen scattered about, +devoting themselves to hunting and fishing, according to the tastes and +dispositions of each. Shots began to be heard here and there, showing +that the rabbits, which had multiplied in geometrical progression, +suffered the law of repression discovered by Malthus. The voyagers who +had not bloodthirsty instinct made themselves comfortable on the moss at +the edge of the cliffs, contemplating the horizon from quarter to +quarter, where the sail of some bark was often seen. Others studied the +flora, plucking flowers and entering into long discussions about the +cultivation which would suit that soil and the products which it might +give. When everything was arranged, Don Mariano sent word by his +servants, and one after the other the guests made their way back to the +house and entered the parlor, where a splendid table had been +improvised, loaded with viands and flowers. It took much labor and +sufficient noise to seat so many people, but at last it was +accomplished, thanks to the activity of the master of the house, greatly +aided by the young man with the banged hair, whom we had the honor of +meeting on the evening of the soire, celebrated in honor of Doa +Gertrudis. + +The feast was worthy of Amphitryon. No gastronomic refinement was +lacking; everything was wisely provided by an imagination familiar with +culinary subjects and, as some one at the table was moved to say with +truth, "life on a desert island was not so unhappy as it was pictured in +Robinson Crusoe and other books." Each plate had before it five or six +glasses which two servants were commissioned to keep filling +successively with different kinds of wine according to the courses +served. No one will be surprised, therefore, that after dinner was over +there were enthusiastic toasts preceded by most eloquent speeches and +accompanied by shouts, bravos, and congratulations of all sorts to the +orator. Don Maximo cut them short by a few phrases, ill enough expressed +but very touching, referring to the brevity of human life, to the vanity +of pleasures, to the recompense which we shall have for our sorrows in +another world, and other supernal subjects. The orator ended by shedding +copious tears stirred by such funereal thoughts. Nevertheless, there +were some who said in an undertone that Don Maximo's _papalina_ was the +least diverting that they had ever known. Then the engineer, Surez, +made a speech elegantly phrased and ornate, directed to emphasizing the +importance enjoyed by woman in our civilization and the salutary changes +which, thanks to her influence, had obtained in the manners of modern +nations. He made a eulogy, as brilliant as it was finished, of her +artistic abilities, declaring it to be much superior to man's. He +likewise spoke of her physical perfections, enumerating them with great +satisfaction, and he ended by toasting her unconditionally as the most +beautiful and exquisite work of creation, as the eternal and sweet +companion of man. The Seoritas de Ciudad clapped their hands. Thereupon +Don Serapio got up and with rather unctious speech proposed in concrete +terms that the brilliant assemblage who was hearkening to him should +settle for good in the island, in order to populate it, and invited each +one of those present to select as quickly as possible their partners. +The fact that at the end of his invitation he tipped a mischievous and +impudent wink at one of the maid-servants who was helping at table +raised against him a tempest of hisses and interruptions. Not being able +satisfactorily to explain his behavior, Don Serapio grew very angry and +went out into the kitchen, where, after a short time, was heard a +ringing box on his ears. + +Next followed the toasts, growing constantly more fiery and tempestuous, +so that nothing that was said could be heard. One of the most famous was +Martita's. By the advice of Ricardo, who sat by her side, she had drunk +three glasses of champagne and did not know what was going on. The poor +girl, so reserved and silent by temperament, began to let her tongue +have free course, directing very facetious sallies at all present, who +received them with rejoicing and applause. When a lady said that she +was a little tipsy, she grew very serious and declared that she was only +rather happy, which was nothing very strange considering that she was +young. This repartee caused great laughter among the picnickers. When +she was speaking, she kept fanning herself with her handkerchief. Her +eyes, ordinarily so steady and serene, had acquired a strange loveliness +and a malicious brilliancy which attracted the attention of Surez, the +engineer. The very timbre of her voice had notably altered, making it +deeper and firmer. For the time being, she seemed like a woman in all +the plenitude of her powers. + +When they were tired of talking nonsense, Don Mariano had the tables +removed from the parlor, so that the young people might dance. A piano, +which had reached a dignified old age in that cloistered retreat, was +called upon to mark the time of a mazurka with its cracked voice. As was +to be expected, the dance from the first instant lost all ceremony and +was converted into a whirlwind of hops, screams, and laughter. Marta, +who was dancing with Ricardo, quickly said,-- + +"I can't endure this heat! Don't you want to go out into the fresh air +for a little?" + +"Let us go; I, too, am almost suffocated." + +When they were in the garden, she said to him,-- + +"If you will come with me, I will take you to a place which no one here +knows anything about except papa and me; it is a beach hidden among the +rocks; you don't see it until you are on it ... it is a lovely place." + +"If I like! you know well enough the love I have for landscapes, and +above all for seascapes! How do you get to it?" + +"Follow me ... you shall see." + +Marta started out toward a clump of pines situated not far from the +house, and Ricardo followed her. The girl wore a marine blue dress with +white lace trimmings, and she had on her head a straw hat with a wreath +of red convolvulus. + +"After we reach that grove, you are going to enjoy a surprise." + +"Indeed?" + +"Just wait and see!" + +In fact, after they had reached the grove and had been walking some time +in it, they came upon a grotto half covered up with trees and +underbrush. Marta, without saying a word, entered it, and in two seconds +disappeared from sight. Ricardo waited an instant in uncertainty and +deep surprise; but a gay peal of laughter echoing from within startled +him from his stupor. + +"What does this mean? Don't you dare to come in, coward?" + +"But, child, don't you see, you might get hurt!" + +"Come in, come in, brave warrior!" + +"Very well ... seeing that you have set the example." + +When he joined Marta, he found that the grotto was quite large and had a +sandy floor. + +"Oh, I didn't suppose it was so large and comfortable!" + +"Good; now follow me." + +"Where?" + +"How inquisitive you are!... You shall see, man, you shall see for +yourself." + +She entered further into the cave, which kept growing darker and darker, +and Ricardo followed, not taking his eyes from her for fear she should +fall or stumble upon some obstacle. After some little time the girl's +silhouette vanished in the gloomy depths of the cavern, and Ricardo +found himself in real darkness. + +"Don't be worried; follow me, and nothing will happen to you. I will be +talking all the time, so you can walk in the direction of my voice.... +If you want me to give you my hand, I will.... No?... very well, but +don't fall far behind.... In a very short time you will begin to +descend, but it is a gentle slope.... Do you see?... Don't grumble +against the footing.... Still, if one should fall, it would not do much +harm.... We shall be in the light soon.... Be careful; turn to the +right, for the path here makes a bend.... There, we have light at last!" + +A luminous point was, in fact, visible below our young friend's feet a +hundred yards distant. Marta's silhouette again emerged from the +darkness and stood out against the niggardly light which entered through +the aperture. + +A long, dull murmur was audible in the cave, hinting at the proximity of +the ocean. In a few moments they came out into the light. + +Ricardo was in ecstasies over the sight which met his eyes. They stood +facing the sea in the midst of a beach surrounded by very high, jagged +crags. It seemed impossible to issue from it without getting wet by the +waves, which came in majestic and sonorous, spreading out over its +golden sands, festooning them with wreaths of foam. Our young people +advanced toward the centre in silence, overcome with emotion, watching +that mysterious retreat of the ocean, which seemed like a lovely hidden +trysting-place where he came to tell his deepest secrets to the earth. +The sky of the clearest azure reflected on the sandy floor which sloped +toward the sea with a gentle incline; months and years often passed +without the foot of man leaving its imprint upon it. The lofty, black, +eroded walls, shutting in the beach with their semicircle, threw a +melancholy silence upon it; only the cry of some sea-bird flitting from +one crag to another, disturbed the eternal, mysterious monologue of the +ocean. + +Ricardo and Marta continued slowly drawing nearer the water, still under +the spell of reverence and admiration. As they advanced, the sand grew +smoother and smoother; the prints of their feet immediately filled with +water. Coming still nearer, they noticed that the waves increased, and +that their curling volutes at the moment of breaking would cover them up +if they could get them in their power. They came in toward them solid, +stately, imposing, as though they were certain to carry them off and +bury them forever amid their folds; but five or six yards away they fell +to the ground, expressing their disappointment with a tremendous, +prolonged roar; the torrents of foam which issued from their destruction +came spreading up and leaping on the sand to kiss their feet. + +After considerable time of silent contemplation, Marta began to feel +disturbed; she imagined that she noticed in them a constantly increasing +desire to get hold of her, and that they expressed their longing with +angry, desperate cries. She stepped back a little and seized Ricardo's +hand, without confessing to him the foolish fear that had taken +possession of her; she imagined that the sheet of foam sent up by the +waves, instead of kissing her feet, was trying to bite them; that as it +gathered itself up again with gigantic eagerness, it attracted her +against her will, to carry her away no one knows whither. + +"Doesn't it seem to you that we are going too close to the waves, +Ricardo?" + +"Do you think perhaps they'll come up as far as where you are?" + +"I don't know ... but it seems to me as though we were sliding down +insensibly ... and that they would get hold of us at last." + +"Don't you be alarmed, preciosa," said he, throwing his arm around her +shoulder and gently drawing her to him; "neither are the waves coming up +to us, nor are we going down to them.... Are you afraid to die?" + +"Oh, no, not now!" exclaimed the girl, in a voice scarcely audible, and +pressing closer to her friend. + +Ricardo did not hear this exclamation; he was attentively watching the +passage of a steamboat which was passing down the horizon, belching +forth its black column of smoke. + +After a time he felt like renewing the theme. + +"Are you really afraid of death? Oh, you are well off.... To-day the +world has in store for you its most seductive smiles ... not a single +cloud obscures the heaven of your life. God grant you may never come to +desire it!" + +"And are you afraid to die? tell me!" + +"Sometimes I am, and sometimes I am not." + +"At this moment are you?" + +"Oh! how funny you are!" exclaimed the young fellow, turning his smiling +face towards her. "No, not at this moment, certainly not." + +"Why not?" + +"Because, if the sea should carry us away, we two should die together; +and going in such charming company, what would it matter to me leaving +this world?" + +The girl looked at him steadily for a moment. Over the young man's lips +hovered a gallant but somewhat condescending smile. She abruptly tore +herself from him, and turning her back, began to walk up and down on +the beach skirting the dominions of the waves. + +The steamship was just hiding behind one of the headlands like a +fantastic warrior, walking through the water until only the plume of his +helmet was visible. When it had disappeared, Ricardo joined his future +sister, who seemed not to notice his presence, so absorbed was she in +contemplation of the ocean; yet after a moment she suddenly turned +around, and said,-- + +"Do you dare to go with me to the point which extends out there at the +right?" + +"I have no objection, but I warn you that it's flood tide, and that that +point will be surrounded by water before the end of an hour." + +"No matter; we have time enough to go to it." + +Leaping and balancing over the rocks along the shore, which were full of +pools and lined with seaweed, whereon they ran great risk of slipping, +they reached the point far out in the sea. + +"Let us sit down," said Marta. "Sometimes the sea comes up as far as +this, doesn't it?" + +Ricardo sat beside her, and both looked at the humid plain extending at +their feet. Near them it was dark green in color; farther away it was +blue; then in the centre the great silvery spot was still resplendent +with vivid scintillations reflecting the fiery disk of the sun. From the +liquid bosom of the boundless deep arose a solemn but seductive music, +which began to sound like a paternal caress in the ears of our young +friends. The great desert of water sang and vibrated in its spaces like +the eternal instrument of the Creator. The breeze coming from the waves +brought a refreshing coolness to their temples and cheeks; it was a +keen, powerful breath, swelling their hearts and filling them with +vague, exalted feelings. + +Neither of them spoke. They enjoyed the contemplation of ocean's majesty +and grandeur, with a humble sense of their own insignificance, and with +a vague longing to share in its divine, immortal power. Their eyes +followed again and again unweariedly along the fluctuating line of the +horizon which revealed to them other spaces, endless and luminous. +Without noticing it, by an instinctive movement they had again drawn +nearer to each other as though they had some fear of the monster roaring +at their feet. Ricardo had laid one arm around the young girl's waist, +and held her gently as if to defend her from some danger. + +At the end of a long time, Marta turned her kindled face toward him and +said, with trembling voice,-- + +"Ricardo, will you let me lean my head on your breast? I feel like +weeping!" + +Ricardo looked at her in surprise, and drawing her gently toward him, +laid her head on his knee. The girl thanked him with a smile. + +The waters beat upon the point where they were, spattering them with +spray, and ceaselessly pouring in and out of the deep caves of the +rocks, which seemed hollow, like a house. The rivers tumbling over them +awoke strange, confused murmurs within, seeming sometimes like the +far-off echoes of a thunder-clap, again like the deep rumbling of an +organ. + +Marta, with her head resting on the young man's knee and her face turned +to the sky, allowed her great, liquid eyes to roam around the azure +vault, with ears attent to the deep murmurs sounding beneath her. The +fresh sea breeze had not yet succeeded in cooling her burning cheeks. + +"Hark!" she said, after a little; "don't you hear it?" + +"What?" + +"Don't you hear, amid the roar of the water, something like a lament?" + +Ricardo listened a moment. + +"I don't hear anything." + +"No; now it has stopped; wait a while.... Now don't you hear it?... Yes, +yes, there's no doubt about it ... there's some one weeping in the +hollows of this rock...." + +"Don't be worried, tonta; it's the surf that makes those strange +noises.... Do you want me to go down and see if there's any one in +there?" + +"No! no!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "stay quiet.... If you should move, it +would disturb me greatly...." + +The great spot of silver kept extending further over the circuit of the +ocean, but it began to grow pale. The sun was rapidly journeying toward +the horizon, in majestic calm, without a cloud to accompany him, wrapt +in a gold and red vapor, which gradually melted, till it was entirely +lost in the clear blue of the sky. The point where they were, likewise +stretched its shadow over the water, the dark green of which, little by +little, grew into black. The roaring of the waves became muffled, and +the breeze blew softly, like the indolent breathing of one about to go +to sleep. An august, soul-stirring silence began to come up from the +bosom of the waters. In the caverns of the rock Marta no longer +perceived the mournful cry which had frightened her; and the thunders +and mumblings had been slowly changing into a soft and languid glu glu. + +"Are you going to sleep?" asked Ricardo again. + +"I have told you once that I don't care to go to sleep.... I am so happy +to be awake!... He who sleeps doesn't suffer, but neither does he +enjoy.... It is good to sleep only when one has sweet dreams, and I +almost never have them.... Look, Ricardo; it seems to me now that I am +asleep and dreaming.... You look so strange to me! I see the sky below, +and the sea above; your head is bathed in a blue mist; ... when you +move, it seems as though the vault covering us swung to and fro; when +you speak, your voice seems to come out of the depths of the sea.... +Don't shut your eyes, for pity's sake! how it makes me suffer! I imagine +that you are dead, and have left me here alone. Don't you see how wide +open mine are! Never did I want less to sleep than now.... Hark! put +down your face a little nearer; should you suffer much, if the sea were +to rise slowly, and finally cover us up?" + +Ricardo trembled a little; he cast a look about him, and saw that the +water was ready to cut off the isthmus uniting them to the shore. + +"Come, we are almost surrounded by water already." + +"Wait just a little ... I have something to tell you.... I am going to +whisper it very low, so that no one shall hear it ... no one but you.... +Ricardo, I should be glad if the sea would come up now, and bury us +forever.... Thus we should be eternally in the depths of the water; you +sitting, and I with my head on your lap, with eyes wide open.... +Then,--yes, I would dream at my ease; and you would watch my sleep, +would you not? The waves would pass over our heads, and would come to +tell us what is going on in the world.... Those white and purple fishes, +which sailors catch with hooks, would come noiselessly to visit us, and +would let us smooth their silver scales with our hands. The seaweed +would entwine at our feet, making soft cushions; and when the sun rose, +we should see him through the glassy water, larger and more beautiful, +filtering his thousand-colored beams through it, and dazzling us with +his splendor!... Tell me, doesn't it tempt you?... doesn't it tempt +you?" + +"Be quiet, Martita; you are delirious ... Come along, the tide is +rising." + +"Wait a moment ... We have been here an hour, and the wind hasn't cooled +my cheeks ... they are hotter than ever.... No matter ... I am +comfortable.... Do you want to do me a favor?... Listen! I must ask your +forgiveness ..." + +"What for?" + +"For the scare I gave you the other day. Do you remember when we were +making a nosegay together in the garden?... You wanted to kiss my hand, +and I was so stupid that I took it in bad part, and began to cry.... How +surprised and disgusted you must have been!... I confess that I am a +goose,[48] and don't deserve to have any one love me.... However, you +may believe me that I was not offended with you.... I wept from +sentiment ... without knowing why.... What reason had I to weep? You did +not want to do any harm ... all you wanted was to kiss my hands; isn't +that so?" + +"That was all, my beauty!" + +"Then I take great pleasure in having you kiss them, Ricardo.... Take +them!..." + +The young girl lifted up her gentle hands, and waved them in the air, +fair and white as two doves just flying from the nest. Ricardo kissed +them gallantly. + +"That doesn't suit me," continued the girl, laughing; "you always used +to kiss my face whenever you met me or said good by.... Why have you +ceased to do so?... Are you afraid of me?... I am not a woman ... I am +still only a child.... Until I grow up you have the right to kiss me +... then it will be another thing.... Come, give me a kiss on the +forehead...." + +The young man bent over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. + +"If you would not be angry, I would ask for another here;" and she +touched her moist, rosy lips. + +The young marquis grew red in the face; he remained an instant +motionless; then bending down his head, he gave the girl a prolonged +kiss on her lips. + +A strong gust of wind waked the ocean just as he was getting ready to +sleep; he stirred an instant in his immense bed of sand, as though he +were going to change his position, and uttered a low murmur of +discontent. The waves in the distance began to roll in, big and blue; on +the beach they clamored with strong voices. The lights which had shone +on their crests were gone, and the magnificent ebullition of the +submarine treasure had ceased. The silver spot was fast taking on the +melancholy reflections of burnished steel. + +When Ricardo raised his head, the first thing he did was to cast an +anxious glance along the line of the point. The water already surrounded +them. He sprang up hastily, and, without saying a word, seized Marta in +his arms as easily as though she had been a fawn, and making a +tremendous leap, he fell headlong on the nearest point, slightly cutting +his hand. Marta was entirely unharmed, and she looked at the young man's +wound; then taking out her delicate linen handkerchief she silently +bound it around it, and started off with rapid steps. Ricardo followed +her. They both walked in perfect silence. The distance between them grew +greater and greater; for Marta no longer walked; she ran. The young +marquis felt a vague discomfort, and a strange uneasiness which caused +him to deliberate as he walked; he was angry with himself. When they +entered the mouth of the tunnel leading to the pine grove, he entirely +lost sight of his friend, and could not even hear the noise of her boots +on the ground. When he reached the middle of the cave where it was +perfectly dark, he thought he heard, very confusedly, the echo of a sob, +and his heart was still more oppressed. After he got out into the light +he felt better. + +When they got to the house they found that a number of servants had been +sent out in search of them, as everything had been long ready for the +return. The afternoon was wearing on, and the ladies would not find it +much to their liking should night catch them on the sea. They were +welcomed back therefore with signs of satisfaction, and all hands +hastened to settle themselves again in the falas, which, on account of +the swell, were as restless as horses harnessed and waiting for their +master at the stable door. + +Their sails were raised, and making long tacks to get advantage of the +wind, they bore away to El Moral. Marta, when she entered the yawl, had +lost the bright color from her cheeks. + +The sun constantly hastened toward the horizon. The ladies looked with +foreboding as the shadows crept over the sky and the sea, and they cast +anxious looks at the sailors. The frequent tacks made by the yawls +delayed them extraordinarily, and at last they had to furl the sails and +follow the direct course by oars. There is nothing strange in this, and +it is the most usual way when the wind is not astern; but it happened +that Rosarito, the Seorita de Mor's friend, took it into her head that +the change from sails to oars signified imminent danger of shipwreck, +and this she represented in her imagination with all the horrors by +which it is surrounded in magazine stories,--the pitchy darkness of the +night, the waves rising like mountains to the sky, the cries of the +sailors mingling with the roaring of the sea, etc., etc. And being +unable to control herself, she began to clutch her friend with nervous +hands and to utter exclamations of anguish and fear. + +"Alas! O God![49] we are going to perish, we are going to perish!" + +"There is nothing wrong; calm yourself, Rosario." + +"Yes, yes! we are going to perish ... we are going to be drowned.... O +God, what a terrible death!... Why should I have gone to the island?... +What will my papa say when he learns that his daughter is dead?... Papa! +my heart's papa!" + +"But, child alive, there's absolutely nothing to be afraid of!" + +"Don't tell me so, for God's sake; because can't I see that they have +lowered the sails. Alas! what a death! what a frightful death!... To die +without confession!... To die away from my papa!... And to be buried +right here in these awful black depths!... And be eaten by the fishes! +and by crabs.... It's horrible!..." + +The Seorita de Mor's efforts to calm her friend were useless. It added +no little to her fright to hear the shouts of the sailors, who in order +to encourage each other and overcome the resistance of the waves, at +each stroke of the oars shouted in chorus, yo-heave-oh![50],--yo-heave-oh! +Every time that this exclamation rang through the air with its brutal +rhythm, Rosario breathed a shriek of anguish; till the vivacious +Seorita de Mor, fearing that she was getting ill, said to the +sailors,-- + +"Gentlemen, will you have the goodness not to say yo-heave-oh! for it +greatly frightens this young lady." + +But Rosario, quite irritated and shedding a sea of tears, instantly +exclaimed,-- + +"No, no; let them say yo-heave-oh! but let us perish quickly if we are +going to!..." + +Little by little, however, and seeing that the tremendous catastrophe +did not take place, her nerves grew calmer, and before long she was +laughing, giddy girl that she was, at her ridiculous fears. + +In the Elorza fala there was little talking. Don Mariano and Don Maximo +were too full of medoc to feel like indulging in an animated +conversation. The Seorita de Delgado, seconded by her sisters, admired +the sunset with lively transports of enthusiasm, and with much opening +and shutting of eyes. The Marquis of Pealta had closed his, and seemed +to be dozing with his cheek in his hand. One or two couples were +whispering together. + +What was Marta thinking about at that moment, her gaze fastened on the +sea, serious, motionless, and pale as a statue? What black phantasms +rose before her from the depths of the waters to trace in her fair brow +the deep furrows with which it was corrugated? What deathly secrets +whispered the breeze in her ear? + +Ah! easier were it to unriddle the mystery in the murmurs of the ocean +and the secrets of the breeze than the vague thoughts hidden behind a +maiden's brow! + +The sea once more tried to dispose itself for slumber; the crests of its +waves no longer gleamed white from afar with their crown of foam; the +horizon withdrew its indefinite line, which faded away in the twilight +shadow. The smooth, swelling billows rose and fell like the indolent, +tranquil breathing of a gigantic bosom. One by one, with lovely ease and +confidence, the falas, leaving them behind, swept onward to the port. +The coast with its dark, undulating line girdled the luminous plain. Far +in the distance inland, the peaks of the mountains could be seen bathed +in a transparent violet haze. + +Marta's thought broke through the glutted cloud which girt it in with a +sea of confusions and vaguenesses, and in her soul arose all at once a +host of sweet and ineffable recollections like so many luminous points +with which the serene sky of her life was sown. She amused herself a +long time in recounting them, taking new delight in each. How bright and +beautiful they burned in her memory! What a gentle light they cast over +the monotonous, laborious days of her existence! They were surrounded by +silence and mystery; no one had enjoyed them, no one had known them +except herself; the very hand which had dropped into her heart the balm +of joy was absolutely ignorant of its beneficent influence. This thought +filled her with a secret delight which brought a smile to her pale lips. +One by one, however, and without her knowing why, those luminous points +vanished away, were blotted out and lost in the deep, black abyss of an +idea. Her imagination began to fly about like a bewildered bird within +this sad and desperate idea where not the slightest ray of light could +penetrate. Why was she in the world? The happiness which she had +discovered was another's, and there was nothing else left to do but to +look upon it without grief and without envy, for envy in this case would +be a terrible sin. And was she sure of not falling into it at any +moment, or what was worse, was she sure of not raising her hand against +that happiness? The hidden beach on the island came instantly into her +memory, with its golden sands and its foaming waves flinging their foam +flakes upon her. A great remorse, a keen, cruel remorse, began to make +its way into her innocent heart like the sharp point of a dagger, +causing her such anguish that she uttered a muffled groan heard only by +herself. Confusion and dizziness tormented her brain; her head burned +like a volcano. She raised her hand to her brow, and it was as cold as +though made of marble. This gave her an extraordinary shock of surprise. +So much heat within and so cold without! + +The ocean at that moment seemed full of peace and gentleness. The sun +was just about submerging his heated face in the crystal of the waters, +but still lighted up a few places in the vast plain with a fantastic, +gilded light, leaving others in the shade. The murmurs were heavier and +deeper, of an infinite melancholy; that measureless mass of water was +slowly losing its azure hue and changing to another, of very opaque +green, sown here and there with fleeting reflections. The melancholy +ease with which the sea took leave of the light made a deep impression +upon Marta. With her head leaned over the water, and with dreamy eyes, +she watched the most delicate tints which the light was awakening in it, +and listened to the murmurs which resounded in the depths. + +The sun was entirely sunken. The ocean gave one immense, colossal sob. +In this sob was so much compassion that Marta thought she felt the +ambient air vibrate with a movement of sympathy and wonder. Never had +she seen the sea so grand and so sublime, so strong and so generous at +once. That august silence, that momentary repose of the great athlete, +moved her to the depths of her soul, filled her turbulent spirit with an +ardent desire for peace. Who had told her that the sea was terrible? +What small heart had spoken to her of his cruel treacheries? Ah, no! The +sea was noble and generous, as the strong always are, and his wrath, +though fearful, was quickly over: in his tranquil depths live happily +pearls and corals, the white sea-nymphs, the purple fishes. + +The fala, when it pressed up against his humid shoulder, made between +bow and stern a broad, comfortable couch, with foamy edges, a couch +where one might sleep eternally with face turned toward the sky, +watching through the transparent bosom of the water the flashing of the +stars. + + * * * * * + +"Heavens!... What was that?" + +"Who has fallen overboard?" + +"Daughter of my heart!... Marta!... Marta! Let go of me!... Let me save +my daughter!" + +"She is already safe, Don Mariano; there is no need of you wetting +yourself." + +"Back water! Back water! Steady!..." said the captain's rough voice. +"Fling that line, Manuel.... Don't be alarmed, ladies; it is nothing at +all.... Back water! Weigh all.... Lay hold, all of you, on that line. +There is nothing to worry about." + +At first the confusion was great. Ricardo and one of the sailors had +leaped into the water and were swimming powerfully to make up the short +distance which the fala had gone before the alarm was given. Ricardo, +who was ahead, dived, and in a few seconds re-appeared with the girl on +his arm. The fala was near them, and he could clutch the rope which +they had flung him, and then the gunwale of the yawl, finding himself +suspended by a number of arms which lifted them on deck. Don Mariano, in +the short moments that this lasted, struggled with Don Maximo and +others, trying to leap into the water. When he saw his daughter on +board, it took him but a moment to press her to his heart. + +Martita had fainted away. Various ladies hastened to loosen her clothing +and shake her violently to rid her of the water which she had swallowed. +Then they laid her down on one of the seats on the deck, and Ricardo, +taking a bottle of salts which Don Maximo had brought with him, applied +it to her nostrils. She soon opened her eyes and, on seeing the young +man's solicitous face leaning over her, she smiled sweetly, and said to +him, so that no one else could hear:--"Thanks, seor marqus!... It is +not so bad down below there." + +When they reached El Moral, they dried themselves at the house of some +friends who were taking baths there, and they donned the first clothes +that came to hand. Then they once more took up their homeward way, and +reached the quay at one o'clock, finding each of their respective +families were beginning to feel anxious over their late arrival. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE. + + +Don Mariano's guests were amusing themselves with the game of forfeits. +The evening was thoroughly disagreeable, and only the most courageous +had ventured out. When this happened (and it was not very infrequent) +music and dancing were forbidden and games of cards, of commerce[51], or +of forfeits were substituted, or at times merely a pleasant, bright +conversation. On the evening of which we are speaking, the feminine sex +was represented by three Misses de Ciudad, two Delgados, the Seorita de +Mor, and one more who, together with those of the family made a +sufficiently respectable nucleus; in the masculine part figured the +family physician, Seor de Ciudad, Don Serapio, the engineer Surez, and +four or five other young fellows who, being simple and insignificant, +deserve no special mention. The tertulia occupied only one corner of the +parlor, although on occasions when the game required, it was scattered +about over the whole of it. Don Mariano, surrounded by the _solemn +fathers_, walked up and down, and enjoyed his discussions, frequently +stopping to lay down some intricate logic, and then continuing his walk +with hands behind his back. + +It fell to Don Serapio's lot to say _yes_ and _no_ three times each, and +consequently he retired to one of the corners, gazing at the wall. The +ladies and gentlemen once more gathered together in one group, and +began to whisper with the greatest animation, each one proposing some +question. At last they agreed to ask him if he enjoyed _bisogn_. + +"Eeeeeh?" shouted the chorus, dwelling on the vowel. + +"Yes," replied the unhappy Don Serapio. + +The reply was received with tumult and delight, making the proprietor of +the canning factory tremble in his shoes. Next they agreed upon asking +him if he had any intention of getting married. "No" was his +unhesitating reply. "Bravo, bravo!" shouted the men. + +"What a stony-hearted man!" cried the women. + +One of the young fellows proposed that they should ask him if he still +had a fondness for chamber-maids. The ladies wanted to oppose this, but +there was no remedy. + +"Eeeeeh?" + +"Yes." + +Great laughter and applause in the group. The same malevolent young +fellow proposed something even worse: "to ask him if he intended to give +any of his children a profession." The ladies seriously objected to this +question, and another was given in its place. And thus they continued +until he had said the three _yeses_ and the three noes required by the +game, and then, greatly despondent, he came to find out what the +questions had been. + +It came next to Amparito Ciudad to give a favor to all the gentlemen of +the party, and she began to perform the duty with the greatest +discretion and grace, beginning with the young fellows, except the +engineer Surez, who roundly declared that he was not satisfied with any +of her propositions, and whispered to her very softly what the only +thing was that would satisfy him. Amparito blushed a little, and replied +with a gentle look of reproach, at the same time casting a glance at +her father, who fortunately had his back turned while promenading with +Don Mariano. + +Isidorito's turn came next, and it unfortunately fell to him to be put +"in Berlina"; and what a chance this was for the Seorita de Mor! +Isidorito, though not attractive at all, inspired general respect on +account of his reputation as a studious, sensible young man: thus the +majority of the girls and boys contented themselves with criticising +him[52] as "too serious," as "having too little hair," as "dancing very +badly," as "studying to excess," as "wearing too long coat tails," etc., +etc.; but when it came to the Seorita de Mor, who was impatiently +waiting her turn, she put him _in Berlin_ with unconcealed satisfaction +as "very heavy in brain and light in stomach." Isidorito, noticing the +reasons for their criticisms, recognized with grief the source of that +envenomed dart; but he did not care to show that he did, and preferred +to preserve in this respect a noble, and at the same time, a prudent +silence. + +The eldest daughter of the family, as usual, took no share in the game. +She was sitting by her mother's side, totally oblivious of all that was +going on around her, with her eyes fixed on vacancy. A strange, intense +pallor covered her somewhat emaciated but always lovely face, and her +whole body showed signs of uneasiness and anxiety. She scarcely answered +the questions which Doa Gertrudis asked her from time to time, and if +she did, it was with such curtness that it took away all the worthy +lady's desire to repeat them. Four or five times already she had got up +from her chair and gone to the balcony, remaining a long time in it with +her forehead leaning on the glass, without any one knowing what she was +looking at. The plaza of Nieva, just as on the first night when we saw +it, was dark and checkered with pools of water, wherein were reflected +the melancholy beams from the kerosene lamps burning in the corners. Not +a soul was crossing it that night. She strained her eyes in vain to +penetrate the darkness under the arcades: the neighbors had all +withdrawn into their houses, perfectly convinced that dampness is the +cause of many infirmities. The windows of the Caf de la Estrella were +the only ones that were lighted. The air was filled with a gentle murmur +of rain which barely made itself audible through the panes to the young +girl's ears. + +It came Rosarito's turn to act the sultana. The dandified young fellow +with the hair over his forehead, placed a chair in the middle of the +room and seated her in it: then he spread before her a velvet cushion. +The young men of the tertulia, like genuine Moors, began to march before +her, bending their knees in her presence and waiting humbly for her +choice. Rosarito, with the notable ability which all women have for +playing queen, rejected them one after the other with a gesture of +sovereign disdain. Only when the young fellow of the mazurkas came by, +and tremblingly bent low at her feet, the beautiful but ferocious +sultana deigned to hand him the handkerchief which she held in her hand +and to select him as her lover, as a just reward for his most +distinguished neckties and his no less exceptional _chaquets_! Then the +two marched in a triumphal procession to the harem; or, what amounts to +the same thing, they walked twice around the parlor, and sat down on the +sofa where they had been before. + +The little tertulia, after exhausting the not very varied resources of +the game of forfeits, remained inactive and comfortable in the corner of +the parlor, engaging in a low but very lively conversation, broken by +bursts of laughter and exclamations, as the brilliant young men of the +party found occasion to amuse them at the expense of some unfortunate, +whom they flayed pitilessly. Those who had not this talent contented +themselves with smiling and stupidly applauding the others' repartees, +and occasionally trying to put their fingers in the pie with little +success. They made interminable jokes on the girls about their suitors, +and the girls defended themselves as usual with the classic replies: "I +don't know why you should say so." "You have been very ill-informed." +"He comes to see me as a friend and nothing more," etc., etc. The +mischievous smiles and the expression of something hidden accompanying +these replies, told very clearly that the girls did not object to be +chaffed in that way. + +Doa Gertrudis had gone to sleep. Don Mariano and his proselytes were +still promenading from one end of the parlor to the other, involved in +deep disquisitions on the probable fall of real estate. Maria was again +standing with her forehead leaning against the panes, apparently +absorbed in one of her long and frequent meditations to which her +household were accustomed, but in reality exploring with anxious eyes +the shadows which enwrapped the plaza of Nieva. She paid little heed to +the frivolous conversation kept up by the guests. She soon heard a +strange noise in the distance and trembled. She abstracted herself as +much as possible from the confusion in the room, and lent a deep and +uneasy attention to that distant rumble which gradually grew louder and +louder in the silence of the night, each moment becoming clearer and +more definite. It was not a confused, fantastic noise, like those +caused by the wind or the sea, but solid and well-defined, perfectly +clear in Maria's ears. Soon it grew into the measured and characteristic +sound of a multitude marching in step. The young woman's astonished eyes +could distinguish by the street lamps the points of bayonets and the +varnished caps of the soldiery. All the guests on hearing the noise, +hurried to the balconies, and saw with surprise two companies marching +by the house, crossing the plaza, and disappearing from sight in the +cross-streets of the town. + +Don Mariano's friends looked at each other in amazement. + +"What are those soldiers going to do at this time o' day?" asked one +lady. + +"I don't understand where they are going," replied Don Mariano. "To get +to the interior of the province, even though they came from the West, +there is no need of their going through here; they have the valley of +Caedo, and that is a much shorter road." + +"This very day I was calling on the captain," said Don Maximo, "and he +did not say a single word to me of the coming of these companies." + +"I didn't know it, either," said the Seor de Ciudad. "The most likely +thing is that they are on the march, and are only going to spend the +night here, and start off again in the morning." + +"It's a strange thing," added Don Mariano, "but of course it may be--it +may be." + +The young people returned to their places, and quickly forgot the +incident, as they gayly took up the broken thread of conversation. Their +elders continued their promenade, making interminable comments and +endless hypotheses about the unexpected visitation. Maria still stayed +obstinately at the window, shielded from the eyes of her friends by the +great damask curtains. + +A very heated discussion about music had been set on foot in the group +of _young_ people, among whom figured the sensitive Seorita de Delgado, +in spite of the vehemently expressed protests of Rosarito, who declared +on her word that the said seorita had often held her in her arms, and +that, when she as a child was going to confession, and the Seorita de +Delgado was at her house, she had kissed her hand, as an _elderly +person_.[53] One of the most elegant of young men, who had been educated +in Madrid for five different professions in succession, upheld the +superiority of the German composers, declaring that there were no operas +like _Roberto_, _Les Huguenots_, and _Le Prophte_, and that no +symphonies could be compared with those of Beethoven and Mozart. The +ladies, powerfully supported by the rest of the men, stood up for the +advantages of Italian music. + +"Don't nauseate us with your Germans, Severino! What kind of music do +they make! It sounds to me like a pack of dogs barking." + +"That is only at first; if you should continue to hear it, you would +acquire the taste for it; the same thing happens with olives and ale." + +"Then if one has to go through such wretched moments to get used to it, +surely the thing isn't worth the trouble, you see! This does not happen +with Italian music; you enjoy it from the very first." + +"Of course, for the most part of Italian music is only a melody +accompanied by four guitars." + +"Silence, man, silence! Don't speak blasphemies. Would you think of +comparing rubbish, which they themselves don't understand, with the sublime +finale of _Lucia_, or with the soprano aria of La Favorita which begins, _Oh +mioooo--Ferna--a--a--an--do--riii--raaa--ri--ro--ra--riii--ira--_" + +"Ah, if you had heard the fourth act of _Les Huguenots!_ What dramatic +music! How expressive! It makes the hair stand on end! How magnificent +this duet is: +_La--sciami--paar--tiiir--la--sciami--paar--tiiiir--riira--riri--riri--ra +--rooo--riri--ra--roo--laaa--to--rii--ro--ra--_" + +"But could you ever hear anything sweeter than the concerted piece in +_Somnambula_ beginning, +_Tooo--ra--ri--ro--ra--roooo--laa--riii--roo--raa--rora--rooo,--rii--ra +--ri--roo_?" + +"Impossible! impossible!" said several at once. + +"Above all, Italian music stirs the heart, while German music only +deafens you," added the Seorita de Delgado. + +"That's true," affirmed her sister, the widow. + +"I believe," continued the seorita, "that the object of music is to +move ... to elevate the soul ... to cause us to shed tears ... to +transport us to ideal regions far away from the prosaic world in which +we live.... For the truth is that prose is getting such control over +society that soon it will seem ridiculous to speak of things which are +not material and sordid." + +"Certainly," affirmed the widow again. + +"Music follows the road of prose like everything else.... Don't you hear +what silly things they sing nowadays? what insipid, popular airs? And +you are lucky if it isn't some indecent piece from some opera bouffe! In +songs love is not mentioned; there are only phrases with double meanings +hiding some nastiness." + +"I believe that you know some very pretty romantic ballads, and sing +them admirably," said the youth with the banged hair, ready, as always, +to provide the tertulia with a new enjoyment. + +"No, seor ... don't you believe it.... In days gone by I used to sing +some ... but I have forgotten them...." + +"For my part," persisted the youth, with a deeply diplomatic +smile,--"and I think the same may be said of all these people--it would +give the greatest pleasure if you would search into your memory and let +us listen to some.... Isn't it so, friends?" + +"Yes, yes, Margarita, sing something, for Heaven's sake!" + +"But supposing I don't remember anything!" + +"Nonsense! it will come back to you.... If you once begin, you will find +yourself gradually remembering it." + +"It seems to me impossible.... Besides I always accompanied myself with +the guitar." + +"Isn't there a guitar in the house?" quickly asked the youth, jumping up +from his chair. + +The guitar which Marta brought lacked two or three strings, and they had +to be put on, in which operation some time was lost. Then there was +delay in getting them in tune. When it was once tuned the Seorita de +Delgado declared up and down that she would not sing, for she did not +remember anything. The tertulia was deeply grieved, and with reiterated +entreaties endeavored to inspire her to recollect some delicious melody. +But as the singer did not put up the instrument, and continued to thumb +the strings softly, all became silent and waited eagerly for the song. +However, just as the sensitive seorita was about to utter the first +note, she made a fresh and categorical protestation to the same effect +as before, and this so grieved the tertulia and particularly the youth +with the banged hair, that they would gladly have granted the singer all +the memory at their disposal, on condition that she would not leave it +in any bad place. At last the seorita fixed her eyes on the ceiling, +and in a quite dulcet though quavering voice, she struck up the +following song, the music of which I would transfer to paper with great +pleasure, if I knew how to write the score. Unfortunately, in my +philharmonic studies I never went beyond the key of G with even moderate +success:-- + + "_Hope that art so flattering to my inmost feeling,_ + _Thou dost all my bitter sorrow calm._ + _Ay! thou art no creature of imagination._ + _To the heart thou bringest welcome balm._ + _If a cruel fate remove me from the presence_ + _Of my loved one many leagues away,_ + _Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,_ + _Promising a brighter, happier day._" + +"Bravo, bravo!"--"How pretty!"--"How sweet!"--"How melancholy!"--"Go on, +Margarita, do go on!" The Seorita de Delgado continued in this way:-- + + "_If at solitary midnight I am thinking_ + _Of my sweetheart's ever blessed name,_ + _And before my spellbound memory slowly rises_ + _Her enchanting features limned in flame,--_ + _Then 'tis thou, O Hope, that softly prophesyest_ + _That my loved one will not say me nay;_ + _Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,_ + _Promising a brighter, happier day._" + +Just as this point was reached, and when the audience was getting ready +to enjoy the unspeakable sweetness of a new strophe, even more +passionate and more pathetic than the last, when the Seorita de +Delgado was languorously laying her pudgy fingers on the strings of the +instrument, and drooping her head still more languorously on her bosom +in testimony of her bitter grief, there occurred one of those strange +and terrible events, more terrible still from being unexpected, and +therefore overwhelming, that suspend and for the time being cut short +the use of speech: an extraordinary scene, occurring with such rapidity +that it allowed no time for reflection, and left the spectators in the +deepest consternation without power of interference. + +The parlor door was thrown violently open, and the eyes of the +bystanders turned toward it, saw with surprise the pale face of a +servant, who addressed his master, saying,-- + +"Seor! Seor!" + +"What is the trouble?" asked Don Mariano, in the energetic tone +customary to high-strung natures, when they suspect danger. + +"The soldiers are here!" + +"And what have I to do with soldiers, you dolt!" replied the master in +an angry voice. + +"Th-they're c-come to arrest you!" + +"It isn't true!" cried a voice from the hall. + +And at the same time six or eight figures filled the doorway behind the +servant. The first to be seen were a very young officer in undress +uniform, and a caballero, not very well favored, in a tight-buttoned +great-coat, and holding in his hand a staff with tassels. Behind them +were seen the caps and the muskets of several soldiers. The man with the +staff, who was apparently the one who had spoken, advanced two steps +into the parlor, and without removing his hat asked Don Mariano +sharply,-- + +"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?" + +The old gentleman's eyes sparkled with indignation. + +"First of all, take off your hat!" + +The man with the staff, somewhat bluffed by Don Mariano's attitude and +the looks of the company, took off his sombrero. + +"Now, what is your business?" + +"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?" + +"No! I am the _excelentsimo seor_ Don Mariano Elorza!" + +"It's the same thing." + +"It is not the same thing!" + +"Well, let us drop discussions; I have orders to arrest your daughter, +Doa Maria." + +All the Seor de Elorza's energy suddenly vanished like a shadow, at +hearing those portentous words. He stood a few moments bewildered and +petrified, with his face crestfallen, like one who has just beheld a +miracle and has no faith in his own eyes. Then suddenly recovering +himself, he sprang at the man with the staff, and shaking him violently +by the lappel of his coat, he said to him in a voice of thunder,-- + +"And who are you, insolent man, to dare think of such a thing?" + +"I am the chief of police[54] for this province, and I warn you that if +you offer the least resistance I shall make use of the force which I +have with me." + +"Are you perfectly sure that it is my daughter whom you come to arrest?" + +"Yes Sir; I have orders to arrest the Seorita Doa Maria Elorza. I +request you to hand her over to me without delay." + +"Here I am," said Maria, issuing from the hollow of the balconied +window, and advancing toward the chief of police. + +"But it cannot be," thundered Don Mariano again, holding his daughter +back. "This man is crazy or has come to the wrong place." + +"Are you ready to go with me?" asked the _comisario_ of the young woman. + +"Yes, seor," was her firm reply. + +"Then come along." + +"Don Mariano hid his face in his hands, and exclaimed with a cry of +agony,-- + +"Daughter of my heart, what have you been doing?" + +"Nothing that dishonors me or dishonors you," replied the girl proudly, +lifting her lovely face and hastening from the room. Don Mariano was +held back by all his friends who clustered around him, but quickly +finding himself alone, as all, warned by a cry from Marta, hastened to +the assistance of Doa Gertrudis who had fainted, he darted like a flash +from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERED THREADS. + + +Some time before the events which we have just related, the loves of +Ricardo and Maria, which had been going on in a gradual diminuendo like +the notes of a beautiful melody, until Ricardo himself knew not whether +they really existed or had completely died away; whether he was the +lover of the first-born daughter of the Elorzas, or whether he had other +rights over her heart than those granted to an old valued friend--these +loves, I say, had suddenly and unexpectedly gained, without any one +knowing a reason for it, a new lease of life, just as a light about to +die from lack of oil is renewed by being given a good quantity of this +combustible. Every one was surprised to see them together, talking as +before in one corner of the parlor, during long interviews, oblivious of +everything around them, dwelling in that nook of heaven which lovers +find as easily in crowds as in solitude. Satisfaction followed surprise +in their friends, and this in turn was followed by hypotheses as to the +approach of the wedding-day, and conjectures about the motives serving +to make such a change in the conduct of the lovers. The mischievous +ones, winking as they said it, declared that of the three enemies of the +soul, the flesh was the most to be feared, and that God had said, +_Crescite et multiplicamini_, and that it was folly to fight against the +laws of nature. The ladies, casting down their eyes, declared that in +all states one could well serve God, and that not the easiest of +penances were imposed by the care and education of children and the rule +of the house. But at all events, the fact was that things had changed +without any one knowing why, and that ladies and gentlemen were +delighted, hoping that the illustrious partners would soon vouchsafe +them a happy day. Don Mariano's delight was so great that it shone +through his eyes every time that he turned them toward the handsome +couple, and a thousand lovely dreams in which figured a swarm of rosy, +frolicsome grandchildren, just as his daughter had been, came at night +to caress him in the solitudes of his feudal couch. Doa Gertrudis, as +usual, thoroughly approved of Maria's conduct. Learn now how this state +of things came about. + +One morning when the young Marqus de Pealta awoke earlier than usual, +noticing from the window of his room that the sky was clear (contrary to +its time-honored custom), he felt an inclination to take a walk in the +environs of the town, and making the thought father to the act, he +hastily dressed and went down into the street in search of pure air; but +before he left the inner town, as he was passing the Elorza mansion, he +accidentally met Maria going to church with her maid. His heart gave a +leap, and, somewhat agitated, he stopped to salute her. The girl met him +with that gay, blithesome gesture, full at once of mischievousness and +candor which was peculiar to her nature, and therefore impossible to +overcome by any force. + +"You have got up early--to hear mass, I suppose?" + +"Oh no," replied Ricardo with a smile; "I was going to take a walk in +the country, as it must be very lovely now." + +"Very well; but to-day you must not go to walk: I claim you, and am +going to take you to mass," said the girl in a tone of resolution, and +with a decidedly adorable inflection of voice; and suiting the action to +the word, she took him by the hand and led him captive this way for a +number of feet. + +Lucky Ricardo! what better could he desire at that moment than to see +himself captured in such a lovely way? He could not say a word during +the first few moments. Emotion overmastered him, and a tear slid down +his honest, manly face. + +"Oh, Maria, if you knew how happy you make me!" he said to her in a low, +trembling voice. "If you wanted to take me with you, where would I not +go? You cannot comprehend how I long for you to speak with me, to smile +on me, to lead me. I try eagerly to find ways to please you, and I don't +find them. Tell me how I can cause you any pleasure, how I can melt the +ice which is destroying our love, and I will try to do it, even if it +should cost me my life. If I did not love you more than any other being +in this world, and also as the blessed remembrance of my mother, how +long ago I should have left you forever!... But my love is of such a +nature, it is so strong, so eager, so absorbing, that it has succeeded +in disarming all my pride ... and I fear that it has got the better of +my dignity," he added in a low tone. + +The young woman looked at him steadily, full of delight and admiration +of such sincere affection, and she replied gayly,-- + +"At present you can please me by going to mass with me; will you?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Will you come to-morrow also, and every other day?" + +"Yes, loveliest, I ask nothing better." + +"You don't know how you rejoice me, Ricardo!" + +"Truly?" + +"Yes, I love you dearly, but I want you to be good and religious, +because, before everything else we ought to think of our salvation, and +make it our richest possession in this world." + +The young man at that moment felt his heart melt within him, as he drank +in the drops of affection which his sweetheart let fall upon his lips. +There is nothing that can so quickly change our most deeply rooted ideas +and our firmest judgments as the voice of the woman whom we love. +Ricardo was a lukewarm believer, like most men of our day, and he +detested exaggerations, and looked with decided repugnance upon +religious practices. Accordingly then, by the work of enchantment, that +is, by the work of that sweet voice and those still sweeter eyes, which +gazed upon him with eloquent expression, he was stripped of his +anti-clerical opinions, and was transformed into a decided champion of +the altar and a fervid devotee of the saints, male and female, of the +celestial court. He took delight in thinking that what his betrothed was +doing was, after all, not blameworthy; that her piety and mysticism were +the reflection of a noble and lofty spirit; that this same piety was the +sweet pledge of her conjugal happiness, since it would cause her to +refrain from the vanities to which other women after marriage devote +themselves; that there was nothing strange in the poor girl desiring her +betrothed to be a believer and devout, when her ideas about eternal +salvation were taken into consideration, and that in this regard he had +done very wrong to oppose her so obstinately, striking her in the very +heart of her sensitive and admirable faith; finally he came to the +conclusion that he was a barbarian, incapable of enjoying the sacraments +or of understanding the adorable mysteries which a heart consecrated to +God might take in, and that Maria was a saint who had borne with him +with too much patience. Moved, partly by this thought, and infinitely +more by the emotion caused by his sweetheart's unexpected favor, he +replied with accents of tenderness:-- + +"Listen Maria.... You know well that I am not, and have never been an +unbeliever.... It is true I have looked with a certain coolness on +religious practices, but you ought to know just as well that this is a +common fault among young men, and particularly among the military.... As +for the rest, I tell you with all the sincerity of my soul, I have never +abandoned the faith which my sainted mother taught me in childhood.... +Even now ring in my ears her counsels, and still I can repeat without +mistake, the multitude of prayers which she made me say on my knees on +the bed, when I retired.... That cannot be forgotten, Maria.... It would +be infamous if one forgot it! To-day the same counsels are repeated by +lips that I worship.... How could you think that a religion always +inculcated by the beings whom I have most loved and respected in my +life, should not be sweet!... Yes, my loveliest, I am religious by birth +and by conviction, and I hope to be still more fervently so by your +aid.... Tell me what you desire me to do in this regard, and I will do +it.... Tell me what thoughts you wish me to think, and I will think +them!... I am all yours, body and soul...." + +"Thus, thus I love you.... But you must not be religious for the sake of +my love, for then it has no merit in it, but for the sake of God. The +ties which are made in this world,--what are they worth in comparison +with that existing eternally between the Creator and his creatures? If +you love me much, love me in God and for God, as I love you. In any +other way it is a sin to fix our attention and our love on any +creature." + +Ricardo's emotion and ardor received from these words a dash of cold +water, but they were strong enough to persist without diminution, and +they still kept control of his heart until they reached the portico of +the church. Then Maria, taking the holy water, and offering it to him +with the tips of her fingers, said:-- + +"Now you must stay under the choir to hear the mass; I am going up to +the altar. Be careful not to look for me a single time! You must +understand that this would be to profane the sanctuary, and in such a +case it would be better for you not to come in." + +"No, I will not look at you, though it will be very hard work." + +"Give me your word that you won't." + +"I give it." + +"Well, then, adios, ... it won't be long[55] ... wait for me at the +entrance...." + +After she had gone several steps away, she turned around to say in a +very subdued tone,-- + +"Be sure to do as I said, ... and be reverent, will you?" + +Ricardo gave a sign of assent, while a happy smile brightened his face. + +From that time forth the Marqus de Pealta every morning escorted the +eldest daughter of the Elorzas to mass, leaving her at the church door +and joining her again when service was over. Maria evidently felt great +pleasure in having his company, and as for Ricardo, it is not easy to +exaggerate the joy which suddenly fell upon him through the change +brought about in the behavior of his betrothed. Gradually her influence +began to have such weight upon his spirit, that before long, as he +himself had already suspected would be the case, his ideas began notably +to modify, and not only his ideas but likewise his habits and manner of +life, causing him to be more circumspect in nature, more careful in his +speech, more gentle and more religious ... Anxious to please his +betrothed, who did not cease to urge him with entreaties and advice, he +began to give up the noisy amusements and even the company of the other +officers of the gun factory, going home early, frequenting churches, and +spending many afternoons with some of the clergymen; he became a member +of several pious confraternities, among them that of Saint Vincent de +Paul, visiting the poor in company with the _beatos_ of the town, and +spending no little money in contributions for worship; finally, after +many heartfelt prayers he made general confession to Fray Ignacio, +Maria's confessor. + +However strange it may seem, we must declare that Ricardo, far from +feeling repugnance or discomfort in this new life, found deep, +mysterious pleasures, which till then he had never enjoyed. The pomp and +circumstance of the Catholic religion, to which he had hitherto paid +little attention, began to fascinate him; the sweet seclusion of the +church at eventide, when it is peopled with shadows and murmurs, filled +him with a gentle perturbation, with a certain peculiar longing for a +lofty secret something; the odors of the incense and wax were for him +like a pleasant poison, which put him to sleep, carrying him away to +glorious regions of immortal bliss; his frequent deeds of charity +produced in him an agreeable aftertaste and a great sense of comfort, +increasing his faith; the humiliation of the sacrament of penance, +which at first had been so distasteful to him, came to be a fountain of +delights; he himself did not know whence they proceeded or how they took +possession of his soul. Perhaps some of the psychological novelists who +know so much and take such delight in investigating the deepest recesses +of the consciousness of other people might discover the origin of those +joys in the close union which our young friend created in the depths of +his soul between religion and his love for Maria, and might see in the +pleasure which Ricardo felt in running counter to his ideas, and +mortifying his self-love, a certain analogy to what mystics and ascetics +feel in the midst of their cruel torments,--the pleasure of sacrificing +self for the beloved object. Perhaps they would set themselves minutely +to investigate what part of that pleasure corresponded to pure devotion, +and what part to the development of amorous sentiments and the movement +of the feelings. Possibly, carried away by their love of analysis, and +dragged from their moorings by the hurricane of impiety, which is +nowadays apt to carry away with it this class of novelists, they might +go so far as to declare that there exists at the bottom of religious +practices and the ceremonial of the Church something which instead of +calming the voice of the feelings adds to it, and that the inclination +of the sexes, in the very heart of the religious life, within the temple +itself, enjoying the soporific light reflected gently from the gilding +of the altars, breathing the keen odors of the dust and the wax, and the +narcotic perfume of the incense, listening to the moaning of the organ, +and the vague murmur of the prayers of the faithful, acquires the +flattering savor of forbidden fruit, and is more delicious and +voluptuous than amid the splendor and elegance of the ball-room. +Possibly they would say this and add many other considerations to prove +it, but I will not follow them on this path, which, without good reason, +leads to the offending of timid consciences and the grievous confusing +of the novelist with the philosopher. I limit myself gladly to setting +forth facts without launching out into the philosophy of them, and I +faithfully describe what I have seen and experienced, or have been told +by trustworthy people. + +One genuine fact, therefore, was that Ricardo enjoyed in his own way +yielding to the counsels of his betrothed in reference to the practice +of Christian virtue and pious deeds. The afternoon when he made general +confession, he felt more deeply than ever the singular consolation and +the lively delights to be enjoyed in the depths of humility. It was a +clear, beautiful spring afternoon. Fray Ignacio, forewarned by Maria, +was waiting for him in the sacristy of San Felipe, and received him with +a certain familiar solemnity not free from condescension. He confessed +in the sacristy itself, Fray Ignacio being seated in a wooden chair +blackened and polished by use, while he knelt at his feet with the +diffidence and emotion such as he used to feel as a boy when his mother +led him by the hand to the same confessional. The shame of announcing +his sins soon passed away, giving place to a gentle tenderness full of +unspeakable sweetness, which was so overpowering that he was constrained +to tears. The spacious room in which he found himself, its lofty +ceiling, its dusty walls set with black shelves and gloomy paintings, +gave a melancholy echo to the murmured words of his confession; the +sunlight made its way in through the leaded panes of the two windows, +making in the wide spaces lines of floating, luminous dust. The priest +threw one arm around his neck and brought his ear close to his lips, +gradually probing with many leading questions the inmost nooks and +corners of his conscience and the deepest secrets of his soul, sometimes +severely chiding him, sometimes giving him sweet counsels, sometimes +entertaining him with exemplary anecdotes which agreeably occupied for a +few moments the intervals of the pious proceeding. He stopped to speak +long of Ricardo's love and its advantages and of Maria's splendid +character. Ricardo felt a lively pleasure in these words: he looked with +admiration and reverence on that man who was the absolute master of his +loved one's secrets, and he determined to put his soul into his hands, +that he might guide it just as she had done. The priest continued with a +final exhortation full of fire, wherein he eloquently united Maria's +name with all the acts of virtue which he expected from him henceforth, +so as to stir him to the highest pitch and kindle in his spirit sincere +repentance and an irresistible desire to live piously and rejoice his +betrothed. When they were done, and Fray Ignacio, assuming a certain +solemnity, drew back a little and let fall upon him a full and generous +absolution, the lines of the floating luminous dust had vanished and the +sacristy was half enveloped in shadows. On the following day, when he +went to mass with Maria, instead of waiting under the choir, he went +with her to the great altar and received in her presence and to her +great joy the holy wafer. + +"You have given me the greatest pleasure of my life, Ricardo," she said +as they went out of the church. + +The young marquis smiled beatifically, and replied in a whisper,-- + +"Do you love me more now?" + +"I don't care to answer you," replied the girl with a sweet expression +of face. "After communion one ought not to speak of such things.... Let +us wait till to-morrow." + +They waited till the morrow, and then Maria told him without hesitation +that his virtuous conduct inspired her with more and more love, and that +he must not faint in the way if he desired to see himself always loved. +Ricardo had no other thought than this, and he found so much to delight +him in this new state of affairs that for no earthly advantage would he +consent to change it. Thus, then, each day he kept on with greater +resolution in the path which his betrothed laid out for him, and paid no +heed to the chaffing of his companions of the factory, since it was +difficult to catch sight of him anywhere else except at home, at Don +Mariano's, or at church. + +"You have converted me into a _beato!_" he said sometimes to Maria, as a +sort of affectionate reproach. + +"Why? are you getting tired of it, you rogue?" + +"No, dear, no; I am happy enough because thus I have conquered your +love...." + +"Is that the only reason?" + +" ...And because I like to lead this better regulated and sober life." + +"That is a different thing!" + +Let us say here (though the reader will not have failed to perceive it) +that in imagination, and even intelligence, Maria was the young Marqus +de Pealta's superior, and that in this regard, and taking into account +the deep affection which he professed for her, it was nothing strange +that he should yield to his mistress and her counsels in matters wherein +men of greater learning and talent frequently give way to their mothers +and wives. Maria, aside from her vivid imagination, stimulated and +kindled by continual reading, had a special gift for persuading. Her +language was always easy and picturesque, and she took especial delight +in moving her friends to compassion, when she wanted to entice from them +money for the poor or for church services; the rare facility with which +she passed from the serious and pathetic to the humorous, and mingled +with an earnest entreaty the salt of a witty saying, made her +irresistible. The religious confraternities and societies of Nieva had +no more active and influential member, and they relied upon her in +emergencies as upon a guardian angel who would be able to rescue them +from their difficulties. As may be supposed, this lofty estimation was +supported, not only by the young lady's splendid moral and physical +qualities, but also in no small degree by the fact that she was the +daughter of the richest and most respected gentleman in town. + +Let us say also that at the period when these events occurred, the +clergy and the religious tendencies of our people were suffering a mild +sort of persecution on the part of the government, which was then under +the control of liberals most extreme in their views and notorious for +their heretical ideas, and this, as was to be expected, had greatly +excited the consciences of the God-fearing, and had kindled in the +Northern provinces, naturally more religious and more tenacious of +tradition, an obstinate and bloody civil war which threatened to +overthrow the body politic, and, at the same time, our wealth and +prestige. All people of greater or less piety who loved our Catholic +traditions, every one who detested the persecution suffered by the +Church, and yearned for the kingdom of Jesus on earth under the +mediation of his ministers, waited eagerly the result of this formidable +war, in which were at stake not only the more or less genuine rights of +a claimant to the throne, but likewise the dearest and most august +interests of religion. Those who frequented the churches and were on +terms of intimacy with the clergy, took a tacit stand together against +the heretics in power, receiving joyfully and quickly spreading all +intelligence favorable to the royal-Catholic cause, and falling into +anxiety and melancholy when bad news came. In the houses of the richest +landed proprietors, in the sacristies, and in the back shops of many an +absolutist merchant was read on the sly the _Cuartel Real_, the official +journal of the Pretender, which came from time to time between pieces of +_cretonne_ or packages of macaroni. Festivals in honor of the Virgin +were celebrated with great pomp as an atonement for the manifold +impieties of the Congress of Deputies, and these festivals on more than +one occasion ended violently by the interference of drunken Republicans. +There was a great increase in attention to religious worship, especially +to that of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and many pious people +went on pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Lourdes, on their return telling +their friends about the fine arrangement and the solid organization of +the Catholic hosts in the Basque provinces. A number of young men of the +best known families of Nieva had not been seen over night, concealing +the real purpose of their absence. From this to open, resolute +conspiracy is but a step, and in Nieva this preparatory step had already +been taken. There was formed in the town a Carlist committee,[56] which +held its meetings with a certain mystery and kept up close relations +with the Central Committee, whose orders it obeyed, and a lively +correspondence with the army of the Pretender. As in the country, +though not to such a degree as in the Basque provinces, there existed +sufficient elements for the service of the Catholic-monarchical cause, +to bring about, provided they were well managed, if not a formal war, at +least a serious agitation. The committee of Nieva, instigated by that of +the capital, decided, after much vacillation and no few discussions, to +raise a company within the territory. The preparations were very +extensive; they began early in the winter, and did not terminate until +the beginning of the spring. There were reports emanating from Bayonne, +there came orders and plans of action, there were numberless secret +meetings, a few women were enlisted, muskets were surreptitiously +abstracted from the factory by a few Carlist workmen, a quantity of +white caps and spatterdashes[57] were made; finally, one night there +went out to camp some thirty young men, for the most part students and +seminarists, at whose head marched the president of the committee, Don +Csar Pardo, whom we had the honor of meeting at the end of the third +chapter of this narration. Those who had sworn to go forth that night +were more than three hundred, but only that handful of braves were on +hand, and Don Csar, giving proofs of what he was, that is, a bold, +heroic caballero, did not hesitate to take command of them, hoping by +his example to carry along the timid. They made their way to the +mountain by the valley of Caedo; but on the next day a dozen +policemen,[58] who immediately started in pursuit of them, took them by +surprise just as they were dining in camp, and brought them back to the +city, bound, without being able to make the least resistance. The +people, hearing of the incident, hastened in great numbers to await +them on the highway, and saw them filing toward the jail, melancholy but +dignified and stern, showing in their haughty eyes that if they had not +been victims of a surprise, much blood would have been shed. + +The eldest daughter of the house of Elorza, a most ardent devotee of +religion, enlisted body and soul in the divine mission of sanctifying +her spirit and saving it from the clutches of sin. An unwearied worker +in the field of evangelical virtue, ever aspiring to greater perfection, +and a zealous propagator of the faith, she could not fail to share in +the indignation burning in the breast of the people with whom she had +most to do. To her ears came, greatly exaggerated, the rumor of the +revolutionary excesses, and the blasphemies daily uttered by the +newspapers at the capital, though of course she never ventured to read +them. Her confessors commanded her to implore God in her prayers, that +the Church might triumph and its enemies be brought to confusion and +repentance; her friends and companions in the confraternities asked her +to join them in special novenas for the consolation of the Virgin; not a +few times they asked alms of her for some priest who was lying in +misery, and at other times for the unfortunate nuns of some convent, +cruelly torn from it that it might be turned into barracks. All these +things, along with a fervid affection for the holy institutions thus +persecuted, continually fomented in her ardent, enthusiastic soul a deep +aversion for the persecutors and the impious men who governed contrary +to the law of God. Sometimes, carried away by her impressionable +temperament, she felt powerful impulses to follow the example of Judith, +making some villain expiate such horrible deeds of sacrilege. She would +have liked to hold in her power the persecutors of Jesus, to destroy +them and crush them to powder. When these cruel impulses passed away, +they left her always with a warm compassion for the innocent victims of +the madness of impiety, and a vague desire to contribute with her blood +to the reign of Jesus and Mary over all the powers of the earth. She +felt that a something was born in her heart spurring her toward active +life, persuading her to leave for a time the joys of contemplation for +the pains of struggle, repose for labor, the enchantment of solitude for +tumult; she heard, like the bride of the Sacred Song, a voice saying: +"_Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is +fitted with dew and my locks with the drops of the night._" She saw +clearly that her Jesus suffered for the injustices of men, and that he +demanded her aid; that he asked a new proof of love by tearing her away +from the comfort which she enjoyed and casting her amid the hurricanes +of the world. But the beautiful young girl at the same time saw the +enormous difficulties rising before her at the first step which she +should make, the persecutions which would come upon her, and the +certainty that those who loved her would regard her conduct as absurd. +She understood her weakness, was afraid of the bitter griefs in store +for her, and she replied, like the bride: "_I have put off my coat; how +shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?_" +Long she struggled with herself to quench the voice calling her to +active life, and convince herself that she could not do anything for the +cause of the Lord; but it was in vain. All her specious arguments were +answered victoriously by the voice, putting it before her that she ought +not to question whether her aid would or would not be valuable, but +simply to consider the will with which she offered it; that God was +pleased oftentimes to show his power by entrusting the execution of +great deeds to humble and frail creatures, as was proved by the +renowned Jean d'Arc, Saint Catalina of Sienna, Saint Teresa, and other +excellent virgins who accomplished mighty works in spite of the high +powers of the earth. + +An insignificant incident brought Maria to a decision. Her uncle +Rodrigo, Marqus de Revollar, who was one of the most important magnates +of the court of the Pretender, learning of her enkindled faith and the +relations which she maintained with the partisans of Catholic monarchy +in Nieva, wrote her from Bayonne, asking her if she were ready to serve +as intermediary for the correspondence between him and Don Csar Pardo, +president of the Carlist committee. Maria hastened to reply that she +should be delighted to do so, and from that time she began frequently to +receive letters from her uncle, enclosed in which came others for Don +Csar. These were doubtless the thread by which the Carlist conspiracy +of Nieva was connected with the lofty spheres whence the orders +emanated. And, without her knowing how, she found herself +compromised--and she was not troubled by it--in the cause of the good +Christians who, as she frequently heard from the lips of Don Csar and +others, were endeavoring to restore Jesus to his sacred throne, and to +rescue him from pride and heresy. Far, as I said, from feeling fear or +trouble by it, her courage increased from the danger that she ran, and +this was for her a manifest sign that the favor of heaven accompanied +her, and she constantly entangled herself more and more in the designs +of the conspirators, being present at their meetings and serving them +with zeal and enthusiasm to the best of her ability. At the time of Don +Csar's armed expedition she it was who embroidered the standard and the +flannel hearts which the defenders of the faith wore, sewed on their +waistcoats. The conspirators felt toward her the greatest respect on +account of her reputation for sanctity, and they professed for her deep +affection for the enthusiasm with which she burned for the cause. In +some of these meetings she was invited to give her opinion, and she did +so with such talent and eloquence, she showed so much fire, and at the +same time so much discretion in her language, that the conspirators saw +in the beautiful young girl an angel sent from God to sustain their +faith and cause them to hold firm in their mighty schemes. + +After Don Csar's abortive attempt the Carlists of Nieva were quite cast +down. Maria shed many tears, and besought God earnestly that He would +not allow iniquity and falsehood to prevail against His holy law, and +that He would have compassion on His good soldiers, now banished and +persecuted. And, in fact, God had compassion, and allowed Don Csar and +the larger part of the young men, who with him had been banished to the +_Canary Islands_, to escape in a foreign steamship, and return incognito +to their fatherland, where they hid in the houses of their faithful and +valorous friends. Thereupon the partisans of tradition recovered their +energy and began once more to plot, though it was vaguely and without +definite object. The object did not appear for some time, until the +heroic and determined Don Csar suggested the idea of striking an +audacious blow which would suddenly give them the means of struggling +advantageously with the few troops in the province. This stroke, +proposed by the valiant ringleader, was nothing less than to seize the +gun factory[59] of Nieva. At first all thought the project a crazy one, +but gradually, by dint of thinking the idea over and over, they came to +look upon it as less unreasonable, and even began quietly, and with +great enthusiasm, to prepare the means for carrying it out. Such being +the state of things, Maria, one afternoon, went to the house where Don +Csar was concealed, and asked to speak with him in private. What the +damsel said must have been exceedingly important and flattering, for the +old ringleader, offering her his hand, and giving her a kiss upon the +forehead, replied with trembling voice:-- + +"My daughter, you are going to be our salvation. God desires to submit +the lot of many brave men to such dainty hands, and who knows if not +also the triumph of His cause?" + +The young woman retired to her room, where she engaged in prayer for a +long time, and then she went down to her mother's apartment. Ricardo +soon came in, according to his habit. After a few moments of +conversation, Doa Gertrudis went off to sleep, and the two young people +retired to a nook in the window to tell each other the sweet every-day +secrets, which are sweeter and more delicious the more they are +repeated. Maria was preoccupied; her betrothed, with the quickness of +one who truly loves, instantly noticed it. + +"What ails you to-day?... it seems to me that you are troubled...." + +"I feel sad, Ricardo.... I feel sad, as though some misfortune were +hurrying on me." + +"It's your nerves, which are overtaxed, dear.... Fasts greatly weaken +you. You ought to stop them for a while, as well as so many hours of +prayer.... You are weakening yourself very much...." + +"On the contrary, I have never felt so well as I have lately. It is not +my nerves, but a genuine sadness.... It is my soul that suffers, and not +my body." + +"But have you any reason for being melancholy?" + +"I have a presentiment." + +"But who cares for presentiments?" + +Maria kept silent, and Ricardo also. It was the twilight hour; both +gazed steadily out of the window, upon the great plaza of Nieva, +surrounded by its arcades, where the boys who had been let out of school +were amusing themselves, running and shouting. The sun was already down, +leaving above the tiled roof of the town-hall[60] a wide stretch of sky +slightly tinted with rose, which took bluish shades toward the zenith, +and yellow toward the horizon. The people of the town were hurrying +through the streets, attending to the last duties of the day, and +enjoying the sweet gloaming. Such an evening was rare. The balconies of +the Caf de la Estrella were occupied by a few customers, who were +casting their restless eyes around the plaza. On the balcony of the +opposite house a little boy, with blue eyes and light, curly hair, was +having a good time with a wooden pipe, blowing soap-bubbles. Several +ragamuffins below, with no little chatter, caught them as they floated +down, bursting them with their hats and handkerchiefs. + +After a while, Maria turned to her betrothed, and fixing upon him an +intense, anxious look, said, with trembling voice,-- + +"Ricardo, do you love me much?" + +"Why do you ask me that question?... Don't you know that I do?" + +"Yes, I know that you love me.... You have already given me proof of it +... but in love, as in everything not transitory in this world, there is +always a more and less.... Only divine love is infinite.... The love +that you bear me has stood certain proofs; who knows if it could stand +others?" + +"The love which I have for thee," said the young marquis, placing his +hand on his heart, "has power to stand all proofs." + +"All?" + +"All." + +"Even if I were to ask you your life?..." + +"Bah! bah!" replied the young man, shrugging his shoulders with gesture +of disdain, "that would be to ask very little." + +Maria smiled with satisfaction, and after a pause, demanded timidly,-- + +"And if I asked your honor ... or what you men understand by honor?..." +she added, correcting herself. + +Ricardo, slightly pale, arose to his feet, and hesitated some time +before he replied. At last he said in a low tone, calmly:-- + +"Honor, my love, is not our own possession; it is a trust which heaven +places in our hands at birth, demanding account of it when we die." + +A flash of indignation and scorn passed through Maria's eyes, as she +heard those words. + +"And who has told you[61] what heaven grants you or asks of you, and why +do you mix heaven with things that oftentimes pertain to hell?" + +But calming herself in an instant, and giving her words a sweet, +persuasive tone, she added:-- + +"What heaven confides to man at birth nothing can reveal except +religion, and religion tells us that man not seldom counts his honor in +what he ought to look upon as his ruin and destruction.... Generally +what the world most appreciates and thirsts for goes against God's +law.... Therefore we ought to make very little account of this pretended +honor with which pride and haughtiness are cloaked. The true honor of +the Christian consists only in serving God, and obeying His holy +commands.... Listen, Ricardo.... I asked you if you loved me much for +the reason that it was imperative for me to know ... to know with +absolute and entire certainty.... I am going to make you a confession, +after which, if you are as noble and have as much faith as I may demand +of you, perhaps you will love me more than ever; ... but if your faith +is frail and vacillating, and you pay tribute to the frivolous +considerations of the world, you will surely love me less, and possibly +you will even desert me...." + +"Never that!" + +"Wait a moment.... Imagine that your betrothed, neglecting and even +violating certain rules laid down by society, and overstepping the +limits always set for woman, especially when she is an unmarried girl, +mingles in actions that are purely masculine; ... for example, in +politics, ... and not only mingles in them with thought and word, but +actually takes an active part in them. Imagine her to enter into a +conspiracy, and work with ardor for the triumph of her cause, ... and +put her life or her liberty at stake to accomplish it...." + +"What, you?..." + +"Yes," replied Maria, with resolution. "I have entered with all my heart +into a conspiracy.... I am working with all my might and main for the +triumph of the cause of the righteous.... God knows well that it makes +no difference to me whether one set of men or another rule over us, and +that no earthly consideration has tempted me to such a step. But I have +seen, and I still see religion and the ministry of religion, abused; I +see the salvation of many souls endangered, I see every day the divine +Jesus and his sweet name made a mockery by the impious men who chance to +rule in Spain, wearing a crown of thorns a thousand times more grievous +than what he bore at Jerusalem ... and I feel that his eyes implore me +and I hear his celestial voice begging me to lift that terrible crown a +little.... Do you think that I can weigh against the sublime interests +of religion, the safety of my soul, and the glory of Jesus, the childish +fear of displeasing the world?" + +"I know nothing about it," replied Ricardo, in a dull voice, buried in +deep thought. + +"You see how I was right! Now that I have confessed to you and told you +my secret, your love already grows dim, and you certainly will soon +drift away from me and abandon me!" + +The young girl's last word caused Ricardo to lift his head quickly. He +had a presentiment that something serious was at hand, and he replied in +a tone of ill humor,-- + +"And what is it that has moved you to confide to me all these things, +which you have kept so secret till now?" + +"Before all, forgive me for not having confided in you before.... They +were secrets that did not belong to me.... Besides, I imagined that you +would not think as I did, and would raise some objection to my plans.... +But now you have greatly changed: you are more religious, and you love +the name of Christian which you bear.... Therefore I decided to open my +soul entirely before you, and to put into your trusty, honest hands the +lives of many noble-souled men.... I am very weak, Ricardo mio; I am +only a poor girl, incapable of struggling and resisting; ... a shadow +makes me tremble, ... a word startles me and moves me to the very depths +of my being.... My eyes are more accustomed to shed tears than to direct +imperious glances, and my hands are folded with more pleasure than they +are raised in anger.... I have no cunning to avoid impositions, or +fortitude to endure pain.... I can do nothing, ... nothing, ... and I am +filled with despair; but thou art brave, thou art noble, and thou art +generous.... I can rely on thee as the bird in the air, and thanks to +thee, win heaven.... These moments are supreme for me.... I feel as +though I was near the abyss, and I have no power to stay my steps.... If +thou dost not reach me out thy hand, thou wilt very soon see me plunging +into it.... Ricardo mio, do not abandon me, ... for God's sake do not +abandon me!..." + +The young man felt that the danger was nearer than ever, and +exclaimed,-- + +"Let us have it done with at once, Maria. Let us know what it is all +about." + +"It is about a great act of merit which you can accomplish toward your +salvation if you will abandon the wicked suggestions of the world and +listen to the invitation of heaven.... In this town there is a mighty +weapon which, instead of serving God, as everything in this world ought +to serve Him, is an awful auxiliary of the devil. This weapon is the gun +factory...." Maria stopped a moment, and then, casting a frightened look +at her lover, continued in a trembling voice: "You can snatch this +weapon from the evil one and restore it into the hands of God by +delivering it over to the defenders of religion and--" + +Maria stopped a second time, and looked with horror at the livid, +contracted face of the young marquis, who grasped her by the arm, and +shaking her violently, roared, rather than spoke:-- + +"Who suggested to you the idea of proposing _that_ to me?... Answer +me.... Who was the vile, low wretch who advised you to do it?... I'll go +myself this very instant and tear out his tongue for him! Tell me, tell +me, Maria!... This thought never originated with you.... You couldn't +have supposed that your lover, the Marquis of Pealta, the descendant of +so many noble gentlemen, a soldier of honor and loyalty, could calmly +listen to such a proposition!... You could not have imagined that the +man who adored you was a cowardly traitor, whom his comrades would +justly laugh to scorn!... Only thus can I pardon the horrible words +which you have just spoken.... Listen for God's sake, Maria.... Just now +my brain is on fire and my heart is frozen.... I hear within me a voice +which prophesies a great misfortune.... Yet still, at this moment I tell +thee that I love thee with all my soul.... Even to the point of giving +my life for thee gladly; ... but if this love which I have for thee were +multiplied a thousand-fold, and were not to be gratified in this world, +I would crush it, I would blot it out as a light is blotted out,--with a +breath,--and I would remain all my life long in darkness sooner than +consent to such villany.... What am I saying?... If God himself came +down to propose that to me, and threatened me with the eternal torments +of hell, I would refuse.... I would prefer to be damned with the loyal +than be saved with traitors." + +Maria hung her head in consternation. After some little time she +succeeded in saying in a weak voice:-- + +"You do not understand me, Ricardo, nor do I understand you any better. +In judging of the things of this world we put ourselves at very opposite +points of view: you look through the glass of the conventions +established by men, and I only through that of the law of God. For you +the renown of bravery, the reputation of being loyal and noble, is the +first thing; for me the main thing is the salvation of my soul.... +Pardon me if I have offended you, and let this _honor_ which you worship +so fervently serve you to forget forever what we have been talking +about." + +Ricardo gave the girl a long, sad look. He had just learned once and for +all that that woman could never be his; that he held only a very +subordinate place in that idolatrous heart, so full of mysterious +sentiments, grand and sublime, perhaps, but incomprehensible for him. A +tear sprang into his eyes and rolled tremblingly down his cheeks. + +"You are right, Maria.... I don't understand you.... My father was a man +of honor, and he also could not have understood you.... My grandfather +was a soldier who lost his life in the defence of his country, and he, +too, would not have understood you any better.... But my father and my +grandfather would have felt insulted, as I feel insulted, that any one +should remind them that they ought to keep secrets confided to them." + +Both maintained a protracted silence, gazing sadly through the panes +upon the great plaza of Nieva, which began to be concealed under the +gathering shades of night. The passers-by were going to their homes with +slow and lazy gait. A few lights were already burning in the depths of +the houses. The ragamuffins, who had been laboriously catching the +soap-bubbles sent out to them by the boy in the opposite house, had +disappeared, and he, tired of blowing through his pipe, finally flung it +to the ground together with his bowl of soap-suds, and set himself +making faces at Ricardo and Maria; but they, solemn and motionless, paid +no attention, as on other occasions, and the child, surprised to find +them so serious, likewise remained motionless, staring at them with his +bright, beautiful, cherub eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN. + + +The general commander kept by the fickle Spanish republic in the +province of * * * was a good deal of a barbarian,--be it said without +intention of hitting him too hard, for every man has the right to be as +much of a barbarian as he finds consistent with sound morals and good +habits. The first thing that he did, as soon as it was breathed to him +that the Carlists of Nieva were getting ready for a surprise +(_algarada_, battering-ram, was what he called it), and intended nothing +less than to get possession of the gun factory, was to summon the +commandant Ramrez and say to him:-- + +"Within an hour you must start for Nieva with two companies, together +with the inspector of police, and as soon as you get there, you arrest +and bring to me lashed arm to arm--do you understand?--lashed arm to +arm, all the individuals who are put down on this paper." + +"'Tis well, my brigadier!" + +"It will not need more than half a company to guard them. You, with the +rest of the force, put yourselves under command of the colonel-director +until I make other arrangements." + +"'Tis well, my brigadier!" + +As the commandant Ramrez, having made his salute, was going out of the +office door, the brigadier called him back,-- + +"Harkee, Ramrez, how did I tell you to bring the prisoners?" + +"Lashed arm to arm, my brigadier." + +"Correct; God go with you!" + +The night on which the two companies reached Nieva was the one chosen by +Don Csar's friends to sound the battle-cry and seize the factory. The +conspiracy was well planned. At one o'clock in the morning fifty men +were to meet in the garden of a rich Carlist proprietor, and fifty more +in the wine-cellar of another, to arm and equip themselves. At two +precisely they were all to march against the factory, the guard of +which, at this time under command of the young Marqus de Pealta, did +not exceed twenty-five men, and attack it ostensibly at the doors, while +others should scale the walls in the rear. Once inside they would +quickly seize upon the arms already manufactured, loading them upon +mules which were in readiness, set fire to the workshops, and haste away +from the town. In case they should be attacked, they expected to raise +easily five or six hundred men well provided with arms and ammunition. +Don Csar had no doubt of the success of his enterprise, but the cursed +bird[62] traditional in all conspiracies, past and to come, upset the +brave caballero's project. At eleven o'clock that evening the commandant +Ramrez and the inspector of police had possession of all the +individuals of the committee, and ten or a dozen of the most outspoken +Carlists of Nieva, who, tied together and under the guard of half of a +company, according to the orders of the general commander, were under +the arcade of the town-hall, waiting the order of march. The only woman +among these was Maria. In vain did Don Mariano, with tears in his eyes, +beg the leader of the force to let him take her in a carriage. The +commandant Ramrez declared that he was deeply grieved at not being able +to gratify him, and that the only thing that he could do, out of respect +for him, was to give her parole-leave and wait a few moments until she +procured thick footwear and suitable outside garments, though to do this +exposed him to the wrath of the brigadier who ... (and here the +commandant Ramrez employed the term which we have already had the honor +of applying to him). + +At last the order was given, and the lieutenant set out on the march +with the prisoners. Don Mariano would not leave his daughter. Though it +did not rain at that particular moment, the night was very damp and the +roads truly abominable, as was proved by the spatterdashes of the +soldiers. In the town almost everybody was aware of what was going on, +and many dark, silent forms filled the balconies, straining their eyes +to see the prisoners pass by. As they went through a certain street, an +angry female voice cried from a balcony,-- + +"Villains, you will pay for all these things in hell!" + +The soldiers lifted their heads and dropped them again, silently +proceeding on their march, the measured sound of which inspired +melancholy and fear. They all felt on their caps a steady broadside of +looks of hatred, which, notwithstanding their innocence, they received +with the resignation of those accustomed to suffering injustice. They +soon left the last houses of the town and entered the high-road, the +first stretches of which were adorned with lofty poplars. The sky was +still dark and thick, wrapping the earth in darkness. Scarcely could +they see the trunks of the neighboring trees, or the shapes of the +houses or farm buildings along the roadside. The feet of the company no +longer produced the sharp clatter which they made when they were +walking over the paved streets, but a muffled sound still more sad. The +lieutenant, a pretty good-natured young fellow of twenty, ordered the +soldiers to march in parallel columns, with the prisoners in the middle. +Then he approached the latter, and asking them if he could do anything +for them, apologized courteously for taking them bound together, but +they must understand that the brigadier was somewhat of a ... (the young +lieutenant made use of the same expression which his commandant, and we +as well, has already applied to him). The prisoners muttered their +thanks and relapsed into a dignified silence. Soon it began to rain +furiously. Don Mariano, who had not exchanged a word with his daughter, +hastily spread his umbrella to shelter her, and held her long pressed to +his heart, whispering in her ear:-- + +"My daughter, what a bitter trial you are giving me!... Wrap yourself up +well!... Are you cold? oh, that obstinate brute shall answer me for +this!... I will go to Madrid and see the Minister of War, and have him +sent to prison!... Does the rain reach you anywhere, sweetheart +mine[63]? Do you want my waterproof?... To send and have my daughter +pinioned!... Oh, the confounded pig! in what sty did this farcical +government find him!... If you get sick, I will kill him without a +moment's hesitation.... But you, silly girl, who inveigled you into this +pack of conspirators without my permission?... If I had not let you +wander about so much among these churches, you would not at this time be +suffering such trials.... What have you to do with Carlists or with +Republicans?... A well-educated girl stays quietly at home, looking +after her father's shirts and knitting stockings.... Do you hear?... +knitting stockings!... The beast! wretch! to send and take my daughter +pinioned!... If I see him, I won't promise not to seize him by the +throat...." + +"Calm yourself, papa, ... calm yourself, for Heaven's sake. I am +perfectly comfortable.... When one suffers for God the suffering is +turned into pleasure.... Never did I feel better than at this moment ... +and it is because I feel in my soul the consolation of having done +something to restore Jesus to his holy kingdom.... The only thing that +makes me suffer, is to see you unhappy.... Ay! papa, what wouldn't I +give to have your faith as living and ardent as mine, so that you would +despise all the pains of earth, and march calm and content, as I am +marching, whither God may wish to take me!" + +Don Mariano felt a torrent of sharp, angry words choking him, but he +could not give them utterance. All that he did was to wrap his +waterproof around his daughter, emitting a sort of grunt significantly +eloquent. + +It ceased to rain at last. A slight breath of south-west wind made +itself felt, and the thick mantle over the sky began to thin away, +letting through a slender, feeble light which brought out the +silhouettes of the soldiers, and the trees, and the enormous forms of +the mountains girding the valley. The silence in the band was +sepulchral. The prisoners exchanged not a single word, devouring their +rage and grief. In the country, likewise, was heard none of those +pleasant sounds that increase the mystery of the night, and fill the +soul with soft melancholy. Only as they passed in front of some house, +they heard within the threatening bark of a dog, protesting against the +march of troops at such an unusual hour, and, now and then, the no less +gentle muttering of Sergeant Alcarez as he cursed the night, and his +luck, and the mother who bore him. + +The wind kept blowing stronger and stronger, a soft, moist wind which +the prisoners took to be of sufficiently evil import. The trees, lining +the sides of the road, twisted, as though in agony, scattering all the +rain drops with which they were laden. In the feeble light of the sky +the forms of the huge, black clouds began to appear, rushing swiftly +through the air, as though closely pursued by some monster of the night. +Back of these clouds the faint blue of the firmament could not be seen, +but a thick mantle of gray, seemingly impenetrable. Nevertheless, the +wind, still increasing in violence, began at last to rupture it in a few +places, making beautiful rifts, in the depths of which could be seen the +soft lightning of some star. The great, black clouds swept over them, +and blotted them out, but the mantle was constantly rifted again in +other places, and the little stars once more tipped friendly winks to +the earth. At last a great burst of silvery light suddenly bathed the +whole landscape: the moon had come out between two clouds, fair and +splendid as a virgin who opens the windows of her apartment. But hardly +had she cast one look of curiosity at our band, when the rude clouds +drew together, binding a fillet over her eyes, and leaving the earth +gloomy and dark. Again she appeared on high, and once more she was +hidden, as she saw a hurrying legion of clouds of every form and shape, +flying to unknown regions, pass before her face. In the space of half an +hour, she presented and hid herself an incredible number of times, +seeming to the eyes of the pilgrims like a ship ready to sink in some +restless, stormy ocean. + +Finally the tempest of the sky grew calm. Slowly the thick cloud +masses, which spotted the face of the sky, had disappeared behind the +mountains. A few, which still remained, and at long intervals, passing +across the moon, left the earth in darkness, likewise hid the +mountain-peaks. And the sky was left clear and bright, spreading out its +dark mantle adorned with stars. The moon traced a luminous circle around +her, in which, like a haughty queen, she let no other star shed his +light. The wide valley seemed to quiver gently with joy at feeling the +kiss of her silvery beams, and sent forth from the orange groves, and +the quiet streams, and the white hamlets scattered here and there, +millions of reflections vanishing with gentle mystery in the air. In +some places great, luminous sheets stretched out, where could be seen +with wonderful clearness the outlines of trees and fences; in others, +clustered shadows, guarding the dreams of flowers. The broad valley, +when thus illumined, had the semblance of a sleeping lake. + +After tramping along for a considerable time through the midst of the +valley, our band struck into the mountains girting it. It was necessary +to cross them to reach the plain surrounding * * *. The highway followed +the most accessible places, skirting the side of one of the mountains +with a pretty decided slope. The horizon widened wonderfully. As they +began to climb, the lieutenant commanded a halt before a huge tavern, +situated near the highway, and sending to the landlord obliged him to +arise and provide his people with food. The prisoners went into the +house and rested some time. Then they set forth once more, calmly +climbing the sharp declivity. + +The exuberant vegetation of the valley had ceased. The mountains, which +constantly shut them in closer, leaving barely room for the highway, +were clad only in ferns. From time to time they came upon the opening +of some coal mine, dug near the road. Don Mariano could not resist the +temptation of talking about the railway to Nieva, and he approached the +lieutenant and showed him where the line from Sotolonga was going, +explaining in full the advantages which it had over the line from +Miramar. The pathway was now considerably drier on account of the +hillside, and the moon from on high still lighted up the way, and fixed +her sweet, calm gaze on the pilgrims. The notes of a guitar were heard. +When did the guitar ever cease to sound during a march of Spanish +soldiers? And a voice of heroic timbre sang in the accents of the +South:-- + + "_Como cosita propria_ + _Te miraba yo_ + _Te miraba yo;_ + _Pero quererte como te quera_ + _Eso se acab_ + _Eso se acab._" + +Four or five soldiers scattered here and there likewise showed their +southern origin by shouting at the end of the strophe, _Ol, ol!_ That +song, born in the warm soil of Andalucia, was a magic wand which +banished sadness from all hearts. The stern mountains, as though +possessed by a sudden sympathy, re-echoed the soldier's voice, carrying +it far away across its gorges and ravines. Lively conversation arose in +the company, stopping every time that the Andalusian soldier struck up a +new verse. The prisoners persisted in their obstinate silence. All +marched negligently, with mouths open, instinctively enjoying the +favorable change which the night had undergone. Suddenly, as they were +doubling one of the numerous turns in the road, in the roughest part of +the divide, the report of a musket was heard. A soldier dropped to the +ground. Almost at the same time the portentous cry of _Viva Carlos +Septimo!_ was hurled into space. Lifting their heads, all saw at no +great distance, standing on one of the rocks commanding the road, a man +with long, white mustachios, dressed in a sheepskin _zamarra_ and Basque +cap.[64] The prisoners instantly recognized in him the president of the +committee, Don Csar Pardo. The lieutenant ordered the men to close up, +fearing an ambuscade, and gave the command to fire; but the volley had +no result. When the smoke cleared away Don Csar was still seen calmly +reloading his gun. As he fired it, he cried again with still more +fury,-- + +"_Viva Carlos Septimo!_" + +"May the lightning strike you, you old fox; you have spoiled my arm for +me," exclaimed Sergeant Alcarez, raising his hand to the wound. + +"Second column, aim! fire!" shouted the lieutenant. + +This time there was no better result. Don Csar fired again, crying,-- + +"_Viva la religin!_" + +Then the lieutenant angrily gave the command,-- + +"Fire as you please!" + +An incessant crackling of musketry followed from the half company, drawn +up in battle array; but the solitary enemy neither retreated nor fell. +Standing on the rock, without even deigning to shelter himself behind +it, he steadily loaded and fired his musket, always repeating in a +terrible voice,-- + +"_Viva Carlos Septimo! Viva la religin!_" + +He rarely fired without causing some loss in the company. The moon +illuminated his proud, fierce face loaded with wrinkles, giving it a +fantastic appearance. His eyes gleamed like those of a madman, and his +tall, lusty frame stood forth in the luminous atmosphere, like that of a +supernatural being who had come down to punish offences committed +against heaven. + +"Do you know me, republicans, do you know me?" he cried, without ceasing +to fire. "I am Don Csar Pardo, an old Christian and a Carlist from head +to foot." + +"You're a scoundrel," replied a soldier. + +"Hearkee, little fellow; you're all of a tremble, and the balls you +shoot go wide of the mark." + +"Try this one then!" + +"No, sir!... it didn't hit.... If I had ten men with me how you would +all scatter, you lapdogs!" + +"Do what you please, boys!... Kill that whelp!" cried the lieutenant at +the height of irritation. + +The soldiers broke for the mountain, and began to climb it with the +agility of wildcats. The rage which possessed them redoubled their +powers. But at the same time the lieutenant, snatching a musket from one +of the soldiers, levelled at Don Csar and brought him down. + +"That'll do, boys!... Come back!... the hawk is winged at last," he +cried in triumphant accents. + +"It only wounded my leg; ... my bill is whole yet," replied the +ringleader, with hoarse voice. + +And in truth, though his hip was shot through, he managed to raise +himself up and load his musket, which he instantly fired at those who +were coming up against him. They roared with rage as they pulled +themselves up by the ferns, or dug their fingers into the moss to climb +faster. + +"Come, come, you cowards," screamed Don Csar, likewise maddened with +rage. "Come and learn how to fight!... You see how a Carlist officer +makes war!... You see how he is equal to fifty republicans!... To-morrow +tell your exploit to General Bum Bum who sent you!... Let 'em give you +the laurel wreath, you heroes! Now here goes a shot for Don Carlos!... +Ah! I know how you are taking off a girl as prisoner, you brave warriors +of the republic!... Here goes another for Doa Margarita!... Did the +pill taste bad, eh, fellow?... Oh, how glad I am to see you! _Viva +Carlos!_ ..." + +He was not allowed to finish. A soldier who had reached the summit put +the muzzle of his gun to his forehead and blew off his head, saying,-- + +"Die, you hog!" + +He killed him without heeding the voices of his comrades, who said, +"Leave him for me! Leave him for me!" + +As they reached him with pale cheeks and bloodshot eyes, they all +discharged their guns at the lifeless body of the terrible ringleader, +quickly destroying it in the most horrible manner. When that act of +barbarism, inspired by wrath, was accomplished, the soldiers remained +silent. Their irritation being calmed, they began to realize how they +had been fighting with one single man, and they were dissatisfied with +themselves. In spite of themselves they felt stirred to admiration. + +"The old man had gall," said one, as he wiped off a few drops of blood +which had spattered into his face. + +"He was well quit of his life," declared a second. + +"The truth is, that taking them one at a time, that old man would have +swallowed this whole division, uniform and all," said a third, finally; +and no one uttered a protest. + +In the company there were one killed and five wounded, as the result of +the skirmish. They placed them all, as well as they could, on improvised +stretchers, and again took up the line of march. Not only the soldiers, +but the prisoners, plodded on in silence and melancholy, profoundly +impressed by the tragic event which had just occurred. + +The night was still as calm and bright as before, and in the zenith the +moon, which had just been lighting that unequal combat with her soft +poetic beams, still shed them upon the company slowly ascending the +highway, and upon the livid, dismembered corpse which they had left +behind on the crag. The struggles, the joys, the griefs of us poor +devils who creep on the earth, what worth have they? what do they +signify before the august serenity of the heavens? For them the fall of +an empire and the fall of a leaf are of equal consequence; for them the +sigh of a maiden in love and the groan of a dying man are alike in +sound. "Nature is deaf," said the great Leopardi, "and cannot pity." + +But Maria walked along with her eyes fixed on the sky, regarding it with +far different thoughts. There where the poet found nothing but a blind +will, incapable of good, the pious girl saw a foreseeing and merciful +God, as merciful as terrible, who received the good into his bosom, and +sent the wicked to eternal torment--a God, who, like ourselves, was +appeased by prayers and tears. She felt stirred as she thought of the +fate which the soul of him who had just died would meet in presence of +divine justice, and by a quick, spontaneous movement of her heart, she +said in a loud, clear voice:-- + +"For the soul of the departed Don Csar Pardo: Our Father who art in +heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on +earth as it is in Heaven." The prisoners began to pray with fervor. +Some of the soldiers did the same. Then they relapsed into silence as +they marched along, and nothing was heard but the sound of labored +breathing, and occasionally the complaints of the wounded, not very well +accommodated in their litters. At last they crossed the highest point of +the watershed, and began to descend toward the wide valley of * * *. The +dawn was already appearing in the confines of the east. The dull blue of +the sky in that quarter was fading into a pale, melancholy light, which +at the same time blotted out the sparkling stars. The travellers felt a +chill, unpleasant breath of wind which turned their noses and hands +purple. Very soon a great golden fringe spread over the eastern hills, +and the band could regard at their pleasure the valley stretching out at +their feet, where the green of the meadows and the yellow of the plowed +lands shone in multitudinous tones, coarse or soft, like a rich mantle +of brocade. A few tufts of cloud were slowly rising from the depths of +the streamlets which furrowed it; and yonder, in the west, a great +curtain of black mountains, on whose summits the snow still gleamed +white, shut it in abruptly, casting across it a great mantle of shadow. +In spite of this shadow, the eyes of the travellers who knew the region +could distinguish in the very edge of the black curtain the spire of the +proud tower of the cathedral of * * *. The prisoners and their guards +reached the plain, and crossed the valley from one end to the other, +expending much time in the transit, principally because of the care +required by the wounded. Finally, at eight o'clock in the morning, they +reached the first houses of the suburb of * * *. + +The inhabitants of the capital had heard of the sudden blow struck by +the military governor against the Carlists of Nieva, and a great throng, +collected in the streets, was impatiently waiting to see the prisoners +pass by. It was composed almost entirely of what, during the +revolutionary period, was called the sovereign people; that is, of all +the ragamuffins and rough-scuff of the city, together with quite a +number of respectable people, though loungers, and almost all the +_ladies_ of the suburbs. + +On seeing the band from afar, the multitude was stirred tempestuously, +and there arose a dull, universal clamor:-- + +"There they are now! There they are now!"--"I was told that they +intended to assassinate all the liberals of Nieva last night."--"Ah! the +rascals! Fortunate they fell beforehand into the trap!" + +"They must be undeceived," declared a fat and highly-colored caballero, +with a good-natured face; "all the Carlists are either rascals or fools. +I would not employ any other means with them than extermination.... Fire +and sword!" + +"Let us sing them _El trgala_ when they pass," said a ragged lad to two +other swells accompanying him. + +The people pressed close as the band approached, those who could finding +standing-room on the street-walls and the trees along the way. On seeing +the wounded, and learning through the curt account of some soldier about +the incident of Don Csar, the inquisitive citizens felt justified in +manifesting their indignation, and though at first they contented +themselves with giving each other the benefit of their hostile thoughts, +finally they began to belch forth against the prisoners furious insults, +apostrophizing them in loud tones, as though they had all received from +their hands some wrong. Thus they continued escorting them through the +streets of the city, their fury and indignation ever on the increase, +until words were not enough to satisfy them. The prisoners marched with +sunken heads and flushed faces. + +"Oh, you hypocrites! saint-killers!" shouted one at them; "may the day +soon come when we shall see you strung up!" + +"See how those cursed rascals[65] hang their heads! If they had us in +their fists the meanest of them would be happier." + +"Now cry 'Long live Carlos Seventh,' you rubbish!" But the popular fury +was most madly excited against Maria. Neither her youth, nor her beauty, +nor her weakness, served to spare her from ferocious, filthy insults. + +"Who is that woman with 'em? They say she's a saint."--"Yes, a saint, +but she's a loose character!"--"See here, wench, if you are hunting for +a husband, you'll find one here!"--"That one needs a few dozen +lashes!"--"See what hypocritical eyes the harridan[66] has!" + +It is easy to appreciate the state of disturbance, wrath, anguish, and +excitement which overmastered Don Mariano Elorza, at being obliged to +listen to these rude remarks. In his impotent rage he bit his hands and +stopped his ears, fearing that his blood would boil over and lead him to +do something endangering his daughter's life. + +As we have already said, the crowd, not content with flinging insults, +took it into their heads to indulge in brutal treatment of them. One +rough youth gave the example by hurling a piece of orange. Many others +followed his example, and there fell on the unfortunate prisoners a +hailstorm of projectiles, more disgusting, it must be confessed than +deadly. However, a cabbage stalk thrown violently, hit Maria in the +face and made her lips bleed. + +Oh! then the unhappy Don Mariano's fury burst forth, terrible and +resistless, as the sea in its moments of tempests, as a volcano in +eruption. His athletic figure fell upon the group of loungers nearest +him, and he annihilated it with his onslaught, scattering the men on the +ground as though they had been made of straw; those who were left on +their feet fled without awaiting a second attack. The Seor de Elorza +would have made his way through the whole crowd, but meeting with +resistance in the serried ranks, he grasped the throat of the first +ruffian at hand and would have surely choked him to death, had not the +soldiers come to his aid and pushed back the angry father. His wrath +then broke out in a storm of frenzied words, which brought the throng to +silence. + +"Guttersnipes! vile guttersnipes! cowards! beasts!... If they had not +prevented me, I would have pulled your tongues out, one at a time.... +You have wounded my daughter.... Didn't you know she was my daughter, +you rascals! Here you showed your valor, you bullies! why don't you go +to Navarra to fight with armed men, instead of attacking the +defenceless?... Because you are cowards!... An indecent rabble that +ought to be scattered with whips! If there be among you any one worthy +of meeting me, let him come out so that I can spit in his face.... Let +go of me, let go of me, for God's sake! Let me kill one of these pimps +who have wounded my daughter. Let me go, seores, let me go!..." + +Don Mariano struggled to tear himself from the arms of the soldiers. The +rabble who had fallen back before his attack, seeing him in custody, +recovered from their alarm, and crowded back again like basilisks, +foaming at the mouth with rage. + +"This old coxcomb insults the people!"--"He's a crazy fool!"--"It's a +shame for the people to be so insulted!"--"Why don't you kill this +knave!"--"Kill him, yes, kill him!"--"Kill him!"--"Kill him!" + +And the throng pressed up to the band closer and closer, though slowly, +like an ocean of waves swelling and threatening, and would soon have put +an end to Don Mariano and the prisoners, had not the lieutenant +prevented such an act of barbarism by shouting at the top of his +voice,-- + +"Attention, company--ready--aim!" + +Then the swelling waves subsided as by magic. The lieutenant's voice was +Neptune's _sed motos prestat componere fluctus_. The sovereign people +turned tail, and saying in their hearts "escape if you can," started to +run in all directions, tripping up here, and scrambling to feet again +there. And it is reported that His Majesty ran so fast and so far, that +in less than three minutes he disappeared from before the guns of the +military. + +Thanks to this, the prisoners were left in peace until they reached the +prison, where they were lodged in a great hall, filthy enough, with a +wooden floor, filled with rat-holes in many places. Maria was assigned a +separate room, comparatively clean and comfortable. + +The hour set for the hearing before the council of war was twelve +o'clock; and when the clock struck, the prisoners, perfectly guarded, +were transferred to a handsomely decorated salon in the building where +it met. The officers composing it were seated behind a long table, +covered with red damask trimmed with gold lace, under a velvet canopy +which, in other times, before we had the republic, had served to give +regality and prestige to the portrait of the king. The presiding officer +was the military governor, who was anxious to have done with the +business in a rapid and violent manner. He wished to inflict exemplary +punishment upon all of the conspirators, or, what is the same thing, +"not to leave a mannikin with his head on," to use his own words. He was +a chubby man, with great blub-cheeks and a thin mustache: a perfect +image of what we, and likewise the Commandant Ramrez, and the +lieutenant of the convoy, have already called him. The other officers +had absolutely nothing remarkable in their faces: coarse features, black +eyes, twisted mustachios, sharp-pointed goatees, commonplace faces, on +the whole, though manly. At first sight, it was evident that they wore +their togas broad. When the prisoners entered, the doors and the +standing-room of the building were invaded by a great crowd, not so rude +and low as that of the morning; it was made up of people of more +respectability,--students for the most part, hidalgos and officeholders. +This throng preserved a thoughtful, compassionate silence at seeing them +enter. + +They were introduced one at a time in the great hall of state. The +captain, who acted as prosecutor,[67] took their depositions, having +before him documents in proof of the crime. The members of the Carlist +committee of Nieva gave their testimony as best suited their ideas of +propriety, denying the majority of the counts, astutely pleading guilty +to others, and, in fine, doing all in their power to be let off easily. +The fat-cheeked brigadier lost his temper not a few times during the +course of the hearing, interrupting the prosecutor to launch harsh +apostrophes at the prisoners, and threatening to have them shot in the +interim, if they did not reveal all the minuti and ramifications of the +conspiracy; but he accomplished little by his intimidations. When +Maria's turn came, he smiled sarcastically, and said with rough irony,-- + +"Have the goodness to draw near, seorita, and to reply to the questions +which this caballero capitn will put to you." + +"What is your name?" asked the prosecutor. + +"Maria de Elorza y Valcrcel." + +"_De, dee, dee_," snorted the brigadier, "always the same aristocratic +pretensions!" + +"You are accused of serving as intermediary in the correspondence +between the Marqus de Revollar, Don Carlos's minister and counsellor, +and the ringleader, Don Csar Pardo, lately exiled by virtue of sentence +of the counsel of war, which met on the 14th of March. Moreover, you are +accused of having been present as an active participant at various +meetings held by the conspirators of Nieva, with the assistance of the +same ringleaders who escaped, and various other political criminals. In +these meetings you have indulged in speech fomenting rebellion, and +making suggestions to help its success. It is said that you embroidered +the banner for the rebels, and have hidden hats and spatterdashes in +your house, and likewise have procured money for the conspirators...." + +The prosecutor stopped speaking. There were a few instants of silence. +The brigadier impatiently said,--"Come.... Reply! Are the deeds of which +you stand accused true?" + +Maria, with her clear gaze fastened on the president's supercilious +face, replied in firm, calm accents:-- + +"All that the Seor Fiscal has just set forth is pure truth, and I take +the warmest pride in it. It is true that I have served as intermediary +in the correspondence between my noble uncle, the Marqus de Revollar, +and the brave Don Csar Pardo (whom may God take to glory!). It is +certain that I have been present at the meetings, where a conspiracy was +planned against the impious government now existing, and that I have +endeavored, with my feeble speech, to stir the conspirators to the +combat, and it is equally certain that I embroidered the banner and +other articles for the defenders of the faith. It is likewise true that +I have furnished all the money that I could, but it is not enough to say +that I hid in my father's house hats and spatterdashes: I have also +hidden arms, muskets, and their bayonets and ammunition." + +The officers of the council were stupefied. The brigadier himself, in +spite of his choleric temper, remained for some instants dumb before the +girl's audacity. But if they had known her as we know her, it is certain +that they would not have had reason to be surprised. The eldest daughter +of the Elorzas had entered into the Carlist conspiracy, completely +persuaded that she was accomplishing a work very grateful in the eyes of +God, and she had firmly determined not to turn back before any danger. +Her ardent, all-powerful faith was eager to find means to serve Him, and +moreover the longing for imitation, for which we have already given her +credit, impelled her to imitate the conduct of those sainted virgins who +fought against the power of the cruellest tyrants, and gave a glorious +example of constancy in times of persecution. She knew by heart the +lives of Saint Leocadia, Saint Barbara, Saint Julia, Saint Eulalia, and +other illustrious martyrs of the Christian faith, and their +steadfastness was for her an example and further incentive in the road +to sanctity upon which she had entered. Countless times she had imagined +scenes of martyrdom in which she was the principal personage, and in +which she had always come forth conqueror; just as many men fond of +battles, dream that they are fighting with a dozen champions and making +them run ignominiously, and others enamored of oratory represent +themselves as speaking before multitudes, moving them and carrying them +away by their eloquence. With what admiration had she read about the +flight of the sainted maiden of Merida, from the battlefield of her +fathers to the city where she presented herself voluntarily before the +governor Calfurniano to confess her faith, and ask a martyr's death! In +the march which she had just made from Nieva, she had many times +recalled the details of that memorable flight, gladly seeing in it a +certain analogy with that of the saint. Now that she saw herself in the +presence of stern, angry judges, she found the resemblance still more +striking, and this encouraged her, in no small degree, in her +determination to stand firm in spite of danger. + +The brigadier, who was not very well informed in regard to what had +happened to Saint Eulalia at the hands of Calfurniano, believed honestly +that the silly girl was ridiculing him, and, giving a tremendous rap on +the table with his fist, he shouted:-- + +"Listen, seorita, do you know with whom you are talking? Do you know +that I am the military governor of the province, and that I have never +had any decided fondness for jests? Do you know what risk you run at +making sport of this most dignified council of war, over which at this +moment I preside? Do you know that I have a mind to send you to prison, +and shut you up in a cell, and keep you there on bread and water until +you rotted? Did you know it? heh!... Did you know it? heh!... heh?... +heh?..." + +"I know perfectly," replied Maria in steady, but modest tone, "that I +am in the presence of a council of war; but, though I were facing a +battalion of soldiers, aiming at me with their guns, I should say the +same thing without dropping or adding a letter. I am not accustomed to +tell falsehoods, and when it concerns acts which may be some service to +the cause of God, I should be unworthy of calling myself a Christian, if +I denied them in the presence of any one." + +"And what is it that you call the cause of God, my beautiful seorita?" +asked the brigadier with apparent calmness, while his eyes flashed +lightnings of wrath. + +"I call the cause of God that which is at the present time represented +by the legitimate and Catholic king, around whom are collected all those +who feel scandalized to see religion persecuted and its ministers +molested; those who mourn at seeing the infamous blasphemies uttered in +Congress, and daily spread broadcast by the journals; those who do not +wish to see impiety enthroned in Spain, the Catholic land, above all +others, granted by God one single faith and one single worship." + +The brigadier grew redder than a guindilla pepper; his lips trembled +with wrath; he was about to make some shocking remark, but at last he +controlled himself, and said to the prosecuting officer,-- + +"Continue your examination, Seor Capitn." + +For the first time in his life the brigadier smothered his barbarous +words. The fiscal, over whom the force of attraction for the opposite +sex had not yet lost its influence, perhaps from the reason that he was +younger, continued, all the time softening his voice and sweetening the +smile that distorted his countenance:-- + +"Very well; since you have the candor to confess that you have been a +party to the conspiracy, let us hope that you will continue to be as +frank, and tell us all its details and the names of the persons +connected with it." + +"Oh, no, ... that cannot be. I declare and confess my acts, but I cannot +those of the others. Even if they granted me permission, be very sure +that I would not do it, since it seems to me a sin to put into the hands +of the impious arms to murder good Christians...." + +"This cannot be allowed," vociferated the brigadier, overcome by wrath. +"Let us see, seorita; do you believe that I have not the means to make +you tell the whole story?[68] Let us have the session in peace, and do +you tell mighty quick what you know, for otherwise there'll be trouble +[_mal_]; ... there'll be trrrouble [_maaal_]; ... there'll be +trrrrrouble [_maaaaal_]...." + +"Seor Presidente, I am not willing to say a single word that might +compromise my friends, the pious and loyal defenders of the faith of +Jesus Christ. Do with me whatsoever you will, but you must know that I +shall accept with delight any chance to suffer something for Him who +suffered so much for us." + +"Heavens and earth!" [_Rayo de Dios!_] screamed the brigadier, giving +another terrible pound to the table. "This child has put an end to my +patience!... Orderly, see that this girl is instantly conducted to +prison, and keep her in solitary confinement until further orders." The +officials of the council, understanding that this would make a scandal +without any result, put it before the governor in a whisper, and he +became a little calmer. He himself understood it. + +"You are right," he said aloud; "all the information that this girl can +give is already known to us, and more too. I don't wish these scrubby +Carlist newspapers to be saying that we lost our temper with a +woman.... Harkee, orderly! see if this young woman's father is anywhere +about, and have him brought in." + +In a few moments Don Mariano entered. + +"I find myself obliged to tell you, Seor de Elorza," said the +brigadier, addressing him, "that you have a very ill-educated daughter, +and that thanks to the fact of your not figuring as a Carlist and to our +own benevolence, we do not adopt in her case the rigorous measures which +she deserves for her boldness. You can take her home whenever you +please, pledging yourself to us that she shall not directly or +indirectly enter into any conspiracy or into anything of the like.... Do +we agree?... Have a little more care of her if you don't want to expose +her to greater tribulations, and don't let her go so free and easy as +hitherto...." + +Don Mariano almost spoiled everything by hurling an insult in that rough +soldier's face; but the sorrows which he had been undergoing since the +night before kept him very humble. Besides, he feared to compromise his +daughter's situation, and seeing her free he had no wish to lose her +again. Reserving, then, _in pectore_ for more favorable times, the right +of demanding of the governor full satisfaction for his impudent words, +he gave the promise demanded, and immediately passed from the hall and +from the building with Maria, and went to call upon one of his +relatives. In the afternoon they set out for Nieva, reaching home just +at nightfall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PALLIDA MORS. + + +When the carriage stopped, Don Mariano perceived by the face of the +servant who came to open the door that nothing very delightful had +occurred during his absence. + +"The seora?" he asked in alarm. + +"The seora is in bed." + +"Oh, I might have known it! How could the poor soul have had strength to +resist this blow!" + +The faces of the other servants whom they met on the way had the same +expression of silent solemnity, and this greatly increased his +agitation. Maria followed him. When they reached Doa Gertrudis's room, +they saw that there were a number of people in it who, on catching sight +of them, came toward them with a warning gesture. + +"What! Is she so ill?" exclaimed the unhappy Don Mariano, in a hoarse, +trembling voice. + +"She is not very ill," said an officious lady: "but it is better that +you should not enter so suddenly, for a powerful excitement might be bad +for her. She has had a number of attacks since last night, and finds +herself rather weak.... Let me prepare her." + +The lady, in fact, went to tell Doa Gertrudis that her daughter was at +liberty, and would soon be back to Nieva. + +"My daughter is here!" cried the invalid, with that wonderful instinct +of mothers and hysterical women.... Yes, she is here!... I know she +is!... I see her.... Come, my daughter, come!" + +And at the same time she made a desperate effort to sit up in bed. Maria +entered her bedchamber, and kneeling beside the bed respectfully kissed +the hands which her mother extended to her. + +"Forgive me, mamma! forgive me for the anxiety which I caused you.... +You were made ill because of me, but the Lord will soon make you +well...." + +"No, my daughter; you have done nothing that needs my forgiveness; you +have done what God commanded.... It made me ill ... that is true ... but +it is because I have not virtue enough, as you have, to suffer the +trials God imposes upon us.... You are a saint.... I shall be well.... +Don't worry about me.... What frightens me now is, that I did not die +when I saw you marching off that way, among soldiers.... My poor +daughter.... Come, give me a kiss!" + +When Maria entered the bedroom, Ricardo and Marta were there; the girl +seated near the pillow, and Ricardo at the foot of the bed. The young +marquis, on learning at the factory that Maria was arrested, had asked +the colonel to be relieved that night of guard duty, and his request +being granted, he hastened to the Elorza mansion just as Don Mariano and +his daughter were outside of the town. Doa Gertrudis was in the midst +of a very severe fit, from which it was feared that she would not +recover; she came to herself but only to fall immediately into another. +What an anxious night! Don Maximo and the Seora de Ciudad remained with +poor little Marta to watch by the sick woman. Ricardo likewise was +unwilling to leave the house. The girl appreciating that her mother's +health and life depended on her behavior, kept up her courage, and did +not cease to busy herself about the bed, entering and leaving the room +hundreds of times. As soon as Don Maximo gave an order she fulfilled it +with admirable exactness. A multitude of remedies requiring much skill +and some practice were taken: mustard poultices, leeches, assafoetida +washes, various applications to the temples, etc., etc. Marta would not +consent for any servant to touch her mother; she did everything herself +without bustle, without noise, as though all her life she had done +nothing else. During the intervals of rest she sat by the bedside and +watched the invalid's face with anxious eyes. The bedroom was feebly +lighted by a lamp half turned down in the hall; a strong smell of drugs +and medicines arose from the vials accumulated on the dressing-table; +but Marta was not nauseated by any of the odors; her head was steady and +her never-failing health was the envy of all the household. Ricardo +likewise sometimes sat at the invalid's feet. The girl scarcely saw more +than his silhouette outlined against the brighter opening of the door, +but this was a great comfort to her. She was not alone; Ricardo was not +a stranger. Sometimes when the invalid asked for something and both +arose in haste to give it to her, if their hands met, Marta withdrew +hers hurriedly, as though she had touched a viper, and she let her +friend minister to Doa Gertrudis. Neither spoke. Marta, forgetful of +herself, thought only of her mother. Ricardo, more egotistical, thought +of Maria. The girl's whole soul was wrapped up in the dear being +painfully breathing by her side, and without making the slightest error, +with the accuracy of a chronometer, she counted her pulse and watched +her respiration. Don Maximo and the Seora de Ciudad were whispering in +the adjoining room, as though they were making confession. The lady was +explaining to the old doctor the character and temperament of each one +of her daughters; the conversation was long. In the course of nine hours +the sick woman had four severe attacks, leaving her so prostrated that +the doctor seriously feared a fatal result. Nevertheless, after the +fourth, she remained comparatively comfortable, and passed the day quite +easily. The danger, in spite of this, continued. + +After the first moments of effusion were over, Maria called her sister +aside into a corner of the room. + +"Tell me; has mamma made confession?" + +"No." + +"And why didn't you call the priest?... Didn't you perceive that she was +in danger?" + +The truth was, Marta had scarcely thought of doing such a thing. +Besides, she was afraid of frightening her mother, and thought that this +might be bad for her. In the bottom of her heart, likewise, there was a +great terror of that tremendous scene, and she wanted to banish it from +her mind. Maria chided her severely for her negligence, bringing before +her the terrible responsibility which she would have incurred had her +mother died. Marta saw that she was right, and hung her head. She sent +instantly to summon Doa Gertrudis's confessor, and Maria undertook to +prepare her mother. Wonder of wonders! Doa Gertrudis, who during her +life had asked an infinite number of times to have her confessor +summoned, now felt overwhelmed with surprise and fear when her daughter +told her that she must get ready. Possibly the fact was, that when she +had asked for it, she harbored the conviction that there was no real +danger of death, while now she understood that matters were really +serious. At all events, her daughter's words made a great impression +upon her, and she raised all the objection in her power against +receiving him, urging as an excuse that she felt better; that when +there should be danger, she would herself call for him. + +Maria opposed this delay, and found herself under the cruel necessity of +clearly explaining to the invalid the seriousness of her situation. Doa +Gertrudis yielded, but her face betrayed a great discouragement. + +When the priest arrived he was left alone with her, all retiring from +the apartment. Marta went to weep alone in her room, so as not to sadden +her father; he did the same, so as not to frighten his daughters. Maria +watched at the door for the signal that the pious act was accomplished. +At last the priest left the room, and, with the mask of solemnity which +all daily witnesses of death-scenes are obliged to assume, hiding the +real indifference, logically caused by such familiarity, he said to +those who were waiting:-- + +"You can enter: we have finished." + +"How is she?" was the question of each one. + +"Well!... well!... well!... The poor woman is calm.... I believe that +for her to receive the Divine Majesty will be good for her, as well for +the body as for the soul." + +"That is true.... You are right, Seor Cura," said several ladies. + +"I have seen in my own family a very notable case of the power of +faith," declared one of them. "My uncle Pepe had a very serious lung +trouble, confirmed consumption. He had consulted a multitude of +physicians, and had taken more than a cartload of medicine. Well, then +it was suggested that, unless he were prepared to die, he would not +recover. He had the priest called, made confession, received the +viaticum, and even wanted to have extreme unction.... But from that very +time, I don't know what it was, but it is a fact that he became more +comfortable, and began to improve ... to improve ... to improve, until +at last he became what you see him to-day." + +The other women confirmed this opinion. Each one related her experience +in support of it, and the priest summed up all the arguments, showing +that such miraculous effects were nothing more than was to be expected, +granting that the sick person's body received the presence of the Lord +of the Heaven and earth, in whose hands is the safety of all mankind. + +At eleven o'clock in the evening, they brought the viaticum to Doa +Gertrudis with all the ceremony required by such a solemn act. The house +of Elorza was filled with strange faces; a throng composed for the most +part of working people invaded the stairway, the corridors, and even the +invalid's sick-room, with wax tapers in their hands. The priest, with +the acolyte before him, and the holy box on his breast, passed by the +physician, and entered the sick-room. Don Mariano had gone to hide +himself. Maria, with a book of devotions in her hand, read to her mother +the prayers which were to be said before communion. Marta stood leaning +against the wall, pale and frightened, gazing at the solemn ceremony, as +though she saw some terrible vision. One of the women, who made their +way into the room, handed her a lighted candle, and she took it without +knowing what she did. When the priest brought forth the Holy Wafer, they +had to tell her to kneel. The scene was sad and stirring for any one: +how much more for a daughter! The wax candles lugubriously sputtered in +the silence of the sick-room, and cast tremulous yellow reflections on +the walls. The voice of the priest, as he raised the Host, was still +more lugubrious than the sputtering of the tapers. The invalid, +weakened by her illness, had grown terribly pale from emotion; she sat +up as well as she could and, supported by Maria, and with her hands +folded over her breast, she opened her mouth to receive the body of +Jesus Christ. Then the bystanders went out softly, and on the staircase +was heard the vibrating tinkle of the sacristan's little bell, +announcing that the Lord was departing from the house. Only the intimate +friends remained. A group of ladies invaded the sick woman's room to +congratulate her, and to ask after her health. Doa Gertrudis said that +she was more comfortable; and, taking her daughter Maria's hand, she +thanked her for having given her the pleasure of communion. Her recovery +was to be hoped for; all the ladies found her very much like herself, +and assured her that it would not be long before she was well. + +"God can do all things, Doa Gertrudis. When one's accounts are settled +with the Lord, there is no fear of any harm befalling. Nothing, this is +nothing, seora; you will see how you will soon recover." + +"I have offered a mass to the Sacred Christ of Tunis for the day on +which our seora shall get well," said Genoveva, Maria's maid. + +"Woman, why did you not offer it to the Ecce Homo of Mercy?" asked an +old laundress of the house, in some surprise. She had always lighted the +lamp before the said Ecce Homo, and kept the chapel clean, so that she +came to look upon it as her own property. + +"Ay, woman! because the Holy Christ of Tunis is more miraculous." + +"A cuckold on _him_," exclaimed the washerwoman, quickly, with angry +eyes. + +A furious altercation arose between the two, until Maria was +scandalized, and bade them be still, explaining that the Christ of +Tunis and of Grace was one and the same Lord, though every Christian was +free to have the most faith in whatever image he pleased. + +At last the ladies withdrew, leaving only two,--the widow De Delgado and +one of her sisters,--to spend the night with the young ladies. Don +Maximo went to rest awhile, promising to return before long. The +confessor did not wish to leave the house because he saw no improvement +in his penitent, and he threw himself down on the sofa. Ricardo likewise +remained. + +At two o'clock what Don Maximo feared took place. The attack was +renewed, and unfortunately with such violence that the unhappy lady very +narrowly escaped passing away in it. Marta, on seeing the danger, +recovered the activity which she lost before the lugubrious ceremony of +the communion; she prepared all the medicines; she rubbed the sick +woman's feet with a flesh-brush; she held her upright a long time, so +that she might not choke to death, and acted as Don Maximo had +prescribed in the former cases. All those who touched Doa Gertrudis +hurt her; only Martita's soft hands had the privilege of moving her from +side to side, and placing her in the most comfortable positions without +causing her pain. Finally the sick woman came to herself and spoke, but +Don Maximo, hastily summoned by the servants, found her pulse so feeble +on his arrival that he could not help making a slight gesture of alarm. +Marta noticed that gesture, and calling him alone into the passage-way, +she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing: "Don Maximo, my dearest, +for God's sake, save my mother!... yes, my mother is dying!... yes ... +she is dying.... I saw your gesture...." + +"Don't cry, child,"[69] said the old physician, drawing her head to his +breast; "as yet there is no reason for alarm.... I will certainly do all +in my power, and more, to save her." + +"Yes, yes, Don Maximo.... Do it, I beseech you by all that you most love +in this world!... by the memory of your wife, whom you loved so dearly!" + +"Don't! try not to cry any more! the thing to do now is to go and give +her a spoonful of quinine; then we will put a cataplasm on her stomach." + +The good Don Maximo, disguising the presentiment which he felt, +succeeded in calming the girl, and he set himself to applying the +remedies which his poor science but rich desire suggested. + +But he was not able to halt the swift approach of death which in full +career was fast approaching the noble lady's couch. At four o'clock in +the morning they noticed that she spoke with greater difficulty; her +pronunciation halted, and she often stammered. Almost all her words were +directed to Maria, asking her numberless times about the events of the +preceding night, and insisting on being told, showering boundless praise +on her for her bravery, and congratulating herself on having such a good +daughter. + +"My daughter, beseech God for my safety.... God cannot ... deny thee +anything." + +"Maria, perceiving that her mother was dying, replied: + +"Mamma, the one important thing is the safety of the soul.... If God +wishes to restore you, let it be a miracle to you of his sacred +grace...." + +"But ... am I dying ... my daughter?" + +"God only can tell.... Do you wish the seor cura to come in and give +you a short confession?" + +"Yes ... let him come in ... my daughter, let him come in!" + +The priest came, and remained a few moments alone with the sick woman. +Those who were in the adjoining room kept a sad silence. Don Mariano +lying on a sofa, with his cheek resting in one hand, shut his eyes and +gave evidence of deep dejection. After the priest had finished, Marta, +Maria, Ricardo, and Don Maximo returned. Doa Gertrudis's condition grew +continually more critical. There began to be noticeable in her a +restlessness of bad augury; she turned her head from one side to the +other as though she could not find a resting-place, as though she were +already searching for the pillow on which she was to repose eternally. +Her vacillating hands picked up and dropped the bedclothes incessantly, +while her eyes also restlessly rolled in their orbits, fastening, from +time to time, on the ceiling of the room; it seemed as though she found +no one on whom to rest them. Soon Martita noticed that her hands were +cold, and she mentioned the fact aloud, in a simple manner, without +appreciating its unfortunate significance. Don Maximo turned away his +head to hide his emotion; the priest let his fall on his breast. + +"I feel ... very well ... now," she said to Maria, raising her +daughter's hand to her lips. "As soon as I ... I am well ... we will go +... to Lourdes ... together ... will we not?... It is very ... pretty +... is it that one?... very pretty ... very pretty.... If you knew ... +what I see now!... The Virgin ... the Virgin coming ... surrounded by +stars.... Put on my ... velvet dress ... to receive her.... Come ... +quick ... quick.... Don't you see ... I am entering by the door?... Ay! +what trials!... Good day, Seora.... I have a daughter ... who much +resembles you.... She has a fair complexion ... and blue eyes ... very +beautiful!... very beautiful!" + +A slight hoarseness began to choke the sick woman's throat; the last +words were rather breathed than spoken; it was a dry, sharp huskiness +constantly growing more pronounced. The confessor hearing it made a sign +to Maria, and she quickly took a silver image of Christ hanging on the +wall, and put it in her mother's hand, saying:-- + +"Mamma, think on the Lord.... Think of what the Divine Saviour suffered +for us." + +"I ... am not ... dying," said the invalid. + +"Yes, mamma ... yes ... you are dying," replied the young woman with +kindled face, full of fear and anguish, fearing that she was not well +prepared. "Repent of the sins that you have committed!... You do repent, +and ask forgiveness of God for them, don't you?" + +"Yes ... yes," murmured the invalid. + +"Repeat the creed with me!" said the confessor, assuming a more solemn +tone: "I believe in God the Father Almighty ... maker of heaven ... and +earth...." + +Doa Gertrudis repeated the priest's words clumsily, and as though she +were not heeding what she did. She looked at the ceiling with strange +persistence, while the features of her countenance were rapidly +changing; a purple circle was drawn around her eyes, and her nostrils +became strangely pinched. When the priest was done she again began to +address Maria. + +"The truth ... is ... that I have ... no hat ... fit to make the journey +... to Lourdes in.... Those that I ... have ... are ... very +old-fashioned.... Do me ... the favor ... to write to Luisa ... and have +her ... send me one ... in the newest style.... You also ... need a +dress.... Attend to it, my daughter ... attend to it." + +"Mamma, leave the vanities of the world.... Think on God.... Consider +that you are going to appear very soon in his presence." + +"No ... no.... I am not dying." + +"Ay, mamma, by the Holy Virgin, I beg you to feel that you are going to +die.... Think on your salvation!" + +"I am thinking about it ... yes ... I am thinking about it," said the +invalid mechanically. + +The priest began to read from a book the Commendation of the Soul in +Latin. All knelt. Then the dying woman, raising her head a little, +asked:-- + +"Why are you all kneeling?" + +"To recommend you to God, mamma," replied Maria. + +And getting up and putting her face near her mother's, she continued in +a whisper:-- + +"Say with me, mamma: '_My Jesus_....'" + +The mother repeated listlessly: "My Jesus." + +_"By thy most sacred passion."_ + +"By thy most sacred ... passion." + +_"By the innumerable pains that thou hast suffered."_ + +"By the in ... numerable ... pains." + +"_That thou hast suffered_," repeated Maria. + +"That thou hast suffered." + +_"Pardon thou my offences."_ + +"Pardon thou ... my offences." + +_"And save my soul."_ + +"That'll do, that'll do!" said the dying woman, pushing her daughter +away with her trembling hand. "No, I am not dying.... I am well.... Come +here, Martita.... It isn't true ... that I am ... dying ... is it, +daughter?" + +"No, mamma," replied the girl, pressing her hands. "You are not dying, +mamita; no.... You must get well soon, and we will go to drive in the +carriage as we used ... now the weather is fine." + +"Yes, loveliest, yes.... We will go ... wait ... lift me a little.... I +am uncomfortable in this position." + +Marta helped her to sit up; but as she did so her mother's eyes rested +upon her, fixed, motionless, terrible. That look smote the poor girl to +the depths of her heart, and uttering a frightful, piercing cry, she let +her fall back on the pillow. The Seora de Elorza's head relaxed as +though the neck were dislocated, with open mouth and rigid lips; and +still from the pillow her great glassy eyes continued to follow her +daughter with the same fixed and terrifying gaze. + +"Mother of my heart!" cried the girl, instantly throwing her arms around +her. "Do not look at me so, for God's sake! Mamita mia, do not look at +me so. Ay! do not look at me so. Ay! how you terrify me!... Mamita! +mamita!... Ay! O God, what is it?" + +Don Mariano, who, on hearing the cry, had hurried into the bedchamber +with anxious face, and hair standing on end, tried to draw his daughter +from the corpse. + +"Come away! my soul's daughter, now you have no longer a mother!" + +"Yes, I have her.... Yes ... here she is.... Mamma! Mamita! You are +here, are you not?... Answer me!... Speak!... Kiss me, for God's sake, +mamita!... Let go of me, papa!... Let go of me!... Now she is going to +kiss me.... Wait a moment, for God's sake!... Let go of me, papa +darling!... Let her kiss me!" + +The girl had embraced the dead body of her mother with extraordinary +force, and covered it with eager loud kisses. Don Mariano, terribly +excited, almost beside himself, pulled her away brutally, as though the +welfare of all depended upon wrenching her from that position. Maria, +kneeling in one corner of the room, had lifted her eyes and her hands to +heaven, and was praying for the eternal glory of the departed. + +At last they succeeded in dragging Marta away, and took her to another +room. Without intending it at all, they caused her great harm. The +unhappy girl had not sufficiently mastered her grief; by taking her away +they choked the fountain of her tears, and they did not flow again. +Pale, completely altered, with eyes fixed on vacancy, she neither +listened to what was said to her, nor was willing to take what was given +to calm her. She did nothing else but repeat incessantly, in a low, +somewhat hoarse voice:-- + +"Mamma.... Mamma.... Mamma!" + +The priest went to her, and said:-- + +"My daughter, calm yourself, calm yourself. It is a test which God sends +you that you may show your resignation. Instead of rebelling against His +will, you ought to thank Him for His remembrance of you, showing that He +loves you...." + +"Don't say foolish things!" exclaimed the girl, in an angry voice, +casting upon him a look of scorn. "Is that a proof of God's love, that +he has taken away my mother?... Then that's a fine kind of love!... a +fine kind of love ... a fine kind of love!" + +Marta kept repeating the expression over and over again for some time, +in a tone of irritation. When she had calmed down a little the priest +said once more,-- + +"My daughter, you should take example of your sister. She feels her +misfortune as much as you, but she is giving proof of Christian +resignation and fortitude.... She does not rebel: she acknowledges the +working of the Almighty hand, and with her prayers is contributing to +the greater happiness and glory of her who is no more." + +Marta saw that the priest was right; she repented of her anger and hung +her head, murmuring,-- + +"Oh, my sister is a saint!" + +"You also can be one, my daughter. The road to perfection is open to all +who wish to follow it...." + +The girl received the counsels of the priest and of the others who were +with him, but did not answer a word. She continued in the same way, not +moving a finger, her face pale and distorted, and her eyes fixed. Her +indifference began to cause them anxiety, and they told her father. The +instant Don Mariano entered the room, she felt a shock, and suddenly +jumping up she threw herself into his arms sobbing bitterly. She was +saved. + +The friends of the family, by dint of strong pressure, made Don Mariano +and Martita go and rest for a few minutes, while the proper arrangements +were made for laying out the body and for the funeral. Maria remained +praying in her mother's room. The pale rays of the dawn found her still +on her knees, with her face turned to heaven. The wax tapers which she +herself had taken care to place around the deathbed were burning +funereally, their crude yellow beams struggling with the languid light +pouring into the room. No one dared to call her from her devout +meditations; those who penetrated into the dressing-room and saw her in +that attitude, whispered a few words of surprise, and retired silently +with emotion and admiration. + +Finally, all the outside people went away, and Maria shut herself in her +room to take the rest which she so much needed, after the cruel series +of changes and the great labors that she had undergone during the last +few hours. At noon the father and his two daughters met in the +dining-room, to begin the melancholy meal which all who have experienced +a family affliction will recall with horror: a meal in which tears +mingle with the food, and sobs fill the long intervals of silence. At +this first meal scarcely any one spoke; no one ventured to lift his eyes +lest they should meet those of the others, and only furtive, +grief-stricken glances were cast at the place left vacant by the being +who had just fled from this world forever. The courses were eaten +mechanically, without appetite, and handkerchiefs were lifted to the +eyes oftener than napkins to the lips; the rattle of the dishes cruelly +wounded their ears, and the rare words exchanged fell from their lips +tremulously and without animation. The spirit protested dumbly against +the brutal necessity imposed upon it by the body, obliging it, by such a +wretched act, to give over the expression of its bitter grief and break +the current of its melancholy thoughts. + +They arose from the table in the same silence. Maria shut herself in her +room again. Don Mariano, accompanied by Martita, likewise went to his. +They sat down together on a sofa, with their arms closely clasped about +each other for the larger part of the afternoon; the caresses which they +bestowed upon each other gradually changed their desperate sorrow into a +most tender feeling, melting into tears. They took turns in consoling +each other; the girl declared that her mother in heaven would be on the +watch for them all, and promised to be always good and prudent, and +never to cause her father sorrow; the father pressed her to his heart, +and blessed her mother for having given him such good and beautiful +daughters. When a servant came to tell them of the call of some ladies, +they felt an unspeakable annoyance, a painful impression, as though +they had been wakened from some melancholy sweet sorrow to plunge into +despair again. + +Don Mariano suspected the motive of the call. They wanted to distract +their attention, so that they might not notice the noise made by the men +in carrying the body from the house. And, in fact, a group of ladies and +a few gentlemen endeavored, by repeated entreaties, to persuade them to +go to more retired apartments; but their efforts, as far as Don Mariano +was concerned, were in vain; he strenuously urged his friends, in a tone +which gave no chance for reply, to leave him alone as they had done, but +to take Martita with them. + +Alone with his grief the Seor de Elorza felt more keenly his loss and +more deeply his misfortune. In youth there is scarcely any loss that is +not reparable; the passions, the feelings are more intense, but at the +same time more transitory. One lives for the future, and through the +darkest and most furious storms there never fails to shine some bright +spot, promising consolation. But at the age which our caballero had +reached hope is no more; the future exists not. Every misfortune +undergone is a new pain, coming to join those that are past, and waiting +for those that are to come: the affections which perish, like the hair +that falls, find no substitute. Don Mariano, with eyes closed and head +sadly bent upon his breast, let his thoughts fly back over all the +events of his long life, and in all of them, whether fortunate or +unlucky, he saw the image of his wife, the inseparable companion of his +manhood. He saw her awakening in his youthful heart a passion at once +tender and ardent: beautiful and pure as an angel, with delicate oval +face and blue eyes, looking at him with love. He remembered perfectly +the few times when he had had lover's quarrels with her, and the little +reason that there had been for almost all of them. Gertrudis had such a +peaceable disposition and such a gentle nature. It always ended in +making her weep. He saw her on the day of his marriage, in her black +satin (she was still in mourning for her father, the Marqus de +Revollar) with which the fairness of her complexion and the gold of her +hair made a dazzling contrast. A distinguished gentleman of Madrid, +present at the wedding, taking him into a corner of the drawing-room, +said to him: "Elorza, you are marrying one of the most beautiful women +of Spain. I tell you so, and I have seen many in my life." The same day +he started on a journey through foreign lands. He remembered, as though +it were but yesterday, the intoxicating, ineffable impression, perhaps +the sweetest and most blissful of his life, that he felt when he +suddenly found himself alone with his beloved, as the coachman whipped +up his horses, and they heard the farewells of the relations and +friends, who sped them from the door of the palace of Revollar. How the +poor little girl blushed when she realized that they were alone, and she +in her lover's power! But he was polite and generous. He merely asked +for one hand, and raised it timidly to his lips. All the enchanting +details of that journey were imprinted on the Seor de Elorza's memory. +Then he remembered the strange sensation of pleasure and surprise which +he felt at the birth of his first child, and the deliciously cruel +impression which his wife made upon him, by keeping him rigorously away +from her during those moments of anguish. But, ay! in a short time poor +Gertrudis became an invalid, and never recovered perfect health. In +spite of this, his love for her had never grown cool; he took the +greatest care of her, endeavoring, by all the means in his power, to +alleviate her sufferings. She appreciated his sacrifices, seeing in him +a Providence who always soothed her by his caresses. Even after many +years had gone by, and when no one at all took any notice of the good +lady's tribulations, still Don Mariano was the one who pitied her most, +though he made believe look upon her attacks with disdain, and she +comprehended it perfectly, and she still reserved for him in her heart +the same privileged place as in her youth. The harmony of generous, warm +sentiments in both, the affection which they had lavished upon their +daughters, the deep esteem which they mutually felt, and the ever vivid +recollection of their passionate loves, had been so woven into life that +neither of them understood it without being side by side. It was the +intimate, perfect, and absolute union ordained by God, such as men +rarely heed. + +A melancholy, ominous noise, heard through the walls of his room, caused +him to raise his head, and fix his eyes on space. Yes, there could be no +doubt; they were carrying her away, carrying her away. Don Mariano flung +himself, face down, on the sofa, and hid his face in the cushions to +choke his sobs. + +"My wife! wife of my heart!... They are carrying you away ... carrying +you away forever!... Ay! how terrible!" + +And the good caballero's tears soaked through the texture of the damask, +and his athletic form shook convulsively because of his sobs. Then he +felt a great curiosity, that terrible curiosity which exerts a +fascination at such moments, and leaves an indelible mark on the memory +of him who has satisfied it. He waited attentively and soon heard the +heavy shuffling of feet, and after a little the funereal, heart-rending +song of the clergy almost under the balconies. Then he got up quickly, +and cautiously lifted one of the curtains. And he saw the coffin, the +black, gilded coffin, borne like a boat above the throng. The sky was +cloudy and gray, leaving the great plaza of Nieva in shadow. The surging +multitude extended to the farthest corners, moving with a slow and +measured tread. And the boat, preceded by a great silver cross between +two lighted candles, was borne away, carrying from him for evermore his +treasure. + +He let the curtain drop and once more flung himself on the sofa, +muttering incoherent words. He knew not how long he remained thus. The +light was fading, leaving the room in shadow, and everything was +silent.... Everything except his thoughts, which spoke to him +ceaselessly, and the sobs which broke from his breast. + +And thus he remained a long time, a long time. At last he perceived that +the door of his room was softly opening; he turned his head and saw his +daughter Maria. She came and sat silently beside him. But he, as though +having a presentiment of a new sorrow, asked her no question, said +nothing. He merely took her hand and closed his eyes again. + +"Papa," said the young woman after a long period of silence, "we have +suffered a fearful misfortune, one of those misfortunes which cause even +the most sceptical to turn their eyes to heaven in search of +consolation. God alone possesses the key to them; He knows their reason, +and is able to turn them into a result advantageous for us. This +misfortune has confirmed me in a resolution which I made some time +since, to consecrate myself to God forever.... I know by a thousand +signs that He calls me, and I should be truly ungrateful if I did not +obey His call.... I am useless in the world.... All its amusements weary +me; thus, then, I make no sacrifice in confining myself in a +convent.... Besides, there I can better pray for you and be more useful +to you than here.... The idea of matrimony, which you have desired for +me, is repugnant to my heart, where fortunately there has sprung up +another and purer love which is immortal.... This resolution ought not +to surprise you.... I believe that you ought not to feel it.... At this +solemn moment in which afflictions weigh down upon you, perhaps it may +be a consolation to you to know that you are going to have a daughter +safeguarded from all deceit, from all disloyalty, who is living happily +in the service of God and praying for you." + +Maria had spoken with frequent pauses, as though she expected her father +to interrupt her. But she ended, and still there passed a long period of +silence without his opening his lips. At last the young woman asked him, +timidly,-- + +"Have you nothing to say to me, papa?" + +"Nothing," he replied, without looking at her. + +"But do you give me your consent to do as I said?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I knew you would!... You are so good ... and sufficiently +religious.... You are not like other fathers who are blinded, and would +rather their daughters were exposed to the dangers of the world than be +forever servants of the Lord, in the safe precincts of a holy house.... +Thanks, papa, thanks.... I was afraid ... it is true, I was afraid that +you would not approve my resolution.... But God has touched your +heart.... Now I will leave you.... Marta is waiting for me.... Adios, +papa!.... Let me kiss you.... Adios!" + +And the door opened and shut again softly. The Seor de Elorza remained +motionless in the same position in which his daughter left him, sitting +with his hands clasped and his head bent on his breast. + +The room remained in darkness. The noises outside slowly died away. An +immense, keen, cruel grief palpitated in that lonely room, and a pair of +fixed, stupefied, tearless eyes reflected the few rays of light that +still wandered lost in the atmosphere. + +How long did he remain so? + +Perhaps the little birds that came at dawn to perch on the bars of the +balconies might reply. But the pallor of his cheeks, the livid circles +around his eyes, and the deep wrinkles in his brow, doubtless more +exactly told. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LET US REJOICE, BELOVED. + + +In the small but pretty church of the nuns of San Bernardo, in Nieva, +there was great bustling. The sacristan, aided by three acolytes, the +two serving women of the convent, and a female from the city, celebrated +for her skill in dressing the saints, were stirring up a more than +ordinary noise in brushing the ornaments of the altars with fox tails +and feather dusters. They had no hesitation in standing upon them, and +even climbing upon the saints themselves, whenever it was required by +the need of dusting some carved work or placing a taper in the proper +place. The Mother Abbess from the choir, with her forehead pressed +against the grating, shouted her orders like a general-in-chief, in a +sharp, piping voice. + +"A candlestick there! Yonder a wreath of flowers! Lift up that lamp a +little more! Place the crown on that Virgin straight...." + +In the interior of the convent likewise reigned considerable excitement. +A group of nuns was watching at the door of a cell, as one of their +companions was giving the last touches to the poor bed which she was +making. She had just put up above the pillow the crucifix demanded by +the rules. A great silver waiter stood on the table, which was pine, +likewise according to the rules. When the nun had made the bed ready, +she came out of the cell, addressing a word or two to the others as she +passed. Then she returned with a bundle of clothes in her hand, and all +hastened to relieve her of them, unfolding them, pulling them, and +giving them a hundred turns. It was the complete dress of a novice,--the +white flannel tunic, the linen hood, the shoes, the rosary, the bronze +crucifix, and other things. The nuns looked eagerly at each one of the +articles, as though it were something that they had never seen before, +uttering in low voices many different opinions. + +"Ay! it seems to me that this rosary has very coarse beads."--"No, +sister, take yours and you will see that they are alike."--"I am going +to see, just for my own satisfaction.... It's true; they are alike.... +What a goose!"--"The flannel is too harsh."--"It is because it wasn't +well washed."--"This hood is beautifully ironed!"--"Hess mio! what +stitches!... that is not sewing, it is basting!... Who made this +tunic?"--"The Sister Isabel."--"Then it's splendid!"--"Don't say so, +sister, perhaps you wouldn't have done it so well!"--"I? do it worse ... +Come ... come ... never in my life did I make such a botch!"--"How many +have you ever done, sister?"--"Never did I, never!" repeated the nun, in +angry voice. "I could sew better when I was seven years old." + +At this moment the Mother Superior appeared in the passage-way; the nun +who had chided her companion stepped aside from the group, and said to +her,-- + +"Mother, Sister Lusa has just boasted that she sews better than Sister +Isabel, and she lost her temper because I told her that she ought not to +do it." + +"Is it true, daughter?" demanded the Mother Superior, in a severe tone. + +Sister Lusa hung her head. + +The Mother Superior meditated a moment or two; then she said:-- + +"Daughter, you know well that here no one ought to boast of doing +anything better than any one else.... You ought to believe yourself the +least of all, for perhaps you are.... For some time you have been very +far from humble, and it is necessary for us to begin to correct this +fault.... First thing, go and ask pardon of Sister Isabel for your +fault, and then shut yourself in your cell and pray a rosary to the +Virgin.... Afterwards when I am in the reception-room with the novice, +you must present yourself there and kneel, so that the people may see +that you are in disgrace." + +Sister Lusa bent her head still lower and hurried away. A smile of +triumph hovered over the lips of the nun. + + * * * * * + +At the same time, the servants of the Elorza mansion were coming and +going, hither and thither, with various objects in their hands. Pedro, +the old coachman, was polishing the state carriage, while two +stable-boys were grooming the horses. Martin, the cook, was preparing a +splendid collation. The maid-servants were running up and down stairs, +from the principal floor to Maria's apartments, which were full of +people, though it was not yet ten o'clock in the morning. The fifteen or +twenty ladies who could scarcely find room to turn around, were all +talking at once, as is natural, turning that silent elegant retreat into +an insufferable hen-roost. Standing in the middle of it was Seor de +Elorza's eldest daughter, half-dressed, and around her were several +ladies, some of them on their knees, adorning her and adjusting her as +though she were a wooden virgin. Great emotion reigned everywhere. They +had already put on her a costly garment of white satin, decorated in +front, from the neck to the bottom of the skirt, with a fringe of orange +flowers. One lady was just putting on her feet a pair of diminutive and +most elegant boots of the same cloth, while another was hurriedly sewing +on a number of flowers, which had fallen off. Others were arranging a +garland of orange blossoms upon the top of her head; this proceeding +caused a great commotion. Amparito Ciudad claimed that the garland was +too large, and did not show enough of her friend's beautiful hair; the +rest believed that there was no need of making it smaller. After a +lively discussion, it was decided to adopt a middle course by taking a +number of flowers, though very few, from the wreath. Frequent +exclamations were heard from those who took no share in the +preparations. + +"Ay! what an expense it takes, Dios mio!" + +"Can it be her true vocation!... A girl so young and so lively!" + +"There is nothing else talked about in town.... Everybody is excited +over this fortunate event!" + +"Fortunate for her, my dear! I don't know as I shall have strength +enough to see the ceremony." + +"But I am going to see it, though it should cost me a fit of sickness." + +Some were already beginning to shed tears, putting their handkerchiefs +to their eyes; others were whispering about the preparations for the +festival, and the circumstances which had led the young woman to take +the veil. Much was said about a letter which she had written to the +Marqus de Pealta, bidding him farewell, and exculpating herself. Some +pitied Ricardo, while others said in an undertone, that he would have no +trouble in finding somebody to marry him. "After all, if God called her +to Him by this path, had she any reason to turn from Him, because a +young lad was in love with her? If she had left him for another, that +would be different! but as it was for God, he had no right to complain." +This was the same argument that shone in the Seorita de Elorza'a +letter, written and sent to Ricardo a fortnight before the day of which +we are speaking. Thus it ran:-- + + * * * * * + +"MY DEAR RICARDO,-- + +"Though it is now some time since the course of our love was +interrupted, tacitly, and by virtue of providential circumstances, +rather than by my desire, I feel it my duty to explain to thee something +about the resolution which I have made, and which, of course, is known +to thee, I cannot forget, and indeed I ought not to forget, that thou +hast been my betrothed, with the approbation of my parents, and the +sincere affection of my heart. + +"Before renouncing the world forever, I must tell thee that I have +absolutely no reason to complain of thy behavior to me. Thou hast ever +been good, true, and affectionate, and hast estimated me higher than I +deserve. It is indeed true, that if I were to remain in the world I +would not give thee in exchange for any other man, and I should count +myself very happy in calling thee my husband, if I did not count myself +much more so in being the bride of Jesus Christ. The preference which I +make cannot offend or trouble a man who is as good and pious as thou +art. Henceforth no earthly love exists between us; there remains only a +pure and most sweet friendship, uniting us in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. +I shall not forget thee in my poor prayers. Forget me as far as +possible. Thou art good, thou art noble, handsome, and rich. Seek for a +woman who will deserve thee more than I deserve thee, and marry, and be +happy. I shall pray without ceasing for you. + + "Adios, + + "MARIA." + +Could he have had a better gilded pill? No; no; Ricardo had no right to +complain. + +While the most of the ladies added innumerable glosses to this document, +those who were robing the new bride-elect of Jesus were about finishing +their task and giving the last touches to her dress, with the same +complacency that an artist shows in laying the last shades on his +picture, stepping back and coming near a thousand times to realize the +effect produced. Here a pin; the throat a little more open to show the +beautiful alabaster neck; a few ringlets on her brow carelessly escaping +from among the orange flowers; a button that needed fastening. Maria +aided her maids of honor with quick motions. All admired her serenity. +And, in fact, the young bride could not have shown a face more joyous at +such moments. Nevertheless there was a certain agitation noticeable in +her joy. Her movements were too quick and eager, as though she were +trying to hide the slight trembling of her hands and the tremor that ran +over her whole body. Was it a tremor of delight? + +Oh, yes, Maria felt an intense delight. + +The brilliant rose bloom of her cheeks told the same story; the +unnatural glitter of her eyes likewise proclaimed it. Her lips were dry, +and her nostrils pink and more dilated than usual. Her white brow was +marked by a long, slight furrow, telling of the quick desire, the +restless, sensual eagerness hidden in her heart. It was the cheerful +eagerness of the epicure, who finds himself face to face with his +favorite food after a long fast. Over her excited brilliant face passed +a throng of warm flushes, in a vague, intricate confusion of dismay, +dread, and voluptuous desires. She was going to be the bride of Jesus +Christ and shut herself forever between four walls, passing her whole +life in a mysterious union, whose sweet delight she had not as yet +enjoyed in full. A great curiosity overwhelmed her, stirred her +unspeakably. The choir of the Convent of San Bernardo, where the half +light pouring in through the lofty windows slept in mystic calm upon the +gray oaken chairs, had always fascinated her. How many times she had +trembled, when she saw a silent white figure cross the floor and sit +down there in the body of the church. It was a sweet voluptuous +trembling, which made her eagerly long to enter that fantastic retreat. +The nuns, with their tall white figures, seemed to her like supernatural +beings,--angels come down to earth for a while, who would soon mount up +to heaven again. She was particularly attracted by one who was young and +beautiful; when she saw her enter the choir, she could not take her eyes +from her. The stern, classic beauty of that sister, and her clear, +steady gaze made an impression upon her, which she could not explain. In +her breast sprang up a certain extravagant attraction toward her, and a +quick, eager desire to be her friend, or rather her disciple; to kneel +before her and say: "Teach me, guide me." Oh, if she would permit me to +give her a kiss, even though it were the briefest! One evening a +tremendous temptation assailed her to ask her for it. The church was +empty; she looked back and saw that the beautiful nun had made her way +into the choir and was kneeling near the grating. And, without further +consideration as to what she was doing, she went to her and said in +trembling voice: "Seora, give me your hand, that I may kiss it." The +nun made a graceful sign that it could not be, but rising, she offered +her the crucifix of her rosary, with a smile so sweet and assuring, that +Maria, when she kissed it, felt deeply moved. + +Always when she entered the church of the convent she felt the same +rapture, a species of voluptuous somnolence penetrating her whole being +like a caress. From that choir came languorous, sweet murmurs, calling +her, inviting her to leave the pleasures of the world for others more +sweet and mysterious, which she had already begun to enjoy without full +knowledge of them. Jesus had granted her already rich enjoyments in her +prayers, but He would not abandon himself completely,--certainly would +not lose consciousness of self in the arms of the bride; would not give +His all to her with the infinite, immortal love which she eagerly +desired, except within that silent poetic retreat where no sound could +disturb them. + +At last the day had come for her to satisfy her desire; within an hour +she would be within that mysterious choir which had caused her so many +dreams, and would cross with floating tunic the warm sunlight falling +through the lofty windows. She felt impatient for the moment to arrive. +She was nervous, restless, but smiling. Never had she been so +self-satisfied. Her friends were not weary of exalting her virtue and +heroism; the town regarded her with surprise, and around her she heard +only praise and words of admiration. Maria really found herself upon a +pedestal. And like every one who is under the public gaze, our heroine +succeeded in hiding the emotions of her soul, and showed a serene and +joyous face. It was her day; it was the day of the great battle, and she +smoothed her brow and composed the expression of her face, like a +general when the hour of the attack has come. + +Nevertheless, from time to time she gazed with anxiety at one of the +corners of her boudoir. In that corner sat her sister, with her face in +her hands, sobbing. At last, not being able to control herself longer, +she suddenly left her maids of honor and went to Marta, and bending down +her face so that it touched her, she said:-- + +"Do not weep, dear, do not weep more; ... there is no misfortune here to +make you so sorrowful. On the other hand, think of the great favor which +God has shown in calling me to be his bride.... You ought to rejoice, my +little pigeon;[70] come, don't weep any more, darling [_monina_].... +Consider that you are taking away my strength." + +And as she said that, she kissed her pretty little sister's smooth rosy +cheek. The girl replied amid her sobs,-- + +"Ay! Maria, I lose you forever!" + +"No, monina, no ... you will often see me ... and you will speak with +me...." + +"What does that amount to?... I am going to lose you, my sister." + +And Marta could not help saying this "I lose you; I lose you +forever"--she could not because it was the only thought that filled her +heart at that instant, her heart that never was untrue; she was +accustomed to speak freely her beliefs and opinions. Marta accepted +without resistance the idea that her sister was doing well to enter the +convent, but she was absolute mistress of her heart; there no one held +sway but herself, and her heart told her that she had no longer any +sister, that all Maria's love, all her tenderness was about to evaporate +like a divine essence in the depths of a mysterious, vague something, +totally incomprehensible to her. + +Just as Maria's toilet was almost completed, a young man came rushing +into the room with the violence of a gust of wind. It was that youth +with the banged hair, who gradually had made himself indispensable in +all festivals, solemnities, ceremonies, and merry-makings of the town. + +"Marita! the secretary of the seor bishop sends me to tell you that +his eminence is ready, and is at this moment starting for the church." + +"Very well, I shall be right out." + +"I have attended to the organ-loft. I notified Don Serapio and the +organist.... Preciosa, Marita preciosa.... Do notice the blue hangings +which I put on the picture of the Virgin...." + +"Thanks, Ernesto, many thanks; I am deeply grateful to you." + +At a sign from Maria all the ladies arose, and hastened behind her down +the stairs, but for all that there was no cessation of their impertinent +chatter. The young woman went straight to her father's room, and +remained shut in it for some time. No one knew what passed within. Those +who were waiting at the door heard the sound of sobs, confused sentences +spoken in angry tones, the movement of chairs. The ladies, waiting in +the anteroom, whispered to those who came in, "She is taking farewell, +farewell of her father.... Don Mariano will not attend the ceremony." + +Shortly afterward, Maria re-appeared, smiling and serene as before, +saying, "Come, ladies, let us go!" + +With the same serenity she passed through the great room of the mansion +without giving a glance at the furniture, and descended the broad, stone +stairway without showing the slightest trepidation, as she walked along +in her dainty white satin shoes. + +And yet what recollections she left behind her! How many hours of light +and joy! The prattle of her childish lips, sweet as the trilling of a +bird; her father's somewhat gruff but, for that very reason, all the +sweeter singing, as he rocked her to sleep in his arms; the dreams, the +fresh laughter of her girlhood; the lovely sun of April mornings, +filling her room with light; the constant caresses of her mother, the +warmth of home; in short, that warmth which all the treasures of earth +cannot buy; all this remained behind her, imprinted on the walls, +ingrained in the furniture. And she left it all without a tear! + +At the door stood waiting a magnificent barouche, drawn by four white +horses. Pedro had shown his taste by decorating them with great blue +plumes, and by donning a livery of the same color. On that day +everything must be blue, the color of purity and virginity. Even the +sky, for greater glory, had clad itself in blue, and shone clear and +beautiful. Maria climbed into the carriage with the Seora de Ciudad, +her godmother, and the others took leave of her for the nonce, and +hastened to the church. + +Extraordinary agitation reigned in the town. The taking of the veil by +the Seorita de Elorza, though expected for some time, nevertheless did +not fail to make a profound impression. A young lady so rich, so +beautiful, so flattered by all that the world considered gay and +desirable! Interminable comments were made during these days, as people +met in the shops. "But didn't they say that she was to be married to the +marquesito?"--"No! not at all! there's no such thing. The marquesito was +greatly disappointed; the girl, after the strange experience of being +arrested, and her mother's death, returned with more zest than ever to +her pious occupations; it is decidedly her vocation: there is no +fickleness about her." Some looked upon it in one way, some in another; +but as a general thing, Maria's conduct aroused lively sympathy, and +over many, especially among the people, it exerted a certain fascination +like everything extraordinary, and up to a certain point, marvellous. +She had the reputation of being a saint: the quenching of all the +splendor of her beauty, wealth, and talent in the solitudes of the +cloister, was the unparalleled complement of her fame, the crowning +stroke in the process of her popular canonization. All those rough +women, who pitilessly elbowed each other in order to see her pass toward +the church, would have felt themselves defrauded, if she had wedded +prosaically, and had they seen her arm in arm with her husband, preceded +by a nurse-maid with a tender infant in arms. + +The plaza was full of spectators. When the young lady entered the +carriage, and Pedro, cracking his tongue and his whip, started up his +horses, there was a great tumult among the throng, which reached Maria's +ears like a chorus of flatteries. The people separated precipitately, +making way for her to pass. In presence of that magnificence, which only +some old woman had ever seen before, the peaceful inhabitants found +themselves overwhelmed with respect, and equally excited by a great +curiosity. The carriage rolled away, at first slowly, breaking the close +ranks of the spectators; the horses pranced impatiently, shaking their +blue plumes as though they were anxious to carry the bride to the arms +of the mystic Bridegroom. It was a royal procession; and, in truth, +Maria, from her elegant appearance, splendidly adorned, with her deep +blue eyes, shining with emotion, and her cheeks of milk and roses, was +worthy of being a queen. She was a figure of remarkable beauty, and +offered many points of resemblance to the fair Virgin of Murillo, that +we see in the Museum at Madrid. The women of the town could not +restrain their enthusiasm, and they burst out in a thousand flattering +adjectives. + +"Look at her! look at her! What a splendid creature,--a woman after my +very heart!" + +"I should like to devour her with kisses!" + +"And what a rich dress she wears!" + +"They say that it came expressly from Paris. She did not want to dress +in _tis_; the chasubles which it will make into will be given away +separately, and the gown will remain for the Virgin of Amor Hermoso." + +"Oh, I never saw such a lovely creature!... She looks like an angel." + +The carriage followed its majestic course, and the young woman smiled +sweetly on the multitude. From two or three houses a deluge of flowers +was showered upon her, and their variegated petals for a moment enameled +the white cloth of her dress; a few remained entangled in her hair. The +people applauded. + +"Woman, this girl's vocation teaches us a lesson." + +"How fortunate she is!... Who would be in her place?" + +"It can't be said that she was obliged to.... I know that her father was +furious when he heard about it, and tried every way to dissuade her." + +"Come now, she is wedded to Jesus Christ, and her family don't like it," +declared a youth, who was listening to this conversation. + +The women turned around ready to crush the scoffer, but he made off, +laughing. + +And the carriage continued on its way under the radiant sun, which made +the panes of the balconied windows glitter, and reflected on the white +houses of the town with transports of delight. The sky opened up its +purest depths, smiling upon all the wishes for happiness, all the +joyful aspirations of mortals, even upon those of the beautiful maiden +who, of her own free will, was going to lose it from sight and shut +herself forever in the shadows of the cloister. The carriage passed by +the feudal palace of the Pealtas, the ancient walls of which, spotted +here and there with moss, cast upon the street a mantle of gloom, making +still more vivid the blazing light of the sun. + +What was Ricardo doing during this time? + +Maria did not ask this; she passed by without casting even a furtive +look at the Gothic windows; on her lips still hovered the serene, +condescending smile. The shadow nevertheless caused in her a slight +tremor of chill. + +At the church door all her girl friends, including Martita, were waiting +for her. The temple was overflowing with people; they made way for her +to pass. At the high altar the bishop of----, who had come purposely to +give her the veil, stood ready to receive her. He knelt and prayed for a +few instants. The confused murmur of the congregation ceased; an intense +silence reigned. + +The prelate began to speak in a clear and solemn voice:-- + +"I know, beloved daughter, that you have formed the resolution to shut +yourself forever in this holy house, to the end that you may be all your +life long the servant of the Lord.... I know, likewise, that your will +is steadfast, and that you have been enabled to resist not only the vain +seductions of the world, but also those proper pleasures which the +goodness of God allows us to enjoy.... But life, my daughter, can be in +the midst of mortification and penance more broad than in the tumult of +pleasures; and while our spirit remains imprisoned in the flesh we are +the target of severe and constant temptations." + +The venerable bishop spoke with extraordinary deliberation, making long +pauses at the end of his sentences, which lent great dignity to his +discourse. His voice was sweet and clear, and rang through the silent +nave of the church like sweet music. He went on to trace with terrible +accuracy the details of the religious life, spreading out before the +young woman's eyes all the apparatus of mortification which it involved; +the pleasures of the world entirely forgotten, the senses crucified, +earthly affections, even the purest, crushed; and this, not for a day, +not for a month, not for a year only, but for all days, all months, all +years, until the hour of death, always eagerly seeking for pain as +others seek for pleasure. But after he had painted the gloomy picture of +the mortification, he went on to express eloquently the pure, lively +pleasures to be found in it. "To trust one's self to the arms of God, as +a child goes to its mother, that he may do with us as he pleases. To +find God in the depths of bitterness and grief, to unite one's self to +Him.... To possess Him ... and to be the beloved child in whom His +infinite grandeur can take delight.... To live eternally united to +Him.... To be His bride!... Is not that a sufficient recompense for the +petty sorrows that we may experience in a life so brief?" + +Began the profession of faith. The bishop asked, reading his questions +from a book, if she were ready to leave the life of the world and +intercourse with its creatures, to consecrate herself exclusively to the +service of God. Maria replied that she had heard the voice of the Lord +and hastened at the call. The prelate asked once more if she had +meditated well on her resolution, if she had made it from some mundane +consideration, wounded by some ephemeral disillusion. Maria replied that +she came of her own free will to give herself up to the Beloved of her +soul and rest in Him; all the armies of the earth could not make her +retrace her steps, for the Lord had made her steadfast and immovable as +Mount Zion. + +Over the heads of the faithful appeared a great silver waiter, the same +which a few hours before was in one of the convent cells, and on it the +habit of the novice of San Bernardo. The prelate blessed it. + +Then were heard the sharp, nasal tones of the organ, and the procession +took up the line of march: Maria in front, and at her side her godmother +and Marta; next came the bishop and behind him the clergy. Some of the +people followed and some stayed in the church. Near the door was the +entrance to the convent, through which they passed, penetrating into a +large, gloomy cloister, illuminated at intervals by a bright sunbeam +coming through the swell of the arches. At the end of one of the +galleries was an open door, and guarding it, silent, motionless, were +seen the white figures of two nuns with wax tapers in their hands. The +bride-elect again knelt, and instantly rising she convulsively pressed +her sister to her heart. It was the last embrace. When she wished to +extricate herself, Martita's arms were so tightly clasped about her neck +that it required the intervention of several ladies to accomplish it. +She also kissed all her girl friends, who wept bitterly, while she, +giving an example of sublime serenity, joyous and smiling, entered the +house of the Lord escorted by the two nuns. + +The doors closed. Though it was the month of August, Marta and her +friends felt a sudden chill in the cloister, and hastened to take refuge +in the church, where Don Serapio, accompanied by the organ, was +annihilating Stradella's beautiful prayer. + +All waited some time with impatient curiosity. No one paid any attention +to the cracked voice of the proprietor of the canning factory; the eyes +of the congregation were fixed, glued to the choir of the Bernardas, +gazing through the bars at the little door in the rear. + +At last she appeared. She came, escorted still by the two nuns. The garb +of novice made her look a little older. Yet she was beautiful; very +beautiful; for she really was beautiful, that saintly and extraordinary +creature. The people devoured her with their eyes, and repeated in a +whisper, "She comes smiling, she comes smiling." + +Ah, yes, the new bride of Jesus Christ was smiling, in her expectation +of the sweet reward for her sacrifice. But the venerable man who, at +that same instant, was walking alone through one of the state +departments of the Elorza mansion ... he did not smile! And the young +man who, at the same time, was sitting with folded arms, and head sunken +for his breast, face to face with a woman's portrait, was he perhaps +smiling?... No, no! neither did he smile. + +The prelate came to the grating, and said to the novice,-- + +"Thou shalt not call thyself Maria Magdalena, but, Maria Juana de +Jess." + +The novice prostrated herself before the abbess, and respectfully kissed +the crucifix of her rosary. Then she embraced, one after another, her +new companions. While this scene was transpiring, many of the ladies in +the congregation shed tears. The bishop said the solemn mass, and +finally all the sisterhood, including Maria, took the Communion. The +organ shrilled, whistled, and snorted with more energy than ever, +spurred, perhaps, by competition. It seemed as though Don Serapio and +the organ had entered into a tremendous contest, a duel to the death, +and the obstreperous consequences fell upon the ears of the faithful. +But the organ mocked the manufacturer in most audacious fashion. When he +reached the highest point of ecstasy, emitting from this throat some +complicated _fioritura_, or _fermata_, a horrisonant bellowing broke in +upon him pitilessly, leaving him lost and inundated for a long time. Don +Serapio struck out again with a tender note, sure of the effect.... Zas! +the organ, like a blood-thirsty beast, fell upon it, and tore it in +pieces. Thus it wantoned for a long time, until, tired of amusing itself +and intoxicated with triumph, it suddenly broke in with all its voices +at once, clamoring in the silence of the church with a monstrous +insufferable shriek. The manufacturer remained choked in that diabolical +roar, and ceased to appear. + +Silence reigned for a few moments, but it was disturbed by a peculiarly +melancholy tinkling. It was the curtain of the choir being drawn. +Nothing more was seen. They began to put out the lights, and the people +withdrew in all haste. + +Maria's intimate friends went to the reception-room[71] to give her +their felicitations. + +The reception-room was a square, and rather gloomy apartment, cut in two +by a double iron grating. The novice appeared, accompanied by the Mother +Superior.... Still smiling, perhaps?... Yes, smiling. + +"What examples you have given us of courage and goodness, Maria," said +one to her. + +The young woman shrugged her shoulders, with a gesture of throwing from +her the glory which was heaped upon her. + +"Don't fail to pray for us!" + +"Yes, I will pray for you, dear. We"--she added with a little +emphasis--"we are obliged to pray for those who remain in the world." + +"If you knew how all the servants wept a moment since." + +"Poor people!... I love them all so much!" + +"Here is Marta, who wants to say good by." + +"Come nearer, Marta ... Are you becoming reconciled yet?" + +"What remedy have I, Maria," replied the girl, struggling to repress her +sobs. + +"No, sister; you must resign yourself gladly, and be thankful to the +Lord for the favors which he has heaped upon me.... You will always be +good, will you not?... Console papa.... Don't forget those prayers which +I gave you, nor fail to read the books of which I told you.... Come to +hear mass every day.... Try to be always earnest and humble...." + +Ah, no! Martita would not try, would not try. As she was born good and +humble there is no need of striving for it. In this regard the bride of +the Lord may be at rest. + +The small room where the two nuns stood near the grating seemed like a +prison cell by its ugliness and gloom. Their tunics stood out like two +white spots against the black lattice. + +The friends took turns in speaking, or all spoke at once to Maria, with +a strange mixture of admiration, of pity, of curiosity, and of +affection. They asked a thousand impertinent questions and many +ridiculous requests about prayers, medals, and other things. A few young +fellows who had belonged to the old tertulias at the Elorza mansion, +had slipped in with the crowd, and were gazing with wide-open eyes of +wonder at the new nun, but dared not speak to her. She showed herself +serene and lovely, and called them by name with a certain reassuring +condescension, giving them messages for their families. The boldest was +the ceremonious youth of the banged hair, who stepped up, and reaching +the grating, very much stifled, called the novice by her new name, +saying,-- + +"Sister Juana, I want to ask you a favor; please give me as a +remembrance a few orange blossoms from the crown which you wear...." + +"If the mother is willing...." murmured Maria, turning her face to the +Mother Superior. + +She bowed assent, and the gift of orange flowers was liberal and +gracefully granted. + +At that instant the Sister Luisa, the nun who was to be punished for her +vanity, came in and fell upon her knees, but not the slightest trace of +a blush passed over her face. The habit of performing such deeds +deprived them of all worth. + +The conversation wandered off upon festivals, novenas to come, the +journey of the vicar who was called to be canon of the cathedral, his +successor, and other subjects. Insensibly all were lowering the tone of +their voices until there was only a monotonous and melancholy +whispering. It seemed like a visit of condolence rather than of +congratulation. They continued to extol Maria's courage and virtue. "Ay, +Dios mio! to think that she is a prisoner forever and living a life of +so much labor...." + +The Mother Superior looking at the novice, with a sort of half smile not +very encouraging, exclaimed, "Poor little one! poor little one! "But +she, turning around with one of those graceful gestures so +characteristic, replied, "Rich little one, rich little one,[72] say I, +mother!" + +Gradually the young men had been getting near the girls, and without +respect to the holiness of the place, or heeding the stern crucifixes +fastened to the walls, they began to whisper more or less roguish +remarks. + +"When are you going to follow her example, Fulanita? The truth is, that +if all of you did the same, what would become of us? But you would be +sure to look lovely in the habit! See here, Amparito! If you should +become a nun, I should wish to be vicar!" + +"Now I wish you would be a little more serious, Surez." + +"How long should I have to be a priest to become vicar?... the worst +thing is the grating.... Can't the vicar get behind the grating?" + +"Be silent, man alive! it is a sin to say such things in this place!" + +Rosarito and her lover had taken possession of a corner, only from time +to time making some insignificant remark roused into the category of the +sublime by the inflection of the voice and the trembling of the lips. +Only the old women, and a few young girls who had not succeeded in +finding mates, still continued talking with the nuns. At last the Mother +Superior arose from her chair, and Maria followed her example. + + * * * * * + +A man, a venerable man, crossed the plaza of Nieva with rapid strides; +he followed the winding streets, he reached the convent of San +Bernardo, he entered the court, mounted the stairway, pushed open the +door of the reception-room, forced his way through the people, and laid +heavy hands on the grating. He intended to say something solemn, +something tremendous. It could be seen by the wrathful expression of his +face, by the pallor of his cheeks, by the disorder of his white locks. + +But he let his head fall, and only murmured,-- + +"My daughter! my daughter!" + +And a flood of tears burst from his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA'S DREAM. + + +The transfer of the young artillery lieutenant, Ricardo de Pealta, had +not yet arrived. He had applied for it a fortnight before the Seorita +de Elorza took the veil. A month had already passed since the great +ceremony ... and nothing! The influential personages whom our friend had +in Madrid, devoted to his interests, this time took little pains to +fulfil his desires. + +But why was our hero so anxious to leave Nieva? Be it said in honor of +the truth, that when Ricardo asked for the transfer he was exceedingly +desirous of turning his back forever upon those places where he had been +so happy, and where he was going to be so wretched; but now, after the +lapse of a month, the violence of his sorrow had somewhat subsided, and +he was beginning to get accustomed to his misfortune. Still he continued +to be greatly downcast; the whole town noticed it. + +From the day when his betrothed had made him that horrible proposition, +which he could not remember without being hot with anger, he understood +that he should never be the master of Maria's heart. A secret and +implacable voice kept ceaselessly whispering this to him. Thus the +letter in which she announced her determination to enter the convent +caused him no great surprise; for some time a rumor of this had been +current in society. Yet, in spite of his best efforts, he could not help +feeling a quick, keen pang and a melancholy that prostrated him +completely. The more or less well-founded belief that the beloved woman +does not return one's affection, is by no means the same thing as to see +it confirmed by a material tangible fact. Not any longer did he retain +the right to lose his temper and relieve his wrath by calling her +perfidious and treacherous, as happens in the majority of cases. As the +sincere Christian that he was, it became him to look with patience, even +with pleasure (the letter said so distinctly!), upon that pious +substitution of holy, sublime affections for those of earth, noble +though they were. Maria was blameworthy in no respect,--absolutely in no +respect; her conduct was worthy of all praise, and he saw how the whole +city spontaneously and warmly rendered her their tribute. Possibly in +this thought the young marquis found the only possible consolation; for +the certain thing was, that the beautiful girl had not left him for any +other man, but to follow the hard road that leads to heaven, for which, +doubtless, it must require the doing of great violence to self. And in +this violence our marquis took a little pride by thinking with delight, +and at the same time with pain, on the strength which the new bride of +Jesus must have employed, to tear up the roots of such a solid and +long-established affection. But amid the beautiful foliage of these more +or less consoling thoughts, a sad and cruel doubt often raised its +odious head. Though Ricardo employed all expedients to get rid of such +an idea, he could not help thinking very frequently that Maria had never +professed for him a sincere and vehement love, like his for her; that +she had been his betrothed through a compromise, through the influence +of the peculiar circumstances in which both had found themselves in +Nieva; that perhaps she had deceived herself in thinking that she loved +him, since if she had really loved him, the idea of taking part in +ridiculous conspiracies would never have entered into her head, still +less that of proposing to him odious acts of treason; that Maria was a +girl of much talent and great imagination, admirably fitted to shine in +the world, or to undertake some religious or secular enterprise, of no +matter how lofty a character, but incapable, perhaps from the very same +reason, of delicacy of sentiments, of constancy, of the modest and +humble abnegation which ought to characterize good wives and mothers. +Finally Ricardo came to the conclusion that his mistress had more head +than heart, or else he did not know what he was talking about. + +And gradually under the influence of these doubts, which went almost as +far as to be certainties, there sprang up in his mind a strong aversion +to the amorous memories, which were a drawback to him. When he thought +of the Maria of former times, so joyous, so lovely, so buoyant, his +heart would melt within him, and the tears would flow; when his thought +went back to the day on which, hidden behind the curtains, he saw her +pass by his house unmoved and smiling, without so much as casting a +glance at his windows, his heart was filled with a bitterness not free +from rancor. And when he saw her in his imagination in the garb of a San +Bernardin nun, entirely oblivious of the sweet scenes which had been the +enchantment of his life, despising them, perhaps, and looking upon them +with horror, as though they had been crimes, our young friend--may God +forgive him the sin--began to look with hatred upon the bride of Jesus +Christ. These doubts which constantly assaulted him were a genuine +cautery for his passion, painful and cruel, like all cauteries, but very +salutary in their effects. + +He did not for an instant cease to frequent the Elorza mansion as +before. There he found two human beings whom he pitied and who pitied +him. Moreover, it was a habit of his to spend a few hours each day +between those four walls, and not only a habit, but a debt of gratitude +for the affection lavished upon him, and not only a debt, but also--and +why should we not say so?--also a pleasure, a great pleasure, since he +could not fail to find it so in being with such an accomplished +gentleman as Don Mariano, who had showed that he loved him like a son, +and with such a good and beautiful girl as Marta, whom he loved like a +sister. Grief had still further limited the circle of his affections. In +proportion as the recollection of Maria became less pleasant to him, the +sweeter did he find the love of that family, and he clung to it as to +the last plank in the shipwreck of his hopes. If he let this plank +escape him, he would be left alone. Alone! alone! This word brought back +to him that terrible night spent in the train, when he returned to Nieva +after his mother's death. Cruel fate sounded it in his ears when he +least expected it. Finally, while he stayed in Nieva, it did not ring +with such a mournfully and disconsolate accent, because all that he saw +and touched in his own house spoke to him of his mother's tenderness; +and all that he found in the Elorza mansion, recalled Maria's love; but +how would it be in the future?... What would the desert fields of +Castilla say to him, across which the swift locomotive would carry him? +What would the indifferent multitude in the streets of Madrid say to +him?... Therefore Ricardo feared more than he desired the transfer which +he had asked for with so much eagerness. + +Every day when he reached the Elorza's, Martita asked him, "Has it come +yet, Ricardo?" + +Sometimes he replied between jest and earnest,-- + +"Perhaps you are anxious for me to go away, Martita?" + +"Oh, no," would be the young girl's reply, with an inflection of voice +equal to a poem. + +But Ricardo did not have the power of reading it. These love-wrecked +men, these men wounded by disenchantment, cannot read other poems than +their own. + +Marta, after the death of her mother, in whose illness Ricardo had so +much aided and consoled her, once more treated him with the same +confidence and affection as of old. For some time she had been rather +cool toward him. Don Mariano's younger daughter had passed through a +terrible crisis, and no one in the house had a suspicion of it. While it +lasted she was rather more brusque in her behavior, more restless, more +serious and reserved; but at last her calm spirit and her healthy and +well-balanced nature came out victorious. Doa Gertrudis's death, which +was a more serious and genuine calamity than anything else, had no small +effect in calming the disturbances and commotions of her heart. She was +once more the same Marta, tranquil, serene, and affectionate as before, +always anxious to free obstacles from the path of others, though her own +were blocked by an unsurmountable wall. Fortunate are they who in life +meet with these blessed beings who found their own happiness in that of +others, and who offer the flowers and content themselves with the +thorns. + +Ricardo spent long hours at the Elorzas'. Whole afternoons, especially, +he devoted to Don Mariano and his daughter, going to walk with them when +the weather was fair, and staying in the house when it rained. +Sometimes, too, he came in the morning, and then Don Mariano would +invite him to stay to dinner. While Ricardo refused and the caballero +insisted, Marta did not open her lips, but her anxiety was betrayed in +her face, and her eager desire to keep him shone in her supplicating +eyes. When, finally, he accepted, the girl's joy was evident, and her +solicitude was evident in the way that she took charge of everything, +going to and from the kitchen any number of times, preparing the dishes +which she knew were most to the young marquis's taste, and keeping the +servants alert; the _beefsteak la inglesa_ (for Ricardo had learned in +Madrid to eat it rather rare), the cold fish, the boiled rice, the slice +of lemon (Ricardo put lemon on almost all his food), the English +mustard, the olives, and other things. But where Marta used her five +senses was with the coffee. Ricardo was a perfect Arab, a Sybarite in +regard to coffee. Thus it was that the girl bestowed a more lively and +vigilant care upon the preparation of this liquid than a chemist on the +analysis of some precious metal. While she came and went, making all the +preparations, the young fellow did not cease to rally her in the same +affectionate tone as of old; and this, too, though Marta, if still a +little short for her age, was now a real woman, and not among the worst +favored, either, as we have already had occasion to remark. She had +grown slightly, nevertheless. + +"Come, _caponcita_,[73] when did you stop growing?" said Ricardo, +detaining her by one of her braids of hair, as she was passing in front +of him. + +The girl smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and continued on her way. + +From the day on which he had been vexed with her, Martita had never +asked him about the transfer, but whenever he entered the house, all +gave him a keen, anxious look, as though trying to read some tidings in +his face. As it did not come, the girl recovered her tranquillity and +resumed her work, which she rarely failed to have in her hands. Ricardo +likewise said nothing about going away; either he did not remember his +petition, or affected not to remember it, or wished not to remember it. +Perhaps it was a little of all. The Marquis de Pealta had passed from +disconsolateness to melancholy, and from this he was gradually letting +himself drift on toward a happier frame of mind. The house where Marta +sewed began to inspire jocund ideas of sweet ease and happiness. + +One morning, Ricardo, as though it was the most natural thing in the +world, as though the tidings did not tear any one's heart, as though it +were some mere trifle of little consequence at issue, came into the +Elorzas', and said,-- + +"Yesterday evening at last my transfer to Valencia came!" + +Blind! blind! dost thou not see that girl's pallor? Dost thou not notice +the painful trembling that runs over her body? Look out! she is going to +fall! Run, run to her assistance! + +Nothing, the young marquis perceived nothing! He, too, was a little +pale. The indifferent tone in which he made the announcement was pure +comedy, for I know on good authority that he walked up and down his room +the night before, till he was tired out, and that the rays of the +morning found him still unable to close his eyes. + +Don Mariano made a gesture of disappointment, exclaiming,-- + +"There, my son, there!... I feel that we are going to lose you!... +However, if it is your pleasure...." + +Ricardo preserved a gloomy silence. Gladly would he have exclaimed, +"How can it be my pleasure? My pleasure would be to ask for a discharge +at this very moment, and stay here forever and live calmly near you! +Near you, the people whom I love most in this world!" But he had the +weakness to hold his tongue, and such weaknesses as these generally cost +very dear in life. + +"And when do you expect to go?" pursued the caballero. + +"To-morrow. I must stop in Madrid a few days to attend to some business. +I shall reach Valencia the tenth of next month." + +"Are you going to some regiment?" + +"To the First Cavalry." + +"Ah!" + +And there was silence. Sadness ruled them all, choking conversation, +which usually was very animated, even though it touched upon the details +of domestic affairs. Don Mariano renewed it in a sad and distracted +tone. + +"Have you ever been in Valencia?" + +"Yes, sir; I spent a month there a few years ago." + +"It is very pretty, isn't it?" + +"Yes; very pretty." + +"Many oranges, eh?" + +"A great many." + +"I think it is a very gay city." + +"No, not gay; it seemed to me very melancholy." + +"Then, my dear fellow, I should think...." + +But they relapsed into silence. Their hearts were oppressed, and the +indifferent tone of the words was not sufficient to hide it. Marta had +not once spoken during all the time, and, as she sat in a low chair next +the window, paid close attention to her crochet work. Ricardo was +lounging on the sofa near Don Mariano. A thousand melancholy thoughts +sifted through the minds of all three, and that cheerful room, bright in +the pure, brilliant morning light, was nevertheless filled with sadness +and silence. When the Seor de Elorza spoke to Ricardo again, his +emotion shone through his slightly hoarse and tremulous voice. + +"And what arrangements have you made about your house?... Are you going +to dismiss the servants?" + +"All except Pepe, the gardener, and Csar, the inside man." + +"Have you packed yet?" + +"No; I shall have time this afternoon and to-morrow morning." + +"And your calls?" + +"Really, Don Mariano, the only people with whom I am intimate are you +here.... Three or four other calls, and I am done.... I shall send cards +to the rest.... What I am most sorry about is, to leave the improvements +in my garden unfinished, and the two pavilions in the corners just +begun...." + +"Don't be troubled about that, I will attend to it.... I will attend to +it.... I will attend to it...." + +He could say no more. Emotion choked him. Those pavilions had been +Maria's idea before the engagement was broken, and this recollection +brought in its train many others, all painful, in which his wife, his +daughter, and Ricardo were mingled, bringing before his eyes the +terrible misfortunes which he had recently suffered. He hastily arose +and left the room. + +Ricardo, likewise moved and overwhelmed by great dejection, remained +with bent head, and silent. Marta kept on busily with her task, as +though she felt no interest in what was going on. She did not once lift +her head during the conversation, nor even when her father left the +room. Ricardo looked at her fixedly a long time. The girl's impassive +attitude began to mortify him. He had presumptuously imagined that it +would affect Martita very deeply to hear the announcement of his +departure, for she had always given evidence of being fond of him. He +had blind confidence in the goodness of her heart and the strength of +her affections; but when he saw her so serene, moving the ivory needle +between her slender rosy fingers, without asking him anything about it, +without urging him to postpone his journey for a few days, without +speaking a word, he felt a new and painful disenchantment. And he +allowed himself, by the weight of his gloomy thoughts, to be drawn away +into a desperate, pessimistic philosophy. + +"Then, sir," he said to himself tearfully, "you must accept the world +and humanity as they are.... This girl whom I believed to be so +tender-hearted.... What is to be done about it?... In woman exists only +one true affection.... Can it possibly be that this child is in love +with some one?" + +Ricardo had no reason to be indignant at such a thought. But it is +certain that he was indignant, and not a little. He tried to drive it +away as an absurdity, and succeeded only in convincing himself that, not +only it would not be an absurdity, but would not even be strange. But as +he was downcast, indignation very soon gave way to sadness; deep, +painful sadness. + +"Aren't you sorry that I am going away?" he asked, with a sort of +melancholy smile creeping over his face. + +"Not if it is your pleasure to go...." replied the girl, not lifting her +head. + +Confound the pleasure! Ricardo had no longer any desire to go away; he +was furious with himself for having asked to be sent. Gladly would he +give everything to exchange.... But he did not say a word of what he +thought. + +His sadness and depression kept increasing. He felt a cruel desire to +weep. He dared not say a word to Marta, lest she should notice his +emotion. Besides, what reason had he to speak to her?... Such an +unfeeling child! + +He found himself in one of those moments of dejection in which +everything appears clad in black, and he took a certain bitter delight +in it; moment, in which one (if the expression be permissible) wallows +voluptuously in sadness, endeavoring to add to it by unhappy +recollections and expectations. He dropped his head on the pillow of the +sofa, and shut his eyes, as though he were meditating. Our hero had been +meditating deeply, deeply, for many hours. His nerves had been on the +strain for a long time, and he began to feel the attack of a languor +akin to faintness. He lifted his head a little, to prove to himself that +he still had the power of motion, and he looked once more at Martita, +who was still in the same position; but very soon he let it fall again. +It seemed to him as if he were seized against his will, and kept lying +there, without the possibility of moving a finger. He still had his eyes +open, but they were as heavy as if the lids had been made of lead. At +last he closed them, and fell asleep. That is, we cannot say that he +slept, or only napped. It is certain, however, that the Marqus de +Pealta, thus stretched out, with eyes closed, seemed to be asleep, and +his face looked so pale, there were such dark rings under his eyes, and +his whole appearance was so lifeless that it inspired alarm. + +In the space of a few moments one can dream of many and very different +things. All have experienced this phenomenon. Ricardo had not as yet +entirely lost the idea of reality, when he found himself in a room like +the one in which he really was. However, there was this difference, that +in the new one the window had very thick iron gratings, like lattices, +and one of the walls was likewise grated, through which there could be +seen in the background, gilded altars, images of saints, lamps hung from +the ceiling; in fact, a real church. Looking attentively from the sofa, +he perceived that a great throng was pouring into the church, causing a +low, but disagreeable noise, until they filled it entirely, and there +was no more room. Then he began to hear the tones of an organ playing +the waltzes of the Queen of Scotland, which made him suspect that the +organist was Fray Saturnino, the capellane of San Felipe. Then, rising +above the heads of the people, he saw the gilded points of a mitre. The +organ ceased, and he heard the nasal voice of a preacher delivering a +long sermon, although he could not understand a word of what he said. +When the sermon was over, he heard a sweet song which made him tremble +with delight; it was Maria's sweet voice, singing with more sweetness +than ever, the aria from _Traviata_: "Gran Dio morir si giovane." When +this was finished, prolonged applause rang through the church. Then all +the people crowded up to the great altar, leaving the spaces near the +grating free. Something was going on there, for he clearly heard some +voices saying,-- + +"Now he gives her the benediction ... now ... now." + +And at the same instant Don Maximo appeared in the door of the room, and +said,-- + +"What are you doing, lying down here? Didn't you know that Maria is +being married?" + +"Whom is she marrying?" + +"Jesus Christ! Come and see the ceremony!" + +He desired to arise, but could not. Then the physician said,-- + +"Well, since you cannot move, I will go into the church, to see if I can +persuade the people to stand aside a little so that you may see from +here." + +And in fact, he soon perceived that the congregation was making a +sufficiently wide passage from the grating, so that he could see afar +away, over the steps of the great altar, Maria's proud figure in bridal +array. At her side stood another little human figure holding her by the +hand. The bishop was giving them his blessing. It was no more Jesus +Christ than it was a pumpkin! The person whom Maria was marrying was +neither more nor less than Manolito Lopez, that most impertinent and +uncongenial of urchins! He was like one who saw a vision! Could it be +possible that a girl so beautiful and wise, would unite herself to this +cub and leave him, who in every respect was a man abandoned to despair? +The truth is, he had reason for serious and painful reflections. But +just as he was getting deeper and deeper involved in them, behold the +same Maria enters the room in the garb of a San Bernardo nun, and coming +directly to him said, sweetly smiling,-- + +"Art thou sad because I marry?" + +"Why should I not be?" + +"Fool," says the young woman, coming still closer, "though I am wedded +to Jesus Christ, yet I love thee the same as before." + +Then Ricardo began to sigh and groan. + +"No, Maria, you do not love me; you love Manolito Lopez." + +"Come, Ricardo mio, don't talk nonsense. How could I love this urchin?" + +"Have you not just married him?" + +"You must be dreaming; don't say any more absurd things.... Wake up, +man--wake up ... or wait a little, I am going to wake you. But see in +what a sweet way!" + +And in fact, the beautiful nun came even closer still, and took his face +between her dainty hands with an affectionate gesture. Then she brought +her own close to his slowly, and gave him a warm and prolonged kiss on +the brow. + +Oh! wonderful chance! Ricardo noticed with amazement, that just as she +gave him the caress, Maria's face had suddenly changed into Marta's. +Yes; it was her bright black eyes; her fresh rosy cheeks; her dark hair +falling in ringlets around her brow. But her face seemed so sad and +mournful that he could not do less than cry,-- + +"Marta, Marta! what ails thee?" + +And the very cry that he made awoke him. + +Marta still sat in the low chair beside the window, apparently absorbed +in her work. And nevertheless, the young man, though awake, was sure +that he had cried out. All that had passed was a dream; but neither the +cry nor the warm, moist lips which he felt imprinted on his brow were +imaginary; though he were killed, he could not be convinced of it. + +What was it? What had passed? + +He remained some instants looking at Martita, while he slowly collected +his ideas. At last he decided to speak to her. The girl lifted her face +which was flushed and disturbed. + +"Did I not just cry out?" + +Martita grew still more flushed and disturbed, and scarcely could she +answer in trembling voice,-- + +"No.... I heard nothing." + +Ricardo looked at her steadily and with surprise: "Why was that girl +blushing so?" + +"I was asleep, but I would take my oath that I cried out ... and I would +also take my oath--such a strange thing!--that you gave me a kiss." + +Marta's color, when she heard these words, suddenly changed from rosy to +pale, betraying a profound consternation. Her tremulous hands could not +hold her crochet work, and dropped it in her lap. At the same time her +eyes rested on Ricardo with such an expression of fear, of tenderness, +of supplication, of dismay, that he felt a strong shock, like that +caused by an electric discharge. + +It was the same look--the same that he had just seen in his dream. + +He felt himself inundated by a great light, a divine light. At that +supreme moment he saw everything, he comprehended all. The mist that +blinded his eyes faded away, and he saw himself face to face with the +scene in the garden, when Marta seemed so offended because he kissed her +hands ... and he saw and comprehended. The strange dismay following that +scene he likewise saw and comprehended. Then he went back in imagination +to the beach on the island. The sun pouring floods of light over the +sand; the blue and white waves girdling a peninsula where two young +people had been long sitting; the sob which broke the silence of the +tunnel; then a girl falling into the water, and a young man plunging in +after her and saving her. "Thanks, Seor Marqus, it is not so bad down +below there." This also he saw, he comprehended. Then a sudden and +extraordinary estrangement: a pair of eyes that did not look at him, two +lips that did not speak to him, a pair of hands that did not touch him. + +Ah, yes; he saw all; he understood all. + +He sprang up hastily from the sofa, and bringing his face close to +Marta's, said to her in sweet, affectionate tones, but with innocent +petulance,-- + +"Don't deny it, Martita; you just gave me a kiss!" + +The girl raised her hands to her face, and broke into a passion of +tears. A thousand emotions of fear, of penitence, of affection, of +doubt, of joy, of anxiety, instantly crossed the heart of the young +marquis who bent his knee before her, exclaiming in accents of +emotion,-- + +"Marta, for God's sake, forgive my stupidity.... I am a fool!... I just +dreamed such sad things, and they suddenly all ended so well!... I could +not resign myself to let happiness escape so ... an absurd idea came +into my head, inspired by the very idea of seeing it realized.... But no +... no! I cannot be happy on earth.... I was born to be unfortunate.... +Luckily I shall die early, like my father ... and like my mother.... +Forgive me that momentary folly, and don't weep.... Do you want to know +what I was dreaming?... I am going to tell you, because perhaps it will +be the last time that you will see me.... I dreamed ... I dreamed, +Marta, that you loved me." + +The girl opened her hands a little, and ejaculated with a certain +wrathful, but adorable intonation these words, which were immediately +cut short by sobs,-- + +"You dreamed the truth, ingrato!" + +The Marqus de Pealta, beside himself, entirely carried away by his +emotions, his heart ready to burst, pressed her in his arms without +being able to speak a word. At last, very softly, very softly, with the +sublime incoherence of the heart, like a murmur of celestial harmony, he +whispered into the ears of his friend the hymn of love. Dios mio! how +sweet sounded that hymn in Marta's ears! I do not intend to repeat it: +no; the pen cannot reproduce that mysterious language which comes +directly from the heart, scarcely touching the lips,--accents escaping +from heaven and hastening to take refuge in the breast of virgins,--for +the earth does not understand them, notes perhaps lost from the song +with which the angels celebrate their immortal bliss. + +Marta listened. Tremulous, confused, she hid her head in her lover's +breast, shedding a flood of tears. Ricardo pressed her closer and closer +to his heart without wearying of repeating the same phrase,--the most +beautiful phrase that God ever suggested to man. Once the girl raised +her head to ask in low and tremulous voice,-- + +"You will not go now, will you?" + +Little desire had Ricardo at that moment to go away! Not for all that +was precious in earth and in heaven would he go away. His spirit did not +dare to pass by even the window-panes, fearful lest it should lose the +bliss in which it was bathed. Nevertheless, he had sufficient +self-control to tear himself away a moment and rush to the door, +crying,-- + +"Don Mariano! Don Mariano!" + +The Seor de Elorza, alarmed, nervous as he had been for some time, came +in haste, fearing some new misfortune. Ricardo's face, wherein shone the +deep emotion which overmastered him, was not calculated to calm any one. +What was the matter? Why did they call him? + +"Don Mariano," said the young man, and his voice stuck in his throat.... +"I have the honor of asking the hand of your daughter Marta." + +That was a thunder-stroke; but what the devil! Had he gone crazy?... +What did it mean, sir? We shall see, we shall see! Nothing; Don Mariano +could say nothing, could do nothing, could think of nothing, for before +he could say, do, or think of anything, his daughter's arms were around +his neck, and she was weeping as though her heart would break.... What +was left for the noble caballero? To weep likewise. Why, this was +exactly what he did, pressing his beloved child with one arm, and +squeezing with his other hand the Marqus of Pealta's. + +"You will not abandon me, will you, my children?" entreated the +venerable man, lifting his noble, manly face bathed in tears. + +Ricardo pressed his hand more warmly. Marta clung to his neck more +fondly. + +There were a few moments of silence, during which all the angels of +heaven swept through the room, which was bathed in the morning sun, and +gazed with radiant eyes of joy upon that interesting group. But now +Martita lifts her face a little from her father's breast, and, smiling +through her tears, asks her lover coyly: "Will you dine with us to-day, +Ricardo?" + +"Yes, preciosa mia," replied the young marquis, falling on his knees, +and kissing the girl's hands again and again; "I will to-day, and +to-morrow, and every day forever!" + +Marta hid her face again on the paternal breast! Her heart was so full +of joy! The three shed tears in silence; but what sweet tears! + +O eternal God, who dwellest in the hearts of the good! are they perhaps +less pleasing to Thee than the mystic colloquies of the Convent of San +Bernardo? + +THE END. + +_"The demand for these Russian stories has but just fairly begun; but it +is a literary movement more widespread, more intense, than anything this +country has probably seen within the past quarter of +a century."_--BOSTON TRAVELLER. + +=DOSTOYEVSKY'S WORKS.= + +=Crime and Punishment=, 12mo. $1.50. + +=Injury and Insult.= In press. + +=Recollections of a Dead-House.= In press. + +"The readers of Turgnief and of Tolsto must now add Dostoyevsky to +their list if they wish to understand the reasons for the supremacy of +the Russians in modern fiction."--_W. D. Howells, in Harper's Monthly +for September_. + + * * * * * + +=Anna Karnina.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTO. Translated from the Russian by +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. Royal 12mo. $1.75. + +"Will rank among the great works of fiction of the age."--_Portland +Transcript_. + +"Characterized by all the breadth and complexity, the insight and the +profound analysis, of 'Middlemarch.'"--_Critic, New York_. + +=My Religion.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTO. Translated by HUNTINGTON SMITH. +12mo. Gilt top. $1.25. + +"Every man whose eyes are lifted above the manger and the trough should +take 'My Religion' to his home. Let him read it with no matter what +hostile prepossessions, let him read it to confute it, but still read, +and 'he that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'"--_New York +Sun_. + +=Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTO. Translated by +ISABEL F. HAPGOOD. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.50. + +"Will make profound impression on all thoughtful people."--_Nation, New +York_. + +"A rare and veracious picture of character development."--_Star, New +York_. + +"These exquisite sketches belong to the literature which never grows +old, which lives forever in the heart of humanity as a cherished +revelation."--Literary World. + +=Taras Bulba.= By NIKOLA V. GOGOL. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1. + +"For grandeur, simplicity of conception, and superbness of description, +can hardly be equalled."--_New York Times_. + +"A wonderful prose epic, having all the charm and style of a stately +poem,--one of the masterpieces of literature."--_New York Star_. + +=St. John's Eve, and Other Stories.= By NIKOLA V. GOGOL. 12mo. $1.25. + +In these tales of Gogol, the marvellous abounds. His field of +observation is the village. His heroes are unimportant people, with +superstitious imaginations,--very simple souls, whose artless passions +are shown without any veil, but whose very ingenuousness is a +deliciously restful contrast to our romantic or theatrical characters, +so insipid and perfunctory in the refinements of their conventionality. + +This volume is the second of a series of Gogol's Works which we have in +preparation, and will be followed by "Dead Souls," now in press. + +=A Vital Question; or, What is to be Done?= By NIKOLA G. TCHERNUISHEVSKY. +With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.25. + +"A famous but crude novel."--_New York Tribune_. + +"Yet it so touches the deep realities of life that in its force one +forgets its crudity of form."--_Evening Traveller, Boston_. + +"People accustomed to think out of leading strings will be glad to read +it."--_Hartford Post_. + +=Great Masters of Russian Literature.= By ERNEST DUPUY. Sketches of the +Life and Works of Gogol, Turgnief, Tolsto. With portraits. Translated +by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. 12mo. $1.25. + +"This volume, with its clear outline of the lives of these three great +novelists, and its delineation of their literary characteristics, will +be found a most available and useful hand-book."--_Traveller_. + + * * * * * + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., +13 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Anglice_, oil of birch. + +[2] _Paraphernalia bona_, in Spanish _bienes parafernales_, are the +goods and chattels brought by a wife independent of her dower. + +[3] _tertulia_. + +[4] _buenas noches_. + +[5] _pataches_ and _quechemarines_. + +[6] _palomita_. + +[7] _mi corazn_. + +[8] _cordera_. + +[9] 1 John ii. 1. + +[10] Psalms xxxiv. 8. + +[11] _gracias_. + +[12] _criatura_. + +[13] _Buenas noches_: _que usted lleve feliz viaje!_ + +[14] _querido_. + +[15] _vaya gracias Dios_! + +[16] _licenciado_. + +[17] _chica_. + +[18] _Fulanito_, diminutive of _Fulano_, such an one; hence, little +master, little miss. + +[19] _mira_, _chica_. + +[20] _secretas y santas fantasas_. + +[21] _quinque_. + +[22] _con mil amores_, literally, with a thousand loves. + +[23] _tonta_. + +[24] _mi palomita del alma_. + +[25] _monina_, literally, little monkey. + +[26] _pasacalle_. + +[27] _pesado_. + +[28] The epoch of _novatada_. + +[29] _antiguos_. + +[30] _nuevos_. + +[31] _Dios mio_. + +[32] _novetada_. + +[33] _chica_. + +[34] _majadero_. + +[35] _un adan_. + +[36] _ayuntamiento_. + +[37] Luke xiv. 26. + +[38] + + _Ay! quin podr sanarme!_ + _Acaba de entregarte ya de vero,_ + _No quieras enviarme_ + _De hoy mas ya mensajero_ + _Que no saben decirme lo que quiero._ + + +[39] _El Tiempo_. + +[40] _Calle de la Industria_. + +[41] _Doa Fulana de Tal to Don Zutano de Cual_. + +[42] _Ez uzt mu bonita, pero ez uzt mu redondita_. + +[43] _tertulianas_. + +[44] _mestiza_. + +[45] _Ay Dios_. + +[46] _Caramba con el agua_. + +[47] La Isla. + +[48] _tonta_. + +[49] _Ay, Dios mio_. + +[50] _aaaguanta_. + +[51] _aduana_. + +[52] _ponerle en Berlina_. + +[53] _persona mayor_. + +[54] _jfe de orden publico_ + +[55 1] _hasta lugo._ + +[56] _junta._ + +[57] _boinas blancas y polainas._ + +[58] _guardias civiles._ + +[59] _fbrica de armas._ + +[60] _casas consistoriales._ + +[61] _vosotros, not te._ + +[62 1] _soplo: literally breath._ + +[63] _corazn mio._ + +[64] _boina._ + +[65] _tunantes._ + +[66] _pendanga._ + +[67] _fiscal._ + +[68] _cantar de plano_. + +[69] _chiquita_. + +[70] _pichona_. + +[71] _locutorio_. + +[72] _riquita_. + +[73] little stopple. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Pealta (Marta y Mara), by +Armando Palacio Valds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA *** + +***** This file should be named 37969-8.txt or 37969-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/6/37969/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Marquis of Pealta (Marta y Mara) + A Realistic Social Novel + +Author: Armando Palacio Valds + +Translator: Nathan Haskell Dole + +Release Date: November 10, 2011 [EBook #37969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h1> +THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA</h1> + +<p class="cb">(MARTA Y MARA):</p> + +<p class="cbe">A Realistic Social Novel</p> + +<p class="cb"><small>BY</small><br /> +<br />DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALDS.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="cb">———</p> + +<p class="cb"><i><small>TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY</small></i><br /><br /> +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE.</p> + +<p class="cb">———</p> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="cb">NEW YORK:<br /> +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.,<br /> +No. 13 Astor Place.</p> + +<p class="csml"> +<i>Copyright</i>, 1886,<br /> +BY T. Y. CROWELL & CO.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr><th colspan="2" align="center"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a><big>CONTENTS.</big></th></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Author's Prologue</span> </td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_001">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">In the Street</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_005">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Soire at the Elorza Mansion</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_016">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of<br /> +Jesus</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_047">47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">How the Marquis of Pealta was converted into Duke<br /> +of Thuringen</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_076">76</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Road to Perfection</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_100">100</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">In Search of Menino</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_122">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Husband or Soul</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_144">144</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">As You Like It</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_161">161</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Excursion to El Moral and the Island</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_178">178</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Excursion Continued</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_195">195</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">A Strange Circumstance</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_217">217</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Gathered Threads</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_230">230</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">In which are told the Labors of a Christian Virgin</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_257">257</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Pallida Mors</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_281">281</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Let Us Rejoice, Beloved</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_303">303</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Marquis of Pealta's Dream</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_325">325</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p> + +<h1><a name="THE_MARQUIS_OF_PENALTA" id="THE_MARQUIS_OF_PENALTA"></a>THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA.</h1> + +<p class="cb">——</p> + +<h2><a name="AUTHORS_PROLOGUE" id="AUTHORS_PROLOGUE"></a>AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE.</h2> + +<p>T<small>HE</small> work which I now have the honor of presenting to the public is not +based upon ordinary every-day occurrences; nor are the incidents +narrated in it such as we are wont frequently to witness. Very likely it +will be called untrue or improbable, and regarded as a fanciful +production, remote from all reality. With resignation I bow myself in +advance to these criticisms, though I claim the right to protest in my +own heart, if not publicly, against the unfairness of such a charge. For +the chief events of this novel—I must say it, though my glory as an +originator may be destroyed—have all actually taken place. The author +has done nothing more than recount them and give them unity.</p> + +<p>I have the presumption to believe that, though <i>Marta y Mara</i> may not +be a beautiful novel, it is a realistic novel. I know that realism—at +the present time called naturalism—has many impulsive adepts, who +conceive that truth exists only in the vulgar incidents of life, and +that these are the only ones worth transferring to art. Fortunately this +is not the case. Outside of markets, garrets, and slums, the truth +exists no less. The very apostle of naturalism, Emil Zola, confesses +this by painting scenes of polished and lofty poetry, which assuredly +conflict with his exaggerated sthetic theories.<a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a></p> + +<p>The character of the protagonist of my novel is an exceptional +character. I take delight in acknowledging this. But to be exceptional +is not to be less true to nature, less human. Mystic temperaments are +not apt to abound in Madrid: the frivolous and sensual life of the court +is little adapted for their development. But all who have lived in a +province will have known, just as I have, certain passionate and pious +souls, who, without any motive of a temporal kind, have renounced the +world and consecrated themselves to God. Take the periodicals, and +scarcely a day will pass without your seeing the announcement of some +young woman becoming a nun. Among these young persons are beautiful +girls, daughters of wealthy families, rejoicing in all the gifts of +nature and the flatteries of society. Is not, peradventure, the careful +study of such souls worthy of the literary man, even though he call +himself a naturalist?</p> + +<p>The motive or occasion of this book being written is as follows: I found +myself one afternoon in Don Fernando Fe's bookstore, turning over recent +publications and periodicals, when there fell into my hands a number of +the <i>Ilustracin Espaola y Americana</i>, in which appeared a capital cut +representing "The Taking of the Veil in a Convent of Carmelite Nuns." A +pretty young girl was seen on her knees before the inner door of the +convent, from which three sisters, bundled up in great thick robes of +black, were coming forth to receive her, with a coarse wooden cross. In +the background an aged bishop was calling down upon her the blessing of +heaven; and a lady, in whom the mother was to be instantly recognized, +was looking on with ecstatic and troubled eyes. Still farther back there +was a numerous group of people, pre-eminent among them being two other +young ladies, elegantly<a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a> dressed, whose resemblance to the novice +quickly told that they were her sisters. The first was sadly +contemplating the ceremony, while the other hid her face in her hands, +as if she were trying to smother her sobs.</p> + +<p>I felt impressed in presence of this scene so admirably interpreted by +the artist, and as a natural consequence I was assailed by many memories +and not a few reflections connected with the same subject, and I came to +the conclusion that it was worth while to make a study of it. It did not +deal with anything ancient and remote which might serve merely as a +theme for the investigations of the historian, but with a most curious +and interesting fact taking place before our very eyes. The enthusiasm, +the ardent raptures, the ecstasies, and even the frenzies of these souls +at once simple and passionate, who find no way to quench the thirst +devouring them, to calm the unrest torturing them, by intercourse with +the world, and who seek in the mystery of the cloister, medicine for +their ills, seemed to me a theme worthy for the contemporary novelist to +master and offer with due respect to the consideration of the public. A +certain series of events which took place a few years ago, and happened +to come under my observation, occurred to my mind, and instantly the +desire seized me to write a novel. But one circumstance proved to be a +stumbling-block. It had never entered into my calculations to write +novels with transcendental themes, especially those based upon religious +subjects. This I declared without qualification in a little line of +parenthesis which I put under the title of my first novel, <i>El Seorito +Octavio</i> (a novel without transcendental thought). And in truth I was +afraid to bring myself so soon into conflict with my sthetic programme +in a country where everything is pardoned except contradiction. But +among the honorable<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> pleasures conferred by the Supreme Creator upon the +heroic Spanish public, there is none more keen and delectable than that +of breaking the laws and programmes which they have freely imposed upon +themselves. In this particular, sybaritism has reached the point of +making itself every morning some rule for the pleasure afforded by +breaking it in the afternoon. Therefore as soon as I saw the +contradiction, the problem was solved. I will write the novel, I said, +for my conscience, so that I may have to endure fifteen literary +sessions of the Athenum without stirring from my place.</p> + +<p>The novel is now written. The subject is one sufficiently rude and +liable to be carried away by prejudices and extravagances which the +novelist who has a wish to paint the reality must avoid with care. I +have striven with all my power to bring myself into a point of view +relatively neutral (granting that the absolute cannot be attained), and +to study the theme with the calmness of the physiologist. Whatever my +sympathies may have been, I have tried always to subordinate them to the +truth and to the profound respect which all noble sentiments and all +honest beliefs deserve from me. You shall say if I have succeeded.<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> +<small>IN THE STREET.</small></h2> + +<p>W<small>ITHIN</small> the arcade the people were crowding relentlessly; each and every +one was performing prodigies of skill to flout the physical law of the +impenetrability of bodies, by reducing his own to an imaginary quantity. +The night was unusually thick and dark. The feet of the loungers found +each other out in the darkness, and when they met they indulged in +somewhat expressive forms of endearment; the elbows of some, by a secret +and fatal impulse, went straight into the eyes of others; the passive +subject of such caresses instantly raised his hand to the place of +contact, and usually exclaimed with some asperity, "You barbarian, you +might at least—" but an energetic "Sh—sh—sh" from the throng obliged +him to nip his discourse in the bud, and silence again began to reign. +Silence was at this time the most pressing necessity which was felt by +the inhabitants of Nieva there gathered together. The least noise was +regarded as an act of sedition, and was instantly punished by a +threatening hiss. Coughs and sneezes were prohibited, and still more +condign punishment was meted out to laughter and conversation. There was +profuse perspiration, although the night was not among the mildest of +autumn.</p> + +<p>In the arcades of the houses opposite, more or less the same state of +things existed; but in the street itself there were few people, because +a very fine rain was slowly falling, and this the natives of Nieva had +learned not to<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> despise, since in the long run and notwithstanding its +gentle and insinuating ways, it was like any other. Only a few people +with umbrellas, and some others who, not having them, sheltered +themselves with their philosophy, maintained a firm footing in the midst +of the gutter.</p> + +<p>The balconied windows of the house of Elorza were thrown wide open, and +through the embrasures streamed a bright and cheerful light which made +the dark and misty night outside still more melancholy. Likewise there +streamed forth from time to time torrents of musical notes let loose +from a piano.</p> + +<p>The house of Elorza was the principal one in a long, narrow street, +adorned with an arcade on both sides like almost all the rest in the +town of Nieva. Its most important faade looked into this street, but it +had another with balconies facing the town square, which was wide and +handsome like that of a city. Though the darkness does not allow us to +make out exactly the appearance of the house, yet we can prove that it +is a building of faced stone and of one story, with spacious arcade, the +elegant and stately arches of which instantly declare the rank of its +owners. This arcade, which might be called a portico, makes a notable +contrast with that of the succeeding houses, which is low and narrow and +supported by round, rough pillars without any ornamentation. Likewise +the same difference is to be seen in the pavement. In the arcade of +which we are speaking, it is of well-set flagging, while the others +offer merely an inconvenient footway paved with cobble-stones. Without +venturing, indeed, to call it a palace, it is not presumptuous to assert +that this mansion had been built for the exclusive use and gratification +of some person of importance; the fact that it had only one story very +clearly decided this point. The truth<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a> demands that we set forth +likewise the fact that the architect had given undeniable proofs of good +taste in laying out the plan of the building, since its proportions +could not be more elegant and correct. But what most struck the eye was +a certain attractive and aristocratic thriftiness about it perfectly +free from presumption, which, though calculated to inspire envy, +certainly did not arouse in the minds of the people those hatreds and +heart-burnings always excited by overweening wealth. The frowning +firmament ceaselessly poured down all the moist and chilly mist with +which its clouds were surcharged. The shadows shrowded and concealed the +outlines of the house, crowding together underneath the arches and in +the hollows of their stone mouldings, but they did not dare so much as +to approach the bright, joyful openings of the balconies, which drove +them away in terror. They gazed clandestinely into the heavenly <i>el +dorado</i> of the interior, and eaten up with envy, they poured out their +spite upon the heads of the philosophers who were listening in the open +air. The pyramidal group of loungers, enjoying the protection of the +opposite arcades, did not take their eyes from the balconies, while +those who clustered under the arches of the house itself, as they lacked +this expedient, entirely trusted to their ears, the receptive capacity +of which they strove to increase by placing the palms of their hands +behind them and doubling them forward a little. The darkness was dense +in both arcades, for the town lanterns shed their pallid rays at +respectable distances. Each served only to light up a sufficiently +circumscribed area at wide intervals in the plaza, making melancholy +reflections on the wet stones of the pavement. Amid the shadows now and +then the light of a cigar flashed out for an instant, causing a ruddy<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> +glow on the smoker's mustachios. A little further away, on the corner, a +variety shop still remained open; but the shopkeeper's shadow could be +seen often crossing in front of the door as he was putting his wares in +order before shutting up. On the principal floor of the same house the +balconied windows were all thrown wide open; through them rang voices, +coarse outbursts of laughter, and the clicking of billiard balls, sounds +which fortunately reached the arcades greatly softened. This was the +Caf de la Estrella, frequented until the small hours of the night by a +dozen indefatigable patrons. Otherwise, silence reigned, although it was +impossible to get rid of the peculiar rumble inseparable from the +thronging of people in one place, which is caused by the shuffling of +feet, the stirring of bodies, and above all by the smothered phrases in +falsetto tones let fall by some in the hearing of others.</p> + +<p>At the moment when the present history begins, the vibrating tones of +the piano were heard preluding the passionate <i>allegro</i> of the aria from +"La Traviata": <i>gran Dio morir si giovine</i>. When the prelude was ended, +a soft and appropriate accompaniment began. The expectation was intense. +At last, above the accompaniment arose a clear and most dulcet voice, +echoing through the whole plaza like a sound from heaven. The two groups +of listeners were stirred as though they had touched their fingers to +the knob of an electric machine, and a subdued murmur of satisfaction +ran up and down among them.</p> + +<p>"'Tis Maria," said three or four, hoping that the ears of the walls +would not overhear them.</p> + +<p>"It was high time!" remarked one, in a little louder voice.</p> + +<p>"It is she that is singing now; hark! and not that<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> beast of the canning +factory!" exclaimed a third, still more impulsive.</p> + +<p>"Have the goodness to keep quiet, gentlemen, so that we can hear!" cried +a very angry voice.</p> + +<p>"Let that man hold his tongue!"</p> + +<p>"Out with him!"</p> + +<p>"Silence!"</p> + +<p>"Sh—sh—sh—shhh!"</p> + +<p>"I have always insisted that there are no people more ill-bred than +those of this place!" again cried the angry voice.</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be a fool, man!"</p> + +<p>"Sh—sh—sh—shhh!"</p> + +<p>Finally all became silent, and Verdi's passionate melody could be heard, +interpreted with remarkable delicacy. The lovely, limpid voice, issuing +from the open balconies, rent the saturated atmosphere out of doors, and +vibrating with force, went the rounds of the plaza, and died away in the +mazes of the town. The loneliness and gloom of the night increased the +power and range of that lovely voice, lovely beyond all praise. I do not +say that, for any one of those clever people who feel themselves wrapped +up in the vocalism of the paradise of the Royal Theatre, the singer was +a prodigy in her mastery of attacking, sustaining, and trilling the +notes; but I affirm that for those whom we do not see tortured by +musical scruples, she sang very well, and she possessed, above all, a +bewitching voice, of a passionate <i>timbre</i>, which penetrated to the very +depths of the soul.</p> + +<p>The loungers of both arcades, and likewise the philosophers of the +gutter, gave unmistakable proofs of feeling moved. The taste for music +in country towns always<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> partakes of a more violent and impetuous nature +than is shown in large cities, and this is due to the fact that the +latter are furnished with an excess of theatres and salons, while the +former can only from time to time enjoy it. No one whispered, or moved a +step from his place; with open mouths and far-away eyes, they followed +ecstatically the course of that despairing melody, in which Violetta +mourns that she must die after such sufferings undergone. The most +sensitive began to shed tears, remembering some gallant adventure of +their youthful days. The sky, still relentless, kept sending down its +inexhaustive deposit of liquid dust. Two of the philosophers of the +gutter felt of their garments, shook their sombreros, and muttering a +curse against the elements, took refuge in the arcade, causing by their +arrival a slight disturbance among their neighbors.</p> + +<p>At some little distance from both groups, and near a column, were seen, +not very distinctly, three small bodies, with whom we must bring the +reader into contact for a few moments. One of them struck a match to +light a cigar, and there appeared three fresh, laughing, mischievous +faces of fourteen or fifteen years, which resolved into darkness again +as the match went out.</p> + +<p>"Say, Manolo," asked one, lowering his voice as much as possible, "who +gave you that mouth-piece?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose I ragged it of my brother!"</p> + +<p>"Is it amber?"</p> + +<p>"Amber and meerschaum; it cost three duros in Madrid."</p> + +<p>"I pity you, if you should get caught by your—"</p> + +<p>"Hush up, you fool you! What have we got a servant in the house for, if +not to blame for such faults?"</p> + +<p>A man who was standing nearer than the rest, harshly<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> bade them hold +their tongues. The urchins obeyed. But after a moment Manolo said, in a +barely perceptible voice, "See here, lads! would you like to have me +break this all up in a jiffy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Manolo!" hastily replied the others, who evidently had great +faith in the destructive powers of their companion.</p> + +<p>"Then you just wait; stay quiet where you are."</p> + +<p>And moving a little aside from them, he hid himself beside a door, and +set up three extraordinary yelps, precisely like those emitted by dogs +when they are beaten. A tremendous, furious, universal barking +immediately resounded through the spaces. All the dogs of the community, +united and compact, like one single mastiff, protested energetically +against the punishment inflicted upon one of their kind. Maria's singing +was completely lost beneath that formidable yelping. The listening +multitude experienced a painful shock, stirred tumultuously for some +moments, uttered incoherent exclamations against the cursed animals, +endeavored to bring them to silence by shouting at them, and at last, +seeing the uselessness of their efforts, resigned themselves to the hope +that they would cease of themselves. The howls, in fact, were gradually +dying away, all the time becoming more and more infrequent and remote; +only the dog belonging to the variety shop, which had just been closed, +continued for some time barking furiously. At length even he ceased, +though most unwillingly. The song of the dying Violetta was once again +heard, pure and limpid as before, and once again the auditors began to +experience the softening impressions which it had made upon them, +although they were somewhat restless and nervous, as if fearing at any +moment to be deprived of that pleasure.<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a></p> + +<p>Manolo, choking with amusement, rejoined his companions and was received +with stifled laughter and applause.</p> + +<p>"Come, Manolito, yelp once again."</p> + +<p>"Wait, wait awhile; we want to take 'em by surprise."</p> + +<p>After some little time had passed, Manolo once more cautiously crept +away, and, skirting the group, stationed himself at the opposite +extreme. From there he set up three more howls like the first, and the +same thunderous barking filled the spaces, giving back kind for kind. +The multitude underwent a new excess of vexation, but accompanied by far +greater tumult; everybody was speaking at once, and uttering furious +ejaculations.</p> + +<p>"This is horrible!"</p> + +<p>"Here's a concert for us given by those confounded dogs!"</p> + +<p>"The dog that howled is the one to blame."</p> + +<p>"Curse him!"</p> + +<p>"Confound it!"</p> + +<p>"Silence! silence! give us a chance to hear something!"</p> + +<p>"What can you hear?"</p> + +<p>"Deuced bad luck!"</p> + +<p>"Silence! silence!"</p> + +<p>"Sh—sh—sh—shhhhhh!"</p> + +<p>The dogs one after another were beginning to quiet down, according to +their own good pleasure, and little by little calm was reasserting its +sway. Violetta's song re-appeared, full of melancholy, sweetness, and +passion. Maria's voice, in her interpretation of it, expressed such +pathos that the heart was melted, and tears sprang into the eyes. One +single dog, the one at the variety shop, kept on barking with a +persistency that was in the highest degree exasperating, since it +prevented the<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> singer's voice from reaching the ears of the public with +the clearness desired. A man with a cudgel in his hand detached himself +from the throng, and braving the elements, crossed the plaza to stop his +barking, but the dog immediately smelt the stick and took to flight. The +man came back into the arcade. At length perfect silence reigned in the +plaza, and the music lovers could enjoy to their hearts' content the +concert in the house of Elorza.</p> + +<p>What had become of Manolo? His companions waited for him for some time, +so as to congratulate him on his praiseworthy conduct, but he did not +put in an appearance. The smaller urchin at length timidly asked the +other,—</p> + +<p>"Say! what would they do to him if they'd caught him yelping?"</p> + +<p>"Why, nothing; they'd treat him to a little cane syrup."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>He who had propounded the question trembled a little, and held his +peace.</p> + +<p>"But then," continued the other, "they haven't caught him, not a bit of +it; he's too cute to let himself get caught."</p> + +<p>At this instant Manolo raised two shrieks still more maddening in the +opposite arcade, and with the same madness the dogs of the neighborhood, +barking, took up the refrain. It is impossible to describe what happened +thereupon in the multitude of listeners in both arcades. The tumult +which ensued was in reality overpowering. A goodly number of hands flew +about in the darkness, flourishing terrible canes and umbrellas, and +from both the throngs arose a chorus of imprecations far from flattering +to the canine race. The confusion and disorder took possession of all +minds. Breasts breathed nothing but vengeance and extermination.<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a></p> + +<p>"Kill that beastly cur! cried a voice above the tumult.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, break his back for him!" replied another, instigating the +fittest method of slaughter.</p> + +<p>"That dog, that dog!"</p> + +<p>"But where is that cursed beast?"</p> + +<p>"Find him and break his back!"</p> + +<p>"And if you can't find the dog, break his master's back!"</p> + +<p>"That's the idea! his master's!"</p> + +<p>"Thunder and lightning! kill 'em both!"</p> + +<p>The disorder had increased to such a degree, and the shouting had become +so scandalous, that some of the balconied windows in the vicinity +emitted a sharp sound, and were cautiously opened; the inquisitive heads +which were thrust forth, not being able to discover what had caused the +disturbance, and fearing to catch cold, were incontinently withdrawn. In +the house of Elorza three or four people likewise peered out and +likewise hurriedly drew back, and oh! the grief of it! closed the +windows as they went.</p> + +<p>"Well now! we shall hear what we must hear."</p> + +<p>"Have they shut the windows?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seor, they have, and shut 'em up tight."</p> + +<p>From that multitude escaped a submissive sigh of weariness and rage. +There was silence for a moment as a tribute rendered to their vanished +hopes. No one moved from his place. At last some one said in a loud +voice: "Seores, good night, and good luck to you. I'm going home!"</p> + +<p>This salutation shook them from their stupor. The groups began to +dissolve slowly, not without uttering choleric exclamations. A few +individuals walked off under the arcades. Others crossed the plaza with +umbrellas<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> spread. A few remained in the same place, making endless +commentaries on what had just occurred. At last a half-dozen loafers +remained, and these, tired of complaining in that locality, adjourned to +the Caf de la Estrella, to do the same. While they were crossing the +space that lay between the arcade and the caf, an angry voice, the same +which had raised its protest against the faulty manners of that town, +said, with still more anger,—</p> + +<p>"I have always declared that there aren't any worse trained dogs than +those in this city!"<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> +<small>THE SOIRE AT THE ELORZA MANSION.</small></h2> + +<p>"W<small>HAT</small> a shame, Isidorito, that you did not study for a doctor! I don't +know why it is I imagine you must have a keen eye for diseases."</p> + +<p>The young man turned red with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Doa Gertrudis, you flatter me; I have no other desert than that of +sticking fast to whatever I undertake, and this seems to me absolutely +necessary in whatever career one devotes himself to."</p> + +<p>"You are quite right. The main thing is to apply one's self to what lies +before him, and not go wool-gathering. Now, for example, take Don +Maximo. It cannot be denied that he has great knowledge, and I wish him +well, but he has the misfortune of not applying himself to anything that +is said to him, and therefore he scarcely ever hits the mark. Please +tell me, Isidorito, how is it possible for man to succeed in curing one, +if when the invalid is telling him her sufferings, he sets himself to +work sharpening lead-pencils or drumming with his fingers. You don't +know how I have suffered on account of him. I pray God may not set down +against him the harm he has done me. My husband is very fond of him—and +so am I too, you must believe me. In spite of all, he is a good man, and +it's twenty-four years since he first entered this house; but I must +tell the truth though it is hard: the poor man has the misfortune of not +applying himself—of not applying himself little or much."<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a></p> + +<p>"Just so, just so. Don Maximo, in my opinion, lacks those gifts of +observation indispensable to the profession to which he belongs. Perhaps +it may surprise you to know what qualifications are needed for the +practice of medicine from a scientific point of view; it is my own +private opinion, which I am ready to sustain anywhere, either in public +or in private. Medicine, in my judgment, is nothing else whatever than +an empirical profession, purely empirical. I repeat that it is my +private opinion, and that I expound it as such, but I harbor the belief +that very soon it will be a truth universally accepted."</p> + +<p>"The truth is, Isidorito, that he has simply not understood me. Day +before yesterday I spent the whole day with a roaring in my head as +though a lot of drums were beating behind it. At the same time this left +knee was so swollen that I could not even walk from my room to the +dining-room. I sent a message to Don Maximo, and he did not appear till +it was dark. I assure you I passed a wretched day, and if it had not +been for some tallow plasters which my daughter Marta put on my temples +at midnight, I should certainly have died, for Don Maximo did not think +it necessary even to have a lamp lighted to see me."</p> + +<p>"What you point out still more confirms my assertion. You see how +domestic remedies, administered without other judgment than that +suggested by experience, by the results obtained in a long series of +cases, sometimes operate on the organism in a more successful way than +scientific medicine. Such a thing could not happen in our profession, +seora, where all the chances that may occur are foreseen in advance by +the laws, or by jurisprudence raised into the category of the law. There +is not a single litigation which does not find its adequate solution in +the<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> civil codes, nor can any crime or misdeed whatsoever be committed, +without provision being made for it in some article of the penal code. +And in order that nothing may even be wanting the free will of the +tribunals (I except the usual interpretation), we have as a supplement +the canonical law, which is an abundant source of rules for conduct, +though these all are based principally on equity."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly, Isidorito. Doctors absolutely do not understand a +single thing. If I could measure out into bottles, once for all, the +medicine that I have taken, I could very easily open an apothecary shop. +And yet here you see me just as I was at the very beginning,—at the +very beginning,—without having made a single step in advance. God +grants me great resignation, otherwise—Just consider! yesterday I was +as usual, but to-day, my fte-day too, what I suffer I'm sure will be +the death of me, the death of me;—an uneasiness throughout my body,—a +crawling up and down my legs like ants,—a rumbling in my ears. You who +have so much talent, don't you know what it is to have a rumbling in the +ears?"</p> + +<p>"Seora, I think—ahem—that a purely nervous state is answerable for +this infirmity,—nervous alterations are so varied and +extraordinary—ahem—that it is not possible to reduce them to fixed +principles, and so it is much better not to lay down any rule, but to +study them in detail, or let each one stand separately."</p> + +<p>It was hard work, but at last he extricated himself from the difficulty. +Isidorito was a lean, bashful young man, with deep precocious wrinkles +in his cheeks, with thin hair and goggle eyes. He was regarded as one of +the most serious-minded youths, or perhaps the most serious-minded<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> +youth of the town, and always served as a mirror for the fathers of +families, to hold up before their rattlebrain sons. "Don't you see how +well Isidorito behaves in society, and with what aplomb he talks on all +sorts of subjects?" "Ah, if you were like Isidorito, what a happy old +age you would make me spend!" "Shame on you for letting Isidorito be +made doctor of laws these four years, while you have not succeeded in +graduating as a licentiate yet, you blockhead!"</p> + +<p>Doa Gertrudis, wife of Don Mariano Elorza, the master of the house in +which we find ourselves, is seated, or, to speak more correctly, is +reclining, in an easy-chair at Isidorito's side. Although she had not +yet passed her forty-fifth year, she appeared to be as old as her +husband, who was now approaching his sixtieth. Not entirely lacking in +her cadaverous and faded face were the lines of an exceptional beauty, +which had given much to talk about there from 1846 to 1848, and which +had redounded to her in a multitude of ballads, sonnets, and acrostics, +by the most distinguished poets of the town, inserted in a weekly +journal entitled <i>El Judio Errante</i>, which was published at that time in +Nieva. Doa Gertrudis preserved with great care a gorgeously bound +collection of <i>Judios Errantes</i>, and was in the habit of assuring her +friends that if the young man who signed his acrostics with a V and +three stars had not faded away with quick consumption, he would have +been by this time the fashionable poet; and that if another lad, named +Ulpiano Menndez, who disguised himself under the pseudonym of <i>The Moor +of Venice</i>, had not gone off to America to make his fortune in business, +he would have been, at least, as great as Ayola, Campoamor, or Nuo de +Arce. Don Mariano, her husband, shared the same conviction,<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> although at +another epoch the lyric poet, as well as the merchant, had caused him +great anxieties, and not a few times had disturbed the peaceful course +of his love; but he was a just man and fond of giving every one his due.</p> + +<p>Doa Gertrudis was wrapt up in a magnificent plush comforter, and her +head was covered with a net, underneath which appeared her hair turning +from auburn to white. Her features were delicate and regular, and of a +singularly faded pallor. Her eyes were blue and extremely melancholy. +The marks of close confinement rather than of illness were to be seen in +that face.</p> + +<p>"This roaring in my ears is killing me, killing me. I cannot eat, I +cannot sleep, I cannot get any rest anywhere."</p> + +<p>"I think that you ought to stay in your room."</p> + +<p>"That is worse, Isidorito, that is worse. In my room I cannot distract +my thoughts. My mind begins to grind like a mill, and it ends by giving +me a fever. I am much sicker than people give me credit for. They'll see +how this will end. To-day I am so nervous, so nervous.—Feel my pulse, +Isidorito, and tell me if I am not feverish."</p> + +<p>As she drew out her thin hand and gave it to the young man, Don Mariano +and Don Maximo, who were engaged in lively discussion in the recess of a +balconied window, turned their faces in her direction and smiled. Doa +Gertrudis blushed a little and hastened to hide her hand under her +comforter.</p> + +<p>"Your wife already has a new physician!" added Don Maximo, in a tone of +irony.</p> + +<p>"Bah, bah, bah! What cat or dog is there in town that my wife won't have +taken into consultation? These days she is furious with you, and says +that she is going to die without your paying any attention to her. I +find<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> her better than ever. But we shall see, Don Maximo. Do you really +believe that we can accept the line from Miramar?"</p> + +<p>"And why not?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you comprehend that it would swamp us forever?"</p> + +<p>"Don Mariano, it seems to me that you are blinded. What is of importance +for Nieva is to have a railroad right away, right away, I say!"</p> + +<p>"What is of importance for Nieva is to have a decent road, a decent +road, I say. The line from Miramar would be our ruin, for it ties us to +Sarri, which, as you know very well, has far greater importance as a +commercial town and a seaport town than we have. In a few years it would +swallow us like a cherry-stone. Moreover, you must take into account +that as it is fifteen kilometers from the junction to Nieva, and only +twelve to Sarri; trade would not fail to select the latter point for +exportation, on account of the saving in the rate, for those three +kilometers of difference. On the other hand, the line from Sotolongo +offers the great advantage of uniting us to Pinarrubio, which can never +enter into rivalry with us; and at the same time it decidedly shortens +the distance to the junction, bringing it down to thirteen kilometers. +The difference in the rates, therefore, is a mere trifle, not sufficient +to induce trade to go to Sarri. If you add to this the fact that sooner +or later—"</p> + +<p>A violent coughing fit cut short Don Mariano's discourse. He was a +large, tall man, with white beard and hair, the beard very abundant. His +black eyes gleamed like those of a boy, and in his ruddy cheeks time had +not succeeded in ploughing deep furrows. Doubtless he had been one of +the most gallant young men of his day,<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> and even as we find him now, he +still attracted attention by his genial and venerable countenance, and +by his noble athletic figure. The violence of his cough had a powerful +effect on his sanguine complexion, and he grew exceedingly red in the +face. After he had stopped coughing, he resumed the thread of his +discourse.</p> + +<p>"If you add to the fact that sooner or later we shall have a good port, +either in El Moral or in Nieva itself,—for the war isn't going to last +forever, nor is the government going to leave us always in the condition +of pariahs,—you will see at once what an impulse will be instantly +given to the trade of the town and how soon we shall put Sarri into the +shade."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, I agree that the line from Sotolongo offers certain +advantages; but you very well know that neither at the present time, nor +for many days to come, can we do anything but dream about that one, +while the road from Miramar is in our very hands. The government is +deeply interested in it because there is no other means of protecting +our gun-factory. You certainly realize that if the Carlists succeeded in +breaking the line of Somosierra, they would overrun us and make +themselves at home; they would take the arms on hand, dismantle the +factory, and without the slightest risk they could set out for the +valley of Caedo. At present there is no danger of their breaking the +line; I grant that, but who can guarantee what the future may bring +forth? Moreover, may not the day come when the Carlist element which we +have here will raise its head? Then if there were a railroad, no matter +from what point, nothing would be more easy than to set down here in a +couple of hours four or five thousand men—"</p> + +<p>"In the first place, Don Maximo, a military railroad,<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a> as you yourself +confess that the one from Miramar is to be, is not such as we have the +right to ask of the nation. We need a genuine railroad, suitable for the +promotion of our interests, and not to serve merely for the protection +of a factory. Just consider that it is a work to last for all time, and +that if from its very inception it suffers from a gross mistake, this +mistake will hang forever over our town. In the second place, the +Carlists will never get beyond Somosierra. As to their raising their +heads here, you understand perfectly well that it is impossible because +they have very few elements to rely on—and, as to their doing this—"</p> + +<p>"I have reason to believe that they are! We must be on the watch, and +not be found napping. And, as a final reason, a sparrow in the hand is +worth more than a hundred flying.—But tell me, Don Mariano, to change +the subject, have the stables been put in order yet?"</p> + +<p>Don Mariano, instead of replying, felt in all the pockets of his coat +with a distracted air, and not finding what he was looking for, turned +towards a corner of the room.</p> + +<p>"Martita, come here!"</p> + +<p>A young girl who was seated at one end of a sofa, not talking to +anybody, came running to him. She might have been thirteen or fourteen +years old, but the proportions of a woman grown were very distinctly +observable in her. Nevertheless, she wore short dresses. She had a light +complexion, with black hair and eyes, but her countenance did not offer +the exasperating expression so commonly met with in faces of that kind. +The features could not have been more regular and their <i>tout ensemble</i> +could not have been more harmonious; nevertheless, her beauty lacked +animation. It was what is commonly called a cold face.<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a></p> + +<p>"Listen, daughter: go to my room, open the second drawer on the +left-hand side of my writing-table, and bring me the cigar-case which +you'll find there."</p> + +<p>The girl went off on the run, and quickly returned with the article.</p> + +<p>"Let us go and have a smoke in the dining-room," said Don Mariano, +taking Don Maximo by the arm.</p> + +<p>And the two left the parlor by one of the side doors.</p> + +<p>Marta sat down again in the same place. The ladies on one side were +engaged in lively conversation, but she took no share in it. She kept +her seat, casting her eyes indifferently from one part of the parlor to +the other, now resting them on one group of bystanders, now on another, +and more particularly dwelling on the pianist, who at that moment was +executing an arrangement of <i>Semiramide</i>.</p> + +<p>Scarcely ever had the parlors of the Elorza mansion presented a more +brilliant appearance; all the sofas of flowered damask were occupied by +richly dressed ladies with bare arms and bosoms. The chandelier +suspended from the middle, reflected the light in beautiful hues which +fell upon smooth skins, making them look like milk and roses. Those fair +bosoms were infinitely multiplied by the mirrors on both sides: the +severe bottle-green paper of the parlor brought out all their whiteness. +Marta turned to look at the Seoras de Delgado; three sisters: one, a +widow, the other two, old maids. All were upwards of forty; the old +maids did not trust to their youthfulness, but they had absolute +confidence in the power of their shining shoulders and their fat and +unctuous arms. Near them was the Seorita de Mor, round-faced, +sprightly, with mischievous eyes, an orphan and rich. At a little +distance was the Seora de Ciudad, napping peacefully until the hour +should come for her to collect the six<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> daughters whom she had scattered +about in different parts of the parlor. Yonder in a corner her sister +Maria was holding a confidential talk with a young man. The girl's eyes +wandered slowly from one point to another. The music interested her very +slightly. She seemed to be sure of not being noticed by any one, and her +face kept the icy expression of indifference of one alone in a room.</p> + +<p>The gentlemen in black dress-coats properly buttoned, languidly +clustered about the doors of the library and dining-room, staring +persistently at the arms and bosoms occupying the sofas. Others stood +behind the piano, waiting till a period of silence gave them time to +express by subdued exclamations the admiration with which their souls +were overflowing. Only a very few, well beloved by fortune, had received +the flattering compliment of having some lady calm with her hand the +exuberant inclinations of her silken skirts and make a bit of room for +them beside her. Puffed up with such a privilege, they gesticulated +without ceasing, and spread their talents for the sake of entertaining +the magnanimous seora, and the three or four other ladies who took part +in the conversation. The torrent of demisemiquavers and double +demisemiquavers pouring from the piano which was situated in one corner +of the parlor, filled its neighborhood and entirely quenched the buzzing +of the conversation. At times, however, when in some passage the +pianist's fingers struck the keys softly, the distressing clatter of the +opening and shutting of fans was heard, and above the dull, confused +murmur of the thoughtless chatterers some word or entire sentence would +suddenly become perceptible, making those who were drawn up behind the +piano shake their heads in disgust. The heat was intense, although the +balconied windows were thrown open.<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> The atmosphere was stifling and +heavy with an indistinct and disagreeable odor, compounded of the +perfume of pomades and colognes and the effluvia of perspiring bodies. +In this confusion of smells pre-eminent was the sharp scent of +rice-powder.</p> + +<p>Doa Gertrudis according to her daily habit had gone sound asleep in her +easy-chair. She asserted an invalid's right, and no one took it amiss. +Isidorito, getting up noiselessly, went and stood by the library door. +From that impregnable coigne of vantage he began to shoot long, deep, +and passionate glances upon the Seorita de Mor, who received the fires +of the battery with heroic calmness. Isidorito had been in love with the +Seorita de Mor ever since he knew what dowry and paraphernalia<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +meant, rousing the admiration of the whole town by his loyalty. This +passion had taken such possession of his soul that never had he been +known to exchange a word with or speed an incendiary look towards any +other woman except the seorita aforesaid. But Isidorito, contrary to +what might have been believed, considering his vast legal attainments +and his gravity no less vast, met with a slight contrariety in his +love-making. Seorita de Mor was in the habit of lavishing fascinating +smiles on everybody, of squandering warm and languishing glances on all +the young men of the community; all—except Isidorito. This +incomprehensible conduct did not fail to cause him some disquietude, +compelling him to meditate often on the shrewdness of the Roman +legislators who were always unwilling to grant women legal capacity. He +had lately been appointed municipal attorney of the district, and this, +by the authority conferred upon him, gave him great<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> prestige among his +fellow-citizens. But, indeed, the Seorita de Mor, far from allowing +herself to be fascinated by her suitor's new position, seemed to regard +his appointment as ridiculous, judging by the pains she took from that +time forth to avoid all visual communication with him. Still our young +friend was not going to be cast down by these clouds, which are so +common among lovers, and he continued to lay siege to the restless +damsel's chubby face and three thousand duros income, sometimes by means +of learned discourses, and sometimes by languishing and romantic +actions.</p> + +<p>At one side of Marta a certain young engineer who had just arrived from +Madrid, turned the listening circle (<i>tertulia</i>) gathered around him +into an Eden by his wheedling and graceful conversation. It was a +tertulia, or <i>petit comit</i>, as the engineer called it, consisting +exclusively of ladies, the nucleus of which was made up by three of the +De Ciudad girls.</p> + +<p>"That's only one of your gallant speeches, Surez," said one lady.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," echoed several.</p> + +<p>"It is absolute truth, and whoever has lived here any length of time +will say so. In Madrid there's no halfway about it; the women are either +perfectly beautiful or perfectly hideous. That union of charming and +attractive faces which I see here is not to be found there; and so don't +let it surprise you when I tell you that the hideous are much more +numerous than the beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Oh, pshaw! Madrid is where the prettiest women are to be seen, and +especially the most elegant."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that is quite a different matter; elegant, certainly; but pretty, I +don't agree with you!"</p> + +<p>"It is so, though you don't agree with us!"<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a></p> + +<p>"Ladies, there is one reason why you are more beautiful than the +Madrileas; it is a reason which can be better appreciated by those who, +like myself, have devoted themselves to the fine arts: here there is +color and form, and there they do not exist. By good fortune, this very +evening, I have the opportunity of noticing it and of making +comparisons, which show most favorably for you. Now that we are allowed +to contemplate what is ordinarily draped with great care, I can take my +oath that you have those beautiful forms which we admire so much in +Grecian statues and Flemish paintings, soft, white, transparent; while +if you enter a Madrid drawing-room, you don't stumble upon anything else +than skeletons in ball dresses—"</p> + +<p>The ladies broke into laughter, hiding their faces behind their fans.</p> + +<p>"What a tongue, what a tongue you have, Surez!"</p> + +<p>"It only serves me to tell the truth. The Madrid girls have the effect +upon me of shadow-pantomimes. In you I find visible, palpable, and even +delectable beings—"</p> + +<p>Marta noticed that the wax of a candelabrum was burning out, and that +the glass socket was in danger of cracking. She got up and went to puff +it out. Then when she sat down again, she took a different position.</p> + +<p>The pianist ended his fantasy without stumbling. The conversations +stopped abruptly; some clapped their hands, and others said, "Very good, +very good." No one had been listening to him, but the pianist felt +himself rewarded for his fatigues, and raising his blushing face above +the piano, he acknowledged his thanks to the company with a triumphant +smile. A young fellow who wore his hair banged like the dandies of +Madrid,<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> profited by this blissful moment to beg him to play a +waltz-polka.</p> + +<p>At the very first chords an extraordinary commotion was observable among +the young men near the doors, who were evidently suffering from lack of +exercise. A few began to draw on their gloves hastily; others smoothed +back their hair with their hands, and straightened their cravats. One +asked, with constrained voice,—</p> + +<p>"It's a mazurka, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"No, a waltz-polka."</p> + +<p>"What! a waltz-polka?"</p> + +<p>"Can't you tell by your ears?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes. You're right. But then, seor, this wretched fellow at the +piano will prevent me from dancing with Rosario this evening."</p> + +<p>All seemed restless and nervous as though they were about to pass +through the fire. The boldest crossed the drawing-room with rapid steps, +and joined the young ladies, hiding their trepidation behind a +supercilious smile. As soon as the seorita who had been invited stood +up and took the proffered arm, they began to feel that they were masters +of themselves. Others, less courageous, gave three or four long pulls to +their cigars, puffing the smoke out toward the entry, and having keyed +themselves up to the right pitch, slowly directed their steps to some +young lady less fascinating than the others, receiving for their +attention a smile full of tender promises. The more cowardly struggled a +long while with their gloves, and finally had to ask some grave seor to +fasten the buttons for them. When this operation was finished, and they +were ready to dance, they discovered that there were no girls sitting +down. Thereupon they resigned themselves to dance with some mamma.<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a></p> + +<p>One after another all the couples took the floor. Marta remained +sitting. Two or three very complaisant and patronizing young fellows +came to invite her, but she replied that she did not know how to dance. +The real motive of her refusal was that her father did not like to have +her take part in society while she was so young. She sat, therefore, +attentively watching how the others went round. Her great black eyes +rested with placid expression on each one of the couples who went up and +down before her. Some interested her more than others, and she followed +them with her glance. Their ways, their movements, and their looks were +so different, that they made a curious study. A tall, lean youth was +bending his back as near double as possible, so as to put his arm around +the waist of a diminutive seorita who was endeavoring to keep on her +very tip-toes. An elderly and portly lady was leaning languidly over a +boy's shoulder, besmearing his coat with Matilde Dez's wax-white. Some, +like Isidorito, did not succeed in steering, and frequently stepped on +their partners, who soon declared that they were weary and asked to be +excused. Others put down their heels with such force that they scratched +the floor. Marta looked at these with considerable severity, like a true +housewife. After a while the faces began to show signs of weariness, +some becoming flushed, others pallid, according to the temperament of +each. With mouths open, cheeks aglow, and brows bathed in perspiration, +they gave evidence of no other expression than that of absolute +stupidity. At first they smiled and even dropped from their lips a +compliment or two; but very soon gallantries ceased, and the smile faded +away; all ended by skipping about silent and solemn, as if some unseen +hand were laying on the lash in order to make<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> them do so. Marta from +time to time shut her eyes, and thus she avoided the dizziness which +began to attack her.</p> + +<p>At last the piano suddenly ceased to sound. The couples, in virtue of +the momentum which they had acquired, gave three or four hops +unaccompanied by the music, and this made Marta smile. Before they took +their seats the girls walked around the drawing-room for a few moments +arm in arm with their partners, engaged in lively and interesting +discourse. The pianist accepted the effusive thanks of the smart young +man with the bangs. At length the ladies were all seated in their +respective places, and the gentlemen fell back once again to the doors, +mopping their brows with their handkerchiefs. Those who had danced with +the beauties of the drawing-room showed faces shining with beatitude, +and smilingly received the jests of their friends, while those who had +pressed the less favored to their bosoms, praised to the skies their +partners' Terpsichorean skill.</p> + +<p>The youth with the hair over his forehead conceived the idea of Don +Serapio singing a song, and he went from group to group around the room, +making an instantaneous and satisfactory propaganda with his happy +thought.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Don Serapio must sing!"</p> + +<p>"Don Serapio must sing! Don Serapio must sing!"</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, for Heaven's sake—I have a very bad cold!"</p> + +<p>"No matter; you will sing well enough, Don Serapio."</p> + +<p>"A thousand thanks, ladies, a thousand thanks. I should wish at this +moment that I had the voice of an angel, for angels only ought to sing +to angels."</p> + +<p>This compliment produced an excellent impression upon<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> the feminine +element of the company. The masculine element received it with derisive +smiles.</p> + +<p>"We always enjoy great pleasure in listening to you; you know it very +well."</p> + +<p>"Because generosity ever goes in company with beauty. The face is the +mirror of the soul, they say, and if that is true, how could you help +being benevolent toward me?"</p> + +<p>The second compliment was likewise received with a laugh of complacency +by the ladies. The men continued to smile scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Sing, sing, Don Serapio!"</p> + +<p>"But supposing I am not in practice—I don't know how I can repay such +kindness. Besides, I have lost my voice entirely."</p> + +<p>Don Serapio let himself be urged for some time. At last he went toward +the piano, escorted by a circle of ladies, to whom he addressed smiles +and words full of honeyed sweetness, and managed to extract +clandestinely a roll of music which he carried in the inner pocket of +his coat. The pianist instantly saw through this manœuvre, and came +to his assistance by quietly taking the music from his hand.</p> + +<p>"Don Serapio is going to sing—you are going to sing the romance +<i>Lontano a te</i>," he said as he spread it out on the rack.</p> + +<p>"Oh, for Heaven's sake! it is too sentimental, and these ladies are not +now in favor of romanticism—"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, Don Serapio!" exclaimed one of the Delgado girls; "we +women in this age of selfishness and calculation are the very ones who +ought to worship sentiment and heart."</p> + +<p>"Always as graceful as you are felicitous!" declared the vocalist, +bowing to the floor.<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a></p> + +<p>The pianoforte introduction began. Don Serapio, before he uttered a +note, kept arching his eyebrows, and he stretched his neck as much as +possible, as a token of his feeling. He was upwards of fifty, although +pomades, dyes, and cosmetics gave him from a distance the appearance of +a young man. Near at hand, his mustachios, though waxed to perfection, +were not sufficient to make up for the crows'-feet and wrinkles of every +sort which lined his face. He was a manufacturer of canned goods, and a +confirmed old bachelor; not because he failed to honor the fair sex and +hold it in esteem, but because he thought that marriage was death to +love and its illusions. Never was there a man more soft and honeyed in +his conversation with ladies, and never was there a gallant who had a +more abundant assortment of flatteries to lavish upon them. He made +great use of such expressions as <i>the fire of passion</i>, <i>the loss of +will power</i>, <i>perfumed breath</i>, <i>palpitations of the heart</i>, and other +like elegancies, all sure of hitting the mark. This was as regards +society women. As for work-girls and serving-maids, Don Serapio's +gallantries did not stop with compliments. He was regarded as one of the +most formidable and successful of seducers among such, and it was a +matter of common knowledge in Nieva that more than one, and more than +two, had had seriously to complain of his behavior, so that it brought +about his head a tremendous scandal which he had hastened to hush with +the fulness of his locker. As a general thing he led a regular life, +rising very early, going to his factory to attend to his accounts and to +inspect the spicing of his fish and oysters, and coming home about five +o'clock in the afternoon to wash himself and dress for his promenade or +his calls, which were not few, and which always ended at eleven o'clock +in the evening.<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> The only reading for which he cared was that of +detective stories.</p> + +<p>Don Serapio's voice was a trifle disagreeable. As one of the young wags +among those clustering about the door said, no one could tell for a +certainty if it were tenor, baritone, or bass. In compensation, he sang +with sentiment fit to melt the rocks, as could be judged by the infinite +movements of his eyebrows, and by the expression of disconsolateness +which came over his face as soon as he stood in front of the piano; no +one ever saw a face so wrinkled, so long drawn, so full of compunction. +The romanza <i>Lontano a te</i>, better than any other, had the power of +exciting his sensibility and giving his eyes an exceedingly hopeless +expression.</p> + +<p>While the proprietor of the canning factory was expressing in Italian +his grief at finding himself far from his lady love, the elder daughter +of the family was in the most retired part of the room still engaged in +conversation with a youth of a pleasant, open countenance, with swarthy +complexion, black eyes, and a young mustache.</p> + +<p>"Enrique misunderstood my commission," said the youth. "I asked him to +send me some jewelry worth something, but what he sent me is just about +as commonplace as could be; so much so that I am thinking of sending it +back to-morrow without showing it to you."</p> + +<p>"Don't trouble about it any more; it's all the same one way or the +other."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, 'all the same'? Since when, seorita, have you grown +so indifferent to matters of the toilet? I am certain that if I were to +bring you this jewelry, you would laugh me to scorn."</p> + +<p>"Don't imagine such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you think I don't remember how you made<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> fun of that hat that +your aunt Carmen presented you a few days ago!"</p> + +<p>"It was very wrong of me to make fun of it; but you are just as bad when +you throw it in my face. The truth is that in the end one hat or one set +of jewelry is as good as another."</p> + +<p>"Be it so! Keep it up! I know you well, and you can't cheat me. The +jewelry shall be sent back, and in its place we'll have another set to +my taste and yours. But let's drop the subject. I had something to tell +you, and I can't remember what it was. Oh, yes! we must write to your +uncle Rodrigo, for judging by the note I have just received from him, he +doesn't know yet the day on which we are to be married. I think we ought +to write him both of us in the same letter; doesn't it seem so to you?"</p> + +<p>"Just as you like."</p> + +<p>"All right; I'll come round to-morrow before dinner, and we'll write +it."</p> + +<p>Both remained silent a few moments and listened to the singing of Don +Serapio, who was lamenting always with a more and more pathetic accent +the solitude and sadness in which his mistress kept him. One of the +Delgado seoritas lifted her handkerchief to her eyes, declaring in a +low voice to those standing near that hitherto there had been few things +that ever brought the tears into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"What a bore that wretched Don Serapio is! he wrinkles up his forehead +so that his wig is almost lifted off behind."</p> + +<p>"Don't be so unkind. Have a little charity, and let the poor man enjoy +himself without harming God or his neighbor."<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a></p> + +<p>"As far as I am concerned he may sing till doomsday. But I notice, +lassie, that for some time you have been becoming a great preacher. Are +you thinking of entering into competition with the cur of the parish?"</p> + +<p>"What I am anxious for is that you shouldn't be a backbiter. If you love +me as you say you do, my good advice ought not to make you vexed."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't make me vexed, loveliest; quite the contrary. I always +listen to it with pleasure and follow it—when I can. You surely are +acquainted with my ways, and know that I can't help making fun. However, +you'll have time enough to preach to me all you want, won't you? Not +only time enough but space enough. You can go on giving me sermons from +Nieva to Madrid, then from Madrid to Paris, and from Paris to Milan, and +from Milan to Venice, and thence to Rome and Naples, and back by Geneva, +Brussels, Paris, and Madrid, home again. With what delight I shall +travel through all these foreign countries listening to a preacher so +devoted! How do you like the itinerary of our journey?"</p> + +<p>"Well enough."</p> + +<p>"Well enough! That isn't saying anything. One would think the subject +didn't interest you as much as it did me. I won't fix it definitely till +you have made such changes as you like in it, or vary it entirely, if it +seem good to you. I am just as much interested in going to Berlin or +London as to Paris and Rome. You can imagine how much difference it +makes to me, if I go with you, which way we travel!"</p> + +<p>"Whatever you decide upon will be well."</p> + +<p>"Let us have it decided. Do you like the plan I propose? Yes or no?"</p> + +<p>"I have told you yes already."<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a></p> + +<p>"But, lassie, what is the matter with you? You have scarcely allowed +yourself to smile this whole evening, and you haven't said a word more +than was strictly necessary. What is the reason of such solemnity? Are +you put out with me?"</p> + +<p>"What reason should I have to be?"</p> + +<p>"Then I'll ask you <i>why</i> you are. You must be, since there's no other +way of explaining the curt way in which you have been answering me this +long time."</p> + +<p>"That's your own imagination. I answer you just as I always do."</p> + +<p>Ricardo, without speaking, looked at his betrothed, who turned away her +eyes, fixing them on Don Serapio.</p> + +<p>"It must be so, but I don't understand it. If you are really angry with +me, it would be very unkind of you not to tell me why, so that I could +repair my mistake, if perchance I had committed any. My conscience does +not accuse me of anything—"</p> + +<p>"I tell you that I am not angry; don't be so tiresome!"</p> + +<p>Maria said these words with evident asperity, not turning her face from +the singer. Ricardo again looked at her for a long time.</p> + +<p>"Very good—it is better so—still I thought—"</p> + +<p>Both kept silence for some moments. Ricardo broke it, saying,—</p> + +<p>"When Don Serapio has finished, they are going to make you sing; I am +sure—all get good out of it except me."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"For two reasons: the first is, because much as I enjoy hearing you when +we are alone, I don't like it when you sing before people; the second +is, because they will take you away from me."<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a></p> + +<p>"I don't see why you should dislike it because I sing before people. I +am the one not to like it—and I don't at all. As to the separation, +that's nonsense, because we are together much more than we ought to be."</p> + +<p>"It would be a long and difficult task for me to explain why I don't +like you to sing in public. As to the separation which you call +nonsense, it's the solemn truth. In spite of our being together several +hours a day it seems to me very little. I could wish that we were +together all the time. For a man who is going to be married inside of a +month and a half, I don't think that such a wish is very extraordinary."</p> + +<p>And lowering his voice, he added in a passionate tone:—</p> + +<p>"I am never satisfied, and never shall be satisfied, however much I am +with thee, my own life. In all the years since I have adored thee, never +for a single instant have I felt the shadow of satiety. When I am near +thee, I think that I could not be more content, even in heaven; when I +am away, I think how much happier I should be if I were with thee. This +is a guaranty that we should never get tired of each other's society; +isn't it so? For my part, I give thee my word that if we reach old age, +I shall enjoy more by thy side than sitting in the sunshine! What a +happy life is waiting for us, and how long it is that I have dreamed +about it! Do you remember how one day in the big garden, when you were +eight years old, and I was ten, my dear mamma made us take each other's +hands, saying to us in a serious tone: 'Would you like to be husband and +wife? Then kiss each other, and look out that you don't quarrel any +more.' From that time forth I have never dreamed of the possibility of +marrying any other woman than you."</p> + +<p>Maria made no reply to this fervid declaration. She<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> kept looking at the +proprietor of the canning factory, with a strange expression, as though +her thoughts were far away.</p> + +<p>"Do you know one thing?"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"That the chests have come with thy clothes, but I have not opened them +yet. Both of them have on the lid thy cipher with the coronet of +marchioness above. You may laugh at me, but I shall tell thee, all the +same, that it made my heart leap to see the coronet. I imagined that we +were already married, and that I hadn't to wait these everlasting +forty-five days. I don't know what I wouldn't give if to-day were the +last day of December. Tell me, don't you feel any inclination to call +yourself the <i>Marquesa de Pealta</i>? to be mine, mine for ever?"</p> + +<p>Maria arose from the sofa, and with a scornful gesture, nor deigning to +look once at her lover, replied,—</p> + +<p>"Well enough."</p> + +<p>And she went and sat down beside one of the numberless De Ciudad girls. +Ricardo remained for a few moments glued to his seat, without stirring a +finger. Then he got up abruptly and hastened from the room.</p> + +<p>Don Serapio at last ceased mourning his lady's absence, declaring in a +finale that if such a state of things existed longer, he should die +without delay. The pianist added force to this wail of woe by performing +a noisy run in octaves. A great clapping of hands was heard, and +affectionate smiles of approbation were lavished by the ladies upon the +vocalist. The young fellows near the doors, always ready for fun, did +their best to bring about a repetition of the romanza, but Don Serapio +was shrewd enough to perceive that the plaudits of these boys were not +in good faith, and he refused to grant the favor.<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a></p> + +<p>Then the stripling with the banged hair made the following little speech +to the assembled audience:—</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that now is the time for us to listen +to the great artiste. We are all waiting impatiently for Maria to +delight us—one of those happy moments—with which she has in days gone +by delighted us. Isn't it a good idea?"</p> + +<p>"That's it; Maria must sing!"</p> + +<p>"Of course she will sing; she is very accommodating."</p> + +<p>The spokesman offered his arm to the young seorita, and led her to the +piano.</p> + +<p>When Maria was left standing alone, facing the audience, a thrill of +admiration was excited as usual. "How lovely, how lovely she is!" "That +girl grows prettier every day!" "What exquisite taste she shows in her +dress!" "She looks like a queen!" These and many other flattering +phrases were whispered among the friends of the Elorza family.</p> + +<p>Without being very tall she was of stately stature and presence. She was +slender, lithe, and graceful as those beautiful dames of the +Renaissance, which the Italian painters chose as their models. The line +of her soft lustrous neck reminded one of Grecian statues. This neck +supported a shapely head; the face fair, the cheeks slightly +rose-tinted, delicate, regular, transparent, with ruby lips and blue +eyes. She bore a notable resemblance to Doa Gertrudis, but she had an +attractive and fascinating expression which that celebrated lady never +had, whatever may have been the persuasion of the lyric poet of the +acrostics. Around her clear and brilliant eyes showed a slight violet +circle, which gave her face a decided poetical tinge.</p> + +<p>"Now Surez, you will see what kind of a singer this girl is," said one +lady.<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a></p> + +<p>"I shall appreciate her, for this Seor Don Serapio has spoiled my ears +for the time being."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Maria is an artist."</p> + +<p>"What I perceive just now is, that she has a stunning figure."</p> + +<p>"You just wait till you hear her."</p> + +<p>"That girl does everything well! If you could see how she draws!"</p> + +<p>"Haven't the Elorzas any other daughters than this?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that other girl, who is sitting down over there; her name is +Marta. She is going to be very handsome, too."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, she is pretty; but she hasn't any expression at all. It's a +common kind of beauty, while her sister—"</p> + +<p>"Hush! she's going to begin." Then ensued a silence in the company such +as had always been Don Serapio's ideal—unrealizable like all ideals. +Maria sang various operatic pieces which were asked for, and needed no +urging. When she finished, the plaudits were so eager and long that it +made her blush.</p> + +<p>Surez assured his circle<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> of ladies that she had a voice which +resembled Nantier Didier's, and that a short time at the conservatory +would put her on an equality with the leading contraltos.</p> + +<p>When the congratulations had ceased, and the looks of all had ceased to +be fastened upon her, a shade of sadness came over Maria's lovely face. +She went to Doa Gertrudis and whispered in her ear,—</p> + +<p>"Mamma, I have a very severe headache."</p> + +<p>"Ay! daughter of my heart, I sympathize with you. I, too, am having my +share of pain."<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a></p> + +<p>"I should like to go to bed."</p> + +<p>"Then go, my daughter, go. I will say that you are feeling a trifle +indisposed."</p> + +<p>"Adios, mamaita! Good night, and sleep well."</p> + +<p>Maria kissed her mother's brow, and gradually, taking care not to be +noticed, she left the parlor by the dining-room door. She stopped to get +a drink of <i>eau sucr</i>, and stood a moment motionless, with her eyes +fixed on vacancy. The shade of melancholy had greatly dulled the +brilliancy of her face.</p> + +<p>She passed out of the dining-room and crossed a long and pretty dark +entry. At the end there was a door which led to a back stairway. She had +mounted only four or five steps when she felt herself seized roughly by +the arm, and uttered a cry of terror. Turning round, she saw with +embarrassment the pale and troubled face of her betrothed.</p> + +<p>"Ricardo! what are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"I saw that you left the dining-room, and I followed you."</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>"To hear for a second time from your lips the infamous words you said to +me in the drawing-room. Do you think, perhaps, it isn't worth while to +repeat them? Do you think, perhaps, that I can give up a whole past of +love, a whole future of happiness, all the sweet dreams of my life, +without calling you infamous, a hundred times infamous, a thousand times +infamous, now right here, while we are together alone, afterwards in +open society, and then before the whole world? Come, come back, you +miserable girl—come back, and let me call you so before everybody!"</p> + +<p>And Ricardo, pale and trembling like a gambler who<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> has staked his last +remaining money on a card, firmly grasped his sweetheart by the wrist +and tried to drag her back to the parlor.</p> + +<p>Maria hung her head and said not a word. Without offering any resistance +she allowed him to pull her down the four or five steps of the +staircase. But on reaching the passage-way, Ricardo felt on his cheek a +warm kiss, which caused him to loose his captive and fall back with +horror; instantly Maria's arms were wound around his neck, and on his +lips he felt the imprint of other lips.</p> + +<p>"Ricardo mio, for heaven's sake, don't put me to shame!"</p> + +<p>These words, whispered in his ear with a passionate accent, were +accompanied by a cloud of caresses. The young man pressed her close to +his heart without answering a word; his emotion choked his utterance. +When he became a little calmer, he asked her with trembling voice,—</p> + +<p>"Do you love me?"</p> + +<p>"With all my soul!"</p> + +<p>"Was that nothing else but a moment of ill humor?"</p> + +<p>"That was all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a wretched time you have made me have! Not for all the gold in +the world would I go through it again!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me, haven't I made up for it now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, loveliest."</p> + +<p>"Let me loose. I am going to lie down. I have such a headache!"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. Let me kiss thee on thy forehead,—now another on thy +eyes,—now another on thy lips,—now on thy hands!"</p> + +<p>"Adios!"</p> + +<p>"Adios!"<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a></p> + +<p>"Let me go, Ricardo, let me go!"</p> + +<p>The young fellow, laughing with happiness, still held her by the hand. +Maria struggled to escape, though she also was laughing.</p> + +<p>"Come, let me go, don't be foolish."</p> + +<p>"It shows I'm not foolish because I don't let you go!"</p> + +<p>"Think how my head aches!"</p> + +<p>"All right, then, I'll let you go."</p> + +<p>"Till to-morrow! Be careful whom you dance with now."</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry. I am going immediately. Till to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>Maria tore herself away. Ricardo tried to catch her again, leaping up +the dark staircase, but he did not succeed. The girl said good night<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +with a merry laugh from the top of the stairs.</p> + +<p>When Ricardo returned to the parlor he was smiling like a happy man. The +light of the chandelier somewhat dazzled him, and he hastened to sit +down.</p> + +<p>Maria's room, when she entered it, was plunged in darkness. She groped +about for the matches and lighted a lamp of burnished iron. The room was +furnished with a luxury and good taste rarely to be found in provincial +towns. The furniture was upholstered in blue satin; the curtains and +paper were of the same color. In the recess between the windows was a +mahogany wardrobe with a full-length mirror. The dressing-table loaded +down under the weight of its bottles stood against the opposite wall; +the carpet was white, with blue flowers. The exquisite niceness with +which all these objects were put in place, the elegance and coquetry of +the furniture, and the delicate<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> fragrance perceptible on entering, +clearly declared the sex and the station of the person who dwelt there.</p> + +<p>When Maria lighted her lamp, her eyes met the eyes of an image of the +Saviour which stood on the centre of the table where the light burned. +It was on wood, beautifully carved and painted, with a decidedly sad and +meek expression of the face, and it was this which had led the young +woman to buy it. When she caught sight of the sweet but icy face of the +image, the happy smile which still hovered over her lips died away, +leaving her motionless and deeply thoughtful. Little by little, +doubtless under the influence of the ideas which came into her mind, her +face lost its usual expression and assumed one as melancholy and humble +as that of a Magdalene. At that moment the sound of the piano came +vibrating through the dark stairway, telling of the first movement of a +fascinating rigadoon. She fell on her knees and bent her head. Every now +and then she sobbed. Her lips were pressed convulsively against the +naked feet of the Saviour, and muttered unintelligible words.</p> + +<p>After a long time she raised her face bathed in tears, and exclaimed in +a tone of woe:—</p> + +<p>"My Jesus! what treachery! what treachery! How illy do I repay the love +which thou hast bestowed on me. Punish me, Lord, so that I may again +have peace of mind!"</p> + +<p>Arising from the floor, she took the lamp in her hand and went into her +bed-room. It was tiny and warm as a nest, and it was ornamented with a +profusion of engravings of Jesus and the Virgin. The bed, covered with +satin curtains, was white and delightful as a baptismal altar. She +placed the lamp on her dressing-table and with more tranquil face +quickly undressed.<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a></p> + +<p>Then she took a travelling-mantle from the wardrobe, wrapped herself in +it, blew out the lamp, made the sign of the cross time and again on her +forehead, her mouth, and her breast, and lay down on the floor. The +white bed, covered with satin and lawn, warm and perfumed, and full of +sensuous delights, awaited her in vain all night. Thus she remained +stretched on the floor till daylight dawned.<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> +<small>THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.</small></h2> + +<p>D<small>AY</small> had hardly dawned, when our maiden arose suddenly from the floor. +She stood motionless a moment with ear attent, but she did not catch the +sound of the bells of San Felipe, which she thought she had heard in her +dreams. She was mistaken; it was not yet six o'clock. She lighted her +lamp, and going to her boudoir prostrated herself in humiliation before +the image of Jesus and began to pray. As she wore nothing but a thin +cambric night-dress, she naturally felt the cold through it, and began +to shiver, but she would not yield, and she kept on with her prayers +until her teeth chattered. Only then she decided to quit the position +which she had taken and dress herself. Thereupon, she opened the four +windows of her boudoir and blew out the lamp.</p> + +<p>A peevish light, cold and chill, made its way into the Seorita de +Elorza's room, giving the articles of furniture a lugubrious aspect +quite different from what they usually bore. The morning chill also +penetrated them as well as their mistress, and they stood silent and +melancholy, doubtless hoping for the rays of the sun to show forth their +beauty and splendor. Only in one spot or another, as the light fell on +the varnish, there was a pale reflection which looked like the glassy, +filmy eye of a dying person. The room was situated in a sort of square +turret which was built in one of the rear angles of the<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> mansion; it +rose some yards above it, and was open to the light on all its four +sides. The tower held only two apartments,—Maria's, composed of boudoir +and bedroom, and her maid Genoveva's chamber, which was single. They +were the coldest but at the same time the most cheerful rooms in the +house. The few times that the sun deigned to visit Nieva he went +straight to lodge in them, entered without as much as asking leave, in +the way of sovereign guests, and spent the day, shining in the mirrors, +brightening up the satin of the chairs, dulling the varnish of the +clothes-presses, and in a word disporting himself in a thousand +different ways,—all this, it may be said, would have been, had not +Genoveva taken the precaution to draw the curtains in time. They were +likewise the quietest; the noises of the house did not reach them, and +those from outside had no possibility of disturbing them, owing to their +situation. Only the wind, which almost never ceased to blow heavily +around the tower, made strange noises, especially at night, sometimes +moaning, sometimes screaming, and constantly complaining because the +windows were kept hermetically sealed. During the daytime it was neither +melancholy nor petulant, but contented itself with a perpetual but very +dignified murmur like sea-shells held to the ear.</p> + +<p>Maria, still shivering though she was wrapped up in her shawl, went to +one of the windows which looked down into the garden whose earthwall was +contiguous to the quay. From that window the whole length of the Nieva +River could be seen down to El Moral, which was the place where it +emptied into the sea. It would not measure more than a league in length, +but its breadth varied wonderfully, according as it was seen at high or +low water, at spring tide or neap tide. When there were full<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> tides, it +spread out half a league, lapping up against the foot of the +pine-covered hills which shut in the valley on both sides. At low tide +the water drew out almost completely, leaving barely a narrow, sinuous +thread in the centre. Between the conterminous line of hills there lay +on both sides of the channel wide flats of soft gray mud, dotted with +pools of water where the ragamuffins of the quay took delight in +splashing and wallowing until they had besmeared themselves thickly +enough to go straight and wash it off by diving head first into the +channel. Above the garden wall rose the masts of a few vessels, not a +dozen in all, anchored by the quay, the majority of them smacks and +schooners<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> of insignificant draught.</p> + +<p>The young girl looked for an instant at the sky, which was still +profoundly dark towards the west, hiding and confusing the outline of +the distant mountains. In the zenith she noticed that it was completely +overcast, of an ashen color, which grew lighter as she turned her face +toward the east. There the clouds were not as yet compacted into a solid +mass as in the opposite quarter; they stood out against the sweep of the +sky in monstrous black piles, and opened sufficiently to let the few +feeble, melancholy, ruddy rays pass through, which the sun, like a dying +fire, was beginning to shed upon the earth. The tide was rising. The +surface of the river absorbed the slender light of the sky, and gave +forth nothing more than a tremulous metallic reflection in the far +distance.</p> + +<p>After watching the sunrise for a time, our maiden got a book which lay +on the dressing-table in her room, and came back to the window to see if +she could read; but it was not yet light enough. She laid the book on a +chair and again went to the window, leaning her forehead against<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> its +panes. The sky kept growing brighter in the direction of El Moral; but +it added no life or good cheer to the earth. The growing light seemed +only to make more distinct its stern, forbidding face. A wretched and +disagreeable day was in prospect, such as the natives of Nieva were +accustomed to enjoy the larger part of the year.</p> + +<p>But soon the windows of the east were closed; the huge, thick clouds +which had stood out separate, allowing the light to pass, once more made +one unbroken mass, by the impulse of some breath of air, and the rosy +flush faded away. In their place remained a uniform pallid light, which, +little by little, spread over the heavens, lazily struggling with the +shadows in the west. The far-away reflections on the river likewise died +out, leaving it all a monotonous color, like unpolished steel. The +boudoir slowly filled with light; the pretty articles of furniture, and +the objects adorning it, emerged from the obscurity, graceful, dainty, +and fascinating, like the dancers in the opera, when at an outburst from +the orchestra they throw aside the spectral mantles in which they had +wrapped themselves. The light, however, did not smile; all the time it +grew more melancholy and forbidding. Across the mighty masses of dark +violet cloud which were rising above the four or five houses of El +Moral, others, small and white, began to fly like wisps of gauze—a sure +sign of storm.</p> + +<p>Maria quickly felt the pane against which she was leaning tremble. A +gust of wind and rain had savagely lashed the window. She stepped back a +little and saw that all the panes were weeping at once. For some little +time she occupied herself in watching the more or less rapid and uneven +course which the drops of water followed as they rolled down the smooth +surface of the glass.<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> The sharp, intermittent pattering of the rain +brought back to her memory the many afternoons that she had spent near +that same window listening to it with an open book in her hand. The book +had always been a novel. For more than four months she had incessantly +begged her father to let her have the use of the boudoir in the tower so +that she might give herself up entirely to her favorite occupation +without fear of any one interrupting her. But Don Mariano feared to give +his permission, because the apartments in the tower were cold, and the +girl's health was delicate. At last, overcome by her entreaties and +caresses, he yielded, after having the rooms carefully carpeted, and +exacting the condition that Genoveva should sleep near by. It was a +happy period for Maria. She was sixteen, and her mind was restless and +high-spirited. Her music, in which she had made prodigious strides, had +stimulated in her heart a decided tendency to melancholy and tears. She +wept at the slightest provocation, sometimes without reason, and when it +was least expected, but her tears were so sweet, and she experienced +such intense pleasure in them, that on many occasions she fostered them +artificially. How many times, gazing from that window upon the delicate +clouds of the horizon tinted with rose or the last splendors of the +dying sun, she felt her heart overcome by a depth of melancholy which +found relief only in sobs! How many times she had pained her father with +a storm of tears, the cause of which she could not tell, because she +herself knew not! The knowledge of painting, in which she also excelled, +turned her inclinations towards light and a wide outlook, and this +equally contributed to make her long for the rooms in the tower. When +once she had taken her quarters there with her piano, her paints, and +her novels,<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> Maria looked upon herself as the most fortunate girl on +earth. If at noon of some magnificent sunny day, under an effulgent +azure sky, she opened all the windows of her boudoir and admitted the +fresh, keen wind which toyed with her hair and scattered the papers from +the table over the floor, she imagined with delight that she had mounted +upon a star, and that she was in the midst of space, swimming through +the air at the mercy of every chance. And this illusion, though it was +hard for her to keep it up, made her happy. Sometimes at night she used +to open the blinds and light not only her lamp, but all the candles in +the candlesticks, so as to imagine that she was stationed in a lofty +lighthouse. "From the river this tower must seem like a beacon, and my +room the lamp which has just been lighted," was what she used to say, in +childish delight. And then she began to peer through the panes to see if +any ship were on its way down to El Moral, until, frightened by the +darkness without and dazzled by the light within, she finally grew +terror-stricken at such an illumination and hastened to extinguish the +lights.</p> + +<p>Don Mariano called that gay, aerial boudoir <i>Maria's bird-cage</i>; and in +truth the name was admirably appropriate, for the girl was constantly +flitting about in it, moving the furniture and changing the things from +one place to another, nervous and restless as a bird. To make the +resemblance more complete, it often happened that when the family were +gathered in the dining-room they heard the distant trills of some +cavatina or romanza which Maria was studying. Don Mariano never failed +to exclaim, with his usual benignant smile, "Our little bird is +singing." And all would likewise smile, full of content, for everybody +in the house loved and admired the girl.<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a></p> + +<p>In two or three years a cargo of novels had made their way into the +tower boudoir, and been sent away again, after having diverted the long +leisure hours of our young friend, who put under contribution, not only +her father's library and her own purse, but likewise the book-shelves of +all the friends of the family. Don Serapio was her first purveyor, and +thus for a long time she read only blood-thirsty accounts of terrible +and unnatural crimes, in which the proprietor of the canning factory +took such intense delight. In this period she did not enjoy much, for, +though these novels excited her curiosity to the highest degree, keeping +it in suspense and under the spell of the reading a large part of the +day and night, yet no sweet or poetic aftertaste was left in her mind +for her delectation, and she forgot them the day after she read them.</p> + +<p>Moreover, they terrified her too much; many and many times they +disturbed her dreams, and even on some occasions she begged Genoveva to +lie down beside her, for she was frightened to death. After exhausting +Don Serapio's library, she asked one of the Delgado sisters to give her +the freedom of hers, which had the reputation of being abundantly +supplied. In fact, it was furnished with a great quantity of novels, all +of the primitive romantic school, and elegantly bound, but many of them +soiled by use. In the more tender passages many of the pages were marked +by yellow spots, which was a manifest sign that the various ladies into +whose hands the book had fallen had shed a few tears in tribute to the +misfortunes of the hero. We already know that one Seorita de Delgado +wept with great facility. Among the novels which she read at this time +were <i>Ivanhoe</i>; <i>The Lady of the Lake</i>; <i>Maclovia and Federico</i>, or <i>the +Mines of the Tyrol</i>; <i>Saint Clair of the Isles</i>, <i>or the Exiles on the +Island<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> of Barra</i>; <i>Oscar and Amanda</i>; <i>The Castle of Aguila Negra</i>; and +others. These gave her very much greater enjoyment. Absolutely absorbed, +heart and soul, she explored the region of those delicious fantasies +with which the illustrious Walter Scott, and other novelists not so +illustrious, delighted our fathers, creating for their use a middle age +peopled with troubadours and tournaments, with stupendous deeds of +prowess, with Gothic castles, heroes, and indomitable loves. What +exercised the greatest fascination upon the Seorita de Elorza was the +unchangeable steadfastness of affection always manifested by the +protagonists of these novels. Whether man or woman, if a love passion +seized them, it was labor wasted to raise any barriers, for everything +was idle; across the opposition of fathers and guardians, and in spite +of the crafty schemes laid by jilted suitors, purified by a thousand +different tests, suffering much, and weeping much more, at the end they +always came out triumphant and well deserved it all. The Seorita de +Elorza vowed secretly in the sanctuary of her heart to show the same +fealty to the first lover whom Providence should send her, and imitate +his fortitude in adversities. Each one of these novels left a lasting +impression on her youthful mind, and for several days, provided that the +characters of some other did not succeed in captivating her, she +ceaselessly thought of the beautiful miracles accomplished by the +heroine's love, pure as the diamond and as unyielding, and taking up the +action where the novelist had left it, which was always in the act of +celebrating the nuptials of the afflicted lovers, she continued it in +her imagination, conceiving with all its minuti the after-life spent by +the husband and wife surrounded by their children, and re-reading with +folded hands the places where her<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a> tears had so often been shed. Our +maiden was anxious for one of these irresistible and melting passions to +take possession of her heart, but it never entered her mind that any of +the young fellows who visited her house dressed in a frock-coat or +<i>Americana</i> could inspire it. Love, for her, always took the form of a +warrior, whom she imagined with helmet and breastplate, coming +breathlessly and covered with dust, after having unhorsed his competitor +with a lance-thrust, to bend his knee before her and receive the crown +from her hand, which he would kiss with tenderness and devotion. Again, +stripped of his helmet, and in the disguise of a beggar, yet evincing by +his gallant port the nobility and courage of his race, he came by night +to the foot of her tower, and accompanying himself on the lute, sang +some exquisite ditty in which he would invite her to fly with him across +country to some unknown castle, far from the tyranny of her sire and the +hated spouse whom he wished to force upon her. The night was dark, the +sentinels of the castle benumbed with a philter, the ladder already +clung close to the window, and the champing steeds were pawing the +ground not very far away. "Why dost delay, O mistress mine, why dost +delay?" Maria heard a gentle tapping on the panes, and more than once +she had risen from her bed, in her bare feet, to satisfy herself that it +was not her warrior but the wind who called her, sighing. At that time +she could not see a vessel making for the port at night, without +trembling; the mystery which always attends a vessel seen in the +darkness made her vaguely imagine an ambuscade laid by some ignorant, +brutal suitor, who, fearing lest he be rebuffed, wished to ravish her +away by main force from her home, and bear her away to distant strands +where he might enjoy with her<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> his barbarous pleasure. All that she +needed to become disillusionized was to perceive the vessel carefully +warping up to the quay and discharging a few barrels and boxes. But the +romance which made the profoundest impression upon her was, without +question, that entitled <i>Matilde</i>, <i>or the Crusades</i>. This, better than +any other, was able to carry her mind back to that strange, brilliant +epoch of which it treated, causing her to be present during that heroic +struggle under the walls of Jerusalem. It is easy to comprehend, +however, that it was not the battles between Infidels and Christians +which most interested her in the tale, but that weird, improbable love, +tender and passionate at once, which sprang up in the heroine's heart +for one of the Mohammedan warriors who had laid violent hands on the +Sepulchre of the Lord. The Seorita de Elorza absolved and almost with +her whole heart sympathized with this passion where the sin of loving +one of the most terrible enemies of Christ offered a more powerful +attraction and a keener zest. How was it possible not to fall in love +with that famous Malec-Kadel, so fiery and terrible in battle, so gentle +and submissive with his ladylove, so noble and generous on all +occasions! Ah! if she had been in Matilde's place, she would have loved +in the same way in spite of all laws, human and divine! This Infidel was +the character who captivated her the most of all, even to the point of +inspiring her to make a very clever painting in which she represented +him on the deck of a ship where he was sailing with Matilde, saving her +from the snares of her enemies, protecting her with his left hand, and +hewing off heads with his right hand, as one reaps the grain in summer. +What best brought her to realize her enthusiasm, was the arrival of a +Turk at Nieva, selling mother-<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a>of-pearl ornaments and slippers. She was +so surprised to see him pass in front of the house, and her curiosity +was so excited, that she was not content until she had addressed him, +and made him undergo a long series of questions about the fields of +Jerusalem where the love scenes which so impressed her had taken place, +about the customs, the dress, and the government of the Mohammedans; but +the Turk, either because he was not in the humor of parleying, or +because of his being a native of Reus in the province of Tarragona, and +having never been in Palestine in his life, answered her questions with +impudent curtness.</p> + +<p>It had now been a long time, however, since Maria had taken up a novel. +The recollection of the time when she had devoured so many caused a +slight contraction of her features, and drew in her smooth brow a wide, +deep furrow.</p> + +<p>The blasts of wind fraught with rain lashed the panes of glass for a +long time, until they had given them a thorough washing. Gradually its +gusts became less frequent, and at last they completely ceased. The +light, meantime, had increased, mantling the whole of the murky heavens, +and now bringing into relief the forms of the far western hills which +were visible through the opposite casement. But the windows of the sky +which gave passage to the rosy rays when the sunrise first began, did +not open again, and all the clouds of the celestial vault united into +one, like an ash-colored or grayish mantle, which gave free course to +the rain and hindered the light. The storm, as usual, dissolved into a +fine drizzle, which began to fall slowly, filling the atmosphere with an +evanescent, tremulous veil, woven of watery threads, which still more +diminished the brilliancy<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> of the growing light, and hid the outlines of +distant objects. The tide was still flowing; the wide sheet of water +which stretched away to El Moral assumed a color earthy near its edges, +but dark and heavy in the centre.</p> + +<p>Maria again took up her book, brought her chair to the window, and +sitting down, began to read, it now being light enough to allow it. It +was the <i>Life of Saint Teresa</i>, written by herself,—a book bound in +solid pasteboard covers, which were stamped with the gilt ornamentations +characteristic of religious works.</p> + +<p>According as the young girl became absorbed in her reading, her face +grew more and more serene, and the deep frown on her brow disappeared. +She was reading the second chapter in which the Saint sets forth how in +the years of her youth she was enamored with books of knight-errantry, +and the vanities of the toilet, and hints at the love affairs which at +the same time she had passed through. When Maria raised her eyes from +the book, they shone with a peculiar delight of inward content.</p> + +<p>The bells of San Felipe at last actually began to ring. Maria quickly +threw down her book and opened her maid's chamber-door.</p> + +<p>"Genoveva! Genoveva!"</p> + +<p>"I am awake, seorita."</p> + +<p>"Get up; San Felipe's bells are ringing!"</p> + +<p>In a twinkling Genoveva was up, dressed, and on hand in her mistress' +room. She was a woman of forty years, more or less, short, fat, swarthy, +with puffy cheeks, with great, protuberant gray eyes which were +expressionless, absolutely expressionless, and with thin hair waving on +her temples. She wore a plain carmelite skirt, and the black merino +cloak gathered at the shoulders, such as<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> are used by all provincial +serving-women. She had entered the household when Maria was not yet a +year old, to be her nurse, and she had never left her, being a notable +example of a faithful, steadfast servant.</p> + +<p>"How long has my little dove<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> been dressed?"</p> + +<p>"About an hour already, Genoveva. I thought I heard the bells, but I was +mistaken. Now they are ringing in good earnest. Let us not lose any +time; take the umbrellas, and let us go."</p> + +<p>"Whenever you please, seorita; I am all ready."</p> + +<p>Both put on their mantillas, and trying not to make any noise, they went +down to the entry, carefully unlocked and opened the door, and sallied +forth into the street, which they crossed with open umbrellas until they +reached the opposite arcade.</p> + +<p>The little city of Nieva, as it seems to me I have already said, has +almost all of its streets lined with an arcade on one side or the other, +sometimes on both. As a general thing it is small, low, uneven, and +supported by single round stone pillars, without ornamentation of any +sort. Likewise it is ill paved. Only in occasional localities, where +some house had been reconstructed, it was wider and had more comfortable +pavement. If all the houses were to be rebuilt,—and there is no doubt +that this will come in time,—the town, owing to this system of +construction, would have a certain monumental aspect, making it well +worthy of being seen. Even as it is now, though it does not boast of +much beauty, it is very convenient for pedestrians, who need not get wet +except when they may wish to pass from one sidewalk to the other. And +certainly its illustrious founders were far-sighted, for, as regards +constant, ceaseless rain, there is<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> no other place in Spain that can +hold a candle to our town.</p> + +<p>Protected from the rain, mistress and maid crossed through one corner of +the Plaza, and entered a long, narrow, solitary street. The worthy +inhabitants were sleeping the sweet sleep of morning. Only from time to +time they met some sailor wrapped up in his rough waterproof capote, +who, with fishing utensils in his hand, and making a great clatter with +his enormous boots, was striding towards the quay.</p> + +<p>"Are you well protected, seorita? See, there's been a frost; one would +think it was already January."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I put on a velvet waist, and besides, this sacque is well wadded."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, sweetheart.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> If your papa knew that we were out so early, +he would scold me for consenting to it. You are exceedingly virtuous, +seorita. Few or none would lead such a saintly life at your age."</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush, Genoveva! don't say such a thing. I am only a miserable +sinner; much more miserable than you have any idea of."</p> + +<p>"Seorita, for Heaven's sake—I am not the only one who says so; but +everybody. Yesterday Doa Filomela told me that she was edified to see +you go to mass, and take the Blessed Sacrament, and she would give +anything if her daughters would do the same. And I don't wonder she +wishes so, for one of 'em, the youngest, is the devil's own. Would you +believe, the other day, seorita, she scratched her sister right in +church because one was to confess before the other. Pretty kind of +repentance! It's shameful, seorita, it's shameful to see how some women +go to church! One would think that they were in<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> their own houses! Ay! +the poor little things don't realize that they are in the house of the +Lord of heaven and earth, who will ask them to give account of their +sin. Hasn't Doa Filomela shown you the rosary which her brother sent +her from Havana? It is a marvel! all ivory and gold, with a great +crucifix of solid gold. To say your prayers there's no need of such +extravagance, is there, seorita?"</p> + +<p>"To pray one needs only a pure and humble heart."</p> + +<p>"Ay! seorita, how well you speak! It seems as if they were mistaken who +say that you are not more than twenty years old. But when God wishes to +pour out his gifts on one of his creatures, it makes no difference +whether she be young or old, rich or poor. Every day I pray the most +Blessed Virgin to preserve your health, so that you may serve as an +example for those who are in mortal sin."</p> + +<p>"What you ought to pray for, Genoveva, is that He will purify my soul +and pardon the many sins that I have committed."</p> + +<p>"God have mercy! if you need to be forgiven, you who are so pious and +humble-minded, what would the rest of us need? Don't be so severe upon +yourself. Fray Ignacio has so much esteem for you that he never wearies +of sounding your praises; and that too, though he's not very indulgent, +as you know. At this very moment I suppose that holy man's in the +sacristy, listening to people! What a healthy man he is! It must be +because God makes him so. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't +rest a moment. And yet every day he grows stronger and stronger, and has +greater and greater zeal in serving God. I don't see how he can spend so +many hours in the confessional, without taking something to<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> eat. Only +the Lord can give him the power. Blessed be His name forever! Amen!"</p> + +<p>"That's true; God works real miracles in him because there is need in +the world. Oh, God! what would have become of my soul if these holy +missioners had not come to open my eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Though they have helped greatly in the way of salvation, still, before +they came you were very good and used to attend the Sacraments."</p> + +<p>"How little that amounts to, Genoveva, when the deepest nooks and +corners of the conscience are not looked into!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me, seorita, did you see in your dreams last night that beautiful +bird with fiery feathers, with a cross in its bill, which you have seen +lately?"</p> + +<p>Maria stopped suddenly short and raised her hand to her breast as though +she had received a blow. Then she began to walk on again, exclaiming in +an undertone,—</p> + +<p>"Last night I was not allowed to see it!"</p> + +<p>"Why not, sweetheart?"</p> + +<p>She made no reply. She walked on a while, and a groan escaped her. Then +she stopped once more, and throwing her arms around her maid's neck, she +began to sob bitterly.</p> + +<p>"I am very wicked, Genoveva, very wicked! My heart has not yet been +freed from impurities; the flesh and the devil will hold me in their +sway. If you knew what a sin I committed yesterday!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush! don't be discouraged! What sin could you have committed, +you lamb?"<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; I am more wicked than you imagine. The more light I receive +from God, the deeper I seem to sink<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> into the darkness; the more He +heaps blessings upon me, the more ungrateful I am toward Him."</p> + +<p>"God is infinitely merciful, seorita."</p> + +<p>"But infinitely just, as well."</p> + +<p>"Beseech the aid of Saint Joseph the blessed; there is no fault which +the Lord does not forgive through his intercession. Come, stop crying +now; you are going to confession, and all is going to be forgiven."</p> + +<p>After the girl had calmed down a little, they proceeded on their way, +till they reached a rather diminutive plaza, fronted by the stern, gray +faade of a great church which attracted attention neither by its beauty +nor by any other quality, good or bad. They crossed a portico, huge and +gray like the faade, and entered the temple, which was likewise gray +and enormous; these qualities were its only characteristics. It +consisted of three naves, the central one broad and lofty like a +cathedral; those on the sides narrow and low; all three had been +whitewashed at some time very remote, but were now thick with dust, +peeling in various places and stained with wide-spread, mysterious +spots. The altars, which were profusely adorned, presented a gray color, +very distinct from the gilding which originally had covered them. +Through its dirty glass could be seen the stiff image of some saint with +metal aureole, or the sad anguished face of an Ecce-Homo.</p> + +<p>It was too early in the morning to find many people. Nevertheless, +scattered here and there, praying on bended knees before the altars, a +few women with covered heads were to be seen; others pressed up to the +latticed windows of the confessional and held their mantillas on both +sides of their faces, while with a half-audible whispering they confided +their misdeeds to the sacred tribunal of the Church. A few priests, who +kept the doors of the confessionals<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> open, could be seen in cassock and +hood, bending forward, with their ears to the window, reflecting in +their frowning faces and negligent attitude the weariness which they +felt; others kept theirs hermetically sealed, and scarcely could any one +in passing perceive the presence of a human being.</p> + +<p>A few places in the sanctuary were bathed in a melancholy light, but the +corners and the hollows between the pillars were left in almost perfect +darkness. The huge brazen lamps swung in the spaces on cords attached to +the roof. The leaded window of the two huge, open oriels, high up in the +walls of the great central nave, admitted a sad sheet of light, +extending like a pale altar-cloth before the principal shrine. On one +side of this, at some little distance, was another small portable altar, +upon which was raised an image of the Saviour with perforated breast, +wherein was seen a bleeding heart, wearing a crown of thorns and haloed +with flames; around the image were a host of lighted candles, the +hissing and crackling of which sounded lugubriously in the immense, +silent circuit of the church. It was a temporary altar set up because of +the Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was +celebrated at that time.</p> + +<p>Genoveva went to the sacristy to ask Fray Ignacio if her seorita could +make her confession. The latter remained kneeling near the confessional, +waiting for the priest. She felt a peculiar, timid impatience; a bit of +fear mingled with anxiety and desire. The sanctuary was filled with a +mingled odor of dampness and dust, of extinguished candles and of faded +flowers, which inspired her with veneration. The moments preceding +confession were filled with a delicious suspense for Maria. The +circumstance and mystery which surrounded that intimate<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> confidence, the +most intimate in the world, exerted a certain fascination over her mind, +and agitated her to the very depths of her being, without loathing. She +felt slight chills run over her body, followed by flushes of heat, which +mounted to her face and set it on fire. At that moment she thought not +so much of her sins as of the way in which she should try to tell them.</p> + +<p>Fray Ignacio's dark, resolute, and stern figure hastened up to the +confessional, and without vouchsafing his penitent a single glance, took +his place within it. Maria, tremulous and with melting heart, drew near +the little window. When at the end of a half-hour she turned away, her +eyes were red and her cheeks were pale.</p> + +<p>The church, meantime, had been slowly filling, although almost +exclusively with women. A few ventured as far as the centre, making with +their wooden shoes a real clatter as they walked on the tiled pavement; +the most took them off at the door and carried them in their hands. The +women of the people were in the majority, but there were a goodly number +of seoras: men were few. The multitude for some time remained scattered +about, kneeling at the altar rails, all making their devotions. From +time to time an acolyte in flesh-colored balandran and white surplice, +with shaven head and crafty eyes, rang his bronze hand-bell, and a few +women left their places and stationed themselves before some altar where +a priest, decked with golden ornaments, was beginning the sacrifice of +the mass. After consuming the elements, he would administer the +communion to two or three sets of women. Maria, with head bent on her +bosom and hands devoutly crossed, joined them to receive the Holy +Eucharist. When the priest placed on her tongue the consecrated +particle, amid the dull, hushed murmur of<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> the throng, she felt her +cheeks slightly inflamed by the grandeur of the miracle which had taken +place within her; then she withdrew three or four steps from the altar, +overwhelmed with veneration, and without venturing to cast a look on +either side, at the end of a short space she left her place and went to +repeat the prayers imposed as her penance. An elderly clergyman in a +surplice mounted the pulpit, which was covered with a cloth of gold +tissue. The faithful came flocking from the remotest parts of the church +towards the centre, forming a dense throng about the pulpit. Maria and +Genoveva stood in the midst of it. The priest made the sign of the +cross, and began his Ave Marias and Pater Nosters in a loud voice. When +the rosary was ended, he began the service, the novena of the Sacred +Heart of Jesus. The clergyman put on an enormous pair of spectacles, and +in a snuffling, doleful tone exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"<i>O Heart</i> (<i>Corazn</i>)"—the multitude repeated after him with solemn +acclaim, prolonging the words—"O Heart (<i>Corazooon</i>)—<i>most lovable</i> +(<i>amantsimo</i>)—most lovable (<i>amantsimooo</i>)—<i>most sacred</i> +(<i>santsimo</i>)—most sacred (<i>santsimooo</i>)—<i>and honey-sweet</i> +(<i>melfluo</i>)—and honey-sweet (<i>melfluoo</i>)—<i>of my divine Jesus</i>—of my +divine Jesus—<i>full of flames</i>—full of flames—of <i>purest love</i> +(<i>amor</i>)—of purest love (<i>amooor</i>)—<i>consume me entirely</i>—consume me +entirely—<i>and grant me</i>—and grant me—<i>a new life</i>—a new life—<i>of +love and of grace</i>—of love and of grace;—<i>kindle and consume</i>—kindle +and consume—<i>my lukewarmness</i>—my lukewarmness.—O Heart (<i>Corazn</i>)—O +Heart (<i>Corazooon</i>)—<i>most comfortable</i> (<i>dulcsimo</i>)—most comfortable +(<i>dulcsimooo</i>)—<i>I adore thee</i>—I adore thee—<i>most profoundly</i>—most +profoundly.—<i>Grant me grace</i>—Grant me grace—<i>O<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> loving Heart</i> +(<i>Corazn</i>)—O loving Heart (<i>Corazoon</i>)—<i>to atone for</i>—to atone +for—<i>the insults and ingratitudes</i>—the insults and ingratitudes—<i>done +against thee</i> (<i>Vos</i>)—done against thee (<i>Vooos</i>)—<i>and what I pray +thee for</i>—and what I pray thee for—<i>in this novena</i>—in this +novena—<i>is for the greater glory of God</i> (<i>Dios</i>)—is for the greater +glory of God (<i>Diooos</i>)—<i>and of my soul</i>—and of my +soul—<i>Amen</i>—Amen."</p> + +<p>Maria merely whispered the words of the orison and kept her eyes +fastened on the ground. Genoveva repeated them aloud, looking straight +into the priest's face. The multitude sighed after they said Amen.</p> + +<p>When the orison was ended, the priest repeated three Pater Nosters and +three Ave Marias in honor of the three marks of the passion with which +the divine Heart of Jesus showed itself to the Blessed Mother Margarita +of Alacoque. The faithful knelt in reply. Immediately began a new orison +like the first, addressed to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Then +the priest recommended all to beseech God through the mediation of the +Sacred Hearts for whatever each most needed, and the congregation +meditated silently for a few moments. Maria prayed fervently that God +would make her a better woman. Genoveva spent some time in hesitation, +without knowing what to ask for, and at last she asked for patience to +endure the suffering of her influenza. The priest read with his +snuffling voice, which drawled over the syllables like a lamentation, +the following</p> + +<p class="cspc"> +I<small>LLUSTRATION</small>.</p> + +<p>"In the city of Munich there lived not many years ago a lady of +extraordinary beauty, who led such an exemplary life, that all gave her +the name of saint. It happened<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> that one day there came to her house a +very lively young man to visit her, on the ground that she was one of +his own cousins, and instantly the devil managed to get complete +possession of him. His passion was so mad and wretched that at the end +of some time she yielded to an impure sin, thus gravely offending God. +After she fell into this sin she found herself sunk in a deep abyss of +melancholy, for though the unhappy woman immediately sent away the one +who had been the cause of her fault, she believed that she was doomed to +hell. She began to lead an austere life, mortifying herself with fasting +and penitence, and yet she could not escape the horrible thought. At +length, by the advice of a pilgrim who happened to pass that way, she +determined to make a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the night +of the fifth day of constant prayer, being in bed, she heard a great +disturbance, and saw flying from her house a demon, horribly howling and +leaving behind him an intolerably fetid odor. On the following morning +she found herself cured of her melancholy, and very confident of the +infinite mercy of God."</p> + +<p>The faithful crowded closer around the pulpit to hear the illustration, +and they took in with delight its romantic flavor. The novena ended with +a sermon in Latin. The congregation repeated an Ave Maria and a Credo. +The clergyman descended from the desk.</p> + +<p>There was a loud and prolonged noise in the church. The throng of women +spread out, dispersed, moved to and fro, gossiping and chattering all at +once. The clattering of the wooden shoes again was heard on the damp and +filthy blocks of the pavement. An acolyte began to snuff out the candles +burning around the image of Jesus and, standing on the altar, with his +shorn head and<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> mischievous eyes made profane grimaces at the other +boys, whose mothers kept them on their knees saying their prayers. A few +of the clergy issued from the confessionals and crossed over to the +sacristy with long strides. One was detained in the centre of the church +by various ladies, and stood talking with them a long time, though with +evident anxiety to escape from them. Through the leaded panes of the +great oriels poured all the daylight evaporating the mysteriousness of +the temple, and making it seem melancholy, wretched, and dirty, as in +reality it was. Two or three gay fellows, with coat-collars turned up +and sleeves well pulled down, came in, casting quick glances of +curiosity at all the places. A sacristan took it into his head to throw +wide open the wooden screen at the door, and a restless, noisy +multitude, who had not been early enough to take part in the novena, +surged into the vast room to listen to the word of a missioner, who at +that moment mounted the pulpit with a contemplative, zealous gesture.</p> + +<p>When he stood up dominating the multitude, with the sacred dove made of +painted wood above his head, the noise gradually subsided. The +congregation, wonderfully increased, again crowded together beneath the +lecturer. There were many men who came not out of pure devotion, but +rather with the intention of judging the sermon from a literary point of +view.</p> + +<p>Meantime great throngs of people came pouring in through the door, +disturbing the faithful, and hindering the establishment of silence. +Maria and Genoveva were pulled to and fro many times by the fluctuation +of the multitude. The orator waited vainly for the bustle to cease. At +last he extended his arm in academic style toward the door, and shouted +emphatically, as though he were in the heart of his discourse,-<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a>-</p> + +<p>"Close that screen!"</p> + +<p>The doors closed slowly, as though no one had touched them. The faithful +were seating themselves in their places. For a time much coughing was +heard; at last it ceased, and the church preserved a fragile, artificial +silence, frequently broken by some stubborn cold or by the trumpet blast +of some nose being blown. The jet and mother-of-pearl beads of the +ladies' rosaries, clinking together, made a soft, melancholy +tintillation.</p> + +<p>The orator was young, tall, and slender, with great black eyes deep set +in a pale, classic face. He also wore a cassock with surplice and cowl. +He inspired respect by his sweet, gentle gravity.</p> + +<p>He took off his cowl, and said a few words in Latin which no one could +hear. Then putting on his cowl again, and leaning far over the railing, +he exclaimed in a loud voice,—</p> + +<p>"Beloved Brethren in Jesus Christ!"</p> + +<p>He possessed a ringing voice, of a sweet and sympathetic quality, which +lent a greater effect to the solemnity of the face. He began by showing +an ironical astonishment that there were to be found any at all willing +to abandon the vanities of the world to listen to the word of God, and +he warmly congratulated the faithful who had come to take part in the +Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of all the forms of +devotion, invented by piety, most grateful in the eyes of the Lord was +this; for it summed up and included all the rest, since, "as the heart +in the human body represents the sum and substance,—the very centre of +the physical life,—so in the same way the Sacred Heart of our Redeemer +is the centre of pious souls and the focus of light around which revolve +our aspirations for immortal glory." He ended<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> his exordium by invoking +with impassioned phrases the aid of this Sacred Heart in letting his +discourse bring forth fruit. He offered in behalf of all an Ave Maria.</p> + +<p>He devoted the first part of his sermon to the description of the +torment of the soul alienated from God by sin, and he drew a +circumstantial and complete picture of the griefs and insults which we +daily inflict upon the gentle Heart of Jesus. When he came to paint the +sufferings caused by sin, he abandoned the beaten track of speaking of +the material torments of hell and described nothing but the spiritual +anguish, the pangs, and the heartbreak felt by the soul when it sees +itself deprived through its own fault of the love of the Creator; but he +painted them in such gloomy colorings, and with such power of +expressions, that that infinite affliction, that depth of solitude, that +silence and darkness made a greater impression on the imagination of the +throng than the fire and the worm usually invoked.</p> + +<p>Maria was filled with fear and sadness. She remembered her sins, and +thought with horror that she might die suddenly and be lost forever. +Thereupon she made a solemn vow to grow better. But how? To change her +way of living meant nothing else than to break the bond which most +powerfully fettered her to the earth and sin. She became the prey to a +profound disturbance replete with tears, and she could not throw it off. +The clear, musical voice of the priest resounded through the great room, +unweariedly relating one by one the sufferings of the damned. The +congregation listened motionless and terrified. Far away in the +background, near the principal altar, the image of the Saviour, +encircled with candles, looked like a great red blur whose rays cast +fugitive shadows across the walls of the edifice.<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a></p> + +<p>"But the divine compassion is inexhaustible. There is no sin so enormous +that it cannot be blotted out by the mercy of God. The Saviour's love +for the souls that he has redeemed by his blood is not weak and limited +like that of men; like a loving father, like an affectionate spouse, He +is even ready to open his arms for the repentant sinner. Man sooner +tires of sinning than God of granting forgiveness, for we have at His +right hand an advocate who never wearies of interceding for us. Sin not, +offend not the Divine Majesty, either with words or deeds; but if ye +should give way to sin, be not discouraged, keep up good heart and +return to God. <i>Sed et si quis pecaverit</i>, <i>advocatum habemus apud +Patrem</i>, <i>Jesum Christum justum</i>, says Saint John.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> If ye should sin, +wash with repentant tears the Redeemer's feet after the pattern of Saint +Mary Magdalene, and ye shall be saved. Remember that sad, sinful woman, +who, worn out with grief, appalled with love, threw herself at Jesus' +feet and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair and +anointed them with ointment, while not a word fell from her lips because +she was consumed with the fire of love. Oh, tears shed for God! how much +ye avail, how great your power, how mighty your results! In winning +forgiveness tears are more potential than words; for tears, as Saint +Maximus says, are silent prayers, and demand not forgiveness if +forgiveness be undeserved. There is no deception possible with tears as +with words, and thus it was Saint Peter to win forgiveness for his fault +used not words, since with them he had sinned, had blasphemed and denied +his Lord; but he wept with bitter lamentation and was believed and +pardoned. Tears are money which cannot be counterfeited, our only +refuge: they purge the spots caused by<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> our transgressions, they appease +the anger of God, they win us forgiveness, they enliven the soul, they +strengthen faith, magnify hope, kindle charity. The divine Jesus himself +has said, 'Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted.'"</p> + +<p>Maria felt her heart melt within her. That fervid eulogy of tears drove +fear from her breast. The thought of the inexhaustible good will of +Jesus Christ, who, after suffering so much and shedding his precious +blood for us, forgets each moment the greatest sins, if only they are +confessed to him with repentance, stirred her to the depths of her soul. +She seemed to see the saint whose name she bore, Mary Magdalene, bathed +in tears at the Redeemer's feet, and she felt that she had done the +same. A torrent of tears burst from her eyes as she imagined herself +prone before Jesus. The women around her saw her weep, and they cast +respectful glances of admiration at her as they whispered among +themselves.</p> + +<p>The sermon ended by exhorting the faithful, with lofty flights of +eloquence rich in imagery, to devote themselves to the Sacred Heart of +Jesus. "A quarter of an hour every day of loving discourse with this +Sacred Heart brings to the soul the purest joy that it can have on +earth. <i>Gustate</i>, <i>et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus</i>.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Try to +hold converse a while with the Lord, and ye will enjoy the delights of +heaven and the rarest satisfactions, such as those have who love. All +that is in this world is folly and deception: banquets, comedies, +receptions, amusements, and all the rest that the world considers good +are mingled with gall and sown with thorns. Doubt not that the Heart of +Jesus gives greater delight and comfort to those souls which seek it +with devotion and self-abnegation,<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> than the world with all its pastimes +and insipid pleasures. What delight to be speaking for one instant with +the most lovable Jesus, forever ready to hearken to our prayers! To +unbosom one's self to him alone as to a most intimate friend. To demand +his grace, his love, and his glory! Oh, my dear friends <i>gustate et +videte</i>, <i>gustate et videte!</i>"</p> + +<p>The orator ended the final clauses of his sermon always with those +words, gustate et videte, gustate et videte. When he ended by expressing +his wish that all might have eternal glory, he was pale with weariness. +Drops of perspiration rolled down his wide brow. He had uttered the last +part of his discourse with growing agitation and enthusiasm which he +succeeded in communicating to his hearers. Maria, after her first fit of +weeping, remained comforted and almost happy. Genoveva whispered in her +ear while the priest was descending from the pulpit,—</p> + +<p>"Seorita, I just saw Don Csar in the congregation."</p> + +<p>The young girl's face changed slightly. The crowd began to dissolve, +spreading out over the whole area of the church. The majority of the +people crowded tumultuously to the door, struggling to get out. After +some difficulty Maria and Genoveva succeeded in reaching the portico, +and started on their homeward way. But the Seorita de Elorza kept +frequently turning her head. An elderly gentleman, tall, slender, and +pale, with goatee and long white mustachios, dressed in black from head +to foot, was following them at a considerable distance. As they entered +the arcade of a narrow and lonely street, the caballero hastened his +steps, and the two women lingered for him, so that very soon they were +together. The caballero turned to Maria and said in a low voice,—<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a></p> + +<p>"Seorita, last night I returned from where you know."</p> + +<p>"I have prayed God to bring you back in safety, Don Csar."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, thanks.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Have you finished embroidering the banner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seor!"</p> + +<p>"And the flannel hearts?"</p> + +<p>"Those also."</p> + +<p>"That is good, seorita; I shall not forget your diligence and +enthusiasm."</p> + +<p>Don Csar did not move a line of his vigorous face during this +conversation. His eyes, which were of a strange intensity gleaming with +ferocity, did not for a moment leave the girl's face. He said nothing +for a time, having something in his mind, and then he broke the silence, +speaking in the curt tone of command,—</p> + +<p>"To-morrow at this time be on hand again. We have some commissions to +give you."</p> + +<p>"I will not fail you."</p> + +<p>Don Csar noticed that two young men had just turned the corner and were +coming toward them; thereupon, without saying farewell, he left the +women, crossing to the opposite sidewalk.<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> +<small>HOW THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE OF THURINGEN.</small></h2> + +<p>A <small>FEW</small> days later Ricardo set forth from home as usual about ten o'clock +in the morning and turned his steps toward the house of his betrothed. +It was not love alone that impelled him to walk the street so early, but +as much the melancholy solitude that reigned at the present time in the +vast seignorial mansion where he lived: for our hero had been alone in +the world a little more than a year. His father, the old Marqus de +Pealta, had died when he was under six, and he had scarcely more than a +vague remembrance of his pale face between the sheets of the bed when +they raised him up to give him a kiss a few hours before he died. He +remembered also how on that same day every one had hugged him and kissed +him, with tears, and this had attracted his attention and made him ask, +"Why are you all crying to-day?"</p> + +<p>His mother had loved him with one of those concentrated and fierce +affections which destroy by very reason of over care. During his boyhood +she had kept him tied to her apron-strings, never consenting for him to +take part in the games of the other lads, lest he should hurt himself. +Even when he was quite a youth, she always used to put him to bed, +offering with him a series of innocent prayers, and sitting by his +bedside with folded arms until he fell asleep, when she would silently +leave his chamber on tip-toe. When he reached early manhood, she had +nothing<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> to do but think of her son's career, for the late marquis had +provided that he should follow one. Ricardo wanted to enter the +artillery. How many tears the lad's resolute decision cost the mother! +The first time that he went to Segovia, the good lady thought she should +die: she made up her mind not to leave the house until her son returned, +and she carried out her intention. When he came home to spend his +vacation, she could not be enough at his side, caressing him and reading +in his eyes his slightest caprices, so as to carry them out instantly. +Two or three days before it was time for him to return, she would begin +to sob and cry: she held him close to her bosom for long moments and +made him promise a thousand times to write her every day, to cover +himself up warm during his journey, and not to go out nights. The only +thing which served to divert her for a short time was the preparation of +his cadet's chest, with which she took so much pains that it lacked +nothing, from the more usual articles of dress, down to a piece of court +plaster and a package of lint in case he were wounded. Ricardo always +avoided leave-taking by escaping on the sly.</p> + +<p>Thanks to his genial, happy, and sympathetic nature, rather than by his +application, the young Marqus de Pealta finished his course. At +college everybody loved him, students as well as professors. He was one +of those frank and friendly young fellows with whom it is difficult to +quarrel, and whom we all go to as a confidant worthy of sharing the +secrets of our hearts in the bitter misfortunes of life. He was always +found smiling and unreserved, bringing joy and confidence wherever he +went, and rarely did a dispute arise between two cadets which he did not +succeed in bringing to a friendly issue. In spite of his conciliatory +temperament no one in college or<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> out of it questioned his courage, much +less the remarkable prowess of his fists. More than once, in the +frequent quarrels between the cadets and the peasants, which generally +broke out in candle-light balls, he had floored three or four stout +carls with as many blows, which attracted all the more attention from +the crowd because there was nothing stout or athletic in his figure.</p> + +<p>One day, while encamped in the park at Sevilla, the colonel called him +into his tent and asked him,—</p> + +<p>"Isn't it a number of days since you have had a letter from your mother, +Pealta?"</p> + +<p>Ricardo grew as pale as death.</p> + +<p>"What is it, colonel? what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be alarmed, child;<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> I happened to learn that she wasn't very +well."</p> + +<p>Ricardo understood perfectly, and fell into the colonel's arms, shedding +a flood of tears. That night he took the train for the north.</p> + +<p>The dismal night spent in that journey remained deeply impressed upon +his mind. When the engine whistled, and his comrades, who had come to +see him off, standing on the platform, waved their <i>adios</i>, he went and +sat in a corner of the carriage, wrapped up in his cloak, feigning to +sleep, in order better to abandon himself to his painful, gloomy +thoughts. Oh, how painful and gloomy his thoughts! He imagined the +guardian angel of his infancy, the mother of his heart, dying alone, +without receiving her son's last kiss, perhaps calling for him with +yearning in the supreme moment of her agony. He remembered that when he +had last left her, her health was rather feeble, and the embrace which +she gave him was much longer than usual, and her kisses more numerous, +as though the<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> poor woman had felt a presentiment that she should never +see him again. In her wide, moist eyes he read a fervent silent prayer +that he would abandon his profession and not leave her. But he, pleased +with the vanities of society, and seduced by the voice of selfishness, +had paid no heed to this prayer which the unhappy woman had not dared to +formulate with her lips. He felt deeply angry with himself, and called +himself the most insulting and humiliating names. From time to time he +put his head out of the window and breathed the cool night air, to +prevent the sobs from choking him. The vague, mysterious outline of the +undulating landscape, wrapt in shadows, transformed his despair into +grief, which gradually changed into a solemn melancholy like the gloomy +clouds hovering above the still more gloomy earth. The silent majesty of +inanimate nature calmed his agitation, but it made him think with cold +chills of the perfect loneliness awaiting him. The tie that bound him to +earth, and through which he felt that all human beings were his kin, was +cut; now he had no one in the world whom he could call his own. The +wind, stirred by the swift rush of the train, hummed in his ears and +seemed to say to him, Alone! alone! The harsh racket of the wheels and +engine violently excited his morbid state of mind, giving him a +sensation almost of pain like that caused by the thoughts rushing +through his brain. The noisy, metallic rhythm of the wheels likewise +seemed to say, with still more relentless accent, Alone! alone! His sad +face followed the far-off line of the horizon, and this came back to him +in quivering, prophetic reflections, which barely sufficed to cleave +asunder the network of shadows, gloom upon gloom. The light from the +engine cast a reddish gleam, tingeing as with blood the ground and the +trees lining the<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> track. Where there were no trees, the telegraph poles +flew past him with bewildering rapidity like the happy hours of his +youth. Above his head floated the huge black plume of the smoke, emitted +by the smoke-stack of the engine, and this, as it disappeared in the +atmosphere, in dying made a thousand strange and monstrous phantasms. +These phantasms, as they fled away, rolling along just above the ground, +seemed also to say mournfully, Alone! alone! Thereupon, being no longer +able to endure the icy breath of the deserted landscape which penetrated +his breast and parched his eyes, he shut the window and again returned +to his corner and his tears.</p> + +<p>In the car were four other people: an elderly seora and a young man of +twenty or twenty-five, a girl of eighteen or twenty, and a little girl +of five or six years old,—all of whom seemed to be her children. The +seora went to sleep, though she kept opening her eyes to watch the +child, who was incessantly running from one side to the other; the two +young people were chatting quietly and confidentially together. The +sight of this mother surrounded by her children and often looking at +them lovingly still more deeply affected Ricardo. The gentle murmur of +the brother and sister's conversation, repeatedly broken by repressed +laughter, roused in his heart a keen, melancholy envy. The young girl +was beautiful, with a noble, fascinating face. Ricardo, without +realizing it, watched her all night, but she seemed to give no heed to +him. When the guard of the station shouted, "Cordoba! twenty minutes for +refreshments!" all hastily got up and collected their things in +preparation to leave the train. Then only the young lady gave him a +long, sweet look, and as she went out, said with a sad, sympathetic +smile, "Good night, and a happy journey<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> to you."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> There was no doubt +that she had noticed his grief.</p> + +<p>Ricardo felt deeply sorry to have them take their departure, as though +some tide of affection bound him to that family, and he felt an +inclination to say to the mamma, "Seora, I have just lost my mother; I +am alone in the world, and I have no one to love me, and no one to love. +Won't you take me home with you as your son?" The car door closed with a +bang, the bell rang, the hoarse shriek of the engine was heard, and the +train sped on its way with its metallic clatter, which ceaselessly cried +in the silence of the night, Alone! alone! alone!</p> + +<p>A few relatives and friends were waiting for him, and they went with him +silently to his home, where they left him after a few meaningless words. +During the days that followed he received many visits of condolence from +people who extolled his mother's virtues and recommended great +resignation. All called him Seor Marqus. Never did he suffer so much +as at such times. The only person with whom he enjoyed talking was Don +Mariano Elorza, who had been a good friend of his father's, and whose +house he visited very familiarly whenever he came to Nieva during his +vacations. Don Mariano, who was cordial and friendly to everybody, could +not well help showing himself doubly affectionate to him on account of +the sorrowful situation in which he was placed. His house during the +period which followed the marquesa's death, was a place of refuge for +our young friend, where his grief was consoled, and he found a little of +that family life which he so greatly missed. On the other hand, it must +be said that Ricardo had always felt toward Don Mariano's eldest +daughter a strong admiration and affection,<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> which easily changed into +love when age and occasion offered, and frequency of intercourse +stimulated it, and there was still greater reason for it since neither +he nor she had ever been in love before. Long before they were formally +engaged, the marriage of the young Marqus de Pealta and the Seorita +de Elorza used to be talked about in the city. It was a marriage desired +and demanded by public opinion; for it must be remarked that the +families of Pealta and Elorza were the richest in town, and the public +always consider it logical for wealth to seek wealth as rivers seek the +sea. Accordingly, Ricardo and Maria were declared husband and wife not +long after they were born, and the truth is, the gossips of the town +would never have forgiven them if they had failed to carry out the edict +passed by all the tertulias of Nieva. We know on good authority that the +young people had no thought of any such intention, and that they had +accepted the sovereign decree with the greatest meekness.</p> + +<p>Returning now to where we left off, it is sufficient for us to remark +that Ricardo very quickly reached the porch of the house of Elorza, +which was large and gloomy. From the great solid door, darkened by time +and use, hung a bronze knocker, with which he rapped. He was immediately +admitted into a rather large court, with a fountain in the centre. A +broad flight of stone steps with balustrade of the same material led +from it. It was now somewhat the worse for wear, and needed repairs in +many places. On the first landing this stairway divided into two arms, +one of which led to the apartments of the owners, the other to those of +the servants. The former ended in a wide corridor, or gallery, from +which one looked through windows into the court. The whole house +presented the same elegance as that of the old palaces, although it was<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> +built at a comparatively modern period. It had the advantage over those +old ancestral mansions, like the Marqus de Pealta's, in that it had +not been designed to minister so much to the vanity of its masters as to +the suitable distribution of its rooms for the conveniences of daily +life. It was not dark and gloomy, as those are apt to be; on the +contrary, its whole interior spoke of joy, comfort, and elegance. It +was, in fact, a great building, without being pretentious, and +comfortable, without falling into the unpleasing vulgarity of many +modern constructions. It held a conciliatory middle course between +aristocratic and middle-class ideals, combining the proud lordliness of +the one and the practical luxurious tendencies of the other.</p> + +<p>The house in a certain way mirrored the position of its master and +mistress. Both were children of the most important families not only in +Nieva, but in the whole province in which the city is situated. The +seora was sister of the Marqus de Revollar, who cut such a figure in +Madrid a few years ago by his incredible dissipation and prodigality, +and who afterwards, being totally ruined and driven away by his +creditors, had taken refuge in the army of the Pretender, whom he served +as minister and adviser. Don Mariano came from a family less ancient and +glorious but far more opulent. His grandfather had made an immense +fortune in Mexico during the final years of the last century, and with +it he had become the most important landowner in Nieva, and had built +the house of which we are speaking. Not only himself, but his son and +his son's son, had succeeded in giving lustre to their millions by +allying themselves with noble families.</p> + +<p>Ricardo made his way through the various rooms of the house of Elorza +with as much familiarity as though he had<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> been at home, without even +taking off his hat. When he entered Doa Gertrudis's boudoir, this +seora, assisted by two waiting-women, was taking a dish of broth. On +seeing our hero, she placed the cup on the little stand in front of her, +and pushing back her easy-chair, she exclaimed in a doleful tone,—</p> + +<p>"Ay, my dear,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> you come at an evil hour."</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"I'm dying, Ricardo, I'm dying."</p> + +<p>"Do you feel worse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my son, yes; I feel very ill; it is beyond the power of words to +say how ill I feel. If I don't die to-day, I shall never die. I spent +the whole night doing nothing but groan, and then—and then—that tiger +of a Don Maximo has not come yet, though I have sent him two messages. +May God forgive him! May God forgive him!"</p> + +<p>Doa Gertrudis shut her eyes as though she were making ready to die +without either temporal or spiritual comfort.</p> + +<p>Ricardo, accustomed to these vaporings, remained a long time silent. At +length he said in an indifferent tone,—</p> + +<p>"Did you know Enrique has succeeded in exchanging the jewelry, and the +new set came yesterday all right?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed? thank God!"<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> replied Doa Gertrudis, opening her eyes; "I +certainly thought they wouldn't be willing to exchange it."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, because by selling the other they got rid of an old thing, +which I don't know how they will ever sell now."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but they would lose a customer who brings<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> them much gain. Don't +you see, Enrique receives commissions from the whole province?"</p> + +<p>"That's true enough; but don't you know that these traders are blinded +by avarice? Uph! what wretched people. I tell you I can't bear to see +tradesmen, Ricardo; I can't bear to see them, nor painters either!"</p> + +<p>After expressing this unfavorable opinion of commerce, which, in the +tribunal of her mind, she made coextensive with all industry and to the +mechanical arts in general, Doa Gertrudis again closed her eyes with a +gesture of woe, and continued in this strain:—</p> + +<p>"What I am sure of, my son, is that I am not going to see you married, +and that you will be obliged to postpone the wedding on my account. I +feel very ill, very ill; my heart tells me that I am going to die before +the day of your marriage; and the truth is, that it would be better for +me to die if I have got to suffer so much."</p> + +<p>"Come, Doa Gertrudis, don't say such things. Who is going to die? You +must surely get better gradually; you will be cured, and you will be +well and plump so that it will be a delight to see you."</p> + +<p>Instead of brightening up at these words, Doa Gertrudis grew angry:—</p> + +<p>"That's nonsense, Ricardo; my illness is mortal, even if no one thinks +so; my husband won't believe it, but very soon he will be convinced of +it; I don't complain merely from habit, not at all. Ay! my dear, if you +knew how I suffer, sitting in this easy-chair!"</p> + +<p>It may be declared with certainty that from the day on which the priest +had invoked the nuptial blessing on Doa Gertrudis, this noble seora +had done nothing else but nurse her bodily woes and tribulations, +dragging out a petty existence amid the strangest and obscurest +ailments<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> that were ever known. Before the birth of her eldest daughter, +Maria, she had suffered from hemorrhage and consumption. Then for +several years afterwards, until her second daughter, Marta, was born, +she complained of a terrible pain in her heart, so sharp and cruel that +many times she had fainted away. The symptoms of this disease, as +related by the patient, would fill any one with terror. Sometimes she +thought she felt her heart handled and squeezed to the last degree; at +others she thought that it was freezing, and then they had her shivering +so that all the furs and flannels which they put on her breast had not +the slightest effect, until by an abrupt transition she went into a +heated oven, where she was roasted to such a degree that her hands in +her paroxysms tore into fragments whatever garments she had on; again, +finally, she was conscious of some animal gnawing it with his teeth, and +of causing such exquisite agony that she could not refrain from +shrieking. Don Maximo, the young graduate in medicine,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> was +absolutely nonplussed by such a pathological case, and at each visit he +prophesied the immediate death of his patient unless the remedy for +spasms which he prescribed should not instantly restore her safe and +sound. As Doa Gertrudis did not make haste to die, nor did her +extraordinary malady disappear, Don Maximo came to lose all faith in +her. He kept up his visits to the house, but always at his regular hour, +from which he rarely deviated even though Doa Gertrudis often sent for +him by messengers, begging him to play the old farce over again in her +sick-room. Don Maximo ended by having the greatest contempt for his +noble client's infirmities, and he went so far as to characterize them +publicly in the apothecary shop, where<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> he was an assistant, as woman's +<i>cajigalinas</i>. The exact meaning of the word <i>cajigalinas</i> was never +known by the public or anybody else, nor can it be decided whether it +was a private invention of Don Maximo's, or whether it was derived from +some very ancient, even some dead, language which the licentiate had +studied. The word, from its root, seems to be of Semitic origin, but I +do not venture to settle this question off-hand; let the wise men +decide. What is indubitable is that Don Maximo intended thereby to mean +something that was insignificant, mean, or of little account; and this +is enough for us to know what to make of the opinion of science in +regard to Doa Gertrudis's ills.</p> + +<p>After Maria's birth Doa Gertrudis's sufferings did not disappear, but +they returned in a new form. Her heart was considerably calmed down, but +instead, all the afflicted seora's muscles and tendons began to suffer +contraction, causing powerful pains, preventing her for some months from +using her limbs at all, and finally leaving her, though greatly +improved, yet obliged when she walked to lean on her husband or one of +her daughters. Don Maximo at the beginning of this new phase showed +himself preoccupied and captious to the last degree; he studied with +watchful eye all the symptoms and causes, prescribed remedies for spasms +by the gallon, made use, in a word, of all the resources which science +(that is, Don Maximo's science) offers for such emergencies, but without +reaching any satisfactory results. At length the word <i>cajigalinas</i>, of +Semitic origin, once more appeared on his lips, and from that time on he +never entered the seora's room without a slight smile of incredulity +hovering on his dark face.</p> + +<p>Ricardo still remained a while at Doa Gertrudis's side,<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> and then he +left her to scour the house in search of the girls. He found Marta in +the kitchen busily engaged in making pastry for pies.</p> + +<p>"Where's Maria, <i>ma petite mnagre</i>?"</p> + +<p>"She's in her room, dressing; she'll be down soon."</p> + +<p>"If I disturb you in your work, I'm going; if not, I'll stay."</p> + +<p>"You don't disturb me, if you'll only stand out of the light a +little—there, that'll do!"</p> + +<p>"All right! I'll stay and learn how to make—what is it you're making?"</p> + +<p>"Pork pies."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, to make pork pies."</p> + +<p>The girl raised her head, smiling at her future brother-in-law, and then +she resumed her work. She was standing at a low table which, judging +from its shining surface, was meant for the operation now going on. She +wore an enormous white apron like the kitchen girls, and on her head a +cap no less white. Her great bright black eyes made a more brilliant +contrast with this costume, and so did her jetty hair. She had rolled up +the sleeves of her dress and bared a pair of soft arms, which were more +fully rounded than might have been expected at her age. Her arms bespoke +a woman in full possession of all the piquant attractions, all the +graceful curves of her sex; they were the smooth white arms of a Flemish +maiden, but solid and well-knit like those of a working-girl; they might +have served as a model for a sculptor, or to keep a room in daintiest +order. With them she rolled from side to side, on the top of the table, +a great lump of yellowish dough, manipulating it and doubling it over +and over constantly without thought of rest. The dough spread out softly +over the table because of the lard which shortened<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a> it, making a slight +noise like the rustle of silk. A few maid-servants were bustling about +the kitchen, attending to their duties. Ricardo watched the operation +for an instant without speaking, but before long he exclaimed with signs +of astonishment,—</p> + +<p>"What an extraordinary thing! what an extraordinary thing!"</p> + +<p>The maid-servants turned their heads around. Marta likewise looked up.</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"But child, where did you get those plump arms of yours?"</p> + +<p>The young girl blushed, and half-laughing, half-vexed, raised her hand +and pulled down her sleeve a little.</p> + +<p>"Come! will you begin now? See here, I did not tell you that you might +stay to behave like this."</p> + +<p>"Then I deserve the punishment of staying, though you should demand the +opposite."</p> + +<p>"Well, do what you please, but let me work in peace."</p> + +<p>"I will let you work, but I must say it never entered into my +calculations that the Seorita Marta had such arms. I knew that she was +pretty, comely, round, and solid—but how could I suspect such a +thing?... Come now, I tell you that no one would believe it without the +evidence of his eyes."</p> + +<p>The servants laughed. Marta went on industriously kneading her dough, +making a gesture of resignation as one who has made up her mind to +endure a jest to the end. Ricardo kept on:—</p> + +<p>"And that, too, though I have heard Maria speak of them—but vaguely.... +Her information wasn't definite. The best way in these matters, if one +wants to know about<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> a thing, is to see for himself.... Look here, +lassie,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> supposing one were to quarrel with you, I wouldn't answer +for the consequences!... And the beauty of it is, that their strength +doesn't injure their elegance; they are muscular but well-shaped; ... +they taper gracefully down to the wrist, which is slender and dainty. +The truth is, that all things considered, a girl only fourteen has no +right to have such arms as those!"</p> + +<p>Marta suspended her work and burst into a merry peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>"What a plague you are, child! there's no resisting you!"</p> + +<p>Then her face once more resumed the placid, grave expression which +characterized it, and she resumed her work, plunging again and again her +firm, rosy fists into the pliant dough. The paste kept taking different +forms under the steady pressure of the girl's small but strong hands. +Sometimes it made a thick, short roll or cylinder, which, little by +little, as it was worked over the table, kept growing longer and +slenderer; again, it assumed the fashion of a great ball, the roundness +of which Marta brought carefully to greater and greater perfection, +until she suddenly fell upon it with both hands and flattened it out; at +other times it presented the appearance of a thin sheet taking up half +of the surface of the table, and which kept spreading more and more, +until she began to double it over with repeated folds as one does with a +garment; again, she built it up like a pyramid on the slopes of which +the graceful little baker bestowed soft pats, as though she were +caressing it, but not hesitating fiercely to tear it in pieces in order +to give it immediately some new and capricious figure. When it seemed to +her<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> that the paste was sufficiently kneaded, she cut it into a number +of lumps with a knife, and taking a wooden rolling-pin, she began to +shape them with great care. Ricardo asked timidly,—</p> + +<p>"Will you let me help you, Martita?"</p> + +<p>"You don't know how."</p> + +<p>"You can tell me what to do, and under your direction it will go +first-rate."</p> + +<p>"Now, you flatter me! All right, I'm willing; but you must wash your +hands first."</p> + +<p>Nothing was left for Ricardo but to go and wash his hands.</p> + +<p>"That's good. Now take this rolling-pin and flatten out this lump of +dough till you make it into a thin, round piece."</p> + +<p>The new baker applied himself to his work with ardor; with too great +ardor, for the dough was sometimes rolled so extremely thin that it was +nothing but holes. The servants looked on with broad smiles of +admiration, while Marta kept gravely intent upon her task. In the +kitchen the atmosphere was suffocating, as it was heated by the red-hot +iron covers of the oven, and impregnated with the heavy odors of cooking +viands, which disturb and revolt the stomach when it is surfeited, but +excite and stimulate it when it is empty.</p> + +<p>Ricardo could not keep his tongue still a single instant. While he was +passing the rolling-pin over the dough with greater circumspection than +if he had been engaged in preparing a magic philter, he did not cease to +ask questions and make remarks of all sorts to Marta, principally in +regard to the pie which they had undertaken to make: "How many eggs did +you put in the flour? How much lard? Who taught you to make pies? How +long does it<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> have to stay in the oven?" etc., etc. Marta gave laconic +answers, and did not lift her face to all his questions, allowing a +vague smile of condescending superiority to hover over her lips.</p> + +<p>"Aye! Marta, what would Manolito Lopez say, if he were to see us at this +moment?"</p> + +<p>"What has he to say? It's nothing to him," replied the girl, slightly +blushing.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't he be jealous, to see us so near together?"</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know! I know he's in love with you, according to what they say."</p> + +<p>"Why do you wish to plague me so?"</p> + +<p>"Lassie, everybody is talking about it; it's no invention of mine."</p> + +<p>"Very well; then keep it up, as you say."</p> + +<p>"I will, so far as I see it."</p> + +<p>"Come, don't be foolish!"</p> + +<p>Marta's tone in saying this showed some signs of vexation. It was +evident that she did not quite relish the joke. Ricardo's ground for +making it was slight enough, as is almost always the case with children; +but it was true to a certain degree. Little urchins of fourteen or +fifteen, called, in popular language, <i>pipiolos</i>, run after the small +girls of the same age; and they establish, for the most part tacitly, +certain relations with them which resemble or imitate the love affairs +of their seniors. It is said, for example, among them that Fulanito<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +is Fulanita's sweetheart, without any reason why; and Fulanito, merely +from this fact, without Fulanita meaning much to him, goes to wait for +her, with other friends, at the schoolroom<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> door, and follows her home, +greatly to the vexation of the tending maid; at the little parties which +are given from house to house he takes her out to dance more frequently +than the others. If he be somewhat daring, he is apt to offer her candy +in cones of gilt paper; and he passes in front of her house several +times a day, when he begins to wear new clothes or a new hat; he +manages, when he walks behind her, to speak loud and distinctly for her +to hear, and plumes himself on his clever talk; and he is quick to roll +up his sleeves for the most insignificant thing, so as to exhibit in her +presence a boldness and courage which he would not have if she were +absent; he spends the pennies which he possesses on pomade or scented +oil, and comes to mass when she is present, his hair brushed and as +shiny as a cat just out of the water; in the afternoon, when his heart +is sore because she does not take any notice of him, he follows behind +her with some of his friends, indulging in naughty words and stupid +laughter; and sometimes, coming close up to her, he pulls her by the +hair-ribbon, until, with these and other trickeries, he succeeds in +making her cry.</p> + +<p>Fulanita's conduct is generally of a piece. In reality she doesn't care +a fig for Fulanito; but as they say he is her sweetheart, she does all +she can to carry out the idea, and so she keeps turning her head to look +for him when she comes out of school; at the German she selects him as a +partner more times than the others; she hurries to the window when he +passes, and blushes when they joke her about him. But these +pseudo-affections are almost never lasting, and rarely become real. They +begin silently, they live their day silently, and silently they pass +away when the girl puts on long dresses. The reason for such fickleness +is very obvious. Fulanito has as yet attained<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> the age, not of love +affairs, but of the gymnasium, <i>suspensos</i>, and sage cigars. Fulanita is +already far more perfectly developed as far as the life of the heart is +concerned, and in her inmost soul she has a profound scorn for Fulanito, +who does not know how to descant on affinity and love, is incapable of +kissing a fan fallen from the hand, and hasn't a sign of a mustache.</p> + +<p>Of this sort, though with slight variations, was our Marta's friendship +with Manolito Lopez. To the general causes which tend to wither and nip +in the bud such predilections must be added in this case the very slight +similarity of their characters. Manolito, though he had an expressive +and even handsome face, was mischievous, obstreperous, quarrelsome, and +saucy; one good quality was observable in him: he was not inclined to be +spiteful. Marta was placid, taciturn, and reserved; the fault which they +found with her at home was that she was somewhat obstinate. It was not +possible, therefore, to have a more complete antithesis. If this had not +been so, Marta would have come to love Manolito, for her temperament was +opposed to change not only in the furniture of her room, but in the +sentiments of her heart.</p> + +<p>When they had finished moulding various thin covers of pastry, Marta +went to work to put some of them on top of others in copper +baking-dishes, which made the bottom of the pie. Then one of the maids +put in the pork, neatly trimmed and cut into small bits. The lard, well +seasoned with spices, exhaled a stimulating, appetizing odor, which made +the mouth water. When once the bits were laid on the bottom crust in the +most accurate order, the girl went to spreading new covers of pastry +which she laid over the pork. Ricardo no longer helped her; he was +evidently tired of it. But when it came to<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a> making the ornaments for the +top, he once more hastened to offer his services, and he took great +delight in designing in the dough a thousand kinds of mosaics, +arabesques, and figures of every species that was ever seen. Marta put +an end to such dilettante labors by taking the pastry from his hand, for +he was never done. When the pie was made, the girl herself put it in the +oven, and following a pious custom traditional in that part of the +country, she made the sign of the cross over it, and repeated a Pater +Noster so as to obtain a happy result.</p> + +<p>"Do you know one thing, Martita?"</p> + +<p>"What is that?"</p> + +<p>"That kitchen odors and the labor on these pies have given me an +abnormal appetite!"</p> + +<p>"Really?"</p> + +<p>"It's the honest truth!"</p> + +<p>"Then see here; something to eat will cure it. Come with me."</p> + +<p>And she drew him to the dining-room near by and seated him at the table. +Then she took out of a sideboard a napkin, bread, wine, a plate of cold +turkey, and a jar of preserves, and put them down one after the other +with the carefulness and system which characterized all her movements.</p> + +<p>"Eat, Seor Marqus, eat."</p> + +<p>To call Ricardo "Seor Marqus" was one of the most audacious jests +which Marta allowed herself to indulge in toward her future brother. It +was not in accordance with her nature to make jokes and epigrams about +any one. Those that occasionally came from her lips were meant to +disguise a tenderness which her reserved nature prevented her from +showing openly to any one, even to her own sister.<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a></p> + +<p>Ricardo proceeded to despatch a slice of turkey with all solemnity, +occasionally washing it down with draughts of Valdepeas, while the +girl, smiling and happy, stood enjoying her friend's voracious appetite, +and looking out to fill his glass with wine and change his plate when +there was need.</p> + +<p>"You are a fine woman, Martita," said Ricardo, with his mouth full. +"You're worth your weight in gold, and certainly you would not weigh a +little, judging by the signs which I won't mention for fear you would +call me a bore. When I see Manolito Lopez, I shall tell him not to think +of any other woman if he wants to get fat and plump; and that's what he +very much needs. If you take such good care of me, what care you would +take of him!—That's enough, that's enough, Martita! don't give me so +much preserve. One would think that you wanted to give me dyspepsia +here, on the sly.—This turkey is excellent; it deserves the honors +which I have done it;—a little more wine, please!—"</p> + +<p>Marta poured out the wine, and looked at him out of her great, calm +eyes, in which gleamed an evanescent smile of comfortable satisfaction. +It seemed as if it were she who was feasting.</p> + +<p>"See here, lassie<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>! do me the favor to eat something too, because it +grieves me to see you so abstemious. I should think you were being +punished."</p> + +<p>The girl was not hungry, and she refused to take the plate which Ricardo +offered her. However, she cut a small piece of bread, and began to +devour it solemnly with her little white teeth.</p> + +<p>"I prophesy that it won't be long before you dispose of this saucer of +preserve, Martita. The thing is to<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> begin. The worst of it is, it's now +twelve o'clock, and at dinner-time I shan't have any appetite.—Yet I +don't know how far that's certain, for my stomach is a good +one!—Martita, don't be foolish, but eat this preserve, which you will +find appetizing."</p> + +<p>While Ricardo was bringing his task of feasting and chattering to an +end, Genoveva came into the dining-room, saying,—</p> + +<p>"The Seorita Maria has a little headache and is resting in her room."</p> + +<p>"I'll go to her," cried Marta, hurrying away.</p> + +<p>"And I bring you this message from her, seorito," added the maid, +handing him a note.</p> + +<p>But seeing that the young man was about to break the seal, she said,—</p> + +<p>"The seorita wanted you not to read it till after you had left the +house."</p> + +<p>"Very good," muttered Ricardo, somewhat disturbed.</p> + +<p>And taking his hat, and without saying farewell to any one, he hurried +home devoured by impatience, and tearing open the envelope with +trembling hand, he read the following letter:—</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"M<small>I QUERIDSIMO</small> R<small>ICARDO</small>,—</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"For some time I have been anxious to tell you a thought that has filled +my mind, but I have not had the courage. I know your nature well: you +are extremely impetuous, and thus many times, instead of reflecting on +my words and trying to understand their meaning, you would flare up like +gunpowder, spoil everything, and frighten me terribly, as on the evening +when we celebrated mamma's fte-day. Accordingly, after much +vacillation, I have decided to tell you by letter and not by word of +mouth.</p> + +<p>"The thought that disturbs me of late is to ask you to postpone<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> our +wedding still a little longer. Don't get angry, Ricardo mio, and read on +calmly. I am sure that the first thought that will occur to your mind is +that I don't love you. How mistaken you would be to think such a thing! +If you could read in my soul, you would see that love holds my +conscience in its sway, and this I deplore bitterly. But that is not the +question now.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure, Ricardo, that you and I are properly trained to enter +upon a state which entails so many and such serious responsibilities? +Have you thought well of what the sacrament of marriage means? Is there +not in our hearts rather an unreflecting inclination, mixed, perhaps, +with carnal impulses, than a serious desire to undertake an austere, +religious life, becoming in a Christian family, educating our children +in the fear of God and in the practice of virtue? If you reflect a +little on how frivolous hitherto our love has been, and on the sins +which we are constantly committing, you cannot but agree with me that +two young people, so wanting in gravity and genuine virtue, are not +authorized by God to bring up and direct a family. I should feel a great +smiting of the conscience if I were married now (and you ought to feel +the same), and I believe that God could not bless or make our union +happy. If it is to be blessed, we must make ourselves worthy of +celebrating it, by leaving forever behind us our frivolous, worldly +manner of loving, for another, more lofty and spiritual, by refraining +absolutely from certain earthly manifestations to which we are impelled +by our great love, and by making preparations for it, during a few +months at least, by a virtuous and devout life, by performing a few +sacrifices and works of charity, and by constantly imploring God to +illumine our minds, and give us power to fulfil the duties imposed upon +us by the new state.</p> + +<p>"There is an example in history which ought to encourage us greatly in +doing what I propose. The beloved Saint Isabel of Hungary had been +betrothed from early youth to the Duke Luis of Thuringen, but the +nuptials were not celebrated until both reached the proper age. After +the betrothal was celebrated, Isabel and Luis did not separate, but +lived in the same<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> palace, as though they had been brother and sister, +until, by the will of God, they became husband and wife. The pious +sentiments of the lovers, together with the austere education which was +given them, made their affection always pure and upright, founding the +unchangeable union of their hearts, not on the ephemeral sentiments of a +purely human attraction, but on a common faith and the stern observance +of all the virtues inculcated by this faith. Until they were united by +the indissoluble bond of matrimony, they always called each other +brother and sister; and even after they were married, they frequently +used to apply this sweet name to each other.</p> + +<p>"I confess, Ricardo, that the spectacle of those noble and holy young +people has an unspeakable attraction for me. Love sanctified in such a +way is a thousand times more beautiful, and bestows upon the heart purer +and loftier pleasures. Why should we not follow, as far as possible, the +steps of that illustrious husband and wife, the pattern of abnegation +and tenderness, as well as of purity and fidelity? Why should you not +imitate, my beloved Ricardo, the stern virtue of the young Duke of +Thuringen, the nobleness and dignity of all his actions, the innocence +and modesty of his soul, never found guilty of falsehood,—virtues which +in no respect were opposed to the valor and boldness of which he always +gave eminent proofs? For my part, I promise you to imitate, according to +the measure of my feeble strength, the tenderness, the obedience, and +the faithfulness of his saintly spouse Isabel, living subject to the law +of God, within the affection which I profess for you.</p> + +<p>"This is what I propose to you, and desire to do. Don't get angry, for +God's sake, dear Ricardo; reflect over what I have just said, and you +will see how right I am. Doubt not that I love you much, much,—I, who +am, for the time being,</p> + +<p class="r"> +<span style="margin-right: 5%;">"Your sister,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Maria</span>."</p> + +<p><a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> +<small>THE ROAD TO PERFECTION.</small></h2> + +<p>T<small>HE</small> letter which we have just read led to a very important crisis in the +lives of our lovers. Ricardo at first was furious, and wrote a long +answer to his betrothed, announcing the end of their acquaintance, but +he did not send it. Then he held a consultation with her in which he +overwhelmed her with recriminations and insults, saving that all she had +written in her letter was nothing but a tissue of follies and +absurdities, manufactured on purpose to hide her treachery; that she +might have dismissed him in some way not so grotesque; that although he +had no claim upon her love, at least he might and ought to demand the +frankness and loyalty which he had always shown; that for a long time +back he had noticed her coldness and indifference, but he could never +have believed that she would make use of a pretext so ridiculous and so +absurd for breaking the tie that united them, etc., etc. Maria received +this storm of contumely with great humility, assuring him with gentle +words of persuasion, when he left her a moment's chance to speak, that +she still loved him with all her soul; that he might put her love to the +test as often as he pleased, since she was ready to make whatever +sacrifice he demanded, except what went against her conscience; that his +suspicions of her untruth and treachery cut her to the heart, but she +forgave him because she was aware of his excited state of mind; that she +likewise felt it keenly that he should<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> call the motives of her +resolution grotesque and ridiculous when she found them so worthy; and, +in fine, that she begged him to calm himself.</p> + +<p>After the young marquis had thoroughly vented his ill feeling without +result, he began to get off of his high horse and try the effect of +skilful reasoning, and then he changed to entreaties, but without any +better results. He employed all the device of genius and all the tender +and expressive words dictated by his honorable heart, in order to +convince her that neither of them was fortunately under the necessity of +mourning for their sins like two criminals; since if they were not +better than the average of humanity, they were at least as good; and as +for their skill and judgment in governing themselves and their children +in matrimony, he believed that they were no less fitted than the rest, +and that in the end they would come out as well as other people. All was +useless. The young woman met argument with argument, and her lover's +prayers, sprinkled with endearments, with a firm and obstinate silence. +Ricardo, in a state of tribulation which Father Rivadeneira does not +take account of as a matter of merit in his treatise, went straight to +Don Mariano, whom he loved like a father, to tell him the state of +things, and ask his aid and advice. The latter was highly surprised and +disturbed when he read his daughter's letter. He read it over many times +as though he could not get the key of it, and at each new reading he +found it more obscure and inexplicable. Finally he handed it back with a +gesture of dismay, signifying that his daughter must have lost her wits, +for he could not understand any such nonsense.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, Don Mariano was a sincere believer, fulfilling +scrupulously the moral precepts of religion, but<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> he looked upon the +things which relate to worship with some coolness, if not with scorn. He +had never doubted the religious truths learned in his childhood, but he +had never made much account of masses and sermons, and he never went to +church more than was strictly necessary. He could make a distinction, +when these subjects were up for discussion, between religion and the +priest, professing for these latter a decided Voltairian hostility, +which came from inheritance, according to Doa Gertrudis, since his +grandfather, the Mexican, had kept up friendly relations and a +voluminous correspondence with a member of the French Convention. He had +an insuperable faith in modern progress, and he made use of the +inventions constantly realized by human industry, in order to combat and +crush the fragile arguments of his constant enemies, the partisans of +tradition, among whom not the least obstinate and vexatious was his +wife. If, for example, a telegram from any relation or friend was +received in the house, Don Mariano, after reading it, would hold it out +to his wife with a triumphal smile, saying,—</p> + +<p>"Here, this miserable modern invention brings us word that your brother +has reached Paris safely."</p> + +<p>He delighted in making humorous conjectures on the fright that would +seize our forefathers if they were suddenly put in a railroad car, or +were told that they could communicate whenever they pleased with a +friend residing in Havana. Whenever he found in the papers a notice of +any wonderful invention, the audacious man hastened to read it to his +wife, and he kept the paper so as to read it also to the many +conservatives who frequented his house. If the invention was not costly, +he had the machine sent him, although it was not of the slightest use to +him; and so he kept the house stored with curious<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> manufactures, almost +all of them covered with dust, and out of order by want of +use,—ice-making machines, churns, cider-mills, organs, etc., parlor +telegraphs, stereopticons, pans for cooking meat with a piece of paper, +life-preservers, canes with chairs and guns, waterproof umbrellas with +tent arrangement, and an endless array of strange articles. When the +machine did not work, Don Mariano was disgusted and felt humiliated, and +fearing lest the glory of modern science should be diminished in +consequence, he did not speak of the apparatus before his seora; or if +he were obliged to do so, he escaped the difficulty on a tangent, as he +used to say, by always attributing the unfortunate result to his own +stupidity, and not the quality of the machine. This eager love which he +professed for the incredible advances of the present age, and the +struggle which he waged both in his house and out of it with the friends +of tradition, occasionally impelled him to employ forbidden weapons, as +for example to exaggerate the power of modern industry, giving +fictitious accounts of the beginning of stupendous new enterprises which +had never as yet entered into the mind of man. One day he startled his +friends by assuring them that it was seriously intended to establish a +floating bridge between Europe and America, over which one could travel +by rail to the New World; another time he astonished them by declaring +that a telescope was in construction, which would bring the moon within +half a league of the earth, so that we could discover whether that +satellite had inhabitants. Again, he filled them with wonder by +informing them that in the United States a whole cathedral had been +moved at once from one town to another by means of hydraulic pressure. +In regard to mechanical advances, Don Mariano had more imagination<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> than +Shakespeare. National politics engaged his attention little in +comparison with the incessant and sublime progress realized by humanity, +and he detested the exaggerations which in his view tended to hinder it. +His affiliations were with the liberal conservative party.</p> + +<p>With these peculiarities, it is easy to imagine the effect made upon him +by his daughter's letter. He looked upon it as one of those many +extravagant hobbies which she had passed through in her life, and he +solemnly promised Ricardo to make her desist from such folly. But after +he had called her to his room and spent about two hours closeted with +her, he began to suspect that the thing was not so easy as it appeared +at first sight. Neither by turning her austere plan into ridicule by his +jests, nor by showing that he was annoyed, nor by descending to +entreaties, was our worthy caballero able to accomplish anything. Maria +met these attacks like her lover's, with a humble but resolute attitude +impossible to overcome. No other way was left them but to resign +themselves, and this they both did perforce with the secret hope that +the girl would very soon change of her own accord when once her caprice +was satisfied. Accordingly the wedding was indefinitely postponed, and +poor Ricardo began to play his part as Duke of Thuringen almost as ill +as a Spanish actor. From that time forth his interviews with Maria +became less frequent and familiar. The girl seemed to shun him and to +avoid opportunities of talking confidentially with him as she used. +Ricardo eagerly sought them, sometimes employing them in bitter +expostulations, at others in softly whispering a thousand passionate +phrases. She always appeared sweet and affectionate, but endeavored to +turn the conversation to serious subjects. Ricardo still caressed her +whenever he<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> had an opportunity, but he no longer obtained from her the +usual reciprocation in spite of the incredible efforts which he made to +obtain it. And not only he did not obtain this grace, but little by +little the girl came to avoid his familiarities by always talking with +him in the presence of others. One day when he found her alone in the +dining-room, he said to himself with inward delight, "She is mine." And +creeping up behind her carefully, he gave her a ringing kiss on her +neck. Maria sprang suddenly from her chair and said, with a certain +sweetness not free from severity,—</p> + +<p>"Ricardo, don't do that again!"</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"How long since?"</p> + +<p>"I never did; don't be foolish." She said these words with asperity, and +another unpleasant stage in Ricardo's love was signalized. Almost +absolutely ceased those happy moments of fond raptures, sweet and +delicious as the pleasures of the angels in which the poesy of spirit +and matter is indistinguishable, the prospect of which kindles and stirs +the deepest roots of our being, and their remembrance throws over all +our lives, even for the most prosaic of men, a vague and poetical +melancholy helping us to endure the rebuffs of existence and to +contemplate without envy the felicity of others. The most that the young +marquis obtained grudgingly from his sweetheart was the permission to +give her a brotherly kiss on the forehead from time to time. And there +is no need of telling my experienced readers, for they must be able to +imagine it, that with this enforced fast the young man's love far from +growing less, increased and became violent beyond all power of words.<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a></p> + +<p>Maria was able fully to devote herself to the life of perfection toward +which she had felt such vehement aspiration. The hours of the day seemed +to her too few for her prayers, both at church and at home, and for the +repentance of her sins. She attended the sacraments more and more, and +she was present and assisted with her sympathy and money in all the +religious solemnities which were celebrated in the town. The time left +free from her prayers she spent in reading books of devotion, which, in +a short time, formed a library almost as numerous as her novels. The +lives of the saints pleased her above all, and she soon devoured a +multitude of them, paying most attention, as was logical, to the lives +of those who reached the greatest glory and brought the greatest +splendor to the Church,—the life of Saint Teresa, that of Saint +Catalina of Sienna, of Saint Gertrudis, of Saint Isabel, Saint Eulalia, +Saint Monica, and many others who, without having been canonized, were +celebrated for their piety and for the spiritual graces which God +bestowed upon them, like the holy Margarita of Alacoque, Mademoiselle de +Melun, and others. These works made a very profound impression on our +young lady's ardent and enthusiastic mind, driving her farther and +farther along the road to perfection. The incredible and marvellous +powers of those heroic souls, who, through love and charity, succeeded +in lifting themselves to heaven, and in enjoying through anticipation, +while still on earth, the delights reserved for the blessed, filled her +with deep, fervent admiration. She felt an ecstasy over the most +insignificant incidents in the lives of the saints, where God often +showed them that He held them as His chosen ones, and would not let the +world entice them away, as, for example, the scene of the miraculous +toad which Saint<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> Teresa saw talking in the garden with a caballero +toward whom she felt a drawing; the sudden death of Buenaventura, Saint +Catalina's sister, who was leading that holy woman along the worldly +path of bodily adornments and pleasures; and many others which filled +the books aforesaid. Maria regarded these notable heroines of religion +with the same emotion and astonishment as one regards the phenomena and +marvels of nature. A long time passed before she dared to lift her eyes +toward them in the way of imitation; she contented herself with +beseeching them, through interminable prayers, to intercede with God to +pardon her sins. She bought the finest effigies that she found and, when +she had caused them to be richly framed, she hung them up on the walls +of her room. To do this she had to take down Malec-Kadel and many other +warriors of the Middle Ages which had invaded them. She was especially +carried away by the scenes of their infancy, and by the first steps +which these blessed women had taken along the road to perfection; but +when she reached that part of their lives which marked the apogee of +their glory on earth, when God, overcome by their steadfast love, their +fidelity, and the wonderful penances imposed upon themselves, began to +grant them favors and spiritual gifts by means of ecstasies and visions, +she remained somewhat disturbed and even cast down. She did not as yet +comprehend the mystic delight of direct communication through the senses +between the soul and God, and she confessed with great compunction that +if one of these miraculous visions were to be vouchsafed her, she should +feel much greater fear than pleasure.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, before long, the desire to imitate them sprang up in her +heart. It is always a short step from<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> admiration to imitation. She +began where it was proper, that is, by imitating their humility. +Hitherto she had been modest, but not to such a degree as not to enjoy +being flattered and applauded; but from this time forth she not only +carefully avoided all praise, but she repelled those who offered it, and +even tried to hide her talents so as to give her friends no chance to +praise her. She began to talk as little as possible with friends or +members of the family, and to do on the instant whatever they asked her +to, lamenting in her heart that they did not give her harsh commands. +She managed to have the servants help her at table after all the rest, +and always give her stale bread instead of fresh. To conquer the natural +impulses of selfishness she showed those who had offended her more +affability than others, and any one had only to offend her pride more or +less for her immediately to overwhelm them with attentions, as though +she owed them gratitude. On the other hand, to those who, as she knew, +loved and admired her, she took delight in seeming peevish, so that they +might not think her better than she really was.</p> + +<p>Having started out on this pious path, which has been travelled by all +the saints for the glory of God and of the human race, since the virtue +of humility raises man above his own nature, conquering the passions +deepest rooted in the human heart, and, of all virtues is the one that +best proves the power of the spirit, and inspires respect even in the +most unbelieving of men; having started out, I say on this pious path, +and being aided by vivid imagination, she performed a number of strange +deeds, wellnigh incomprehensible to those whose attention is turned to +the world and not to religious things, deeds which the illustrious +biographers of Saint Isabel<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> calls <i>secret</i> and <i>holy fancies</i>,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> +serving as the mystic steps whereby the soul mounts to perfection and +communicates with God. One day, for example, it came into her mind to +eat humbly with the servants as though she were one of them. In order to +do this, when dinner-time came, she pretended to have a headache, and +kept in her chamber; but when the family were gathered in the +dining-room, she softly ran down stairs to the kitchen, and there she +stayed all through the dinner-hour, helping herself to the remains of +the food, to the surprise and admiration of the servants. Another day, +when it seemed to her that she had not answered her father with +sufficient respect, she suddenly presented herself in his office, fell +on her knees, and begged his pardon. Don Mariano lifted her from the +floor, with startled eyes:—</p> + +<p>"But, my daughter, suppose you have not offended me or committed any +fault? And even if you had, there is no need of going to these extremes. +What nonsense! Come, give me a kiss, and go and sew with your sister, +and don't frighten me again with such absurdities!"</p> + +<p>Maria did not meet with the contrarieties in the bosom of her family +that she would have liked, in the way of test. Her father and sister, +though they did not encourage her in her devotions, said nothing to +oppose her; and each day they showed her more and more affection, which +was the natural consequence of the growing sweetness and gentleness of +her character. Her mother adored her with foolish frenzy, blindly +applauded all her acts of piety, and never wearied of praising to the +skies the virtue and talent of her first-born. The servants, and +particularly Genoveva, likewise joined their voices in a chorus of +flatteries, spreading all over town the fame of her virtues,<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> and +crowning her with a halo of respect and sanctity. As far as such things +influenced her salvation, our maiden would have preferred a cruel, +tyrannical father, who laid harsh commands upon her, or a disagreeable +mother or an envious sister, who would not let her live in peace, since, +according to the biographies which she read, no saint had been free from +suffering persecutions in her own family. She grieved inwardly at the +ease and comfort which she enjoyed at home, and she thought that she +suffered nothing for the God who had redeemed us with His blood. She +would have liked it had a calumny been breathed about her, such as +Palmerina caused Saint Catalina of Sienna to suffer, so that she might +be scorned and maltreated; but no one in the house or out of it dreamed +of doing such a thing.</p> + +<p>To compensate for this absence of persecutions, she mortified her flesh +with fasting and penances, always performing those which were most +unpleasant to her. Some dish on the table was distasteful to her; then +she imposed upon herself the penance of eating it, leaving others, of +which she was extremely fond, untouched. She went so far as to put aloes +in some, in imitation of what was done by Saint Nicolas of Tolentino. On +Fridays she fasted rigorously on bread and water, performing miracles of +shrewdness to prevent her father from discovering it; for she felt +certain that if he knew it, he would not give his consent.</p> + +<p>She always wore a locket around her neck, containing the picture of her +betrothed. One day, when he had succeeded in having a moment's +conversation alone with her, she said to him,—</p> + +<p>"Listen, Ricardo; if you would not be vexed, I would tell you +something."<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a></p> + +<p>"What is it?" hastily asked the young man, with the sudden alarm of one +who is always afraid of some misfortune.</p> + +<p>"I see that I am going to offend you—but I will tell you. I have taken +your picture out of the locket."</p> + +<p>Ricardo's face expressed amazement.</p> + +<p>"And the worst is, that I have put another in its place."</p> + +<p>The expression of amazement changed into one of such pain, that Maria, +on looking in his contracted and grief-stricken face, could not refrain +from breaking out into a fresh, ringing peal of merry laughter, such as +in former times used to ripple from her lips all the time, and which +little by little had decreased, as though the fire of light and joy from +which they came had died down.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens! what a long face!—Wait! Now I'll show your substitute, +so as to make you suffer more."</p> + +<p>And taking the locket from her neck she showed it to him. It held the +effigy of Jesus crowned with thorns. Ricardo, half satisfied and half +vexed, answered with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Now kiss it!"</p> + +<p>The young man obeyed instantly, placing his lips on the picture of the +Lord, and at the same time touching the rosy fingers which held it out +to him. Maria withdrew them and ran away.</p> + +<p>Equally as she schooled herself in humility, so she gave much heed to +that other virtue, which is, so to speak, the foundation of our religion +and the chief crown of glory that the creature can offer to God,—the +virtue of charity. Our maiden's excellent heart and the example of her +parents were sufficient reason for her to alleviate as far as possible +the miseries of her neighbors, but beside this there was now the +continual inducement in the incredible<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> powers of abnegation and charity +shown by the saints, whom she worshipped with the greatest fervor, +particularly the holy Duchess of Thuringen, who bore the name of Mother +of the Poor. And so she visited her compassion on all the wretched, and +lost no opportunity to supply their needs with lavish hand. All the +money which her father gave her she employed in almsgiving. In company +with Genoveva she visited the houses of many poor people, whom she +assisted not only with money but also with words of council, on the +ground that man lives not by bread alone. In order to school herself in +humility in the same way that was practised by Margaret, the sainted +queen of Scotland, she had some beggars come secretly to her room, and +washed their feet with the greatest scrupulousness. Each one of these +pious deeds filled her with a holy inward joy such as she had never +before experienced. She took up the habit of never allowing any poor +person who asked alms to go without receiving them, since in addition to +the dictates of her heart she remembered the multitude of cases in which +our Lord or the Virgin had appeared to many saints in the disguise of +beggars. Her desire, mixed with fear, that something of this sort might +happen in her case, impelled her to scrutinize with considerable care +the faces of the poor. But as her own resources did not suffice for her +attention to such numerous charities, she had to scheme in order to +obtain money from her father, using a thousand innocent devices: one day +asking it for a parasol, another for a clock, another for a case of +scissors, etc., etc. She went to such extremes, however, that Don +Mariano began to suspect the truth, and put a limit to his munificence. +His daughter had impoverished him with the greatest innocence.<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a></p> + +<p>Carried away by her ardent charity, she likewise wanted to put herself +to the test by caring for the sick; above all, for those who were +suffering from disgusting diseases. She heard that a woman near her +house was suffering from a sore breast, and she made the resolution to +go every morning and dress it, and this she instantly put into practice; +but at the very first visit, wishing to add what she had read in the +history of Saint Catalina, that is, wishing to kiss the sick woman's +sore, the loathing and horror which overcame her were so great that she +grew faint, became very ill, and Genoveva had to take her in her arms +and carry her home.</p> + +<p>The poor girl attributed her misfortune not to the feebleness of her +stomach, but to her lack of virtue, and she applied herself with +increased anxiety to better her life.</p> + +<p>Genoveva took part in all these exercises of piety, but rather as her +companion and confidential friend than as her maid. She aided her, +oftentimes without understanding where she was going to stop, absolutely +persuaded that she could not go on the wrong track, for she had blind +faith in her seorita's discretion. It was not so much affection which +she felt for her, as a species of idolatry in which was mingled +admiration for her beauty, respect for her talent, and pride in having +seen the birth of a prodigy in the creation of which she had had a +share. Maria was unable to arouse in her the mystic enthusiasm which +possessed herself, for Genoveva was not of an inflammable nature, and a +supine ignorance shielded her from all sorts of enthusiasms; but she +succeeded through her acts and religious discourses in awakening in her +the fanaticism which is always dormant in the depths of vulgar, ignorant +souls.<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a></p> + +<p>One night after Maria had retired from the family circle, and Genoveva +had left the kitchen, they found themselves in the boudoir in the tower. +Maria was reading by the light of her polished iron lamp,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> while +Genoveva was seated in another chair in front of her, engaged in +knitting stockings. They often spent an hour or two in this way before +going to bed, since the seorita was accustomed of old to read till the +small hours of the night.</p> + +<p>She did not seem so absorbed in her reading as usual. She often laid the +book on the table and remained a long while thoughtful, with her cheek +resting in her hand: then she took it up again, only to lay it down very +hastily; she was nervous, judging by the creaking of the chair. From +time to time she fastened a long gaze on Genoveva in which gleamed a +timid, restless desire and a sort of inner struggle with some thought +preoccupying her. Genoveva, on the other hand, was more than ever +absorbed in her stocking, doubtless mixing with her stitches a crowd of +more or less philosophical considerations which obliged her, from time +to time, to lean forward towards her hands just as if she were asleep.</p> + +<p>At last the seorita decided to break the silence.</p> + +<p>"Genoveva, don't you want to read this passage from the life of Saint +Isabel?" she asked, handing her the book.</p> + +<p>"With all my heart,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> seorita."</p> + +<p>"Look here where it says: 'When her husband.'"</p> + +<p>Genoveva began to read the paragraph to herself, but very soon Maria +interrupted her, saying,—</p> + +<p>"No, no; read it aloud!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon she obeyed, reading what follows:—<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a></p> + +<p><i>"When her husband was absent, she spent the whole night watching with +Jesus, the spouse of her soul. But the penances which the innocent young +princess imposed upon herself were not limited to this alone. Under her +most splendid garments she always wore a haircloth cilicium next her +flesh. Every Friday she let herself be severely whipped in secret in +memory of the dolorous passion of our Lord, and daily during Lent (in +order, says a biographer, to requite the Lord in some measure for the +punishment of the lash), coming thereafter to Court, her face full of +joy and serenity. As time went on she carried this austerity into the +small hours of the night, and entering into an apartment next the +chamber where she slept with her husband, she caused her damsels to +inflict a severe scourging upon her, thence returning to her husband's +side more joyful and amiable than ever, having gained comfort from these +severities practised on herself and against her own weakness. Thus it +was, as a contemporary poet says, she succeeded in drawing near to God +and breaking the bonds of the prison of the flesh like a brave warrior +of the love of the Lord."</i></p> + +<p>"That'll do; don't read any more; what do you think about it?"</p> + +<p>"I have often read that same thing before."</p> + +<p>"That's true; but what should you think if I decided to do the same?" +she asked impetuously, like one who determines to propose something long +thought about.</p> + +<p>Genoveva stared at her with wide-open eyes, failing to understand her.</p> + +<p>"Don't you understand?"</p> + +<p>"No, seorita."</p> + +<p>Maria got up, and throwing her arms around her neck, she whispered, her +face aflame,—<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a></p> + +<p>"I mean, silly one,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> that if you would be willing to do the office of +Saint Isabel's damsels, I would imitate the saint to-night."</p> + +<p>Genoveva vaguely understood, but still she asked,—</p> + +<p>"What office?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you stupid and more than stupid, that of giving me a few blows with +the lash in memory of those which our Lord received, and all the saints +in example of him."</p> + +<p>"Seorita, what are you saying? How did such a thing ever enter into +your head?"</p> + +<p>"It entered my head because I wish to mortify and humiliate myself at +one and the same time. That is the true penance and the most pleasing in +the eyes of the Lord, for the reason that he himself suffered it for us. +I intended to inflict it upon myself, but I could not; and besides, it +is not so efficacious as to suffer the humiliation of receiving it from +the hands of another. And so you won't be willing to do this for me?"</p> + +<p>"No, Seorita, not for anything. I couldn't do it—"</p> + +<p>"Why not, <i>tonta</i>? Don't you see that it is for my good? If I should +fail of freeing myself from a few days of purgatory because I did not do +what I ask you, wouldn't you feel remorse?"</p> + +<p>"But, my heart's dove,<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> how could you want me to maltreat you even +though it were for your good?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you have nothing left but to do it because it is a vow, and I must +fulfil it; you have helped me hitherto in the road to virtue. Don't +abandon me when I least expect it. You won't, Genovita? You won't, will +you?"</p> + +<p>"Seorita, for God's sake don't make me do this!"<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a></p> + +<p>"Come, Genovita, I beg of you by the love that you bear me—"</p> + +<p>"No! no! no! don't ask me to do it—"</p> + +<p>"Come, you old darling,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> do this favor for me. You don't know how bad +I shall feel if you don't do it. I shall believe that you have ceased to +love me."</p> + +<p>Maria exhausted all the resources of her genius to convince her. She sat +on her lap and overwhelmed her with caresses; she fondled her, now +getting vexed, now entreating her, and always fixing her eyes upon her +in a wheedling way impossible to resist. She was like a child asking for +a forbidden toy. When she saw that her maid was softening a little, or +rather was very tired of refusing, she said, with fascinating +volubility:—</p> + +<p>"Truly, <i>tonta</i>, don't believe that it is a thing of such great +consequence. A bad toothache is much worse, and you know that I have had +them often enough. Your imagination makes you think that it is terrible, +when in reality it is a trifling thing. It all comes from the fact that +it isn't done nowadays because virtue is vanished from the world, but in +the good old times of religion it was a common, every-day occurrence, +and no one who claimed to be a good Christian failed to perform this +penance. Come, make up your mind to grant me this favor, and at the same +time to do a good work.—Wait a moment, I will find what we need—"</p> + +<p>And running to the bureau, she opened a drawer, and took out a scourge, +a genuine scourge, with round wooden handle and leather cords. Then, all +excited and nervous, with her cheeks on fire, she brought it to +Genoveva, and thrust it into her hand. She took it mechanically, without +knowing what she did. She was perfectly stupefied.<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> The girl began to +caress her again, encouraging her with persuasive accents; but she did +not answer a word. Then the Seorita de Elorza, with trembling hand, +began to unloose the blue silk dress which she wore. On her face glowed +the excited, anxious joy of a caprice about to be gratified. Her eyes +shone with unwonted light, hinting at keen, mysterious joys; her lips +were dry, as one athirst; the violet circle around her eyes was larger +than usual, and bright crimson spots burned in her cheeks. She breathed +excitedly through her nostrils, which were more than ordinarily dilated. +Her white, aristocratic hands, with their slender fingers and rosy +nails, loosed with strange haste the buttons of her dress. With a quick +movement she freed herself from it.</p> + +<p>"You shall see; I have on only my chemise and underwaist. I am all +ready."</p> + +<p>In truth, she took off, or rather tore off, her underwaist and a skirt +or two, and was left only in her chemise. She stood an instant, glanced +at the instrument in Genoveva's hand, and over her body ran a tremor of +chill, of pleasure, of anguish, of terror, and of eagerness, all at +once. In a low voice, changed by emotion, she said, "Papa must not know +this."</p> + +<p>And her linen chemise slipped down on her body, catching for an instant +on her hips, and then falling slowly to the floor. She was now entirely +naked. Genoveva looked at her with ecstatic eyes, and the girl felt +somewhat abashed.</p> + +<p>"You won't be angry with me, Genovita?" she asked, smiling.</p> + +<p>The serving woman could only say,—</p> + +<p>"Seorita, for God's sake!"</p> + +<p>"The sooner, the better, for I shall get cold."<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a></p> + +<p>In this way she wished to bring still greater pressure to bear on her +servant. With a nervous movement she snatched the scourge from her left +hand, thrust it into her right; again threw her arms around her neck, +and giving her a kiss, whispered very softly, in a joyous tone,—</p> + +<p>"You must ply it vigorously, for so I have promised God."</p> + +<p>A violent trembling took possession of her body, as she said these +words; but it was a delicious trembling, which penetrated to the very +depths of her being. Then, taking Genoveva by the hand, she pulled her +toward the table where the Saviour's image stood.</p> + +<p>"Here it must be,—kneeling before our Lord."</p> + +<p>Her voice choked in her throat. She was pale. She bent humbly before the +image, rapidly made the sign of the cross, folded her hands over her +breast, and turning her face toward her maid, said, with a sweet +smile,—</p> + +<p>"Now you can begin."</p> + +<p>"Seorita, for God's sake!" exclaimed Genoveva, in perfect trepidation.</p> + +<p>Through the seorita's eyes flashed a gleam of anger, which instantly +died away; but she said, in a tone of considerable irritation:—</p> + +<p>"Do we believe in this? Obey me, and don't be obstinate."</p> + +<p>The woman, overawed, and persuaded that she was aiding in a work of +piety, obeyed, laying the scourge gently enough on the seorita's naked +shoulders.</p> + +<p>The first blows struck by the maid were so soft and gentle that they +left no sign on that precious skin. But Maria was excited; she desired +them to be heavier:—</p> + +<p>"No, not like that; but with force—but wait a moment;<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> let me take off +these jewels, which are out of place at such a moment."</p> + +<p>And hastily she tore off all the rings from her fingers, pulled out her +earrings, and laid the handful of gold and precious stones at the feet +of Jesus. In that same way Saint Isabel, when she prayed in church, laid +her ducal crown at the foot of the altar.</p> + +<p>She resumed her humble posture, and Genoveva, seeing that there was no +escape, began relentlessly to bruise her pious mistress's flesh. The +lamp shed a soft, diffused light, bathing the little boudoir in subdued +brilliancy; only as it touched the jewels lying at the Redeemer's feet, +it broke into beautiful fleeting sparkles. The silence at this moment +was absolute; not even the mournful voice of the wind in the casements +was to be heard. The room breathed an atmosphere of mystery and +seclusion, which enraptured Maria and filled her with an intoxicating +pleasure. Her lovely body, bared, shuddered every time that the straps +of the scourge curled around it with a pang not without voluptuous +pleasure. She pressed her brow to the Redeemer's feet, breathing quickly +and with a certain oppression, and she felt the blood beating in her +temples with strange violence, while the light golden hair at the back +of the neck rose slightly under the impulse of the emotion which filled +her. From time to time her pale, trembling lips said softly,—</p> + +<p>"Go on, go on."</p> + +<p>The lashes had already raised many rose-colored weals in her shining +skin, and she did not ask for a truce. But at last the barbarous +instrument brought a drop of blood. Genoveva could not restrain herself; +she threw the scourge far from her, and hastened to embrace her +seorita, covering her with caresses and begging her by<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a> the salvation +of her soul not to make her do such an atrocious thing again. Maria +consoled her, assuring her that the flagellation had hurt her very +little; and now that her ardor was somewhat cooled, and her ascetic +impulses calmed, she said good night and went to her bedroom to lie +down.<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> +<small>IN SEARCH OF MENINO.</small></h2> + +<p>"I <small>KNOW</small> it's you, Ricardo; let me go!"</p> + +<p>Ricardo did not reply.</p> + +<p>"Come, let me go; you see I must hurry and carry the broth to mamma."</p> + +<p>Ricardo still blinded her eyes from behind without saying a word.</p> + +<p>"For pity's sake let me go, Ricardo! It isn't fair, after I have told +who you were."</p> + +<p>"In punishment for your not taking the joke gracefully, I won't let you +go," said Ricardo, still clasping her eyes.</p> + +<p>"All right, then; I admit that it's perfectly fair."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's another thing! if you submit, I will let you go. But you +must pay a forfeit."</p> + +<p>Marta, as soon as she found herself free, ran behind him with uplifted +broom, so that he could not get hold of her; thereupon she went back and +again began her task of brushing up the dining-room. She had not dressed +for the day. She wore a loose red gown somewhat the worse for wear, and +her hair was put up in a white redicilla. But there was one very strange +thing about this girl; in an old morning dress, sometimes even ripped, +and with her hair in disorder, she was prettier than when she put on her +fine clothes. It may have been because her peculiar style of beauty was +not best brought out by rich and splendid dresses as her sister's was, +or because<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> she was not used to wearing them (for it was rare for her to +put on those which were bought for her), so that she appeared awkward +and constrained when she went out; but at all events, on the street and +at the theatre, Marta certainly attracted little attention, and remained +entirely overshadowed by her sister's proud and splendid beauty. On the +other hand, at home her graces were greatly increased; her motions were +easy and unembarrassed; her eyes gained brilliancy and animation, and +her whole body acquired a freedom which it lost as soon as she set foot +in the street.</p> + +<p>She swept without haste, firmly and easily, like one who always expects +to finish in time, and she kept humming a march<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> very softly. She had +no voice for singing or any great love for music, and all the exertions +of her teachers and her liking for study struggled with this lack of +musical ability. The masterpieces of music, and even the <i>fantasas</i>, +<i>rveries</i>, and nocturnes, which Maria played on the piano left her cold +and incapable of understanding their worth. On the other hand, she +confessed with shame that certain operatic airs and many popular songs +delighted her. Another thing she did not confess, though it was no less +true: the bands which sometimes accompany funerals, and are, as a +general rule, of the very worst sort, composed almost entirely of brass +instruments, moved her deeply, even to tears. She almost never sang, but +she was apt to hum softly when she was doing any work as now. From time +to time she stopped to take breath, leaning for a moment on her broom, +and after brushing back one or two curls which fell on her forehead, she +went on with her task.</p> + +<p>Ricardo appeared again in the door.<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a></p> + +<p>"Martita, are you still vexed with me?"</p> + +<p>"If I am," she replied, between a frown and smile, "you had better make +your escape, seor marqus, quick, before I dust you with the +broomstick."</p> + +<p>"But are you really vexed?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I am."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then; I humbly ask your pardon," said Ricardo, getting down +on his knees. "Give me all the blows you want, for I have no idea of +moving."</p> + +<p>"Come, get up, and don't be foolish! See how you are soiling your +trowsers!"</p> + +<p>"Though I should soil the very collar of my shirt, I wouldn't move until +you pardoned me!"</p> + +<p>"What a boor you are, Ricardo!"</p> + +<p>"Many thanks!"</p> + +<p>"Will you get up, child?"</p> + +<p>"No; not till you pardon me."</p> + +<p>"You must be serious, Ricardo!"</p> + +<p>"We will speak of that by and by. Do you pardon me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; bother<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>! yes; get up!"</p> + +<p>Ricardo arose, went up to Marta, and taking her by the arms and shaking +her violently, exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>"How very pretty you are, little one! I don't wonder that Manolito—Of +course you understand me."</p> + +<p>"This is a great way of trying to be serious!"</p> + +<p>"I shall be in time. Don't you worry!"</p> + +<p>"Very well; then let me have a chance to carry mamma's broth to her."</p> + +<p>"Do you know, I have searched the whole house and not found a soul?"</p> + +<p>"Mamma has not left her room yet, and papa and Maria are out."<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a></p> + +<p>"Maria is at church as usual, isn't she?"</p> + +<p>"She only went to mass; she will be back soon."</p> + +<p>"Of course," replied the young man, becoming suddenly serious and +silent.</p> + +<p>Marta finished her work under her future brother's grave and not very +careful inspection.</p> + +<p>"Will you wait for me? I'm coming right back."</p> + +<p>Ricardo nodded assent; and while the girl was gone, he went to one of +the balconied windows and began to drum with his fingers on the glass, +casting a vacant, absent look at the neighboring houses.</p> + +<p>Marta came hurrying in again.</p> + +<p>"Come, go with me; I am going to put the linen away."</p> + +<p>Ricardo followed the girl like a lamb into a bright room full of +clothes-presses. It looked into the garden. In the centre of it was a +table on which stood a great basket heaped up with white clothes just +from the wash.</p> + +<p>"Will you help me take down this basket and put it there, near that +clothes-press?"</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you put it a little further off?"</p> + +<p>The basket was a huge one, and it was a tug to carry it to the place +designated: while they were carrying it, they got into such a frolic +that more than once they had to set it down. Ricardo with his efforts +grew very red in the face, and this made the girl laugh until she had no +strength left. She rarely laughed; but when the floodgates were opened, +nobody could stop it. Ricardo, with his inclination to make fun, puffed +out his cheeks and grew redder yet. All ill humor had completely +disappeared. The basket made very little progress, and both stood +bending over it and struggling with it, being unable to lift it an inch +from the ground, the one splitting with laughter, and the other +affecting a comic desperation.<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a></p> + +<p>"What a valiant soldier, to be vanquished by a basket of clothes!" +exclaimed the girl, in the height of glee.</p> + +<p>"I should like to see Prim or Espartero or even Napoleon himself here! +This isn't a basket at all! There is linen enough here for an army!"</p> + +<p>"Let go, then! If you didn't make me laugh, I could lift it by myself."</p> + +<p>After much laughter, and no little bantering, the basket reached its +destination. Marta opened the clothes-press, from which came the +distinctive, fresh, penetrating odor of fresh linen. The girl for +several moments breathed it in with delight, while she was transferring +the pieces from one shelf to another in order to make room for the clean +clothes that she was going to put away. Then she started to call +Carmen—one of the maids—to help her, but Ricardo asked timidly,—</p> + +<p>"Listen, child, couldn't I help to do it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! if you would like—"</p> + +<p>"But it isn't for me to like. Pure gold though I were, <i>preciosa</i>, it is +for you to command me, as queen and mistress."</p> + +<p>"It won't do at all."</p> + +<p>"It's no condescension on my part; you can put me to the test."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, this time I command you to take the two corners of this +sheet and stretch them out in that direction hard—not so hard, man, how +you pull me! That's the way! that's the way! Now double it as I +do—so—one corner over the other—good!—now stretch it out +again—more, ever so much more—that's it! Now fold it again; pull it +out once more! There, that'll do. Now come towards me,—let me have it; +I can manage it now. Here's another. Take the two corners—shake it<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> +well and stretch it out. Be careful, for this one has a ruffle—don't +tear it! These are mamma's and Maria's sheets."</p> + +<p>"How it would shock Maria if she knew I were folding her sheets!" cried +Ricardo, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; the sheets themselves are. Mamma and she like very fine ones, +and have theirs made of batiste; but papa and I like them coarser. I +can't bear fine sheets; I slip about in them and can't get settled. We +are careful not to put any kind of ruffles on papa's, for the touch of +starch tries his nerves, and the rustling keeps him awake. It's a hobby +of his. Just imagine when he is travelling, and at some house they put +on sheets with trimmings, he takes the trouble to pull the bed to pieces +and put the ruffling under the mattress at his feet. I don't like them +either, but if I find them on, I put up with them. Papa has a good many +hobbies. Every night he has to go asleep with a cigar in his mouth. I +walk up and down near his room until I see that he is asleep, and then I +go in very gently and take the cigar from his mouth and put out the +light.—Don't pull so hard, for my arms ache already. The truth is, I +make you do very improper things for a military man; isn't that so?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe it! At college, and even after we left, at +boarding-houses we had to do much worse things. How many buttons have I +sewed on in my life! And how many times I have patched my trowsers when +they were worn through!"</p> + +<p>"Really?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly!"</p> + +<p>Marta was sincerely astonished. She could not understand that a man +should have to descend to such duties when there are so many women in +the world, and she<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> asked particularly about his college life,—how they +were treated, what they ate, at what time they went to bed, who attended +to their rooms, who did their washing and ironing, were their mattresses +hard or soft, did they drink wine, how many times a week they gave them +clean towels, etc., etc. Ricardo answered all her questions, giving a +circumstantial account of his college habits with the fulness of one who +has very fresh recollections, and is not bored in recounting them. From +college customs he passed to his adventures, relating those which might +be told to a young girl, and amusing himself above all in painting in +the darkest colors the tribulations of freshman year<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and the +cruelties practised upon them by the seniors,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> who compelled them to +spend whole nights making cigarettes of sand so as to learn to make +better ones of tobacco; in the street they would make them sit down on +the stone seats and not let them get up till they gave them permission; +they seated them at table, even though they had dined, just for the fun +of the thing; those who were weakest would vomit or faint; one fellow +who ventured to rebel against a <i>galonista</i> they kept for six months +face to face with a stone wall, during all play hours, until he was +taken ill with jaundice and almost died. One Sunday afternoon, while he +was in the hall with five other freshmen<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> reading a novel, two +seniors came in and beat them furiously with cudgels until they were +tired out, and gave him a painful cut near his eye.</p> + +<p>Marta listened with profound attention, showing in her face all the +phases of indignation. She pulled with greater and greater force on the +sheets, and folded them any way,<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> without taking her eyes from the +narrator's. From time to time she exclaimed, "But, good Heavens,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +that is abominable! Those men are crazy; why didn't you tell the +president about such cruelties?" Ricardo could not persuade her that it +would have been useless to rebel or tell the colonel, since hazing<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +was a traditional custom in the college which the officers did not care +to root out. To all his reasonings she replied, "Well, I would have gone +to the colonel, and if he had not made it right for me, I would have run +away from college."</p> + +<p>"Come, don't be excited, Marta, over what I went through. The men who +suffer this way do the same thing. Now I am going to tell you something +that took place between me and the colonel. After I became lieutenant—"</p> + +<p>And changing his tack, he began to tell amusing adventures and jolly +incidents, which smoothed out the frowns on the girl's face, and finally +made her laugh heartily. Gradually the basket was emptied, and its +contents were transferred to the clothes-press, which still exhaled its +fresh and somewhat pungent odor of newly washed clothes. This odor +filled the whole room, and gave it a refreshing perfume of health and +cleanliness pleasanter than any perfumery or pomade. It was the perfume +which always clung about Marta, as her father said, and seemed +especially created for her. When she went alone to open the +cloth-presses, she took a great delight in putting her head into them, +and burying it in the clothes, enjoying the coolness of the linen +against her face, and breathing with keen pleasure its healthful aroma. +The light pouring through the white tulle of the curtains, the<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a> +ceaseless chatter and the merry laughter of the young people filled the +room with joy and animation; it was called the "ironing-room," for all +the linen of the house was ironed there. The walls not occupied by the +clothes-presses were painted a plain white.</p> + +<p>Carmen burst into the room like a hurricane, crying,—</p> + +<p>"Seorita Marta, Seorita Marta!"</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble?" asked Marta, in alarm.</p> + +<p>"Menino has got out, seorita!"</p> + +<p>Marta dropped the sheet which she had in her hands, and exclaimed in +astonishment,—</p> + +<p>"Has got out?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seorita; as I was just going through the gallery, I looked at the +cage and found the door open and the bird gone!"</p> + +<p>"Come along, come along!"</p> + +<p>And all three rushed to the gallery. Indeed, Menino had flown away. By +an incredible piece of carelessness Marta, when she fed him, and hung +him up to enjoy the view of the garden and the singing of the other +birds, had left the cage door open. For three years Menino had been +under the young maiden's care, and during all this time he had showed no +sign of cherishing plans of escape; on the contrary, hitherto the little +hypocrite had always shown, as far as possible, that he did not care a +straw for liberty, and that he had renounced it willingly for the sake +of his dearly beloved mistress. For a long time he had been in the habit +of coming out of his cage to eat chocolate with her; he would perch on +her shoulder, peck softly at her hand to show his affection, hop about +here and there over the furniture, and when it was time to retire, he +would go back into the cage, meek as a lamb. By every presumption he was +a happy canary, who regarded<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a> the loss of liberty as compensated by the +care and attention of such a lovely girl, and by the permission to peck +her rosy cheeks whenever he pleased. And aside from these more or less +spiritual enjoyments, for which more than one lad in the town would have +made stupendous sacrifices, and looking only at the material aspect of +existence or bodily comforts, it must be laid down as a fact that Menino +lived in his cage like an archbishop, with every want satisfied, +supplied with hemp-seed on one side, with canary-seed on the other, at +one time treated to lettuce, at others to lumps of chocolate, at others +to crumbs soaked in milk; indeed, to ask more was to offend God. And as +for neatness and cleanliness of habitation, he had just as little cause +for envying any one; every morning Marta herself cleaned it out, leaving +the cage like a mirror. But contrary to the general belief that he found +himself perfectly satisfied, and would not change places even with the +director of the mint, Menino was certainly waiting impatiently for a +chance to escape; he had allowed himself to be overwhelmed with +melancholy, his character had been soured, and his bile excited by lack +of exercise. If he had not gone out to breathe the fresh air on the day +least expected, he would have dashed the top of his head against the +bars of his cage.</p> + +<p>As our young people stood under the cage, they deliberated briefly what +to do. Marta was heart-broken. It was decided that Carmen, with the +laundress and the gardener should scour the garden, for they thought +that from lack of practice he would not fly very far at first; meanwhile +Marta and Ricardo should make a thorough search through the house in +case he had remained inside, flying through the halls as he had done +once before. Marta acted as guide, and they immediately began to look<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a> +through the suite of rooms next the corridor, a great square chamber +with two sleeping-rooms leading from it, in which she and Maria, when +they were children, had slept with their respective nurses. The paper on +the room represented hunting-scenes, which used to make a great +impression on Marta when she was small, especially one illustrating a +dying stag, conquered by half a dozen ferocious hounds. Then they passed +through several rooms designed for the guests who visited the house; +they inspected the girls' rooms, they went down into the kitchen, which +was in an entresol, and returned up stairs without any success. Then +they visited Don Mariano's library, which was a magnificent room with +two balconied windows facing the plaza, decorated in severe classic +taste; great leather armchairs, rich tapestries, an ebony writing-desk, +and bookcases of the same wood; on the walls hung a few family +portraits, painted in oil. Marta always felt in this library a sensation +of happiness and well-being which she did not enjoy in the other parts +of the house; in this sensation there was a delicious union of reverence +and tenderness wherein were blended all her childish recollections, +which overflowed with this exclusive, eager, and absorbing love, such as +cause the unreasonable anger of children when the nurse tears them from +the paternal arms, and the yearning to go to them when they are held out +to invite them. As soon as she had strength and skill enough to put his +room in order, she never allowed any one else to do it. In the morning +she always spent half an hour of delicious ease and comfort, dusting the +huge chairs, which cost her a great effort to move from their places, +and making Don Mariano's huge bed. She felt happy in that solemn +patriarchal chamber. The colossal bookcases, the table, the chairs,<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> the +pictures, and the dignified figures of the tapestries fixed on her a +silent, benevolent gaze in which she felt as it were alive, her father's +great, protecting shadow.</p> + +<p>Ricardo halted lazily before a portrait:—</p> + +<p>"Is that your aunt? How much you resemble her! What a pity she died so +young! She was a very fascinating woman."</p> + +<p>"I should like to resemble her. She was very tall, and I am short."</p> + +<p>"What difference does that make? You are like her, very much like her. +And that is natural, after all, for you are like your father, and you +are an Elorza from head to foot. What huge bookcases Don Mariano has! +there's enough here to keep one busy a good while."</p> + +<p>"Still, Maria has read the most of them."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't read very much. I am very lazy. Papa says I don't like the +black," replied the girl, with her frank smile, and looking a little +ashamed; then she added: "But look, Ricardo, it isn't absolutely true, +what papa says; though I don't care much for books, some of them please +me; but one doesn't get time to take them up. I don't know how I manage +not to have an hour for myself. Sometimes it's one thing, sometimes +another."</p> + +<p>"Confess, little one,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> that you don't like them, and I won't say any +more!"</p> + +<p>"If you like, I will confess it; but it isn't true. I like some of +them."</p> + +<p>"How about Menino?"</p> + +<p>"Ay! yes! come, come!"</p> + +<p>They went to the next room, which was Doa Gertrudis'<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a>s, and this alone +was proof positive that no sign of Menino was there, though occasionally +she had in her head such a singing, as of a whole nest of birds, that it +prevented her from resting. Therefore they went to the next room, which +was Marta's. It was a room which seemed lined with mirrors, since +everything in it was polished, from the wooden floors to the railing of +the balconies; whatever was not varnished by the cabinet-maker was +rubbed bright with cloths. Marta's great hobby which gave her the most +joy and the most trouble was keeping things bright. Her exaggerated love +for cleanliness had quickly brought her to the point of trying to put a +shine on all the articles of furniture in the house, and more especially +those in her own room. Every day, aided by the maid, she rubbed them +with a dry flannel, polishing them with unwearied zeal, until you could +see your face in them. Then, all out of breath, sometimes dripping with +perspiration, her hair in disorder, and her cheeks ablaze, she lifted +the flannel and stood awhile contemplating her work, the lovely +scintillations made by the light in the polished surface, with a genuine +inward satisfaction, with almost mystic enthusiasm. The household made +much fun of her, which caused her to hide herself while performing this +task, and induced her to lock her room to everybody. Ricardo had never +been in it. And so without any thought of Menino he began to inspect it +with bold, inquisitive attention; he gazed at the pictures, halted in +front of the toilet-table, opened the bottles, felt of the curtains, and +even went into the bedroom to see the bed, uttering exclamations of +astonishment at the perfect order which he found everywhere, and +especially at the wonderful polish of all the furniture.</p> + +<p>"What a pretty room you have, child. It's like a silver cup! What a +lovely white little bed!"<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a></p> + +<p>"Ricardo, don't be inquisitive. Go away; come, Menino isn't here!"</p> + +<p>The girl felt annoyed by the young man's curiosity. Every woman of +gentle birth feels a certain modesty, if we may say so, in regard to her +room, for the reason that there clings about it something like the +essence of her very self which she hesitates to let a man approach; but +in Marta's case, in addition to this modesty, there was a sense of shame +in having her stubborn, childish fancies brought to light, like that of +keeping things bright, that of placing the bottles of her dressing-table +in a sort of symmetry worthy of an altar, and other such things which +served her family as subjects for merriment at dinner time. Consequently +she tried to push him out by main force.</p> + +<p>"Come Ricardo; there's nothing to see here. Come along, come along!"</p> + +<p>"Do let me, nia, do let me have a look at this charming room! How +exquisite!" And putting his nose to the bed, he said with great +seriousness, "It smells like Marta!"</p> + +<p>"Will you be quiet, you foolish fellow!"<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>"It may not give you any trouble to keep your room in this way, but let +me tell you, child, I couldn't keep it so if my life depended on it. If +you were to see my room, Martita!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, it must be fine! You always were a disorderly fellow.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> But +come, dear, come; let us go!"</p> + +<p>"We'll go whenever you please. My room is a stable compared with this; +but just consider that it's open to dogs and cats, the gardener, with +his dirty feet, the<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> coachman, with the smell of the stable, and, in +fact, to every living creature. It is not my fault."</p> + +<p>From Marta's room they passed through various other apartments, the +dining-room, the parlor, the gallery of the court, another private room, +and a few others, without finding Menino anywhere. As they were standing +in the midst of a passage-way without knowing whither to turn, an idea +suddenly struck Marta, and she said,—</p> + +<p>"Let's go to the terrace; we haven't been there yet."</p> + +<p>The terrace was now only a large hall tiled with marble and covered over +with stained glass. It was called the terrace because it had been one in +former times; but Don Mariano had had it closed in with glass a few +years before, transforming it into a handsome, fantastic room in Moorish +style, where he went to drink coffee on summer evenings with his +daughters and friends. It was for the most part unfurnished, having only +in one corner three or four small marquetry tables and a few +rockingchairs. When our young people reached this hall, they found it +flooded with light: the sun, that morning leaving his long seclusion, +came forth bright and warm, resolved on visiting all the corners of the +city; and when he found the thousand crystals of the Elorza terrace, not +caring to see anything better, he passed through them and revelled +inside with a lively, eager pandiculation which occupied the whole +circuit of the room. It was a magical sight. Thousands of rose, green, +yellow, purple, gray, and blue lights burned within it, pouring over the +floor, the ceiling, and the walls, and dissolving into an infinity of +tints, delighting and dazzling the eyes. Over the mosaic pavement fell a +shower of blinding rays, reflecting up in a delicate, many-colored +vapor; and these rays were crossed and interwoven in the air, making a +flame-bearing<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> web, subtile and beautiful, through the interstices of +which passed the intangible scintillations of other rays more +diaphanous, from which arose a vapor still more aerial. And these veils +of dust, of rays, of scintillations, and of colors, stretching one +behind the other, in spite of their transparency scarcely allowed you to +see with vague indefiniteness, as through a mist, the crystals and +arabesques of the windows. The sun squandered his treasures of light and +color like a Turkish pasha within the walls of some chamber in the East, +proving once more that when he endeavors to make a brilliant and +fanciful decoration with them, there is no stage director with all his +spangles, <i>Bengalas</i>, and curtains who can equal him.</p> + +<p>Our young people, entirely forgetting Menino, stopped an instant in +surprise at the whimsical, magical work of the light; and without saying +a word they entered the hall and went to the centre with the slow, +uncertain step of one who goes into a bath. In point of fact they stood +submerged and inundated in a luminous vapor wherein all possible colors +were floating.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful the terrace is to-day!" said Marta at last.</p> + +<p>"It seems like a room in an enchanted palace. It would be more +appropriate if, instead of us, a Moor in a white turban stood here, and +an odalisque covered with brocade and precious stones. How many +capricious effects of light! Wait a moment, Martita; step into this ray +of rosy light. If you could see what a peculiar expression it gives your +face now! You look like a gypsy,—a daughter of the desert."</p> + +<p>Indeed, that light turned the girl's fair complexion to brown, kindled +it with a sunset tinge, and animated it with the ardent, cruel +expression of southern natures.<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> All the innocence of her eyes, all the +purity of her maidenly form were lost under the power of that perverse, +luxuriant flame, which transformed her into another being, fiery, and at +the same time voluptuous, and certainly far from her own true nature. +Ricardo understood this, and said,—</p> + +<p>"No! that color does not suit you. Come into this one!"</p> + +<p>And he drew her under a ray of greenish light:—</p> + +<p>"Heavens! you look like a dead person! No, no; that's just as bad! Here, +try the yellow color; that goes well, but it makes you ruddy, and +brunettes ought to stay brunettes,—I mean dark-haired people,—for of +course we know that your complexion is light; come, try the blue. Oh, +superb! wonderful! How beautiful you are, child!"</p> + +<p>The young marquis was right. Blue, which is the most spiritual, the +purest, and the sublimest of colors, was admirably adapted for Marta's +bright face. The sun-ray fell on it like a caress from heaven, bathing +it sweetly in a diaphanous light. Her long black hair assumed a purplish +tint, while the adorable oval of her face and her firm, mellow neck were +softly tinged with a heavenly blue. The delicate line of her regular +features acquired an ideal perfection, and her whole countenance was +transfigured with an angelic expression of beatitude.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, there was a certain exaggeration not in good taste in that +rapturous, celestial expression given by the blue light. It was not the +true Marta, ingenuous and modest in her looks as in her features, but a +different Marta, affected, theatrical, and fantastic. Ricardo finally +declared that no light was so becoming to her as the natural.</p> + +<p>The girl suddenly exclaimed,—<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a></p> + +<p>"And Menino!"</p> + +<p>"It's true; we had forgotten him. But where shall we go now? we have +looked everywhere."</p> + +<p>"Let us go to Maria's room; perhaps it has flown up there."</p> + +<p>"It does not seem to me likely; however, let's go there."</p> + +<p>They mounted to the tower, but without any better success; neither in +Maria's room nor in Genoveva's did they find any sign of the +canary-bird. Ricardo felt a peculiar emotion in entering his lady-love's +room, and Marta did not fail to notice it. He became graver and more +silent, and began to examine with interest everything there, moving the +articles, opening the scent-bottles, and even pulling out the drawers, +so that the girl felt obliged to interfere.</p> + +<p>"Don't meddle with her things. When Maria comes and sees her things +tumbled up, she will be angry."</p> + +<p>"And what if she is?" replied the young man, with a touch of asperity.</p> + +<p>"The blame will be thrown on me."</p> + +<p>"All right; then tell her that it was mine, and that'll settle the +matter."</p> + +<p>He stepped into the bedroom, lifted the bed-curtains, took up the books +from the dressing-table, laid them down again, and finally pulled out +the table drawer. In it were a number of articles laid away, but he +thrust in his hand, pulling out one more extraordinary than the rest. It +was a large leather cross, full of brass brads on one side, and with a +cord to attach it to the neck.</p> + +<p>"What is this?" he asked, turning it over and over in his hand, with +amazement.</p> + +<p>Marta guessed what it was.<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a></p> + +<p>"Put it back, put it back! for God's sake, Ricardo! Maria will be very +angry."</p> + +<p>"Horrors! What an abominable thing! This must be a cilicium."</p> + +<p>"It may be; but put it back, put it back for Heaven's sake!"</p> + +<p>The young man threw it violently into the drawer again, with a gesture +of scorn and disgust,—</p> + +<p>"Maria has become crazy. It is an abomination, and there's no good in +it."</p> + +<p>"Don't say that; it's wrong. Maria is very religious,—"</p> + +<p>"Religious! religious!" muttered the young fellow, angrily. "So are you, +and you don't have to perform these penances—"</p> + +<p>"Don't compare me with Maria!"</p> + +<p>Ricardo began to pace up and down the room excitedly and without +speaking. Then he returned to the chamber, and pulled out the leather +cross once more, examining it with more care.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that these nails form letters. Look! Can you make out +what they say?"</p> + +<p>"No; I don't see anything; it's your imagination."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; there is an inscription on it. But, however, I don't care to +bother with deciphering it. All these things are only absurdities. Come, +child, come along! Let every fool have his folly!"</p> + +<p>And shutting the drawer angrily he left the chamber, followed by Marta. +As they were passing by one of the windows of the boudoir, the girl +uttered a cry of surprise and joy,—</p> + +<p>"Look, look! Ricardo! Look! there's Menino!"</p> + +<p>The young man hurried to the window, and saw, on<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a> the roof of the house, +not very far away, Menino himself, hopping about with delight, and full +of pride and stateliness.</p> + +<p>"What a rascal! And so that's where he's gone! We must catch him. Where +do you get out on the roof?"</p> + +<p>"Not here; we must go down to the house first, and climb up through the +skylight."</p> + +<p>"Come on, then!"</p> + +<p>They left the tower, and after crossing several rooms, they mounted the +garret stairs leading from one of them. It was extremely dark, and the +young man met with much difficulty. On the second step he received a +tremendous knock.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course you aren't used to it. You'll hurt yourself; give me your +hand and I'll guide you."</p> + +<p>He took the girl's hand, which was small but firm and solid like an +Amazon's; it was not so satiny as Maria's, for her work about the house +had hardened it somewhat; in compensation it had the lovely smoothness +which testifies to health and good blood. It was not feverish either +like Maria's, but was always cool and moist and ready for any emergency, +like those of a daughter of the people.</p> + +<p>The young marquis did not think of making these observations, for he was +going along, intent only on not falling. They reached the +garret,—feebly lighted here and there by a few very tenuous rays of +sunlight which filtered through the cracks in the tiles. After they had +gone quite a distance, Marta dropped his hand, saying,—</p> + +<p>"Wait here; I am going to open the window."</p> + +<p>And nimbly hurrying ahead, she ran up a half-dozen steps which led to +the skylight, and threw open the door.<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> A burst of intense, bright, +comforting sunshine suddenly invaded the whole garret, dazzling our +young hero.</p> + +<p>"Here is Menino! Here's Menino!" cried Marta, enthusiastically, as she +stood on the top step. "He's very near! Menino! Menino! Come, <i>tonto</i>, +here! here! Don't you know me?"</p> + +<p>Menino, who was only six or eight steps away when he heard his +mistress's voice, bent his head gracefully, as if to listen. The +sunlight, falling full on him, bathed his yellow plumage, making him +contrast so vividly with the red-colored roof that he seemed like a bit +of living gold. He hopped thrice or four times, as though he were going +to Marta, and said, <i>Pii</i>, <i>pii</i>.</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to try to get him?" asked Ricardo.</p> + +<p>"No; hold still a moment; he seems to be coming of his own accord. +Menino, Menino! come here, pretty one; come here, come!"</p> + +<p>Menino came two or three hops nearer, and seemed to be cocking his head +to listen. I don't know what then passed through his brain; something +low, and base, and shameful, it must have been, according to the +morality of his species, for, forgetting his mistress's tender +attentions, her ceaseless caresses, the many bits of chocolate shared +with her, the feasts of biscuits, and his overflowing dishes of +canary-seed, he cleaned his feathers in her presence with perfect +indifference, several times repeated his pii, pii, with affected +laziness, and spreading his wings, he launched into space, flying out of +sight amid the foliage of the neighboring gardens.</p> + +<p>Marta uttered a cry of grief.</p> + +<p>"My stars, he has gone!"</p> + +<p>"Has gone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes!"<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a></p> + +<p>"Very far?"</p> + +<p>"Out of sight."</p> + +<p>"Then, sir, he's gone for good!"</p> + +<p>Ricardo mounted to the window, and following the direction indicated by +the girl's finger, he looked and looked again, until his eyes pained +him, without seeing the slightest sign of anything resembling a canary +bird. When he looked at Marta again, he saw a tear rolling down her +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you ashamed to cry for a bird, tonta!"</p> + +<p>"You are right!" replied the girl, trying to laugh, and wiping away the +tear with her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"But I felt as much affection for him as for a person; yes indeed, for +three years I have been taking care of him!"<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> +<small>HUSBAND OR SOUL.</small></h2> + +<p>T<small>HE</small> dew of grace kept falling copiously on the soul of the eldest +daughter of the Elorzas. The Christian virtues flourished in her like +mystical roses replete with fragrance, and with the impatience and ardor +which characterized all her actions, she continued to mount one by one +the rounds on the ladder of perfection leading to heaven. Her deeds of +charity and humility not only filled those who lived near her with +astonishment, but were bruited about the whole town, serving as an +edifying example for young and old, and as a theme of conversation among +the clergy. Her fasts and penances, always growing more frequent and +severe, increased the enthusiasm and seraphic joy of her soul; but at +last they had a naturally weakening effect upon her health. Her delicate +constitution began to rebel against so much mortification of the flesh, +and to protest at every instant by pains, sometimes in her heart, at +others in her stomach, at others in her head, and yet she endured it all +with enviable resignation, and did not let it discourage her saintly +endeavors. She suffered frequently from fainting fits in which she +remained long unconscious, and from severe convulsions; some days she +could not retain the food that she ate, and on others she complained of +acute headaches. Don Maximo began to prescribe preparations of iron, +sea-baths, and wine of quinine, and this treatment brought about some +improvement, but not much; the doctor finally declared that unless she +entirely changed her mode of<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> life, these attacks would not cease; but +it was impossible to persuade her.</p> + +<p>Maria began to notice with a secret pride, of which she tearfully +accused herself to her father confessor, that she inspired admiration +and something more than respect among the people; that when she went +along the street, many saluted her with words of praise, and when she +was at church, all the faithful gazed at her with peculiar persistence. +Through the mouth of the servants many such flattering phrases came to +her ears, as that her virtues were worthy of the most venerable priests +and the most pious souls of the community, and, as she perceived a +certain sweet savor in them, she forbade their being repeated to her. +Many ladies consulted with her on matters concerning their consciences, +and she was appointed teacher of a Sunday-school for adult women, to +whom she began to explain the doctrine and moral precepts of +Christianity with so much clearness and eloquence that nothing else was +talked about. On the second Sunday the hall granted by the board of +magistrates<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> in an old convent was crowded not only with servants and +working-girls, for whom the institution had been founded, but also with +the most distinguished ladies in town, desirous of seeing for themselves +what was reported of the young woman. And indeed they had to agree that +she had decided gifts for teaching,—an artless, animated discourse, +manners free from conceit, and unwearied patience. The girls made +notable progress under her direction. Not satisfied with this, she asked +and obtained from her father permission to use a pavilion which he had +in his garden, and there she gathered every day a dozen orphan children, +whom she taught to read, write, and say their prayers, giving<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a> them an +education suitable to their sex and social position. The extreme +gentleness with which she treated her scholars soon won their love, and +even their adoration.</p> + +<p>From every side our virtuous heroine received unimpeachable evidence of +the great regard in which she was held, but more especially in the +society of the devout and saintly, among whom she was considered as a +brilliant beacon kindled for the advantage of religion. In the age of +unbelief, whereunto we have attained, the spectacle of such a beautiful, +well-educated, and illustrious maiden, consecrating herself exclusively +to the practice of the virtues and religious deeds, could not fail to +have a heartfelt influence on the morals of the town.</p> + +<p>One morning, as she was leaving the steps of the altar, where she had +just received holy communion, her face presented such a sanctified +expression that a woman left the throng, and, kneeling before her, asked +for her blessing. Maria, disturbed and perplexed, would have refused, +but finally she had no other escape than by yielding to her entreaties. +On another occasion, as she was going through one of the suburbs with +Genoveva, a poor woman, who was standing at the door of a wretched hovel +with a dying child in her arms, begged her to take him into hers and +offer a Pater Noster for him; Maria did so to satisfy her, but protested +that she was a miserable sinner, to whom God could not listen. The +child, however, had scarcely felt the tender caress of her lovely hand +before it began to smile, and in a few days was entirely restored to +health. This miraculous cure, proclaimed by the grateful mother, made a +great noise among the people; whereupon the house of Elorza was besieged +by a throng of women who came with their sick children to ask Maria to +take them in her arms and bless them.<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a> As this partook of the nature of +wonder-working, according to report, Maria hastened to consult her +confessor whether she ought to continue yielding to the entreaties of +these afflicted mothers; and the priest, after taking a day to reflect, +replied that he saw no harm in it, but, on the other hand, believed that +it might redound to the advantage of the faith. "How is it possible," +asked Maria, "for God to be willing to perform miraculous deeds through +the medium of such a low and sinful creature as I am?" And the confessor +replied that it showed great audacity to think of searching the high +purposes of God, and that she should abstain from making such irreverent +remarks; that God chose whomever He pleased to manifest His sacred will, +and that, at all events, even though no miracle took place, it was never +wrong to attribute to the power of the Almighty the blessings which we +experience both in soul and body. Maria accepted this reasoning, and +endeavored, by all the means at her command—by prayer, humility, and +penance—to make herself worthy of these incredible favors which God +gave into her hand.</p> + +<p>Gradually, through the renunciation to which she was compelled by her +pious life, all the ties that bound her soul to things earthly began to +be relaxed. At first she shunned all worldly recreation and amusement, +such as balls, theatres, and promenades, where she used to shine by her +beauty and elegance, and she came to the point of abhorring them. Then +she abstained from certain proper recreation, such as singing and +playing secular music, taking part in games of cards, walking in the +garden, being present at tertulias at her home; in her craze for +crucifying the flesh, she went to the extreme of not gazing often at the +landscape from the windows of her room, and of depriving herself of +breathing the scent of the flowers and<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a> the perfume of her colognes. +Still, however, and for some time, she took pleasure in dressing +elegantly; this arose from a reflection that she had read in a French +devotional book, counselling young people not to neglect the neatness +and adornment of the body, since God took delight in seeing them +beautiful and knowing that they adorned themselves for Him alone. At the +same time that she grew more and more to hate the pleasures of this +world, she crushed out in her heart the sentiment of love towards human +beings, even towards those who were nearest and dearest to her. +Understanding that if one would love God, he must free himself from +earthly affections, since no other is worthy of entering into a heart +consecrated to the Creator, she constantly struggled against her love +not only for her betrothed but also that for her parents and sister. She +ceased those frequent outbursts of affection which she used to lavish on +them all and which had always proved the tenderness of her affectionate +spirit; when she met her father in the morning, she no longer threw her +arms around his neck and covered him with caresses; she no longer +revealed to her sister the secrets and sorrows of her heart; she kept +everybody at a distance by a cautious reserve veiled in sweetness and +humility. The Seorita de Elorza compelled herself to follow literally +the solemn words of Jesus: "<i>If any man come to me, and hate not his +father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, +yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple</i>."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>The fervor which constantly died away, as far as human beings were +concerned, burned like a sweet-smelling incense on a lofty altar, to an +object infinitely more worthy of it. Her heart could not remain +inactive; she<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> had to love, for it was the law of her being; she had to +overflow with enthusiasm for something on which she should engage her +thoughts every instant of her life, and offer continual sacrifices. +Maria could not desire anything or love anything, without feeling +herself stirred by a consuming fervor. When she was a child, she had +loved another little girl of her own age, a child of dark complexion, +with great, cruel, black eyes, and she loved her so passionately that +she became her willing slave; the little black-eyed girl, the daughter +of a poor mechanic, treated her with the authority of a queen and +mistress, demanded from her all the playthings that she possessed, +compelled her to submit to all her caprices, humiliated her whenever she +felt like it, and oftentimes abused her in word and deed, without the +affection of her enthusiastic friend being diminished in the least. On +one occasion, when the two were ironing a doll's skirt, the cruel little +girl said, in a disagreeable tone of mockery, "If you love me so dearly, +why don't you put this hot iron on your arm for me?" Maria, without a +moment's hesitation, pulled up the sleeve of her dress, and laid the +heated iron on her arm, making a terrible burn. On account of other such +actions as these, which had attracted Don Mariano's attention, he drove +this unworthy friend out into the street, and forbade her ever darkening +the door of his house again, a prohibition which broke his daughter's +heart with grief.</p> + +<p>When a heart is to this degree inflammable, its constant tendency is to +take fire and be consumed with some extraordinary love; and if the +object is not at hand, it seeks for it as one athirst seeks the fountain +of crystalline water. Maria had sought hard for it and found it,—a love +pure and immortal, sublime and marvellous; love for a<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> God who crushes +the stars to powder and enters the enamored soul like a gentle lamb. +This love, which took more and more violent possession of her soul, was +not only manifested in almost incomprehensible deeds of humility and +mortification, but also escaped continually from her lips in passionate +phrases, which winged themselves away like timid birdlings to take +refuge in the sacred heart of Jesus. At first she had prayed with +respectful worship, with soul and body prostrate, terrified rather than +melted, like one who makes a declaration of love; but according as she +understood, by a thousand manifest signs, that Jesus replied to her +passionate affection and returned it with increase, she found greater +freedom and eloquence in her words and a more enduring felicity in her +whole being.</p> + +<p>The happiest moments of her life were those which she consecrated to +prayer, which in her case was a sweet colloquy of two lovers, +incomprehensible for those who have never fathomed the secret depths of +the divine love or tasted the delights of the mystical union. By dint of +holding converse with God, of communicating to Him her most occult +thoughts and feelings, of confessing with tears each day the most +trivial spots on her conscience, she succeeded in bringing about with +the Almighty a sacred familiarity, full of joy and consolation. At the +twilight hour, after she had ceased from the pious tasks which kept her +busy all the day, she was in the habit of retiring to her room to enjoy +at her ease the sweet delights which Jesus granted to her fervent +prayers as a recompense for the labors and humiliations of the day.</p> + +<p>One calm, quiet evening, toward the end of winter, Maria found herself +in her room, prostrate in prayer, before the image of Jesus. All the +blinds were open to let<a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a> in the slowly fading light. From the one that +looked inland could be seen the wide stretch of level meadows, and the +gentle hills on the horizon bathed in a purple vapor, which grew thicker +and thicker till it changed to mist. From the one facing the river could +be seen its tranquil surface, motionless as though all that sheet of +water had been suddenly changed to stone; near El Moral were four or +five low sand-hills called appropriately Los Arenales, which, struck by +the last rays of the setting sun, gleamed like mighty topazes. Not the +slightest sound disturbed the silence of the boudoir, which at that +moment, by reason of its gloom and loneliness, was like a great +confessional.</p> + +<p>For a long hour the young woman had been communing with the Beloved of +her heart, and no earthly thought had made its way into her enraptured +spirit. Never had she felt herself so abstracted and lifted above the +flesh, above mundane interests. All the life of her body had gone to her +heart, which beat with unwonted violence. She kept her eyes closed. +After she had repeated all the prayers that she could remember, some of +them composed purposely for her, she allowed her lips to rest, and +abandoned herself to a delicious meditation in which her imagination +wandered away as if in a boundless field enamelled with flowers. Both +her confessor and her books of devotion counselled her to think often on +the bloody passion and death of the Redeemer, and so she had done until +she was filled with grief and burdened with tears. In her mind she saw +that agonized, grief-stricken face of Jesus nailed upon the cross, those +dying eyes lifted, wherein still burned the eternal love and compassion +of a God. When she saw him going toward Calvary, laden with the heavy +cross and stumbling, once, again, and yet<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> again, overcome by fatigue, +not finding in the bloodthirsty faces of those who surrounded him one +look of sympathy, she felt her throat contract and her breast choke with +sobs. She had been present at all the agonies of Christ, one after the +other, from the memorable night in the garden until the moment when he +closed his eyes forever between the two thieves, the victim of the +perfidy of men. The sublime words of pardon which he uttered as he died +rang in her ears like a promise of heaven and a hope of seeing him once +more, haloed with glory, in the other life.</p> + +<p>But at this moment her thought shunned the death scenes. Around her +floated smiling, glorious forms, which filled her with a delicious joy +such as she had but few times experienced before, accompanied by an +unspeakable physical comfort. It seemed to her that she felt a most +delicious sensation of warmth radiating from her heart even to her hands +and feet, as though she were plunged in a bath of warm milk. At the same +time soft fragrant hands held her eyelids closed, while a gentle breeze +cooled her brow. The boudoir in the tower was filled with vague, subtle +sounds, which her imagination transformed into mysterious harmonies. She +was so beside herself that she could not tell whether she was in reality +awake, although she had possession of all her faculties. Little by +little she began to lose her power of volition; she tried to open her +eyes and could not; she tried to separate her hands, which she kept +folded, and she had no better success. A superior power held her in its +sway, but so gently that for nothing in the world would she have broken +those bands; it was a celestial swooning of her whole being, which +carried her away into ecstasies such as she had never known before. +Tears streamed down over her face like an exquisite ichor, bathing<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> her +lips with sweetness, and flowing from her lips into the very centre of +her being, filling her heart as with a most gentle unction, as with a +mighty perfume. This ichor intoxicated her and strengthened her at once, +and she did not weary of drinking it. Its salubrious strength penetrated +her emaciated body, bestowing on it an incomprehensible force. She +entered into a life full and divine, where no pains existed; into an +ecstatic lethargy full of soft delight, from which were born a throng of +vague longings, like flowers opening for an instant and shedding perfume +from their calyxes. The longings of her soul likewise spread and were +quenched in the immense joy which took hold of her.</p> + +<p>While her body was sleeping in this sweet hallucination of the senses, +her mind was attent with a marvellous activity. Her memory was bathed in +brilliancy, and her imagination, in precipitate flight, darted out into +the universe. Instead of meditating on the death of the Lord, she +thought with deep delight about his adorable life, and, completely +enchanted, she reviewed all its occurrences, representing them with as +much accuracy as though she had really been present at the time. First, +she beheld Jesus at his birth in the grotto near Bethlehem, embracing +with his sweet arms the Virgin's neck, and smiling at the shepherds and +the Magi, who from far-distant countries came to adore him. She beheld +him secretly transported to Egypt, crossing the deserts of Arabia, +sleeping on his mother's lap under some tree or in the depths of some +cavern. Then she found him in the porticos of the Temple of Jerusalem, +seated in the midst of the doctors, though he was only twelve years of +age, with his long golden hair curling in ringlets over his shoulders, +and his white tunic falling in graceful folds<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> till it hid his feet, +astonishing them all by his more than human beauty as well as by the +profound wisdom of his words. She contemplated him in his modest +dwelling in Nazareth in the peace of an obscure and contemplative life, +nourishing his divine spirit with the sublime truths which the Eternal +Father vouchsafed him during his frequent solitary walks. Then she was +present at his first ministrations through Galilee, and at the first +miracle, with which he manifested his infinite power at the wedding of +Cana. She accompanied him to Capernaum when, as he stood in a +fishing-boat gently rocking on the waves, he addressed to the multitude +gathered on the shore his discourse, clearer than the sun which shone +upon them, sweeter than the evening breeze. She returned with him to +Nazareth, where his stubborn, ungrateful countrymen were unmoved by his +gentleness and power of speech and rejected him. She went to Bethany, +where her name-saint Mary Magdalene and Martha her sister had the +blessedness of giving him hospitality, and the former of sitting long at +his feet and listening to his words. She saw him everywhere serene and +beautiful, as he is represented by tradition, with his blue eyes of +wonderful sweetness, his skin rosy and transparent, his beard pointed, +and his golden hair parted in the middle and falling in waves on his +shoulders. The numerous pictures which she had seen, not only of his +divine person, but of the country where his ministrations had taken +place, united to her powerful imagination, carried her back to the time +of the Redeemer's life more vividly than one could conceive. But where +her imagination most revelled was in seeing his entrance into Jerusalem +followed by a multitude carried away by enthusiasm, amid hosannas and +shouts of welcome; then his beautiful face,<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> which almost disappeared +amid the foliage of the palm-branches, assumed an expression of +divinity, his eyes so gentle flashed with the effulgence of omnipotence, +and he spread out his hands toward the city, granting it pardon in +advance for its barbarous deicide. Oh, how her soul delighted in this +fine, poetic scene where Jesus was given on earth a little of the +adoration which was his due! If she had been in those happy places, she +would have taken part in the cortege of the King of kings, and raised +her voice in acclamation. The union in him of power and humility, of +force and gentleness, filled her with enthusiasm and admiration.</p> + +<p>She knew, however, that Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem was +repeated daily in a mystic sense; that the divine Lord takes more +pleasure in entering into the soul of his elect than into the ungrateful +daughter of Zion; that love was efficacious against the absolute master +of all things, and took pleasure in receiving whoever professed his +name. But for this it was necessary to love him much, to love him in +such a manner as to prefer pain and torment coming from his hand to the +most exquisite delight of earth, to love him even to fainting and dying +in his presence and falling prone at his feet under the majesty of his +gaze; it was necessary to spend long hours watching for him in the +depths of the sky, in the calm of the eventide, in the beauty of +flowers, of birds, and of all creatures, at the bedside of the sick and +dying, in the midst of sorrows and penances; it was necessary to let the +hours pass in ecstatic prayer, feeling the tears stealing down, and the +cheeks on fire; it was necessary to be obedient to all men, the humble +servant of all men, to turn the mind from accepting all favors, even +from one's parents, and to despise one's self, to be the beloved<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> of +Jesus. Thus, thus she loved him! How many hours of the day and night she +had spent thinking of him! How many tears she had shed for his sake! How +many times in the silence of the night had her soul gone forth, fired +with sickness of love, like the bride of the mystic Song of Solomon, in +search for the Lord and Master of her heart! And when she had, in this +manner, sought for him, kindled with amorous yearning, she never failed +to find him. On one occasion, having spent the whole day ministering to +the sick in the hospital, she had felt at the hour of retiring such keen +delight in her soul and body that she almost fell n a swoon. When she +humbled herself before any one, she felt an exquisite delight; in +crucifying her flesh with sharp cruelties she had felt more pleasure +than the world with its harassing joys had ever given. In this way Jesus +began to return a thousand-fold the love which she professed for him, +transforming in her case into comfort what to others was pain and +penance.</p> + +<p>This last consideration pierced so sharply into her spirit that it +caused her to indulge in an infinitude of thanksgivings and blessings, +which remained locked in her heart without issuing from her lips. Her +lips were silent, motionless as those of the sphynx; for she did not +dare to reproduce by the medium of sounds the ineffable thoughts that +passed through her mind. She heard within herself a thousand sweet +voices speaking to her, but she could not understand what they said; she +felt as though she were lifted up by gentle arms which ceaselessly +lavished caresses upon her, and she was conscious, though not by visual +proof, of the presence of a supernatural being, consoling her with its +power. Then she became suddenly convinced that the Lord loved her; she +saw<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> clearly with the eyes of the Spirit that the Bridegroom listened to +the voice of the bride, and had no deeper desire than to take her to +himself, to pour out upon her all riches and joys forevermore. Even now +he was near at hand; she felt him at her side, and she was melted with +desire to look upon him; but he showed himself not; he refused to yield +to her warm, affectionate entreaties. As one who shows a dainty to a +child and then hides it, and again brings it forth and once more hides +it in order to stir his appetite, so the heavenly Bridegroom kept her in +suspense and ravishment, kindling more and more her desire. The +impassioned stanza of San Juan de la Cruz came into her mind:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left"><i>"Ay! who else has power to mend me!</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Prithee deign to make my humble heart thy dwelling;</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>I beseech thee now to send me</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Faithful angels not incapable of telling</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Truly all the longing in me welling!"</i><a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>And a thousand times she repeated it mentally, with a sublime +solicitude, in which it seemed as though her soul were going to burst +forth through her lips. But her lips remained speechless; she wished to +cry out, to break into praises of Jesus, to give vent to the passionate +impulses of her breast, and it was impossible. She felt a strange +oppression, torturing her with celestial death, which she would not +exchange for a hundred lives.</p> + +<p>A keen, eager, resistless desire suddenly took possession of her heart. +Jesus, the King of souls, had granted<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> to more than one favors which +were terrible by their very grandeur and incomprehensibility. He had +appeared to Saint Isabel after her prodigious deeds of charity and +penance, and had said, "Isabel, if thou art willing to be mine, I also +am willing to be thine and will never leave thee." Frequently he had +come to Saint Catalina of Siena in her convent cell, had conversed with +her, had walked with and many times had helped her offer up her prayers. +He had taken Saint Teresa in his arms so that she could not move, and +had lavished caresses and kisses upon her. If she might only win such +regalement! Scarcely had this overweening thought been born in her mind +before she was filled with fear, and felt such shame that she would +gladly have had the earth open and swallow her up. "Oh, no, my God! Who +am I to receive such a favor, granted only to the martyrs of charity and +the seraphic virgins who shine in heaven like bright stars. Pardon me, +Jesus mine, pardon me!"</p> + +<p>But her audacious thought would not depart from her mind; it kept +following her in spite of her strongest efforts to shake it off. She was +unworthy of such glory, she knew well, but her yearning was the child of +the love with which the divine Jesus had filled her heart to +overflowing; thus not she but Jesus himself was the author of this +desire. If he had not kindled in her his celestial love, and had not +begun to pour out upon her favors as sweet as they were undeserved, such +an absurd idea would never have entered her head. No; she asked not so +great a grace, so great a consolation; it was enough for her that Jesus +was willing to give himself to her, that she had a few particles of his +immortal love. She should consider herself the most blessed among the +virgin daughters of heaven, if at the end of long years of prayer and +penance, of bitterness<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a> and tribulations, Jesus should allow her once +only to touch her lips to his divine face. "O Jesus mine, is it sinful +to ask this? Could such a base worm as I ever deserve a joy so +infinite?"</p> + +<p>She opened her eyes. Jesus, with his golden aureole shining amid the +shadows, as it reflected the last melancholy light that came through the +window, lifted his hands towards her, at the same time fastening upon +her a profound, sweet gaze. Through her veins ran a sensation of chill, +as though she were near to death; but instantly this was supplanted by +another of such intense heat that it made the sweat start from all the +pores of her body. She comprehended vaguely that an adorable mystery was +taking place in her presence, and a holy fear seized her. The boudoir +was wrapt in shadow: the windows seemed like great, colorless eyes +gazing through the walls. A sweet, languid delectation took possession +of her whole being, and overwhelmed her with bliss. Her fear vanished. +She was filled with the certainty that she was loved by Jesus, that she +was the bride-elect of a God. Tenderness, worship, joy, welled up in her +bosom, and she could not take her eyes from the eyes of the Lord, +drinking from them the mysterious, ineffable delight of glory.</p> + +<p>Once more the desire came back to her mind. This time she promulgated it +with words, the warm breath of which stole through her hands crossed +before her face.</p> + +<p>"Jesus mine, wouldst thou permit thy servant to touch her lips to thy +divine person?"</p> + +<p>Jesus bent forward still more graciously. Maria felt her hair stand on +end, and her heart wanted to leap from her breast. His voice like music +penetrated into the soul of the young girl, who believed that she was +dead and translated to heaven.<a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a></p> + +<p>Jesus had said,—</p> + +<p><i>"Arise, my beloved, my fair one, and come."</i></p> + +<p>"Lord, I am not worthy!" exclaimed Maria, with a cry at once of anguish +and of joy.</p> + +<p>Again Jesus said,—</p> + +<p><i>"Thou art all beautiful, my beloved; there is no blemish in thee."</i></p> + +<p>"My Jesus, thee I love above all things!"</p> + +<p><i>"My dove, show me thy face, let thy voice sound in mine ears, for thy +voice is sweet, and thy face is beautiful,"</i> replied Jesus, bending +still nearer.</p> + +<p>Then the girl, carried away by glory and enthusiasm, threw her arms +about the knees of the Lord, and flooded them with her tears, saying, +between her sobs, like the bride in the sacred book,—</p> + +<p>"My soul melted within me when my beloved spake."</p> + +<p>And little by little, her arms clinging to the body of Jesus, stole +slowly, slowly upwards, till they were fastened around his neck. Her +breath failed her, and she felt her memory, her imagination, and all her +powers give way, fading into an immense, eager bliss, in which her whole +being was plunged as in the purest ether. Her face drew near the Lord's. +She touched with her cheeks the cheeks of the Bridegroom; she put her +lips to the whiteness of his brow, to the effulgence of his eyes, to the +coral of his lips.</p> + +<p>And in the chief room of the tower, silent, buried in darkness, was long +heard the sound of sobs and subdued kisses. At last, a human body, the +body of the Seorita de Elorza, senseless, fell heavily at full length +upon the floor. Genoveva, when she came in with a light, found her there +still in the swoon, with eyes open and fixed, reflecting in her face a +celestial joy.<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> +<small>AS YOU LIKE IT.</small></h2> + +<p>T<small>HE</small> spring came. The northeast winds, like a gigantic besom swung by the +hand of some god with a passion for cleanliness, constantly swept away +the dust and ashes of the firmament. The sailors who put out at daybreak +after fish, as they set foot on the quay often saw above the distant +houses of El Moral a wide strip of azure sky, which went on slowly +spreading to the four points of the compass, leaving a few tenuous +shreds of violet cloud like great eyebrows overhanging the horizon. The +vast sheet of the river now gave forth lovely blue sparkles in place of +the melancholy, metallic reflections of the winter; and the wooden hulks +called <i>barcos</i> by a misnomer, pitched in the dock like colts impatient +to be off. But in the afternoon winter still clung to its rights; now +spreading over town and river a thick mantle of fog which quickly +changed into storm; now furiously driving across the sky colossal black +clouds which discharged their freight as they flew inland. Some days, +however, at sunset a breath of genial air came from the land, and +brought the delightful tidings to the peaceful inhabitants of Nieva that +the most lovely and coquettish of the seasons was present in that +jurisdiction; and this breath of air laden with perfumes, reaching by +the medium of the nostrils to the brains of those inhabitants who were +most inclined to poesy and sweet expansions of the heart, manifested +itself as the avowed enemy of tranquillity in<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a> feminine minds, and as +the infamous disturber of peace in families. The town slept placidly +like a sultana, receiving the adulatory caresses of this breeze. +Nevertheless, the calm underneath the roofs was more apparent than real; +a large part of the inhabitants slept the sleep of the righteous as +before, but another no less numerous and estimable, without knowing any +reason for it, awoke more than once in the course of the night, and +occasionally spent an hour unsuccessfully wooing sleep by lighting the +lamp, and reading the articles in <i>The Times</i>.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> They drank great +goblets of water; they dreamed fifty thousand absurd dreams, which, when +they remembered them in the morning, made the worthy natives smile, and +more than one, and more than two, caught colds on their lungs by getting +uncovered at night. In the two apothecary shops of the town a prodigious +quantity of pearl barley was disposed of; some banished wine from the +table to the astonishment of their wives; and the behavior of young men +toward the girls became extremely dulcified. The Market Street<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> +bookseller sent to Madrid for a quantity of novels by Paul de Kock and +Adolphe Belot on commission for his customers, and the professor of the +piano made a similar demand on the music publishers, for various +sentimental romanzas with erotic titles, such as <i>Vorrei morir</i>, <i>Tutto +per te</i>, <i>Non posso vivere</i>, and others of like quality, at the request +of his pupils. The swallows began to take possession of the corridors, +and after making love for a few days, chasing each other through the air +with obstreperous chirpings and then retiring couple by couple to the +most remote corners of the gardens, without any thought of Mrs. Grundy +or of due<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a> formality; they celebrated their nuptials with the same +freedom, without consulting the desires of papas or asking for a special +dispensation, or by publishing the banns through the office of the +parochial priest, or by ordering a trousseau from Paris, or by receiving +a miserable coffee service from relatives, or sending cards to friends +and acquaintances, announcing their indissoluble union; or even by +having a notice inserted in the <i>Correspondenca de Espaa</i>, saying: +"Yesterday, before a numerous and select assemblage, in which were +included the most illustrious members of the nobility and the world of +politics and literature, were celebrated in the house of the bride the +long announced nuptials of the most beautiful and distinguished dame +swallow, Lady Such an One, to the wealthy sir swallow, Lord Somebody or +Other.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> After enjoying a splendid collation, the newly married couple +departed to their noble domain of Robledales in Aragon." And whoever +speaks of the swallows may clearly say the same thing of the whole +throng of birds which had encamped both in the gardens of Nieva and in +the immense pine groves which lined the banks of its river.</p> + +<p>To be reckoned among the people most manifestly influenced by this +spring breeze (leaving aside, of course, the Seorita de Delgado, with +whom no one would dare to maintain any rivalry in the matter of +sensations, sentiments, emotions, and all that refers to the life of the +heart), was our acquaintance, Manolito Lopez. His worthy family noticed +with grateful surprise, not only that the lad's character was manifestly +softening, but likewise that the habits of orderliness and an +inclination toward sedateness had sprung up, and were growing in him +with unusual rapidity. This praiseworthy inclination<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> was manifested in +everything that pertained to the adornment of his person, but most +particularly to that of his feet; a box of superior blacking every +fortnight was not sufficient for the demands of his shoes, and he spent +a large part of the morning and of his physical powers in making them +shine like a looking-glass, and even thus he was not content: Manolito +would not have been satisfied if anything less than the brilliancy of a +Brazilian diamond, of all the jewels of the royal crowns of Europe, of +the seas and the stars had been put into them. After giving the last +finishing touch to his hair, Manolito always sallied forth in the +amiable company of his glistening boots to promenade in front of the +house of Elorza, and up the street and down the street he went all the +time allowed him by his occupations, and also a good part of the time +when he had no business to be there. The balconies of the house, as a +rule, remained hermetically sealed; but Manolito, judging by the +graceful gait which he affected as he passed, must have suspected that a +pair of steady, love-stricken eyes were always observing him through the +cracks. Once in a while the balconies were thrown open, giving a glimpse +of Carmen, of Genoveva, of Adela, or some other servant, who looked at +him without sufficient respect considering our young lad's age (fifteen +years and three months) and his character. Very, very rarely likewise +appeared Marta's pretty head. She looked out for an instant with an +expression of indifference which, be it said for the sake of the truth, +did not change into one of affection and tenderness at sight of +Manolito, but certainly remained exactly as calm and serene as though +our youth had no more personality than a column of the arcade, or the +clock on the town-house, or the sign of the Caf de la Estrella, or any +other of the<a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a> inanimate objects whereon the girl's eyes rested. +Manolito, for a few moments, felt as much disturbed as one who, sailing +through the Arctic Ocean, should suddenly see an enormous iceberg coming +down upon him; but soon he recovered his spirits, saying, for the +encouragement of his heart, "What a sly one she is!" And though the +balconies were immediately shut with a scornful screak, and remained +closed all the day, yet Manolito did not cease to promenade back and +promenade forth, fortified always in his conviction that through the +interstices of the curtains a pair of ecstatic, love-softened eyes were +launching at him a thousand passionate darts.</p> + +<p>But where the spring held a more absolute and even despotic sway (always +excepting, of course, the Seorita de Delgado's poetical soul) was the +Elorza garden. There, without consulting in the slightest degree the +will of the flexible mimosas or of the round acacias or of the dignified +catalpas or of any other tree or shrub, flower or plant, however +respectable, she began to clothe them all in green, carefully +variegating their garments, making this one deep and dark, that one +bright and dazzling, and the other pale and yellow, playing with them a +sort of gay, original masquerade delightful for those to see who still +persist in feeling affection for the works of nature. Above this +habiliment there shone like decorations of honor many flowers, yellow, +white, blue, or pink, quick to fill the ambient air with the sweet +perfumes stored up in their hearts. The garden was unusually extensive, +stretching out from the plaza where Don Mariano's mansion was built to +the quay on one side, and on the other to the farthest houses of the +town. And whether because it was not very easy to take the most perfect +care of such a large piece of ground, or because Don Mariano as a man<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a> +of taste did not wish to impose upon Nature his own law, by establishing +in her demesne a tyrannical system of geometrical crosses and lines, at +any rate it offered all the lawless vigor, the exuberance, and the +spontaneity, which it is not customary to find any longer except in +provincial gardens managed according to a broad and tolerant Spanish +fashion. The paths, though originally laid out in straight lines +according to the style in vogue at the time when they were first +designed, were now fluctuating, thanks to the growing up or +disappearance of quince-tree, boxwood, or rose hedges. The trees in many +places enclosed these paths with a thicket, giving them an air of long +mystery, which, according to amateurs, is the greatest charm of gardens, +and I appeal to the testimony of all ardent and elevated souls, +particularly to the Seorita de Delgado. Back of the trees, through the +hedges, could be seen a stone faun or satyr, discolored by great green +spots on the muscular shoulders, spurting water from mouth and nostrils; +in this agreeable occupation its whole life had been spent. Flowers in +the Elorza garden did not possess those inordinate privileges which they +are wont to obtain in flashy parks of modern times, but a number of +succulent vegetables had established themselves on a footing of equality +with them. At the side of a group or clump of dahlias grew an +asparagus-bed, and within sight of a splendid bunch of canna indica and +calladium flourished a thicket of artichokes and a bed of Alsatian +cabbages. And why not? However indisputable the superiority of flowers +may be, we must not deny to vegetables sthetic qualities worthy of the +consideration and respect of French gardeners, who at the present time +have declared a merciless war upon them. Perhaps they consider that if +vegetables are banished from<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a> parks, they bury prose forever and have +poetry only left, according to the example of those ancient novelists +who did not dare to show their heroes and heroines in the act of eating +for fear of soiling or tarnishing them. In one of the angles there was a +great storehouse where were piled old furniture from the house, a number +of broken-down carriages, the gardening utensils, and other things. The +whole garden was surrounded by a wall of considerable thickness and +elevation, over which climbed ivy and honeysuckle cautiously letting +their leaves peer over the top, like two rogues coming in to rob fruit +and get away before they should be discovered by the gardener. Over one +of the faces of the wall arose the masts of the vessels at the quay, +which with their multitudinous cordage enlacing and crossing in every +direction, looked from a distance like monstrous spiders. A great gate +barred with iron led from the garden to the quay.</p> + +<p>The younger daughter of the proprietor of this garden found herself in +it one morning culling flowers with a pair of shears suspended from her +belt, and afterwards placing them very daintily in a small osier basket. +She went about taking them now from this side and now from that, seeming +at times to ponder before some, leaving them untouched to go straightway +to others, and then coming back to them, thus endlessly meandering in +every direction with hesitating step. She was so immersed in the depths +of some combination for her bouquet that she allowed herself to be +pitilessly burned by the sun, more splendid in his anger and pride than +was his wont. Since we last saw her, a slight change not easy to define +had taken place in her figure. She had just finished her fourteenth +year. Her physical development, always exuberant and vigorous, had taken +a sudden start during<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> the last three months, not causing her to grow at +once tall and thin, as is apt to be the case with girls at this age, but +bringing her beauty to a more ideal perfection. Marta was destined to be +rather stout: nature had been giving the last touches to her figure, +strengthening the line of her hips, rounding her arms, filling out her +virginal bosom, and perfecting the oval of her face, without being +willing, on any consideration, to grant her three inches more of +stature, though she really needed them. On this account an Andalusian +cavalry lieutenant, while saying something in her praise and dispraise +in a game of forfeits, recently declared, "You are very charming, but +your roundness is alarming."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> And this had given occasion for the +friends of the house to call her in fun <i>la redondita</i> (the round), and +to plague her continually with the Andalusian rhyme. The expression of +her face was as placid, grave, and as gentle as before. Nevertheless, +her great black eyes, calm and liquid, which, as we have said, used to +present a certain strange immobility, such as is seen in those suffering +from gutta serena, acquired a movement so gentle and sweet that one of +the De Ciudad girls, the very one who had pointed her out to the +engineer Surez, could not help exclaiming the other night,—</p> + +<p>"Don't you see how sweet Martita is looking!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied the engineer, "that girl seems to caress you with +her eyes when she looks."</p> + +<p>At the same time they inclined to grow liquid, which still more +increased their brilliancy and gentleness. At this particular moment she +wore a dark violet dress, extremely snug and well fitted to her body, +and, although at her earnest request it had been made a little longer +than before, still, as she stooped over to cut the flowers,<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a> it allowed +more than a glimpse to be seen of a pair of beautiful, well rounded +ankles, comparable with the arms which Ricardo had admired.</p> + +<p>After she had cut as many flowers as she wanted, she sat on a stone +bench in the shade, and placing the basket by her side and taking out a +ball of thread, proceeded, with great calmness, to make a nosegay. First +she took a magnificent white tea-rose, and pulled off all its thorns, +tying around it instead some leaves of althea. As she reached this stage +in her operation, Ricardo made his appearance. Marta raised her head, +hearing his steps, and quickly dropped it again, continuing her work.</p> + +<p>"I have been hunting for you, Martita."</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing ... only to see you.... Is that a little thing?"</p> + +<p>"If that's all, it seems to me a very little thing; yes!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you don't want me to see you?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say so ... but as it hasn't been twenty-four hours since you +got home...."</p> + +<p>"Well, at any rate I wanted to see you."</p> + +<p>Marta said nothing, and kept on with her task, placing around the rose +and in the althea three pansies. Ricardo also had changed a little since +the last time that we saw him. His face had grown somewhat thinner, and +in place of its ordinary expression of contentment had come another as +of fatigue sometimes approximating to gloom and bitterness. +Unquestionably he had not been very happy during the last months, and we +know very well that he had no good reason for being. The perpetual +struggle which he had to sustain with Maria's scruples, and the sincere +or simulated coldness which he saw in her, caused a steady, dull +discomfort which embittered his existence. The brief<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> moments when he +succeeded in talking with his beloved, instead of being brightened by +the sweet expressions of love, were generally spent in bickerings and +recriminations, or at least in long exhortations on one side and the +other,—Ricardo trying to prove to Maria that her pious practices were +an exaggeration incompatible with human nature; Maria urging Ricardo to +abandon the frivolities of the world and enter upon the road of virtue, +which is that of salvation.</p> + +<p>After he had silently watched Marta's work a moment, he asked her,—</p> + +<p>"Whom is that bouquet for?"</p> + +<p>"For Maria, who wants to begin her flowers for the Virgin this evening. +She asked me to make two, and I keep one in the house."</p> + +<p>A flash of joy passed through the young man's eyes at the mention of his +sweetheart's name, and he began to take an interest in the formation of +the nosegay. Marta noticed particularly her future brother's joy and +interest. Between the three pansies she placed three pinks,—one red, +one rose-colored, and the other white. Then she took a number of leaves +of sweet marjoram and rose, and tied up with them the growing bouquet; +thereupon she placed all around it a row of marguerites, alternating the +colors,—purple, white, blue, and mottled.</p> + +<p>"Now, you ought to put in some pinks," added Ricardo, with the boldness +of ignorance.</p> + +<p>"Hush, Ricardo, you don't know what you are talking about.... Now you +want a filling of sweet marjoram and althea, so that the marguerites may +have a background.... Flowers must be loose and not touch each other, so +that each may preserve its form in the bunch.... Do you see?... Now a +<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a>row of roses can be added without fear of crushing the marguerites ... +a white one, then a red one ... a white one ... another red one ... +there! that'll do!"</p> + +<p>The thread unrolled between her fingers, gently binding the flowers +together; the nosegay went on assuming a pyramidal form very well +proportioned. Ricardo, looking into the basket, saw some extremely +bright-colored geraniums, and cried out,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, how lovely those geraniums are!... Such a bright color ought to +become you, Martita; put one in your hair."</p> + +<p>The girl, without more ado, took the one that he offered her, and stuck +it in her dark locks above her ear. This combination of red and black, +which is vulgar, as all girls know, appeared more harmonious than +ordinarily, through the exceptional intensity not only of the black, but +of the red. The geranium, on being translated to that position, seemed +to have fulfilled its destiny on earth, or to have realized its essence, +as my friend Homobono Pereda, shining with more beauty and satisfaction +than ever, would say. Ricardo contemplated Marta's head with genuine +admiration, while an innocent smile of triumph hovered over her lips and +in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Around the roses she placed, instead of the green setting of sweet +marjoram and althea, another of white and blue violets, and next a row +of geraniums of all colors, combining them exquisitely. The bouquet was +finished. To add a crowning grace she put in a few handfuls of thyme, +arranging them in such a way that they might serve as a support. The +flowers, all artistically combined, appeared loose, each one showing its +own individuality, or, as my friend Homobono would add, perfectly united +in the whole.</p> + +<p>Marta lifted the nosegay up, saying, with childish delight,-<a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a>-</p> + +<p>"Isn't that fine!... isn't that fine!</p> + +<p>"Admirable!... admirable!" cried Ricardo, and in the height of his +enthusiasm he took the nosegay, waved it several times, and then laying +it down in the basket, seized the girl's hand and lifted it to his lips.</p> + +<p>Marta grew as scarlet as the geranium that she wore in her hair, and +snatched her hand away. Ricardo looked at her with a mischievous smile, +and said:—</p> + +<p>"What's does this mean, seorita, what does this mean? You are ashamed +to have any one kiss your hand, when it isn't four months since we all +kissed you on the cheek? That won't do ... that won't do at all...."</p> + +<p>And forcibly seizing her two hands he began to shower kisses on them +without stopping, until he thought he felt something strange on his +head, and lifted it. Marta was in tears. The young man's surprise was so +great that he dropped her hands without saying a word. The girl hid her +face in them, and began to sob with keen pain.</p> + +<p>"Martita, what is it? What is the matter with you?" he asked, thoroughly +terrified, stooping down to look into her face.</p> + +<p>"Nothing! nothing!... Leave me...."</p> + +<p>"But what are you crying about?... Have I hurt you? Have I offended +you?"</p> + +<p>"No, no!... Leave me, Ricardo ... leave me, for Heaven's sake!"</p> + +<p>And jumping from the bench, she started to run toward the house, wiping +her eyes. Ricardo grew more and more surprised, as he saw her +disappearing, and he stayed some time at the bench, trying in vain to +explain the girl's behavior. Then he got up, and began to promenade in +the garden. In a short time he had entirely forgotten Marta's tears; +more painful memories came to<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a> disturb his mind and absorb his +attention. An hour, at least, he spent in walking up and down the park, +thinking about them, until at last, as he passed in front of the bench +where he had been sitting with the girl, he noticed that her bouquet +still remained in the basket, as she had left it, and thinking that it +was not good for it to be there, he started with it to the house. He +asked the first servant whom he met where the seorita was to be found.</p> + +<p>"I think she is in the seora's room."</p> + +<p>He turned his steps thither. At Doa Gertrudis's room he met Marta, who +was doubtless bound on some errand for her mother. The girl, who still +wore the red geranium in her hair, as soon as she saw him, gave him a +sweet smile, and showed signs of being somewhat confused.</p> + +<p>"Are you still vexed, Martita?" asked Ricardo, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't vexed at all, Ricardo."</p> + +<p>"But those tears?"</p> + +<p>"I myself don't know what made me.... I have not been quite well for a +few days, ... and I cry without any reason."</p> + +<p>"Then I am relieved in my heart, preciosa. You can't imagine how I felt +at having caused you any pain!"</p> + +<p>"Bah!"</p> + +<p>"And how violently you wept! I believed that something really serious +had occurred.... Has anything happened to grieve you to-day?"</p> + +<p>"No, no; nothing at all.... I shall be right back. Good by."</p> + +<p>The Marquis of Pealta went into Doa Gertrudis's room, where at that +time Don Mariano and Don Maximo were conversing together, neither of +them showing in their faces any of the painful anguish, the pallor, and +the fear<a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a> of those who are witnessing the last agony of the dying; and +this irritated Doa Gertrudis to such a degree that she would almost +have taken delight in dying at that moment, for the sake of giving them +a scare. She was reclining, as usual, in her easy-chair, her feet and +legs wrapt up in a magnificent mountain goat-skin, casting looks of +bitter desolation, now at the ceiling, and now at a cup of milk which +she held in her hand. From time to time she carried it to her lips, and +swallowed a portion of its contents, thereupon lifting her eyes, and +exclaiming inwardly, "My God, may this cup pass from me!" Again and +again she looked at her persecutors with ineffable serenity, saying, in +a touching manner, that if God forgave their cruelty, she, for her part, +did not find it hard to grant them a full and generous pardon, though +she greatly doubted whether the Supreme Creator would grant it.</p> + +<p>Ricardo sat down near the persecutors, without any ceremony, for that +very morning he had had the opportunity of spending a good hour over +Doa Gertrudis's nerves. She, considering that whoever has to do with +sinners is prone to fall into sin, included him in advance in the +universal and liberal amnesty which she had declared in favor of those +who offended her.</p> + +<p>"I would never permit either traitorous periodicals, like <i>El +Tradicin</i>, or magistrates who would not obey the government punctually +and unconditionally, Don Maximo."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you up to a certain point; yet we find ourselves in a time +of conflict, and it is necessary to proceed by exceptional measures. But +you will not deny that, in a normal state of things, liberty—"</p> + +<p><a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a>"Liberty and not license!... Liberty to work ... that's the only kind +that we need. Roads, bridges, factories, land improvements, railways, +and ports, that is all that our unfortunate nation asks for.... The +liberty that you progressists are ambitious to get is liberty to starve +to death.... When I consider that, if it had not been for <i>la gloriosa</i>, +our railway would have been at point of completion, such desperation +seizes me that—"</p> + +<p>"This is only a passing conclusion, Don Maximo.... You will see how very +soon the rainbow of peace will shine!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes ... it is certainly raining now.... Have you read the leading +article in <i>La Tradicin</i>? [<i>La Tradicin</i> was a Carlist journal, +published in Nieva every Thursday.] Then, when you read it, you will see +what rainbows the partisans of the Church and the throne are getting +ready for us...."</p> + +<p>"Is it very strong?"</p> + +<p>"It's a trifling thing!... It says that all good Catholics ought to take +arms to exterminate the horde of the impious and ruffianly who govern us +to-day...."</p> + +<p>At this moment Marta entered the room. As she passed in front of +Ricardo, he took her by the hand, and obliged her to sit on his knees, +giving her a speechless look of tenderness with his eyes, without losing +any of the conversation. The girl sat down without resistance, and +likewise listened in silence.</p> + +<p>"But does it really say that?" asked Don Maximo.</p> + +<p>"It certainly does.... Read it for yourself, and you will be edified.... +In my opinion the Carlists are meditating and even plotting some <i>coup +de main</i>. The general commander is taking too little care of this +region, and is carrying off all the forces to drive the guerillas from +the highlands.... The factory always requires a strong<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a> garrison for +what might happen.... It is a prize coveted by them."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe that they would ever dare to make any attempt in that +direction. And except that the seor marqus says...."</p> + +<p>Ricardo did not catch Don Maximo's last words, for, with an affectionate +smile, he was saluting Maria, who at that moment came in. After she had +sat down near Doa Gertrudis, and exchanged a look or two with him, he +remembered the remark that had been directed to him.</p> + +<p>"What did you say Don Maximo?"</p> + +<p>"That I don't believe the Carlists have any intentions against the +factory.... It would be a ridiculous undertaking."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no indeed! Not so ridiculous as you imagine, Don Maximo.... This +very day, with the small garrison which we have there, it would not be +impossible or very difficult to take it by surprise.... How many times I +have thought, when on guard at night, that thirty decided men might get +the better of me! If they succeeded in procuring a foothold inside, the +thirty would be settled, you may believe...."</p> + +<p>"Do you hear what he says, you stubborn man? do you hear him? Now you +shall see how we must look out for our powder magazine, now that +thunderbolts and meteors are falling. But listen to one thing, Ricardo, +why don't you utilize for the defence of the factory the last advances +made in electric lighting?"</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"I should suggest that if a number of electric lamps were put in +different parts of it, which the officer on guard could set going by +simply pressing a button, all danger of a surprise could easily be +avoided; and if at<a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> the same time a goodly number of heavy bells were +set up, likewise worked by electricity, which would give an instant +alarm in the city and wake the workmen, who for the most part live +near.... Martita! what's the matter?" he exclaimed, suddenly breaking +off the thread of his discourse.</p> + +<p>All hastened to her assistance. The girl, who was still seated on +Ricardo's knees, had grown pale without any one noticing it. When Don +Mariano casually glanced at her, she was white as a sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>"What is it, my daughter?"</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Martita?"</p> + +<p>"I don't feel quite well. Give me a glass of water." Maria ran to get it +for her. Don Maximo felt of her pulse and said,—</p> + +<p>"It's only a little giddiness, which water will cure."</p> + +<p>In point of fact, as soon as she drank the water, and had sat down on +the sofa, she began to feel better, and in a few moments was perfectly +well. The conversation went on.<a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> +<small>EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND.</small></h2> + +<p>F<small>OR</small> a fortnight at least there had been talk of an excursion to El Moral +and the island. During the spring the young ladies<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> who went to the +parties at the house of the Elorzas had been anxious to form a capital +with the products of the tax and lottery to defray the expenses. Don +Mariano allowed them to do so, smiling roguishly every time that he was +told the state of the funds; but when the time came which was fixed for +the excursion, in presence of the whole tertulia, he took the handful of +silver from the little box in which it was kept and handed it to the +parish priest of Nieva to divide among the parishioners who most needed +it.</p> + +<p>"Why!" exclaimed the noble caballero at the same time, "is it not a +hundred-fold better to spend this money in alleviating the hunger of one +or two poor people than in a frivolous and unnecessary amusement?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly," said the girls, putting on an expression which +in truth did not give evidence of the purest delights of virtue and the +joys of the righteous.</p> + +<p>That evening there was very little talking, singing, and dancing at the +Elorza tertulia. Virtue, stern by nature, does not approve of noisy +demonstrations. The young people of both sexes expressed the deep, pure +satisfaction with which their sacrifice had inspired them by an +ineffable severity, making them demure and silent the most of<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a> the time, +as though they were meditating deeply on some Gospel text. Great, +therefore, must have been the displeasure felt by all when Don Mariano +said to them at the last moment:—</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen, Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, I +should be greatly pleased to have you meet at the quay, properly +provided with hats, parasols, wraps, and so forth and so forth. Nothing +is more likely than that the sailors of my fala will be anxious to take +us down to El Moral, and, as you well know, it wouldn't be polite to +disappoint them."</p> + +<p>The tertulia deplored this determination which deprived them of making a +sacrifice for the universal brotherhood, and manifested it with a +running fire of laughter, remarks, and disorderly movements: "What a man +Don Mariano is!" "He always has to be playing these jokes!" "Thursday, +Thursday!" "What engagement have I for Thursday? Oh, none, I believe." +"Must we take waterproofs?" "I think cloaks will be enough." And so on.</p> + +<p>And in fact, on Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning, Don Mariano's +launch and the quarantine boat, both clean and adorned like damsels on a +fte-day, were impatiently waiting for the people, tossing side by side +in the slip by the quay. Four sailors in each were making the final +arrangements, from time to time casting inquiring glances now at the +river, now at the streets which led from the quay. The passengers were +not in sight, and the tide had already gone down two feet and a half. +One of the sailors expressed his dislike of tardiness in a rough voice +which was far enough from fashionable. At last appeared a variegated +group of women and men among whom straw hats and red cloaks +predominated, and the old sea-dog who had just been swearing like a<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> +pirate blasphemed once more out of pure satisfaction, and put down a +gang-plank between the dock and the fala for the people to cross on. +The first to leap on board was Don Mariano. The boat gently tipped on +one side when she received her master's weight, as though making him a +loving bow. All the young ladies, including, of course, the Delgados, +next came tripping on board, leaning on Don Mariano's strong hand: the +gentlemen followed. When the first fala was full, they began to load +the second, and this was quickly accomplished. In the first, among other +people of distinction, were the two Misses de Delgado with their sister, +the widow, who chaperoned them; the De Merinos with their brother +Bonifacio, the most self-satisfied of all brothers; three or four +officials from the factory, Don Mariano, Don Maximo, Martita, and +Ricardo. Maria did not go because she would not break her vow to refrain +from all recreation. Likewise Doa Gertrudis's indisposition prevented +her from taking part in the excursion. In the second boat excellent +accommodation was found by our friend, the fascinating, sprightly +Seorita de Mor, under the watchful goggle eyes of the illustrious +Isidorito. Likewise, we can distinguish among others a very pretty young +girl named Rosario with whom the young swell at her side was not able to +dance on the evening of the Elorza soire, on account of the war +proclaimed by the pianist against the German. The sailors were just +going to cast off the lines for starting when from one of the falas +came a voice, asking,—</p> + +<p>"But the De Ciudads?"</p> + +<p>The De Ciudads were missing. Don Mariano and the quarantine doctor were +in consternation at the mention of this name, which was such a guaranty +of respectability. Before they had recovered from their consternation, +there<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a> appeared at the end of one of the streets leading to the quay the +six seoritas accompanied by their papa, their mamma, their engineer +Surez, and two small brothers. It was impossible to accommodate so many +people in the two falas; they had to hunt up another, and man it with +the first sailors they could find, and thus precious time was lost. But +at last, as everything in this world can be managed except death, the De +Ciudads and their friends were well bestowed in a fishing-boat, and the +captain of the quarantine gave the signal for the start. The twelve oars +of the falas began to strike the water in time with a gentle splash, +like the arms of one stretching.</p> + +<p>The level of the river was smooth, motionless, and bright as a mirror; +the sun cast upon it wide, silvery spots towards the centre, and darker +ones near the edges. The sky was covered by a delicate veil of clouds, +making a splendid rival for the ladies' hats and parasols. Only a gentle +breeze laden with the keen odor of pines on the shore came timidly +kissing the soft back of the waters, and the no less soft and fresh +necks of the ladies. It was not as yet a legitimate sea-breeze, but a +hybrid kind<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> with the characteristics both of sea and land. The oars +now put out all their agility, and with their blades lifted the crystal +of the waters, causing fleeting, foamy whirlpools; all faces showed the +healthful joy which is always caused by motion and the ever new and +beautiful spectacle of nature. The girls, bending over the gunwale of +the boat, delighted in taking off their rings and plunging their hands +into the water, letting it pour with a murmur through their white +fingers: they talked, they screamed, they laughed, and they exchanged +greetings from one boat to the other. The young fellows spattered their<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a> +faces with their canes or suddenly leaned to one side to scare them, +taking great pleasure in their cries of desperation. All was noise and +hubbub in the little squadron. As they came near El Moral, the marine +characteristics of the breeze began to get the upper hand of the inland +ones; it grew stronger, sometimes even blowing violently, as when the +falas passed by some glen made through the hills or sloping banks which +shut in the river valley. The ribbons on the hats, the pennants on the +mast-heads, handkerchiefs and neckties began to flutter violently. The +voyagers felt the sweet deafness caused by the keen, salt-nurtured wind +of the sea. A few aquatic birds of little account flew out from one +shore and went flapping above the falas, which was sufficient cause for +Don Serapio, in a fit of enthusiasm for the sea, to get upon deck and, +leaning over the flagstaff like one possessed, to sing the song which +begins:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"<i>Al ver en la inmensa llanura del mar.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> When o'er the mighty prairie of the sea,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> I watch the sea-gulls in their rapid flight,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> My soul is filled with envious thoughts," etc.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>If the river could blush, it would not have failed to do so on hearing +itself called so hyperbolically the <i>mighty prairie</i>; but it took it in +bad part, believing that there was some joke intended, and was seriously +angry. At all events, the wind undertook to wreak vengeance for it by +suddenly snatching off the inspired singer's sombrero and cutting short +the current, not to say the torrent, of his voice. The fala in the wake +picked up the hat and restored it in a very water-soaked condition to +its owner, who showed no more desire for the time being to continue +apostrophizing the sea-gulls.<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a></p> + +<p>The little squadron stood nearer and nearer to the handful of houses at +El Moral, distant from Nieva about a league and a half. The town kept +growing more distant from our voyagers, offering them a beautiful +spectacle. It was situated under the brow of a not very lofty mountain, +decorated with green gardens and groups of laurel and orange trees on +all sides; its white-walled houses seemed to have been placed in such a +situation by the hand of an artist who believed in combining the +advantages of nature so as to produce the sthetic emotion, as a stage +manager would say; the dazzling whiteness of the town stood out against +the dark green of the mountain like a great patch of snow stretching +down from the top; the silvery sheet of the river extending at its feet +waited motionless and humble till it should melt into its bosom. The +gentle, pine-clad hills which bordered the shores, and which our +voyagers left one after the other, seemed like the bristling backs of +huge, fantastic monsters.</p> + +<p>The remarks made by one fala to another gradually ceased. Each of the +boats recovered self-jurisdiction, living for itself alone. Let us +listen to what is said in them.</p> + +<p class="cspc"> +I<small>N THE</small> E<small>LORZA</small> F<small>ALA</small>.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"I am well in years, Don Maximo, but I expect that my daughters are +going to see this river perfectly channelled. The amount of water +entering the mouth of the port would be sufficient to float vessels of +the greatest draught, if it were not so spread out. The question is to +utilize it. And how can this be done? Why, it must be done by force, by +means of two parallel jetties, which should begin at the very bar and +come up as far as Nieva. The water, both at ebb and flow, will pass +between them with greater rapidity, working over the bottom until it<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> +deepens it. Gradually the space included between the channel and the +shores will be left dry, and can be easily improved. To accomplish the +drainage, all that is needed is to construct a clay dike against each of +the jetties, and open large gates through which the water can flow out +but not come in.... Excuse my earnestness!... I know well that this is +not a work of months, but of many years; still there is nothing +impossible about it.... Once reclaimed, these wide spaces would +doubtless be utilized by the population of Nieva, even to the very bank +of the beautiful canal, which would be constantly crowded with every +kind of craft. The new city built on such a wide level would most +certainly have its streets laid out at right angles, like those of the +American cities, and magnificent wharves. The true port, however, cannot +be here, but near the roadstead of Los Arenales, ... very soon we shall +be passing by it. It is a well-sheltered and extensive site, where a +whole fleet could have stay-room.... At present it is not very deep; I +am perfectly aware of that, but it has a sandy bottom, and you know that +with the powerful dredging-machines which we have nowadays, in a very +short time, it could be made two or three metres deeper.... Then Nieva +will be the most important part of El Cantbrico; the larger part of our +mineral products will be exported through it, for the dock at Sarri is +very small, and there is no chance to increase it; instead of going to +French watering-places to spend the summer, the Spaniards will come to +these beautiful Northern Provinces, neglected to-day for lack of means +of communication.... How is Biarritz to be compared in spring with these +fresh, delicious regions? What sea-coast of Arcachn can enter into +rivalry with ours at Miramar and Las Huelgas?..."<a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a></p> + +<p class="cspc">O<small>N</small> B<small>OARD OF</small> L<small>A</small> S<small>ANIDAD.</small></p> + +<p>"Last night I slept splendidly, after a number of nights when I didn't +close my eyes hardly at all," said the Seorita de Mor to her friend +Rosario, who was seated near her.... "I don't know what has been ailing +me this long time.... I feel nervous.... My head aches when I get up.... +I think I need a tonic."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes you need to give the heart a tonic, seorita," said +Isidorito, boldly, with his face frightfully contracted by a smile.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that the apothecary shops furnished tonics for the +heart," replied the young lady, with a scornful gesture, directing her +words to Rosario.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, seorita; not in the apothecary shops; the heart is not cured +by the preparations of ordinary therapeutics, nor by any formulas of the +pharmacopœia, for it has, apart from its physical nature, which is +not unlike the rest of the viscera, another nature purely spiritual as +we are generally accustomed to speak of it, and this cannot be treated +except by moral medicaments. When I said that sometimes you need to give +your heart a tonic, I meant to indicate that possibly it would be good +for you to drive away certain preoccupations of an amorous character, +which often are wont to affect it."</p> + +<p>"I am not troubled by these <i>preoccupations</i> of which you speak, nor do +I intend to have them at present, God helping me," replied the seorita +with the same air of dissatisfaction as before, and addressing herself +only to Rosario.</p> + +<p>"You cannot affirm that in such a categorical manner."</p> + +<p>"And why not?"</p> + +<p>"For in the state in which you find yourself it is very<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a> difficult, not +to say impossible, to fathom all the profundities of the spirit and +scrutinize all of its hiding-places. Frequently impressions make their +way into our souls in a surreptitious manner without our taking note of +it; they begin by being vague and fugitive, and for that very reason +pass without being observed; but slowly they go on taking shape, growing +in strength, and finally they conquer the individual and rule him at +their will. Then they pass into the category of the passions."</p> + +<p>"But I know perfectly well what I feel and what I don't feel."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, seorita; allow me to contradict you. You cannot know."</p> + +<p>"Man, for goodness' sake! Can't I know what I feel?"</p> + +<p>"Why, then, you must know that—"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I know better than you do. Self-observation, according to all +the philosophers and moralists, is more difficult than to observe +others, and there are very few who are able to reach to it. On the other +hand, youth is little prone to reflection, and above all women are +incapable of taking perfect account of their inclinations and of the +vague emotions passing through their hearts."</p> + +<p>"Look you! women are as God created them, and so are men."</p> + +<p>"I don't doubt it; but God has so created them, with a sensitive +capacity (if I may express myself in this way) more quick and delicate +than that of men. It may be said that they are born exclusively for +love, and that love ought to fill the measure of their existence. Love +and the consequences which arise from love constitute the first end of +conjugal union or, in other words, matrimony. Thus it has been +established in all legislative codes, and particularly in the canonical, +which is the purest fountain<a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> of all. Woman consequently works more +under the impulse of fancy and sentiment than of reason...."</p> + +<p>"Heavens! how much Isidorito knows about us poor women!" exclaimed the +Seorita de Mor, in a tone between anger and jest.</p> + +<p>The district attorney was somewhat crushed, but at length he went on +with his remarks, without ceasing the pseudo-smile which afflicted his +face.</p> + +<p>"Love being, for the reason above given, the most powerful, not to say +the only, motive of a woman's life, there is nothing wonderful in the +supposition that a young lady like you may find herself agitated by this +omnipotent feeling, and paying tribute to what constitutes an +irrecusable law of life. You may now see how I was not out of the way +when I affirmed that sometimes it is necessary for you to give your +heart a tonic or—and this is the same thing—alleviate it of some too +grievous impression."</p> + +<p>"O my!<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> what a bore!" said the Seorita de Mor in a whisper; but she +replied aloud, "Why, you are absolutely mistaken, Isidorito; nothing +grieves me or disturbs me at present!"</p> + +<p>"Allow me to doubt it."</p> + +<p>"You are welcome to doubt it; but I assure you that I have the best +reason for knowing."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, according to all logic, although you may declare the +contrary, yet there is no possibility of sustaining such an opinion; not +only reason and good sense oppose it, but from the most superficial +observation of the facts it results, first, that love is a natural and +constant sentiment in young ladies; second, that you have no reasons for +escaping from it; and third, that the fact<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a> of sleeping little and +uneasily makes the supposition that you are in love a very reasonable +one."</p> + +<p>The Seorita de Mor shrugged her shoulders, made a scornful grimace +with her lips, and without deigning to reply, resumed her conversation +with her friend Rosario.</p> + +<p>Isidorito had triumphed over his opponent as usual; for always the woman +with whom he was conversing was in his eyes his opponent, and he +believed in the necessity of involving her in the meshes of his logic, +and of getting her close in his grasp, until he subdued her like a +rebellious rival in the law. Thus he expected to win the admiration and +respect of the feminine sex. But the feminine sex (be it said to its +dishonor) not only did not admire Isidorito for his belligerent logic, +for his sedateness, and for his vast legal knowledge, but it looked upon +him with marked disfavor, and avoided his conversation as though it were +a disgusting clatter. The Seorita de Mor, with whom he had carried on +the most pugnacious argument on the nature of love and friendship, the +sweets of remembrance, the bitternesses of forgetfulness, sympathy, and +all else relating to the heart, in which he always came out instantly +victorious, had learned to hate him like death. Consequently our wise +youth was really more than a hundred leagues from the lovely heiress's +three thousand duros income, while he believed that he could touch them +with his finger-tips. His never-failing sedateness, his self-possessed +and serene eloquence, his long-tailed coats, his ideas of order, and his +legal diction had aroused against him a prejudice as cruel as it was +unjustified.</p> + +<p class="cspc"> +I<small>N THE</small> D<small>E</small> C<small>IUDAD</small> F<small>ALA</small>.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"Maria, Julia, Consuelo, just see how lovely the water feels when you +put your hand in!"<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a></p> + +<p>"How lovely! how lovely!"</p> + +<p>"You'll wet your clothes, Amparo!"</p> + +<p>"See what cunning white feathers the water makes between the fingers, +Surez!"</p> + +<p>"Splendid!... but you'll wet the sleeve of your dress."</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment.... I am going to tuck it up.... There, that's good.... +Look! look!..."</p> + +<p>"It still seems to me as though it would get wet.... Tuck it up a little +more."</p> + +<p>"More?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"But I shall show my whole arm!"</p> + +<p>"What difference does that make?"</p> + +<p>"Be sensible; it isn't the time to give one a cold.... Now it seems to +me all right.... Uf! how cold this water is!... It isn't noticeable on +the hands, but on your arms! Look! Look how it jumps up!... If you put +your palm flat against the current, it runs clear up your arm. Don't you +see how beautiful and clear it is to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Speaking frankly, I will tell you," whispered the engineer in Amparo's +ear, "that at this moment my attention is attracted more by your fair +arm!"</p> + +<p>"If you don't hush, you rogue, I shall spatter the water in your face," +replied the girl, threatening him with her chaste vengeance.</p> + +<p>"Though you should throw me into the river, I should still say so.... I +am an artist, above all things, as you well know.... There is nothing so +beautiful as the human form, ... when it is beautiful; and that arm of +yours stands comparison with the most perfect models of the sculptor's +art."</p> + +<p>"Come, come! don't be absurd!... My arm is like<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a> any one else's. The +main thing is, that it is beginning to feel cold.... Whew! what +water.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> It seemed so warm at first!... And how it keeps on growing +colder and colder, till at last it chills one to the bone!..."</p> + +<p>"Take it out, take it out ... we must dry it!"</p> + +<p>And Amparito obeyed, taking her arm out of the water, and innocently +holding it towards the engineer, who began to wipe it with his +handkerchief, lavishing upon it delicate attentions, and saying, at the +same time:—</p> + +<p>"But what a lovely arm you have, Amparito! How white! what soft skin! +and how round it is, above all!... A woman's arm ought to be so, ... +round and slender, like that of the Venus di Medici ... the arm ought to +diminish gradually and symmetrically to the wrist.... The truth is, with +such an arm you ought to be worthy of being a sculptor's model.... +Well-formed women are scarce enough nowadays. To this is due the decay +of sculpture, according to some critics.... If there were many like you, +this certainly could not be said.... What an arm! what a lovely arm!... +You can't imagine the pleasure I feel in touching it with my hand...."</p> + +<p>The engineer, as he said this, suited the action to the word, and rubbed +it so hard that Seor de Ciudad, who, with grim eyes, was watching the +operation from the bow, could not help exclaiming, in an angry tone,—</p> + +<p>"Amparo, please pull down your sleeve.... You most foolish girl!"</p> + +<p>The girl blushed, and pulled down her sleeve. The engineer, not being +able to evolve his artistic theories with his model in sight, renounced, +for some time, the use of speech.<a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a></p> + +<p>The falas were now over against the Arenales. The sun had succeeded in +making a few rifts in the veil of cloud, and was threatening, sooner or +later, to rend it in pieces. The pencil of rays which penetrated through +these rifts, and fell on the sand-hills, made them gleam like enormous +flakes of gold, shedding their splendors over the whole breadth of the +watery sheet; occasionally, when the sunbeams were cut off a moment by +the interposition of some cloud, the splendors paled, and the sand +assumed the grayish or gilded shades of webs of yellow silk. The +voyagers all agreed that those sand wastes gave a very good idea of the +deserts of Africa; and Don Mariano expressed his opinion that it would +be very easy to control the sand by means of feather-grass and other +suitable vegetation, and soon convert them into magnificent groves of +pines.</p> + +<p>The valley, which in the midst of the way opened out till it acquired +considerable breadth, became narrower again as it neared El Moral. The +waters became more restless, revealing the proximity of the sea; the +hills, protecting the village with their stony slopes and their bare, +melancholy tops, likewise made it evident. The breath of the monster +began to be felt, blowing freshly and proudly through the narrow mouth +of the river; and far away could be heard the low, portentous beating of +his heart. The falas now and then pitched upon patches of foam, which +came rolling over the water, like tatters torn from the mantle of some +god who had been battling all the night with the monsters of the ocean.</p> + +<p>They reached El Moral. Don Mariano had prepared for them a delicious +luncheon in a large ware-house, which he owned there, and the numerous +company gave one more proof that the sea breezes are the most excellent +stimulant<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a> for the appetite. When they had done good justice to it, and +rested a little while, they re-embarked to continue their excursion. A +short distance from El Moral was the mouth of the harbor from which they +put out to sea, leaving on the starboard quarter the lighthouse tower +set on a bluff. The sailors dropped their oars and hoisted the sails to +take advantage of the fresh north-east wind which forced them ahead. It +was eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The cloud veil had entirely vanished +down the horizon, leaving in view a beautiful, diaphanous blue sky +wherein the sun swam haughty and brilliant as never before. The sea +stretched out before our voyagers' eyes like one enormous, measureless +blue plain, shutting in on all sides the celestial vault to collect its +light and its harmony. Above this azure plain the luminous disk of the +sun made a wide path of shining silver peopled with tremulous, sparkling +gleams and extending in a direct line towards the east. In each one of +the crests which the breeze raised on the water the sunbeams left a +fugitive, vivid light which, on mingling and joining with the rest in an +incessant dance, seemed like the monstrous, fantastic ebullition of the +treasures hidden in the depths of the ocean. The voyagers followed that +silvery path with their gaze, and did not open their lips for a long +time, enjoying the deeply fine and solemn impression which the sea +always makes on the mind. The outlines of the island, dimmed and +confused by the excess of light, stood out opposite the very mouth of +the river, about five miles from the coast. Around it could be seen +great flocculent shreds of foam which alternately grew and narrowed down +again, girdling it with a white belt of lace-work. The wind blew strong, +but with generous benignity, for it had plenty of room to exercise its<a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a> +powers. The three falas, with sails spread, cut through the water, one +behind the other, like so many sea-gulls chasing them. The cordage +whistled, the masts creaked in the holes imprisoning them, and the sails +bellied under the breath of the breeze which tipped the boats more than +was relished by the ladies. The water, as it passed, broke into foam, +making a musical murmur against the bow, and sliding along on both sides +with a rustle like the unrolling of silk.</p> + +<p>Don Serapio felt himself attacked by a maritime ecstasy, and, holding +his hat in one hand and gesticulating dramatically with the other, he +sang:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"How blessed that man who can number</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> His joys on the ocean;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> For the billows rock him to slumber</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> With somnolent motion."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The almost imperceptible voice of the proprietor of the canning-factory +had the honor of joining in with the eternal concert of the seas, like +one of so many noises of tumbling billows or rattling pebbles. The wind +would not deign to carry it twenty yards away.</p> + +<p>The falas, as they glided out on the swelling breasts of the waves, +mounted and fell with a gentle, lazy motion which at first was +delightful to the passengers. They began to sway, softly closing their +eyes with a smile of delicious content, surrendering themselves in full +to the vague, poetic dreams awakened in their hearts by the sea. Who +would have said, alas! that those who were dreaming so comfortably, and +rejoicing in a smiling world of gentle fancies and gilded illusions, +would be seen in a few minutes with heads sadly bent over the sea, necks +leaning on the gunwale, as though it were a chopping<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a>-block, faces livid +and eyes fixed upon the water, as though they were trying to sound the +secret arcana of the ocean! Oh terrible fickleness of human affairs!</p> + +<p>But what was taking place in the quarantine boat, that she should come +about and leave her companions? An unforeseen contingency, and certainly +one most annoying. Isidorito's breakfast had played him false. Hardly +were they clear of El Moral when he began to be pale and silent, though +no one noticed it; but at last the pallor increased to such a degree +that he really looked like a corpse. Then it was suspected that he was +seasick, and they advised him to put his fingers in his mouth; but the +municipal attorney, very thoroughly acquainted with the tragedy at that +moment enacting in his stomach, would not do any such thing, and begged +humbly that, if it were possible, they should turn about and leave him +on shore. All were stupefied at this proposition, and the fala +continued on her swift course, as though she had not heard. But, after a +time, Isidorito propounded it in a still more energetic manner, and the +sailors were obliged to reply that, though it was not impossible, still, +to return to shore would cost them an hour's time. Another interval +passed. Isidorito got up suddenly, with his face convulsed, and, +extending his right hand toward the shore, he exclaimed with a voice of +mighty anguish, "Turn around, turn around for God's sake, or I shall +jump into the water!" Then the fala, not wanting to be an accomplice in +a suicide, veered around, dropped sail, and, putting out oars, began to +make its way, as quick as possible, to the nearest point on the shore. +There are reasons, however, for believing that the distinguished legal +gentleman did not reach land in sufficient time. The Seorita de Mor +felt sufficiently avenged for the many annoyances which his inflexible +logic had occasioned her.<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br /> +<small>THE EXCURSION CONTINUED.</small></h2> + +<p>M<small>EANTIME</small> the ocean, indifferent to the laughter and the discomfort of +those petty insects which skim over its burnished surface, reflected the +fire of the sun over all its immensity, enjoying this lofty pleasure +with the same calmness as in the first days of the world. The light +could wander freely over its humid surface, running leagues upon leagues +in a second, shooting its blazes to the furthest confines of the +horizon, or gathering them in a splendid bundle. It could sport over the +foamy crests of its waves, or timidly kiss the diaphanous mirror of the +waters, or spatter it with fine silver powder, or fall in a swoon with +languid, voluptuous tremors, losing themselves amid the folds of the +billows: nothing could change the solemn peace of his heart or cause him +to utter a note lower or a note higher in the grandiose air in basso +profundo which he has sung since the beginning of the world.</p> + +<p>The outlines of the island now stood out with clearness, black and burnt +as though they had just emerged from a fire. As they came nearer, the +white belt, which from a distance seemed to girdle it, broke into a +thousand separate pieces, a considerable distance from one another. The +formidable roar as of multitudes fighting, chains dragging, and rocks +crashing, came from that direction, announcing to our voyagers that they +were approaching their destination. At the end of an hour they +succeeded,<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a> not without difficulty, in effecting a landing on its +rockbound shore; then they had to climb up by a narrow, perilous footway +hollowed out of the rock, before they reached the solid, level land. The +island did not deserve this name.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> It was an islet two or three +kilometers long, belonging to Don Mariano Elorza, who made use of it +only for occasional hunting excursions, and for collecting a few hundred +gulls' eggs from it every year. It was covered here and there with +pines, but for the most part it was clad in furze, where hares and +rabbits had their warrens: on nearly all sides it presented +perpendicular cliffs to the sea, which beat incessantly against it, +furiously rushing in and out of the hollows in the rocks everywhere +abounding. Don Mariano had built in the centre a small house as a +hunting-box which, little by little, he had provided with many +conveniences. It contained only a large parlor, a dining-room, a few +bedrooms, and the kitchen; but it was quite well furnished, and was +surrounded by a small garden where a few shade-trees reluctantly grew.</p> + +<p>While the dinner was in preparation and they were waiting for the +quarantine fala, which had gone to deposit Isidorito like a melancholy +exile on a barren coast, the ladies and gentlemen scattered about, +devoting themselves to hunting and fishing, according to the tastes and +dispositions of each. Shots began to be heard here and there, showing +that the rabbits, which had multiplied in geometrical progression, +suffered the law of repression discovered by Malthus. The voyagers who +had not bloodthirsty instinct made themselves comfortable on the moss at +the edge of the cliffs, contemplating the horizon from quarter to +quarter, where the sail of some<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> bark was often seen. Others studied the +flora, plucking flowers and entering into long discussions about the +cultivation which would suit that soil and the products which it might +give. When everything was arranged, Don Mariano sent word by his +servants, and one after the other the guests made their way back to the +house and entered the parlor, where a splendid table had been +improvised, loaded with viands and flowers. It took much labor and +sufficient noise to seat so many people, but at last it was +accomplished, thanks to the activity of the master of the house, greatly +aided by the young man with the banged hair, whom we had the honor of +meeting on the evening of the soire, celebrated in honor of Doa +Gertrudis.</p> + +<p>The feast was worthy of Amphitryon. No gastronomic refinement was +lacking; everything was wisely provided by an imagination familiar with +culinary subjects and, as some one at the table was moved to say with +truth, "life on a desert island was not so unhappy as it was pictured in +Robinson Crusoe and other books." Each plate had before it five or six +glasses which two servants were commissioned to keep filling +successively with different kinds of wine according to the courses +served. No one will be surprised, therefore, that after dinner was over +there were enthusiastic toasts preceded by most eloquent speeches and +accompanied by shouts, bravos, and congratulations of all sorts to the +orator. Don Maximo cut them short by a few phrases, ill enough expressed +but very touching, referring to the brevity of human life, to the vanity +of pleasures, to the recompense which we shall have for our sorrows in +another world, and other supernal subjects. The orator ended by shedding +copious tears stirred by such funereal thoughts. Nevertheless, there +were some who said in an undertone that Don Maximo's<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> <i>papalina</i> was the +least diverting that they had ever known. Then the engineer, Surez, +made a speech elegantly phrased and ornate, directed to emphasizing the +importance enjoyed by woman in our civilization and the salutary changes +which, thanks to her influence, had obtained in the manners of modern +nations. He made a eulogy, as brilliant as it was finished, of her +artistic abilities, declaring it to be much superior to man's. He +likewise spoke of her physical perfections, enumerating them with great +satisfaction, and he ended by toasting her unconditionally as the most +beautiful and exquisite work of creation, as the eternal and sweet +companion of man. The Seoritas de Ciudad clapped their hands. Thereupon +Don Serapio got up and with rather unctious speech proposed in concrete +terms that the brilliant assemblage who was hearkening to him should +settle for good in the island, in order to populate it, and invited each +one of those present to select as quickly as possible their partners. +The fact that at the end of his invitation he tipped a mischievous and +impudent wink at one of the maid-servants who was helping at table +raised against him a tempest of hisses and interruptions. Not being able +satisfactorily to explain his behavior, Don Serapio grew very angry and +went out into the kitchen, where, after a short time, was heard a +ringing box on his ears.</p> + +<p>Next followed the toasts, growing constantly more fiery and tempestuous, +so that nothing that was said could be heard. One of the most famous was +Martita's. By the advice of Ricardo, who sat by her side, she had drunk +three glasses of champagne and did not know what was going on. The poor +girl, so reserved and silent by temperament, began to let her tongue +have free course, directing very facetious sallies at all present, who +received<a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a> them with rejoicing and applause. When a lady said that she +was a little tipsy, she grew very serious and declared that she was only +rather happy, which was nothing very strange considering that she was +young. This repartee caused great laughter among the picnickers. When +she was speaking, she kept fanning herself with her handkerchief. Her +eyes, ordinarily so steady and serene, had acquired a strange loveliness +and a malicious brilliancy which attracted the attention of Surez, the +engineer. The very timbre of her voice had notably altered, making it +deeper and firmer. For the time being, she seemed like a woman in all +the plenitude of her powers.</p> + +<p>When they were tired of talking nonsense, Don Mariano had the tables +removed from the parlor, so that the young people might dance. A piano, +which had reached a dignified old age in that cloistered retreat, was +called upon to mark the time of a mazurka with its cracked voice. As was +to be expected, the dance from the first instant lost all ceremony and +was converted into a whirlwind of hops, screams, and laughter. Marta, +who was dancing with Ricardo, quickly said,—</p> + +<p>"I can't endure this heat! Don't you want to go out into the fresh air +for a little?"</p> + +<p>"Let us go; I, too, am almost suffocated."</p> + +<p>When they were in the garden, she said to him,—</p> + +<p>"If you will come with me, I will take you to a place which no one here +knows anything about except papa and me; it is a beach hidden among the +rocks; you don't see it until you are on it ... it is a lovely place."</p> + +<p>"If I like! you know well enough the love I have for landscapes, and +above all for seascapes! How do you get to it?"<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a></p> + +<p>"Follow me ... you shall see."</p> + +<p>Marta started out toward a clump of pines situated not far from the +house, and Ricardo followed her. The girl wore a marine blue dress with +white lace trimmings, and she had on her head a straw hat with a wreath +of red convolvulus.</p> + +<p>"After we reach that grove, you are going to enjoy a surprise."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?"</p> + +<p>"Just wait and see!"</p> + +<p>In fact, after they had reached the grove and had been walking some time +in it, they came upon a grotto half covered up with trees and +underbrush. Marta, without saying a word, entered it, and in two seconds +disappeared from sight. Ricardo waited an instant in uncertainty and +deep surprise; but a gay peal of laughter echoing from within startled +him from his stupor.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean? Don't you dare to come in, coward?"</p> + +<p>"But, child, don't you see, you might get hurt!"</p> + +<p>"Come in, come in, brave warrior!"</p> + +<p>"Very well ... seeing that you have set the example."</p> + +<p>When he joined Marta, he found that the grotto was quite large and had a +sandy floor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't suppose it was so large and comfortable!"</p> + +<p>"Good; now follow me."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"How inquisitive you are!... You shall see, man, you shall see for +yourself."</p> + +<p>She entered further into the cave, which kept growing darker and darker, +and Ricardo followed, not taking his eyes from her for fear she should +fall or stumble<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a> upon some obstacle. After some little time the girl's +silhouette vanished in the gloomy depths of the cavern, and Ricardo +found himself in real darkness.</p> + +<p>"Don't be worried; follow me, and nothing will happen to you. I will be +talking all the time, so you can walk in the direction of my voice.... +If you want me to give you my hand, I will.... No?... very well, but +don't fall far behind.... In a very short time you will begin to +descend, but it is a gentle slope.... Do you see?... Don't grumble +against the footing.... Still, if one should fall, it would not do much +harm.... We shall be in the light soon.... Be careful; turn to the +right, for the path here makes a bend.... There, we have light at last!"</p> + +<p>A luminous point was, in fact, visible below our young friend's feet a +hundred yards distant. Marta's silhouette again emerged from the +darkness and stood out against the niggardly light which entered through +the aperture.</p> + +<p>A long, dull murmur was audible in the cave, hinting at the proximity of +the ocean. In a few moments they came out into the light.</p> + +<p>Ricardo was in ecstasies over the sight which met his eyes. They stood +facing the sea in the midst of a beach surrounded by very high, jagged +crags. It seemed impossible to issue from it without getting wet by the +waves, which came in majestic and sonorous, spreading out over its +golden sands, festooning them with wreaths of foam. Our young people +advanced toward the centre in silence, overcome with emotion, watching +that mysterious retreat of the ocean, which seemed like a lovely hidden +trysting-place where he came to tell his deepest secrets to the earth. +The sky of the clearest azure reflected on the sandy floor which sloped +toward the sea with a gentle incline; months<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> and years often passed +without the foot of man leaving its imprint upon it. The lofty, black, +eroded walls, shutting in the beach with their semicircle, threw a +melancholy silence upon it; only the cry of some sea-bird flitting from +one crag to another, disturbed the eternal, mysterious monologue of the +ocean.</p> + +<p>Ricardo and Marta continued slowly drawing nearer the water, still under +the spell of reverence and admiration. As they advanced, the sand grew +smoother and smoother; the prints of their feet immediately filled with +water. Coming still nearer, they noticed that the waves increased, and +that their curling volutes at the moment of breaking would cover them up +if they could get them in their power. They came in toward them solid, +stately, imposing, as though they were certain to carry them off and +bury them forever amid their folds; but five or six yards away they fell +to the ground, expressing their disappointment with a tremendous, +prolonged roar; the torrents of foam which issued from their destruction +came spreading up and leaping on the sand to kiss their feet.</p> + +<p>After considerable time of silent contemplation, Marta began to feel +disturbed; she imagined that she noticed in them a constantly increasing +desire to get hold of her, and that they expressed their longing with +angry, desperate cries. She stepped back a little and seized Ricardo's +hand, without confessing to him the foolish fear that had taken +possession of her; she imagined that the sheet of foam sent up by the +waves, instead of kissing her feet, was trying to bite them; that as it +gathered itself up again with gigantic eagerness, it attracted her +against her will, to carry her away no one knows whither.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it seem to you that we are going too close to the waves, +Ricardo?"<a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a></p> + +<p>"Do you think perhaps they'll come up as far as where you are?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know ... but it seems to me as though we were sliding down +insensibly ... and that they would get hold of us at last."</p> + +<p>"Don't you be alarmed, preciosa," said he, throwing his arm around her +shoulder and gently drawing her to him; "neither are the waves coming up +to us, nor are we going down to them.... Are you afraid to die?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not now!" exclaimed the girl, in a voice scarcely audible, and +pressing closer to her friend.</p> + +<p>Ricardo did not hear this exclamation; he was attentively watching the +passage of a steamboat which was passing down the horizon, belching +forth its black column of smoke.</p> + +<p>After a time he felt like renewing the theme.</p> + +<p>"Are you really afraid of death? Oh, you are well off.... To-day the +world has in store for you its most seductive smiles ... not a single +cloud obscures the heaven of your life. God grant you may never come to +desire it!"</p> + +<p>"And are you afraid to die? tell me!"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I am, and sometimes I am not."</p> + +<p>"At this moment are you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! how funny you are!" exclaimed the young fellow, turning his smiling +face towards her. "No, not at this moment, certainly not."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because, if the sea should carry us away, we two should die together; +and going in such charming company, what would it matter to me leaving +this world?"</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him steadily for a moment. Over the young man's lips +hovered a gallant but somewhat condescending smile. She abruptly tore +herself from him,<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a> and turning her back, began to walk up and down on +the beach skirting the dominions of the waves.</p> + +<p>The steamship was just hiding behind one of the headlands like a +fantastic warrior, walking through the water until only the plume of his +helmet was visible. When it had disappeared, Ricardo joined his future +sister, who seemed not to notice his presence, so absorbed was she in +contemplation of the ocean; yet after a moment she suddenly turned +around, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Do you dare to go with me to the point which extends out there at the +right?"</p> + +<p>"I have no objection, but I warn you that it's flood tide, and that that +point will be surrounded by water before the end of an hour."</p> + +<p>"No matter; we have time enough to go to it."</p> + +<p>Leaping and balancing over the rocks along the shore, which were full of +pools and lined with seaweed, whereon they ran great risk of slipping, +they reached the point far out in the sea.</p> + +<p>"Let us sit down," said Marta. "Sometimes the sea comes up as far as +this, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Ricardo sat beside her, and both looked at the humid plain extending at +their feet. Near them it was dark green in color; farther away it was +blue; then in the centre the great silvery spot was still resplendent +with vivid scintillations reflecting the fiery disk of the sun. From the +liquid bosom of the boundless deep arose a solemn but seductive music, +which began to sound like a paternal caress in the ears of our young +friends. The great desert of water sang and vibrated in its spaces like +the eternal instrument of the Creator. The breeze coming from the waves +brought a refreshing coolness to their temples and cheeks; it was a +keen, powerful breath,<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a> swelling their hearts and filling them with +vague, exalted feelings.</p> + +<p>Neither of them spoke. They enjoyed the contemplation of ocean's majesty +and grandeur, with a humble sense of their own insignificance, and with +a vague longing to share in its divine, immortal power. Their eyes +followed again and again unweariedly along the fluctuating line of the +horizon which revealed to them other spaces, endless and luminous. +Without noticing it, by an instinctive movement they had again drawn +nearer to each other as though they had some fear of the monster roaring +at their feet. Ricardo had laid one arm around the young girl's waist, +and held her gently as if to defend her from some danger.</p> + +<p>At the end of a long time, Marta turned her kindled face toward him and +said, with trembling voice,—</p> + +<p>"Ricardo, will you let me lean my head on your breast? I feel like +weeping!"</p> + +<p>Ricardo looked at her in surprise, and drawing her gently toward him, +laid her head on his knee. The girl thanked him with a smile.</p> + +<p>The waters beat upon the point where they were, spattering them with +spray, and ceaselessly pouring in and out of the deep caves of the +rocks, which seemed hollow, like a house. The rivers tumbling over them +awoke strange, confused murmurs within, seeming sometimes like the +far-off echoes of a thunder-clap, again like the deep rumbling of an +organ.</p> + +<p>Marta, with her head resting on the young man's knee and her face turned +to the sky, allowed her great, liquid eyes to roam around the azure +vault, with ears attent to the deep murmurs sounding beneath her. The +fresh sea breeze had not yet succeeded in cooling her burning cheeks.<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a></p> + +<p>"Hark!" she said, after a little; "don't you hear it?"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you hear, amid the roar of the water, something like a lament?"</p> + +<p>Ricardo listened a moment.</p> + +<p>"I don't hear anything."</p> + +<p>"No; now it has stopped; wait a while.... Now don't you hear it?... Yes, +yes, there's no doubt about it ... there's some one weeping in the +hollows of this rock...."</p> + +<p>"Don't be worried, tonta; it's the surf that makes those strange +noises.... Do you want me to go down and see if there's any one in +there?"</p> + +<p>"No! no!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "stay quiet.... If you should move, it +would disturb me greatly...."</p> + +<p>The great spot of silver kept extending further over the circuit of the +ocean, but it began to grow pale. The sun was rapidly journeying toward +the horizon, in majestic calm, without a cloud to accompany him, wrapt +in a gold and red vapor, which gradually melted, till it was entirely +lost in the clear blue of the sky. The point where they were, likewise +stretched its shadow over the water, the dark green of which, little by +little, grew into black. The roaring of the waves became muffled, and +the breeze blew softly, like the indolent breathing of one about to go +to sleep. An august, soul-stirring silence began to come up from the +bosom of the waters. In the caverns of the rock Marta no longer +perceived the mournful cry which had frightened her; and the thunders +and mumblings had been slowly changing into a soft and languid glu glu.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to sleep?" asked Ricardo again.</p> + +<p>"I have told you once that I don't care to go to sleep.... I am so happy +to be awake!... He who sleeps doesn't suffer, but neither does he +enjoy.... It is good to sleep<a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a> only when one has sweet dreams, and I +almost never have them.... Look, Ricardo; it seems to me now that I am +asleep and dreaming.... You look so strange to me! I see the sky below, +and the sea above; your head is bathed in a blue mist; ... when you +move, it seems as though the vault covering us swung to and fro; when +you speak, your voice seems to come out of the depths of the sea.... +Don't shut your eyes, for pity's sake! how it makes me suffer! I imagine +that you are dead, and have left me here alone. Don't you see how wide +open mine are! Never did I want less to sleep than now.... Hark! put +down your face a little nearer; should you suffer much, if the sea were +to rise slowly, and finally cover us up?"</p> + +<p>Ricardo trembled a little; he cast a look about him, and saw that the +water was ready to cut off the isthmus uniting them to the shore.</p> + +<p>"Come, we are almost surrounded by water already."</p> + +<p>"Wait just a little ... I have something to tell you.... I am going to +whisper it very low, so that no one shall hear it ... no one but you.... +Ricardo, I should be glad if the sea would come up now, and bury us +forever.... Thus we should be eternally in the depths of the water; you +sitting, and I with my head on your lap, with eyes wide open.... +Then,—yes, I would dream at my ease; and you would watch my sleep, +would you not? The waves would pass over our heads, and would come to +tell us what is going on in the world.... Those white and purple fishes, +which sailors catch with hooks, would come noiselessly to visit us, and +would let us smooth their silver scales with our hands. The seaweed +would entwine at our feet, making soft cushions; and when the sun rose, +we should see him through the glassy water, larger and more beautiful, +filtering his thousand-colored beams through it, and dazzling<a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a> us with +his splendor!... Tell me, doesn't it tempt you?... doesn't it tempt +you?"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, Martita; you are delirious ... Come along, the tide is +rising."</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment ... We have been here an hour, and the wind hasn't cooled +my cheeks ... they are hotter than ever.... No matter ... I am +comfortable.... Do you want to do me a favor?... Listen! I must ask your +forgiveness ..."</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>"For the scare I gave you the other day. Do you remember when we were +making a nosegay together in the garden?... You wanted to kiss my hand, +and I was so stupid that I took it in bad part, and began to cry.... How +surprised and disgusted you must have been!... I confess that I am a +goose,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> and don't deserve to have any one love me.... However, you +may believe me that I was not offended with you.... I wept from +sentiment ... without knowing why.... What reason had I to weep? You did +not want to do any harm ... all you wanted was to kiss my hands; isn't +that so?"</p> + +<p>"That was all, my beauty!"</p> + +<p>"Then I take great pleasure in having you kiss them, Ricardo.... Take +them!..."</p> + +<p>The young girl lifted up her gentle hands, and waved them in the air, +fair and white as two doves just flying from the nest. Ricardo kissed +them gallantly.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't suit me," continued the girl, laughing; "you always used +to kiss my face whenever you met me or said good by.... Why have you +ceased to do so?... Are you afraid of me?... I am not a woman ... I am +still only a child.... Until I grow up you have the right<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a> to kiss me +... then it will be another thing.... Come, give me a kiss on the +forehead...."</p> + +<p>The young man bent over and gave her a kiss on the forehead.</p> + +<p>"If you would not be angry, I would ask for another here;" and she +touched her moist, rosy lips.</p> + +<p>The young marquis grew red in the face; he remained an instant +motionless; then bending down his head, he gave the girl a prolonged +kiss on her lips.</p> + +<p>A strong gust of wind waked the ocean just as he was getting ready to +sleep; he stirred an instant in his immense bed of sand, as though he +were going to change his position, and uttered a low murmur of +discontent. The waves in the distance began to roll in, big and blue; on +the beach they clamored with strong voices. The lights which had shone +on their crests were gone, and the magnificent ebullition of the +submarine treasure had ceased. The silver spot was fast taking on the +melancholy reflections of burnished steel.</p> + +<p>When Ricardo raised his head, the first thing he did was to cast an +anxious glance along the line of the point. The water already surrounded +them. He sprang up hastily, and, without saying a word, seized Marta in +his arms as easily as though she had been a fawn, and making a +tremendous leap, he fell headlong on the nearest point, slightly cutting +his hand. Marta was entirely unharmed, and she looked at the young man's +wound; then taking out her delicate linen handkerchief she silently +bound it around it, and started off with rapid steps. Ricardo followed +her. They both walked in perfect silence. The distance between them grew +greater and greater; for Marta no longer walked; she ran. The young +marquis felt a vague discomfort, and a strange<a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a> uneasiness which caused +him to deliberate as he walked; he was angry with himself. When they +entered the mouth of the tunnel leading to the pine grove, he entirely +lost sight of his friend, and could not even hear the noise of her boots +on the ground. When he reached the middle of the cave where it was +perfectly dark, he thought he heard, very confusedly, the echo of a sob, +and his heart was still more oppressed. After he got out into the light +he felt better.</p> + +<p>When they got to the house they found that a number of servants had been +sent out in search of them, as everything had been long ready for the +return. The afternoon was wearing on, and the ladies would not find it +much to their liking should night catch them on the sea. They were +welcomed back therefore with signs of satisfaction, and all hands +hastened to settle themselves again in the falas, which, on account of +the swell, were as restless as horses harnessed and waiting for their +master at the stable door.</p> + +<p>Their sails were raised, and making long tacks to get advantage of the +wind, they bore away to El Moral. Marta, when she entered the yawl, had +lost the bright color from her cheeks.</p> + +<p>The sun constantly hastened toward the horizon. The ladies looked with +foreboding as the shadows crept over the sky and the sea, and they cast +anxious looks at the sailors. The frequent tacks made by the yawls +delayed them extraordinarily, and at last they had to furl the sails and +follow the direct course by oars. There is nothing strange in this, and +it is the most usual way when the wind is not astern; but it happened +that Rosarito, the Seorita de Mor's friend, took it into her head that +the change from sails to oars signified imminent danger of<a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a> shipwreck, +and this she represented in her imagination with all the horrors by +which it is surrounded in magazine stories,—the pitchy darkness of the +night, the waves rising like mountains to the sky, the cries of the +sailors mingling with the roaring of the sea, etc., etc. And being +unable to control herself, she began to clutch her friend with nervous +hands and to utter exclamations of anguish and fear.</p> + +<p>"Alas! O God!<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> we are going to perish, we are going to perish!"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing wrong; calm yourself, Rosario."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes! we are going to perish ... we are going to be drowned.... O +God, what a terrible death!... Why should I have gone to the island?... +What will my papa say when he learns that his daughter is dead?... Papa! +my heart's papa!"</p> + +<p>"But, child alive, there's absolutely nothing to be afraid of!"</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me so, for God's sake; because can't I see that they have +lowered the sails. Alas! what a death! what a frightful death!... To die +without confession!... To die away from my papa!... And to be buried +right here in these awful black depths!... And be eaten by the fishes! +and by crabs.... It's horrible!..."</p> + +<p>The Seorita de Mor's efforts to calm her friend were useless. It added +no little to her fright to hear the shouts of the sailors, who in order +to encourage each other and overcome the resistance of the waves, at +each stroke of the oars shouted in chorus, +yo-heave-oh!<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>,—yo-heave-oh! Every time that this exclamation rang<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a> +through the air with its brutal rhythm, Rosario breathed a shriek of +anguish; till the vivacious Seorita de Mor, fearing that she was +getting ill, said to the sailors,—</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, will you have the goodness not to say yo-heave-oh! for it +greatly frightens this young lady."</p> + +<p>But Rosario, quite irritated and shedding a sea of tears, instantly +exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>"No, no; let them say yo-heave-oh! but let us perish quickly if we are +going to!..."</p> + +<p>Little by little, however, and seeing that the tremendous catastrophe +did not take place, her nerves grew calmer, and before long she was +laughing, giddy girl that she was, at her ridiculous fears.</p> + +<p>In the Elorza fala there was little talking. Don Mariano and Don Maximo +were too full of medoc to feel like indulging in an animated +conversation. The Seorita de Delgado, seconded by her sisters, admired +the sunset with lively transports of enthusiasm, and with much opening +and shutting of eyes. The Marquis of Pealta had closed his, and seemed +to be dozing with his cheek in his hand. One or two couples were +whispering together.</p> + +<p>What was Marta thinking about at that moment, her gaze fastened on the +sea, serious, motionless, and pale as a statue? What black phantasms +rose before her from the depths of the waters to trace in her fair brow +the deep furrows with which it was corrugated? What deathly secrets +whispered the breeze in her ear?</p> + +<p>Ah! easier were it to unriddle the mystery in the murmurs of the ocean +and the secrets of the breeze than the vague thoughts hidden behind a +maiden's brow!</p> + +<p>The sea once more tried to dispose itself for slumber; the crests of its +waves no longer gleamed white from<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a> afar with their crown of foam; the +horizon withdrew its indefinite line, which faded away in the twilight +shadow. The smooth, swelling billows rose and fell like the indolent, +tranquil breathing of a gigantic bosom. One by one, with lovely ease and +confidence, the falas, leaving them behind, swept onward to the port. +The coast with its dark, undulating line girdled the luminous plain. Far +in the distance inland, the peaks of the mountains could be seen bathed +in a transparent violet haze.</p> + +<p>Marta's thought broke through the glutted cloud which girt it in with a +sea of confusions and vaguenesses, and in her soul arose all at once a +host of sweet and ineffable recollections like so many luminous points +with which the serene sky of her life was sown. She amused herself a +long time in recounting them, taking new delight in each. How bright and +beautiful they burned in her memory! What a gentle light they cast over +the monotonous, laborious days of her existence! They were surrounded by +silence and mystery; no one had enjoyed them, no one had known them +except herself; the very hand which had dropped into her heart the balm +of joy was absolutely ignorant of its beneficent influence. This thought +filled her with a secret delight which brought a smile to her pale lips. +One by one, however, and without her knowing why, those luminous points +vanished away, were blotted out and lost in the deep, black abyss of an +idea. Her imagination began to fly about like a bewildered bird within +this sad and desperate idea where not the slightest ray of light could +penetrate. Why was she in the world? The happiness which she had +discovered was another's, and there was nothing else left to do but to +look upon it without grief and without envy, for envy in this case would +be a terrible sin. And was she sure of not falling into it<a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a> at any +moment, or what was worse, was she sure of not raising her hand against +that happiness? The hidden beach on the island came instantly into her +memory, with its golden sands and its foaming waves flinging their foam +flakes upon her. A great remorse, a keen, cruel remorse, began to make +its way into her innocent heart like the sharp point of a dagger, +causing her such anguish that she uttered a muffled groan heard only by +herself. Confusion and dizziness tormented her brain; her head burned +like a volcano. She raised her hand to her brow, and it was as cold as +though made of marble. This gave her an extraordinary shock of surprise. +So much heat within and so cold without!</p> + +<p>The ocean at that moment seemed full of peace and gentleness. The sun +was just about submerging his heated face in the crystal of the waters, +but still lighted up a few places in the vast plain with a fantastic, +gilded light, leaving others in the shade. The murmurs were heavier and +deeper, of an infinite melancholy; that measureless mass of water was +slowly losing its azure hue and changing to another, of very opaque +green, sown here and there with fleeting reflections. The melancholy +ease with which the sea took leave of the light made a deep impression +upon Marta. With her head leaned over the water, and with dreamy eyes, +she watched the most delicate tints which the light was awakening in it, +and listened to the murmurs which resounded in the depths.</p> + +<p>The sun was entirely sunken. The ocean gave one immense, colossal sob. +In this sob was so much compassion that Marta thought she felt the +ambient air vibrate with a movement of sympathy and wonder. Never had +she seen the sea so grand and so sublime, so strong and so generous at +once. That august silence,<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a> that momentary repose of the great athlete, +moved her to the depths of her soul, filled her turbulent spirit with an +ardent desire for peace. Who had told her that the sea was terrible? +What small heart had spoken to her of his cruel treacheries? Ah, no! The +sea was noble and generous, as the strong always are, and his wrath, +though fearful, was quickly over: in his tranquil depths live happily +pearls and corals, the white sea-nymphs, the purple fishes.</p> + +<p>The fala, when it pressed up against his humid shoulder, made between +bow and stern a broad, comfortable couch, with foamy edges, a couch +where one might sleep eternally with face turned toward the sky, +watching through the transparent bosom of the water the flashing of the +stars.</p> + +<p class="cb">————</p> + +<p>"Heavens!... What was that?"</p> + +<p>"Who has fallen overboard?"</p> + +<p>"Daughter of my heart!... Marta!... Marta! Let go of me!... Let me save +my daughter!"</p> + +<p>"She is already safe, Don Mariano; there is no need of you wetting +yourself."</p> + +<p>"Back water! Back water! Steady!..." said the captain's rough voice. +"Fling that line, Manuel.... Don't be alarmed, ladies; it is nothing at +all.... Back water! Weigh all.... Lay hold, all of you, on that line. +There is nothing to worry about."</p> + +<p>At first the confusion was great. Ricardo and one of the sailors had +leaped into the water and were swimming powerfully to make up the short +distance which the fala had gone before the alarm was given. Ricardo, +who was ahead, dived, and in a few seconds re-appeared with the girl on +his arm. The fala was near them, and he could<a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a> clutch the rope which +they had flung him, and then the gunwale of the yawl, finding himself +suspended by a number of arms which lifted them on deck. Don Mariano, in +the short moments that this lasted, struggled with Don Maximo and +others, trying to leap into the water. When he saw his daughter on +board, it took him but a moment to press her to his heart.</p> + +<p>Martita had fainted away. Various ladies hastened to loosen her clothing +and shake her violently to rid her of the water which she had swallowed. +Then they laid her down on one of the seats on the deck, and Ricardo, +taking a bottle of salts which Don Maximo had brought with him, applied +it to her nostrils. She soon opened her eyes and, on seeing the young +man's solicitous face leaning over her, she smiled sweetly, and said to +him, so that no one else could hear:—"Thanks, seor marqus!... It is +not so bad down below there."</p> + +<p>When they reached El Moral, they dried themselves at the house of some +friends who were taking baths there, and they donned the first clothes +that came to hand. Then they once more took up their homeward way, and +reached the quay at one o'clock, finding each of their respective +families were beginning to feel anxious over their late arrival.<a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /><br /> +<small>A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE.</small></h2> + +<p>D<small>ON</small> M<small>ARIANO'S</small> guests were amusing themselves with the game of forfeits. +The evening was thoroughly disagreeable, and only the most courageous +had ventured out. When this happened (and it was not very infrequent) +music and dancing were forbidden and games of cards, of commerce<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a>, or +of forfeits were substituted, or at times merely a pleasant, bright +conversation. On the evening of which we are speaking, the feminine sex +was represented by three Misses de Ciudad, two Delgados, the Seorita de +Mor, and one more who, together with those of the family made a +sufficiently respectable nucleus; in the masculine part figured the +family physician, Seor de Ciudad, Don Serapio, the engineer Surez, and +four or five other young fellows who, being simple and insignificant, +deserve no special mention. The tertulia occupied only one corner of the +parlor, although on occasions when the game required, it was scattered +about over the whole of it. Don Mariano, surrounded by the <i>solemn +fathers</i>, walked up and down, and enjoyed his discussions, frequently +stopping to lay down some intricate logic, and then continuing his walk +with hands behind his back.</p> + +<p>It fell to Don Serapio's lot to say <i>yes</i> and <i>no</i> three times each, and +consequently he retired to one of the corners, gazing at the wall. The +ladies and gentlemen once<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a> more gathered together in one group, and +began to whisper with the greatest animation, each one proposing some +question. At last they agreed to ask him if he enjoyed <i>bisogn</i>.</p> + +<p>"Eeeeeh?" shouted the chorus, dwelling on the vowel.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the unhappy Don Serapio.</p> + +<p>The reply was received with tumult and delight, making the proprietor of +the canning factory tremble in his shoes. Next they agreed upon asking +him if he had any intention of getting married. "No" was his +unhesitating reply. "Bravo, bravo!" shouted the men.</p> + +<p>"What a stony-hearted man!" cried the women.</p> + +<p>One of the young fellows proposed that they should ask him if he still +had a fondness for chamber-maids. The ladies wanted to oppose this, but +there was no remedy.</p> + +<p>"Eeeeeh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>Great laughter and applause in the group. The same malevolent young +fellow proposed something even worse: "to ask him if he intended to give +any of his children a profession." The ladies seriously objected to this +question, and another was given in its place. And thus they continued +until he had said the three <i>yeses</i> and the three noes required by the +game, and then, greatly despondent, he came to find out what the +questions had been.</p> + +<p>It came next to Amparito Ciudad to give a favor to all the gentlemen of +the party, and she began to perform the duty with the greatest +discretion and grace, beginning with the young fellows, except the +engineer Surez, who roundly declared that he was not satisfied with any +of her propositions, and whispered to her very softly what the only +thing was that would satisfy him. Amparito blushed a little, and replied +with a gentle look of reproach,<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a> at the same time casting a glance at +her father, who fortunately had his back turned while promenading with +Don Mariano.</p> + +<p>Isidorito's turn came next, and it unfortunately fell to him to be put +"in Berlina"; and what a chance this was for the Seorita de Mor! +Isidorito, though not attractive at all, inspired general respect on +account of his reputation as a studious, sensible young man: thus the +majority of the girls and boys contented themselves with criticising +him<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> as "too serious," as "having too little hair," as "dancing very +badly," as "studying to excess," as "wearing too long coat tails," etc., +etc.; but when it came to the Seorita de Mor, who was impatiently +waiting her turn, she put him <i>in Berlin</i> with unconcealed satisfaction +as "very heavy in brain and light in stomach." Isidorito, noticing the +reasons for their criticisms, recognized with grief the source of that +envenomed dart; but he did not care to show that he did, and preferred +to preserve in this respect a noble, and at the same time, a prudent +silence.</p> + +<p>The eldest daughter of the family, as usual, took no share in the game. +She was sitting by her mother's side, totally oblivious of all that was +going on around her, with her eyes fixed on vacancy. A strange, intense +pallor covered her somewhat emaciated but always lovely face, and her +whole body showed signs of uneasiness and anxiety. She scarcely answered +the questions which Doa Gertrudis asked her from time to time, and if +she did, it was with such curtness that it took away all the worthy +lady's desire to repeat them. Four or five times already she had got up +from her chair and gone to the balcony, remaining a long time in it with +her forehead<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a> leaning on the glass, without any one knowing what she was +looking at. The plaza of Nieva, just as on the first night when we saw +it, was dark and checkered with pools of water, wherein were reflected +the melancholy beams from the kerosene lamps burning in the corners. Not +a soul was crossing it that night. She strained her eyes in vain to +penetrate the darkness under the arcades: the neighbors had all +withdrawn into their houses, perfectly convinced that dampness is the +cause of many infirmities. The windows of the Caf de la Estrella were +the only ones that were lighted. The air was filled with a gentle murmur +of rain which barely made itself audible through the panes to the young +girl's ears.</p> + +<p>It came Rosarito's turn to act the sultana. The dandified young fellow +with the hair over his forehead, placed a chair in the middle of the +room and seated her in it: then he spread before her a velvet cushion. +The young men of the tertulia, like genuine Moors, began to march before +her, bending their knees in her presence and waiting humbly for her +choice. Rosarito, with the notable ability which all women have for +playing queen, rejected them one after the other with a gesture of +sovereign disdain. Only when the young fellow of the mazurkas came by, +and tremblingly bent low at her feet, the beautiful but ferocious +sultana deigned to hand him the handkerchief which she held in her hand +and to select him as her lover, as a just reward for his most +distinguished neckties and his no less exceptional <i>chaquets</i>! Then the +two marched in a triumphal procession to the harem; or, what amounts to +the same thing, they walked twice around the parlor, and sat down on the +sofa where they had been before.</p> + +<p>The little tertulia, after exhausting the not very varied<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a> resources of +the game of forfeits, remained inactive and comfortable in the corner of +the parlor, engaging in a low but very lively conversation, broken by +bursts of laughter and exclamations, as the brilliant young men of the +party found occasion to amuse them at the expense of some unfortunate, +whom they flayed pitilessly. Those who had not this talent contented +themselves with smiling and stupidly applauding the others' repartees, +and occasionally trying to put their fingers in the pie with little +success. They made interminable jokes on the girls about their suitors, +and the girls defended themselves as usual with the classic replies: "I +don't know why you should say so." "You have been very ill-informed." +"He comes to see me as a friend and nothing more," etc., etc. The +mischievous smiles and the expression of something hidden accompanying +these replies, told very clearly that the girls did not object to be +chaffed in that way.</p> + +<p>Doa Gertrudis had gone to sleep. Don Mariano and his proselytes were +still promenading from one end of the parlor to the other, involved in +deep disquisitions on the probable fall of real estate. Maria was again +standing with her forehead leaning against the panes, apparently +absorbed in one of her long and frequent meditations to which her +household were accustomed, but in reality exploring with anxious eyes +the shadows which enwrapped the plaza of Nieva. She paid little heed to +the frivolous conversation kept up by the guests. She soon heard a +strange noise in the distance and trembled. She abstracted herself as +much as possible from the confusion in the room, and lent a deep and +uneasy attention to that distant rumble which gradually grew louder and +louder in the silence of the night, each moment becoming clearer and +more definite. It was not a confused, fantastic noise,<a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a> like those +caused by the wind or the sea, but solid and well-defined, perfectly +clear in Maria's ears. Soon it grew into the measured and characteristic +sound of a multitude marching in step. The young woman's astonished eyes +could distinguish by the street lamps the points of bayonets and the +varnished caps of the soldiery. All the guests on hearing the noise, +hurried to the balconies, and saw with surprise two companies marching +by the house, crossing the plaza, and disappearing from sight in the +cross-streets of the town.</p> + +<p>Don Mariano's friends looked at each other in amazement.</p> + +<p>"What are those soldiers going to do at this time o' day?" asked one +lady.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand where they are going," replied Don Mariano. "To get +to the interior of the province, even though they came from the West, +there is no need of their going through here; they have the valley of +Caedo, and that is a much shorter road."</p> + +<p>"This very day I was calling on the captain," said Don Maximo, "and he +did not say a single word to me of the coming of these companies."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know it, either," said the Seor de Ciudad. "The most likely +thing is that they are on the march, and are only going to spend the +night here, and start off again in the morning."</p> + +<p>"It's a strange thing," added Don Mariano, "but of course it may be—it +may be."</p> + +<p>The young people returned to their places, and quickly forgot the +incident, as they gayly took up the broken thread of conversation. Their +elders continued their promenade, making interminable comments and +endless hypotheses about the unexpected visitation. Maria still<a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a> stayed +obstinately at the window, shielded from the eyes of her friends by the +great damask curtains.</p> + +<p>A very heated discussion about music had been set on foot in the group +of <i>young</i> people, among whom figured the sensitive Seorita de Delgado, +in spite of the vehemently expressed protests of Rosarito, who declared +on her word that the said seorita had often held her in her arms, and +that, when she as a child was going to confession, and the Seorita de +Delgado was at her house, she had kissed her hand, as an <i>elderly +person</i>.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> One of the most elegant of young men, who had been educated +in Madrid for five different professions in succession, upheld the +superiority of the German composers, declaring that there were no operas +like <i>Roberto</i>, <i>Les Huguenots</i>, and <i>Le Prophte</i>, and that no +symphonies could be compared with those of Beethoven and Mozart. The +ladies, powerfully supported by the rest of the men, stood up for the +advantages of Italian music.</p> + +<p>"Don't nauseate us with your Germans, Severino! What kind of music do +they make! It sounds to me like a pack of dogs barking."</p> + +<p>"That is only at first; if you should continue to hear it, you would +acquire the taste for it; the same thing happens with olives and ale."</p> + +<p>"Then if one has to go through such wretched moments to get used to it, +surely the thing isn't worth the trouble, you see! This does not happen +with Italian music; you enjoy it from the very first."</p> + +<p>"Of course, for the most part of Italian music is only a melody +accompanied by four guitars."</p> + +<p>"Silence, man, silence! Don't speak blasphemies. Would you think of +comparing rubbish, which they themselves<a name="page_224" id="page_224"></a> don't understand, with the +sublime finale of <i>Lucia</i>, or with the soprano aria of La Favorita which +begins, <i>Oh +mioooo—Ferna—a—a—an—do—riii—raaa—ri—ro—ra—riii—ira—</i>"</p> + +<p>"Ah, if you had heard the fourth act of <i>Les Huguenots!</i> What dramatic +music! How expressive! It makes the hair stand on end! How magnificent +this duet is: +<i>La—sciami—paar—tiiir—la—sciami—paar—tiiiir—riira—riri—riri—ra—rōōō—riri—ra—rōō—laaa—tō—rii—ro—ra—</i>"</p> + +<p>"But could you ever hear anything sweeter than the concerted piece in +<i>Somnambula</i> beginning, +<i>Tōōō—ra—ri—rō—ra—rōōōō—laa—riii—rōō—raa—rōra—rōōō,—rii—ra—ri—rōō</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Impossible! impossible!" said several at once.</p> + +<p>"Above all, Italian music stirs the heart, while German music only +deafens you," added the Seorita de Delgado.</p> + +<p>"That's true," affirmed her sister, the widow.</p> + +<p>"I believe," continued the seorita, "that the object of music is to +move ... to elevate the soul ... to cause us to shed tears ... to +transport us to ideal regions far away from the prosaic world in which +we live.... For the truth is that prose is getting such control over +society that soon it will seem ridiculous to speak of things which are +not material and sordid."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," affirmed the widow again.</p> + +<p>"Music follows the road of prose like everything else.... Don't you hear +what silly things they sing nowadays? what insipid, popular airs? And +you are lucky if it isn't some indecent piece from some opera bouffe! In +songs love is not mentioned; there are only phrases with double meanings +hiding some nastiness."</p> + +<p>"I believe that you know some very pretty romantic<a name="page_225" id="page_225"></a> ballads, and sing +them admirably," said the youth with the banged hair, ready, as always, +to provide the tertulia with a new enjoyment.</p> + +<p>"No, seor ... don't you believe it.... In days gone by I used to sing +some ... but I have forgotten them...."</p> + +<p>"For my part," persisted the youth, with a deeply diplomatic +smile,—"and I think the same may be said of all these people—it would +give the greatest pleasure if you would search into your memory and let +us listen to some.... Isn't it so, friends?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Margarita, sing something, for Heaven's sake!"</p> + +<p>"But supposing I don't remember anything!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! it will come back to you.... If you once begin, you will find +yourself gradually remembering it."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me impossible.... Besides I always accompanied myself with +the guitar."</p> + +<p>"Isn't there a guitar in the house?" quickly asked the youth, jumping up +from his chair.</p> + +<p>The guitar which Marta brought lacked two or three strings, and they had +to be put on, in which operation some time was lost. Then there was +delay in getting them in tune. When it was once tuned the Seorita de +Delgado declared up and down that she would not sing, for she did not +remember anything. The tertulia was deeply grieved, and with reiterated +entreaties endeavored to inspire her to recollect some delicious melody. +But as the singer did not put up the instrument, and continued to thumb +the strings softly, all became silent and waited eagerly for the song. +However, just as the sensitive seorita was about to utter the first +note, she made a fresh and categorical protestation to the same effect +as before, and this so grieved the tertulia and particularly the<a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a> youth +with the banged hair, that they would gladly have granted the singer all +the memory at their disposal, on condition that she would not leave it +in any bad place. At last the seorita fixed her eyes on the ceiling, +and in a quite dulcet though quavering voice, she struck up the +following song, the music of which I would transfer to paper with great +pleasure, if I knew how to write the score. Unfortunately, in my +philharmonic studies I never went beyond the key of G with even moderate +success:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"<i>Hope that art so flattering to my inmost feeling,</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Thou dost all my bitter sorrow calm.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Ay! thou art no creature of imagination.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>To the heart thou bringest welcome balm.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>If a cruel fate remove me from the presence</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Of my loved one many leagues away,</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Promising a brighter, happier day.</i>"</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>"Bravo, bravo!"—"How pretty!"—"How sweet!"—"How melancholy!"—"Go on, +Margarita, do go on!" The Seorita de Delgado continued in this way:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"<i>If at solitary midnight I am thinking</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Of my sweetheart's ever blessed name,</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>And before my spellbound memory slowly rises</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Her enchanting features limned in flame,—</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Then 'tis thou, O Hope, that softly prophesyest</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>That my loved one will not say me nay;</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Promising a brighter, happier day.</i>"</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Just as this point was reached, and when the audience was getting ready +to enjoy the unspeakable sweetness of a new strophe, even more +passionate and more pathetic<a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a> than the last, when the Seorita de +Delgado was languorously laying her pudgy fingers on the strings of the +instrument, and drooping her head still more languorously on her bosom +in testimony of her bitter grief, there occurred one of those strange +and terrible events, more terrible still from being unexpected, and +therefore overwhelming, that suspend and for the time being cut short +the use of speech: an extraordinary scene, occurring with such rapidity +that it allowed no time for reflection, and left the spectators in the +deepest consternation without power of interference.</p> + +<p>The parlor door was thrown violently open, and the eyes of the +bystanders turned toward it, saw with surprise the pale face of a +servant, who addressed his master, saying,—</p> + +<p>"Seor! Seor!"</p> + +<p>"What is the trouble?" asked Don Mariano, in the energetic tone +customary to high-strung natures, when they suspect danger.</p> + +<p>"The soldiers are here!"</p> + +<p>"And what have I to do with soldiers, you dolt!" replied the master in +an angry voice.</p> + +<p>"Th-they're c-come to arrest you!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't true!" cried a voice from the hall.</p> + +<p>And at the same time six or eight figures filled the doorway behind the +servant. The first to be seen were a very young officer in undress +uniform, and a caballero, not very well favored, in a tight-buttoned +great-coat, and holding in his hand a staff with tassels. Behind them +were seen the caps and the muskets of several soldiers. The man with the +staff, who was apparently the one who had spoken, advanced two steps +into the parlor, and without removing his hat asked Don Mariano +sharply,—</p> + +<p>"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?"</p> + +<p>The old gentleman's eyes sparkled with indignation.<a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a></p> + +<p>"First of all, take off your hat!"</p> + +<p>The man with the staff, somewhat bluffed by Don Mariano's attitude and +the looks of the company, took off his sombrero.</p> + +<p>"Now, what is your business?"</p> + +<p>"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?"</p> + +<p>"No! I am the <i>excelentsimo seor</i> Don Mariano Elorza!"</p> + +<p>"It's the same thing."</p> + +<p>"It is not the same thing!"</p> + +<p>"Well, let us drop discussions; I have orders to arrest your daughter, +Doa Maria."</p> + +<p>All the Seor de Elorza's energy suddenly vanished like a shadow, at +hearing those portentous words. He stood a few moments bewildered and +petrified, with his face crestfallen, like one who has just beheld a +miracle and has no faith in his own eyes. Then suddenly recovering +himself, he sprang at the man with the staff, and shaking him violently +by the lappel of his coat, he said to him in a voice of thunder,—</p> + +<p>"And who are you, insolent man, to dare think of such a thing?"</p> + +<p>"I am the chief of police<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> for this province, and I warn you that if +you offer the least resistance I shall make use of the force which I +have with me."</p> + +<p>"Are you perfectly sure that it is my daughter whom you come to arrest?"</p> + +<p>"Yes Sir; I have orders to arrest the Seorita Doa Maria Elorza. I +request you to hand her over to me without delay."</p> + +<p>"Here I am," said Maria, issuing from the hollow of the balconied +window, and advancing toward the chief of police.<a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a></p> + +<p>"But it cannot be," thundered Don Mariano again, holding his daughter +back. "This man is crazy or has come to the wrong place."</p> + +<p>"Are you ready to go with me?" asked the <i>comisario</i> of the young woman.</p> + +<p>"Yes, seor," was her firm reply.</p> + +<p>"Then come along."</p> + +<p>"Don Mariano hid his face in his hands, and exclaimed with a cry of +agony,—</p> + +<p>"Daughter of my heart, what have you been doing?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing that dishonors me or dishonors you," replied the girl proudly, +lifting her lovely face and hastening from the room. Don Mariano was +held back by all his friends who clustered around him, but quickly +finding himself alone, as all, warned by a cry from Marta, hastened to +the assistance of Doa Gertrudis who had fainted, he darted like a flash +from the room.<a name="page_230" id="page_230"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /><br /> +<small>GATHERED THREADS.</small></h2> + +<p>S<small>OME</small> time before the events which we have just related, the loves of +Ricardo and Maria, which had been going on in a gradual diminuendo like +the notes of a beautiful melody, until Ricardo himself knew not whether +they really existed or had completely died away; whether he was the +lover of the first-born daughter of the Elorzas, or whether he had other +rights over her heart than those granted to an old valued friend—these +loves, I say, had suddenly and unexpectedly gained, without any one +knowing a reason for it, a new lease of life, just as a light about to +die from lack of oil is renewed by being given a good quantity of this +combustible. Every one was surprised to see them together, talking as +before in one corner of the parlor, during long interviews, oblivious of +everything around them, dwelling in that nook of heaven which lovers +find as easily in crowds as in solitude. Satisfaction followed surprise +in their friends, and this in turn was followed by hypotheses as to the +approach of the wedding-day, and conjectures about the motives serving +to make such a change in the conduct of the lovers. The mischievous +ones, winking as they said it, declared that of the three enemies of the +soul, the flesh was the most to be feared, and that God had said, +<i>Crescite et multiplicamini</i>, and that it was folly to fight against the +laws of nature. The ladies, casting down their eyes, declared that in +all states one could well<a name="page_231" id="page_231"></a> serve God, and that not the easiest of +penances were imposed by the care and education of children and the rule +of the house. But at all events, the fact was that things had changed +without any one knowing why, and that ladies and gentlemen were +delighted, hoping that the illustrious partners would soon vouchsafe +them a happy day. Don Mariano's delight was so great that it shone +through his eyes every time that he turned them toward the handsome +couple, and a thousand lovely dreams in which figured a swarm of rosy, +frolicsome grandchildren, just as his daughter had been, came at night +to caress him in the solitudes of his feudal couch. Doa Gertrudis, as +usual, thoroughly approved of Maria's conduct. Learn now how this state +of things came about.</p> + +<p>One morning when the young Marqus de Pealta awoke earlier than usual, +noticing from the window of his room that the sky was clear (contrary to +its time-honored custom), he felt an inclination to take a walk in the +environs of the town, and making the thought father to the act, he +hastily dressed and went down into the street in search of pure air; but +before he left the inner town, as he was passing the Elorza mansion, he +accidentally met Maria going to church with her maid. His heart gave a +leap, and, somewhat agitated, he stopped to salute her. The girl met him +with that gay, blithesome gesture, full at once of mischievousness and +candor which was peculiar to her nature, and therefore impossible to +overcome by any force.</p> + +<p>"You have got up early—to hear mass, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no," replied Ricardo with a smile; "I was going to take a walk in +the country, as it must be very lovely now."</p> + +<p>"Very well; but to-day you must not go to walk: I<a name="page_232" id="page_232"></a> claim you, and am +going to take you to mass," said the girl in a tone of resolution, and +with a decidedly adorable inflection of voice; and suiting the action to +the word, she took him by the hand and led him captive this way for a +number of feet.</p> + +<p>Lucky Ricardo! what better could he desire at that moment than to see +himself captured in such a lovely way? He could not say a word during +the first few moments. Emotion overmastered him, and a tear slid down +his honest, manly face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Maria, if you knew how happy you make me!" he said to her in a low, +trembling voice. "If you wanted to take me with you, where would I not +go? You cannot comprehend how I long for you to speak with me, to smile +on me, to lead me. I try eagerly to find ways to please you, and I don't +find them. Tell me how I can cause you any pleasure, how I can melt the +ice which is destroying our love, and I will try to do it, even if it +should cost me my life. If I did not love you more than any other being +in this world, and also as the blessed remembrance of my mother, how +long ago I should have left you forever!... But my love is of such a +nature, it is so strong, so eager, so absorbing, that it has succeeded +in disarming all my pride ... and I fear that it has got the better of +my dignity," he added in a low tone.</p> + +<p>The young woman looked at him steadily, full of delight and admiration +of such sincere affection, and she replied gayly,—</p> + +<p>"At present you can please me by going to mass with me; will you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear."</p> + +<p>"Will you come to-morrow also, and every other day?"<a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, loveliest, I ask nothing better."</p> + +<p>"You don't know how you rejoice me, Ricardo!"</p> + +<p>"Truly?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I love you dearly, but I want you to be good and religious, +because, before everything else we ought to think of our salvation, and +make it our richest possession in this world."</p> + +<p>The young man at that moment felt his heart melt within him, as he drank +in the drops of affection which his sweetheart let fall upon his lips. +There is nothing that can so quickly change our most deeply rooted ideas +and our firmest judgments as the voice of the woman whom we love. +Ricardo was a lukewarm believer, like most men of our day, and he +detested exaggerations, and looked with decided repugnance upon +religious practices. Accordingly then, by the work of enchantment, that +is, by the work of that sweet voice and those still sweeter eyes, which +gazed upon him with eloquent expression, he was stripped of his +anti-clerical opinions, and was transformed into a decided champion of +the altar and a fervid devotee of the saints, male and female, of the +celestial court. He took delight in thinking that what his betrothed was +doing was, after all, not blameworthy; that her piety and mysticism were +the reflection of a noble and lofty spirit; that this same piety was the +sweet pledge of her conjugal happiness, since it would cause her to +refrain from the vanities to which other women after marriage devote +themselves; that there was nothing strange in the poor girl desiring her +betrothed to be a believer and devout, when her ideas about eternal +salvation were taken into consideration, and that in this regard he had +done very wrong to oppose her so obstinately, striking her in the very +heart of her sensitive and admirable faith;<a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a> finally he came to the +conclusion that he was a barbarian, incapable of enjoying the sacraments +or of understanding the adorable mysteries which a heart consecrated to +God might take in, and that Maria was a saint who had borne with him +with too much patience. Moved, partly by this thought, and infinitely +more by the emotion caused by his sweetheart's unexpected favor, he +replied with accents of tenderness:—</p> + +<p>"Listen Maria.... You know well that I am not, and have never been an +unbeliever.... It is true I have looked with a certain coolness on +religious practices, but you ought to know just as well that this is a +common fault among young men, and particularly among the military.... As +for the rest, I tell you with all the sincerity of my soul, I have never +abandoned the faith which my sainted mother taught me in childhood.... +Even now ring in my ears her counsels, and still I can repeat without +mistake, the multitude of prayers which she made me say on my knees on +the bed, when I retired.... That cannot be forgotten, Maria.... It would +be infamous if one forgot it! To-day the same counsels are repeated by +lips that I worship.... How could you think that a religion always +inculcated by the beings whom I have most loved and respected in my +life, should not be sweet!... Yes, my loveliest, I am religious by birth +and by conviction, and I hope to be still more fervently so by your +aid.... Tell me what you desire me to do in this regard, and I will do +it.... Tell me what thoughts you wish me to think, and I will think +them!... I am all yours, body and soul...."</p> + +<p>"Thus, thus I love you.... But you must not be religious for the sake of +my love, for then it has no merit in it, but for the sake of God. The +ties which are made in this world,—what are they worth in comparison +with that existing<a name="page_235" id="page_235"></a> eternally between the Creator and his creatures? If +you love me much, love me in God and for God, as I love you. In any +other way it is a sin to fix our attention and our love on any +creature."</p> + +<p>Ricardo's emotion and ardor received from these words a dash of cold +water, but they were strong enough to persist without diminution, and +they still kept control of his heart until they reached the portico of +the church. Then Maria, taking the holy water, and offering it to him +with the tips of her fingers, said:—</p> + +<p>"Now you must stay under the choir to hear the mass; I am going up to +the altar. Be careful not to look for me a single time! You must +understand that this would be to profane the sanctuary, and in such a +case it would be better for you not to come in."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not look at you, though it will be very hard work."</p> + +<p>"Give me your word that you won't."</p> + +<p>"I give it."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, adios, ... it won't be long<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> ... wait for me at the +entrance...."</p> + +<p>After she had gone several steps away, she turned around to say in a +very subdued tone,—</p> + +<p>"Be sure to do as I said, ... and be reverent, will you?"</p> + +<p>Ricardo gave a sign of assent, while a happy smile brightened his face.</p> + +<p>From that time forth the Marqus de Pealta every morning escorted the +eldest daughter of the Elorzas to mass, leaving her at the church door +and joining her again when service was over. Maria evidently felt great +pleasure in having his company, and as for Ricardo, it is not easy to +exaggerate the joy which suddenly fell upon<a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a> him through the change +brought about in the behavior of his betrothed. Gradually her influence +began to have such weight upon his spirit, that before long, as he +himself had already suspected would be the case, his ideas began notably +to modify, and not only his ideas but likewise his habits and manner of +life, causing him to be more circumspect in nature, more careful in his +speech, more gentle and more religious ... Anxious to please his +betrothed, who did not cease to urge him with entreaties and advice, he +began to give up the noisy amusements and even the company of the other +officers of the gun factory, going home early, frequenting churches, and +spending many afternoons with some of the clergymen; he became a member +of several pious confraternities, among them that of Saint Vincent de +Paul, visiting the poor in company with the <i>beatos</i> of the town, and +spending no little money in contributions for worship; finally, after +many heartfelt prayers he made general confession to Fray Ignacio, +Maria's confessor.</p> + +<p>However strange it may seem, we must declare that Ricardo, far from +feeling repugnance or discomfort in this new life, found deep, +mysterious pleasures, which till then he had never enjoyed. The pomp and +circumstance of the Catholic religion, to which he had hitherto paid +little attention, began to fascinate him; the sweet seclusion of the +church at eventide, when it is peopled with shadows and murmurs, filled +him with a gentle perturbation, with a certain peculiar longing for a +lofty secret something; the odors of the incense and wax were for him +like a pleasant poison, which put him to sleep, carrying him away to +glorious regions of immortal bliss; his frequent deeds of charity +produced in him an agreeable aftertaste and a great sense of comfort, +increasing his<a name="page_237" id="page_237"></a> faith; the humiliation of the sacrament of penance, +which at first had been so distasteful to him, came to be a fountain of +delights; he himself did not know whence they proceeded or how they took +possession of his soul. Perhaps some of the psychological novelists who +know so much and take such delight in investigating the deepest recesses +of the consciousness of other people might discover the origin of those +joys in the close union which our young friend created in the depths of +his soul between religion and his love for Maria, and might see in the +pleasure which Ricardo felt in running counter to his ideas, and +mortifying his self-love, a certain analogy to what mystics and ascetics +feel in the midst of their cruel torments,—the pleasure of sacrificing +self for the beloved object. Perhaps they would set themselves minutely +to investigate what part of that pleasure corresponded to pure devotion, +and what part to the development of amorous sentiments and the movement +of the feelings. Possibly, carried away by their love of analysis, and +dragged from their moorings by the hurricane of impiety, which is +nowadays apt to carry away with it this class of novelists, they might +go so far as to declare that there exists at the bottom of religious +practices and the ceremonial of the Church something which instead of +calming the voice of the feelings adds to it, and that the inclination +of the sexes, in the very heart of the religious life, within the temple +itself, enjoying the soporific light reflected gently from the gilding +of the altars, breathing the keen odors of the dust and the wax, and the +narcotic perfume of the incense, listening to the moaning of the organ, +and the vague murmur of the prayers of the faithful, acquires the +flattering savor of forbidden fruit, and is more delicious and +voluptuous than amid the splendor<a name="page_238" id="page_238"></a> and elegance of the ball-room. +Possibly they would say this and add many other considerations to prove +it, but I will not follow them on this path, which, without good reason, +leads to the offending of timid consciences and the grievous confusing +of the novelist with the philosopher. I limit myself gladly to setting +forth facts without launching out into the philosophy of them, and I +faithfully describe what I have seen and experienced, or have been told +by trustworthy people.</p> + +<p>One genuine fact, therefore, was that Ricardo enjoyed in his own way +yielding to the counsels of his betrothed in reference to the practice +of Christian virtue and pious deeds. The afternoon when he made general +confession, he felt more deeply than ever the singular consolation and +the lively delights to be enjoyed in the depths of humility. It was a +clear, beautiful spring afternoon. Fray Ignacio, forewarned by Maria, +was waiting for him in the sacristy of San Felipe, and received him with +a certain familiar solemnity not free from condescension. He confessed +in the sacristy itself, Fray Ignacio being seated in a wooden chair +blackened and polished by use, while he knelt at his feet with the +diffidence and emotion such as he used to feel as a boy when his mother +led him by the hand to the same confessional. The shame of announcing +his sins soon passed away, giving place to a gentle tenderness full of +unspeakable sweetness, which was so overpowering that he was constrained +to tears. The spacious room in which he found himself, its lofty +ceiling, its dusty walls set with black shelves and gloomy paintings, +gave a melancholy echo to the murmured words of his confession; the +sunlight made its way in through the leaded panes of the two windows, +making in the wide spaces lines of floating, luminous dust. The priest<a name="page_239" id="page_239"></a> +threw one arm around his neck and brought his ear close to his lips, +gradually probing with many leading questions the inmost nooks and +corners of his conscience and the deepest secrets of his soul, sometimes +severely chiding him, sometimes giving him sweet counsels, sometimes +entertaining him with exemplary anecdotes which agreeably occupied for a +few moments the intervals of the pious proceeding. He stopped to speak +long of Ricardo's love and its advantages and of Maria's splendid +character. Ricardo felt a lively pleasure in these words: he looked with +admiration and reverence on that man who was the absolute master of his +loved one's secrets, and he determined to put his soul into his hands, +that he might guide it just as she had done. The priest continued with a +final exhortation full of fire, wherein he eloquently united Maria's +name with all the acts of virtue which he expected from him henceforth, +so as to stir him to the highest pitch and kindle in his spirit sincere +repentance and an irresistible desire to live piously and rejoice his +betrothed. When they were done, and Fray Ignacio, assuming a certain +solemnity, drew back a little and let fall upon him a full and generous +absolution, the lines of the floating luminous dust had vanished and the +sacristy was half enveloped in shadows. On the following day, when he +went to mass with Maria, instead of waiting under the choir, he went +with her to the great altar and received in her presence and to her +great joy the holy wafer.</p> + +<p>"You have given me the greatest pleasure of my life, Ricardo," she said +as they went out of the church.</p> + +<p>The young marquis smiled beatifically, and replied in a whisper,—</p> + +<p>"Do you love me more now?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care to answer you," replied the girl with a<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a> sweet expression +of face. "After communion one ought not to speak of such things.... Let +us wait till to-morrow."</p> + +<p>They waited till the morrow, and then Maria told him without hesitation +that his virtuous conduct inspired her with more and more love, and that +he must not faint in the way if he desired to see himself always loved. +Ricardo had no other thought than this, and he found so much to delight +him in this new state of affairs that for no earthly advantage would he +consent to change it. Thus, then, each day he kept on with greater +resolution in the path which his betrothed laid out for him, and paid no +heed to the chaffing of his companions of the factory, since it was +difficult to catch sight of him anywhere else except at home, at Don +Mariano's, or at church.</p> + +<p>"You have converted me into a <i>beato!</i>" he said sometimes to Maria, as a +sort of affectionate reproach.</p> + +<p>"Why? are you getting tired of it, you rogue?"</p> + +<p>"No, dear, no; I am happy enough because thus I have conquered your +love...."</p> + +<p>"Is that the only reason?"</p> + +<p>" ...And because I like to lead this better regulated and sober life."</p> + +<p>"That is a different thing!"</p> + +<p>Let us say here (though the reader will not have failed to perceive it) +that in imagination, and even intelligence, Maria was the young Marqus +de Pealta's superior, and that in this regard, and taking into account +the deep affection which he professed for her, it was nothing strange +that he should yield to his mistress and her counsels in matters wherein +men of greater learning and talent frequently give way to their mothers +and wives. Maria, aside from her vivid imagination, stimulated and<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> +kindled by continual reading, had a special gift for persuading. Her +language was always easy and picturesque, and she took especial delight +in moving her friends to compassion, when she wanted to entice from them +money for the poor or for church services; the rare facility with which +she passed from the serious and pathetic to the humorous, and mingled +with an earnest entreaty the salt of a witty saying, made her +irresistible. The religious confraternities and societies of Nieva had +no more active and influential member, and they relied upon her in +emergencies as upon a guardian angel who would be able to rescue them +from their difficulties. As may be supposed, this lofty estimation was +supported, not only by the young lady's splendid moral and physical +qualities, but also in no small degree by the fact that she was the +daughter of the richest and most respected gentleman in town.</p> + +<p>Let us say also that at the period when these events occurred, the +clergy and the religious tendencies of our people were suffering a mild +sort of persecution on the part of the government, which was then under +the control of liberals most extreme in their views and notorious for +their heretical ideas, and this, as was to be expected, had greatly +excited the consciences of the God-fearing, and had kindled in the +Northern provinces, naturally more religious and more tenacious of +tradition, an obstinate and bloody civil war which threatened to +overthrow the body politic, and, at the same time, our wealth and +prestige. All people of greater or less piety who loved our Catholic +traditions, every one who detested the persecution suffered by the +Church, and yearned for the kingdom of Jesus on earth under the +mediation of his ministers, waited eagerly the result of this formidable +war, in which were at stake not<a name="page_242" id="page_242"></a> only the more or less genuine rights of +a claimant to the throne, but likewise the dearest and most august +interests of religion. Those who frequented the churches and were on +terms of intimacy with the clergy, took a tacit stand together against +the heretics in power, receiving joyfully and quickly spreading all +intelligence favorable to the royal-Catholic cause, and falling into +anxiety and melancholy when bad news came. In the houses of the richest +landed proprietors, in the sacristies, and in the back shops of many an +absolutist merchant was read on the sly the <i>Cuartel Real</i>, the official +journal of the Pretender, which came from time to time between pieces of +<i>cretonne</i> or packages of macaroni. Festivals in honor of the Virgin +were celebrated with great pomp as an atonement for the manifold +impieties of the Congress of Deputies, and these festivals on more than +one occasion ended violently by the interference of drunken Republicans. +There was a great increase in attention to religious worship, especially +to that of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and many pious people +went on pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Lourdes, on their return telling +their friends about the fine arrangement and the solid organization of +the Catholic hosts in the Basque provinces. A number of young men of the +best known families of Nieva had not been seen over night, concealing +the real purpose of their absence. From this to open, resolute +conspiracy is but a step, and in Nieva this preparatory step had already +been taken. There was formed in the town a Carlist committee,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> which +held its meetings with a certain mystery and kept up close relations +with the Central Committee, whose orders it obeyed, and a lively +correspondence with the army of the Pretender. As in the country,<a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a> +though not to such a degree as in the Basque provinces, there existed +sufficient elements for the service of the Catholic-monarchical cause, +to bring about, provided they were well managed, if not a formal war, at +least a serious agitation. The committee of Nieva, instigated by that of +the capital, decided, after much vacillation and no few discussions, to +raise a company within the territory. The preparations were very +extensive; they began early in the winter, and did not terminate until +the beginning of the spring. There were reports emanating from Bayonne, +there came orders and plans of action, there were numberless secret +meetings, a few women were enlisted, muskets were surreptitiously +abstracted from the factory by a few Carlist workmen, a quantity of +white caps and spatterdashes<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> were made; finally, one night there +went out to camp some thirty young men, for the most part students and +seminarists, at whose head marched the president of the committee, Don +Csar Pardo, whom we had the honor of meeting at the end of the third +chapter of this narration. Those who had sworn to go forth that night +were more than three hundred, but only that handful of braves were on +hand, and Don Csar, giving proofs of what he was, that is, a bold, +heroic caballero, did not hesitate to take command of them, hoping by +his example to carry along the timid. They made their way to the +mountain by the valley of Caedo; but on the next day a dozen +policemen,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> who immediately started in pursuit of them, took them by +surprise just as they were dining in camp, and brought them back to the +city, bound, without being able to make the least resistance. The +people, hearing of the incident, hastened in great numbers<a name="page_244" id="page_244"></a> to await +them on the highway, and saw them filing toward the jail, melancholy but +dignified and stern, showing in their haughty eyes that if they had not +been victims of a surprise, much blood would have been shed.</p> + +<p>The eldest daughter of the house of Elorza, a most ardent devotee of +religion, enlisted body and soul in the divine mission of sanctifying +her spirit and saving it from the clutches of sin. An unwearied worker +in the field of evangelical virtue, ever aspiring to greater perfection, +and a zealous propagator of the faith, she could not fail to share in +the indignation burning in the breast of the people with whom she had +most to do. To her ears came, greatly exaggerated, the rumor of the +revolutionary excesses, and the blasphemies daily uttered by the +newspapers at the capital, though of course she never ventured to read +them. Her confessors commanded her to implore God in her prayers, that +the Church might triumph and its enemies be brought to confusion and +repentance; her friends and companions in the confraternities asked her +to join them in special novenas for the consolation of the Virgin; not a +few times they asked alms of her for some priest who was lying in +misery, and at other times for the unfortunate nuns of some convent, +cruelly torn from it that it might be turned into barracks. All these +things, along with a fervid affection for the holy institutions thus +persecuted, continually fomented in her ardent, enthusiastic soul a deep +aversion for the persecutors and the impious men who governed contrary +to the law of God. Sometimes, carried away by her impressionable +temperament, she felt powerful impulses to follow the example of Judith, +making some villain expiate such horrible deeds of sacrilege. She would +have liked to hold in her power the persecutors of Jesus, to destroy +them and crush them<a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a> to powder. When these cruel impulses passed away, +they left her always with a warm compassion for the innocent victims of +the madness of impiety, and a vague desire to contribute with her blood +to the reign of Jesus and Mary over all the powers of the earth. She +felt that a something was born in her heart spurring her toward active +life, persuading her to leave for a time the joys of contemplation for +the pains of struggle, repose for labor, the enchantment of solitude for +tumult; she heard, like the bride of the Sacred Song, a voice saying: +"<i>Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is +fitted with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.</i>" She saw +clearly that her Jesus suffered for the injustices of men, and that he +demanded her aid; that he asked a new proof of love by tearing her away +from the comfort which she enjoyed and casting her amid the hurricanes +of the world. But the beautiful young girl at the same time saw the +enormous difficulties rising before her at the first step which she +should make, the persecutions which would come upon her, and the +certainty that those who loved her would regard her conduct as absurd. +She understood her weakness, was afraid of the bitter griefs in store +for her, and she replied, like the bride: "<i>I have put off my coat; how +shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?</i>" +Long she struggled with herself to quench the voice calling her to +active life, and convince herself that she could not do anything for the +cause of the Lord; but it was in vain. All her specious arguments were +answered victoriously by the voice, putting it before her that she ought +not to question whether her aid would or would not be valuable, but +simply to consider the will with which she offered it; that God was +pleased oftentimes to show his power by entrusting the execution of +great deeds<a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a> to humble and frail creatures, as was proved by the +renowned Jean d'Arc, Saint Catalina of Sienna, Saint Teresa, and other +excellent virgins who accomplished mighty works in spite of the high +powers of the earth.</p> + +<p>An insignificant incident brought Maria to a decision. Her uncle +Rodrigo, Marqus de Revollar, who was one of the most important magnates +of the court of the Pretender, learning of her enkindled faith and the +relations which she maintained with the partisans of Catholic monarchy +in Nieva, wrote her from Bayonne, asking her if she were ready to serve +as intermediary for the correspondence between him and Don Csar Pardo, +president of the Carlist committee. Maria hastened to reply that she +should be delighted to do so, and from that time she began frequently to +receive letters from her uncle, enclosed in which came others for Don +Csar. These were doubtless the thread by which the Carlist conspiracy +of Nieva was connected with the lofty spheres whence the orders +emanated. And, without her knowing how, she found herself +compromised—and she was not troubled by it—in the cause of the good +Christians who, as she frequently heard from the lips of Don Csar and +others, were endeavoring to restore Jesus to his sacred throne, and to +rescue him from pride and heresy. Far, as I said, from feeling fear or +trouble by it, her courage increased from the danger that she ran, and +this was for her a manifest sign that the favor of heaven accompanied +her, and she constantly entangled herself more and more in the designs +of the conspirators, being present at their meetings and serving them +with zeal and enthusiasm to the best of her ability. At the time of Don +Csar's armed expedition she it was who embroidered the standard and the +flannel hearts which the defenders of the faith wore,<a name="page_247" id="page_247"></a> sewed on their +waistcoats. The conspirators felt toward her the greatest respect on +account of her reputation for sanctity, and they professed for her deep +affection for the enthusiasm with which she burned for the cause. In +some of these meetings she was invited to give her opinion, and she did +so with such talent and eloquence, she showed so much fire, and at the +same time so much discretion in her language, that the conspirators saw +in the beautiful young girl an angel sent from God to sustain their +faith and cause them to hold firm in their mighty schemes.</p> + +<p>After Don Csar's abortive attempt the Carlists of Nieva were quite cast +down. Maria shed many tears, and besought God earnestly that He would +not allow iniquity and falsehood to prevail against His holy law, and +that He would have compassion on His good soldiers, now banished and +persecuted. And, in fact, God had compassion, and allowed Don Csar and +the larger part of the young men, who with him had been banished to the +<i>Canary Islands</i>, to escape in a foreign steamship, and return incognito +to their fatherland, where they hid in the houses of their faithful and +valorous friends. Thereupon the partisans of tradition recovered their +energy and began once more to plot, though it was vaguely and without +definite object. The object did not appear for some time, until the +heroic and determined Don Csar suggested the idea of striking an +audacious blow which would suddenly give them the means of struggling +advantageously with the few troops in the province. This stroke, +proposed by the valiant ringleader, was nothing less than to seize the +gun factory<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> of Nieva. At first all thought the project a crazy one, +but gradually, by dint of<a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a> thinking the idea over and over, they came to +look upon it as less unreasonable, and even began quietly, and with +great enthusiasm, to prepare the means for carrying it out. Such being +the state of things, Maria, one afternoon, went to the house where Don +Csar was concealed, and asked to speak with him in private. What the +damsel said must have been exceedingly important and flattering, for the +old ringleader, offering her his hand, and giving her a kiss upon the +forehead, replied with trembling voice:—</p> + +<p>"My daughter, you are going to be our salvation. God desires to submit +the lot of many brave men to such dainty hands, and who knows if not +also the triumph of His cause?"</p> + +<p>The young woman retired to her room, where she engaged in prayer for a +long time, and then she went down to her mother's apartment. Ricardo +soon came in, according to his habit. After a few moments of +conversation, Doa Gertrudis went off to sleep, and the two young people +retired to a nook in the window to tell each other the sweet every-day +secrets, which are sweeter and more delicious the more they are +repeated. Maria was preoccupied; her betrothed, with the quickness of +one who truly loves, instantly noticed it.</p> + +<p>"What ails you to-day?... it seems to me that you are troubled...."</p> + +<p>"I feel sad, Ricardo.... I feel sad, as though some misfortune were +hurrying on me."</p> + +<p>"It's your nerves, which are overtaxed, dear.... Fasts greatly weaken +you. You ought to stop them for a while, as well as so many hours of +prayer.... You are weakening yourself very much...."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, I have never felt so well as I have<a name="page_249" id="page_249"></a> lately. It is not +my nerves, but a genuine sadness.... It is my soul that suffers, and not +my body."</p> + +<p>"But have you any reason for being melancholy?"</p> + +<p>"I have a presentiment."</p> + +<p>"But who cares for presentiments?"</p> + +<p>Maria kept silent, and Ricardo also. It was the twilight hour; both +gazed steadily out of the window, upon the great plaza of Nieva, +surrounded by its arcades, where the boys who had been let out of school +were amusing themselves, running and shouting. The sun was already down, +leaving above the tiled roof of the town-hall<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> a wide stretch of sky +slightly tinted with rose, which took bluish shades toward the zenith, +and yellow toward the horizon. The people of the town were hurrying +through the streets, attending to the last duties of the day, and +enjoying the sweet gloaming. Such an evening was rare. The balconies of +the Caf de la Estrella were occupied by a few customers, who were +casting their restless eyes around the plaza. On the balcony of the +opposite house a little boy, with blue eyes and light, curly hair, was +having a good time with a wooden pipe, blowing soap-bubbles. Several +ragamuffins below, with no little chatter, caught them as they floated +down, bursting them with their hats and handkerchiefs.</p> + +<p>After a while, Maria turned to her betrothed, and fixing upon him an +intense, anxious look, said, with trembling voice,—</p> + +<p>"Ricardo, do you love me much?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask me that question?... Don't you know that I do?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know that you love me.... You have already <a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a>given me proof of it +... but in love, as in everything not transitory in this world, there is +always a more and less.... Only divine love is infinite.... The love +that you bear me has stood certain proofs; who knows if it could stand +others?"</p> + +<p>"The love which I have for thee," said the young marquis, placing his +hand on his heart, "has power to stand all proofs."</p> + +<p>"All?"</p> + +<p>"All."</p> + +<p>"Even if I were to ask you your life?..."</p> + +<p>"Bah! bah!" replied the young man, shrugging his shoulders with gesture +of disdain, "that would be to ask very little."</p> + +<p>Maria smiled with satisfaction, and after a pause, demanded timidly,—</p> + +<p>"And if I asked your honor ... or what you men understand by honor?..." +she added, correcting herself.</p> + +<p>Ricardo, slightly pale, arose to his feet, and hesitated some time +before he replied. At last he said in a low tone, calmly:—</p> + +<p>"Honor, my love, is not our own possession; it is a trust which heaven +places in our hands at birth, demanding account of it when we die."</p> + +<p>A flash of indignation and scorn passed through Maria's eyes, as she +heard those words.</p> + +<p>"And who has told you<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> what heaven grants you or asks of you, and why +do you mix heaven with things that oftentimes pertain to hell?"</p> + +<p>But calming herself in an instant, and giving her words a sweet, +persuasive tone, she added:—</p> + +<p>"What heaven confides to man at birth nothing can reveal except +religion, and religion tells us that man not<a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a> seldom counts his honor in +what he ought to look upon as his ruin and destruction.... Generally +what the world most appreciates and thirsts for goes against God's +law.... Therefore we ought to make very little account of this pretended +honor with which pride and haughtiness are cloaked. The true honor of +the Christian consists only in serving God, and obeying His holy +commands.... Listen, Ricardo.... I asked you if you loved me much for +the reason that it was imperative for me to know ... to know with +absolute and entire certainty.... I am going to make you a confession, +after which, if you are as noble and have as much faith as I may demand +of you, perhaps you will love me more than ever; ... but if your faith +is frail and vacillating, and you pay tribute to the frivolous +considerations of the world, you will surely love me less, and possibly +you will even desert me...."</p> + +<p>"Never that!"</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment.... Imagine that your betrothed, neglecting and even +violating certain rules laid down by society, and overstepping the +limits always set for woman, especially when she is an unmarried girl, +mingles in actions that are purely masculine; ... for example, in +politics, ... and not only mingles in them with thought and word, but +actually takes an active part in them. Imagine her to enter into a +conspiracy, and work with ardor for the triumph of her cause, ... and +put her life or her liberty at stake to accomplish it...."</p> + +<p>"What, you?..."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Maria, with resolution. "I have entered with all my heart +into a conspiracy.... I am working with all my might and main for the +triumph of the cause of the righteous.... God knows well that it makes +no difference to me whether one set of men or another rule<a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a> over us, and +that no earthly consideration has tempted me to such a step. But I have +seen, and I still see religion and the ministry of religion, abused; I +see the salvation of many souls endangered, I see every day the divine +Jesus and his sweet name made a mockery by the impious men who chance to +rule in Spain, wearing a crown of thorns a thousand times more grievous +than what he bore at Jerusalem ... and I feel that his eyes implore me +and I hear his celestial voice begging me to lift that terrible crown a +little.... Do you think that I can weigh against the sublime interests +of religion, the safety of my soul, and the glory of Jesus, the childish +fear of displeasing the world?"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing about it," replied Ricardo, in a dull voice, buried in +deep thought.</p> + +<p>"You see how I was right! Now that I have confessed to you and told you +my secret, your love already grows dim, and you certainly will soon +drift away from me and abandon me!"</p> + +<p>The young girl's last word caused Ricardo to lift his head quickly. He +had a presentiment that something serious was at hand, and he replied in +a tone of ill humor,—</p> + +<p>"And what is it that has moved you to confide to me all these things, +which you have kept so secret till now?"</p> + +<p>"Before all, forgive me for not having confided in you before.... They +were secrets that did not belong to me.... Besides, I imagined that you +would not think as I did, and would raise some objection to my plans.... +But now you have greatly changed: you are more religious, and you love +the name of Christian which you bear.... Therefore I decided to open my +soul entirely before you, and to put into your trusty, honest hands the<a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a> +lives of many noble-souled men.... I am very weak, Ricardo mio; I am +only a poor girl, incapable of struggling and resisting; ... a shadow +makes me tremble, ... a word startles me and moves me to the very depths +of my being.... My eyes are more accustomed to shed tears than to direct +imperious glances, and my hands are folded with more pleasure than they +are raised in anger.... I have no cunning to avoid impositions, or +fortitude to endure pain.... I can do nothing, ... nothing, ... and I am +filled with despair; but thou art brave, thou art noble, and thou art +generous.... I can rely on thee as the bird in the air, and thanks to +thee, win heaven.... These moments are supreme for me.... I feel as +though I was near the abyss, and I have no power to stay my steps.... If +thou dost not reach me out thy hand, thou wilt very soon see me plunging +into it.... Ricardo mio, do not abandon me, ... for God's sake do not +abandon me!..."</p> + +<p>The young man felt that the danger was nearer than ever, and +exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>"Let us have it done with at once, Maria. Let us know what it is all +about."</p> + +<p>"It is about a great act of merit which you can accomplish toward your +salvation if you will abandon the wicked suggestions of the world and +listen to the invitation of heaven.... In this town there is a mighty +weapon which, instead of serving God, as everything in this world ought +to serve Him, is an awful auxiliary of the devil. This weapon is the gun +factory...." Maria stopped a moment, and then, casting a frightened look +at her lover, continued in a trembling voice: "You can snatch this +weapon from the evil one and restore it into the hands of God by +delivering it over to the defenders of religion and—"<a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a></p> + +<p>Maria stopped a second time, and looked with horror at the livid, +contracted face of the young marquis, who grasped her by the arm, and +shaking her violently, roared, rather than spoke:—</p> + +<p>"Who suggested to you the idea of proposing <i>that</i> to me?... Answer +me.... Who was the vile, low wretch who advised you to do it?... I'll go +myself this very instant and tear out his tongue for him! Tell me, tell +me, Maria!... This thought never originated with you.... You couldn't +have supposed that your lover, the Marquis of Pealta, the descendant of +so many noble gentlemen, a soldier of honor and loyalty, could calmly +listen to such a proposition!... You could not have imagined that the +man who adored you was a cowardly traitor, whom his comrades would +justly laugh to scorn!... Only thus can I pardon the horrible words +which you have just spoken.... Listen for God's sake, Maria.... Just now +my brain is on fire and my heart is frozen.... I hear within me a voice +which prophesies a great misfortune.... Yet still, at this moment I tell +thee that I love thee with all my soul.... Even to the point of giving +my life for thee gladly; ... but if this love which I have for thee were +multiplied a thousand-fold, and were not to be gratified in this world, +I would crush it, I would blot it out as a light is blotted out,—with a +breath,—and I would remain all my life long in darkness sooner than +consent to such villany.... What am I saying?... If God himself came +down to propose that to me, and threatened me with the eternal torments +of hell, I would refuse.... I would prefer to be damned with the loyal +than be saved with traitors."</p> + +<p>Maria hung her head in consternation. After some little time she +succeeded in saying in a weak voice:—<a name="page_255" id="page_255"></a></p> + +<p>"You do not understand me, Ricardo, nor do I understand you any better. +In judging of the things of this world we put ourselves at very opposite +points of view: you look through the glass of the conventions +established by men, and I only through that of the law of God. For you +the renown of bravery, the reputation of being loyal and noble, is the +first thing; for me the main thing is the salvation of my soul.... +Pardon me if I have offended you, and let this <i>honor</i> which you worship +so fervently serve you to forget forever what we have been talking +about."</p> + +<p>Ricardo gave the girl a long, sad look. He had just learned once and for +all that that woman could never be his; that he held only a very +subordinate place in that idolatrous heart, so full of mysterious +sentiments, grand and sublime, perhaps, but incomprehensible for him. A +tear sprang into his eyes and rolled tremblingly down his cheeks.</p> + +<p>"You are right, Maria.... I don't understand you.... My father was a man +of honor, and he also could not have understood you.... My grandfather +was a soldier who lost his life in the defence of his country, and he, +too, would not have understood you any better.... But my father and my +grandfather would have felt insulted, as I feel insulted, that any one +should remind them that they ought to keep secrets confided to them."</p> + +<p>Both maintained a protracted silence, gazing sadly through the panes +upon the great plaza of Nieva, which began to be concealed under the +gathering shades of night. The passers-by were going to their homes with +slow and lazy gait. A few lights were already burning in the depths of +the houses. The ragamuffins, who had been laboriously catching the +soap-bubbles sent out to<a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a> them by the boy in the opposite house, had +disappeared, and he, tired of blowing through his pipe, finally flung it +to the ground together with his bowl of soap-suds, and set himself +making faces at Ricardo and Maria; but they, solemn and motionless, paid +no attention, as on other occasions, and the child, surprised to find +them so serious, likewise remained motionless, staring at them with his +bright, beautiful, cherub eyes.<a name="page_257" id="page_257"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /><br /> +<small>IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN.</small></h2> + +<p>T<small>HE</small> general commander kept by the fickle Spanish republic in the +province of * * * was a good deal of a barbarian,—be it said without +intention of hitting him too hard, for every man has the right to be as +much of a barbarian as he finds consistent with sound morals and good +habits. The first thing that he did, as soon as it was breathed to him +that the Carlists of Nieva were getting ready for a surprise +(<i>algarada</i>, battering-ram, was what he called it), and intended nothing +less than to get possession of the gun factory, was to summon the +commandant Ramrez and say to him:—</p> + +<p>"Within an hour you must start for Nieva with two companies, together +with the inspector of police, and as soon as you get there, you arrest +and bring to me lashed arm to arm—do you understand?—lashed arm to +arm, all the individuals who are put down on this paper."</p> + +<p>"'Tis well, my brigadier!"</p> + +<p>"It will not need more than half a company to guard them. You, with the +rest of the force, put yourselves under command of the colonel-director +until I make other arrangements."</p> + +<p>"'Tis well, my brigadier!"</p> + +<p>As the commandant Ramrez, having made his salute, was going out of the +office door, the brigadier called him back,-<a name="page_258" id="page_258"></a>-</p> + +<p>"Harkee, Ramrez, how did I tell you to bring the prisoners?"</p> + +<p>"Lashed arm to arm, my brigadier."</p> + +<p>"Correct; God go with you!"</p> + +<p>The night on which the two companies reached Nieva was the one chosen by +Don Csar's friends to sound the battle-cry and seize the factory. The +conspiracy was well planned. At one o'clock in the morning fifty men +were to meet in the garden of a rich Carlist proprietor, and fifty more +in the wine-cellar of another, to arm and equip themselves. At two +precisely they were all to march against the factory, the guard of +which, at this time under command of the young Marqus de Pealta, did +not exceed twenty-five men, and attack it ostensibly at the doors, while +others should scale the walls in the rear. Once inside they would +quickly seize upon the arms already manufactured, loading them upon +mules which were in readiness, set fire to the workshops, and haste away +from the town. In case they should be attacked, they expected to raise +easily five or six hundred men well provided with arms and ammunition. +Don Csar had no doubt of the success of his enterprise, but the cursed +bird<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> +traditional in all conspiracies, past and to come, upset the +brave caballero's project. At eleven o'clock that evening the commandant +Ramrez and the inspector of police had possession of all the +individuals of the committee, and ten or a dozen of the most outspoken +Carlists of Nieva, who, tied together and under the guard of half of a +company, according to the orders of the general commander, were under +the arcade of the town-hall, waiting the order of march. The only woman +among these was Maria. In vain did Don Mariano, with tears in his eyes, +beg the leader of the force to let him take her in a carriage.<a name="page_259" id="page_259"></a> The +commandant Ramrez declared that he was deeply grieved at not being able +to gratify him, and that the only thing that he could do, out of respect +for him, was to give her parole-leave and wait a few moments until she +procured thick footwear and suitable outside garments, though to do this +exposed him to the wrath of the brigadier who ... (and here the +commandant Ramrez employed the term which we have already had the honor +of applying to him).</p> + +<p>At last the order was given, and the lieutenant set out on the march +with the prisoners. Don Mariano would not leave his daughter. Though it +did not rain at that particular moment, the night was very damp and the +roads truly abominable, as was proved by the spatterdashes of the +soldiers. In the town almost everybody was aware of what was going on, +and many dark, silent forms filled the balconies, straining their eyes +to see the prisoners pass by. As they went through a certain street, an +angry female voice cried from a balcony,—</p> + +<p>"Villains, you will pay for all these things in hell!"</p> + +<p>The soldiers lifted their heads and dropped them again, silently +proceeding on their march, the measured sound of which inspired +melancholy and fear. They all felt on their caps a steady broadside of +looks of hatred, which, notwithstanding their innocence, they received +with the resignation of those accustomed to suffering injustice. They +soon left the last houses of the town and entered the high-road, the +first stretches of which were adorned with lofty poplars. The sky was +still dark and thick, wrapping the earth in darkness. Scarcely could +they see the trunks of the neighboring trees, or the shapes of the +houses or farm buildings along the roadside. The feet of the company no +longer produced the sharp clatter<a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a> which they made when they were +walking over the paved streets, but a muffled sound still more sad. The +lieutenant, a pretty good-natured young fellow of twenty, ordered the +soldiers to march in parallel columns, with the prisoners in the middle. +Then he approached the latter, and asking them if he could do anything +for them, apologized courteously for taking them bound together, but +they must understand that the brigadier was somewhat of a ... (the young +lieutenant made use of the same expression which his commandant, and we +as well, has already applied to him). The prisoners muttered their +thanks and relapsed into a dignified silence. Soon it began to rain +furiously. Don Mariano, who had not exchanged a word with his daughter, +hastily spread his umbrella to shelter her, and held her long pressed to +his heart, whispering in her ear:—</p> + +<p>"My daughter, what a bitter trial you are giving me!... Wrap yourself up +well!... Are you cold? oh, that obstinate brute shall answer me for +this!... I will go to Madrid and see the Minister of War, and have him +sent to prison!... Does the rain reach you anywhere, sweetheart +mine<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>? Do you want my waterproof?... To send and have my daughter +pinioned!... Oh, the confounded pig! in what sty did this farcical +government find him!... If you get sick, I will kill him without a +moment's hesitation.... But you, silly girl, who inveigled you into this +pack of conspirators without my permission?... If I had not let you +wander about so much among these churches, you would not at this time be +suffering such trials.... What have you to do with Carlists or with +Republicans?... A well-educated girl stays quietly at home, looking +after her father's shirts and knitting<a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a> stockings.... Do you hear?... +knitting stockings!... The beast! wretch! to send and take my daughter +pinioned!... If I see him, I won't promise not to seize him by the +throat...."</p> + +<p>"Calm yourself, papa, ... calm yourself, for Heaven's sake. I am +perfectly comfortable.... When one suffers for God the suffering is +turned into pleasure.... Never did I feel better than at this moment ... +and it is because I feel in my soul the consolation of having done +something to restore Jesus to his holy kingdom.... The only thing that +makes me suffer, is to see you unhappy.... Ay! papa, what wouldn't I +give to have your faith as living and ardent as mine, so that you would +despise all the pains of earth, and march calm and content, as I am +marching, whither God may wish to take me!"</p> + +<p>Don Mariano felt a torrent of sharp, angry words choking him, but he +could not give them utterance. All that he did was to wrap his +waterproof around his daughter, emitting a sort of grunt significantly +eloquent.</p> + +<p>It ceased to rain at last. A slight breath of south-west wind made +itself felt, and the thick mantle over the sky began to thin away, +letting through a slender, feeble light which brought out the +silhouettes of the soldiers, and the trees, and the enormous forms of +the mountains girding the valley. The silence in the band was +sepulchral. The prisoners exchanged not a single word, devouring their +rage and grief. In the country, likewise, was heard none of those +pleasant sounds that increase the mystery of the night, and fill the +soul with soft melancholy. Only as they passed in front of some house, +they heard within the threatening bark of a dog, protesting against the +march of troops at such an unusual hour, and, now and then, the no less +gentle muttering of Sergeant<a name="page_262" id="page_262"></a> Alcarez as he cursed the night, and his +luck, and the mother who bore him.</p> + +<p>The wind kept blowing stronger and stronger, a soft, moist wind which +the prisoners took to be of sufficiently evil import. The trees, lining +the sides of the road, twisted, as though in agony, scattering all the +rain drops with which they were laden. In the feeble light of the sky +the forms of the huge, black clouds began to appear, rushing swiftly +through the air, as though closely pursued by some monster of the night. +Back of these clouds the faint blue of the firmament could not be seen, +but a thick mantle of gray, seemingly impenetrable. Nevertheless, the +wind, still increasing in violence, began at last to rupture it in a few +places, making beautiful rifts, in the depths of which could be seen the +soft lightning of some star. The great, black clouds swept over them, +and blotted them out, but the mantle was constantly rifted again in +other places, and the little stars once more tipped friendly winks to +the earth. At last a great burst of silvery light suddenly bathed the +whole landscape: the moon had come out between two clouds, fair and +splendid as a virgin who opens the windows of her apartment. But hardly +had she cast one look of curiosity at our band, when the rude clouds +drew together, binding a fillet over her eyes, and leaving the earth +gloomy and dark. Again she appeared on high, and once more she was +hidden, as she saw a hurrying legion of clouds of every form and shape, +flying to unknown regions, pass before her face. In the space of half an +hour, she presented and hid herself an incredible number of times, +seeming to the eyes of the pilgrims like a ship ready to sink in some +restless, stormy ocean.</p> + +<p>Finally the tempest of the sky grew calm. Slowly the<a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a> thick cloud +masses, which spotted the face of the sky, had disappeared behind the +mountains. A few, which still remained, and at long intervals, passing +across the moon, left the earth in darkness, likewise hid the +mountain-peaks. And the sky was left clear and bright, spreading out its +dark mantle adorned with stars. The moon traced a luminous circle around +her, in which, like a haughty queen, she let no other star shed his +light. The wide valley seemed to quiver gently with joy at feeling the +kiss of her silvery beams, and sent forth from the orange groves, and +the quiet streams, and the white hamlets scattered here and there, +millions of reflections vanishing with gentle mystery in the air. In +some places great, luminous sheets stretched out, where could be seen +with wonderful clearness the outlines of trees and fences; in others, +clustered shadows, guarding the dreams of flowers. The broad valley, +when thus illumined, had the semblance of a sleeping lake.</p> + +<p>After tramping along for a considerable time through the midst of the +valley, our band struck into the mountains girting it. It was necessary +to cross them to reach the plain surrounding * * *. The highway followed +the most accessible places, skirting the side of one of the mountains +with a pretty decided slope. The horizon widened wonderfully. As they +began to climb, the lieutenant commanded a halt before a huge tavern, +situated near the highway, and sending to the landlord obliged him to +arise and provide his people with food. The prisoners went into the +house and rested some time. Then they set forth once more, calmly +climbing the sharp declivity.</p> + +<p>The exuberant vegetation of the valley had ceased. The mountains, which +constantly shut them in closer, leaving barely room for the highway, +were clad only in<a name="page_264" id="page_264"></a> ferns. From time to time they came upon the opening +of some coal mine, dug near the road. Don Mariano could not resist the +temptation of talking about the railway to Nieva, and he approached the +lieutenant and showed him where the line from Sotolonga was going, +explaining in full the advantages which it had over the line from +Miramar. The pathway was now considerably drier on account of the +hillside, and the moon from on high still lighted up the way, and fixed +her sweet, calm gaze on the pilgrims. The notes of a guitar were heard. +When did the guitar ever cease to sound during a march of Spanish +soldiers? And a voice of heroic timbre sang in the accents of the +South:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"<i>Como cosita propria</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Te miraba yo</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Te miraba yo;</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Pero quererte como te quera</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Eso se acab</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> <i>Eso se acab.</i>"</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Four or five soldiers scattered here and there likewise showed their +southern origin by shouting at the end of the strophe, <i>Ol, ol!</i> That +song, born in the warm soil of Andalucia, was a magic wand which +banished sadness from all hearts. The stern mountains, as though +possessed by a sudden sympathy, re-echoed the soldier's voice, carrying +it far away across its gorges and ravines. Lively conversation arose in +the company, stopping every time that the Andalusian soldier struck up a +new verse. The prisoners persisted in their obstinate silence. All +marched negligently, with mouths open, instinctively enjoying the +favorable change which the night had undergone. Suddenly, as they were +doubling one of the numerous<a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a> turns in the road, in the roughest part of +the divide, the report of a musket was heard. A soldier dropped to the +ground. Almost at the same time the portentous cry of <i>Viva Carlos +Septimo!</i> was hurled into space. Lifting their heads, all saw at no +great distance, standing on one of the rocks commanding the road, a man +with long, white mustachios, dressed in a sheepskin <i>zamarra</i> and Basque +cap.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> The prisoners instantly recognized in him the president of the +committee, Don Csar Pardo. The lieutenant ordered the men to close up, +fearing an ambuscade, and gave the command to fire; but the volley had +no result. When the smoke cleared away Don Csar was still seen calmly +reloading his gun. As he fired it, he cried again with still more +fury,—</p> + +<p>"<i>Viva Carlos Septimo!</i>"</p> + +<p>"May the lightning strike you, you old fox; you have spoiled my arm for +me," exclaimed Sergeant Alcarez, raising his hand to the wound.</p> + +<p>"Second column, aim! fire!" shouted the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>This time there was no better result. Don Csar fired again, crying,—</p> + +<p>"<i>Viva la religin!</i>"</p> + +<p>Then the lieutenant angrily gave the command,—</p> + +<p>"Fire as you please!"</p> + +<p>An incessant crackling of musketry followed from the half company, drawn +up in battle array; but the solitary enemy neither retreated nor fell. +Standing on the rock, without even deigning to shelter himself behind +it, he steadily loaded and fired his musket, always repeating in a +terrible voice,—</p> + +<p>"<i>Viva Carlos Septimo! Viva la religin!</i>"</p> + +<p>He rarely fired without causing some loss in the company.<a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a> The moon +illuminated his proud, fierce face loaded with wrinkles, giving it a +fantastic appearance. His eyes gleamed like those of a madman, and his +tall, lusty frame stood forth in the luminous atmosphere, like that of a +supernatural being who had come down to punish offences committed +against heaven.</p> + +<p>"Do you know me, republicans, do you know me?" he cried, without ceasing +to fire. "I am Don Csar Pardo, an old Christian and a Carlist from head +to foot."</p> + +<p>"You're a scoundrel," replied a soldier.</p> + +<p>"Hearkee, little fellow; you're all of a tremble, and the balls you +shoot go wide of the mark."</p> + +<p>"Try this one then!"</p> + +<p>"No, sir!... it didn't hit.... If I had ten men with me how you would +all scatter, you lapdogs!"</p> + +<p>"Do what you please, boys!... Kill that whelp!" cried the lieutenant at +the height of irritation.</p> + +<p>The soldiers broke for the mountain, and began to climb it with the +agility of wildcats. The rage which possessed them redoubled their +powers. But at the same time the lieutenant, snatching a musket from one +of the soldiers, levelled at Don Csar and brought him down.</p> + +<p>"That'll do, boys!... Come back!... the hawk is winged at last," he +cried in triumphant accents.</p> + +<p>"It only wounded my leg; ... my bill is whole yet," replied the +ringleader, with hoarse voice.</p> + +<p>And in truth, though his hip was shot through, he managed to raise +himself up and load his musket, which he instantly fired at those who +were coming up against him. They roared with rage as they pulled +themselves up by the ferns, or dug their fingers into the moss to climb +faster.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, you cowards," screamed Don Csar,<a name="page_267" id="page_267"></a> likewise maddened with +rage. "Come and learn how to fight!... You see how a Carlist officer +makes war!... You see how he is equal to fifty republicans!... To-morrow +tell your exploit to General Bum Bum who sent you!... Let 'em give you +the laurel wreath, you heroes! Now here goes a shot for Don Carlos!... +Ah! I know how you are taking off a girl as prisoner, you brave warriors +of the republic!... Here goes another for Doa Margarita!... Did the +pill taste bad, eh, fellow?... Oh, how glad I am to see you! <i>Viva +Carlos!</i> ..."</p> + +<p>He was not allowed to finish. A soldier who had reached the summit put +the muzzle of his gun to his forehead and blew off his head, saying,—</p> + +<p>"Die, you hog!"</p> + +<p>He killed him without heeding the voices of his comrades, who said, +"Leave him for me! Leave him for me!"</p> + +<p>As they reached him with pale cheeks and bloodshot eyes, they all +discharged their guns at the lifeless body of the terrible ringleader, +quickly destroying it in the most horrible manner. When that act of +barbarism, inspired by wrath, was accomplished, the soldiers remained +silent. Their irritation being calmed, they began to realize how they +had been fighting with one single man, and they were dissatisfied with +themselves. In spite of themselves they felt stirred to admiration.</p> + +<p>"The old man had gall," said one, as he wiped off a few drops of blood +which had spattered into his face.</p> + +<p>"He was well quit of his life," declared a second.</p> + +<p>"The truth is, that taking them one at a time, that old man would have +swallowed this whole division, uniform and all," said a third, finally; +and no one uttered a protest.</p> + +<p>In the company there were one killed and five wounded,<a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a> as the result of +the skirmish. They placed them all, as well as they could, on improvised +stretchers, and again took up the line of march. Not only the soldiers, +but the prisoners, plodded on in silence and melancholy, profoundly +impressed by the tragic event which had just occurred.</p> + +<p>The night was still as calm and bright as before, and in the zenith the +moon, which had just been lighting that unequal combat with her soft +poetic beams, still shed them upon the company slowly ascending the +highway, and upon the livid, dismembered corpse which they had left +behind on the crag. The struggles, the joys, the griefs of us poor +devils who creep on the earth, what worth have they? what do they +signify before the august serenity of the heavens? For them the fall of +an empire and the fall of a leaf are of equal consequence; for them the +sigh of a maiden in love and the groan of a dying man are alike in +sound. "Nature is deaf," said the great Leopardi, "and cannot pity."</p> + +<p>But Maria walked along with her eyes fixed on the sky, regarding it with +far different thoughts. There where the poet found nothing but a blind +will, incapable of good, the pious girl saw a foreseeing and merciful +God, as merciful as terrible, who received the good into his bosom, and +sent the wicked to eternal torment—a God, who, like ourselves, was +appeased by prayers and tears. She felt stirred as she thought of the +fate which the soul of him who had just died would meet in presence of +divine justice, and by a quick, spontaneous movement of her heart, she +said in a loud, clear voice:—</p> + +<p>"For the soul of the departed Don Csar Pardo: Our Father who art in +heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on +earth as it is in Heaven." The prisoners began to pray with fervor.<a name="page_269" id="page_269"></a> +Some of the soldiers did the same. Then they relapsed into silence as +they marched along, and nothing was heard but the sound of labored +breathing, and occasionally the complaints of the wounded, not very well +accommodated in their litters. At last they crossed the highest point of +the watershed, and began to descend toward the wide valley of * * *. The +dawn was already appearing in the confines of the east. The dull blue of +the sky in that quarter was fading into a pale, melancholy light, which +at the same time blotted out the sparkling stars. The travellers felt a +chill, unpleasant breath of wind which turned their noses and hands +purple. Very soon a great golden fringe spread over the eastern hills, +and the band could regard at their pleasure the valley stretching out at +their feet, where the green of the meadows and the yellow of the plowed +lands shone in multitudinous tones, coarse or soft, like a rich mantle +of brocade. A few tufts of cloud were slowly rising from the depths of +the streamlets which furrowed it; and yonder, in the west, a great +curtain of black mountains, on whose summits the snow still gleamed +white, shut it in abruptly, casting across it a great mantle of shadow. +In spite of this shadow, the eyes of the travellers who knew the region +could distinguish in the very edge of the black curtain the spire of the +proud tower of the cathedral of * * *. The prisoners and their guards +reached the plain, and crossed the valley from one end to the other, +expending much time in the transit, principally because of the care +required by the wounded. Finally, at eight o'clock in the morning, they +reached the first houses of the suburb of * * *.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the capital had heard of the sudden blow struck by +the military governor against the Carlists of Nieva, and a great throng, +collected in the streets, was<a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a> impatiently waiting to see the prisoners +pass by. It was composed almost entirely of what, during the +revolutionary period, was called the sovereign people; that is, of all +the ragamuffins and rough-scuff of the city, together with quite a +number of respectable people, though loungers, and almost all the +<i>ladies</i> of the suburbs.</p> + +<p>On seeing the band from afar, the multitude was stirred tempestuously, +and there arose a dull, universal clamor:—</p> + +<p>"There they are now! There they are now!"—"I was told that they +intended to assassinate all the liberals of Nieva last night."—"Ah! the +rascals! Fortunate they fell beforehand into the trap!"</p> + +<p>"They must be undeceived," declared a fat and highly-colored caballero, +with a good-natured face; "all the Carlists are either rascals or fools. +I would not employ any other means with them than extermination.... Fire +and sword!"</p> + +<p>"Let us sing them <i>El trgala</i> when they pass," said a ragged lad to two +other swells accompanying him.</p> + +<p>The people pressed close as the band approached, those who could finding +standing-room on the street-walls and the trees along the way. On seeing +the wounded, and learning through the curt account of some soldier about +the incident of Don Csar, the inquisitive citizens felt justified in +manifesting their indignation, and though at first they contented +themselves with giving each other the benefit of their hostile thoughts, +finally they began to belch forth against the prisoners furious insults, +apostrophizing them in loud tones, as though they had all received from +their hands some wrong. Thus they continued escorting them through the +streets of the city, their fury and indignation ever on the increase, +until words were<a name="page_271" id="page_271"></a> not enough to satisfy them. The prisoners marched with +sunken heads and flushed faces.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you hypocrites! saint-killers!" shouted one at them; "may the day +soon come when we shall see you strung up!"</p> + +<p>"See how those cursed rascals<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> hang their heads! If they had us in +their fists the meanest of them would be happier."</p> + +<p>"Now cry 'Long live Carlos Seventh,' you rubbish!" But the popular fury +was most madly excited against Maria. Neither her youth, nor her beauty, +nor her weakness, served to spare her from ferocious, filthy insults.</p> + +<p>"Who is that woman with 'em? They say she's a saint."—"Yes, a saint, +but she's a loose character!"—"See here, wench, if you are hunting for +a husband, you'll find one here!"—"That one needs a few dozen +lashes!"—"See what hypocritical eyes the harridan<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> has!"</p> + +<p>It is easy to appreciate the state of disturbance, wrath, anguish, and +excitement which overmastered Don Mariano Elorza, at being obliged to +listen to these rude remarks. In his impotent rage he bit his hands and +stopped his ears, fearing that his blood would boil over and lead him to +do something endangering his daughter's life.</p> + +<p>As we have already said, the crowd, not content with flinging insults, +took it into their heads to indulge in brutal treatment of them. One +rough youth gave the example by hurling a piece of orange. Many others +followed his example, and there fell on the unfortunate prisoners a +hailstorm of projectiles, more disgusting, it must be confessed than +deadly. However, a cabbage<a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a> stalk thrown violently, hit Maria in the +face and made her lips bleed.</p> + +<p>Oh! then the unhappy Don Mariano's fury burst forth, terrible and +resistless, as the sea in its moments of tempests, as a volcano in +eruption. His athletic figure fell upon the group of loungers nearest +him, and he annihilated it with his onslaught, scattering the men on the +ground as though they had been made of straw; those who were left on +their feet fled without awaiting a second attack. The Seor de Elorza +would have made his way through the whole crowd, but meeting with +resistance in the serried ranks, he grasped the throat of the first +ruffian at hand and would have surely choked him to death, had not the +soldiers come to his aid and pushed back the angry father. His wrath +then broke out in a storm of frenzied words, which brought the throng to +silence.</p> + +<p>"Guttersnipes! vile guttersnipes! cowards! beasts!... If they had not +prevented me, I would have pulled your tongues out, one at a time.... +You have wounded my daughter.... Didn't you know she was my daughter, +you rascals! Here you showed your valor, you bullies! why don't you go +to Navarra to fight with armed men, instead of attacking the +defenceless?... Because you are cowards!... An indecent rabble that +ought to be scattered with whips! If there be among you any one worthy +of meeting me, let him come out so that I can spit in his face.... Let +go of me, let go of me, for God's sake! Let me kill one of these pimps +who have wounded my daughter. Let me go, seores, let me go!..."</p> + +<p>Don Mariano struggled to tear himself from the arms of the soldiers. The +rabble who had fallen back before his attack, seeing him in custody, +recovered from their alarm, and crowded back again like basilisks, +foaming at the mouth with rage.<a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a></p> + +<p>"This old coxcomb insults the people!"—"He's a crazy fool!"—"It's a +shame for the people to be so insulted!"—"Why don't you kill this +knave!"—"Kill him, yes, kill him!"—"Kill him!"—"Kill him!"</p> + +<p>And the throng pressed up to the band closer and closer, though slowly, +like an ocean of waves swelling and threatening, and would soon have put +an end to Don Mariano and the prisoners, had not the lieutenant +prevented such an act of barbarism by shouting at the top of his +voice,—</p> + +<p>"Attention, company—ready—aim!"</p> + +<p>Then the swelling waves subsided as by magic. The lieutenant's voice was +Neptune's <i>sed motos prestat componere fluctus</i>. The sovereign people +turned tail, and saying in their hearts "escape if you can," started to +run in all directions, tripping up here, and scrambling to feet again +there. And it is reported that His Majesty ran so fast and so far, that +in less than three minutes he disappeared from before the guns of the +military.</p> + +<p>Thanks to this, the prisoners were left in peace until they reached the +prison, where they were lodged in a great hall, filthy enough, with a +wooden floor, filled with rat-holes in many places. Maria was assigned a +separate room, comparatively clean and comfortable.</p> + +<p>The hour set for the hearing before the council of war was twelve +o'clock; and when the clock struck, the prisoners, perfectly guarded, +were transferred to a handsomely decorated salon in the building where +it met. The officers composing it were seated behind a long table, +covered with red damask trimmed with gold lace, under a velvet canopy +which, in other times, before we had the republic, had served to give +regality and prestige to the portrait of the king. The presiding officer +was the military<a name="page_274" id="page_274"></a> governor, who was anxious to have done with the +business in a rapid and violent manner. He wished to inflict exemplary +punishment upon all of the conspirators, or, what is the same thing, +"not to leave a mannikin with his head on," to use his own words. He was +a chubby man, with great blub-cheeks and a thin mustache: a perfect +image of what we, and likewise the Commandant Ramrez, and the +lieutenant of the convoy, have already called him. The other officers +had absolutely nothing remarkable in their faces: coarse features, black +eyes, twisted mustachios, sharp-pointed goatees, commonplace faces, on +the whole, though manly. At first sight, it was evident that they wore +their togas broad. When the prisoners entered, the doors and the +standing-room of the building were invaded by a great crowd, not so rude +and low as that of the morning; it was made up of people of more +respectability,—students for the most part, hidalgos and officeholders. +This throng preserved a thoughtful, compassionate silence at seeing them +enter.</p> + +<p>They were introduced one at a time in the great hall of state. The +captain, who acted as prosecutor,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> took their depositions, having +before him documents in proof of the crime. The members of the Carlist +committee of Nieva gave their testimony as best suited their ideas of +propriety, denying the majority of the counts, astutely pleading guilty +to others, and, in fine, doing all in their power to be let off easily. +The fat-cheeked brigadier lost his temper not a few times during the +course of the hearing, interrupting the prosecutor to launch harsh +apostrophes at the prisoners, and threatening to have them shot in the +interim, if they did not reveal all the minuti and ramifications of the +conspiracy; but he accomplished little by his intimidations.<a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a> When +Maria's turn came, he smiled sarcastically, and said with rough irony,—</p> + +<p>"Have the goodness to draw near, seorita, and to reply to the questions +which this caballero capitn will put to you."</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" asked the prosecutor.</p> + +<p>"Maria de Elorza y Valcrcel."</p> + +<p>"<i>De, dee, dee</i>," snorted the brigadier, "always the same aristocratic +pretensions!"</p> + +<p>"You are accused of serving as intermediary in the correspondence +between the Marqus de Revollar, Don Carlos's minister and counsellor, +and the ringleader, Don Csar Pardo, lately exiled by virtue of sentence +of the counsel of war, which met on the 14th of March. Moreover, you are +accused of having been present as an active participant at various +meetings held by the conspirators of Nieva, with the assistance of the +same ringleaders who escaped, and various other political criminals. In +these meetings you have indulged in speech fomenting rebellion, and +making suggestions to help its success. It is said that you embroidered +the banner for the rebels, and have hidden hats and spatterdashes in +your house, and likewise have procured money for the conspirators...."</p> + +<p>The prosecutor stopped speaking. There were a few instants of silence. +The brigadier impatiently said,—"Come.... Reply! Are the deeds of which +you stand accused true?"</p> + +<p>Maria, with her clear gaze fastened on the president's supercilious +face, replied in firm, calm accents:—</p> + +<p>"All that the Seor Fiscal has just set forth is pure truth, and I take +the warmest pride in it. It is true that I have served as intermediary +in the correspondence between my noble uncle, the Marqus de Revollar, +and the brave<a name="page_276" id="page_276"></a> Don Csar Pardo (whom may God take to glory!). It is +certain that I have been present at the meetings, where a conspiracy was +planned against the impious government now existing, and that I have +endeavored, with my feeble speech, to stir the conspirators to the +combat, and it is equally certain that I embroidered the banner and +other articles for the defenders of the faith. It is likewise true that +I have furnished all the money that I could, but it is not enough to say +that I hid in my father's house hats and spatterdashes: I have also +hidden arms, muskets, and their bayonets and ammunition."</p> + +<p>The officers of the council were stupefied. The brigadier himself, in +spite of his choleric temper, remained for some instants dumb before the +girl's audacity. But if they had known her as we know her, it is certain +that they would not have had reason to be surprised. The eldest daughter +of the Elorzas had entered into the Carlist conspiracy, completely +persuaded that she was accomplishing a work very grateful in the eyes of +God, and she had firmly determined not to turn back before any danger. +Her ardent, all-powerful faith was eager to find means to serve Him, and +moreover the longing for imitation, for which we have already given her +credit, impelled her to imitate the conduct of those sainted virgins who +fought against the power of the cruellest tyrants, and gave a glorious +example of constancy in times of persecution. She knew by heart the +lives of Saint Leocadia, Saint Barbara, Saint Julia, Saint Eulalia, and +other illustrious martyrs of the Christian faith, and their +steadfastness was for her an example and further incentive in the road +to sanctity upon which she had entered. Countless times she had imagined +scenes of martyrdom in which she was the principal personage, and in +which she had always come<a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a> forth conqueror; just as many men fond of +battles, dream that they are fighting with a dozen champions and making +them run ignominiously, and others enamored of oratory represent +themselves as speaking before multitudes, moving them and carrying them +away by their eloquence. With what admiration had she read about the +flight of the sainted maiden of Merida, from the battlefield of her +fathers to the city where she presented herself voluntarily before the +governor Calfurniano to confess her faith, and ask a martyr's death! In +the march which she had just made from Nieva, she had many times +recalled the details of that memorable flight, gladly seeing in it a +certain analogy with that of the saint. Now that she saw herself in the +presence of stern, angry judges, she found the resemblance still more +striking, and this encouraged her, in no small degree, in her +determination to stand firm in spite of danger.</p> + +<p>The brigadier, who was not very well informed in regard to what had +happened to Saint Eulalia at the hands of Calfurniano, believed honestly +that the silly girl was ridiculing him, and, giving a tremendous rap on +the table with his fist, he shouted:—</p> + +<p>"Listen, seorita, do you know with whom you are talking? Do you know +that I am the military governor of the province, and that I have never +had any decided fondness for jests? Do you know what risk you run at +making sport of this most dignified council of war, over which at this +moment I preside? Do you know that I have a mind to send you to prison, +and shut you up in a cell, and keep you there on bread and water until +you rotted? Did you know it? heh!... Did you know it? heh!... heh?... +heh?..."</p> + +<p>"I know perfectly," replied Maria in steady, but<a name="page_278" id="page_278"></a> modest tone, "that I +am in the presence of a council of war; but, though I were facing a +battalion of soldiers, aiming at me with their guns, I should say the +same thing without dropping or adding a letter. I am not accustomed to +tell falsehoods, and when it concerns acts which may be some service to +the cause of God, I should be unworthy of calling myself a Christian, if +I denied them in the presence of any one."</p> + +<p>"And what is it that you call the cause of God, my beautiful seorita?" +asked the brigadier with apparent calmness, while his eyes flashed +lightnings of wrath.</p> + +<p>"I call the cause of God that which is at the present time represented +by the legitimate and Catholic king, around whom are collected all those +who feel scandalized to see religion persecuted and its ministers +molested; those who mourn at seeing the infamous blasphemies uttered in +Congress, and daily spread broadcast by the journals; those who do not +wish to see impiety enthroned in Spain, the Catholic land, above all +others, granted by God one single faith and one single worship."</p> + +<p>The brigadier grew redder than a guindilla pepper; his lips trembled +with wrath; he was about to make some shocking remark, but at last he +controlled himself, and said to the prosecuting officer,—</p> + +<p>"Continue your examination, Seor Capitn."</p> + +<p>For the first time in his life the brigadier smothered his barbarous +words. The fiscal, over whom the force of attraction for the opposite +sex had not yet lost its influence, perhaps from the reason that he was +younger, continued, all the time softening his voice and sweetening the +smile that distorted his countenance:—</p> + +<p>"Very well; since you have the candor to confess that you have been a +party to the conspiracy, let us hope that<a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a> you will continue to be as +frank, and tell us all its details and the names of the persons +connected with it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, ... that cannot be. I declare and confess my acts, but I cannot +those of the others. Even if they granted me permission, be very sure +that I would not do it, since it seems to me a sin to put into the hands +of the impious arms to murder good Christians...."</p> + +<p>"This cannot be allowed," vociferated the brigadier, overcome by wrath. +"Let us see, seorita; do you believe that I have not the means to make +you tell the whole story?<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> Let us have the session in peace, and do +you tell mighty quick what you know, for otherwise there'll be trouble +[<i>mal</i>]; ... there'll be trrrouble [<i>maaal</i>]; ... there'll be +trrrrrouble [<i>maaaaal</i>]...."</p> + +<p>"Seor Presidente, I am not willing to say a single word that might +compromise my friends, the pious and loyal defenders of the faith of +Jesus Christ. Do with me whatsoever you will, but you must know that I +shall accept with delight any chance to suffer something for Him who +suffered so much for us."</p> + +<p>"Heavens and earth!" [<i>Rayo de Dios!</i>] screamed the brigadier, giving +another terrible pound to the table. "This child has put an end to my +patience!... Orderly, see that this girl is instantly conducted to +prison, and keep her in solitary confinement until further orders." The +officials of the council, understanding that this would make a scandal +without any result, put it before the governor in a whisper, and he +became a little calmer. He himself understood it.</p> + +<p>"You are right," he said aloud; "all the information that this girl can +give is already known to us, and more too. I don't wish these scrubby +Carlist newspapers to be<a name="page_280" id="page_280"></a> saying that we lost our temper with a +woman.... Harkee, orderly! see if this young woman's father is anywhere +about, and have him brought in."</p> + +<p>In a few moments Don Mariano entered.</p> + +<p>"I find myself obliged to tell you, Seor de Elorza," said the +brigadier, addressing him, "that you have a very ill-educated daughter, +and that thanks to the fact of your not figuring as a Carlist and to our +own benevolence, we do not adopt in her case the rigorous measures which +she deserves for her boldness. You can take her home whenever you +please, pledging yourself to us that she shall not directly or +indirectly enter into any conspiracy or into anything of the like.... Do +we agree?... Have a little more care of her if you don't want to expose +her to greater tribulations, and don't let her go so free and easy as +hitherto...."</p> + +<p>Don Mariano almost spoiled everything by hurling an insult in that rough +soldier's face; but the sorrows which he had been undergoing since the +night before kept him very humble. Besides, he feared to compromise his +daughter's situation, and seeing her free he had no wish to lose her +again. Reserving, then, <i>in pectore</i> for more favorable times, the right +of demanding of the governor full satisfaction for his impudent words, +he gave the promise demanded, and immediately passed from the hall and +from the building with Maria, and went to call upon one of his +relatives. In the afternoon they set out for Nieva, reaching home just +at nightfall.<a name="page_281" id="page_281"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /><br /> +<small>PALLIDA MORS.</small></h2> + +<p>W<small>HEN</small> the carriage stopped, Don Mariano perceived by the face of the +servant who came to open the door that nothing very delightful had +occurred during his absence.</p> + +<p>"The seora?" he asked in alarm.</p> + +<p>"The seora is in bed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I might have known it! How could the poor soul have had strength to +resist this blow!"</p> + +<p>The faces of the other servants whom they met on the way had the same +expression of silent solemnity, and this greatly increased his +agitation. Maria followed him. When they reached Doa Gertrudis's room, +they saw that there were a number of people in it who, on catching sight +of them, came toward them with a warning gesture.</p> + +<p>"What! Is she so ill?" exclaimed the unhappy Don Mariano, in a hoarse, +trembling voice.</p> + +<p>"She is not very ill," said an officious lady: "but it is better that +you should not enter so suddenly, for a powerful excitement might be bad +for her. She has had a number of attacks since last night, and finds +herself rather weak.... Let me prepare her."</p> + +<p>The lady, in fact, went to tell Doa Gertrudis that her daughter was at +liberty, and would soon be back to Nieva.</p> + +<p>"My daughter is here!" cried the invalid, with that wonderful instinct +of mothers and hysterical women.... Yes, she is here!... I know she +is!... I see her.... Come, my daughter, come!"<a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a></p> + +<p>And at the same time she made a desperate effort to sit up in bed. Maria +entered her bedchamber, and kneeling beside the bed respectfully kissed +the hands which her mother extended to her.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, mamma! forgive me for the anxiety which I caused you.... +You were made ill because of me, but the Lord will soon make you +well...."</p> + +<p>"No, my daughter; you have done nothing that needs my forgiveness; you +have done what God commanded.... It made me ill ... that is true ... but +it is because I have not virtue enough, as you have, to suffer the +trials God imposes upon us.... You are a saint.... I shall be well.... +Don't worry about me.... What frightens me now is, that I did not die +when I saw you marching off that way, among soldiers.... My poor +daughter.... Come, give me a kiss!"</p> + +<p>When Maria entered the bedroom, Ricardo and Marta were there; the girl +seated near the pillow, and Ricardo at the foot of the bed. The young +marquis, on learning at the factory that Maria was arrested, had asked +the colonel to be relieved that night of guard duty, and his request +being granted, he hastened to the Elorza mansion just as Don Mariano and +his daughter were outside of the town. Doa Gertrudis was in the midst +of a very severe fit, from which it was feared that she would not +recover; she came to herself but only to fall immediately into another. +What an anxious night! Don Maximo and the Seora de Ciudad remained with +poor little Marta to watch by the sick woman. Ricardo likewise was +unwilling to leave the house. The girl appreciating that her mother's +health and life depended on her behavior, kept up her courage, and did +not cease to busy herself about the bed, entering and leaving the room<a name="page_283" id="page_283"></a> +hundreds of times. As soon as Don Maximo gave an order she fulfilled it +with admirable exactness. A multitude of remedies requiring much skill +and some practice were taken: mustard poultices, leeches, assafœtida +washes, various applications to the temples, etc., etc. Marta would not +consent for any servant to touch her mother; she did everything herself +without bustle, without noise, as though all her life she had done +nothing else. During the intervals of rest she sat by the bedside and +watched the invalid's face with anxious eyes. The bedroom was feebly +lighted by a lamp half turned down in the hall; a strong smell of drugs +and medicines arose from the vials accumulated on the dressing-table; +but Marta was not nauseated by any of the odors; her head was steady and +her never-failing health was the envy of all the household. Ricardo +likewise sometimes sat at the invalid's feet. The girl scarcely saw more +than his silhouette outlined against the brighter opening of the door, +but this was a great comfort to her. She was not alone; Ricardo was not +a stranger. Sometimes when the invalid asked for something and both +arose in haste to give it to her, if their hands met, Marta withdrew +hers hurriedly, as though she had touched a viper, and she let her +friend minister to Doa Gertrudis. Neither spoke. Marta, forgetful of +herself, thought only of her mother. Ricardo, more egotistical, thought +of Maria. The girl's whole soul was wrapped up in the dear being +painfully breathing by her side, and without making the slightest error, +with the accuracy of a chronometer, she counted her pulse and watched +her respiration. Don Maximo and the Seora de Ciudad were whispering in +the adjoining room, as though they were making confession. The lady was +explaining to the old doctor the character and temperament of each<a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a> one +of her daughters; the conversation was long. In the course of nine hours +the sick woman had four severe attacks, leaving her so prostrated that +the doctor seriously feared a fatal result. Nevertheless, after the +fourth, she remained comparatively comfortable, and passed the day quite +easily. The danger, in spite of this, continued.</p> + +<p>After the first moments of effusion were over, Maria called her sister +aside into a corner of the room.</p> + +<p>"Tell me; has mamma made confession?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"And why didn't you call the priest?... Didn't you perceive that she was +in danger?"</p> + +<p>The truth was, Marta had scarcely thought of doing such a thing. +Besides, she was afraid of frightening her mother, and thought that this +might be bad for her. In the bottom of her heart, likewise, there was a +great terror of that tremendous scene, and she wanted to banish it from +her mind. Maria chided her severely for her negligence, bringing before +her the terrible responsibility which she would have incurred had her +mother died. Marta saw that she was right, and hung her head. She sent +instantly to summon Doa Gertrudis's confessor, and Maria undertook to +prepare her mother. Wonder of wonders! Doa Gertrudis, who during her +life had asked an infinite number of times to have her confessor +summoned, now felt overwhelmed with surprise and fear when her daughter +told her that she must get ready. Possibly the fact was, that when she +had asked for it, she harbored the conviction that there was no real +danger of death, while now she understood that matters were really +serious. At all events, her daughter's words made a great impression +upon her, and she raised all the objection in her power against +receiving him, urging as an excuse that<a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a> she felt better; that when +there should be danger, she would herself call for him.</p> + +<p>Maria opposed this delay, and found herself under the cruel necessity of +clearly explaining to the invalid the seriousness of her situation. Doa +Gertrudis yielded, but her face betrayed a great discouragement.</p> + +<p>When the priest arrived he was left alone with her, all retiring from +the apartment. Marta went to weep alone in her room, so as not to sadden +her father; he did the same, so as not to frighten his daughters. Maria +watched at the door for the signal that the pious act was accomplished. +At last the priest left the room, and, with the mask of solemnity which +all daily witnesses of death-scenes are obliged to assume, hiding the +real indifference, logically caused by such familiarity, he said to +those who were waiting:—</p> + +<p>"You can enter: we have finished."</p> + +<p>"How is she?" was the question of each one.</p> + +<p>"Well!... well!... well!... The poor woman is calm.... I believe that +for her to receive the Divine Majesty will be good for her, as well for +the body as for the soul."</p> + +<p>"That is true.... You are right, Seor Cura," said several ladies.</p> + +<p>"I have seen in my own family a very notable case of the power of +faith," declared one of them. "My uncle Pepe had a very serious lung +trouble, confirmed consumption. He had consulted a multitude of +physicians, and had taken more than a cartload of medicine. Well, then +it was suggested that, unless he were prepared to die, he would not +recover. He had the priest called, made confession, received the +viaticum, and even wanted to have extreme unction.... But from that very +time, I don't<a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a> know what it was, but it is a fact that he became more +comfortable, and began to improve ... to improve ... to improve, until +at last he became what you see him to-day."</p> + +<p>The other women confirmed this opinion. Each one related her experience +in support of it, and the priest summed up all the arguments, showing +that such miraculous effects were nothing more than was to be expected, +granting that the sick person's body received the presence of the Lord +of the Heaven and earth, in whose hands is the safety of all mankind.</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock in the evening, they brought the viaticum to Doa +Gertrudis with all the ceremony required by such a solemn act. The house +of Elorza was filled with strange faces; a throng composed for the most +part of working people invaded the stairway, the corridors, and even the +invalid's sick-room, with wax tapers in their hands. The priest, with +the acolyte before him, and the holy box on his breast, passed by the +physician, and entered the sick-room. Don Mariano had gone to hide +himself. Maria, with a book of devotions in her hand, read to her mother +the prayers which were to be said before communion. Marta stood leaning +against the wall, pale and frightened, gazing at the solemn ceremony, as +though she saw some terrible vision. One of the women, who made their +way into the room, handed her a lighted candle, and she took it without +knowing what she did. When the priest brought forth the Holy Wafer, they +had to tell her to kneel. The scene was sad and stirring for any one: +how much more for a daughter! The wax candles lugubriously sputtered in +the silence of the sick-room, and cast tremulous yellow reflections on +the walls. The voice of the priest, as he raised the Host, was still +more lugubrious than the sputtering of the tapers. The<a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a> invalid, +weakened by her illness, had grown terribly pale from emotion; she sat +up as well as she could and, supported by Maria, and with her hands +folded over her breast, she opened her mouth to receive the body of +Jesus Christ. Then the bystanders went out softly, and on the staircase +was heard the vibrating tinkle of the sacristan's little bell, +announcing that the Lord was departing from the house. Only the intimate +friends remained. A group of ladies invaded the sick woman's room to +congratulate her, and to ask after her health. Doa Gertrudis said that +she was more comfortable; and, taking her daughter Maria's hand, she +thanked her for having given her the pleasure of communion. Her recovery +was to be hoped for; all the ladies found her very much like herself, +and assured her that it would not be long before she was well.</p> + +<p>"God can do all things, Doa Gertrudis. When one's accounts are settled +with the Lord, there is no fear of any harm befalling. Nothing, this is +nothing, seora; you will see how you will soon recover."</p> + +<p>"I have offered a mass to the Sacred Christ of Tunis for the day on +which our seora shall get well," said Genoveva, Maria's maid.</p> + +<p>"Woman, why did you not offer it to the Ecce Homo of Mercy?" asked an +old laundress of the house, in some surprise. She had always lighted the +lamp before the said Ecce Homo, and kept the chapel clean, so that she +came to look upon it as her own property.</p> + +<p>"Ay, woman! because the Holy Christ of Tunis is more miraculous."</p> + +<p>"A cuckold on <i>him</i>," exclaimed the washerwoman, quickly, with angry +eyes.</p> + +<p>A furious altercation arose between the two, until Maria was +scandalized, and bade them be still, explaining that the<a name="page_288" id="page_288"></a> Christ of +Tunis and of Grace was one and the same Lord, though every Christian was +free to have the most faith in whatever image he pleased.</p> + +<p>At last the ladies withdrew, leaving only two,—the widow De Delgado and +one of her sisters,—to spend the night with the young ladies. Don +Maximo went to rest awhile, promising to return before long. The +confessor did not wish to leave the house because he saw no improvement +in his penitent, and he threw himself down on the sofa. Ricardo likewise +remained.</p> + +<p>At two o'clock what Don Maximo feared took place. The attack was +renewed, and unfortunately with such violence that the unhappy lady very +narrowly escaped passing away in it. Marta, on seeing the danger, +recovered the activity which she lost before the lugubrious ceremony of +the communion; she prepared all the medicines; she rubbed the sick +woman's feet with a flesh-brush; she held her upright a long time, so +that she might not choke to death, and acted as Don Maximo had +prescribed in the former cases. All those who touched Doa Gertrudis +hurt her; only Martita's soft hands had the privilege of moving her from +side to side, and placing her in the most comfortable positions without +causing her pain. Finally the sick woman came to herself and spoke, but +Don Maximo, hastily summoned by the servants, found her pulse so feeble +on his arrival that he could not help making a slight gesture of alarm. +Marta noticed that gesture, and calling him alone into the passage-way, +she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing: "Don Maximo, my dearest, +for God's sake, save my mother!... yes, my mother is dying!... yes ... +she is dying.... I saw your gesture...."</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, child,"<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> said the old physician, drawing her<a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a> head to his +breast; "as yet there is no reason for alarm.... I will certainly do all +in my power, and more, to save her."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, Don Maximo.... Do it, I beseech you by all that you most love +in this world!... by the memory of your wife, whom you loved so dearly!"</p> + +<p>"Don't! try not to cry any more! the thing to do now is to go and give +her a spoonful of quinine; then we will put a cataplasm on her stomach."</p> + +<p>The good Don Maximo, disguising the presentiment which he felt, +succeeded in calming the girl, and he set himself to applying the +remedies which his poor science but rich desire suggested.</p> + +<p>But he was not able to halt the swift approach of death which in full +career was fast approaching the noble lady's couch. At four o'clock in +the morning they noticed that she spoke with greater difficulty; her +pronunciation halted, and she often stammered. Almost all her words were +directed to Maria, asking her numberless times about the events of the +preceding night, and insisting on being told, showering boundless praise +on her for her bravery, and congratulating herself on having such a good +daughter.</p> + +<p>"My daughter, beseech God for my safety.... God cannot ... deny thee +anything."</p> + +<p>"Maria, perceiving that her mother was dying, replied:</p> + +<p>"Mamma, the one important thing is the safety of the soul.... If God +wishes to restore you, let it be a miracle to you of his sacred +grace...."</p> + +<p>"But ... am I dying ... my daughter?"</p> + +<p>"God only can tell.... Do you wish the seor cura to come in and give +you a short confession?"</p> + +<p><a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a>"Yes ... let him come in ... my daughter, let him come in!"</p> + +<p>The priest came, and remained a few moments alone with the sick woman. +Those who were in the adjoining room kept a sad silence. Don Mariano +lying on a sofa, with his cheek resting in one hand, shut his eyes and +gave evidence of deep dejection. After the priest had finished, Marta, +Maria, Ricardo, and Don Maximo returned. Doa Gertrudis's condition grew +continually more critical. There began to be noticeable in her a +restlessness of bad augury; she turned her head from one side to the +other as though she could not find a resting-place, as though she were +already searching for the pillow on which she was to repose eternally. +Her vacillating hands picked up and dropped the bedclothes incessantly, +while her eyes also restlessly rolled in their orbits, fastening, from +time to time, on the ceiling of the room; it seemed as though she found +no one on whom to rest them. Soon Martita noticed that her hands were +cold, and she mentioned the fact aloud, in a simple manner, without +appreciating its unfortunate significance. Don Maximo turned away his +head to hide his emotion; the priest let his fall on his breast.</p> + +<p>"I feel ... very well ... now," she said to Maria, raising her +daughter's hand to her lips. "As soon as I ... I am well ... we will go +... to Lourdes ... together ... will we not?... It is very ... pretty +... is it that one?... very pretty ... very pretty.... If you knew ... +what I see now!... The Virgin ... the Virgin coming ... surrounded by +stars.... Put on my ... velvet dress ... to receive her.... Come ... +quick ... quick.... Don't you see ... I am entering by the door?... Ay! +<a name="page_291" id="page_291"></a>what trials!... Good day, Seora.... I have a daughter ... who much +resembles you.... She has a fair complexion ... and blue eyes ... very +beautiful!... very beautiful!"</p> + +<p>A slight hoarseness began to choke the sick woman's throat; the last +words were rather breathed than spoken; it was a dry, sharp huskiness +constantly growing more pronounced. The confessor hearing it made a sign +to Maria, and she quickly took a silver image of Christ hanging on the +wall, and put it in her mother's hand, saying:—</p> + +<p>"Mamma, think on the Lord.... Think of what the Divine Saviour suffered +for us."</p> + +<p>"I ... am not ... dying," said the invalid.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mamma ... yes ... you are dying," replied the young woman with +kindled face, full of fear and anguish, fearing that she was not well +prepared. "Repent of the sins that you have committed!... You do repent, +and ask forgiveness of God for them, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes ... yes," murmured the invalid.</p> + +<p>"Repeat the creed with me!" said the confessor, assuming a more solemn +tone: "I believe in God the Father Almighty ... maker of heaven ... and +earth...."</p> + +<p>Doa Gertrudis repeated the priest's words clumsily, and as though she +were not heeding what she did. She looked at the ceiling with strange +persistence, while the features of her countenance were rapidly +changing; a purple circle was drawn around her eyes, and her nostrils +became strangely pinched. When the priest was done she again began to +address Maria.</p> + +<p>"The truth ... is ... that I have ... no hat ... fit to make the journey +... to Lourdes in.... Those that I ... have ... are ... very +old-fashioned.... Do me ... the favor ... to write to Luisa ... and have +her ... send me one ... in the newest style.... You also ... need a +<a name="page_292" id="page_292"></a>dress.... Attend to it, my daughter ... attend to it."</p> + +<p>"Mamma, leave the vanities of the world.... Think on God.... Consider +that you are going to appear very soon in his presence."</p> + +<p>"No ... no.... I am not dying."</p> + +<p>"Ay, mamma, by the Holy Virgin, I beg you to feel that you are going to +die.... Think on your salvation!"</p> + +<p>"I am thinking about it ... yes ... I am thinking about it," said the +invalid mechanically.</p> + +<p>The priest began to read from a book the Commendation of the Soul in +Latin. All knelt. Then the dying woman, raising her head a little, +asked:—</p> + +<p>"Why are you all kneeling?"</p> + +<p>"To recommend you to God, mamma," replied Maria.</p> + +<p>And getting up and putting her face near her mother's, she continued in +a whisper:—</p> + +<p>"Say with me, mamma: '<i>My Jesus</i>....'"</p> + +<p>The mother repeated listlessly: "My Jesus."</p> + +<p><i>"By thy most sacred passion."</i></p> + +<p>"By thy most sacred ... passion."</p> + +<p><i>"By the innumerable pains that thou hast suffered."</i></p> + +<p>"By the in ... numerable ... pains."</p> + +<p>"<i>That thou hast suffered</i>," repeated Maria.</p> + +<p>"That thou hast suffered."</p> + +<p><i>"Pardon thou my offences."</i></p> + +<p>"Pardon thou ... my offences."</p> + +<p><i>"And save my soul."</i></p> + +<p>"That'll do, that'll do!" said the dying woman, pushing her daughter +away with her trembling hand. "No, I am not dying.... I am well.... Come +here, Martita.... It isn't true ... that I am ... dying ... is it, +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"No, mamma," replied the girl, pressing her hands. "You are not dying, +mamita; no.... You must get well soon, and we will go to drive in the +<a name="page_293" id="page_293"></a>carriage as we used ... now the weather is fine."</p> + +<p>"Yes, loveliest, yes.... We will go ... wait ... lift me a little.... I +am uncomfortable in this position."</p> + +<p>Marta helped her to sit up; but as she did so her mother's eyes rested +upon her, fixed, motionless, terrible. That look smote the poor girl to +the depths of her heart, and uttering a frightful, piercing cry, she let +her fall back on the pillow. The Seora de Elorza's head relaxed as +though the neck were dislocated, with open mouth and rigid lips; and +still from the pillow her great glassy eyes continued to follow her +daughter with the same fixed and terrifying gaze.</p> + +<p>"Mother of my heart!" cried the girl, instantly throwing her arms around +her. "Do not look at me so, for God's sake! Mamita mia, do not look at +me so. Ay! do not look at me so. Ay! how you terrify me!... Mamita! +mamita!... Ay! O God, what is it?"</p> + +<p>Don Mariano, who, on hearing the cry, had hurried into the bedchamber +with anxious face, and hair standing on end, tried to draw his daughter +from the corpse.</p> + +<p>"Come away! my soul's daughter, now you have no longer a mother!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have her.... Yes ... here she is.... Mamma! Mamita! You are +here, are you not?... Answer me!... Speak!... Kiss me, for God's sake, +mamita!... Let go of me, papa!... Let go of me!... Now she is going to +kiss me.... Wait a moment, for God's sake!... Let go of me, papa +darling!... Let her kiss me!"</p> + +<p>The girl had embraced the dead body of her mother with extraordinary +force, and covered it with eager loud kisses. Don Mariano, terribly +excited, almost beside himself, pulled her away brutally, as though the +welfare of all depended upon wrenching her from that position.<a name="page_294" id="page_294"></a> Maria, +kneeling in one corner of the room, had lifted her eyes and her hands to +heaven, and was praying for the eternal glory of the departed.</p> + +<p>At last they succeeded in dragging Marta away, and took her to another +room. Without intending it at all, they caused her great harm. The +unhappy girl had not sufficiently mastered her grief; by taking her away +they choked the fountain of her tears, and they did not flow again. +Pale, completely altered, with eyes fixed on vacancy, she neither +listened to what was said to her, nor was willing to take what was given +to calm her. She did nothing else but repeat incessantly, in a low, +somewhat hoarse voice:—</p> + +<p>"Mamma.... Mamma.... Mamma!"</p> + +<p>The priest went to her, and said:—</p> + +<p>"My daughter, calm yourself, calm yourself. It is a test which God sends +you that you may show your resignation. Instead of rebelling against His +will, you ought to thank Him for His remembrance of you, showing that He +loves you...."</p> + +<p>"Don't say foolish things!" exclaimed the girl, in an angry voice, +casting upon him a look of scorn. "Is that a proof of God's love, that +he has taken away my mother?... Then that's a fine kind of love!... a +fine kind of love ... a fine kind of love!"</p> + +<p>Marta kept repeating the expression over and over again for some time, +in a tone of irritation. When she had calmed down a little the priest +said once more,—</p> + +<p>"My daughter, you should take example of your sister. She feels her +misfortune as much as you, but she is giving proof of Christian +resignation and fortitude.... She does not rebel: she acknowledges the +working of the Almighty hand, and with her prayers is contributing to<a name="page_295" id="page_295"></a> +the greater happiness and glory of her who is no more."</p> + +<p>Marta saw that the priest was right; she repented of her anger and hung +her head, murmuring,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, my sister is a saint!"</p> + +<p>"You also can be one, my daughter. The road to perfection is open to all +who wish to follow it...."</p> + +<p>The girl received the counsels of the priest and of the others who were +with him, but did not answer a word. She continued in the same way, not +moving a finger, her face pale and distorted, and her eyes fixed. Her +indifference began to cause them anxiety, and they told her father. The +instant Don Mariano entered the room, she felt a shock, and suddenly +jumping up she threw herself into his arms sobbing bitterly. She was +saved.</p> + +<p>The friends of the family, by dint of strong pressure, made Don Mariano +and Martita go and rest for a few minutes, while the proper arrangements +were made for laying out the body and for the funeral. Maria remained +praying in her mother's room. The pale rays of the dawn found her still +on her knees, with her face turned to heaven. The wax tapers which she +herself had taken care to place around the deathbed were burning +funereally, their crude yellow beams struggling with the languid light +pouring into the room. No one dared to call her from her devout +meditations; those who penetrated into the dressing-room and saw her in +that attitude, whispered a few words of surprise, and retired silently +with emotion and admiration.</p> + +<p>Finally, all the outside people went away, and Maria shut herself in her +room to take the rest which she so much needed, after the cruel series +of changes and the great labors that she had undergone during the last +few<a name="page_296" id="page_296"></a> hours. At noon the father and his two daughters met in the +dining-room, to begin the melancholy meal which all who have experienced +a family affliction will recall with horror: a meal in which tears +mingle with the food, and sobs fill the long intervals of silence. At +this first meal scarcely any one spoke; no one ventured to lift his eyes +lest they should meet those of the others, and only furtive, +grief-stricken glances were cast at the place left vacant by the being +who had just fled from this world forever. The courses were eaten +mechanically, without appetite, and handkerchiefs were lifted to the +eyes oftener than napkins to the lips; the rattle of the dishes cruelly +wounded their ears, and the rare words exchanged fell from their lips +tremulously and without animation. The spirit protested dumbly against +the brutal necessity imposed upon it by the body, obliging it, by such a +wretched act, to give over the expression of its bitter grief and break +the current of its melancholy thoughts.</p> + +<p>They arose from the table in the same silence. Maria shut herself in her +room again. Don Mariano, accompanied by Martita, likewise went to his. +They sat down together on a sofa, with their arms closely clasped about +each other for the larger part of the afternoon; the caresses which they +bestowed upon each other gradually changed their desperate sorrow into a +most tender feeling, melting into tears. They took turns in consoling +each other; the girl declared that her mother in heaven would be on the +watch for them all, and promised to be always good and prudent, and +never to cause her father sorrow; the father pressed her to his heart, +and blessed her mother for having given him such good and beautiful +daughters. When a servant came to tell them of the call of some ladies, +they felt an unspeakable annoyance, a painful<a name="page_297" id="page_297"></a> impression, as though +they had been wakened from some melancholy sweet sorrow to plunge into +despair again.</p> + +<p>Don Mariano suspected the motive of the call. They wanted to distract +their attention, so that they might not notice the noise made by the men +in carrying the body from the house. And, in fact, a group of ladies and +a few gentlemen endeavored, by repeated entreaties, to persuade them to +go to more retired apartments; but their efforts, as far as Don Mariano +was concerned, were in vain; he strenuously urged his friends, in a tone +which gave no chance for reply, to leave him alone as they had done, but +to take Martita with them.</p> + +<p>Alone with his grief the Seor de Elorza felt more keenly his loss and +more deeply his misfortune. In youth there is scarcely any loss that is +not reparable; the passions, the feelings are more intense, but at the +same time more transitory. One lives for the future, and through the +darkest and most furious storms there never fails to shine some bright +spot, promising consolation. But at the age which our caballero had +reached hope is no more; the future exists not. Every misfortune +undergone is a new pain, coming to join those that are past, and waiting +for those that are to come: the affections which perish, like the hair +that falls, find no substitute. Don Mariano, with eyes closed and head +sadly bent upon his breast, let his thoughts fly back over all the +events of his long life, and in all of them, whether fortunate or +unlucky, he saw the image of his wife, the inseparable companion of his +manhood. He saw her awakening in his youthful heart a passion at once +tender and ardent: beautiful and pure as an angel, with delicate oval +face and blue eyes, looking at him with love. He remembered perfectly +the few times when he had had lover's quarrels with her, and<a name="page_298" id="page_298"></a> the little +reason that there had been for almost all of them. Gertrudis had such a +peaceable disposition and such a gentle nature. It always ended in +making her weep. He saw her on the day of his marriage, in her black +satin (she was still in mourning for her father, the Marqus de +Revollar) with which the fairness of her complexion and the gold of her +hair made a dazzling contrast. A distinguished gentleman of Madrid, +present at the wedding, taking him into a corner of the drawing-room, +said to him: "Elorza, you are marrying one of the most beautiful women +of Spain. I tell you so, and I have seen many in my life." The same day +he started on a journey through foreign lands. He remembered, as though +it were but yesterday, the intoxicating, ineffable impression, perhaps +the sweetest and most blissful of his life, that he felt when he +suddenly found himself alone with his beloved, as the coachman whipped +up his horses, and they heard the farewells of the relations and +friends, who sped them from the door of the palace of Revollar. How the +poor little girl blushed when she realized that they were alone, and she +in her lover's power! But he was polite and generous. He merely asked +for one hand, and raised it timidly to his lips. All the enchanting +details of that journey were imprinted on the Seor de Elorza's memory. +Then he remembered the strange sensation of pleasure and surprise which +he felt at the birth of his first child, and the deliciously cruel +impression which his wife made upon him, by keeping him rigorously away +from her during those moments of anguish. But, ay! in a short time poor +Gertrudis became an invalid, and never recovered perfect health. In +spite of this, his love for her had never grown cool; he took the +greatest care of her, endeavoring, by all the means in his power, to +alleviate her sufferings.<a name="page_299" id="page_299"></a> She appreciated his sacrifices, seeing in him +a Providence who always soothed her by his caresses. Even after many +years had gone by, and when no one at all took any notice of the good +lady's tribulations, still Don Mariano was the one who pitied her most, +though he made believe look upon her attacks with disdain, and she +comprehended it perfectly, and she still reserved for him in her heart +the same privileged place as in her youth. The harmony of generous, warm +sentiments in both, the affection which they had lavished upon their +daughters, the deep esteem which they mutually felt, and the ever vivid +recollection of their passionate loves, had been so woven into life that +neither of them understood it without being side by side. It was the +intimate, perfect, and absolute union ordained by God, such as men +rarely heed.</p> + +<p>A melancholy, ominous noise, heard through the walls of his room, caused +him to raise his head, and fix his eyes on space. Yes, there could be no +doubt; they were carrying her away, carrying her away. Don Mariano flung +himself, face down, on the sofa, and hid his face in the cushions to +choke his sobs.</p> + +<p>"My wife! wife of my heart!... They are carrying you away ... carrying +you away forever!... Ay! how terrible!"</p> + +<p>And the good caballero's tears soaked through the texture of the damask, +and his athletic form shook convulsively because of his sobs. Then he +felt a great curiosity, that terrible curiosity which exerts a +fascination at such moments, and leaves an indelible mark on the memory +of him who has satisfied it. He waited attentively and soon heard the +heavy shuffling of feet, and after a little the funereal, heart-rending +song of the clergy almost under the balconies. Then he got up quickly, +and cautiously<a name="page_300" id="page_300"></a> lifted one of the curtains. And he saw the coffin, the +black, gilded coffin, borne like a boat above the throng. The sky was +cloudy and gray, leaving the great plaza of Nieva in shadow. The surging +multitude extended to the farthest corners, moving with a slow and +measured tread. And the boat, preceded by a great silver cross between +two lighted candles, was borne away, carrying from him for evermore his +treasure.</p> + +<p>He let the curtain drop and once more flung himself on the sofa, +muttering incoherent words. He knew not how long he remained thus. The +light was fading, leaving the room in shadow, and everything was +silent.... Everything except his thoughts, which spoke to him +ceaselessly, and the sobs which broke from his breast.</p> + +<p>And thus he remained a long time, a long time. At last he perceived that +the door of his room was softly opening; he turned his head and saw his +daughter Maria. She came and sat silently beside him. But he, as though +having a presentiment of a new sorrow, asked her no question, said +nothing. He merely took her hand and closed his eyes again.</p> + +<p>"Papa," said the young woman after a long period of silence, "we have +suffered a fearful misfortune, one of those misfortunes which cause even +the most sceptical to turn their eyes to heaven in search of +consolation. God alone possesses the key to them; He knows their reason, +and is able to turn them into a result advantageous for us. This +misfortune has confirmed me in a resolution which I made some time +since, to consecrate myself to God forever.... I know by a thousand +signs that He calls me, and I should be truly ungrateful if I did not +obey His call.... I am useless in the world.... All its amusements weary +me; thus, then, I make no sacrifice in<a name="page_301" id="page_301"></a> confining myself in a +convent.... Besides, there I can better pray for you and be more useful +to you than here.... The idea of matrimony, which you have desired for +me, is repugnant to my heart, where fortunately there has sprung up +another and purer love which is immortal.... This resolution ought not +to surprise you.... I believe that you ought not to feel it.... At this +solemn moment in which afflictions weigh down upon you, perhaps it may +be a consolation to you to know that you are going to have a daughter +safeguarded from all deceit, from all disloyalty, who is living happily +in the service of God and praying for you."</p> + +<p>Maria had spoken with frequent pauses, as though she expected her father +to interrupt her. But she ended, and still there passed a long period of +silence without his opening his lips. At last the young woman asked him, +timidly,—</p> + +<p>"Have you nothing to say to me, papa?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," he replied, without looking at her.</p> + +<p>"But do you give me your consent to do as I said?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I knew you would!... You are so good ... and sufficiently +religious.... You are not like other fathers who are blinded, and would +rather their daughters were exposed to the dangers of the world than be +forever servants of the Lord, in the safe precincts of a holy house.... +Thanks, papa, thanks.... I was afraid ... it is true, I was afraid that +you would not approve my resolution.... But God has touched your +heart.... Now I will leave you.... Marta is waiting for me.... Adios, +papa!.... Let me kiss you.... Adios!"</p> + +<p>And the door opened and shut again softly. The Seor de Elorza remained +motionless in the same position<a name="page_302" id="page_302"></a> in which his daughter left him, sitting +with his hands clasped and his head bent on his breast.</p> + +<p>The room remained in darkness. The noises outside slowly died away. An +immense, keen, cruel grief palpitated in that lonely room, and a pair of +fixed, stupefied, tearless eyes reflected the few rays of light that +still wandered lost in the atmosphere.</p> + +<p>How long did he remain so?</p> + +<p>Perhaps the little birds that came at dawn to perch on the bars of the +balconies might reply. But the pallor of his cheeks, the livid circles +around his eyes, and the deep wrinkles in his brow, doubtless more +exactly told.<a name="page_303" id="page_303"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /><br /> +<small>LET US REJOICE, BELOVED.</small></h2> + +<p>I<small>N</small> the small but pretty church of the nuns of San Bernardo, in Nieva, +there was great bustling. The sacristan, aided by three acolytes, the +two serving women of the convent, and a female from the city, celebrated +for her skill in dressing the saints, were stirring up a more than +ordinary noise in brushing the ornaments of the altars with fox tails +and feather dusters. They had no hesitation in standing upon them, and +even climbing upon the saints themselves, whenever it was required by +the need of dusting some carved work or placing a taper in the proper +place. The Mother Abbess from the choir, with her forehead pressed +against the grating, shouted her orders like a general-in-chief, in a +sharp, piping voice.</p> + +<p>"A candlestick there! Yonder a wreath of flowers! Lift up that lamp a +little more! Place the crown on that Virgin straight...."</p> + +<p>In the interior of the convent likewise reigned considerable excitement. +A group of nuns was watching at the door of a cell, as one of their +companions was giving the last touches to the poor bed which she was +making. She had just put up above the pillow the crucifix demanded by +the rules. A great silver waiter stood on the table, which was pine, +likewise according to the rules. When the nun had made the bed ready, +she came out of the cell, addressing a word or two to the others as she +passed. Then she returned with a bundle of clothes in her hand, and all<a name="page_304" id="page_304"></a> +hastened to relieve her of them, unfolding them, pulling them, and +giving them a hundred turns. It was the complete dress of a novice,—the +white flannel tunic, the linen hood, the shoes, the rosary, the bronze +crucifix, and other things. The nuns looked eagerly at each one of the +articles, as though it were something that they had never seen before, +uttering in low voices many different opinions.</p> + +<p>"Ay! it seems to me that this rosary has very coarse beads."—"No, +sister, take yours and you will see that they are alike."—"I am going +to see, just for my own satisfaction.... It's true; they are alike.... +What a goose!"—"The flannel is too harsh."—"It is because it wasn't +well washed."—"This hood is beautifully ironed!"—"Hess mio! what +stitches!... that is not sewing, it is basting!... Who made this +tunic?"—"The Sister Isabel."—"Then it's splendid!"—"Don't say so, +sister, perhaps you wouldn't have done it so well!"—"I? do it worse ... +Come ... come ... never in my life did I make such a botch!"—"How many +have you ever done, sister?"—"Never did I, never!" repeated the nun, in +angry voice. "I could sew better when I was seven years old."</p> + +<p>At this moment the Mother Superior appeared in the passage-way; the nun +who had chided her companion stepped aside from the group, and said to +her,—</p> + +<p>"Mother, Sister Lusa has just boasted that she sews better than Sister +Isabel, and she lost her temper because I told her that she ought not to +do it."</p> + +<p>"Is it true, daughter?" demanded the Mother Superior, in a severe tone.</p> + +<p>Sister Lusa hung her head.</p> + +<p>The Mother Superior meditated a moment or two; then she said:—<a name="page_305" id="page_305"></a></p> + +<p>"Daughter, you know well that here no one ought to boast of doing +anything better than any one else.... You ought to believe yourself the +least of all, for perhaps you are.... For some time you have been very +far from humble, and it is necessary for us to begin to correct this +fault.... First thing, go and ask pardon of Sister Isabel for your +fault, and then shut yourself in your cell and pray a rosary to the +Virgin.... Afterwards when I am in the reception-room with the novice, +you must present yourself there and kneel, so that the people may see +that you are in disgrace."</p> + +<p>Sister Lusa bent her head still lower and hurried away. A smile of +triumph hovered over the lips of the nun.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>At the same time, the servants of the Elorza mansion were coming and +going, hither and thither, with various objects in their hands. Pedro, +the old coachman, was polishing the state carriage, while two +stable-boys were grooming the horses. Martin, the cook, was preparing a +splendid collation. The maid-servants were running up and down stairs, +from the principal floor to Maria's apartments, which were full of +people, though it was not yet ten o'clock in the morning. The fifteen or +twenty ladies who could scarcely find room to turn around, were all +talking at once, as is natural, turning that silent elegant retreat into +an insufferable hen-roost. Standing in the middle of it was Seor de +Elorza's eldest daughter, half-dressed, and around her were several +ladies, some of them on their knees, adorning her and adjusting her as +though she were a wooden virgin. Great emotion reigned everywhere. They +had already put on her a costly garment of white<a name="page_306" id="page_306"></a> satin, decorated in +front, from the neck to the bottom of the skirt, with a fringe of orange +flowers. One lady was just putting on her feet a pair of diminutive and +most elegant boots of the same cloth, while another was hurriedly sewing +on a number of flowers, which had fallen off. Others were arranging a +garland of orange blossoms upon the top of her head; this proceeding +caused a great commotion. Amparito Ciudad claimed that the garland was +too large, and did not show enough of her friend's beautiful hair; the +rest believed that there was no need of making it smaller. After a +lively discussion, it was decided to adopt a middle course by taking a +number of flowers, though very few, from the wreath. Frequent +exclamations were heard from those who took no share in the +preparations.</p> + +<p>"Ay! what an expense it takes, Dios mio!"</p> + +<p>"Can it be her true vocation!... A girl so young and so lively!"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing else talked about in town.... Everybody is excited +over this fortunate event!"</p> + +<p>"Fortunate for her, my dear! I don't know as I shall have strength +enough to see the ceremony."</p> + +<p>"But I am going to see it, though it should cost me a fit of sickness."</p> + +<p>Some were already beginning to shed tears, putting their handkerchiefs +to their eyes; others were whispering about the preparations for the +festival, and the circumstances which had led the young woman to take +the veil. Much was said about a letter which she had written to the +Marqus de Pealta, bidding him farewell, and exculpating herself. Some +pitied Ricardo, while others said in an undertone, that he would have no +trouble in finding somebody to marry him. "After all, if God called her +to Him<a name="page_307" id="page_307"></a> by this path, had she any reason to turn from Him, because a +young lad was in love with her? If she had left him for another, that +would be different! but as it was for God, he had no right to complain." +This was the same argument that shone in the Seorita de Elorza'a +letter, written and sent to Ricardo a fortnight before the day of which +we are speaking. Thus it ran:—</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>"M<small>Y</small> D<small>EAR</small> R<small>ICARDO</small>,—</p> + +<p>Though it is now some time since the course of our love was +interrupted, tacitly, and by virtue of providential circumstances, +rather than by my desire, I feel it my duty to explain to thee something +about the resolution which I have made, and which, of course, is known +to thee, I cannot forget, and indeed I ought not to forget, that thou +hast been my betrothed, with the approbation of my parents, and the +sincere affection of my heart.</p> + +<p>"Before renouncing the world forever, I must tell thee that I have +absolutely no reason to complain of thy behavior to me. Thou hast ever +been good, true, and affectionate, and hast estimated me higher than I +deserve. It is indeed true, that if I were to remain in the world I +would not give thee in exchange for any other man, and I should count +myself very happy in calling thee my husband, if I did not count myself +much more so in being the bride of Jesus Christ. The preference which I +make cannot offend or trouble a man who is as good and pious as thou +art. Henceforth no earthly love exists between us; there remains only a +pure and most sweet friendship, uniting us in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. +I shall not forget thee in my poor prayers. Forget me as far as +possible. Thou art good, thou art noble, handsome, and rich. Seek for a +woman who will deserve thee more than I deserve thee, and marry, and be +happy. I shall pray without ceasing for you.</p> + +<p class="r"><span style="margin-right: 5%;">"Adios,</span><br /> +"<span class="smcap">Maria</span>."</p> + +<p><a name="page_308" id="page_308"></a></p> + +<p>Could he have had a better gilded pill? No; no; Ricardo had no right to +complain.</p> + +<p>While the most of the ladies added innumerable glosses to this document, +those who were robing the new bride-elect of Jesus were about finishing +their task and giving the last touches to her dress, with the same +complacency that an artist shows in laying the last shades on his +picture, stepping back and coming near a thousand times to realize the +effect produced. Here a pin; the throat a little more open to show the +beautiful alabaster neck; a few ringlets on her brow carelessly escaping +from among the orange flowers; a button that needed fastening. Maria +aided her maids of honor with quick motions. All admired her serenity. +And, in fact, the young bride could not have shown a face more joyous at +such moments. Nevertheless there was a certain agitation noticeable in +her joy. Her movements were too quick and eager, as though she were +trying to hide the slight trembling of her hands and the tremor that ran +over her whole body. Was it a tremor of delight?</p> + +<p>Oh, yes, Maria felt an intense delight.</p> + +<p>The brilliant rose bloom of her cheeks told the same story; the +unnatural glitter of her eyes likewise proclaimed it. Her lips were dry, +and her nostrils pink and more dilated than usual. Her white brow was +marked by a long, slight furrow, telling of the quick desire, the +restless, sensual eagerness hidden in her heart. It was the cheerful +eagerness of the epicure, who finds himself face to face with his +favorite food after a long fast. Over her excited brilliant face passed +a throng of warm flushes, in a vague, intricate confusion of dismay, +dread, and voluptuous desires. She was going to be the bride of Jesus +Christ and shut herself forever between four walls, passing<a name="page_309" id="page_309"></a> her whole +life in a mysterious union, whose sweet delight she had not as yet +enjoyed in full. A great curiosity overwhelmed her, stirred her +unspeakably. The choir of the Convent of San Bernardo, where the half +light pouring in through the lofty windows slept in mystic calm upon the +gray oaken chairs, had always fascinated her. How many times she had +trembled, when she saw a silent white figure cross the floor and sit +down there in the body of the church. It was a sweet voluptuous +trembling, which made her eagerly long to enter that fantastic retreat. +The nuns, with their tall white figures, seemed to her like supernatural +beings,—angels come down to earth for a while, who would soon mount up +to heaven again. She was particularly attracted by one who was young and +beautiful; when she saw her enter the choir, she could not take her eyes +from her. The stern, classic beauty of that sister, and her clear, +steady gaze made an impression upon her, which she could not explain. In +her breast sprang up a certain extravagant attraction toward her, and a +quick, eager desire to be her friend, or rather her disciple; to kneel +before her and say: "Teach me, guide me." Oh, if she would permit me to +give her a kiss, even though it were the briefest! One evening a +tremendous temptation assailed her to ask her for it. The church was +empty; she looked back and saw that the beautiful nun had made her way +into the choir and was kneeling near the grating. And, without further +consideration as to what she was doing, she went to her and said in +trembling voice: "Seora, give me your hand, that I may kiss it." The +nun made a graceful sign that it could not be, but rising, she offered +her the crucifix of her rosary, with a smile so sweet and assuring, that +Maria, when she kissed it, felt deeply moved.<a name="page_310" id="page_310"></a></p> + +<p>Always when she entered the church of the convent she felt the same +rapture, a species of voluptuous somnolence penetrating her whole being +like a caress. From that choir came languorous, sweet murmurs, calling +her, inviting her to leave the pleasures of the world for others more +sweet and mysterious, which she had already begun to enjoy without full +knowledge of them. Jesus had granted her already rich enjoyments in her +prayers, but He would not abandon himself completely,—certainly would +not lose consciousness of self in the arms of the bride; would not give +His all to her with the infinite, immortal love which she eagerly +desired, except within that silent poetic retreat where no sound could +disturb them.</p> + +<p>At last the day had come for her to satisfy her desire; within an hour +she would be within that mysterious choir which had caused her so many +dreams, and would cross with floating tunic the warm sunlight falling +through the lofty windows. She felt impatient for the moment to arrive. +She was nervous, restless, but smiling. Never had she been so +self-satisfied. Her friends were not weary of exalting her virtue and +heroism; the town regarded her with surprise, and around her she heard +only praise and words of admiration. Maria really found herself upon a +pedestal. And like every one who is under the public gaze, our heroine +succeeded in hiding the emotions of her soul, and showed a serene and +joyous face. It was her day; it was the day of the great battle, and she +smoothed her brow and composed the expression of her face, like a +general when the hour of the attack has come.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, from time to time she gazed with anxiety at one of the +corners of her boudoir. In that corner sat her sister, with her face in +her hands, sobbing. At last,<a name="page_311" id="page_311"></a> not being able to control herself longer, +she suddenly left her maids of honor and went to Marta, and bending down +her face so that it touched her, she said:—</p> + +<p>"Do not weep, dear, do not weep more; ... there is no misfortune here to +make you so sorrowful. On the other hand, think of the great favor which +God has shown in calling me to be his bride.... You ought to rejoice, my +little pigeon;<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> come, don't weep any more, darling [<i>monina</i>].... +Consider that you are taking away my strength."</p> + +<p>And as she said that, she kissed her pretty little sister's smooth rosy +cheek. The girl replied amid her sobs,—</p> + +<p>"Ay! Maria, I lose you forever!"</p> + +<p>"No, monina, no ... you will often see me ... and you will speak with +me...."</p> + +<p>"What does that amount to?... I am going to lose you, my sister."</p> + +<p>And Marta could not help saying this "I lose you; I lose you +forever"—she could not because it was the only thought that filled her +heart at that instant, her heart that never was untrue; she was +accustomed to speak freely her beliefs and opinions. Marta accepted +without resistance the idea that her sister was doing well to enter the +convent, but she was absolute mistress of her heart; there no one held +sway but herself, and her heart told her that she had no longer any +sister, that all Maria's love, all her tenderness was about to evaporate +like a divine essence in the depths of a mysterious, vague something, +totally incomprehensible to her.</p> + +<p>Just as Maria's toilet was almost completed, a young man came rushing +into the room with the violence of a gust of wind. It was that youth +with the banged hair,<a name="page_312" id="page_312"></a> who gradually had made himself indispensable in +all festivals, solemnities, ceremonies, and merry-makings of the town.</p> + +<p>"Marita! the secretary of the seor bishop sends me to tell you that +his eminence is ready, and is at this moment starting for the church."</p> + +<p>"Very well, I shall be right out."</p> + +<p>"I have attended to the organ-loft. I notified Don Serapio and the +organist.... Preciosa, Marita preciosa.... Do notice the blue hangings +which I put on the picture of the Virgin...."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Ernesto, many thanks; I am deeply grateful to you."</p> + +<p>At a sign from Maria all the ladies arose, and hastened behind her down +the stairs, but for all that there was no cessation of their impertinent +chatter. The young woman went straight to her father's room, and +remained shut in it for some time. No one knew what passed within. Those +who were waiting at the door heard the sound of sobs, confused sentences +spoken in angry tones, the movement of chairs. The ladies, waiting in +the anteroom, whispered to those who came in, "She is taking farewell, +farewell of her father.... Don Mariano will not attend the ceremony."</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward, Maria re-appeared, smiling and serene as before, +saying, "Come, ladies, let us go!"</p> + +<p>With the same serenity she passed through the great room of the mansion +without giving a glance at the furniture, and descended the broad, stone +stairway without showing the slightest trepidation, as she walked along +in her dainty white satin shoes.</p> + +<p>And yet what recollections she left behind her! How many hours of light +and joy! The prattle of her childish<a name="page_313" id="page_313"></a> lips, sweet as the trilling of a +bird; her father's somewhat gruff but, for that very reason, all the +sweeter singing, as he rocked her to sleep in his arms; the dreams, the +fresh laughter of her girlhood; the lovely sun of April mornings, +filling her room with light; the constant caresses of her mother, the +warmth of home; in short, that warmth which all the treasures of earth +cannot buy; all this remained behind her, imprinted on the walls, +ingrained in the furniture. And she left it all without a tear!</p> + +<p>At the door stood waiting a magnificent barouche, drawn by four white +horses. Pedro had shown his taste by decorating them with great blue +plumes, and by donning a livery of the same color. On that day +everything must be blue, the color of purity and virginity. Even the +sky, for greater glory, had clad itself in blue, and shone clear and +beautiful. Maria climbed into the carriage with the Seora de Ciudad, +her godmother, and the others took leave of her for the nonce, and +hastened to the church.</p> + +<p>Extraordinary agitation reigned in the town. The taking of the veil by +the Seorita de Elorza, though expected for some time, nevertheless did +not fail to make a profound impression. A young lady so rich, so +beautiful, so flattered by all that the world considered gay and +desirable! Interminable comments were made during these days, as people +met in the shops. "But didn't they say that she was to be married to the +marquesito?"—"No! not at all! there's no such thing. The marquesito was +greatly disappointed; the girl, after the strange experience of being +arrested, and her mother's death, returned with more zest than ever to +her pious occupations; it is decidedly her vocation: there is no +fickleness about her." Some looked upon it in one way, some in another; +but as a general<a name="page_314" id="page_314"></a> thing, Maria's conduct aroused lively sympathy, and +over many, especially among the people, it exerted a certain fascination +like everything extraordinary, and up to a certain point, marvellous. +She had the reputation of being a saint: the quenching of all the +splendor of her beauty, wealth, and talent in the solitudes of the +cloister, was the unparalleled complement of her fame, the crowning +stroke in the process of her popular canonization. All those rough +women, who pitilessly elbowed each other in order to see her pass toward +the church, would have felt themselves defrauded, if she had wedded +prosaically, and had they seen her arm in arm with her husband, preceded +by a nurse-maid with a tender infant in arms.</p> + +<p>The plaza was full of spectators. When the young lady entered the +carriage, and Pedro, cracking his tongue and his whip, started up his +horses, there was a great tumult among the throng, which reached Maria's +ears like a chorus of flatteries. The people separated precipitately, +making way for her to pass. In presence of that magnificence, which only +some old woman had ever seen before, the peaceful inhabitants found +themselves overwhelmed with respect, and equally excited by a great +curiosity. The carriage rolled away, at first slowly, breaking the close +ranks of the spectators; the horses pranced impatiently, shaking their +blue plumes as though they were anxious to carry the bride to the arms +of the mystic Bridegroom. It was a royal procession; and, in truth, +Maria, from her elegant appearance, splendidly adorned, with her deep +blue eyes, shining with emotion, and her cheeks of milk and roses, was +worthy of being a queen. She was a figure of remarkable beauty, and +offered many points of resemblance to the fair Virgin of Murillo, that +we see in the Museum at Madrid. The women of the town could<a name="page_315" id="page_315"></a> not +restrain their enthusiasm, and they burst out in a thousand flattering +adjectives.</p> + +<p>"Look at her! look at her! What a splendid creature,—a woman after my +very heart!"</p> + +<p>"I should like to devour her with kisses!"</p> + +<p>"And what a rich dress she wears!"</p> + +<p>"They say that it came expressly from Paris. She did not want to dress +in <i>tis</i>; the chasubles which it will make into will be given away +separately, and the gown will remain for the Virgin of Amor Hermoso."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I never saw such a lovely creature!... She looks like an angel."</p> + +<p>The carriage followed its majestic course, and the young woman smiled +sweetly on the multitude. From two or three houses a deluge of flowers +was showered upon her, and their variegated petals for a moment enameled +the white cloth of her dress; a few remained entangled in her hair. The +people applauded.</p> + +<p>"Woman, this girl's vocation teaches us a lesson."</p> + +<p>"How fortunate she is!... Who would be in her place?"</p> + +<p>"It can't be said that she was obliged to.... I know that her father was +furious when he heard about it, and tried every way to dissuade her."</p> + +<p>"Come now, she is wedded to Jesus Christ, and her family don't like it," +declared a youth, who was listening to this conversation.</p> + +<p>The women turned around ready to crush the scoffer, but he made off, +laughing.</p> + +<p>And the carriage continued on its way under the radiant sun, which made +the panes of the balconied windows glitter, and reflected on the white +houses of the town with transports of delight. The sky opened up its +purest<a name="page_316" id="page_316"></a> depths, smiling upon all the wishes for happiness, all the +joyful aspirations of mortals, even upon those of the beautiful maiden +who, of her own free will, was going to lose it from sight and shut +herself forever in the shadows of the cloister. The carriage passed by +the feudal palace of the Pealtas, the ancient walls of which, spotted +here and there with moss, cast upon the street a mantle of gloom, making +still more vivid the blazing light of the sun.</p> + +<p>What was Ricardo doing during this time?</p> + +<p>Maria did not ask this; she passed by without casting even a furtive +look at the Gothic windows; on her lips still hovered the serene, +condescending smile. The shadow nevertheless caused in her a slight +tremor of chill.</p> + +<p>At the church door all her girl friends, including Martita, were waiting +for her. The temple was overflowing with people; they made way for her +to pass. At the high altar the bishop of——, who had come purposely to +give her the veil, stood ready to receive her. He knelt and prayed for a +few instants. The confused murmur of the congregation ceased; an intense +silence reigned.</p> + +<p>The prelate began to speak in a clear and solemn voice:—</p> + +<p>"I know, beloved daughter, that you have formed the resolution to shut +yourself forever in this holy house, to the end that you may be all your +life long the servant of the Lord.... I know, likewise, that your will +is steadfast, and that you have been enabled to resist not only the vain +seductions of the world, but also those proper pleasures which the +goodness of God allows us to enjoy.... But life, my daughter, can be in +the midst of mortification and penance more broad than in the tumult of +pleasures; and while our spirit remains imprisoned in the flesh we are +the target of severe and constant temptations."<a name="page_317" id="page_317"></a></p> + +<p>The venerable bishop spoke with extraordinary deliberation, making long +pauses at the end of his sentences, which lent great dignity to his +discourse. His voice was sweet and clear, and rang through the silent +nave of the church like sweet music. He went on to trace with terrible +accuracy the details of the religious life, spreading out before the +young woman's eyes all the apparatus of mortification which it involved; +the pleasures of the world entirely forgotten, the senses crucified, +earthly affections, even the purest, crushed; and this, not for a day, +not for a month, not for a year only, but for all days, all months, all +years, until the hour of death, always eagerly seeking for pain as +others seek for pleasure. But after he had painted the gloomy picture of +the mortification, he went on to express eloquently the pure, lively +pleasures to be found in it. "To trust one's self to the arms of God, as +a child goes to its mother, that he may do with us as he pleases. To +find God in the depths of bitterness and grief, to unite one's self to +Him.... To possess Him ... and to be the beloved child in whom His +infinite grandeur can take delight.... To live eternally united to +Him.... To be His bride!... Is not that a sufficient recompense for the +petty sorrows that we may experience in a life so brief?"</p> + +<p>Began the profession of faith. The bishop asked, reading his questions +from a book, if she were ready to leave the life of the world and +intercourse with its creatures, to consecrate herself exclusively to the +service of God. Maria replied that she had heard the voice of the Lord +and hastened at the call. The prelate asked once more if she had +meditated well on her resolution, if she had made it from some mundane +consideration, wounded by some ephemeral disillusion. Maria replied that +she came<a name="page_318" id="page_318"></a> of her own free will to give herself up to the Beloved of her +soul and rest in Him; all the armies of the earth could not make her +retrace her steps, for the Lord had made her steadfast and immovable as +Mount Zion.</p> + +<p>Over the heads of the faithful appeared a great silver waiter, the same +which a few hours before was in one of the convent cells, and on it the +habit of the novice of San Bernardo. The prelate blessed it.</p> + +<p>Then were heard the sharp, nasal tones of the organ, and the procession +took up the line of march: Maria in front, and at her side her godmother +and Marta; next came the bishop and behind him the clergy. Some of the +people followed and some stayed in the church. Near the door was the +entrance to the convent, through which they passed, penetrating into a +large, gloomy cloister, illuminated at intervals by a bright sunbeam +coming through the swell of the arches. At the end of one of the +galleries was an open door, and guarding it, silent, motionless, were +seen the white figures of two nuns with wax tapers in their hands. The +bride-elect again knelt, and instantly rising she convulsively pressed +her sister to her heart. It was the last embrace. When she wished to +extricate herself, Martita's arms were so tightly clasped about her neck +that it required the intervention of several ladies to accomplish it. +She also kissed all her girl friends, who wept bitterly, while she, +giving an example of sublime serenity, joyous and smiling, entered the +house of the Lord escorted by the two nuns.</p> + +<p>The doors closed. Though it was the month of August, Marta and her +friends felt a sudden chill in the cloister, and hastened to take refuge +in the church, where Don Serapio, accompanied by the organ, was +annihilating Stradella's beautiful prayer.<a name="page_319" id="page_319"></a></p> + +<p>All waited some time with impatient curiosity. No one paid any attention +to the cracked voice of the proprietor of the canning factory; the eyes +of the congregation were fixed, glued to the choir of the Bernardas, +gazing through the bars at the little door in the rear.</p> + +<p>At last she appeared. She came, escorted still by the two nuns. The garb +of novice made her look a little older. Yet she was beautiful; very +beautiful; for she really was beautiful, that saintly and extraordinary +creature. The people devoured her with their eyes, and repeated in a +whisper, "She comes smiling, she comes smiling."</p> + +<p>Ah, yes, the new bride of Jesus Christ was smiling, in her expectation +of the sweet reward for her sacrifice. But the venerable man who, at +that same instant, was walking alone through one of the state +departments of the Elorza mansion ... he did not smile! And the young +man who, at the same time, was sitting with folded arms, and head sunken +for his breast, face to face with a woman's portrait, was he perhaps +smiling?... No, no! neither did he smile.</p> + +<p>The prelate came to the grating, and said to the novice,—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt not call thyself Maria Magdalena, but, Maria Juana de +Jess."</p> + +<p>The novice prostrated herself before the abbess, and respectfully kissed +the crucifix of her rosary. Then she embraced, one after another, her +new companions. While this scene was transpiring, many of the ladies in +the congregation shed tears. The bishop said the solemn mass, and +finally all the sisterhood, including Maria, took the Communion. The +organ shrilled, whistled, and snorted with more energy than ever, +spurred, perhaps,<a name="page_320" id="page_320"></a> by competition. It seemed as though Don Serapio and +the organ had entered into a tremendous contest, a duel to the death, +and the obstreperous consequences fell upon the ears of the faithful. +But the organ mocked the manufacturer in most audacious fashion. When he +reached the highest point of ecstasy, emitting from this throat some +complicated <i>fioritura</i>, or <i>fermata</i>, a horrisonant bellowing broke in +upon him pitilessly, leaving him lost and inundated for a long time. Don +Serapio struck out again with a tender note, sure of the effect.... Zas! +the organ, like a blood-thirsty beast, fell upon it, and tore it in +pieces. Thus it wantoned for a long time, until, tired of amusing itself +and intoxicated with triumph, it suddenly broke in with all its voices +at once, clamoring in the silence of the church with a monstrous +insufferable shriek. The manufacturer remained choked in that diabolical +roar, and ceased to appear.</p> + +<p>Silence reigned for a few moments, but it was disturbed by a peculiarly +melancholy tinkling. It was the curtain of the choir being drawn. +Nothing more was seen. They began to put out the lights, and the people +withdrew in all haste.</p> + +<p>Maria's intimate friends went to the reception-room<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> to give her +their felicitations.</p> + +<p>The reception-room was a square, and rather gloomy apartment, cut in two +by a double iron grating. The novice appeared, accompanied by the Mother +Superior.... Still smiling, perhaps?... Yes, smiling.</p> + +<p>"What examples you have given us of courage and goodness, Maria," said +one to her.</p> + +<p>The young woman shrugged her shoulders, with a gesture of throwing from +her the glory which was heaped upon her.<a name="page_321" id="page_321"></a></p> + +<p>"Don't fail to pray for us!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will pray for you, dear. We"—she added with a little +emphasis—"we are obliged to pray for those who remain in the world."</p> + +<p>"If you knew how all the servants wept a moment since."</p> + +<p>"Poor people!... I love them all so much!"</p> + +<p>"Here is Marta, who wants to say good by."</p> + +<p>"Come nearer, Marta ... Are you becoming reconciled yet?"</p> + +<p>"What remedy have I, Maria," replied the girl, struggling to repress her +sobs.</p> + +<p>"No, sister; you must resign yourself gladly, and be thankful to the +Lord for the favors which he has heaped upon me.... You will always be +good, will you not?... Console papa.... Don't forget those prayers which +I gave you, nor fail to read the books of which I told you.... Come to +hear mass every day.... Try to be always earnest and humble...."</p> + +<p>Ah, no! Martita would not try, would not try. As she was born good and +humble there is no need of striving for it. In this regard the bride of +the Lord may be at rest.</p> + +<p>The small room where the two nuns stood near the grating seemed like a +prison cell by its ugliness and gloom. Their tunics stood out like two +white spots against the black lattice.</p> + +<p>The friends took turns in speaking, or all spoke at once to Maria, with +a strange mixture of admiration, of pity, of curiosity, and of +affection. They asked a thousand impertinent questions and many +ridiculous requests about prayers, medals, and other things. A few young +fellows who had belonged to the old tertulias at the Elorza mansion,<a name="page_322" id="page_322"></a> +had slipped in with the crowd, and were gazing with wide-open eyes of +wonder at the new nun, but dared not speak to her. She showed herself +serene and lovely, and called them by name with a certain reassuring +condescension, giving them messages for their families. The boldest was +the ceremonious youth of the banged hair, who stepped up, and reaching +the grating, very much stifled, called the novice by her new name, +saying,—</p> + +<p>"Sister Juana, I want to ask you a favor; please give me as a +remembrance a few orange blossoms from the crown which you wear...."</p> + +<p>"If the mother is willing...." murmured Maria, turning her face to the +Mother Superior.</p> + +<p>She bowed assent, and the gift of orange flowers was liberal and +gracefully granted.</p> + +<p>At that instant the Sister Luisa, the nun who was to be punished for her +vanity, came in and fell upon her knees, but not the slightest trace of +a blush passed over her face. The habit of performing such deeds +deprived them of all worth.</p> + +<p>The conversation wandered off upon festivals, novenas to come, the +journey of the vicar who was called to be canon of the cathedral, his +successor, and other subjects. Insensibly all were lowering the tone of +their voices until there was only a monotonous and melancholy +whispering. It seemed like a visit of condolence rather than of +congratulation. They continued to extol Maria's courage and virtue. "Ay, +Dios mio! to think that she is a prisoner forever and living a life of +so much labor...."</p> + +<p>The Mother Superior looking at the novice, with a sort of half smile not +very encouraging, exclaimed, "Poor little one! poor little one! "But +she, turning around<a name="page_323" id="page_323"></a> with one of those graceful gestures so +characteristic, replied, "Rich little one, rich little one,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> say I, +mother!"</p> + +<p>Gradually the young men had been getting near the girls, and without +respect to the holiness of the place, or heeding the stern crucifixes +fastened to the walls, they began to whisper more or less roguish +remarks.</p> + +<p>"When are you going to follow her example, Fulanita? The truth is, that +if all of you did the same, what would become of us? But you would be +sure to look lovely in the habit! See here, Amparito! If you should +become a nun, I should wish to be vicar!"</p> + +<p>"Now I wish you would be a little more serious, Surez."</p> + +<p>"How long should I have to be a priest to become vicar?... the worst +thing is the grating.... Can't the vicar get behind the grating?"</p> + +<p>"Be silent, man alive! it is a sin to say such things in this place!"</p> + +<p>Rosarito and her lover had taken possession of a corner, only from time +to time making some insignificant remark roused into the category of the +sublime by the inflection of the voice and the trembling of the lips. +Only the old women, and a few young girls who had not succeeded in +finding mates, still continued talking with the nuns. At last the Mother +Superior arose from her chair, and Maria followed her example.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>A man, a venerable man, crossed the plaza of Nieva with rapid strides; +he followed the winding streets, he<a name="page_324" id="page_324"></a> reached the convent of San +Bernardo, he entered the court, mounted the stairway, pushed open the +door of the reception-room, forced his way through the people, and laid +heavy hands on the grating. He intended to say something solemn, +something tremendous. It could be seen by the wrathful expression of his +face, by the pallor of his cheeks, by the disorder of his white locks.</p> + +<p>But he let his head fall, and only murmured,—</p> + +<p>"My daughter! my daughter!"</p> + +<p>And a flood of tears burst from his eyes.<a name="page_325" id="page_325"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /><br /> +<small>THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA'S DREAM.</small></h2> + +<p>T<small>HE</small> transfer of the young artillery lieutenant, Ricardo de Pealta, had +not yet arrived. He had applied for it a fortnight before the Seorita +de Elorza took the veil. A month had already passed since the great +ceremony ... and nothing! The influential personages whom our friend had +in Madrid, devoted to his interests, this time took little pains to +fulfil his desires.</p> + +<p>But why was our hero so anxious to leave Nieva? Be it said in honor of +the truth, that when Ricardo asked for the transfer he was exceedingly +desirous of turning his back forever upon those places where he had been +so happy, and where he was going to be so wretched; but now, after the +lapse of a month, the violence of his sorrow had somewhat subsided, and +he was beginning to get accustomed to his misfortune. Still he continued +to be greatly downcast; the whole town noticed it.</p> + +<p>From the day when his betrothed had made him that horrible proposition, +which he could not remember without being hot with anger, he understood +that he should never be the master of Maria's heart. A secret and +implacable voice kept ceaselessly whispering this to him. Thus the +letter in which she announced her determination to enter the convent +caused him no great surprise; for some time a rumor of this had been +current in society. Yet, in spite of his best efforts, he could not help +feeling a quick, keen pang and a melancholy that prostrated him +completely.<a name="page_326" id="page_326"></a> The more or less well-founded belief that the beloved woman +does not return one's affection, is by no means the same thing as to see +it confirmed by a material tangible fact. Not any longer did he retain +the right to lose his temper and relieve his wrath by calling her +perfidious and treacherous, as happens in the majority of cases. As the +sincere Christian that he was, it became him to look with patience, even +with pleasure (the letter said so distinctly!), upon that pious +substitution of holy, sublime affections for those of earth, noble +though they were. Maria was blameworthy in no respect,—absolutely in no +respect; her conduct was worthy of all praise, and he saw how the whole +city spontaneously and warmly rendered her their tribute. Possibly in +this thought the young marquis found the only possible consolation; for +the certain thing was, that the beautiful girl had not left him for any +other man, but to follow the hard road that leads to heaven, for which, +doubtless, it must require the doing of great violence to self. And in +this violence our marquis took a little pride by thinking with delight, +and at the same time with pain, on the strength which the new bride of +Jesus must have employed, to tear up the roots of such a solid and +long-established affection. But amid the beautiful foliage of these more +or less consoling thoughts, a sad and cruel doubt often raised its +odious head. Though Ricardo employed all expedients to get rid of such +an idea, he could not help thinking very frequently that Maria had never +professed for him a sincere and vehement love, like his for her; that +she had been his betrothed through a compromise, through the influence +of the peculiar circumstances in which both had found themselves in +Nieva; that perhaps she had deceived herself in thinking that she loved +him, since if she had<a name="page_327" id="page_327"></a> really loved him, the idea of taking part in +ridiculous conspiracies would never have entered into her head, still +less that of proposing to him odious acts of treason; that Maria was a +girl of much talent and great imagination, admirably fitted to shine in +the world, or to undertake some religious or secular enterprise, of no +matter how lofty a character, but incapable, perhaps from the very same +reason, of delicacy of sentiments, of constancy, of the modest and +humble abnegation which ought to characterize good wives and mothers. +Finally Ricardo came to the conclusion that his mistress had more head +than heart, or else he did not know what he was talking about.</p> + +<p>And gradually under the influence of these doubts, which went almost as +far as to be certainties, there sprang up in his mind a strong aversion +to the amorous memories, which were a drawback to him. When he thought +of the Maria of former times, so joyous, so lovely, so buoyant, his +heart would melt within him, and the tears would flow; when his thought +went back to the day on which, hidden behind the curtains, he saw her +pass by his house unmoved and smiling, without so much as casting a +glance at his windows, his heart was filled with a bitterness not free +from rancor. And when he saw her in his imagination in the garb of a San +Bernardin nun, entirely oblivious of the sweet scenes which had been the +enchantment of his life, despising them, perhaps, and looking upon them +with horror, as though they had been crimes, our young friend—may God +forgive him the sin—began to look with hatred upon the bride of Jesus +Christ. These doubts which constantly assaulted him were a genuine +cautery for his passion, painful and cruel, like all cauteries, but very +salutary in their effects.</p> + +<p>He did not for an instant cease to frequent the Elorza<a name="page_328" id="page_328"></a> mansion as +before. There he found two human beings whom he pitied and who pitied +him. Moreover, it was a habit of his to spend a few hours each day +between those four walls, and not only a habit, but a debt of gratitude +for the affection lavished upon him, and not only a debt, but also—and +why should we not say so?—also a pleasure, a great pleasure, since he +could not fail to find it so in being with such an accomplished +gentleman as Don Mariano, who had showed that he loved him like a son, +and with such a good and beautiful girl as Marta, whom he loved like a +sister. Grief had still further limited the circle of his affections. In +proportion as the recollection of Maria became less pleasant to him, the +sweeter did he find the love of that family, and he clung to it as to +the last plank in the shipwreck of his hopes. If he let this plank +escape him, he would be left alone. Alone! alone! This word brought back +to him that terrible night spent in the train, when he returned to Nieva +after his mother's death. Cruel fate sounded it in his ears when he +least expected it. Finally, while he stayed in Nieva, it did not ring +with such a mournfully and disconsolate accent, because all that he saw +and touched in his own house spoke to him of his mother's tenderness; +and all that he found in the Elorza mansion, recalled Maria's love; but +how would it be in the future?... What would the desert fields of +Castilla say to him, across which the swift locomotive would carry him? +What would the indifferent multitude in the streets of Madrid say to +him?... Therefore Ricardo feared more than he desired the transfer which +he had asked for with so much eagerness.</p> + +<p>Every day when he reached the Elorza's, Martita asked him, "Has it come +yet, Ricardo?"</p> + +<p>Sometimes he replied between jest and earnest,—<a name="page_329" id="page_329"></a></p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are anxious for me to go away, Martita?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," would be the young girl's reply, with an inflection of voice +equal to a poem.</p> + +<p>But Ricardo did not have the power of reading it. These love-wrecked +men, these men wounded by disenchantment, cannot read other poems than +their own.</p> + +<p>Marta, after the death of her mother, in whose illness Ricardo had so +much aided and consoled her, once more treated him with the same +confidence and affection as of old. For some time she had been rather +cool toward him. Don Mariano's younger daughter had passed through a +terrible crisis, and no one in the house had a suspicion of it. While it +lasted she was rather more brusque in her behavior, more restless, more +serious and reserved; but at last her calm spirit and her healthy and +well-balanced nature came out victorious. Doa Gertrudis's death, which +was a more serious and genuine calamity than anything else, had no small +effect in calming the disturbances and commotions of her heart. She was +once more the same Marta, tranquil, serene, and affectionate as before, +always anxious to free obstacles from the path of others, though her own +were blocked by an unsurmountable wall. Fortunate are they who in life +meet with these blessed beings who found their own happiness in that of +others, and who offer the flowers and content themselves with the +thorns.</p> + +<p>Ricardo spent long hours at the Elorzas'. Whole afternoons, especially, +he devoted to Don Mariano and his daughter, going to walk with them when +the weather was fair, and staying in the house when it rained. +Sometimes, too, he came in the morning, and then Don Mariano would +invite him to stay to dinner. While Ricardo<a name="page_330" id="page_330"></a> refused and the caballero +insisted, Marta did not open her lips, but her anxiety was betrayed in +her face, and her eager desire to keep him shone in her supplicating +eyes. When, finally, he accepted, the girl's joy was evident, and her +solicitude was evident in the way that she took charge of everything, +going to and from the kitchen any number of times, preparing the dishes +which she knew were most to the young marquis's taste, and keeping the +servants alert; the <i>beefsteak la inglesa</i> (for Ricardo had learned in +Madrid to eat it rather rare), the cold fish, the boiled rice, the slice +of lemon (Ricardo put lemon on almost all his food), the English +mustard, the olives, and other things. But where Marta used her five +senses was with the coffee. Ricardo was a perfect Arab, a Sybarite in +regard to coffee. Thus it was that the girl bestowed a more lively and +vigilant care upon the preparation of this liquid than a chemist on the +analysis of some precious metal. While she came and went, making all the +preparations, the young fellow did not cease to rally her in the same +affectionate tone as of old; and this, too, though Marta, if still a +little short for her age, was now a real woman, and not among the worst +favored, either, as we have already had occasion to remark. She had +grown slightly, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>"Come, <i>caponcita</i>,<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> when did you stop growing?" said Ricardo, +detaining her by one of her braids of hair, as she was passing in front +of him.</p> + +<p>The girl smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and continued on her way.</p> + +<p>From the day on which he had been vexed with her, Martita had never +asked him about the transfer, but whenever he entered the house, all +gave him a keen, anxious<a name="page_331" id="page_331"></a> look, as though trying to read some tidings in +his face. As it did not come, the girl recovered her tranquillity and +resumed her work, which she rarely failed to have in her hands. Ricardo +likewise said nothing about going away; either he did not remember his +petition, or affected not to remember it, or wished not to remember it. +Perhaps it was a little of all. The Marquis de Pealta had passed from +disconsolateness to melancholy, and from this he was gradually letting +himself drift on toward a happier frame of mind. The house where Marta +sewed began to inspire jocund ideas of sweet ease and happiness.</p> + +<p>One morning, Ricardo, as though it was the most natural thing in the +world, as though the tidings did not tear any one's heart, as though it +were some mere trifle of little consequence at issue, came into the +Elorzas', and said,—</p> + +<p>"Yesterday evening at last my transfer to Valencia came!"</p> + +<p>Blind! blind! dost thou not see that girl's pallor? Dost thou not notice +the painful trembling that runs over her body? Look out! she is going to +fall! Run, run to her assistance!</p> + +<p>Nothing, the young marquis perceived nothing! He, too, was a little +pale. The indifferent tone in which he made the announcement was pure +comedy, for I know on good authority that he walked up and down his room +the night before, till he was tired out, and that the rays of the +morning found him still unable to close his eyes.</p> + +<p>Don Mariano made a gesture of disappointment, exclaiming,—</p> + +<p>"There, my son, there!... I feel that we are going to lose you!... +However, if it is your pleasure...."</p> + +<p>Ricardo preserved a gloomy silence. Gladly would he<a name="page_332" id="page_332"></a> have exclaimed, +"How can it be my pleasure? My pleasure would be to ask for a discharge +at this very moment, and stay here forever and live calmly near you! +Near you, the people whom I love most in this world!" But he had the +weakness to hold his tongue, and such weaknesses as these generally cost +very dear in life.</p> + +<p>"And when do you expect to go?" pursued the caballero.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow. I must stop in Madrid a few days to attend to some business. +I shall reach Valencia the tenth of next month."</p> + +<p>"Are you going to some regiment?"</p> + +<p>"To the First Cavalry."</p> + +<p>"Ah!"</p> + +<p>And there was silence. Sadness ruled them all, choking conversation, +which usually was very animated, even though it touched upon the details +of domestic affairs. Don Mariano renewed it in a sad and distracted +tone.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever been in Valencia?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; I spent a month there a few years ago."</p> + +<p>"It is very pretty, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; very pretty."</p> + +<p>"Many oranges, eh?"</p> + +<p>"A great many."</p> + +<p>"I think it is a very gay city."</p> + +<p>"No, not gay; it seemed to me very melancholy."</p> + +<p>"Then, my dear fellow, I should think...."</p> + +<p>But they relapsed into silence. Their hearts were oppressed, and the +indifferent tone of the words was not sufficient to hide it. Marta had +not once spoken during all the time, and, as she sat in a low chair next +the window, paid close attention to her crochet work. Ricardo was +lounging on the sofa near Don Mariano. A thousand<a name="page_333" id="page_333"></a> melancholy thoughts +sifted through the minds of all three, and that cheerful room, bright in +the pure, brilliant morning light, was nevertheless filled with sadness +and silence. When the Seor de Elorza spoke to Ricardo again, his +emotion shone through his slightly hoarse and tremulous voice.</p> + +<p>"And what arrangements have you made about your house?... Are you going +to dismiss the servants?"</p> + +<p>"All except Pepe, the gardener, and Csar, the inside man."</p> + +<p>"Have you packed yet?"</p> + +<p>"No; I shall have time this afternoon and to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"And your calls?"</p> + +<p>"Really, Don Mariano, the only people with whom I am intimate are you +here.... Three or four other calls, and I am done.... I shall send cards +to the rest.... What I am most sorry about is, to leave the improvements +in my garden unfinished, and the two pavilions in the corners just +begun...."</p> + +<p>"Don't be troubled about that, I will attend to it.... I will attend to +it.... I will attend to it...."</p> + +<p>He could say no more. Emotion choked him. Those pavilions had been +Maria's idea before the engagement was broken, and this recollection +brought in its train many others, all painful, in which his wife, his +daughter, and Ricardo were mingled, bringing before his eyes the +terrible misfortunes which he had recently suffered. He hastily arose +and left the room.</p> + +<p>Ricardo, likewise moved and overwhelmed by great dejection, remained +with bent head, and silent. Marta kept on busily with her task, as +though she felt no interest in what was going on. She did not once lift +her head<a name="page_334" id="page_334"></a> during the conversation, nor even when her father left the +room. Ricardo looked at her fixedly a long time. The girl's impassive +attitude began to mortify him. He had presumptuously imagined that it +would affect Martita very deeply to hear the announcement of his +departure, for she had always given evidence of being fond of him. He +had blind confidence in the goodness of her heart and the strength of +her affections; but when he saw her so serene, moving the ivory needle +between her slender rosy fingers, without asking him anything about it, +without urging him to postpone his journey for a few days, without +speaking a word, he felt a new and painful disenchantment. And he +allowed himself, by the weight of his gloomy thoughts, to be drawn away +into a desperate, pessimistic philosophy.</p> + +<p>"Then, sir," he said to himself tearfully, "you must accept the world +and humanity as they are.... This girl whom I believed to be so +tender-hearted.... What is to be done about it?... In woman exists only +one true affection.... Can it possibly be that this child is in love +with some one?"</p> + +<p>Ricardo had no reason to be indignant at such a thought. But it is +certain that he was indignant, and not a little. He tried to drive it +away as an absurdity, and succeeded only in convincing himself that, not +only it would not be an absurdity, but would not even be strange. But as +he was downcast, indignation very soon gave way to sadness; deep, +painful sadness.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you sorry that I am going away?" he asked, with a sort of +melancholy smile creeping over his face.</p> + +<p>"Not if it is your pleasure to go...." replied the girl, not lifting her +head.</p> + +<p>Confound the pleasure! Ricardo had no longer any desire to go away; he +was furious with himself for having<a name="page_335" id="page_335"></a> asked to be sent. Gladly would he +give everything to exchange.... But he did not say a word of what he +thought.</p> + +<p>His sadness and depression kept increasing. He felt a cruel desire to +weep. He dared not say a word to Marta, lest she should notice his +emotion. Besides, what reason had he to speak to her?... Such an +unfeeling child!</p> + +<p>He found himself in one of those moments of dejection in which +everything appears clad in black, and he took a certain bitter delight +in it; moment, in which one (if the expression be permissible) wallows +voluptuously in sadness, endeavoring to add to it by unhappy +recollections and expectations. He dropped his head on the pillow of the +sofa, and shut his eyes, as though he were meditating. Our hero had been +meditating deeply, deeply, for many hours. His nerves had been on the +strain for a long time, and he began to feel the attack of a languor +akin to faintness. He lifted his head a little, to prove to himself that +he still had the power of motion, and he looked once more at Martita, +who was still in the same position; but very soon he let it fall again. +It seemed to him as if he were seized against his will, and kept lying +there, without the possibility of moving a finger. He still had his eyes +open, but they were as heavy as if the lids had been made of lead. At +last he closed them, and fell asleep. That is, we cannot say that he +slept, or only napped. It is certain, however, that the Marqus de +Pealta, thus stretched out, with eyes closed, seemed to be asleep, and +his face looked so pale, there were such dark rings under his eyes, and +his whole appearance was so lifeless that it inspired alarm.</p> + +<p>In the space of a few moments one can dream of many<a name="page_336" id="page_336"></a> and very different +things. All have experienced this phenomenon. Ricardo had not as yet +entirely lost the idea of reality, when he found himself in a room like +the one in which he really was. However, there was this difference, that +in the new one the window had very thick iron gratings, like lattices, +and one of the walls was likewise grated, through which there could be +seen in the background, gilded altars, images of saints, lamps hung from +the ceiling; in fact, a real church. Looking attentively from the sofa, +he perceived that a great throng was pouring into the church, causing a +low, but disagreeable noise, until they filled it entirely, and there +was no more room. Then he began to hear the tones of an organ playing +the waltzes of the Queen of Scotland, which made him suspect that the +organist was Fray Saturnino, the capellane of San Felipe. Then, rising +above the heads of the people, he saw the gilded points of a mitre. The +organ ceased, and he heard the nasal voice of a preacher delivering a +long sermon, although he could not understand a word of what he said. +When the sermon was over, he heard a sweet song which made him tremble +with delight; it was Maria's sweet voice, singing with more sweetness +than ever, the aria from <i>Traviata</i>: "Gran Dio morir si giovane." When +this was finished, prolonged applause rang through the church. Then all +the people crowded up to the great altar, leaving the spaces near the +grating free. Something was going on there, for he clearly heard some +voices saying,—</p> + +<p>"Now he gives her the benediction ... now ... now."</p> + +<p>And at the same instant Don Maximo appeared in the door of the room, and +said,—</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, lying down here? Didn't you know that Maria is +being married?"<a name="page_337" id="page_337"></a></p> + +<p>"Whom is she marrying?"</p> + +<p>"Jesus Christ! Come and see the ceremony!"</p> + +<p>He desired to arise, but could not. Then the physician said,—</p> + +<p>"Well, since you cannot move, I will go into the church, to see if I can +persuade the people to stand aside a little so that you may see from +here."</p> + +<p>And in fact, he soon perceived that the congregation was making a +sufficiently wide passage from the grating, so that he could see afar +away, over the steps of the great altar, Maria's proud figure in bridal +array. At her side stood another little human figure holding her by the +hand. The bishop was giving them his blessing. It was no more Jesus +Christ than it was a pumpkin! The person whom Maria was marrying was +neither more nor less than Manolito Lopez, that most impertinent and +uncongenial of urchins! He was like one who saw a vision! Could it be +possible that a girl so beautiful and wise, would unite herself to this +cub and leave him, who in every respect was a man abandoned to despair? +The truth is, he had reason for serious and painful reflections. But +just as he was getting deeper and deeper involved in them, behold the +same Maria enters the room in the garb of a San Bernardo nun, and coming +directly to him said, sweetly smiling,—</p> + +<p>"Art thou sad because I marry?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I not be?"</p> + +<p>"Fool," says the young woman, coming still closer, "though I am wedded +to Jesus Christ, yet I love thee the same as before."</p> + +<p>Then Ricardo began to sigh and groan.</p> + +<p>"No, Maria, you do not love me; you love Manolito Lopez."<a name="page_338" id="page_338"></a></p> + +<p>"Come, Ricardo mio, don't talk nonsense. How could I love this urchin?"</p> + +<p>"Have you not just married him?"</p> + +<p>"You must be dreaming; don't say any more absurd things.... Wake up, +man—wake up ... or wait a little, I am going to wake you. But see in +what a sweet way!"</p> + +<p>And in fact, the beautiful nun came even closer still, and took his face +between her dainty hands with an affectionate gesture. Then she brought +her own close to his slowly, and gave him a warm and prolonged kiss on +the brow.</p> + +<p>Oh! wonderful chance! Ricardo noticed with amazement, that just as she +gave him the caress, Maria's face had suddenly changed into Marta's. +Yes; it was her bright black eyes; her fresh rosy cheeks; her dark hair +falling in ringlets around her brow. But her face seemed so sad and +mournful that he could not do less than cry,—</p> + +<p>"Marta, Marta! what ails thee?"</p> + +<p>And the very cry that he made awoke him.</p> + +<p>Marta still sat in the low chair beside the window, apparently absorbed +in her work. And nevertheless, the young man, though awake, was sure +that he had cried out. All that had passed was a dream; but neither the +cry nor the warm, moist lips which he felt imprinted on his brow were +imaginary; though he were killed, he could not be convinced of it.</p> + +<p>What was it? What had passed?</p> + +<p>He remained some instants looking at Martita, while he slowly collected +his ideas. At last he decided to speak to her. The girl lifted her face +which was flushed and disturbed.</p> + +<p>"Did I not just cry out?"</p> + +<p>Martita grew still more flushed and disturbed, and scarcely could she +answer in trembling voice,—<a name="page_339" id="page_339"></a></p> + +<p>"No.... I heard nothing."</p> + +<p>Ricardo looked at her steadily and with surprise: "Why was that girl +blushing so?"</p> + +<p>"I was asleep, but I would take my oath that I cried out ... and I would +also take my oath—such a strange thing!—that you gave me a kiss."</p> + +<p>Marta's color, when she heard these words, suddenly changed from rosy to +pale, betraying a profound consternation. Her tremulous hands could not +hold her crochet work, and dropped it in her lap. At the same time her +eyes rested on Ricardo with such an expression of fear, of tenderness, +of supplication, of dismay, that he felt a strong shock, like that +caused by an electric discharge.</p> + +<p>It was the same look—the same that he had just seen in his dream.</p> + +<p>He felt himself inundated by a great light, a divine light. At that +supreme moment he saw everything, he comprehended all. The mist that +blinded his eyes faded away, and he saw himself face to face with the +scene in the garden, when Marta seemed so offended because he kissed her +hands ... and he saw and comprehended. The strange dismay following that +scene he likewise saw and comprehended. Then he went back in imagination +to the beach on the island. The sun pouring floods of light over the +sand; the blue and white waves girdling a peninsula where two young +people had been long sitting; the sob which broke the silence of the +tunnel; then a girl falling into the water, and a young man plunging in +after her and saving her. "Thanks, Seor Marqus, it is not so bad down +below there." This also he saw, he comprehended. Then a sudden and +extraordinary estrangement: a pair of eyes that did not look at him, two +lips that did not speak to him, a pair of hands that did not touch him.<a name="page_340" id="page_340"></a></p> + +<p>Ah, yes; he saw all; he understood all.</p> + +<p>He sprang up hastily from the sofa, and bringing his face close to +Marta's, said to her in sweet, affectionate tones, but with innocent +petulance,—</p> + +<p>"Don't deny it, Martita; you just gave me a kiss!"</p> + +<p>The girl raised her hands to her face, and broke into a passion of +tears. A thousand emotions of fear, of penitence, of affection, of +doubt, of joy, of anxiety, instantly crossed the heart of the young +marquis who bent his knee before her, exclaiming in accents of +emotion,—</p> + +<p>"Marta, for God's sake, forgive my stupidity.... I am a fool!... I just +dreamed such sad things, and they suddenly all ended so well!... I could +not resign myself to let happiness escape so ... an absurd idea came +into my head, inspired by the very idea of seeing it realized.... But no +... no! I cannot be happy on earth.... I was born to be unfortunate.... +Luckily I shall die early, like my father ... and like my mother.... +Forgive me that momentary folly, and don't weep.... Do you want to know +what I was dreaming?... I am going to tell you, because perhaps it will +be the last time that you will see me.... I dreamed ... I dreamed, +Marta, that you loved me."</p> + +<p>The girl opened her hands a little, and ejaculated with a certain +wrathful, but adorable intonation these words, which were immediately +cut short by sobs,—</p> + +<p>"You dreamed the truth, ingrato!"</p> + +<p>The Marqus de Pealta, beside himself, entirely carried away by his +emotions, his heart ready to burst, pressed her in his arms without +being able to speak a word. At last, very softly, very softly, with the +sublime incoherence of the heart, like a murmur of celestial harmony, he +whispered into the ears of his friend the hymn of love. Dios<a name="page_341" id="page_341"></a> mio! how +sweet sounded that hymn in Marta's ears! I do not intend to repeat it: +no; the pen cannot reproduce that mysterious language which comes +directly from the heart, scarcely touching the lips,—accents escaping +from heaven and hastening to take refuge in the breast of virgins,—for +the earth does not understand them, notes perhaps lost from the song +with which the angels celebrate their immortal bliss.</p> + +<p>Marta listened. Tremulous, confused, she hid her head in her lover's +breast, shedding a flood of tears. Ricardo pressed her closer and closer +to his heart without wearying of repeating the same phrase,—the most +beautiful phrase that God ever suggested to man. Once the girl raised +her head to ask in low and tremulous voice,—</p> + +<p>"You will not go now, will you?"</p> + +<p>Little desire had Ricardo at that moment to go away! Not for all that +was precious in earth and in heaven would he go away. His spirit did not +dare to pass by even the window-panes, fearful lest it should lose the +bliss in which it was bathed. Nevertheless, he had sufficient +self-control to tear himself away a moment and rush to the door, +crying,—</p> + +<p>"Don Mariano! Don Mariano!"</p> + +<p>The Seor de Elorza, alarmed, nervous as he had been for some time, came +in haste, fearing some new misfortune. Ricardo's face, wherein shone the +deep emotion which overmastered him, was not calculated to calm any one. +What was the matter? Why did they call him?</p> + +<p>"Don Mariano," said the young man, and his voice stuck in his throat.... +"I have the honor of asking the hand of your daughter Marta."</p> + +<p>That was a thunder-stroke; but what the devil! Had he gone crazy?... +What did it mean, sir? We shall<a name="page_342" id="page_342"></a> see, we shall see! Nothing; Don Mariano +could say nothing, could do nothing, could think of nothing, for before +he could say, do, or think of anything, his daughter's arms were around +his neck, and she was weeping as though her heart would break.... What +was left for the noble caballero? To weep likewise. Why, this was +exactly what he did, pressing his beloved child with one arm, and +squeezing with his other hand the Marqus of Pealta's.</p> + +<p>"You will not abandon me, will you, my children?" entreated the +venerable man, lifting his noble, manly face bathed in tears.</p> + +<p>Ricardo pressed his hand more warmly. Marta clung to his neck more +fondly.</p> + +<p>There were a few moments of silence, during which all the angels of +heaven swept through the room, which was bathed in the morning sun, and +gazed with radiant eyes of joy upon that interesting group. But now +Martita lifts her face a little from her father's breast, and, smiling +through her tears, asks her lover coyly: "Will you dine with us to-day, +Ricardo?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, preciosa mia," replied the young marquis, falling on his knees, +and kissing the girl's hands again and again; "I will to-day, and +to-morrow, and every day forever!"</p> + +<p>Marta hid her face again on the paternal breast! Her heart was so full +of joy! The three shed tears in silence; but what sweet tears!</p> + +<p>O eternal God, who dwellest in the hearts of the good! are they perhaps +less pleasing to Thee than the mystic colloquies of the Convent of San +Bernardo?</p> + +<p class="c">THE END.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><i>"The demand for these Russian stories has but just fairly begun; but it +is a literary movement more widespread, more intense, than anything this +country has probably seen within the past quarter of a +century."</i>—<span class="smcap">Boston Traveller</span>.</p> + +<p><b>DOSTOYEVSKY'S WORKS.</b></p> + +<p><b>Crime and Punishment</b>, 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p><b>Injury and Insult.</b> In press.</p> + +<p><b>Recollections of a Dead-House.</b> In press.</p> + +<p>"The readers of Turgnief and of Tolsto must now add Dostoyevsky to +their list if they wish to understand the reasons for the supremacy of +the Russians in modern fiction."—<i>W. D. Howells, in Harper's Monthly +for September</i>.</p> + +<p class="cb">——</p> + +<p><b>Anna Karnina.</b> By Count <span class="smcap">Lyof N. Tolsto</span>. Translated from the Russian by +<span class="smcap">Nathan Haskell Dole</span>. Royal 12mo. $1.75.</p> + +<p>"Will rank among the great works of fiction of the age."—<i>Portland +Transcript</i>.</p> + +<p>"Characterized by all the breadth and complexity, the insight and the +profound analysis, of 'Middlemarch.'"—<i>Critic, New York</i>.</p> + +<p><b>My Religion.</b> By Count <span class="smcap">Lyof N. Tolsto</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">Huntington Smith</span>. +12mo. Gilt top. $1.25.</p> + +<p>"Every man whose eyes are lifted above the manger and the trough should +take 'My Religion' to his home. Let him read it with no matter what +hostile prepossessions, let him read it to confute it, but still read, +and 'he that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'"—<i>New York +Sun</i>.</p> + +<p><b>Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.</b> By Count <span class="smcap">Lyof N. Tolsto</span>. Translated by +<span class="smcap">Isabel F. Hapgood</span>. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p>"Will make profound impression on all thoughtful people."—<i>Nation, New +York</i>.</p> + +<p>"A rare and veracious picture of character development."—<i>Star, New +York</i>.</p> + +<p>"These exquisite sketches belong to the literature which never grows +old, which lives forever in the heart of humanity as a cherished +revelation."—Literary World.</p> + +<p><b>Taras Bulba.</b> By <span class="smcap">Nikola V. Gogol</span>. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.</p> + +<p>"For grandeur, simplicity of conception, and superbness of description, +can hardly be equalled."—<i>New York Times</i>.</p> + +<p>"A wonderful prose epic, having all the charm and style of a stately +poem,—one of the masterpieces of literature."—<i>New York Star</i>.</p> + +<p><b>St. John's Eve, and Other Stories.</b> By <span class="smcap">Nikola V. Gogol</span>. 12mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p>In these tales of Gogol, the marvellous abounds. His field of +observation is the village. His heroes are unimportant people, with +superstitious imaginations,—very simple souls, whose artless passions +are shown without any veil, but whose very ingenuousness is a +deliciously restful contrast to our romantic or theatrical characters, +so insipid and perfunctory in the refinements of their conventionality.</p> + +<p>This volume is the second of a series of Gogol's Works which we have in +preparation, and will be followed by "Dead Souls," now in press.</p> + +<p><b>A Vital Question; or, What is to be Done?</b> By <span class="smcap">Nikola G. Tchernuishevsky</span>. +With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p>"A famous but crude novel."—<i>New York Tribune</i>.</p> + +<p>"Yet it so touches the deep realities of life that in its force one +forgets its crudity of form."—<i>Evening Traveller, Boston</i>.</p> + +<p>"People accustomed to think out of leading strings will be glad to read +it."—<i>Hartford Post</i>.</p> + +<p><b>Great Masters of Russian Literature.</b> By <span class="smcap">Ernest Dupuy</span>. Sketches of the +Life and Works of Gogol, Turgnief, Tolsto. With portraits. Translated +by <span class="smcap">Nathan Haskell Dole</span>. 12mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p>"This volume, with its clear outline of the lives of these three great +novelists, and its delineation of their literary characteristics, will +be found a most available and useful hand-book."—<i>Traveller</i>.</p> + +<p class="cb">——</p> + +<p class="c"> +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.,<br /> +13 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Anglice</i>, oil of birch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Paraphernalia bona</i>, in Spanish <i>bienes parafernales</i>, are +the goods and chattels brought by a wife independent of her dower.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>tertulia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>buenas noches</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>pataches</i> and <i>quechemarines</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>palomita</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>mi corazn</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>cordera</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> 1 John ii. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Psalms xxxiv. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>gracias</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>criatura</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Buenas noches</i>: <i>que usted lleve feliz viaje!</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>querido</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>vaya gracias Dios</i>!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>licenciado</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>chica</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Fulanito</i>, diminutive of <i>Fulano</i>, such an one; hence, +little master, little miss.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>mira</i>, <i>chica</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>secretas y santas fantasas</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>quinque</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>con mil amores</i>, literally, with a thousand loves.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>tonta</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>mi palomita del alma</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>monina</i>, literally, little monkey.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>pasacalle</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>pesado</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The epoch of <i>novatada</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>antiguos</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>nuevos</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Dios mio</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>novetada</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>chica</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>majadero</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>un adan</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>ayuntamiento</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Luke xiv. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> +</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" +style="margin-left:5%;"> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Ay! quin podr sanarme!</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Acaba de entregarte ya de vero,</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>No quieras enviarme</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>De hoy mas ya mensajero</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><i>Que no saben decirme lo que quiero.</i></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>El Tiempo</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Calle de la Industria</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Doa Fulana de Tal to Don Zutano de Cual</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Ez uzt mu bonita, pero ez uzt mu redondita</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>tertulianas</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>mestiza</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ay Dios</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Caramba con el agua</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> La Isla.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>tonta</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Ay, Dios mio</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>aaaguanta</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>aduana</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>ponerle en Berlina</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>persona mayor</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>jfe de orden publico</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>hasta lugo.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>junta.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>boinas blancas y polainas.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>guardias civiles.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>fbrica de armas.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>casas consistoriales.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>vosotros, not te.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>soplo: literally breath.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>corazn mio.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>boina.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>tunantes.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>pendanga.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>fiscal.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>cantar de plano</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>chiquita</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>pichona</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>locutorio</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>riquita</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> little stopple.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Pealta (Marta y Mara), by +Armando Palacio Valds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PEALTA *** + +***** This file should be named 37969-h.htm or 37969-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/6/37969/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Marquis of Penalta (Marta y Maria) + A Realistic Social Novel + +Author: Armando Palacio Valdes + +Translator: Nathan Haskell Dole + +Release Date: November 10, 2011 [EBook #37969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA + +(MARTA Y MARIA): + +A Realistic Social Novel + +BY + +DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES. + +_TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY_ + +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. + +NEW YORK: + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., + +No. 13 Astor Place. + + +_Copyright_, 1886, + +BY T. Y. CROWELL & CO. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE 1 + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE STREET 5 + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOIREE AT THE ELORZA MANSION 16 + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF +JESUS 47 + +CHAPTER IV. + +HOW THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE +OF THURINGEN 76 + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ROAD TO PERFECTION 100 + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN SEARCH OF MENINO 122 + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBAND OR SOUL 144 + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AS YOU LIKE IT 161 + +CHAPTER IX. + +EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND 178 + +CHAPTER X. + +THE EXCURSION CONTINUED 195 + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE 217 + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERED THREADS 230 + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN 257 + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PALLIDA MORS 281 + +CHAPTER XV. + +LET US REJOICE, BELOVED 303 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA'S DREAM 325 + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE. + + +The work which I now have the honor of presenting to the public is not +based upon ordinary every-day occurrences; nor are the incidents +narrated in it such as we are wont frequently to witness. Very likely it +will be called untrue or improbable, and regarded as a fanciful +production, remote from all reality. With resignation I bow myself in +advance to these criticisms, though I claim the right to protest in my +own heart, if not publicly, against the unfairness of such a charge. For +the chief events of this novel--I must say it, though my glory as an +originator may be destroyed--have all actually taken place. The author +has done nothing more than recount them and give them unity. + +I have the presumption to believe that, though _Marta y Maria_ may not +be a beautiful novel, it is a realistic novel. I know that realism--at +the present time called naturalism--has many impulsive adepts, who +conceive that truth exists only in the vulgar incidents of life, and +that these are the only ones worth transferring to art. Fortunately this +is not the case. Outside of markets, garrets, and slums, the truth +exists no less. The very apostle of naturalism, Emil Zola, confesses +this by painting scenes of polished and lofty poetry, which assuredly +conflict with his exaggerated aesthetic theories. + +The character of the protagonist of my novel is an exceptional +character. I take delight in acknowledging this. But to be exceptional +is not to be less true to nature, less human. Mystic temperaments are +not apt to abound in Madrid: the frivolous and sensual life of the court +is little adapted for their development. But all who have lived in a +province will have known, just as I have, certain passionate and pious +souls, who, without any motive of a temporal kind, have renounced the +world and consecrated themselves to God. Take the periodicals, and +scarcely a day will pass without your seeing the announcement of some +young woman becoming a nun. Among these young persons are beautiful +girls, daughters of wealthy families, rejoicing in all the gifts of +nature and the flatteries of society. Is not, peradventure, the careful +study of such souls worthy of the literary man, even though he call +himself a naturalist? + +The motive or occasion of this book being written is as follows: I found +myself one afternoon in Don Fernando Fe's bookstore, turning over recent +publications and periodicals, when there fell into my hands a number of +the _Ilustracion Espanola y Americana_, in which appeared a capital cut +representing "The Taking of the Veil in a Convent of Carmelite Nuns." A +pretty young girl was seen on her knees before the inner door of the +convent, from which three sisters, bundled up in great thick robes of +black, were coming forth to receive her, with a coarse wooden cross. In +the background an aged bishop was calling down upon her the blessing of +heaven; and a lady, in whom the mother was to be instantly recognized, +was looking on with ecstatic and troubled eyes. Still farther back there +was a numerous group of people, pre-eminent among them being two other +young ladies, elegantly dressed, whose resemblance to the novice +quickly told that they were her sisters. The first was sadly +contemplating the ceremony, while the other hid her face in her hands, +as if she were trying to smother her sobs. + +I felt impressed in presence of this scene so admirably interpreted by +the artist, and as a natural consequence I was assailed by many memories +and not a few reflections connected with the same subject, and I came to +the conclusion that it was worth while to make a study of it. It did not +deal with anything ancient and remote which might serve merely as a +theme for the investigations of the historian, but with a most curious +and interesting fact taking place before our very eyes. The enthusiasm, +the ardent raptures, the ecstasies, and even the frenzies of these souls +at once simple and passionate, who find no way to quench the thirst +devouring them, to calm the unrest torturing them, by intercourse with +the world, and who seek in the mystery of the cloister, medicine for +their ills, seemed to me a theme worthy for the contemporary novelist to +master and offer with due respect to the consideration of the public. A +certain series of events which took place a few years ago, and happened +to come under my observation, occurred to my mind, and instantly the +desire seized me to write a novel. But one circumstance proved to be a +stumbling-block. It had never entered into my calculations to write +novels with transcendental themes, especially those based upon religious +subjects. This I declared without qualification in a little line of +parenthesis which I put under the title of my first novel, _El Senorito +Octavio_ (a novel without transcendental thought). And in truth I was +afraid to bring myself so soon into conflict with my aesthetic programme +in a country where everything is pardoned except contradiction. But +among the honorable pleasures conferred by the Supreme Creator upon the +heroic Spanish public, there is none more keen and delectable than that +of breaking the laws and programmes which they have freely imposed upon +themselves. In this particular, sybaritism has reached the point of +making itself every morning some rule for the pleasure afforded by +breaking it in the afternoon. Therefore as soon as I saw the +contradiction, the problem was solved. I will write the novel, I said, +for my conscience, so that I may have to endure fifteen literary +sessions of the Athenaeum without stirring from my place. + +The novel is now written. The subject is one sufficiently rude and +liable to be carried away by prejudices and extravagances which the +novelist who has a wish to paint the reality must avoid with care. I +have striven with all my power to bring myself into a point of view +relatively neutral (granting that the absolute cannot be attained), and +to study the theme with the calmness of the physiologist. Whatever my +sympathies may have been, I have tried always to subordinate them to the +truth and to the profound respect which all noble sentiments and all +honest beliefs deserve from me. You shall say if I have succeeded. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE STREET. + + +Within the arcade the people were crowding relentlessly; each and every +one was performing prodigies of skill to flout the physical law of the +impenetrability of bodies, by reducing his own to an imaginary quantity. +The night was unusually thick and dark. The feet of the loungers found +each other out in the darkness, and when they met they indulged in +somewhat expressive forms of endearment; the elbows of some, by a secret +and fatal impulse, went straight into the eyes of others; the passive +subject of such caresses instantly raised his hand to the place of +contact, and usually exclaimed with some asperity, "You barbarian, you +might at least--" but an energetic "Sh--sh--sh" from the throng obliged +him to nip his discourse in the bud, and silence again began to reign. +Silence was at this time the most pressing necessity which was felt by +the inhabitants of Nieva there gathered together. The least noise was +regarded as an act of sedition, and was instantly punished by a +threatening hiss. Coughs and sneezes were prohibited, and still more +condign punishment was meted out to laughter and conversation. There was +profuse perspiration, although the night was not among the mildest of +autumn. + +In the arcades of the houses opposite, more or less the same state of +things existed; but in the street itself there were few people, because +a very fine rain was slowly falling, and this the natives of Nieva had +learned not to despise, since in the long run and notwithstanding its +gentle and insinuating ways, it was like any other. Only a few people +with umbrellas, and some others who, not having them, sheltered +themselves with their philosophy, maintained a firm footing in the midst +of the gutter. + +The balconied windows of the house of Elorza were thrown wide open, and +through the embrasures streamed a bright and cheerful light which made +the dark and misty night outside still more melancholy. Likewise there +streamed forth from time to time torrents of musical notes let loose +from a piano. + +The house of Elorza was the principal one in a long, narrow street, +adorned with an arcade on both sides like almost all the rest in the +town of Nieva. Its most important facade looked into this street, but it +had another with balconies facing the town square, which was wide and +handsome like that of a city. Though the darkness does not allow us to +make out exactly the appearance of the house, yet we can prove that it +is a building of faced stone and of one story, with spacious arcade, the +elegant and stately arches of which instantly declare the rank of its +owners. This arcade, which might be called a portico, makes a notable +contrast with that of the succeeding houses, which is low and narrow and +supported by round, rough pillars without any ornamentation. Likewise +the same difference is to be seen in the pavement. In the arcade of +which we are speaking, it is of well-set flagging, while the others +offer merely an inconvenient footway paved with cobble-stones. Without +venturing, indeed, to call it a palace, it is not presumptuous to assert +that this mansion had been built for the exclusive use and gratification +of some person of importance; the fact that it had only one story very +clearly decided this point. The truth demands that we set forth +likewise the fact that the architect had given undeniable proofs of good +taste in laying out the plan of the building, since its proportions +could not be more elegant and correct. But what most struck the eye was +a certain attractive and aristocratic thriftiness about it perfectly +free from presumption, which, though calculated to inspire envy, +certainly did not arouse in the minds of the people those hatreds and +heart-burnings always excited by overweening wealth. The frowning +firmament ceaselessly poured down all the moist and chilly mist with +which its clouds were surcharged. The shadows shrowded and concealed the +outlines of the house, crowding together underneath the arches and in +the hollows of their stone mouldings, but they did not dare so much as +to approach the bright, joyful openings of the balconies, which drove +them away in terror. They gazed clandestinely into the heavenly _el +dorado_ of the interior, and eaten up with envy, they poured out their +spite upon the heads of the philosophers who were listening in the open +air. The pyramidal group of loungers, enjoying the protection of the +opposite arcades, did not take their eyes from the balconies, while +those who clustered under the arches of the house itself, as they lacked +this expedient, entirely trusted to their ears, the receptive capacity +of which they strove to increase by placing the palms of their hands +behind them and doubling them forward a little. The darkness was dense +in both arcades, for the town lanterns shed their pallid rays at +respectable distances. Each served only to light up a sufficiently +circumscribed area at wide intervals in the plaza, making melancholy +reflections on the wet stones of the pavement. Amid the shadows now and +then the light of a cigar flashed out for an instant, causing a ruddy +glow on the smoker's mustachios. A little further away, on the corner, a +variety shop still remained open; but the shopkeeper's shadow could be +seen often crossing in front of the door as he was putting his wares in +order before shutting up. On the principal floor of the same house the +balconied windows were all thrown wide open; through them rang voices, +coarse outbursts of laughter, and the clicking of billiard balls, sounds +which fortunately reached the arcades greatly softened. This was the +Cafe de la Estrella, frequented until the small hours of the night by a +dozen indefatigable patrons. Otherwise, silence reigned, although it was +impossible to get rid of the peculiar rumble inseparable from the +thronging of people in one place, which is caused by the shuffling of +feet, the stirring of bodies, and above all by the smothered phrases in +falsetto tones let fall by some in the hearing of others. + +At the moment when the present history begins, the vibrating tones of +the piano were heard preluding the passionate _allegro_ of the aria from +"La Traviata": _gran Dio morir si giovine_. When the prelude was ended, +a soft and appropriate accompaniment began. The expectation was intense. +At last, above the accompaniment arose a clear and most dulcet voice, +echoing through the whole plaza like a sound from heaven. The two groups +of listeners were stirred as though they had touched their fingers to +the knob of an electric machine, and a subdued murmur of satisfaction +ran up and down among them. + +"'Tis Maria," said three or four, hoping that the ears of the walls +would not overhear them. + +"It was high time!" remarked one, in a little louder voice. + +"It is she that is singing now; hark! and not that beast of the canning +factory!" exclaimed a third, still more impulsive. + +"Have the goodness to keep quiet, gentlemen, so that we can hear!" cried +a very angry voice. + +"Let that man hold his tongue!" + +"Out with him!" + +"Silence!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhh!" + +"I have always insisted that there are no people more ill-bred than +those of this place!" again cried the angry voice. + +"Hold your tongue!" + +"Don't be a fool, man!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhh!" + +Finally all became silent, and Verdi's passionate melody could be heard, +interpreted with remarkable delicacy. The lovely, limpid voice, issuing +from the open balconies, rent the saturated atmosphere out of doors, and +vibrating with force, went the rounds of the plaza, and died away in the +mazes of the town. The loneliness and gloom of the night increased the +power and range of that lovely voice, lovely beyond all praise. I do not +say that, for any one of those clever people who feel themselves wrapped +up in the vocalism of the paradise of the Royal Theatre, the singer was +a prodigy in her mastery of attacking, sustaining, and trilling the +notes; but I affirm that for those whom we do not see tortured by +musical scruples, she sang very well, and she possessed, above all, a +bewitching voice, of a passionate _timbre_, which penetrated to the very +depths of the soul. + +The loungers of both arcades, and likewise the philosophers of the +gutter, gave unmistakable proofs of feeling moved. The taste for music +in country towns always partakes of a more violent and impetuous nature +than is shown in large cities, and this is due to the fact that the +latter are furnished with an excess of theatres and salons, while the +former can only from time to time enjoy it. No one whispered, or moved a +step from his place; with open mouths and far-away eyes, they followed +ecstatically the course of that despairing melody, in which Violetta +mourns that she must die after such sufferings undergone. The most +sensitive began to shed tears, remembering some gallant adventure of +their youthful days. The sky, still relentless, kept sending down its +inexhaustive deposit of liquid dust. Two of the philosophers of the +gutter felt of their garments, shook their sombreros, and muttering a +curse against the elements, took refuge in the arcade, causing by their +arrival a slight disturbance among their neighbors. + +At some little distance from both groups, and near a column, were seen, +not very distinctly, three small bodies, with whom we must bring the +reader into contact for a few moments. One of them struck a match to +light a cigar, and there appeared three fresh, laughing, mischievous +faces of fourteen or fifteen years, which resolved into darkness again +as the match went out. + +"Say, Manolo," asked one, lowering his voice as much as possible, "who +gave you that mouth-piece?" + +"Suppose I ragged it of my brother!" + +"Is it amber?" + +"Amber and meerschaum; it cost three duros in Madrid." + +"I pity you, if you should get caught by your--" + +"Hush up, you fool you! What have we got a servant in the house for, if +not to blame for such faults?" + +A man who was standing nearer than the rest, harshly bade them hold +their tongues. The urchins obeyed. But after a moment Manolo said, in a +barely perceptible voice, "See here, lads! would you like to have me +break this all up in a jiffy?" + +"Yes, yes, Manolo!" hastily replied the others, who evidently had great +faith in the destructive powers of their companion. + +"Then you just wait; stay quiet where you are." + +And moving a little aside from them, he hid himself beside a door, and +set up three extraordinary yelps, precisely like those emitted by dogs +when they are beaten. A tremendous, furious, universal barking +immediately resounded through the spaces. All the dogs of the community, +united and compact, like one single mastiff, protested energetically +against the punishment inflicted upon one of their kind. Maria's singing +was completely lost beneath that formidable yelping. The listening +multitude experienced a painful shock, stirred tumultuously for some +moments, uttered incoherent exclamations against the cursed animals, +endeavored to bring them to silence by shouting at them, and at last, +seeing the uselessness of their efforts, resigned themselves to the hope +that they would cease of themselves. The howls, in fact, were gradually +dying away, all the time becoming more and more infrequent and remote; +only the dog belonging to the variety shop, which had just been closed, +continued for some time barking furiously. At length even he ceased, +though most unwillingly. The song of the dying Violetta was once again +heard, pure and limpid as before, and once again the auditors began to +experience the softening impressions which it had made upon them, +although they were somewhat restless and nervous, as if fearing at any +moment to be deprived of that pleasure. + +Manolo, choking with amusement, rejoined his companions and was received +with stifled laughter and applause. + +"Come, Manolito, yelp once again." + +"Wait, wait awhile; we want to take 'em by surprise." + +After some little time had passed, Manolo once more cautiously crept +away, and, skirting the group, stationed himself at the opposite +extreme. From there he set up three more howls like the first, and the +same thunderous barking filled the spaces, giving back kind for kind. +The multitude underwent a new excess of vexation, but accompanied by far +greater tumult; everybody was speaking at once, and uttering furious +ejaculations. + +"This is horrible!" + +"Here's a concert for us given by those confounded dogs!" + +"The dog that howled is the one to blame." + +"Curse him!" + +"Confound it!" + +"Silence! silence! give us a chance to hear something!" + +"What can you hear?" + +"Deuced bad luck!" + +"Silence! silence!" + +"Sh--sh--sh--shhhhhh!" + +The dogs one after another were beginning to quiet down, according to +their own good pleasure, and little by little calm was reasserting its +sway. Violetta's song re-appeared, full of melancholy, sweetness, and +passion. Maria's voice, in her interpretation of it, expressed such +pathos that the heart was melted, and tears sprang into the eyes. One +single dog, the one at the variety shop, kept on barking with a +persistency that was in the highest degree exasperating, since it +prevented the singer's voice from reaching the ears of the public with +the clearness desired. A man with a cudgel in his hand detached himself +from the throng, and braving the elements, crossed the plaza to stop his +barking, but the dog immediately smelt the stick and took to flight. The +man came back into the arcade. At length perfect silence reigned in the +plaza, and the music lovers could enjoy to their hearts' content the +concert in the house of Elorza. + +What had become of Manolo? His companions waited for him for some time, +so as to congratulate him on his praiseworthy conduct, but he did not +put in an appearance. The smaller urchin at length timidly asked the +other,-- + +"Say! what would they do to him if they'd caught him yelping?" + +"Why, nothing; they'd treat him to a little cane syrup."[1] + +He who had propounded the question trembled a little, and held his +peace. + +"But then," continued the other, "they haven't caught him, not a bit of +it; he's too cute to let himself get caught." + +At this instant Manolo raised two shrieks still more maddening in the +opposite arcade, and with the same madness the dogs of the neighborhood, +barking, took up the refrain. It is impossible to describe what happened +thereupon in the multitude of listeners in both arcades. The tumult +which ensued was in reality overpowering. A goodly number of hands flew +about in the darkness, flourishing terrible canes and umbrellas, and +from both the throngs arose a chorus of imprecations far from flattering +to the canine race. The confusion and disorder took possession of all +minds. Breasts breathed nothing but vengeance and extermination. + +"Kill that beastly cur! cried a voice above the tumult. + +"Yes, yes, break his back for him!" replied another, instigating the +fittest method of slaughter. + +"That dog, that dog!" + +"But where is that cursed beast?" + +"Find him and break his back!" + +"And if you can't find the dog, break his master's back!" + +"That's the idea! his master's!" + +"Thunder and lightning! kill 'em both!" + +The disorder had increased to such a degree, and the shouting had become +so scandalous, that some of the balconied windows in the vicinity +emitted a sharp sound, and were cautiously opened; the inquisitive heads +which were thrust forth, not being able to discover what had caused the +disturbance, and fearing to catch cold, were incontinently withdrawn. In +the house of Elorza three or four people likewise peered out and +likewise hurriedly drew back, and oh! the grief of it! closed the +windows as they went. + +"Well now! we shall hear what we must hear." + +"Have they shut the windows?" + +"Yes, senor, they have, and shut 'em up tight." + +From that multitude escaped a submissive sigh of weariness and rage. +There was silence for a moment as a tribute rendered to their vanished +hopes. No one moved from his place. At last some one said in a loud +voice: "Senores, good night, and good luck to you. I'm going home!" + +This salutation shook them from their stupor. The groups began to +dissolve slowly, not without uttering choleric exclamations. A few +individuals walked off under the arcades. Others crossed the plaza with +umbrellas spread. A few remained in the same place, making endless +commentaries on what had just occurred. At last a half-dozen loafers +remained, and these, tired of complaining in that locality, adjourned to +the Cafe de la Estrella, to do the same. While they were crossing the +space that lay between the arcade and the cafe, an angry voice, the same +which had raised its protest against the faulty manners of that town, +said, with still more anger,-- + +"I have always declared that there aren't any worse trained dogs than +those in this city!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SOIREE AT THE ELORZA MANSION. + + +"What a shame, Isidorito, that you did not study for a doctor! I don't +know why it is I imagine you must have a keen eye for diseases." + +The young man turned red with pleasure. + +"Dona Gertrudis, you flatter me; I have no other desert than that of +sticking fast to whatever I undertake, and this seems to me absolutely +necessary in whatever career one devotes himself to." + +"You are quite right. The main thing is to apply one's self to what lies +before him, and not go wool-gathering. Now, for example, take Don +Maximo. It cannot be denied that he has great knowledge, and I wish him +well, but he has the misfortune of not applying himself to anything that +is said to him, and therefore he scarcely ever hits the mark. Please +tell me, Isidorito, how is it possible for man to succeed in curing one, +if when the invalid is telling him her sufferings, he sets himself to +work sharpening lead-pencils or drumming with his fingers. You don't +know how I have suffered on account of him. I pray God may not set down +against him the harm he has done me. My husband is very fond of him--and +so am I too, you must believe me. In spite of all, he is a good man, and +it's twenty-four years since he first entered this house; but I must +tell the truth though it is hard: the poor man has the misfortune of not +applying himself--of not applying himself little or much." + +"Just so, just so. Don Maximo, in my opinion, lacks those gifts of +observation indispensable to the profession to which he belongs. Perhaps +it may surprise you to know what qualifications are needed for the +practice of medicine from a scientific point of view; it is my own +private opinion, which I am ready to sustain anywhere, either in public +or in private. Medicine, in my judgment, is nothing else whatever than +an empirical profession, purely empirical. I repeat that it is my +private opinion, and that I expound it as such, but I harbor the belief +that very soon it will be a truth universally accepted." + +"The truth is, Isidorito, that he has simply not understood me. Day +before yesterday I spent the whole day with a roaring in my head as +though a lot of drums were beating behind it. At the same time this left +knee was so swollen that I could not even walk from my room to the +dining-room. I sent a message to Don Maximo, and he did not appear till +it was dark. I assure you I passed a wretched day, and if it had not +been for some tallow plasters which my daughter Marta put on my temples +at midnight, I should certainly have died, for Don Maximo did not think +it necessary even to have a lamp lighted to see me." + +"What you point out still more confirms my assertion. You see how +domestic remedies, administered without other judgment than that +suggested by experience, by the results obtained in a long series of +cases, sometimes operate on the organism in a more successful way than +scientific medicine. Such a thing could not happen in our profession, +senora, where all the chances that may occur are foreseen in advance by +the laws, or by jurisprudence raised into the category of the law. There +is not a single litigation which does not find its adequate solution in +the civil codes, nor can any crime or misdeed whatsoever be committed, +without provision being made for it in some article of the penal code. +And in order that nothing may even be wanting the free will of the +tribunals (I except the usual interpretation), we have as a supplement +the canonical law, which is an abundant source of rules for conduct, +though these all are based principally on equity." + +"Certainly, certainly, Isidorito. Doctors absolutely do not understand a +single thing. If I could measure out into bottles, once for all, the +medicine that I have taken, I could very easily open an apothecary shop. +And yet here you see me just as I was at the very beginning,--at the +very beginning,--without having made a single step in advance. God +grants me great resignation, otherwise--Just consider! yesterday I was +as usual, but to-day, my fete-day too, what I suffer I'm sure will be +the death of me, the death of me;--an uneasiness throughout my body,--a +crawling up and down my legs like ants,--a rumbling in my ears. You who +have so much talent, don't you know what it is to have a rumbling in the +ears?" + +"Senora, I think--ahem--that a purely nervous state is answerable for this +infirmity,--nervous alterations are so varied and extraordinary--ahem--that +it is not possible to reduce them to fixed principles, and so it is much +better not to lay down any rule, but to study them in detail, or let +each one stand separately." + +It was hard work, but at last he extricated himself from the difficulty. +Isidorito was a lean, bashful young man, with deep precocious wrinkles +in his cheeks, with thin hair and goggle eyes. He was regarded as one of +the most serious-minded youths, or perhaps the most serious-minded +youth of the town, and always served as a mirror for the fathers of +families, to hold up before their rattlebrain sons. "Don't you see how +well Isidorito behaves in society, and with what aplomb he talks on all +sorts of subjects?" "Ah, if you were like Isidorito, what a happy old +age you would make me spend!" "Shame on you for letting Isidorito be +made doctor of laws these four years, while you have not succeeded in +graduating as a licentiate yet, you blockhead!" + +Dona Gertrudis, wife of Don Mariano Elorza, the master of the house in +which we find ourselves, is seated, or, to speak more correctly, is +reclining, in an easy-chair at Isidorito's side. Although she had not +yet passed her forty-fifth year, she appeared to be as old as her +husband, who was now approaching his sixtieth. Not entirely lacking in +her cadaverous and faded face were the lines of an exceptional beauty, +which had given much to talk about there from 1846 to 1848, and which +had redounded to her in a multitude of ballads, sonnets, and acrostics, +by the most distinguished poets of the town, inserted in a weekly +journal entitled _El Judio Errante_, which was published at that time in +Nieva. Dona Gertrudis preserved with great care a gorgeously bound +collection of _Judios Errantes_, and was in the habit of assuring her +friends that if the young man who signed his acrostics with a V and +three stars had not faded away with quick consumption, he would have +been by this time the fashionable poet; and that if another lad, named +Ulpiano Menendez, who disguised himself under the pseudonym of _The Moor +of Venice_, had not gone off to America to make his fortune in business, +he would have been, at least, as great as Ayola, Campoamor, or Nuno de +Arce. Don Mariano, her husband, shared the same conviction, although at +another epoch the lyric poet, as well as the merchant, had caused him +great anxieties, and not a few times had disturbed the peaceful course +of his love; but he was a just man and fond of giving every one his due. + +Dona Gertrudis was wrapt up in a magnificent plush comforter, and her +head was covered with a net, underneath which appeared her hair turning +from auburn to white. Her features were delicate and regular, and of a +singularly faded pallor. Her eyes were blue and extremely melancholy. +The marks of close confinement rather than of illness were to be seen in +that face. + +"This roaring in my ears is killing me, killing me. I cannot eat, I +cannot sleep, I cannot get any rest anywhere." + +"I think that you ought to stay in your room." + +"That is worse, Isidorito, that is worse. In my room I cannot distract +my thoughts. My mind begins to grind like a mill, and it ends by giving +me a fever. I am much sicker than people give me credit for. They'll see +how this will end. To-day I am so nervous, so nervous.--Feel my pulse, +Isidorito, and tell me if I am not feverish." + +As she drew out her thin hand and gave it to the young man, Don Mariano +and Don Maximo, who were engaged in lively discussion in the recess of a +balconied window, turned their faces in her direction and smiled. Dona +Gertrudis blushed a little and hastened to hide her hand under her +comforter. + +"Your wife already has a new physician!" added Don Maximo, in a tone of +irony. + +"Bah, bah, bah! What cat or dog is there in town that my wife won't have +taken into consultation? These days she is furious with you, and says +that she is going to die without your paying any attention to her. I +find her better than ever. But we shall see, Don Maximo. Do you really +believe that we can accept the line from Miramar?" + +"And why not?" + +"Don't you comprehend that it would swamp us forever?" + +"Don Mariano, it seems to me that you are blinded. What is of importance +for Nieva is to have a railroad right away, right away, I say!" + +"What is of importance for Nieva is to have a decent road, a decent +road, I say. The line from Miramar would be our ruin, for it ties us to +Sarrio, which, as you know very well, has far greater importance as a +commercial town and a seaport town than we have. In a few years it would +swallow us like a cherry-stone. Moreover, you must take into account +that as it is fifteen kilometers from the junction to Nieva, and only +twelve to Sarrio; trade would not fail to select the latter point for +exportation, on account of the saving in the rate, for those three +kilometers of difference. On the other hand, the line from Sotolongo +offers the great advantage of uniting us to Pinarrubio, which can never +enter into rivalry with us; and at the same time it decidedly shortens +the distance to the junction, bringing it down to thirteen kilometers. +The difference in the rates, therefore, is a mere trifle, not sufficient +to induce trade to go to Sarrio. If you add to this the fact that sooner +or later--" + +A violent coughing fit cut short Don Mariano's discourse. He was a +large, tall man, with white beard and hair, the beard very abundant. His +black eyes gleamed like those of a boy, and in his ruddy cheeks time had +not succeeded in ploughing deep furrows. Doubtless he had been one of +the most gallant young men of his day, and even as we find him now, he +still attracted attention by his genial and venerable countenance, and +by his noble athletic figure. The violence of his cough had a powerful +effect on his sanguine complexion, and he grew exceedingly red in the +face. After he had stopped coughing, he resumed the thread of his +discourse. + +"If you add to the fact that sooner or later we shall have a good port, +either in El Moral or in Nieva itself,--for the war isn't going to last +forever, nor is the government going to leave us always in the condition +of pariahs,--you will see at once what an impulse will be instantly +given to the trade of the town and how soon we shall put Sarrio into the +shade." + +"Well, well, I agree that the line from Sotolongo offers certain +advantages; but you very well know that neither at the present time, nor +for many days to come, can we do anything but dream about that one, +while the road from Miramar is in our very hands. The government is +deeply interested in it because there is no other means of protecting +our gun-factory. You certainly realize that if the Carlists succeeded in +breaking the line of Somosierra, they would overrun us and make +themselves at home; they would take the arms on hand, dismantle the +factory, and without the slightest risk they could set out for the +valley of Canedo. At present there is no danger of their breaking the +line; I grant that, but who can guarantee what the future may bring +forth? Moreover, may not the day come when the Carlist element which we +have here will raise its head? Then if there were a railroad, no matter +from what point, nothing would be more easy than to set down here in a +couple of hours four or five thousand men--" + +"In the first place, Don Maximo, a military railroad, as you yourself +confess that the one from Miramar is to be, is not such as we have the +right to ask of the nation. We need a genuine railroad, suitable for the +promotion of our interests, and not to serve merely for the protection +of a factory. Just consider that it is a work to last for all time, and +that if from its very inception it suffers from a gross mistake, this +mistake will hang forever over our town. In the second place, the +Carlists will never get beyond Somosierra. As to their raising their +heads here, you understand perfectly well that it is impossible because +they have very few elements to rely on--and, as to their doing this--" + +"I have reason to believe that they are! We must be on the watch, and +not be found napping. And, as a final reason, a sparrow in the hand is +worth more than a hundred flying.--But tell me, Don Mariano, to change +the subject, have the stables been put in order yet?" + +Don Mariano, instead of replying, felt in all the pockets of his coat +with a distracted air, and not finding what he was looking for, turned +towards a corner of the room. + +"Martita, come here!" + +A young girl who was seated at one end of a sofa, not talking to +anybody, came running to him. She might have been thirteen or fourteen +years old, but the proportions of a woman grown were very distinctly +observable in her. Nevertheless, she wore short dresses. She had a light +complexion, with black hair and eyes, but her countenance did not offer +the exasperating expression so commonly met with in faces of that kind. +The features could not have been more regular and their _tout ensemble_ +could not have been more harmonious; nevertheless, her beauty lacked +animation. It was what is commonly called a cold face. + +"Listen, daughter: go to my room, open the second drawer on the +left-hand side of my writing-table, and bring me the cigar-case which +you'll find there." + +The girl went off on the run, and quickly returned with the article. + +"Let us go and have a smoke in the dining-room," said Don Mariano, +taking Don Maximo by the arm. + +And the two left the parlor by one of the side doors. + +Marta sat down again in the same place. The ladies on one side were +engaged in lively conversation, but she took no share in it. She kept +her seat, casting her eyes indifferently from one part of the parlor to +the other, now resting them on one group of bystanders, now on another, +and more particularly dwelling on the pianist, who at that moment was +executing an arrangement of _Semiramide_. + +Scarcely ever had the parlors of the Elorza mansion presented a more +brilliant appearance; all the sofas of flowered damask were occupied by +richly dressed ladies with bare arms and bosoms. The chandelier +suspended from the middle, reflected the light in beautiful hues which +fell upon smooth skins, making them look like milk and roses. Those fair +bosoms were infinitely multiplied by the mirrors on both sides: the +severe bottle-green paper of the parlor brought out all their whiteness. +Marta turned to look at the Senoras de Delgado; three sisters: one, a +widow, the other two, old maids. All were upwards of forty; the old +maids did not trust to their youthfulness, but they had absolute +confidence in the power of their shining shoulders and their fat and +unctuous arms. Near them was the Senorita de Mori, round-faced, +sprightly, with mischievous eyes, an orphan and rich. At a little +distance was the Senora de Ciudad, napping peacefully until the hour +should come for her to collect the six daughters whom she had scattered +about in different parts of the parlor. Yonder in a corner her sister +Maria was holding a confidential talk with a young man. The girl's eyes +wandered slowly from one point to another. The music interested her very +slightly. She seemed to be sure of not being noticed by any one, and her +face kept the icy expression of indifference of one alone in a room. + +The gentlemen in black dress-coats properly buttoned, languidly +clustered about the doors of the library and dining-room, staring +persistently at the arms and bosoms occupying the sofas. Others stood +behind the piano, waiting till a period of silence gave them time to +express by subdued exclamations the admiration with which their souls +were overflowing. Only a very few, well beloved by fortune, had received +the flattering compliment of having some lady calm with her hand the +exuberant inclinations of her silken skirts and make a bit of room for +them beside her. Puffed up with such a privilege, they gesticulated +without ceasing, and spread their talents for the sake of entertaining +the magnanimous senora, and the three or four other ladies who took part +in the conversation. The torrent of demisemiquavers and double +demisemiquavers pouring from the piano which was situated in one corner +of the parlor, filled its neighborhood and entirely quenched the buzzing +of the conversation. At times, however, when in some passage the +pianist's fingers struck the keys softly, the distressing clatter of the +opening and shutting of fans was heard, and above the dull, confused +murmur of the thoughtless chatterers some word or entire sentence would +suddenly become perceptible, making those who were drawn up behind the +piano shake their heads in disgust. The heat was intense, although the +balconied windows were thrown open. The atmosphere was stifling and +heavy with an indistinct and disagreeable odor, compounded of the +perfume of pomades and colognes and the effluvia of perspiring bodies. +In this confusion of smells pre-eminent was the sharp scent of +rice-powder. + +Dona Gertrudis according to her daily habit had gone sound asleep in her +easy-chair. She asserted an invalid's right, and no one took it amiss. +Isidorito, getting up noiselessly, went and stood by the library door. +From that impregnable coigne of vantage he began to shoot long, deep, +and passionate glances upon the Senorita de Mori, who received the fires +of the battery with heroic calmness. Isidorito had been in love with the +Senorita de Mori ever since he knew what dowry and paraphernalia[2] +meant, rousing the admiration of the whole town by his loyalty. This +passion had taken such possession of his soul that never had he been +known to exchange a word with or speed an incendiary look towards any +other woman except the senorita aforesaid. But Isidorito, contrary to +what might have been believed, considering his vast legal attainments +and his gravity no less vast, met with a slight contrariety in his +love-making. Senorita de Mori was in the habit of lavishing fascinating +smiles on everybody, of squandering warm and languishing glances on all +the young men of the community; all--except Isidorito. This +incomprehensible conduct did not fail to cause him some disquietude, +compelling him to meditate often on the shrewdness of the Roman +legislators who were always unwilling to grant women legal capacity. He +had lately been appointed municipal attorney of the district, and this, +by the authority conferred upon him, gave him great prestige among his +fellow-citizens. But, indeed, the Senorita de Mori, far from allowing +herself to be fascinated by her suitor's new position, seemed to regard +his appointment as ridiculous, judging by the pains she took from that +time forth to avoid all visual communication with him. Still our young +friend was not going to be cast down by these clouds, which are so +common among lovers, and he continued to lay siege to the restless +damsel's chubby face and three thousand duros income, sometimes by means +of learned discourses, and sometimes by languishing and romantic +actions. + +At one side of Marta a certain young engineer who had just arrived from +Madrid, turned the listening circle (_tertulia_) gathered around him +into an Eden by his wheedling and graceful conversation. It was a +tertulia, or _petit comite_, as the engineer called it, consisting +exclusively of ladies, the nucleus of which was made up by three of the +De Ciudad girls. + +"That's only one of your gallant speeches, Suarez," said one lady. + +"Of course it is," echoed several. + +"It is absolute truth, and whoever has lived here any length of time +will say so. In Madrid there's no halfway about it; the women are either +perfectly beautiful or perfectly hideous. That union of charming and +attractive faces which I see here is not to be found there; and so don't +let it surprise you when I tell you that the hideous are much more +numerous than the beautiful." + +"Oh, pshaw! Madrid is where the prettiest women are to be seen, and +especially the most elegant." + +"Ah! that is quite a different matter; elegant, certainly; but pretty, I +don't agree with you!" + +"It is so, though you don't agree with us!" + +"Ladies, there is one reason why you are more beautiful than the +Madrilenas; it is a reason which can be better appreciated by those who, +like myself, have devoted themselves to the fine arts: here there is +color and form, and there they do not exist. By good fortune, this very +evening, I have the opportunity of noticing it and of making +comparisons, which show most favorably for you. Now that we are allowed +to contemplate what is ordinarily draped with great care, I can take my +oath that you have those beautiful forms which we admire so much in +Grecian statues and Flemish paintings, soft, white, transparent; while +if you enter a Madrid drawing-room, you don't stumble upon anything else +than skeletons in ball dresses--" + +The ladies broke into laughter, hiding their faces behind their fans. + +"What a tongue, what a tongue you have, Suarez!" + +"It only serves me to tell the truth. The Madrid girls have the effect +upon me of shadow-pantomimes. In you I find visible, palpable, and even +delectable beings--" + +Marta noticed that the wax of a candelabrum was burning out, and that +the glass socket was in danger of cracking. She got up and went to puff +it out. Then when she sat down again, she took a different position. + +The pianist ended his fantasy without stumbling. The conversations +stopped abruptly; some clapped their hands, and others said, "Very good, +very good." No one had been listening to him, but the pianist felt +himself rewarded for his fatigues, and raising his blushing face above +the piano, he acknowledged his thanks to the company with a triumphant +smile. A young fellow who wore his hair banged like the dandies of +Madrid, profited by this blissful moment to beg him to play a +waltz-polka. + +At the very first chords an extraordinary commotion was observable among +the young men near the doors, who were evidently suffering from lack of +exercise. A few began to draw on their gloves hastily; others smoothed +back their hair with their hands, and straightened their cravats. One +asked, with constrained voice,-- + +"It's a mazurka, isn't it?" + +"No, a waltz-polka." + +"What! a waltz-polka?" + +"Can't you tell by your ears?" + +"Ah, yes. You're right. But then, senor, this wretched fellow at the +piano will prevent me from dancing with Rosario this evening." + +All seemed restless and nervous as though they were about to pass +through the fire. The boldest crossed the drawing-room with rapid steps, +and joined the young ladies, hiding their trepidation behind a +supercilious smile. As soon as the senorita who had been invited stood +up and took the proffered arm, they began to feel that they were masters +of themselves. Others, less courageous, gave three or four long pulls to +their cigars, puffing the smoke out toward the entry, and having keyed +themselves up to the right pitch, slowly directed their steps to some +young lady less fascinating than the others, receiving for their +attention a smile full of tender promises. The more cowardly struggled a +long while with their gloves, and finally had to ask some grave senor to +fasten the buttons for them. When this operation was finished, and they +were ready to dance, they discovered that there were no girls sitting +down. Thereupon they resigned themselves to dance with some mamma. + +One after another all the couples took the floor. Marta remained +sitting. Two or three very complaisant and patronizing young fellows +came to invite her, but she replied that she did not know how to dance. +The real motive of her refusal was that her father did not like to have +her take part in society while she was so young. She sat, therefore, +attentively watching how the others went round. Her great black eyes +rested with placid expression on each one of the couples who went up and +down before her. Some interested her more than others, and she followed +them with her glance. Their ways, their movements, and their looks were +so different, that they made a curious study. A tall, lean youth was +bending his back as near double as possible, so as to put his arm around +the waist of a diminutive senorita who was endeavoring to keep on her +very tip-toes. An elderly and portly lady was leaning languidly over a +boy's shoulder, besmearing his coat with Matilde Diez's wax-white. Some, +like Isidorito, did not succeed in steering, and frequently stepped on +their partners, who soon declared that they were weary and asked to be +excused. Others put down their heels with such force that they scratched +the floor. Marta looked at these with considerable severity, like a true +housewife. After a while the faces began to show signs of weariness, +some becoming flushed, others pallid, according to the temperament of +each. With mouths open, cheeks aglow, and brows bathed in perspiration, +they gave evidence of no other expression than that of absolute +stupidity. At first they smiled and even dropped from their lips a +compliment or two; but very soon gallantries ceased, and the smile faded +away; all ended by skipping about silent and solemn, as if some unseen +hand were laying on the lash in order to make them do so. Marta from +time to time shut her eyes, and thus she avoided the dizziness which +began to attack her. + +At last the piano suddenly ceased to sound. The couples, in virtue of +the momentum which they had acquired, gave three or four hops +unaccompanied by the music, and this made Marta smile. Before they took +their seats the girls walked around the drawing-room for a few moments +arm in arm with their partners, engaged in lively and interesting +discourse. The pianist accepted the effusive thanks of the smart young +man with the bangs. At length the ladies were all seated in their +respective places, and the gentlemen fell back once again to the doors, +mopping their brows with their handkerchiefs. Those who had danced with +the beauties of the drawing-room showed faces shining with beatitude, +and smilingly received the jests of their friends, while those who had +pressed the less favored to their bosoms, praised to the skies their +partners' Terpsichorean skill. + +The youth with the hair over his forehead conceived the idea of Don +Serapio singing a song, and he went from group to group around the room, +making an instantaneous and satisfactory propaganda with his happy +thought. + +"Yes, yes, Don Serapio must sing!" + +"Don Serapio must sing! Don Serapio must sing!" + +"Gentlemen, for Heaven's sake--I have a very bad cold!" + +"No matter; you will sing well enough, Don Serapio." + +"A thousand thanks, ladies, a thousand thanks. I should wish at this +moment that I had the voice of an angel, for angels only ought to sing +to angels." + +This compliment produced an excellent impression upon the feminine +element of the company. The masculine element received it with derisive +smiles. + +"We always enjoy great pleasure in listening to you; you know it very +well." + +"Because generosity ever goes in company with beauty. The face is the +mirror of the soul, they say, and if that is true, how could you help +being benevolent toward me?" + +The second compliment was likewise received with a laugh of complacency +by the ladies. The men continued to smile scornfully. + +"Sing, sing, Don Serapio!" + +"But supposing I am not in practice--I don't know how I can repay such +kindness. Besides, I have lost my voice entirely." + +Don Serapio let himself be urged for some time. At last he went toward +the piano, escorted by a circle of ladies, to whom he addressed smiles +and words full of honeyed sweetness, and managed to extract +clandestinely a roll of music which he carried in the inner pocket of +his coat. The pianist instantly saw through this manoeuvre, and came +to his assistance by quietly taking the music from his hand. + +"Don Serapio is going to sing--you are going to sing the romance +_Lontano a te_," he said as he spread it out on the rack. + +"Oh, for Heaven's sake! it is too sentimental, and these ladies are not +now in favor of romanticism--" + +"On the contrary, Don Serapio!" exclaimed one of the Delgado girls; "we +women in this age of selfishness and calculation are the very ones who +ought to worship sentiment and heart." + +"Always as graceful as you are felicitous!" declared the vocalist, +bowing to the floor. + +The pianoforte introduction began. Don Serapio, before he uttered a +note, kept arching his eyebrows, and he stretched his neck as much as +possible, as a token of his feeling. He was upwards of fifty, although +pomades, dyes, and cosmetics gave him from a distance the appearance of +a young man. Near at hand, his mustachios, though waxed to perfection, +were not sufficient to make up for the crows'-feet and wrinkles of every +sort which lined his face. He was a manufacturer of canned goods, and a +confirmed old bachelor; not because he failed to honor the fair sex and +hold it in esteem, but because he thought that marriage was death to +love and its illusions. Never was there a man more soft and honeyed in +his conversation with ladies, and never was there a gallant who had a +more abundant assortment of flatteries to lavish upon them. He made +great use of such expressions as _the fire of passion_, _the loss of +will power_, _perfumed breath_, _palpitations of the heart_, and other +like elegancies, all sure of hitting the mark. This was as regards +society women. As for work-girls and serving-maids, Don Serapio's +gallantries did not stop with compliments. He was regarded as one of the +most formidable and successful of seducers among such, and it was a +matter of common knowledge in Nieva that more than one, and more than +two, had had seriously to complain of his behavior, so that it brought +about his head a tremendous scandal which he had hastened to hush with +the fulness of his locker. As a general thing he led a regular life, +rising very early, going to his factory to attend to his accounts and to +inspect the spicing of his fish and oysters, and coming home about five +o'clock in the afternoon to wash himself and dress for his promenade or +his calls, which were not few, and which always ended at eleven o'clock +in the evening. The only reading for which he cared was that of +detective stories. + +Don Serapio's voice was a trifle disagreeable. As one of the young wags +among those clustering about the door said, no one could tell for a +certainty if it were tenor, baritone, or bass. In compensation, he sang +with sentiment fit to melt the rocks, as could be judged by the infinite +movements of his eyebrows, and by the expression of disconsolateness +which came over his face as soon as he stood in front of the piano; no +one ever saw a face so wrinkled, so long drawn, so full of compunction. +The romanza _Lontano a te_, better than any other, had the power of +exciting his sensibility and giving his eyes an exceedingly hopeless +expression. + +While the proprietor of the canning factory was expressing in Italian +his grief at finding himself far from his lady love, the elder daughter +of the family was in the most retired part of the room still engaged in +conversation with a youth of a pleasant, open countenance, with swarthy +complexion, black eyes, and a young mustache. + +"Enrique misunderstood my commission," said the youth. "I asked him to +send me some jewelry worth something, but what he sent me is just about +as commonplace as could be; so much so that I am thinking of sending it +back to-morrow without showing it to you." + +"Don't trouble about it any more; it's all the same one way or the +other." + +"What do you mean, 'all the same'? Since when, senorita, have you grown +so indifferent to matters of the toilet? I am certain that if I were to +bring you this jewelry, you would laugh me to scorn." + +"Don't imagine such a thing." + +"Perhaps you think I don't remember how you made fun of that hat that +your aunt Carmen presented you a few days ago!" + +"It was very wrong of me to make fun of it; but you are just as bad when +you throw it in my face. The truth is that in the end one hat or one set +of jewelry is as good as another." + +"Be it so! Keep it up! I know you well, and you can't cheat me. The +jewelry shall be sent back, and in its place we'll have another set to +my taste and yours. But let's drop the subject. I had something to tell +you, and I can't remember what it was. Oh, yes! we must write to your +uncle Rodrigo, for judging by the note I have just received from him, he +doesn't know yet the day on which we are to be married. I think we ought +to write him both of us in the same letter; doesn't it seem so to you?" + +"Just as you like." + +"All right; I'll come round to-morrow before dinner, and we'll write +it." + +Both remained silent a few moments and listened to the singing of Don +Serapio, who was lamenting always with a more and more pathetic accent +the solitude and sadness in which his mistress kept him. One of the +Delgado senoritas lifted her handkerchief to her eyes, declaring in a +low voice to those standing near that hitherto there had been few things +that ever brought the tears into her eyes. + +"What a bore that wretched Don Serapio is! he wrinkles up his forehead +so that his wig is almost lifted off behind." + +"Don't be so unkind. Have a little charity, and let the poor man enjoy +himself without harming God or his neighbor." + +"As far as I am concerned he may sing till doomsday. But I notice, +lassie, that for some time you have been becoming a great preacher. Are +you thinking of entering into competition with the cure of the parish?" + +"What I am anxious for is that you shouldn't be a backbiter. If you love +me as you say you do, my good advice ought not to make you vexed." + +"It doesn't make me vexed, loveliest; quite the contrary. I always +listen to it with pleasure and follow it--when I can. You surely are +acquainted with my ways, and know that I can't help making fun. However, +you'll have time enough to preach to me all you want, won't you? Not +only time enough but space enough. You can go on giving me sermons from +Nieva to Madrid, then from Madrid to Paris, and from Paris to Milan, and +from Milan to Venice, and thence to Rome and Naples, and back by Geneva, +Brussels, Paris, and Madrid, home again. With what delight I shall +travel through all these foreign countries listening to a preacher so +devoted! How do you like the itinerary of our journey?" + +"Well enough." + +"Well enough! That isn't saying anything. One would think the subject +didn't interest you as much as it did me. I won't fix it definitely till +you have made such changes as you like in it, or vary it entirely, if it +seem good to you. I am just as much interested in going to Berlin or +London as to Paris and Rome. You can imagine how much difference it +makes to me, if I go with you, which way we travel!" + +"Whatever you decide upon will be well." + +"Let us have it decided. Do you like the plan I propose? Yes or no?" + +"I have told you yes already." + +"But, lassie, what is the matter with you? You have scarcely allowed +yourself to smile this whole evening, and you haven't said a word more +than was strictly necessary. What is the reason of such solemnity? Are +you put out with me?" + +"What reason should I have to be?" + +"Then I'll ask you _why_ you are. You must be, since there's no other +way of explaining the curt way in which you have been answering me this +long time." + +"That's your own imagination. I answer you just as I always do." + +Ricardo, without speaking, looked at his betrothed, who turned away her +eyes, fixing them on Don Serapio. + +"It must be so, but I don't understand it. If you are really angry with +me, it would be very unkind of you not to tell me why, so that I could +repair my mistake, if perchance I had committed any. My conscience does +not accuse me of anything--" + +"I tell you that I am not angry; don't be so tiresome!" + +Maria said these words with evident asperity, not turning her face from +the singer. Ricardo again looked at her for a long time. + +"Very good--it is better so--still I thought--" + +Both kept silence for some moments. Ricardo broke it, saying,-- + +"When Don Serapio has finished, they are going to make you sing; I am +sure--all get good out of it except me." + +"Why?" + +"For two reasons: the first is, because much as I enjoy hearing you when +we are alone, I don't like it when you sing before people; the second +is, because they will take you away from me." + +"I don't see why you should dislike it because I sing before people. I +am the one not to like it--and I don't at all. As to the separation, +that's nonsense, because we are together much more than we ought to be." + +"It would be a long and difficult task for me to explain why I don't +like you to sing in public. As to the separation which you call +nonsense, it's the solemn truth. In spite of our being together several +hours a day it seems to me very little. I could wish that we were +together all the time. For a man who is going to be married inside of a +month and a half, I don't think that such a wish is very extraordinary." + +And lowering his voice, he added in a passionate tone:-- + +"I am never satisfied, and never shall be satisfied, however much I am +with thee, my own life. In all the years since I have adored thee, never +for a single instant have I felt the shadow of satiety. When I am near +thee, I think that I could not be more content, even in heaven; when I +am away, I think how much happier I should be if I were with thee. This +is a guaranty that we should never get tired of each other's society; +isn't it so? For my part, I give thee my word that if we reach old age, +I shall enjoy more by thy side than sitting in the sunshine! What a +happy life is waiting for us, and how long it is that I have dreamed +about it! Do you remember how one day in the big garden, when you were +eight years old, and I was ten, my dear mamma made us take each other's +hands, saying to us in a serious tone: 'Would you like to be husband and +wife? Then kiss each other, and look out that you don't quarrel any +more.' From that time forth I have never dreamed of the possibility of +marrying any other woman than you." + +Maria made no reply to this fervid declaration. She kept looking at the +proprietor of the canning factory, with a strange expression, as though +her thoughts were far away. + +"Do you know one thing?" + +"What?" + +"That the chests have come with thy clothes, but I have not opened them +yet. Both of them have on the lid thy cipher with the coronet of +marchioness above. You may laugh at me, but I shall tell thee, all the +same, that it made my heart leap to see the coronet. I imagined that we +were already married, and that I hadn't to wait these everlasting +forty-five days. I don't know what I wouldn't give if to-day were the +last day of December. Tell me, don't you feel any inclination to call +yourself the _Marquesa de Penalta_? to be mine, mine for ever?" + +Maria arose from the sofa, and with a scornful gesture, nor deigning to +look once at her lover, replied,-- + +"Well enough." + +And she went and sat down beside one of the numberless De Ciudad girls. +Ricardo remained for a few moments glued to his seat, without stirring a +finger. Then he got up abruptly and hastened from the room. + +Don Serapio at last ceased mourning his lady's absence, declaring in a +finale that if such a state of things existed longer, he should die +without delay. The pianist added force to this wail of woe by performing +a noisy run in octaves. A great clapping of hands was heard, and +affectionate smiles of approbation were lavished by the ladies upon the +vocalist. The young fellows near the doors, always ready for fun, did +their best to bring about a repetition of the romanza, but Don Serapio +was shrewd enough to perceive that the plaudits of these boys were not +in good faith, and he refused to grant the favor. + +Then the stripling with the banged hair made the following little speech +to the assembled audience:-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that now is the time for us to listen +to the great artiste. We are all waiting impatiently for Maria to +delight us--one of those happy moments--with which she has in days gone +by delighted us. Isn't it a good idea?" + +"That's it; Maria must sing!" + +"Of course she will sing; she is very accommodating." + +The spokesman offered his arm to the young senorita, and led her to the +piano. + +When Maria was left standing alone, facing the audience, a thrill of +admiration was excited as usual. "How lovely, how lovely she is!" "That +girl grows prettier every day!" "What exquisite taste she shows in her +dress!" "She looks like a queen!" These and many other flattering +phrases were whispered among the friends of the Elorza family. + +Without being very tall she was of stately stature and presence. She was +slender, lithe, and graceful as those beautiful dames of the +Renaissance, which the Italian painters chose as their models. The line +of her soft lustrous neck reminded one of Grecian statues. This neck +supported a shapely head; the face fair, the cheeks slightly +rose-tinted, delicate, regular, transparent, with ruby lips and blue +eyes. She bore a notable resemblance to Dona Gertrudis, but she had an +attractive and fascinating expression which that celebrated lady never +had, whatever may have been the persuasion of the lyric poet of the +acrostics. Around her clear and brilliant eyes showed a slight violet +circle, which gave her face a decided poetical tinge. + +"Now Suarez, you will see what kind of a singer this girl is," said one +lady. + +"I shall appreciate her, for this Senor Don Serapio has spoiled my ears +for the time being." + +"Oh! Maria is an artist." + +"What I perceive just now is, that she has a stunning figure." + +"You just wait till you hear her." + +"That girl does everything well! If you could see how she draws!" + +"Haven't the Elorzas any other daughters than this?" + +"Yes, that other girl, who is sitting down over there; her name is +Marta. She is going to be very handsome, too." + +"Indeed, she is pretty; but she hasn't any expression at all. It's a +common kind of beauty, while her sister--" + +"Hush! she's going to begin." Then ensued a silence in the company such +as had always been Don Serapio's ideal--unrealizable like all ideals. +Maria sang various operatic pieces which were asked for, and needed no +urging. When she finished, the plaudits were so eager and long that it +made her blush. + +Suarez assured his circle[3] of ladies that she had a voice which +resembled Nantier Didier's, and that a short time at the conservatory +would put her on an equality with the leading contraltos. + +When the congratulations had ceased, and the looks of all had ceased to +be fastened upon her, a shade of sadness came over Maria's lovely face. +She went to Dona Gertrudis and whispered in her ear,-- + +"Mamma, I have a very severe headache." + +"Ay! daughter of my heart, I sympathize with you. I, too, am having my +share of pain." + +"I should like to go to bed." + +"Then go, my daughter, go. I will say that you are feeling a trifle +indisposed." + +"Adios, mamaita! Good night, and sleep well." + +Maria kissed her mother's brow, and gradually, taking care not to be +noticed, she left the parlor by the dining-room door. She stopped to get +a drink of _eau sucre_, and stood a moment motionless, with her eyes +fixed on vacancy. The shade of melancholy had greatly dulled the +brilliancy of her face. + +She passed out of the dining-room and crossed a long and pretty dark +entry. At the end there was a door which led to a back stairway. She had +mounted only four or five steps when she felt herself seized roughly by +the arm, and uttered a cry of terror. Turning round, she saw with +embarrassment the pale and troubled face of her betrothed. + +"Ricardo! what are you doing here?" + +"I saw that you left the dining-room, and I followed you." + +"What for?" + +"To hear for a second time from your lips the infamous words you said to +me in the drawing-room. Do you think, perhaps, it isn't worth while to +repeat them? Do you think, perhaps, that I can give up a whole past of +love, a whole future of happiness, all the sweet dreams of my life, +without calling you infamous, a hundred times infamous, a thousand times +infamous, now right here, while we are together alone, afterwards in +open society, and then before the whole world? Come, come back, you +miserable girl--come back, and let me call you so before everybody!" + +And Ricardo, pale and trembling like a gambler who has staked his last +remaining money on a card, firmly grasped his sweetheart by the wrist +and tried to drag her back to the parlor. + +Maria hung her head and said not a word. Without offering any resistance +she allowed him to pull her down the four or five steps of the +staircase. But on reaching the passage-way, Ricardo felt on his cheek a +warm kiss, which caused him to loose his captive and fall back with +horror; instantly Maria's arms were wound around his neck, and on his +lips he felt the imprint of other lips. + +"Ricardo mio, for heaven's sake, don't put me to shame!" + +These words, whispered in his ear with a passionate accent, were +accompanied by a cloud of caresses. The young man pressed her close to +his heart without answering a word; his emotion choked his utterance. +When he became a little calmer, he asked her with trembling voice,-- + +"Do you love me?" + +"With all my soul!" + +"Was that nothing else but a moment of ill humor?" + +"That was all." + +"Oh, what a wretched time you have made me have! Not for all the gold in +the world would I go through it again!" + +"Tell me, haven't I made up for it now?" + +"Yes, loveliest." + +"Let me loose. I am going to lie down. I have such a headache!" + +"Wait a minute. Let me kiss thee on thy forehead,--now another on thy +eyes,--now another on thy lips,--now on thy hands!" + +"Adios!" + +"Adios!" + +"Let me go, Ricardo, let me go!" + +The young fellow, laughing with happiness, still held her by the hand. +Maria struggled to escape, though she also was laughing. + +"Come, let me go, don't be foolish." + +"It shows I'm not foolish because I don't let you go!" + +"Think how my head aches!" + +"All right, then, I'll let you go." + +"Till to-morrow! Be careful whom you dance with now." + +"Don't you worry. I am going immediately. Till to-morrow!" + +Maria tore herself away. Ricardo tried to catch her again, leaping up +the dark staircase, but he did not succeed. The girl said good night[4] +with a merry laugh from the top of the stairs. + +When Ricardo returned to the parlor he was smiling like a happy man. The +light of the chandelier somewhat dazzled him, and he hastened to sit +down. + +Maria's room, when she entered it, was plunged in darkness. She groped +about for the matches and lighted a lamp of burnished iron. The room was +furnished with a luxury and good taste rarely to be found in provincial +towns. The furniture was upholstered in blue satin; the curtains and +paper were of the same color. In the recess between the windows was a +mahogany wardrobe with a full-length mirror. The dressing-table loaded +down under the weight of its bottles stood against the opposite wall; +the carpet was white, with blue flowers. The exquisite niceness with +which all these objects were put in place, the elegance and coquetry of +the furniture, and the delicate fragrance perceptible on entering, +clearly declared the sex and the station of the person who dwelt there. + +When Maria lighted her lamp, her eyes met the eyes of an image of the +Saviour which stood on the centre of the table where the light burned. +It was on wood, beautifully carved and painted, with a decidedly sad and +meek expression of the face, and it was this which had led the young +woman to buy it. When she caught sight of the sweet but icy face of the +image, the happy smile which still hovered over her lips died away, +leaving her motionless and deeply thoughtful. Little by little, +doubtless under the influence of the ideas which came into her mind, her +face lost its usual expression and assumed one as melancholy and humble +as that of a Magdalene. At that moment the sound of the piano came +vibrating through the dark stairway, telling of the first movement of a +fascinating rigadoon. She fell on her knees and bent her head. Every now +and then she sobbed. Her lips were pressed convulsively against the +naked feet of the Saviour, and muttered unintelligible words. + +After a long time she raised her face bathed in tears, and exclaimed in +a tone of woe:-- + +"My Jesus! what treachery! what treachery! How illy do I repay the love +which thou hast bestowed on me. Punish me, Lord, so that I may again +have peace of mind!" + +Arising from the floor, she took the lamp in her hand and went into her +bed-room. It was tiny and warm as a nest, and it was ornamented with a +profusion of engravings of Jesus and the Virgin. The bed, covered with +satin curtains, was white and delightful as a baptismal altar. She +placed the lamp on her dressing-table and with more tranquil face +quickly undressed. + +Then she took a travelling-mantle from the wardrobe, wrapped herself in +it, blew out the lamp, made the sign of the cross time and again on her +forehead, her mouth, and her breast, and lay down on the floor. The +white bed, covered with satin and lawn, warm and perfumed, and full of +sensuous delights, awaited her in vain all night. Thus she remained +stretched on the floor till daylight dawned. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NINE DAYS' FESTIVAL OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. + + +Day had hardly dawned, when our maiden arose suddenly from the floor. +She stood motionless a moment with ear attent, but she did not catch the +sound of the bells of San Felipe, which she thought she had heard in her +dreams. She was mistaken; it was not yet six o'clock. She lighted her +lamp, and going to her boudoir prostrated herself in humiliation before +the image of Jesus and began to pray. As she wore nothing but a thin +cambric night-dress, she naturally felt the cold through it, and began +to shiver, but she would not yield, and she kept on with her prayers +until her teeth chattered. Only then she decided to quit the position +which she had taken and dress herself. Thereupon, she opened the four +windows of her boudoir and blew out the lamp. + +A peevish light, cold and chill, made its way into the Senorita de +Elorza's room, giving the articles of furniture a lugubrious aspect +quite different from what they usually bore. The morning chill also +penetrated them as well as their mistress, and they stood silent and +melancholy, doubtless hoping for the rays of the sun to show forth their +beauty and splendor. Only in one spot or another, as the light fell on +the varnish, there was a pale reflection which looked like the glassy, +filmy eye of a dying person. The room was situated in a sort of square +turret which was built in one of the rear angles of the mansion; it +rose some yards above it, and was open to the light on all its four +sides. The tower held only two apartments,--Maria's, composed of boudoir +and bedroom, and her maid Genoveva's chamber, which was single. They +were the coldest but at the same time the most cheerful rooms in the +house. The few times that the sun deigned to visit Nieva he went +straight to lodge in them, entered without as much as asking leave, in +the way of sovereign guests, and spent the day, shining in the mirrors, +brightening up the satin of the chairs, dulling the varnish of the +clothes-presses, and in a word disporting himself in a thousand +different ways,--all this, it may be said, would have been, had not +Genoveva taken the precaution to draw the curtains in time. They were +likewise the quietest; the noises of the house did not reach them, and +those from outside had no possibility of disturbing them, owing to their +situation. Only the wind, which almost never ceased to blow heavily +around the tower, made strange noises, especially at night, sometimes +moaning, sometimes screaming, and constantly complaining because the +windows were kept hermetically sealed. During the daytime it was neither +melancholy nor petulant, but contented itself with a perpetual but very +dignified murmur like sea-shells held to the ear. + +Maria, still shivering though she was wrapped up in her shawl, went to +one of the windows which looked down into the garden whose earthwall was +contiguous to the quay. From that window the whole length of the Nieva +River could be seen down to El Moral, which was the place where it +emptied into the sea. It would not measure more than a league in length, +but its breadth varied wonderfully, according as it was seen at high or +low water, at spring tide or neap tide. When there were full tides, it +spread out half a league, lapping up against the foot of the +pine-covered hills which shut in the valley on both sides. At low tide +the water drew out almost completely, leaving barely a narrow, sinuous +thread in the centre. Between the conterminous line of hills there lay +on both sides of the channel wide flats of soft gray mud, dotted with +pools of water where the ragamuffins of the quay took delight in +splashing and wallowing until they had besmeared themselves thickly +enough to go straight and wash it off by diving head first into the +channel. Above the garden wall rose the masts of a few vessels, not a +dozen in all, anchored by the quay, the majority of them smacks and +schooners[5] of insignificant draught. + +The young girl looked for an instant at the sky, which was still +profoundly dark towards the west, hiding and confusing the outline of +the distant mountains. In the zenith she noticed that it was completely +overcast, of an ashen color, which grew lighter as she turned her face +toward the east. There the clouds were not as yet compacted into a solid +mass as in the opposite quarter; they stood out against the sweep of the +sky in monstrous black piles, and opened sufficiently to let the few +feeble, melancholy, ruddy rays pass through, which the sun, like a dying +fire, was beginning to shed upon the earth. The tide was rising. The +surface of the river absorbed the slender light of the sky, and gave +forth nothing more than a tremulous metallic reflection in the far +distance. + +After watching the sunrise for a time, our maiden got a book which lay +on the dressing-table in her room, and came back to the window to see if +she could read; but it was not yet light enough. She laid the book on a +chair and again went to the window, leaning her forehead against its +panes. The sky kept growing brighter in the direction of El Moral; but +it added no life or good cheer to the earth. The growing light seemed +only to make more distinct its stern, forbidding face. A wretched and +disagreeable day was in prospect, such as the natives of Nieva were +accustomed to enjoy the larger part of the year. + +But soon the windows of the east were closed; the huge, thick clouds +which had stood out separate, allowing the light to pass, once more made +one unbroken mass, by the impulse of some breath of air, and the rosy +flush faded away. In their place remained a uniform pallid light, which, +little by little, spread over the heavens, lazily struggling with the +shadows in the west. The far-away reflections on the river likewise died +out, leaving it all a monotonous color, like unpolished steel. The +boudoir slowly filled with light; the pretty articles of furniture, and +the objects adorning it, emerged from the obscurity, graceful, dainty, +and fascinating, like the dancers in the opera, when at an outburst from +the orchestra they throw aside the spectral mantles in which they had +wrapped themselves. The light, however, did not smile; all the time it +grew more melancholy and forbidding. Across the mighty masses of dark +violet cloud which were rising above the four or five houses of El +Moral, others, small and white, began to fly like wisps of gauze--a sure +sign of storm. + +Maria quickly felt the pane against which she was leaning tremble. A +gust of wind and rain had savagely lashed the window. She stepped back a +little and saw that all the panes were weeping at once. For some little +time she occupied herself in watching the more or less rapid and uneven +course which the drops of water followed as they rolled down the smooth +surface of the glass. The sharp, intermittent pattering of the rain +brought back to her memory the many afternoons that she had spent near +that same window listening to it with an open book in her hand. The book +had always been a novel. For more than four months she had incessantly +begged her father to let her have the use of the boudoir in the tower so +that she might give herself up entirely to her favorite occupation +without fear of any one interrupting her. But Don Mariano feared to give +his permission, because the apartments in the tower were cold, and the +girl's health was delicate. At last, overcome by her entreaties and +caresses, he yielded, after having the rooms carefully carpeted, and +exacting the condition that Genoveva should sleep near by. It was a +happy period for Maria. She was sixteen, and her mind was restless and +high-spirited. Her music, in which she had made prodigious strides, had +stimulated in her heart a decided tendency to melancholy and tears. She +wept at the slightest provocation, sometimes without reason, and when it +was least expected, but her tears were so sweet, and she experienced +such intense pleasure in them, that on many occasions she fostered them +artificially. How many times, gazing from that window upon the delicate +clouds of the horizon tinted with rose or the last splendors of the +dying sun, she felt her heart overcome by a depth of melancholy which +found relief only in sobs! How many times she had pained her father with +a storm of tears, the cause of which she could not tell, because she +herself knew not! The knowledge of painting, in which she also excelled, +turned her inclinations towards light and a wide outlook, and this +equally contributed to make her long for the rooms in the tower. When +once she had taken her quarters there with her piano, her paints, and +her novels, Maria looked upon herself as the most fortunate girl on +earth. If at noon of some magnificent sunny day, under an effulgent +azure sky, she opened all the windows of her boudoir and admitted the +fresh, keen wind which toyed with her hair and scattered the papers from +the table over the floor, she imagined with delight that she had mounted +upon a star, and that she was in the midst of space, swimming through +the air at the mercy of every chance. And this illusion, though it was +hard for her to keep it up, made her happy. Sometimes at night she used +to open the blinds and light not only her lamp, but all the candles in +the candlesticks, so as to imagine that she was stationed in a lofty +lighthouse. "From the river this tower must seem like a beacon, and my +room the lamp which has just been lighted," was what she used to say, in +childish delight. And then she began to peer through the panes to see if +any ship were on its way down to El Moral, until, frightened by the +darkness without and dazzled by the light within, she finally grew +terror-stricken at such an illumination and hastened to extinguish the +lights. + +Don Mariano called that gay, aerial boudoir _Maria's bird-cage_; and in +truth the name was admirably appropriate, for the girl was constantly +flitting about in it, moving the furniture and changing the things from +one place to another, nervous and restless as a bird. To make the +resemblance more complete, it often happened that when the family were +gathered in the dining-room they heard the distant trills of some +cavatina or romanza which Maria was studying. Don Mariano never failed +to exclaim, with his usual benignant smile, "Our little bird is +singing." And all would likewise smile, full of content, for everybody +in the house loved and admired the girl. + +In two or three years a cargo of novels had made their way into the +tower boudoir, and been sent away again, after having diverted the long +leisure hours of our young friend, who put under contribution, not only +her father's library and her own purse, but likewise the book-shelves of +all the friends of the family. Don Serapio was her first purveyor, and +thus for a long time she read only blood-thirsty accounts of terrible +and unnatural crimes, in which the proprietor of the canning factory +took such intense delight. In this period she did not enjoy much, for, +though these novels excited her curiosity to the highest degree, keeping +it in suspense and under the spell of the reading a large part of the +day and night, yet no sweet or poetic aftertaste was left in her mind +for her delectation, and she forgot them the day after she read them. + +Moreover, they terrified her too much; many and many times they +disturbed her dreams, and even on some occasions she begged Genoveva to +lie down beside her, for she was frightened to death. After exhausting +Don Serapio's library, she asked one of the Delgado sisters to give her +the freedom of hers, which had the reputation of being abundantly +supplied. In fact, it was furnished with a great quantity of novels, all +of the primitive romantic school, and elegantly bound, but many of them +soiled by use. In the more tender passages many of the pages were marked +by yellow spots, which was a manifest sign that the various ladies into +whose hands the book had fallen had shed a few tears in tribute to the +misfortunes of the hero. We already know that one Senorita de Delgado +wept with great facility. Among the novels which she read at this time +were _Ivanhoe_; _The Lady of the Lake_; _Maclovia and Federico_, or _the +Mines of the Tyrol_; _Saint Clair of the Isles_, _or the Exiles on the +Island of Barra_; _Oscar and Amanda_; _The Castle of Aguila Negra_; and +others. These gave her very much greater enjoyment. Absolutely absorbed, +heart and soul, she explored the region of those delicious fantasies +with which the illustrious Walter Scott, and other novelists not so +illustrious, delighted our fathers, creating for their use a middle age +peopled with troubadours and tournaments, with stupendous deeds of +prowess, with Gothic castles, heroes, and indomitable loves. What +exercised the greatest fascination upon the Senorita de Elorza was the +unchangeable steadfastness of affection always manifested by the +protagonists of these novels. Whether man or woman, if a love passion +seized them, it was labor wasted to raise any barriers, for everything +was idle; across the opposition of fathers and guardians, and in spite +of the crafty schemes laid by jilted suitors, purified by a thousand +different tests, suffering much, and weeping much more, at the end they +always came out triumphant and well deserved it all. The Senorita de +Elorza vowed secretly in the sanctuary of her heart to show the same +fealty to the first lover whom Providence should send her, and imitate +his fortitude in adversities. Each one of these novels left a lasting +impression on her youthful mind, and for several days, provided that the +characters of some other did not succeed in captivating her, she +ceaselessly thought of the beautiful miracles accomplished by the +heroine's love, pure as the diamond and as unyielding, and taking up the +action where the novelist had left it, which was always in the act of +celebrating the nuptials of the afflicted lovers, she continued it in +her imagination, conceiving with all its minutiae the after-life spent by +the husband and wife surrounded by their children, and re-reading with +folded hands the places where her tears had so often been shed. Our +maiden was anxious for one of these irresistible and melting passions to +take possession of her heart, but it never entered her mind that any of +the young fellows who visited her house dressed in a frock-coat or +_Americana_ could inspire it. Love, for her, always took the form of a +warrior, whom she imagined with helmet and breastplate, coming +breathlessly and covered with dust, after having unhorsed his competitor +with a lance-thrust, to bend his knee before her and receive the crown +from her hand, which he would kiss with tenderness and devotion. Again, +stripped of his helmet, and in the disguise of a beggar, yet evincing by +his gallant port the nobility and courage of his race, he came by night +to the foot of her tower, and accompanying himself on the lute, sang +some exquisite ditty in which he would invite her to fly with him across +country to some unknown castle, far from the tyranny of her sire and the +hated spouse whom he wished to force upon her. The night was dark, the +sentinels of the castle benumbed with a philter, the ladder already +clung close to the window, and the champing steeds were pawing the +ground not very far away. "Why dost delay, O mistress mine, why dost +delay?" Maria heard a gentle tapping on the panes, and more than once +she had risen from her bed, in her bare feet, to satisfy herself that it +was not her warrior but the wind who called her, sighing. At that time +she could not see a vessel making for the port at night, without +trembling; the mystery which always attends a vessel seen in the +darkness made her vaguely imagine an ambuscade laid by some ignorant, +brutal suitor, who, fearing lest he be rebuffed, wished to ravish her +away by main force from her home, and bear her away to distant strands +where he might enjoy with her his barbarous pleasure. All that she +needed to become disillusionized was to perceive the vessel carefully +warping up to the quay and discharging a few barrels and boxes. But the +romance which made the profoundest impression upon her was, without +question, that entitled _Matilde_, _or the Crusades_. This, better than +any other, was able to carry her mind back to that strange, brilliant +epoch of which it treated, causing her to be present during that heroic +struggle under the walls of Jerusalem. It is easy to comprehend, +however, that it was not the battles between Infidels and Christians +which most interested her in the tale, but that weird, improbable love, +tender and passionate at once, which sprang up in the heroine's heart +for one of the Mohammedan warriors who had laid violent hands on the +Sepulchre of the Lord. The Senorita de Elorza absolved and almost with +her whole heart sympathized with this passion where the sin of loving +one of the most terrible enemies of Christ offered a more powerful +attraction and a keener zest. How was it possible not to fall in love +with that famous Malec-Kadel, so fiery and terrible in battle, so gentle +and submissive with his ladylove, so noble and generous on all +occasions! Ah! if she had been in Matilde's place, she would have loved +in the same way in spite of all laws, human and divine! This Infidel was +the character who captivated her the most of all, even to the point of +inspiring her to make a very clever painting in which she represented +him on the deck of a ship where he was sailing with Matilde, saving her +from the snares of her enemies, protecting her with his left hand, and +hewing off heads with his right hand, as one reaps the grain in summer. +What best brought her to realize her enthusiasm, was the arrival of a +Turk at Nieva, selling mother-of-pearl ornaments and slippers. She was +so surprised to see him pass in front of the house, and her curiosity +was so excited, that she was not content until she had addressed him, +and made him undergo a long series of questions about the fields of +Jerusalem where the love scenes which so impressed her had taken place, +about the customs, the dress, and the government of the Mohammedans; but +the Turk, either because he was not in the humor of parleying, or +because of his being a native of Reus in the province of Tarragona, and +having never been in Palestine in his life, answered her questions with +impudent curtness. + +It had now been a long time, however, since Maria had taken up a novel. +The recollection of the time when she had devoured so many caused a +slight contraction of her features, and drew in her smooth brow a wide, +deep furrow. + +The blasts of wind fraught with rain lashed the panes of glass for a +long time, until they had given them a thorough washing. Gradually its +gusts became less frequent, and at last they completely ceased. The +light, meantime, had increased, mantling the whole of the murky heavens, +and now bringing into relief the forms of the far western hills which +were visible through the opposite casement. But the windows of the sky +which gave passage to the rosy rays when the sunrise first began, did +not open again, and all the clouds of the celestial vault united into +one, like an ash-colored or grayish mantle, which gave free course to +the rain and hindered the light. The storm, as usual, dissolved into a +fine drizzle, which began to fall slowly, filling the atmosphere with an +evanescent, tremulous veil, woven of watery threads, which still more +diminished the brilliancy of the growing light, and hid the outlines of +distant objects. The tide was still flowing; the wide sheet of water +which stretched away to El Moral assumed a color earthy near its edges, +but dark and heavy in the centre. + +Maria again took up her book, brought her chair to the window, and +sitting down, began to read, it now being light enough to allow it. It +was the _Life of Saint Teresa_, written by herself,--a book bound in +solid pasteboard covers, which were stamped with the gilt ornamentations +characteristic of religious works. + +According as the young girl became absorbed in her reading, her face +grew more and more serene, and the deep frown on her brow disappeared. +She was reading the second chapter in which the Saint sets forth how in +the years of her youth she was enamored with books of knight-errantry, +and the vanities of the toilet, and hints at the love affairs which at +the same time she had passed through. When Maria raised her eyes from +the book, they shone with a peculiar delight of inward content. + +The bells of San Felipe at last actually began to ring. Maria quickly +threw down her book and opened her maid's chamber-door. + +"Genoveva! Genoveva!" + +"I am awake, senorita." + +"Get up; San Felipe's bells are ringing!" + +In a twinkling Genoveva was up, dressed, and on hand in her mistress' +room. She was a woman of forty years, more or less, short, fat, swarthy, +with puffy cheeks, with great, protuberant gray eyes which were +expressionless, absolutely expressionless, and with thin hair waving on +her temples. She wore a plain carmelite skirt, and the black merino +cloak gathered at the shoulders, such as are used by all provincial +serving-women. She had entered the household when Maria was not yet a +year old, to be her nurse, and she had never left her, being a notable +example of a faithful, steadfast servant. + +"How long has my little dove[6] been dressed?" + +"About an hour already, Genoveva. I thought I heard the bells, but I was +mistaken. Now they are ringing in good earnest. Let us not lose any +time; take the umbrellas, and let us go." + +"Whenever you please, senorita; I am all ready." + +Both put on their mantillas, and trying not to make any noise, they went +down to the entry, carefully unlocked and opened the door, and sallied +forth into the street, which they crossed with open umbrellas until they +reached the opposite arcade. + +The little city of Nieva, as it seems to me I have already said, has +almost all of its streets lined with an arcade on one side or the other, +sometimes on both. As a general thing it is small, low, uneven, and +supported by single round stone pillars, without ornamentation of any +sort. Likewise it is ill paved. Only in occasional localities, where +some house had been reconstructed, it was wider and had more comfortable +pavement. If all the houses were to be rebuilt,--and there is no doubt +that this will come in time,--the town, owing to this system of +construction, would have a certain monumental aspect, making it well +worthy of being seen. Even as it is now, though it does not boast of +much beauty, it is very convenient for pedestrians, who need not get wet +except when they may wish to pass from one sidewalk to the other. And +certainly its illustrious founders were far-sighted, for, as regards +constant, ceaseless rain, there is no other place in Spain that can +hold a candle to our town. + +Protected from the rain, mistress and maid crossed through one corner of +the Plaza, and entered a long, narrow, solitary street. The worthy +inhabitants were sleeping the sweet sleep of morning. Only from time to +time they met some sailor wrapped up in his rough waterproof capote, +who, with fishing utensils in his hand, and making a great clatter with +his enormous boots, was striding towards the quay. + +"Are you well protected, senorita? See, there's been a frost; one would +think it was already January." + +"Yes; I put on a velvet waist, and besides, this sacque is well wadded." + +"Well, well, sweetheart.[7] If your papa knew that we were out so early, +he would scold me for consenting to it. You are exceedingly virtuous, +senorita. Few or none would lead such a saintly life at your age." + +"Hush, hush, Genoveva! don't say such a thing. I am only a miserable +sinner; much more miserable than you have any idea of." + +"Senorita, for Heaven's sake--I am not the only one who says so; but +everybody. Yesterday Dona Filomela told me that she was edified to see +you go to mass, and take the Blessed Sacrament, and she would give +anything if her daughters would do the same. And I don't wonder she +wishes so, for one of 'em, the youngest, is the devil's own. Would you +believe, the other day, senorita, she scratched her sister right in +church because one was to confess before the other. Pretty kind of +repentance! It's shameful, senorita, it's shameful to see how some women +go to church! One would think that they were in their own houses! Ay! +the poor little things don't realize that they are in the house of the +Lord of heaven and earth, who will ask them to give account of their +sin. Hasn't Dona Filomela shown you the rosary which her brother sent +her from Havana? It is a marvel! all ivory and gold, with a great +crucifix of solid gold. To say your prayers there's no need of such +extravagance, is there, senorita?" + +"To pray one needs only a pure and humble heart." + +"Ay! senorita, how well you speak! It seems as if they were mistaken who +say that you are not more than twenty years old. But when God wishes to +pour out his gifts on one of his creatures, it makes no difference +whether she be young or old, rich or poor. Every day I pray the most +Blessed Virgin to preserve your health, so that you may serve as an +example for those who are in mortal sin." + +"What you ought to pray for, Genoveva, is that He will purify my soul +and pardon the many sins that I have committed." + +"God have mercy! if you need to be forgiven, you who are so pious and +humble-minded, what would the rest of us need? Don't be so severe upon +yourself. Fray Ignacio has so much esteem for you that he never wearies +of sounding your praises; and that too, though he's not very indulgent, +as you know. At this very moment I suppose that holy man's in the +sacristy, listening to people! What a healthy man he is! It must be +because God makes him so. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he doesn't +rest a moment. And yet every day he grows stronger and stronger, and has +greater and greater zeal in serving God. I don't see how he can spend so +many hours in the confessional, without taking something to eat. Only +the Lord can give him the power. Blessed be His name forever! Amen!" + +"That's true; God works real miracles in him because there is need in +the world. Oh, God! what would have become of my soul if these holy +missioners had not come to open my eyes!" + +"Though they have helped greatly in the way of salvation, still, before +they came you were very good and used to attend the Sacraments." + +"How little that amounts to, Genoveva, when the deepest nooks and +corners of the conscience are not looked into!" + +"Tell me, senorita, did you see in your dreams last night that beautiful +bird with fiery feathers, with a cross in its bill, which you have seen +lately?" + +Maria stopped suddenly short and raised her hand to her breast as though +she had received a blow. Then she began to walk on again, exclaiming in +an undertone,-- + +"Last night I was not allowed to see it!" + +"Why not, sweetheart?" + +She made no reply. She walked on a while, and a groan escaped her. Then +she stopped once more, and throwing her arms around her maid's neck, she +began to sob bitterly. + +"I am very wicked, Genoveva, very wicked! My heart has not yet been +freed from impurities; the flesh and the devil will hold me in their +sway. If you knew what a sin I committed yesterday!" + +"Hush, hush! don't be discouraged! What sin could you have committed, +you lamb?"[8] + +"Yes, yes; I am more wicked than you imagine. The more light I receive +from God, the deeper I seem to sink into the darkness; the more He +heaps blessings upon me, the more ungrateful I am toward Him." + +"God is infinitely merciful, senorita." + +"But infinitely just, as well." + +"Beseech the aid of Saint Joseph the blessed; there is no fault which +the Lord does not forgive through his intercession. Come, stop crying +now; you are going to confession, and all is going to be forgiven." + +After the girl had calmed down a little, they proceeded on their way, +till they reached a rather diminutive plaza, fronted by the stern, gray +facade of a great church which attracted attention neither by its beauty +nor by any other quality, good or bad. They crossed a portico, huge and +gray like the facade, and entered the temple, which was likewise gray +and enormous; these qualities were its only characteristics. It +consisted of three naves, the central one broad and lofty like a +cathedral; those on the sides narrow and low; all three had been +whitewashed at some time very remote, but were now thick with dust, +peeling in various places and stained with wide-spread, mysterious +spots. The altars, which were profusely adorned, presented a gray color, +very distinct from the gilding which originally had covered them. +Through its dirty glass could be seen the stiff image of some saint with +metal aureole, or the sad anguished face of an Ecce-Homo. + +It was too early in the morning to find many people. Nevertheless, +scattered here and there, praying on bended knees before the altars, a +few women with covered heads were to be seen; others pressed up to the +latticed windows of the confessional and held their mantillas on both +sides of their faces, while with a half-audible whispering they confided +their misdeeds to the sacred tribunal of the Church. A few priests, who +kept the doors of the confessionals open, could be seen in cassock and +hood, bending forward, with their ears to the window, reflecting in +their frowning faces and negligent attitude the weariness which they +felt; others kept theirs hermetically sealed, and scarcely could any one +in passing perceive the presence of a human being. + +A few places in the sanctuary were bathed in a melancholy light, but the +corners and the hollows between the pillars were left in almost perfect +darkness. The huge brazen lamps swung in the spaces on cords attached to +the roof. The leaded window of the two huge, open oriels, high up in the +walls of the great central nave, admitted a sad sheet of light, +extending like a pale altar-cloth before the principal shrine. On one +side of this, at some little distance, was another small portable altar, +upon which was raised an image of the Saviour with perforated breast, +wherein was seen a bleeding heart, wearing a crown of thorns and haloed +with flames; around the image were a host of lighted candles, the +hissing and crackling of which sounded lugubriously in the immense, +silent circuit of the church. It was a temporary altar set up because of +the Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was +celebrated at that time. + +Genoveva went to the sacristy to ask Fray Ignacio if her senorita could +make her confession. The latter remained kneeling near the confessional, +waiting for the priest. She felt a peculiar, timid impatience; a bit of +fear mingled with anxiety and desire. The sanctuary was filled with a +mingled odor of dampness and dust, of extinguished candles and of faded +flowers, which inspired her with veneration. The moments preceding +confession were filled with a delicious suspense for Maria. The +circumstance and mystery which surrounded that intimate confidence, the +most intimate in the world, exerted a certain fascination over her mind, +and agitated her to the very depths of her being, without loathing. She +felt slight chills run over her body, followed by flushes of heat, which +mounted to her face and set it on fire. At that moment she thought not +so much of her sins as of the way in which she should try to tell them. + +Fray Ignacio's dark, resolute, and stern figure hastened up to the +confessional, and without vouchsafing his penitent a single glance, took +his place within it. Maria, tremulous and with melting heart, drew near +the little window. When at the end of a half-hour she turned away, her +eyes were red and her cheeks were pale. + +The church, meantime, had been slowly filling, although almost +exclusively with women. A few ventured as far as the centre, making with +their wooden shoes a real clatter as they walked on the tiled pavement; +the most took them off at the door and carried them in their hands. The +women of the people were in the majority, but there were a goodly number +of senoras: men were few. The multitude for some time remained scattered +about, kneeling at the altar rails, all making their devotions. From +time to time an acolyte in flesh-colored balandran and white surplice, +with shaven head and crafty eyes, rang his bronze hand-bell, and a few +women left their places and stationed themselves before some altar where +a priest, decked with golden ornaments, was beginning the sacrifice of +the mass. After consuming the elements, he would administer the +communion to two or three sets of women. Maria, with head bent on her +bosom and hands devoutly crossed, joined them to receive the Holy +Eucharist. When the priest placed on her tongue the consecrated +particle, amid the dull, hushed murmur of the throng, she felt her +cheeks slightly inflamed by the grandeur of the miracle which had taken +place within her; then she withdrew three or four steps from the altar, +overwhelmed with veneration, and without venturing to cast a look on +either side, at the end of a short space she left her place and went to +repeat the prayers imposed as her penance. An elderly clergyman in a +surplice mounted the pulpit, which was covered with a cloth of gold +tissue. The faithful came flocking from the remotest parts of the church +towards the centre, forming a dense throng about the pulpit. Maria and +Genoveva stood in the midst of it. The priest made the sign of the +cross, and began his Ave Marias and Pater Nosters in a loud voice. When +the rosary was ended, he began the service, the novena of the Sacred +Heart of Jesus. The clergyman put on an enormous pair of spectacles, and +in a snuffling, doleful tone exclaimed:-- + +"_O Heart_ (_Corazon_)"--the multitude repeated after him with solemn +acclaim, prolonging the words--"O Heart (_Corazoooon_)--_most lovable_ +(_amantisimo_)--most lovable (_amantisimooo_)--_most sacred_ +(_santisimo_)--most sacred (_santisimooo_)--_and honey-sweet_ +(_melifluo_)--and honey-sweet (_melifluoo_)--_of my divine Jesus_--of my +divine Jesus--_full of flames_--full of flames--of _purest love_ +(_amor_)--of purest love (_amooor_)--_consume me entirely_--consume me +entirely--_and grant me_--and grant me--_a new life_--a new life--_of +love and of grace_--of love and of grace;--_kindle and consume_--kindle +and consume--_my lukewarmness_--my lukewarmness.--O Heart (_Corazon_)--O +Heart (_Corazoooon_)--_most comfortable_ (_dulcisimo_)--most comfortable +(_dulcisimooo_)--_I adore thee_--I adore thee--_most profoundly_--most +profoundly.--_Grant me grace_--Grant me grace--_O loving Heart_ +(_Corazon_)--O loving Heart (_Corazooon_)--_to atone for_--to atone +for--_the insults and ingratitudes_--the insults and ingratitudes--_done +against thee_ (_Vos_)--done against thee (_Vooos_)--_and what I pray +thee for_--and what I pray thee for--_in this novena_--in this +novena--_is for the greater glory of God_ (_Dios_)--is for the greater +glory of God (_Diooos_)--_and of my soul_--and of my soul--_Amen_--Amen." + +Maria merely whispered the words of the orison and kept her eyes +fastened on the ground. Genoveva repeated them aloud, looking straight +into the priest's face. The multitude sighed after they said Amen. + +When the orison was ended, the priest repeated three Pater Nosters and +three Ave Marias in honor of the three marks of the passion with which +the divine Heart of Jesus showed itself to the Blessed Mother Margarita +of Alacoque. The faithful knelt in reply. Immediately began a new orison +like the first, addressed to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Then +the priest recommended all to beseech God through the mediation of the +Sacred Hearts for whatever each most needed, and the congregation +meditated silently for a few moments. Maria prayed fervently that God +would make her a better woman. Genoveva spent some time in hesitation, +without knowing what to ask for, and at last she asked for patience to +endure the suffering of her influenza. The priest read with his +snuffling voice, which drawled over the syllables like a lamentation, +the following + +ILLUSTRATION. + +"In the city of Munich there lived not many years ago a lady of +extraordinary beauty, who led such an exemplary life, that all gave her +the name of saint. It happened that one day there came to her house a +very lively young man to visit her, on the ground that she was one of +his own cousins, and instantly the devil managed to get complete +possession of him. His passion was so mad and wretched that at the end +of some time she yielded to an impure sin, thus gravely offending God. +After she fell into this sin she found herself sunk in a deep abyss of +melancholy, for though the unhappy woman immediately sent away the one +who had been the cause of her fault, she believed that she was doomed to +hell. She began to lead an austere life, mortifying herself with fasting +and penitence, and yet she could not escape the horrible thought. At +length, by the advice of a pilgrim who happened to pass that way, she +determined to make a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the night +of the fifth day of constant prayer, being in bed, she heard a great +disturbance, and saw flying from her house a demon, horribly howling and +leaving behind him an intolerably fetid odor. On the following morning +she found herself cured of her melancholy, and very confident of the +infinite mercy of God." + +The faithful crowded closer around the pulpit to hear the illustration, +and they took in with delight its romantic flavor. The novena ended with +a sermon in Latin. The congregation repeated an Ave Maria and a Credo. +The clergyman descended from the desk. + +There was a loud and prolonged noise in the church. The throng of women +spread out, dispersed, moved to and fro, gossiping and chattering all at +once. The clattering of the wooden shoes again was heard on the damp and +filthy blocks of the pavement. An acolyte began to snuff out the candles +burning around the image of Jesus and, standing on the altar, with his +shorn head and mischievous eyes made profane grimaces at the other +boys, whose mothers kept them on their knees saying their prayers. A few +of the clergy issued from the confessionals and crossed over to the +sacristy with long strides. One was detained in the centre of the church +by various ladies, and stood talking with them a long time, though with +evident anxiety to escape from them. Through the leaded panes of the +great oriels poured all the daylight evaporating the mysteriousness of +the temple, and making it seem melancholy, wretched, and dirty, as in +reality it was. Two or three gay fellows, with coat-collars turned up +and sleeves well pulled down, came in, casting quick glances of +curiosity at all the places. A sacristan took it into his head to throw +wide open the wooden screen at the door, and a restless, noisy +multitude, who had not been early enough to take part in the novena, +surged into the vast room to listen to the word of a missioner, who at +that moment mounted the pulpit with a contemplative, zealous gesture. + +When he stood up dominating the multitude, with the sacred dove made of +painted wood above his head, the noise gradually subsided. The +congregation, wonderfully increased, again crowded together beneath the +lecturer. There were many men who came not out of pure devotion, but +rather with the intention of judging the sermon from a literary point of +view. + +Meantime great throngs of people came pouring in through the door, +disturbing the faithful, and hindering the establishment of silence. +Maria and Genoveva were pulled to and fro many times by the fluctuation +of the multitude. The orator waited vainly for the bustle to cease. At +last he extended his arm in academic style toward the door, and shouted +emphatically, as though he were in the heart of his discourse,-- + +"Close that screen!" + +The doors closed slowly, as though no one had touched them. The faithful +were seating themselves in their places. For a time much coughing was +heard; at last it ceased, and the church preserved a fragile, artificial +silence, frequently broken by some stubborn cold or by the trumpet blast +of some nose being blown. The jet and mother-of-pearl beads of the +ladies' rosaries, clinking together, made a soft, melancholy +tintillation. + +The orator was young, tall, and slender, with great black eyes deep set +in a pale, classic face. He also wore a cassock with surplice and cowl. +He inspired respect by his sweet, gentle gravity. + +He took off his cowl, and said a few words in Latin which no one could +hear. Then putting on his cowl again, and leaning far over the railing, +he exclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"Beloved Brethren in Jesus Christ!" + +He possessed a ringing voice, of a sweet and sympathetic quality, which +lent a greater effect to the solemnity of the face. He began by showing +an ironical astonishment that there were to be found any at all willing +to abandon the vanities of the world to listen to the word of God, and +he warmly congratulated the faithful who had come to take part in the +Nine Days' Festival of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of all the forms of +devotion, invented by piety, most grateful in the eyes of the Lord was +this; for it summed up and included all the rest, since, "as the heart +in the human body represents the sum and substance,--the very centre of +the physical life,--so in the same way the Sacred Heart of our Redeemer +is the centre of pious souls and the focus of light around which revolve +our aspirations for immortal glory." He ended his exordium by invoking +with impassioned phrases the aid of this Sacred Heart in letting his +discourse bring forth fruit. He offered in behalf of all an Ave Maria. + +He devoted the first part of his sermon to the description of the +torment of the soul alienated from God by sin, and he drew a +circumstantial and complete picture of the griefs and insults which we +daily inflict upon the gentle Heart of Jesus. When he came to paint the +sufferings caused by sin, he abandoned the beaten track of speaking of +the material torments of hell and described nothing but the spiritual +anguish, the pangs, and the heartbreak felt by the soul when it sees +itself deprived through its own fault of the love of the Creator; but he +painted them in such gloomy colorings, and with such power of +expressions, that that infinite affliction, that depth of solitude, that +silence and darkness made a greater impression on the imagination of the +throng than the fire and the worm usually invoked. + +Maria was filled with fear and sadness. She remembered her sins, and +thought with horror that she might die suddenly and be lost forever. +Thereupon she made a solemn vow to grow better. But how? To change her +way of living meant nothing else than to break the bond which most +powerfully fettered her to the earth and sin. She became the prey to a +profound disturbance replete with tears, and she could not throw it off. +The clear, musical voice of the priest resounded through the great room, +unweariedly relating one by one the sufferings of the damned. The +congregation listened motionless and terrified. Far away in the +background, near the principal altar, the image of the Saviour, +encircled with candles, looked like a great red blur whose rays cast +fugitive shadows across the walls of the edifice. + +"But the divine compassion is inexhaustible. There is no sin so enormous +that it cannot be blotted out by the mercy of God. The Saviour's love +for the souls that he has redeemed by his blood is not weak and limited +like that of men; like a loving father, like an affectionate spouse, He +is even ready to open his arms for the repentant sinner. Man sooner +tires of sinning than God of granting forgiveness, for we have at His +right hand an advocate who never wearies of interceding for us. Sin not, +offend not the Divine Majesty, either with words or deeds; but if ye +should give way to sin, be not discouraged, keep up good heart and +return to God. _Sed et si quis pecaverit_, _advocatum habemus apud +Patrem_, _Jesum Christum justum_, says Saint John.[9] If ye should sin, +wash with repentant tears the Redeemer's feet after the pattern of Saint +Mary Magdalene, and ye shall be saved. Remember that sad, sinful woman, +who, worn out with grief, appalled with love, threw herself at Jesus' +feet and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair and +anointed them with ointment, while not a word fell from her lips because +she was consumed with the fire of love. Oh, tears shed for God! how much +ye avail, how great your power, how mighty your results! In winning +forgiveness tears are more potential than words; for tears, as Saint +Maximus says, are silent prayers, and demand not forgiveness if +forgiveness be undeserved. There is no deception possible with tears as +with words, and thus it was Saint Peter to win forgiveness for his fault +used not words, since with them he had sinned, had blasphemed and denied +his Lord; but he wept with bitter lamentation and was believed and +pardoned. Tears are money which cannot be counterfeited, our only +refuge: they purge the spots caused by our transgressions, they appease +the anger of God, they win us forgiveness, they enliven the soul, they +strengthen faith, magnify hope, kindle charity. The divine Jesus himself +has said, 'Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted.'" + +Maria felt her heart melt within her. That fervid eulogy of tears drove +fear from her breast. The thought of the inexhaustible good will of +Jesus Christ, who, after suffering so much and shedding his precious +blood for us, forgets each moment the greatest sins, if only they are +confessed to him with repentance, stirred her to the depths of her soul. +She seemed to see the saint whose name she bore, Mary Magdalene, bathed +in tears at the Redeemer's feet, and she felt that she had done the +same. A torrent of tears burst from her eyes as she imagined herself +prone before Jesus. The women around her saw her weep, and they cast +respectful glances of admiration at her as they whispered among +themselves. + +The sermon ended by exhorting the faithful, with lofty flights of +eloquence rich in imagery, to devote themselves to the Sacred Heart of +Jesus. "A quarter of an hour every day of loving discourse with this +Sacred Heart brings to the soul the purest joy that it can have on +earth. _Gustate_, _et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus_.[10] Try to +hold converse a while with the Lord, and ye will enjoy the delights of +heaven and the rarest satisfactions, such as those have who love. All +that is in this world is folly and deception: banquets, comedies, +receptions, amusements, and all the rest that the world considers good +are mingled with gall and sown with thorns. Doubt not that the Heart of +Jesus gives greater delight and comfort to those souls which seek it +with devotion and self-abnegation, than the world with all its pastimes +and insipid pleasures. What delight to be speaking for one instant with +the most lovable Jesus, forever ready to hearken to our prayers! To +unbosom one's self to him alone as to a most intimate friend. To demand +his grace, his love, and his glory! Oh, my dear friends _gustate et +videte_, _gustate et videte!_" + +The orator ended the final clauses of his sermon always with those +words, gustate et videte, gustate et videte. When he ended by expressing +his wish that all might have eternal glory, he was pale with weariness. +Drops of perspiration rolled down his wide brow. He had uttered the last +part of his discourse with growing agitation and enthusiasm which he +succeeded in communicating to his hearers. Maria, after her first fit of +weeping, remained comforted and almost happy. Genoveva whispered in her +ear while the priest was descending from the pulpit,-- + +"Senorita, I just saw Don Cesar in the congregation." + +The young girl's face changed slightly. The crowd began to dissolve, +spreading out over the whole area of the church. The majority of the +people crowded tumultuously to the door, struggling to get out. After +some difficulty Maria and Genoveva succeeded in reaching the portico, +and started on their homeward way. But the Senorita de Elorza kept +frequently turning her head. An elderly gentleman, tall, slender, and +pale, with goatee and long white mustachios, dressed in black from head +to foot, was following them at a considerable distance. As they entered +the arcade of a narrow and lonely street, the caballero hastened his +steps, and the two women lingered for him, so that very soon they were +together. The caballero turned to Maria and said in a low voice,-- + +"Senorita, last night I returned from where you know." + +"I have prayed God to bring you back in safety, Don Cesar." + +"Thanks, thanks.[11] Have you finished embroidering the banner?" + +"Yes, senor!" + +"And the flannel hearts?" + +"Those also." + +"That is good, senorita; I shall not forget your diligence and +enthusiasm." + +Don Cesar did not move a line of his vigorous face during this +conversation. His eyes, which were of a strange intensity gleaming with +ferocity, did not for a moment leave the girl's face. He said nothing +for a time, having something in his mind, and then he broke the silence, +speaking in the curt tone of command,-- + +"To-morrow at this time be on hand again. We have some commissions to +give you." + +"I will not fail you." + +Don Cesar noticed that two young men had just turned the corner and were +coming toward them; thereupon, without saying farewell, he left the +women, crossing to the opposite sidewalk. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HOW THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA WAS CONVERTED INTO DUKE OF THURINGEN. + + +A few days later Ricardo set forth from home as usual about ten o'clock +in the morning and turned his steps toward the house of his betrothed. +It was not love alone that impelled him to walk the street so early, but +as much the melancholy solitude that reigned at the present time in the +vast seignorial mansion where he lived: for our hero had been alone in +the world a little more than a year. His father, the old Marques de +Penalta, had died when he was under six, and he had scarcely more than a +vague remembrance of his pale face between the sheets of the bed when +they raised him up to give him a kiss a few hours before he died. He +remembered also how on that same day every one had hugged him and kissed +him, with tears, and this had attracted his attention and made him ask, +"Why are you all crying to-day?" + +His mother had loved him with one of those concentrated and fierce +affections which destroy by very reason of over care. During his boyhood +she had kept him tied to her apron-strings, never consenting for him to +take part in the games of the other lads, lest he should hurt himself. +Even when he was quite a youth, she always used to put him to bed, +offering with him a series of innocent prayers, and sitting by his +bedside with folded arms until he fell asleep, when she would silently +leave his chamber on tip-toe. When he reached early manhood, she had +nothing to do but think of her son's career, for the late marquis had +provided that he should follow one. Ricardo wanted to enter the +artillery. How many tears the lad's resolute decision cost the mother! +The first time that he went to Segovia, the good lady thought she should +die: she made up her mind not to leave the house until her son returned, +and she carried out her intention. When he came home to spend his +vacation, she could not be enough at his side, caressing him and reading +in his eyes his slightest caprices, so as to carry them out instantly. +Two or three days before it was time for him to return, she would begin +to sob and cry: she held him close to her bosom for long moments and +made him promise a thousand times to write her every day, to cover +himself up warm during his journey, and not to go out nights. The only +thing which served to divert her for a short time was the preparation of +his cadet's chest, with which she took so much pains that it lacked +nothing, from the more usual articles of dress, down to a piece of court +plaster and a package of lint in case he were wounded. Ricardo always +avoided leave-taking by escaping on the sly. + +Thanks to his genial, happy, and sympathetic nature, rather than by his +application, the young Marques de Penalta finished his course. At +college everybody loved him, students as well as professors. He was one +of those frank and friendly young fellows with whom it is difficult to +quarrel, and whom we all go to as a confidant worthy of sharing the +secrets of our hearts in the bitter misfortunes of life. He was always +found smiling and unreserved, bringing joy and confidence wherever he +went, and rarely did a dispute arise between two cadets which he did not +succeed in bringing to a friendly issue. In spite of his conciliatory +temperament no one in college or out of it questioned his courage, much +less the remarkable prowess of his fists. More than once, in the +frequent quarrels between the cadets and the peasants, which generally +broke out in candle-light balls, he had floored three or four stout +carls with as many blows, which attracted all the more attention from +the crowd because there was nothing stout or athletic in his figure. + +One day, while encamped in the park at Sevilla, the colonel called him +into his tent and asked him,-- + +"Isn't it a number of days since you have had a letter from your mother, +Penalta?" + +Ricardo grew as pale as death. + +"What is it, colonel? what is it?" + +"Don't be alarmed, child;[12] I happened to learn that she wasn't very +well." + +Ricardo understood perfectly, and fell into the colonel's arms, shedding +a flood of tears. That night he took the train for the north. + +The dismal night spent in that journey remained deeply impressed upon +his mind. When the engine whistled, and his comrades, who had come to +see him off, standing on the platform, waved their _adios_, he went and +sat in a corner of the carriage, wrapped up in his cloak, feigning to +sleep, in order better to abandon himself to his painful, gloomy +thoughts. Oh, how painful and gloomy his thoughts! He imagined the +guardian angel of his infancy, the mother of his heart, dying alone, +without receiving her son's last kiss, perhaps calling for him with +yearning in the supreme moment of her agony. He remembered that when he +had last left her, her health was rather feeble, and the embrace which +she gave him was much longer than usual, and her kisses more numerous, +as though the poor woman had felt a presentiment that she should never +see him again. In her wide, moist eyes he read a fervent silent prayer +that he would abandon his profession and not leave her. But he, pleased +with the vanities of society, and seduced by the voice of selfishness, +had paid no heed to this prayer which the unhappy woman had not dared to +formulate with her lips. He felt deeply angry with himself, and called +himself the most insulting and humiliating names. From time to time he +put his head out of the window and breathed the cool night air, to +prevent the sobs from choking him. The vague, mysterious outline of the +undulating landscape, wrapt in shadows, transformed his despair into +grief, which gradually changed into a solemn melancholy like the gloomy +clouds hovering above the still more gloomy earth. The silent majesty of +inanimate nature calmed his agitation, but it made him think with cold +chills of the perfect loneliness awaiting him. The tie that bound him to +earth, and through which he felt that all human beings were his kin, was +cut; now he had no one in the world whom he could call his own. The +wind, stirred by the swift rush of the train, hummed in his ears and +seemed to say to him, Alone! alone! The harsh racket of the wheels and +engine violently excited his morbid state of mind, giving him a +sensation almost of pain like that caused by the thoughts rushing +through his brain. The noisy, metallic rhythm of the wheels likewise +seemed to say, with still more relentless accent, Alone! alone! His sad +face followed the far-off line of the horizon, and this came back to him +in quivering, prophetic reflections, which barely sufficed to cleave +asunder the network of shadows, gloom upon gloom. The light from the +engine cast a reddish gleam, tingeing as with blood the ground and the +trees lining the track. Where there were no trees, the telegraph poles +flew past him with bewildering rapidity like the happy hours of his +youth. Above his head floated the huge black plume of the smoke, emitted +by the smoke-stack of the engine, and this, as it disappeared in the +atmosphere, in dying made a thousand strange and monstrous phantasms. +These phantasms, as they fled away, rolling along just above the ground, +seemed also to say mournfully, Alone! alone! Thereupon, being no longer +able to endure the icy breath of the deserted landscape which penetrated +his breast and parched his eyes, he shut the window and again returned +to his corner and his tears. + +In the car were four other people: an elderly senora and a young man of +twenty or twenty-five, a girl of eighteen or twenty, and a little girl +of five or six years old,--all of whom seemed to be her children. The +senora went to sleep, though she kept opening her eyes to watch the +child, who was incessantly running from one side to the other; the two +young people were chatting quietly and confidentially together. The +sight of this mother surrounded by her children and often looking at +them lovingly still more deeply affected Ricardo. The gentle murmur of +the brother and sister's conversation, repeatedly broken by repressed +laughter, roused in his heart a keen, melancholy envy. The young girl +was beautiful, with a noble, fascinating face. Ricardo, without +realizing it, watched her all night, but she seemed to give no heed to +him. When the guard of the station shouted, "Cordoba! twenty minutes for +refreshments!" all hastily got up and collected their things in +preparation to leave the train. Then only the young lady gave him a +long, sweet look, and as she went out, said with a sad, sympathetic +smile, "Good night, and a happy journey to you."[13] There was no doubt +that she had noticed his grief. + +Ricardo felt deeply sorry to have them take their departure, as though +some tide of affection bound him to that family, and he felt an +inclination to say to the mamma, "Senora, I have just lost my mother; I +am alone in the world, and I have no one to love me, and no one to love. +Won't you take me home with you as your son?" The car door closed with a +bang, the bell rang, the hoarse shriek of the engine was heard, and the +train sped on its way with its metallic clatter, which ceaselessly cried +in the silence of the night, Alone! alone! alone! + +A few relatives and friends were waiting for him, and they went with him +silently to his home, where they left him after a few meaningless words. +During the days that followed he received many visits of condolence from +people who extolled his mother's virtues and recommended great +resignation. All called him Senor Marques. Never did he suffer so much +as at such times. The only person with whom he enjoyed talking was Don +Mariano Elorza, who had been a good friend of his father's, and whose +house he visited very familiarly whenever he came to Nieva during his +vacations. Don Mariano, who was cordial and friendly to everybody, could +not well help showing himself doubly affectionate to him on account of +the sorrowful situation in which he was placed. His house during the +period which followed the marquesa's death, was a place of refuge for +our young friend, where his grief was consoled, and he found a little of +that family life which he so greatly missed. On the other hand, it must +be said that Ricardo had always felt toward Don Mariano's eldest +daughter a strong admiration and affection, which easily changed into +love when age and occasion offered, and frequency of intercourse +stimulated it, and there was still greater reason for it since neither +he nor she had ever been in love before. Long before they were formally +engaged, the marriage of the young Marques de Penalta and the Senorita +de Elorza used to be talked about in the city. It was a marriage desired +and demanded by public opinion; for it must be remarked that the +families of Penalta and Elorza were the richest in town, and the public +always consider it logical for wealth to seek wealth as rivers seek the +sea. Accordingly, Ricardo and Maria were declared husband and wife not +long after they were born, and the truth is, the gossips of the town +would never have forgiven them if they had failed to carry out the edict +passed by all the tertulias of Nieva. We know on good authority that the +young people had no thought of any such intention, and that they had +accepted the sovereign decree with the greatest meekness. + +Returning now to where we left off, it is sufficient for us to remark +that Ricardo very quickly reached the porch of the house of Elorza, +which was large and gloomy. From the great solid door, darkened by time +and use, hung a bronze knocker, with which he rapped. He was immediately +admitted into a rather large court, with a fountain in the centre. A +broad flight of stone steps with balustrade of the same material led +from it. It was now somewhat the worse for wear, and needed repairs in +many places. On the first landing this stairway divided into two arms, +one of which led to the apartments of the owners, the other to those of +the servants. The former ended in a wide corridor, or gallery, from +which one looked through windows into the court. The whole house +presented the same elegance as that of the old palaces, although it was +built at a comparatively modern period. It had the advantage over those +old ancestral mansions, like the Marques de Penalta's, in that it had +not been designed to minister so much to the vanity of its masters as to +the suitable distribution of its rooms for the conveniences of daily +life. It was not dark and gloomy, as those are apt to be; on the +contrary, its whole interior spoke of joy, comfort, and elegance. It +was, in fact, a great building, without being pretentious, and +comfortable, without falling into the unpleasing vulgarity of many +modern constructions. It held a conciliatory middle course between +aristocratic and middle-class ideals, combining the proud lordliness of +the one and the practical luxurious tendencies of the other. + +The house in a certain way mirrored the position of its master and +mistress. Both were children of the most important families not only in +Nieva, but in the whole province in which the city is situated. The +senora was sister of the Marques de Revollar, who cut such a figure in +Madrid a few years ago by his incredible dissipation and prodigality, +and who afterwards, being totally ruined and driven away by his +creditors, had taken refuge in the army of the Pretender, whom he served +as minister and adviser. Don Mariano came from a family less ancient and +glorious but far more opulent. His grandfather had made an immense +fortune in Mexico during the final years of the last century, and with +it he had become the most important landowner in Nieva, and had built +the house of which we are speaking. Not only himself, but his son and +his son's son, had succeeded in giving lustre to their millions by +allying themselves with noble families. + +Ricardo made his way through the various rooms of the house of Elorza +with as much familiarity as though he had been at home, without even +taking off his hat. When he entered Dona Gertrudis's boudoir, this +senora, assisted by two waiting-women, was taking a dish of broth. On +seeing our hero, she placed the cup on the little stand in front of her, +and pushing back her easy-chair, she exclaimed in a doleful tone,-- + +"Ay, my dear,[14] you come at an evil hour." + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +"I'm dying, Ricardo, I'm dying." + +"Do you feel worse?" + +"Yes, my son, yes; I feel very ill; it is beyond the power of words to +say how ill I feel. If I don't die to-day, I shall never die. I spent +the whole night doing nothing but groan, and then--and then--that tiger +of a Don Maximo has not come yet, though I have sent him two messages. +May God forgive him! May God forgive him!" + +Dona Gertrudis shut her eyes as though she were making ready to die +without either temporal or spiritual comfort. + +Ricardo, accustomed to these vaporings, remained a long time silent. At +length he said in an indifferent tone,-- + +"Did you know Enrique has succeeded in exchanging the jewelry, and the +new set came yesterday all right?" + +"Indeed? thank God!"[15] replied Dona Gertrudis, opening her eyes; "I +certainly thought they wouldn't be willing to exchange it." + +"Why not?" + +"Of course, because by selling the other they got rid of an old thing, +which I don't know how they will ever sell now." + +"Yes, but they would lose a customer who brings them much gain. Don't +you see, Enrique receives commissions from the whole province?" + +"That's true enough; but don't you know that these traders are blinded +by avarice? Uph! what wretched people. I tell you I can't bear to see +tradesmen, Ricardo; I can't bear to see them, nor painters either!" + +After expressing this unfavorable opinion of commerce, which, in the +tribunal of her mind, she made coextensive with all industry and to the +mechanical arts in general, Dona Gertrudis again closed her eyes with a +gesture of woe, and continued in this strain:-- + +"What I am sure of, my son, is that I am not going to see you married, +and that you will be obliged to postpone the wedding on my account. I +feel very ill, very ill; my heart tells me that I am going to die before +the day of your marriage; and the truth is, that it would be better for +me to die if I have got to suffer so much." + +"Come, Dona Gertrudis, don't say such things. Who is going to die? You +must surely get better gradually; you will be cured, and you will be +well and plump so that it will be a delight to see you." + +Instead of brightening up at these words, Dona Gertrudis grew angry:-- + +"That's nonsense, Ricardo; my illness is mortal, even if no one thinks +so; my husband won't believe it, but very soon he will be convinced of +it; I don't complain merely from habit, not at all. Ay! my dear, if you +knew how I suffer, sitting in this easy-chair!" + +It may be declared with certainty that from the day on which the priest +had invoked the nuptial blessing on Dona Gertrudis, this noble senora +had done nothing else but nurse her bodily woes and tribulations, +dragging out a petty existence amid the strangest and obscurest +ailments that were ever known. Before the birth of her eldest daughter, +Maria, she had suffered from hemorrhage and consumption. Then for +several years afterwards, until her second daughter, Marta, was born, +she complained of a terrible pain in her heart, so sharp and cruel that +many times she had fainted away. The symptoms of this disease, as +related by the patient, would fill any one with terror. Sometimes she +thought she felt her heart handled and squeezed to the last degree; at +others she thought that it was freezing, and then they had her shivering +so that all the furs and flannels which they put on her breast had not +the slightest effect, until by an abrupt transition she went into a +heated oven, where she was roasted to such a degree that her hands in +her paroxysms tore into fragments whatever garments she had on; again, +finally, she was conscious of some animal gnawing it with his teeth, and +of causing such exquisite agony that she could not refrain from +shrieking. Don Maximo, the young graduate in medicine,[16] was +absolutely nonplussed by such a pathological case, and at each visit he +prophesied the immediate death of his patient unless the remedy for +spasms which he prescribed should not instantly restore her safe and +sound. As Dona Gertrudis did not make haste to die, nor did her +extraordinary malady disappear, Don Maximo came to lose all faith in +her. He kept up his visits to the house, but always at his regular hour, +from which he rarely deviated even though Dona Gertrudis often sent for +him by messengers, begging him to play the old farce over again in her +sick-room. Don Maximo ended by having the greatest contempt for his +noble client's infirmities, and he went so far as to characterize them +publicly in the apothecary shop, where he was an assistant, as woman's +_cajigalinas_. The exact meaning of the word _cajigalinas_ was never +known by the public or anybody else, nor can it be decided whether it +was a private invention of Don Maximo's, or whether it was derived from +some very ancient, even some dead, language which the licentiate had +studied. The word, from its root, seems to be of Semitic origin, but I +do not venture to settle this question off-hand; let the wise men +decide. What is indubitable is that Don Maximo intended thereby to mean +something that was insignificant, mean, or of little account; and this +is enough for us to know what to make of the opinion of science in +regard to Dona Gertrudis's ills. + +After Maria's birth Dona Gertrudis's sufferings did not disappear, but +they returned in a new form. Her heart was considerably calmed down, but +instead, all the afflicted senora's muscles and tendons began to suffer +contraction, causing powerful pains, preventing her for some months from +using her limbs at all, and finally leaving her, though greatly +improved, yet obliged when she walked to lean on her husband or one of +her daughters. Don Maximo at the beginning of this new phase showed +himself preoccupied and captious to the last degree; he studied with +watchful eye all the symptoms and causes, prescribed remedies for spasms +by the gallon, made use, in a word, of all the resources which science +(that is, Don Maximo's science) offers for such emergencies, but without +reaching any satisfactory results. At length the word _cajigalinas_, of +Semitic origin, once more appeared on his lips, and from that time on he +never entered the senora's room without a slight smile of incredulity +hovering on his dark face. + +Ricardo still remained a while at Dona Gertrudis's side, and then he +left her to scour the house in search of the girls. He found Marta in +the kitchen busily engaged in making pastry for pies. + +"Where's Maria, _ma petite menagere_?" + +"She's in her room, dressing; she'll be down soon." + +"If I disturb you in your work, I'm going; if not, I'll stay." + +"You don't disturb me, if you'll only stand out of the light a +little--there, that'll do!" + +"All right! I'll stay and learn how to make--what is it you're making?" + +"Pork pies." + +"Well, then, to make pork pies." + +The girl raised her head, smiling at her future brother-in-law, and then +she resumed her work. She was standing at a low table which, judging +from its shining surface, was meant for the operation now going on. She +wore an enormous white apron like the kitchen girls, and on her head a +cap no less white. Her great bright black eyes made a more brilliant +contrast with this costume, and so did her jetty hair. She had rolled up +the sleeves of her dress and bared a pair of soft arms, which were more +fully rounded than might have been expected at her age. Her arms bespoke +a woman in full possession of all the piquant attractions, all the +graceful curves of her sex; they were the smooth white arms of a Flemish +maiden, but solid and well-knit like those of a working-girl; they might +have served as a model for a sculptor, or to keep a room in daintiest +order. With them she rolled from side to side, on the top of the table, +a great lump of yellowish dough, manipulating it and doubling it over +and over constantly without thought of rest. The dough spread out softly +over the table because of the lard which shortened it, making a slight +noise like the rustle of silk. A few maid-servants were bustling about +the kitchen, attending to their duties. Ricardo watched the operation +for an instant without speaking, but before long he exclaimed with signs +of astonishment,-- + +"What an extraordinary thing! what an extraordinary thing!" + +The maid-servants turned their heads around. Marta likewise looked up. + +"Why, what's the matter?" + +"But child, where did you get those plump arms of yours?" + +The young girl blushed, and half-laughing, half-vexed, raised her hand +and pulled down her sleeve a little. + +"Come! will you begin now? See here, I did not tell you that you might +stay to behave like this." + +"Then I deserve the punishment of staying, though you should demand the +opposite." + +"Well, do what you please, but let me work in peace." + +"I will let you work, but I must say it never entered into my +calculations that the Senorita Marta had such arms. I knew that she was +pretty, comely, round, and solid--but how could I suspect such a +thing?... Come now, I tell you that no one would believe it without the +evidence of his eyes." + +The servants laughed. Marta went on industriously kneading her dough, +making a gesture of resignation as one who has made up her mind to +endure a jest to the end. Ricardo kept on:-- + +"And that, too, though I have heard Maria speak of them--but vaguely.... +Her information wasn't definite. The best way in these matters, if one +wants to know about a thing, is to see for himself.... Look here, +lassie,[17] supposing one were to quarrel with you, I wouldn't answer +for the consequences!... And the beauty of it is, that their strength +doesn't injure their elegance; they are muscular but well-shaped; ... +they taper gracefully down to the wrist, which is slender and dainty. +The truth is, that all things considered, a girl only fourteen has no +right to have such arms as those!" + +Marta suspended her work and burst into a merry peal of laughter. + +"What a plague you are, child! there's no resisting you!" + +Then her face once more resumed the placid, grave expression which +characterized it, and she resumed her work, plunging again and again her +firm, rosy fists into the pliant dough. The paste kept taking different +forms under the steady pressure of the girl's small but strong hands. +Sometimes it made a thick, short roll or cylinder, which, little by +little, as it was worked over the table, kept growing longer and +slenderer; again, it assumed the fashion of a great ball, the roundness +of which Marta brought carefully to greater and greater perfection, +until she suddenly fell upon it with both hands and flattened it out; at +other times it presented the appearance of a thin sheet taking up half +of the surface of the table, and which kept spreading more and more, +until she began to double it over with repeated folds as one does with a +garment; again, she built it up like a pyramid on the slopes of which +the graceful little baker bestowed soft pats, as though she were +caressing it, but not hesitating fiercely to tear it in pieces in order +to give it immediately some new and capricious figure. When it seemed to +her that the paste was sufficiently kneaded, she cut it into a number +of lumps with a knife, and taking a wooden rolling-pin, she began to +shape them with great care. Ricardo asked timidly,-- + +"Will you let me help you, Martita?" + +"You don't know how." + +"You can tell me what to do, and under your direction it will go +first-rate." + +"Now, you flatter me! All right, I'm willing; but you must wash your +hands first." + +Nothing was left for Ricardo but to go and wash his hands. + +"That's good. Now take this rolling-pin and flatten out this lump of +dough till you make it into a thin, round piece." + +The new baker applied himself to his work with ardor; with too great +ardor, for the dough was sometimes rolled so extremely thin that it was +nothing but holes. The servants looked on with broad smiles of +admiration, while Marta kept gravely intent upon her task. In the +kitchen the atmosphere was suffocating, as it was heated by the red-hot +iron covers of the oven, and impregnated with the heavy odors of cooking +viands, which disturb and revolt the stomach when it is surfeited, but +excite and stimulate it when it is empty. + +Ricardo could not keep his tongue still a single instant. While he was +passing the rolling-pin over the dough with greater circumspection than +if he had been engaged in preparing a magic philter, he did not cease to +ask questions and make remarks of all sorts to Marta, principally in +regard to the pie which they had undertaken to make: "How many eggs did +you put in the flour? How much lard? Who taught you to make pies? How +long does it have to stay in the oven?" etc., etc. Marta gave laconic +answers, and did not lift her face to all his questions, allowing a +vague smile of condescending superiority to hover over her lips. + +"Aye! Marta, what would Manolito Lopez say, if he were to see us at this +moment?" + +"What has he to say? It's nothing to him," replied the girl, slightly +blushing. + +"Wouldn't he be jealous, to see us so near together?" + +"Why?" + +"Oh, I know! I know he's in love with you, according to what they say." + +"Why do you wish to plague me so?" + +"Lassie, everybody is talking about it; it's no invention of mine." + +"Very well; then keep it up, as you say." + +"I will, so far as I see it." + +"Come, don't be foolish!" + +Marta's tone in saying this showed some signs of vexation. It was +evident that she did not quite relish the joke. Ricardo's ground for +making it was slight enough, as is almost always the case with children; +but it was true to a certain degree. Little urchins of fourteen or +fifteen, called, in popular language, _pipiolos_, run after the small +girls of the same age; and they establish, for the most part tacitly, +certain relations with them which resemble or imitate the love affairs +of their seniors. It is said, for example, among them that Fulanito[18] +is Fulanita's sweetheart, without any reason why; and Fulanito, merely +from this fact, without Fulanita meaning much to him, goes to wait for +her, with other friends, at the schoolroom door, and follows her home, +greatly to the vexation of the tending maid; at the little parties which +are given from house to house he takes her out to dance more frequently +than the others. If he be somewhat daring, he is apt to offer her candy +in cones of gilt paper; and he passes in front of her house several +times a day, when he begins to wear new clothes or a new hat; he +manages, when he walks behind her, to speak loud and distinctly for her +to hear, and plumes himself on his clever talk; and he is quick to roll +up his sleeves for the most insignificant thing, so as to exhibit in her +presence a boldness and courage which he would not have if she were +absent; he spends the pennies which he possesses on pomade or scented +oil, and comes to mass when she is present, his hair brushed and as +shiny as a cat just out of the water; in the afternoon, when his heart +is sore because she does not take any notice of him, he follows behind +her with some of his friends, indulging in naughty words and stupid +laughter; and sometimes, coming close up to her, he pulls her by the +hair-ribbon, until, with these and other trickeries, he succeeds in +making her cry. + +Fulanita's conduct is generally of a piece. In reality she doesn't care +a fig for Fulanito; but as they say he is her sweetheart, she does all +she can to carry out the idea, and so she keeps turning her head to look +for him when she comes out of school; at the German she selects him as a +partner more times than the others; she hurries to the window when he +passes, and blushes when they joke her about him. But these +pseudo-affections are almost never lasting, and rarely become real. They +begin silently, they live their day silently, and silently they pass +away when the girl puts on long dresses. The reason for such fickleness +is very obvious. Fulanito has as yet attained the age, not of love +affairs, but of the gymnasium, _suspensos_, and sage cigars. Fulanita is +already far more perfectly developed as far as the life of the heart is +concerned, and in her inmost soul she has a profound scorn for Fulanito, +who does not know how to descant on affinity and love, is incapable of +kissing a fan fallen from the hand, and hasn't a sign of a mustache. + +Of this sort, though with slight variations, was our Marta's friendship +with Manolito Lopez. To the general causes which tend to wither and nip +in the bud such predilections must be added in this case the very slight +similarity of their characters. Manolito, though he had an expressive +and even handsome face, was mischievous, obstreperous, quarrelsome, and +saucy; one good quality was observable in him: he was not inclined to be +spiteful. Marta was placid, taciturn, and reserved; the fault which they +found with her at home was that she was somewhat obstinate. It was not +possible, therefore, to have a more complete antithesis. If this had not +been so, Marta would have come to love Manolito, for her temperament was +opposed to change not only in the furniture of her room, but in the +sentiments of her heart. + +When they had finished moulding various thin covers of pastry, Marta +went to work to put some of them on top of others in copper +baking-dishes, which made the bottom of the pie. Then one of the maids +put in the pork, neatly trimmed and cut into small bits. The lard, well +seasoned with spices, exhaled a stimulating, appetizing odor, which made +the mouth water. When once the bits were laid on the bottom crust in the +most accurate order, the girl went to spreading new covers of pastry +which she laid over the pork. Ricardo no longer helped her; he was +evidently tired of it. But when it came to making the ornaments for the +top, he once more hastened to offer his services, and he took great +delight in designing in the dough a thousand kinds of mosaics, +arabesques, and figures of every species that was ever seen. Marta put +an end to such dilettante labors by taking the pastry from his hand, for +he was never done. When the pie was made, the girl herself put it in the +oven, and following a pious custom traditional in that part of the +country, she made the sign of the cross over it, and repeated a Pater +Noster so as to obtain a happy result. + +"Do you know one thing, Martita?" + +"What is that?" + +"That kitchen odors and the labor on these pies have given me an +abnormal appetite!" + +"Really?" + +"It's the honest truth!" + +"Then see here; something to eat will cure it. Come with me." + +And she drew him to the dining-room near by and seated him at the table. +Then she took out of a sideboard a napkin, bread, wine, a plate of cold +turkey, and a jar of preserves, and put them down one after the other +with the carefulness and system which characterized all her movements. + +"Eat, Senor Marques, eat." + +To call Ricardo "Senor Marques" was one of the most audacious jests +which Marta allowed herself to indulge in toward her future brother. It +was not in accordance with her nature to make jokes and epigrams about +any one. Those that occasionally came from her lips were meant to +disguise a tenderness which her reserved nature prevented her from +showing openly to any one, even to her own sister. + +Ricardo proceeded to despatch a slice of turkey with all solemnity, +occasionally washing it down with draughts of Valdepenas, while the +girl, smiling and happy, stood enjoying her friend's voracious appetite, +and looking out to fill his glass with wine and change his plate when +there was need. + +"You are a fine woman, Martita," said Ricardo, with his mouth full. +"You're worth your weight in gold, and certainly you would not weigh a +little, judging by the signs which I won't mention for fear you would +call me a bore. When I see Manolito Lopez, I shall tell him not to think +of any other woman if he wants to get fat and plump; and that's what he +very much needs. If you take such good care of me, what care you would +take of him!--That's enough, that's enough, Martita! don't give me so +much preserve. One would think that you wanted to give me dyspepsia +here, on the sly.--This turkey is excellent; it deserves the honors +which I have done it;--a little more wine, please!--" + +Marta poured out the wine, and looked at him out of her great, calm +eyes, in which gleamed an evanescent smile of comfortable satisfaction. +It seemed as if it were she who was feasting. + +"See here, lassie[19]! do me the favor to eat something too, because it +grieves me to see you so abstemious. I should think you were being +punished." + +The girl was not hungry, and she refused to take the plate which Ricardo +offered her. However, she cut a small piece of bread, and began to +devour it solemnly with her little white teeth. + +"I prophesy that it won't be long before you dispose of this saucer of +preserve, Martita. The thing is to begin. The worst of it is, it's now +twelve o'clock, and at dinner-time I shan't have any appetite.--Yet I +don't know how far that's certain, for my stomach is a good +one!--Martita, don't be foolish, but eat this preserve, which you will +find appetizing." + +While Ricardo was bringing his task of feasting and chattering to an +end, Genoveva came into the dining-room, saying,-- + +"The Senorita Maria has a little headache and is resting in her room." + +"I'll go to her," cried Marta, hurrying away. + +"And I bring you this message from her, senorito," added the maid, +handing him a note. + +But seeing that the young man was about to break the seal, she said,-- + +"The senorita wanted you not to read it till after you had left the +house." + +"Very good," muttered Ricardo, somewhat disturbed. + +And taking his hat, and without saying farewell to any one, he hurried +home devoured by impatience, and tearing open the envelope with +trembling hand, he read the following letter:-- + + * * * * * + + "MI QUERIDISIMO RICARDO,-- + +"For some time I have been anxious to tell you a thought that has filled +my mind, but I have not had the courage. I know your nature well: you +are extremely impetuous, and thus many times, instead of reflecting on +my words and trying to understand their meaning, you would flare up like +gunpowder, spoil everything, and frighten me terribly, as on the evening +when we celebrated mamma's fete-day. Accordingly, after much +vacillation, I have decided to tell you by letter and not by word of +mouth. + +"The thought that disturbs me of late is to ask you to postpone our +wedding still a little longer. Don't get angry, Ricardo mio, and read on +calmly. I am sure that the first thought that will occur to your mind is +that I don't love you. How mistaken you would be to think such a thing! +If you could read in my soul, you would see that love holds my +conscience in its sway, and this I deplore bitterly. But that is not the +question now. + +"Are you sure, Ricardo, that you and I are properly trained to enter +upon a state which entails so many and such serious responsibilities? +Have you thought well of what the sacrament of marriage means? Is there +not in our hearts rather an unreflecting inclination, mixed, perhaps, +with carnal impulses, than a serious desire to undertake an austere, +religious life, becoming in a Christian family, educating our children +in the fear of God and in the practice of virtue? If you reflect a +little on how frivolous hitherto our love has been, and on the sins +which we are constantly committing, you cannot but agree with me that +two young people, so wanting in gravity and genuine virtue, are not +authorized by God to bring up and direct a family. I should feel a great +smiting of the conscience if I were married now (and you ought to feel +the same), and I believe that God could not bless or make our union +happy. If it is to be blessed, we must make ourselves worthy of +celebrating it, by leaving forever behind us our frivolous, worldly +manner of loving, for another, more lofty and spiritual, by refraining +absolutely from certain earthly manifestations to which we are impelled +by our great love, and by making preparations for it, during a few +months at least, by a virtuous and devout life, by performing a few +sacrifices and works of charity, and by constantly imploring God to +illumine our minds, and give us power to fulfil the duties imposed upon +us by the new state. + +"There is an example in history which ought to encourage us greatly in +doing what I propose. The beloved Saint Isabel of Hungary had been +betrothed from early youth to the Duke Luis of Thuringen, but the +nuptials were not celebrated until both reached the proper age. After +the betrothal was celebrated, Isabel and Luis did not separate, but +lived in the same palace, as though they had been brother and sister, +until, by the will of God, they became husband and wife. The pious +sentiments of the lovers, together with the austere education which was +given them, made their affection always pure and upright, founding the +unchangeable union of their hearts, not on the ephemeral sentiments of a +purely human attraction, but on a common faith and the stern observance +of all the virtues inculcated by this faith. Until they were united by +the indissoluble bond of matrimony, they always called each other +brother and sister; and even after they were married, they frequently +used to apply this sweet name to each other. + +"I confess, Ricardo, that the spectacle of those noble and holy young +people has an unspeakable attraction for me. Love sanctified in such a +way is a thousand times more beautiful, and bestows upon the heart purer +and loftier pleasures. Why should we not follow, as far as possible, the +steps of that illustrious husband and wife, the pattern of abnegation +and tenderness, as well as of purity and fidelity? Why should you not +imitate, my beloved Ricardo, the stern virtue of the young Duke of +Thuringen, the nobleness and dignity of all his actions, the innocence +and modesty of his soul, never found guilty of falsehood,--virtues which +in no respect were opposed to the valor and boldness of which he always +gave eminent proofs? For my part, I promise you to imitate, according to +the measure of my feeble strength, the tenderness, the obedience, and +the faithfulness of his saintly spouse Isabel, living subject to the law +of God, within the affection which I profess for you. + +"This is what I propose to you, and desire to do. Don't get angry, for +God's sake, dear Ricardo; reflect over what I have just said, and you +will see how right I am. Doubt not that I love you much, much,--I, who +am, for the time being, + + "Your sister, + + "MARIA." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ROAD TO PERFECTION. + + +The letter which we have just read led to a very important crisis in the +lives of our lovers. Ricardo at first was furious, and wrote a long +answer to his betrothed, announcing the end of their acquaintance, but +he did not send it. Then he held a consultation with her in which he +overwhelmed her with recriminations and insults, saving that all she had +written in her letter was nothing but a tissue of follies and +absurdities, manufactured on purpose to hide her treachery; that she +might have dismissed him in some way not so grotesque; that although he +had no claim upon her love, at least he might and ought to demand the +frankness and loyalty which he had always shown; that for a long time +back he had noticed her coldness and indifference, but he could never +have believed that she would make use of a pretext so ridiculous and so +absurd for breaking the tie that united them, etc., etc. Maria received +this storm of contumely with great humility, assuring him with gentle +words of persuasion, when he left her a moment's chance to speak, that +she still loved him with all her soul; that he might put her love to the +test as often as he pleased, since she was ready to make whatever +sacrifice he demanded, except what went against her conscience; that his +suspicions of her untruth and treachery cut her to the heart, but she +forgave him because she was aware of his excited state of mind; that she +likewise felt it keenly that he should call the motives of her +resolution grotesque and ridiculous when she found them so worthy; and, +in fine, that she begged him to calm himself. + +After the young marquis had thoroughly vented his ill feeling without +result, he began to get off of his high horse and try the effect of +skilful reasoning, and then he changed to entreaties, but without any +better results. He employed all the device of genius and all the tender +and expressive words dictated by his honorable heart, in order to +convince her that neither of them was fortunately under the necessity of +mourning for their sins like two criminals; since if they were not +better than the average of humanity, they were at least as good; and as +for their skill and judgment in governing themselves and their children +in matrimony, he believed that they were no less fitted than the rest, +and that in the end they would come out as well as other people. All was +useless. The young woman met argument with argument, and her lover's +prayers, sprinkled with endearments, with a firm and obstinate silence. +Ricardo, in a state of tribulation which Father Rivadeneira does not +take account of as a matter of merit in his treatise, went straight to +Don Mariano, whom he loved like a father, to tell him the state of +things, and ask his aid and advice. The latter was highly surprised and +disturbed when he read his daughter's letter. He read it over many times +as though he could not get the key of it, and at each new reading he +found it more obscure and inexplicable. Finally he handed it back with a +gesture of dismay, signifying that his daughter must have lost her wits, +for he could not understand any such nonsense. + +In point of fact, Don Mariano was a sincere believer, fulfilling +scrupulously the moral precepts of religion, but he looked upon the +things which relate to worship with some coolness, if not with scorn. He +had never doubted the religious truths learned in his childhood, but he +had never made much account of masses and sermons, and he never went to +church more than was strictly necessary. He could make a distinction, +when these subjects were up for discussion, between religion and the +priest, professing for these latter a decided Voltairian hostility, +which came from inheritance, according to Dona Gertrudis, since his +grandfather, the Mexican, had kept up friendly relations and a +voluminous correspondence with a member of the French Convention. He had +an insuperable faith in modern progress, and he made use of the +inventions constantly realized by human industry, in order to combat and +crush the fragile arguments of his constant enemies, the partisans of +tradition, among whom not the least obstinate and vexatious was his +wife. If, for example, a telegram from any relation or friend was +received in the house, Don Mariano, after reading it, would hold it out +to his wife with a triumphal smile, saying,-- + +"Here, this miserable modern invention brings us word that your brother +has reached Paris safely." + +He delighted in making humorous conjectures on the fright that would +seize our forefathers if they were suddenly put in a railroad car, or +were told that they could communicate whenever they pleased with a +friend residing in Havana. Whenever he found in the papers a notice of +any wonderful invention, the audacious man hastened to read it to his +wife, and he kept the paper so as to read it also to the many +conservatives who frequented his house. If the invention was not costly, +he had the machine sent him, although it was not of the slightest use to +him; and so he kept the house stored with curious manufactures, almost +all of them covered with dust, and out of order by want of +use,--ice-making machines, churns, cider-mills, organs, etc., parlor +telegraphs, stereopticons, pans for cooking meat with a piece of paper, +life-preservers, canes with chairs and guns, waterproof umbrellas with +tent arrangement, and an endless array of strange articles. When the +machine did not work, Don Mariano was disgusted and felt humiliated, and +fearing lest the glory of modern science should be diminished in +consequence, he did not speak of the apparatus before his senora; or if +he were obliged to do so, he escaped the difficulty on a tangent, as he +used to say, by always attributing the unfortunate result to his own +stupidity, and not the quality of the machine. This eager love which he +professed for the incredible advances of the present age, and the +struggle which he waged both in his house and out of it with the friends +of tradition, occasionally impelled him to employ forbidden weapons, as +for example to exaggerate the power of modern industry, giving +fictitious accounts of the beginning of stupendous new enterprises which +had never as yet entered into the mind of man. One day he startled his +friends by assuring them that it was seriously intended to establish a +floating bridge between Europe and America, over which one could travel +by rail to the New World; another time he astonished them by declaring +that a telescope was in construction, which would bring the moon within +half a league of the earth, so that we could discover whether that +satellite had inhabitants. Again, he filled them with wonder by +informing them that in the United States a whole cathedral had been +moved at once from one town to another by means of hydraulic pressure. +In regard to mechanical advances, Don Mariano had more imagination than +Shakespeare. National politics engaged his attention little in +comparison with the incessant and sublime progress realized by humanity, +and he detested the exaggerations which in his view tended to hinder it. +His affiliations were with the liberal conservative party. + +With these peculiarities, it is easy to imagine the effect made upon him +by his daughter's letter. He looked upon it as one of those many +extravagant hobbies which she had passed through in her life, and he +solemnly promised Ricardo to make her desist from such folly. But after +he had called her to his room and spent about two hours closeted with +her, he began to suspect that the thing was not so easy as it appeared +at first sight. Neither by turning her austere plan into ridicule by his +jests, nor by showing that he was annoyed, nor by descending to +entreaties, was our worthy caballero able to accomplish anything. Maria +met these attacks like her lover's, with a humble but resolute attitude +impossible to overcome. No other way was left them but to resign +themselves, and this they both did perforce with the secret hope that +the girl would very soon change of her own accord when once her caprice +was satisfied. Accordingly the wedding was indefinitely postponed, and +poor Ricardo began to play his part as Duke of Thuringen almost as ill +as a Spanish actor. From that time forth his interviews with Maria +became less frequent and familiar. The girl seemed to shun him and to +avoid opportunities of talking confidentially with him as she used. +Ricardo eagerly sought them, sometimes employing them in bitter +expostulations, at others in softly whispering a thousand passionate +phrases. She always appeared sweet and affectionate, but endeavored to +turn the conversation to serious subjects. Ricardo still caressed her +whenever he had an opportunity, but he no longer obtained from her the +usual reciprocation in spite of the incredible efforts which he made to +obtain it. And not only he did not obtain this grace, but little by +little the girl came to avoid his familiarities by always talking with +him in the presence of others. One day when he found her alone in the +dining-room, he said to himself with inward delight, "She is mine." And +creeping up behind her carefully, he gave her a ringing kiss on her +neck. Maria sprang suddenly from her chair and said, with a certain +sweetness not free from severity,-- + +"Ricardo, don't do that again!" + +"Why not?" + +"Because I don't like it." + +"How long since?" + +"I never did; don't be foolish." She said these words with asperity, and +another unpleasant stage in Ricardo's love was signalized. Almost +absolutely ceased those happy moments of fond raptures, sweet and +delicious as the pleasures of the angels in which the poesy of spirit +and matter is indistinguishable, the prospect of which kindles and stirs +the deepest roots of our being, and their remembrance throws over all +our lives, even for the most prosaic of men, a vague and poetical +melancholy helping us to endure the rebuffs of existence and to +contemplate without envy the felicity of others. The most that the young +marquis obtained grudgingly from his sweetheart was the permission to +give her a brotherly kiss on the forehead from time to time. And there +is no need of telling my experienced readers, for they must be able to +imagine it, that with this enforced fast the young man's love far from +growing less, increased and became violent beyond all power of words. + +Maria was able fully to devote herself to the life of perfection toward +which she had felt such vehement aspiration. The hours of the day seemed +to her too few for her prayers, both at church and at home, and for the +repentance of her sins. She attended the sacraments more and more, and +she was present and assisted with her sympathy and money in all the +religious solemnities which were celebrated in the town. The time left +free from her prayers she spent in reading books of devotion, which, in +a short time, formed a library almost as numerous as her novels. The +lives of the saints pleased her above all, and she soon devoured a +multitude of them, paying most attention, as was logical, to the lives +of those who reached the greatest glory and brought the greatest +splendor to the Church,--the life of Saint Teresa, that of Saint +Catalina of Sienna, of Saint Gertrudis, of Saint Isabel, Saint Eulalia, +Saint Monica, and many others who, without having been canonized, were +celebrated for their piety and for the spiritual graces which God +bestowed upon them, like the holy Margarita of Alacoque, Mademoiselle de +Melun, and others. These works made a very profound impression on our +young lady's ardent and enthusiastic mind, driving her farther and +farther along the road to perfection. The incredible and marvellous +powers of those heroic souls, who, through love and charity, succeeded +in lifting themselves to heaven, and in enjoying through anticipation, +while still on earth, the delights reserved for the blessed, filled her +with deep, fervent admiration. She felt an ecstasy over the most +insignificant incidents in the lives of the saints, where God often +showed them that He held them as His chosen ones, and would not let the +world entice them away, as, for example, the scene of the miraculous +toad which Saint Teresa saw talking in the garden with a caballero +toward whom she felt a drawing; the sudden death of Buenaventura, Saint +Catalina's sister, who was leading that holy woman along the worldly +path of bodily adornments and pleasures; and many others which filled +the books aforesaid. Maria regarded these notable heroines of religion +with the same emotion and astonishment as one regards the phenomena and +marvels of nature. A long time passed before she dared to lift her eyes +toward them in the way of imitation; she contented herself with +beseeching them, through interminable prayers, to intercede with God to +pardon her sins. She bought the finest effigies that she found and, when +she had caused them to be richly framed, she hung them up on the walls +of her room. To do this she had to take down Malec-Kadel and many other +warriors of the Middle Ages which had invaded them. She was especially +carried away by the scenes of their infancy, and by the first steps +which these blessed women had taken along the road to perfection; but +when she reached that part of their lives which marked the apogee of +their glory on earth, when God, overcome by their steadfast love, their +fidelity, and the wonderful penances imposed upon themselves, began to +grant them favors and spiritual gifts by means of ecstasies and visions, +she remained somewhat disturbed and even cast down. She did not as yet +comprehend the mystic delight of direct communication through the senses +between the soul and God, and she confessed with great compunction that +if one of these miraculous visions were to be vouchsafed her, she should +feel much greater fear than pleasure. + +Nevertheless, before long, the desire to imitate them sprang up in her +heart. It is always a short step from admiration to imitation. She +began where it was proper, that is, by imitating their humility. +Hitherto she had been modest, but not to such a degree as not to enjoy +being flattered and applauded; but from this time forth she not only +carefully avoided all praise, but she repelled those who offered it, and +even tried to hide her talents so as to give her friends no chance to +praise her. She began to talk as little as possible with friends or +members of the family, and to do on the instant whatever they asked her +to, lamenting in her heart that they did not give her harsh commands. +She managed to have the servants help her at table after all the rest, +and always give her stale bread instead of fresh. To conquer the natural +impulses of selfishness she showed those who had offended her more +affability than others, and any one had only to offend her pride more or +less for her immediately to overwhelm them with attentions, as though +she owed them gratitude. On the other hand, to those who, as she knew, +loved and admired her, she took delight in seeming peevish, so that they +might not think her better than she really was. + +Having started out on this pious path, which has been travelled by all +the saints for the glory of God and of the human race, since the virtue +of humility raises man above his own nature, conquering the passions +deepest rooted in the human heart, and, of all virtues is the one that +best proves the power of the spirit, and inspires respect even in the +most unbelieving of men; having started out, I say on this pious path, +and being aided by vivid imagination, she performed a number of strange +deeds, wellnigh incomprehensible to those whose attention is turned to +the world and not to religious things, deeds which the illustrious +biographers of Saint Isabel calls _secret_ and _holy fancies_,[20] +serving as the mystic steps whereby the soul mounts to perfection and +communicates with God. One day, for example, it came into her mind to +eat humbly with the servants as though she were one of them. In order to +do this, when dinner-time came, she pretended to have a headache, and +kept in her chamber; but when the family were gathered in the +dining-room, she softly ran down stairs to the kitchen, and there she +stayed all through the dinner-hour, helping herself to the remains of +the food, to the surprise and admiration of the servants. Another day, +when it seemed to her that she had not answered her father with +sufficient respect, she suddenly presented herself in his office, fell +on her knees, and begged his pardon. Don Mariano lifted her from the +floor, with startled eyes:-- + +"But, my daughter, suppose you have not offended me or committed any +fault? And even if you had, there is no need of going to these extremes. +What nonsense! Come, give me a kiss, and go and sew with your sister, +and don't frighten me again with such absurdities!" + +Maria did not meet with the contrarieties in the bosom of her family +that she would have liked, in the way of test. Her father and sister, +though they did not encourage her in her devotions, said nothing to +oppose her; and each day they showed her more and more affection, which +was the natural consequence of the growing sweetness and gentleness of +her character. Her mother adored her with foolish frenzy, blindly +applauded all her acts of piety, and never wearied of praising to the +skies the virtue and talent of her first-born. The servants, and +particularly Genoveva, likewise joined their voices in a chorus of +flatteries, spreading all over town the fame of her virtues, and +crowning her with a halo of respect and sanctity. As far as such things +influenced her salvation, our maiden would have preferred a cruel, +tyrannical father, who laid harsh commands upon her, or a disagreeable +mother or an envious sister, who would not let her live in peace, since, +according to the biographies which she read, no saint had been free from +suffering persecutions in her own family. She grieved inwardly at the +ease and comfort which she enjoyed at home, and she thought that she +suffered nothing for the God who had redeemed us with His blood. She +would have liked it had a calumny been breathed about her, such as +Palmerina caused Saint Catalina of Sienna to suffer, so that she might +be scorned and maltreated; but no one in the house or out of it dreamed +of doing such a thing. + +To compensate for this absence of persecutions, she mortified her flesh +with fasting and penances, always performing those which were most +unpleasant to her. Some dish on the table was distasteful to her; then +she imposed upon herself the penance of eating it, leaving others, of +which she was extremely fond, untouched. She went so far as to put aloes +in some, in imitation of what was done by Saint Nicolas of Tolentino. On +Fridays she fasted rigorously on bread and water, performing miracles of +shrewdness to prevent her father from discovering it; for she felt +certain that if he knew it, he would not give his consent. + +She always wore a locket around her neck, containing the picture of her +betrothed. One day, when he had succeeded in having a moment's +conversation alone with her, she said to him,-- + +"Listen, Ricardo; if you would not be vexed, I would tell you +something." + +"What is it?" hastily asked the young man, with the sudden alarm of one +who is always afraid of some misfortune. + +"I see that I am going to offend you--but I will tell you. I have taken +your picture out of the locket." + +Ricardo's face expressed amazement. + +"And the worst is, that I have put another in its place." + +The expression of amazement changed into one of such pain, that Maria, +on looking in his contracted and grief-stricken face, could not refrain +from breaking out into a fresh, ringing peal of merry laughter, such as +in former times used to ripple from her lips all the time, and which +little by little had decreased, as though the fire of light and joy from +which they came had died down. + +"Good Heavens! what a long face!--Wait! Now I'll show your substitute, +so as to make you suffer more." + +And taking the locket from her neck she showed it to him. It held the +effigy of Jesus crowned with thorns. Ricardo, half satisfied and half +vexed, answered with a smile. + +"Now kiss it!" + +The young man obeyed instantly, placing his lips on the picture of the +Lord, and at the same time touching the rosy fingers which held it out +to him. Maria withdrew them and ran away. + +Equally as she schooled herself in humility, so she gave much heed to +that other virtue, which is, so to speak, the foundation of our religion +and the chief crown of glory that the creature can offer to God,--the +virtue of charity. Our maiden's excellent heart and the example of her +parents were sufficient reason for her to alleviate as far as possible +the miseries of her neighbors, but beside this there was now the +continual inducement in the incredible powers of abnegation and charity +shown by the saints, whom she worshipped with the greatest fervor, +particularly the holy Duchess of Thuringen, who bore the name of Mother +of the Poor. And so she visited her compassion on all the wretched, and +lost no opportunity to supply their needs with lavish hand. All the +money which her father gave her she employed in almsgiving. In company +with Genoveva she visited the houses of many poor people, whom she +assisted not only with money but also with words of council, on the +ground that man lives not by bread alone. In order to school herself in +humility in the same way that was practised by Margaret, the sainted +queen of Scotland, she had some beggars come secretly to her room, and +washed their feet with the greatest scrupulousness. Each one of these +pious deeds filled her with a holy inward joy such as she had never +before experienced. She took up the habit of never allowing any poor +person who asked alms to go without receiving them, since in addition to +the dictates of her heart she remembered the multitude of cases in which +our Lord or the Virgin had appeared to many saints in the disguise of +beggars. Her desire, mixed with fear, that something of this sort might +happen in her case, impelled her to scrutinize with considerable care +the faces of the poor. But as her own resources did not suffice for her +attention to such numerous charities, she had to scheme in order to +obtain money from her father, using a thousand innocent devices: one day +asking it for a parasol, another for a clock, another for a case of +scissors, etc., etc. She went to such extremes, however, that Don +Mariano began to suspect the truth, and put a limit to his munificence. +His daughter had impoverished him with the greatest innocence. + +Carried away by her ardent charity, she likewise wanted to put herself +to the test by caring for the sick; above all, for those who were +suffering from disgusting diseases. She heard that a woman near her +house was suffering from a sore breast, and she made the resolution to +go every morning and dress it, and this she instantly put into practice; +but at the very first visit, wishing to add what she had read in the +history of Saint Catalina, that is, wishing to kiss the sick woman's +sore, the loathing and horror which overcame her were so great that she +grew faint, became very ill, and Genoveva had to take her in her arms +and carry her home. + +The poor girl attributed her misfortune not to the feebleness of her +stomach, but to her lack of virtue, and she applied herself with +increased anxiety to better her life. + +Genoveva took part in all these exercises of piety, but rather as her +companion and confidential friend than as her maid. She aided her, +oftentimes without understanding where she was going to stop, absolutely +persuaded that she could not go on the wrong track, for she had blind +faith in her senorita's discretion. It was not so much affection which +she felt for her, as a species of idolatry in which was mingled +admiration for her beauty, respect for her talent, and pride in having +seen the birth of a prodigy in the creation of which she had had a +share. Maria was unable to arouse in her the mystic enthusiasm which +possessed herself, for Genoveva was not of an inflammable nature, and a +supine ignorance shielded her from all sorts of enthusiasms; but she +succeeded through her acts and religious discourses in awakening in her +the fanaticism which is always dormant in the depths of vulgar, ignorant +souls. + +One night after Maria had retired from the family circle, and Genoveva +had left the kitchen, they found themselves in the boudoir in the tower. +Maria was reading by the light of her polished iron lamp,[21] while +Genoveva was seated in another chair in front of her, engaged in +knitting stockings. They often spent an hour or two in this way before +going to bed, since the senorita was accustomed of old to read till the +small hours of the night. + +She did not seem so absorbed in her reading as usual. She often laid the +book on the table and remained a long while thoughtful, with her cheek +resting in her hand: then she took it up again, only to lay it down very +hastily; she was nervous, judging by the creaking of the chair. From +time to time she fastened a long gaze on Genoveva in which gleamed a +timid, restless desire and a sort of inner struggle with some thought +preoccupying her. Genoveva, on the other hand, was more than ever +absorbed in her stocking, doubtless mixing with her stitches a crowd of +more or less philosophical considerations which obliged her, from time +to time, to lean forward towards her hands just as if she were asleep. + +At last the senorita decided to break the silence. + +"Genoveva, don't you want to read this passage from the life of Saint +Isabel?" she asked, handing her the book. + +"With all my heart,[22] senorita." + +"Look here where it says: 'When her husband.'" + +Genoveva began to read the paragraph to herself, but very soon Maria +interrupted her, saying,-- + +"No, no; read it aloud!" + +Whereupon she obeyed, reading what follows:-- + +_"When her husband was absent, she spent the whole night watching with +Jesus, the spouse of her soul. But the penances which the innocent young +princess imposed upon herself were not limited to this alone. Under her +most splendid garments she always wore a haircloth cilicium next her +flesh. Every Friday she let herself be severely whipped in secret in +memory of the dolorous passion of our Lord, and daily during Lent (in +order, says a biographer, to requite the Lord in some measure for the +punishment of the lash), coming thereafter to Court, her face full of +joy and serenity. As time went on she carried this austerity into the +small hours of the night, and entering into an apartment next the +chamber where she slept with her husband, she caused her damsels to +inflict a severe scourging upon her, thence returning to her husband's +side more joyful and amiable than ever, having gained comfort from these +severities practised on herself and against her own weakness. Thus it +was, as a contemporary poet says, she succeeded in drawing near to God +and breaking the bonds of the prison of the flesh like a brave warrior +of the love of the Lord."_ + +"That'll do; don't read any more; what do you think about it?" + +"I have often read that same thing before." + +"That's true; but what should you think if I decided to do the same?" +she asked impetuously, like one who determines to propose something long +thought about. + +Genoveva stared at her with wide-open eyes, failing to understand her. + +"Don't you understand?" + +"No, senorita." + +Maria got up, and throwing her arms around her neck, she whispered, her +face aflame,-- + +"I mean, silly one,[23] that if you would be willing to do the office of +Saint Isabel's damsels, I would imitate the saint to-night." + +Genoveva vaguely understood, but still she asked,-- + +"What office?" + +"Oh! you stupid and more than stupid, that of giving me a few blows with +the lash in memory of those which our Lord received, and all the saints +in example of him." + +"Senorita, what are you saying? How did such a thing ever enter into +your head?" + +"It entered my head because I wish to mortify and humiliate myself at +one and the same time. That is the true penance and the most pleasing in +the eyes of the Lord, for the reason that he himself suffered it for us. +I intended to inflict it upon myself, but I could not; and besides, it +is not so efficacious as to suffer the humiliation of receiving it from +the hands of another. And so you won't be willing to do this for me?" + +"No, Senorita, not for anything. I couldn't do it--" + +"Why not, _tonta_? Don't you see that it is for my good? If I should +fail of freeing myself from a few days of purgatory because I did not do +what I ask you, wouldn't you feel remorse?" + +"But, my heart's dove,[24] how could you want me to maltreat you even +though it were for your good?" + +"Why, you have nothing left but to do it because it is a vow, and I must +fulfil it; you have helped me hitherto in the road to virtue. Don't +abandon me when I least expect it. You won't, Genovita? You won't, will +you?" + +"Senorita, for God's sake don't make me do this!" + +"Come, Genovita, I beg of you by the love that you bear me--" + +"No! no! no! don't ask me to do it--" + +"Come, you old darling,[25] do this favor for me. You don't know how bad +I shall feel if you don't do it. I shall believe that you have ceased to +love me." + +Maria exhausted all the resources of her genius to convince her. She sat +on her lap and overwhelmed her with caresses; she fondled her, now +getting vexed, now entreating her, and always fixing her eyes upon her +in a wheedling way impossible to resist. She was like a child asking for +a forbidden toy. When she saw that her maid was softening a little, or +rather was very tired of refusing, she said, with fascinating +volubility:-- + +"Truly, _tonta_, don't believe that it is a thing of such great +consequence. A bad toothache is much worse, and you know that I have had +them often enough. Your imagination makes you think that it is terrible, +when in reality it is a trifling thing. It all comes from the fact that +it isn't done nowadays because virtue is vanished from the world, but in +the good old times of religion it was a common, every-day occurrence, +and no one who claimed to be a good Christian failed to perform this +penance. Come, make up your mind to grant me this favor, and at the same +time to do a good work.--Wait a moment, I will find what we need--" + +And running to the bureau, she opened a drawer, and took out a scourge, +a genuine scourge, with round wooden handle and leather cords. Then, all +excited and nervous, with her cheeks on fire, she brought it to +Genoveva, and thrust it into her hand. She took it mechanically, without +knowing what she did. She was perfectly stupefied. The girl began to +caress her again, encouraging her with persuasive accents; but she did +not answer a word. Then the Senorita de Elorza, with trembling hand, +began to unloose the blue silk dress which she wore. On her face glowed +the excited, anxious joy of a caprice about to be gratified. Her eyes +shone with unwonted light, hinting at keen, mysterious joys; her lips +were dry, as one athirst; the violet circle around her eyes was larger +than usual, and bright crimson spots burned in her cheeks. She breathed +excitedly through her nostrils, which were more than ordinarily dilated. +Her white, aristocratic hands, with their slender fingers and rosy +nails, loosed with strange haste the buttons of her dress. With a quick +movement she freed herself from it. + +"You shall see; I have on only my chemise and underwaist. I am all +ready." + +In truth, she took off, or rather tore off, her underwaist and a skirt +or two, and was left only in her chemise. She stood an instant, glanced +at the instrument in Genoveva's hand, and over her body ran a tremor of +chill, of pleasure, of anguish, of terror, and of eagerness, all at +once. In a low voice, changed by emotion, she said, "Papa must not know +this." + +And her linen chemise slipped down on her body, catching for an instant +on her hips, and then falling slowly to the floor. She was now entirely +naked. Genoveva looked at her with ecstatic eyes, and the girl felt +somewhat abashed. + +"You won't be angry with me, Genovita?" she asked, smiling. + +The serving woman could only say,-- + +"Senorita, for God's sake!" + +"The sooner, the better, for I shall get cold." + +In this way she wished to bring still greater pressure to bear on her +servant. With a nervous movement she snatched the scourge from her left +hand, thrust it into her right; again threw her arms around her neck, +and giving her a kiss, whispered very softly, in a joyous tone,-- + +"You must ply it vigorously, for so I have promised God." + +A violent trembling took possession of her body, as she said these +words; but it was a delicious trembling, which penetrated to the very +depths of her being. Then, taking Genoveva by the hand, she pulled her +toward the table where the Saviour's image stood. + +"Here it must be,--kneeling before our Lord." + +Her voice choked in her throat. She was pale. She bent humbly before the +image, rapidly made the sign of the cross, folded her hands over her +breast, and turning her face toward her maid, said, with a sweet +smile,-- + +"Now you can begin." + +"Senorita, for God's sake!" exclaimed Genoveva, in perfect trepidation. + +Through the senorita's eyes flashed a gleam of anger, which instantly +died away; but she said, in a tone of considerable irritation:-- + +"Do we believe in this? Obey me, and don't be obstinate." + +The woman, overawed, and persuaded that she was aiding in a work of +piety, obeyed, laying the scourge gently enough on the senorita's naked +shoulders. + +The first blows struck by the maid were so soft and gentle that they +left no sign on that precious skin. But Maria was excited; she desired +them to be heavier:-- + +"No, not like that; but with force--but wait a moment; let me take off +these jewels, which are out of place at such a moment." + +And hastily she tore off all the rings from her fingers, pulled out her +earrings, and laid the handful of gold and precious stones at the feet +of Jesus. In that same way Saint Isabel, when she prayed in church, laid +her ducal crown at the foot of the altar. + +She resumed her humble posture, and Genoveva, seeing that there was no +escape, began relentlessly to bruise her pious mistress's flesh. The +lamp shed a soft, diffused light, bathing the little boudoir in subdued +brilliancy; only as it touched the jewels lying at the Redeemer's feet, +it broke into beautiful fleeting sparkles. The silence at this moment +was absolute; not even the mournful voice of the wind in the casements +was to be heard. The room breathed an atmosphere of mystery and +seclusion, which enraptured Maria and filled her with an intoxicating +pleasure. Her lovely body, bared, shuddered every time that the straps +of the scourge curled around it with a pang not without voluptuous +pleasure. She pressed her brow to the Redeemer's feet, breathing quickly +and with a certain oppression, and she felt the blood beating in her +temples with strange violence, while the light golden hair at the back +of the neck rose slightly under the impulse of the emotion which filled +her. From time to time her pale, trembling lips said softly,-- + +"Go on, go on." + +The lashes had already raised many rose-colored weals in her shining +skin, and she did not ask for a truce. But at last the barbarous +instrument brought a drop of blood. Genoveva could not restrain herself; +she threw the scourge far from her, and hastened to embrace her +senorita, covering her with caresses and begging her by the salvation +of her soul not to make her do such an atrocious thing again. Maria +consoled her, assuring her that the flagellation had hurt her very +little; and now that her ardor was somewhat cooled, and her ascetic +impulses calmed, she said good night and went to her bedroom to lie +down. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +IN SEARCH OF MENINO. + + +"I know it's you, Ricardo; let me go!" + +Ricardo did not reply. + +"Come, let me go; you see I must hurry and carry the broth to mamma." + +Ricardo still blinded her eyes from behind without saying a word. + +"For pity's sake let me go, Ricardo! It isn't fair, after I have told +who you were." + +"In punishment for your not taking the joke gracefully, I won't let you +go," said Ricardo, still clasping her eyes. + +"All right, then; I admit that it's perfectly fair." + +"Ah, that's another thing! if you submit, I will let you go. But you +must pay a forfeit." + +Marta, as soon as she found herself free, ran behind him with uplifted +broom, so that he could not get hold of her; thereupon she went back and +again began her task of brushing up the dining-room. She had not dressed +for the day. She wore a loose red gown somewhat the worse for wear, and +her hair was put up in a white redicilla. But there was one very strange +thing about this girl; in an old morning dress, sometimes even ripped, +and with her hair in disorder, she was prettier than when she put on her +fine clothes. It may have been because her peculiar style of beauty was +not best brought out by rich and splendid dresses as her sister's was, +or because she was not used to wearing them (for it was rare for her to +put on those which were bought for her), so that she appeared awkward +and constrained when she went out; but at all events, on the street and +at the theatre, Marta certainly attracted little attention, and remained +entirely overshadowed by her sister's proud and splendid beauty. On the +other hand, at home her graces were greatly increased; her motions were +easy and unembarrassed; her eyes gained brilliancy and animation, and +her whole body acquired a freedom which it lost as soon as she set foot +in the street. + +She swept without haste, firmly and easily, like one who always expects +to finish in time, and she kept humming a march[26] very softly. She had +no voice for singing or any great love for music, and all the exertions +of her teachers and her liking for study struggled with this lack of +musical ability. The masterpieces of music, and even the _fantasias_, +_reveries_, and nocturnes, which Maria played on the piano left her cold +and incapable of understanding their worth. On the other hand, she +confessed with shame that certain operatic airs and many popular songs +delighted her. Another thing she did not confess, though it was no less +true: the bands which sometimes accompany funerals, and are, as a +general rule, of the very worst sort, composed almost entirely of brass +instruments, moved her deeply, even to tears. She almost never sang, but +she was apt to hum softly when she was doing any work as now. From time +to time she stopped to take breath, leaning for a moment on her broom, +and after brushing back one or two curls which fell on her forehead, she +went on with her task. + +Ricardo appeared again in the door. + +"Martita, are you still vexed with me?" + +"If I am," she replied, between a frown and smile, "you had better make +your escape, senor marques, quick, before I dust you with the +broomstick." + +"But are you really vexed?" + +"Certainly I am." + +"Very well, then; I humbly ask your pardon," said Ricardo, getting down +on his knees. "Give me all the blows you want, for I have no idea of +moving." + +"Come, get up, and don't be foolish! See how you are soiling your +trowsers!" + +"Though I should soil the very collar of my shirt, I wouldn't move until +you pardoned me!" + +"What a boor you are, Ricardo!" + +"Many thanks!" + +"Will you get up, child?" + +"No; not till you pardon me." + +"You must be serious, Ricardo!" + +"We will speak of that by and by. Do you pardon me?" + +"Yes; bother[27]! yes; get up!" + +Ricardo arose, went up to Marta, and taking her by the arms and shaking +her violently, exclaimed,-- + +"How very pretty you are, little one! I don't wonder that Manolito--Of +course you understand me." + +"This is a great way of trying to be serious!" + +"I shall be in time. Don't you worry!" + +"Very well; then let me have a chance to carry mamma's broth to her." + +"Do you know, I have searched the whole house and not found a soul?" + +"Mamma has not left her room yet, and papa and Maria are out." + +"Maria is at church as usual, isn't she?" + +"She only went to mass; she will be back soon." + +"Of course," replied the young man, becoming suddenly serious and +silent. + +Marta finished her work under her future brother's grave and not very +careful inspection. + +"Will you wait for me? I'm coming right back." + +Ricardo nodded assent; and while the girl was gone, he went to one of +the balconied windows and began to drum with his fingers on the glass, +casting a vacant, absent look at the neighboring houses. + +Marta came hurrying in again. + +"Come, go with me; I am going to put the linen away." + +Ricardo followed the girl like a lamb into a bright room full of +clothes-presses. It looked into the garden. In the centre of it was a +table on which stood a great basket heaped up with white clothes just +from the wash. + +"Will you help me take down this basket and put it there, near that +clothes-press?" + +"Why didn't you put it a little further off?" + +The basket was a huge one, and it was a tug to carry it to the place +designated: while they were carrying it, they got into such a frolic +that more than once they had to set it down. Ricardo with his efforts +grew very red in the face, and this made the girl laugh until she had no +strength left. She rarely laughed; but when the floodgates were opened, +nobody could stop it. Ricardo, with his inclination to make fun, puffed +out his cheeks and grew redder yet. All ill humor had completely +disappeared. The basket made very little progress, and both stood +bending over it and struggling with it, being unable to lift it an inch +from the ground, the one splitting with laughter, and the other +affecting a comic desperation. + +"What a valiant soldier, to be vanquished by a basket of clothes!" +exclaimed the girl, in the height of glee. + +"I should like to see Prim or Espartero or even Napoleon himself here! +This isn't a basket at all! There is linen enough here for an army!" + +"Let go, then! If you didn't make me laugh, I could lift it by myself." + +After much laughter, and no little bantering, the basket reached its +destination. Marta opened the clothes-press, from which came the +distinctive, fresh, penetrating odor of fresh linen. The girl for +several moments breathed it in with delight, while she was transferring +the pieces from one shelf to another in order to make room for the clean +clothes that she was going to put away. Then she started to call +Carmen--one of the maids--to help her, but Ricardo asked timidly,-- + +"Listen, child, couldn't I help to do it?" + +"Oh! if you would like--" + +"But it isn't for me to like. Pure gold though I were, _preciosa_, it is +for you to command me, as queen and mistress." + +"It won't do at all." + +"It's no condescension on my part; you can put me to the test." + +"Well, then, this time I command you to take the two corners of this +sheet and stretch them out in that direction hard--not so hard, man, how +you pull me! That's the way! that's the way! Now double it as I +do--so--one corner over the other--good!--now stretch it out +again--more, ever so much more--that's it! Now fold it again; pull it +out once more! There, that'll do. Now come towards me,--let me have it; +I can manage it now. Here's another. Take the two corners--shake it +well and stretch it out. Be careful, for this one has a ruffle--don't +tear it! These are mamma's and Maria's sheets." + +"How it would shock Maria if she knew I were folding her sheets!" cried +Ricardo, laughing. + +"Why, yes; the sheets themselves are. Mamma and she like very fine ones, +and have theirs made of batiste; but papa and I like them coarser. I +can't bear fine sheets; I slip about in them and can't get settled. We +are careful not to put any kind of ruffles on papa's, for the touch of +starch tries his nerves, and the rustling keeps him awake. It's a hobby +of his. Just imagine when he is travelling, and at some house they put +on sheets with trimmings, he takes the trouble to pull the bed to pieces +and put the ruffling under the mattress at his feet. I don't like them +either, but if I find them on, I put up with them. Papa has a good many +hobbies. Every night he has to go asleep with a cigar in his mouth. I +walk up and down near his room until I see that he is asleep, and then I +go in very gently and take the cigar from his mouth and put out the +light.--Don't pull so hard, for my arms ache already. The truth is, I +make you do very improper things for a military man; isn't that so?" + +"Don't you believe it! At college, and even after we left, at +boarding-houses we had to do much worse things. How many buttons have I +sewed on in my life! And how many times I have patched my trowsers when +they were worn through!" + +"Really?" + +"Certainly!" + +Marta was sincerely astonished. She could not understand that a man +should have to descend to such duties when there are so many women in +the world, and she asked particularly about his college life,--how they +were treated, what they ate, at what time they went to bed, who attended +to their rooms, who did their washing and ironing, were their mattresses +hard or soft, did they drink wine, how many times a week they gave them +clean towels, etc., etc. Ricardo answered all her questions, giving a +circumstantial account of his college habits with the fulness of one who +has very fresh recollections, and is not bored in recounting them. From +college customs he passed to his adventures, relating those which might +be told to a young girl, and amusing himself above all in painting in +the darkest colors the tribulations of freshman year[28] and the +cruelties practised upon them by the seniors,[29] who compelled them to +spend whole nights making cigarettes of sand so as to learn to make +better ones of tobacco; in the street they would make them sit down on +the stone seats and not let them get up till they gave them permission; +they seated them at table, even though they had dined, just for the fun +of the thing; those who were weakest would vomit or faint; one fellow +who ventured to rebel against a _galonista_ they kept for six months +face to face with a stone wall, during all play hours, until he was +taken ill with jaundice and almost died. One Sunday afternoon, while he +was in the hall with five other freshmen[30] reading a novel, two +seniors came in and beat them furiously with cudgels until they were +tired out, and gave him a painful cut near his eye. + +Marta listened with profound attention, showing in her face all the +phases of indignation. She pulled with greater and greater force on the +sheets, and folded them any way, without taking her eyes from the +narrator's. From time to time she exclaimed, "But, good Heavens,[31] +that is abominable! Those men are crazy; why didn't you tell the +president about such cruelties?" Ricardo could not persuade her that it +would have been useless to rebel or tell the colonel, since hazing[32] +was a traditional custom in the college which the officers did not care +to root out. To all his reasonings she replied, "Well, I would have gone +to the colonel, and if he had not made it right for me, I would have run +away from college." + +"Come, don't be excited, Marta, over what I went through. The men who +suffer this way do the same thing. Now I am going to tell you something +that took place between me and the colonel. After I became lieutenant--" + +And changing his tack, he began to tell amusing adventures and jolly +incidents, which smoothed out the frowns on the girl's face, and finally +made her laugh heartily. Gradually the basket was emptied, and its +contents were transferred to the clothes-press, which still exhaled its +fresh and somewhat pungent odor of newly washed clothes. This odor +filled the whole room, and gave it a refreshing perfume of health and +cleanliness pleasanter than any perfumery or pomade. It was the perfume +which always clung about Marta, as her father said, and seemed +especially created for her. When she went alone to open the +cloth-presses, she took a great delight in putting her head into them, +and burying it in the clothes, enjoying the coolness of the linen +against her face, and breathing with keen pleasure its healthful aroma. +The light pouring through the white tulle of the curtains, the +ceaseless chatter and the merry laughter of the young people filled the +room with joy and animation; it was called the "ironing-room," for all +the linen of the house was ironed there. The walls not occupied by the +clothes-presses were painted a plain white. + +Carmen burst into the room like a hurricane, crying,-- + +"Senorita Marta, Senorita Marta!" + +"What's the trouble?" asked Marta, in alarm. + +"Menino has got out, senorita!" + +Marta dropped the sheet which she had in her hands, and exclaimed in +astonishment,-- + +"Has got out?" + +"Yes, senorita; as I was just going through the gallery, I looked at the +cage and found the door open and the bird gone!" + +"Come along, come along!" + +And all three rushed to the gallery. Indeed, Menino had flown away. By +an incredible piece of carelessness Marta, when she fed him, and hung +him up to enjoy the view of the garden and the singing of the other +birds, had left the cage door open. For three years Menino had been +under the young maiden's care, and during all this time he had showed no +sign of cherishing plans of escape; on the contrary, hitherto the little +hypocrite had always shown, as far as possible, that he did not care a +straw for liberty, and that he had renounced it willingly for the sake +of his dearly beloved mistress. For a long time he had been in the habit +of coming out of his cage to eat chocolate with her; he would perch on +her shoulder, peck softly at her hand to show his affection, hop about +here and there over the furniture, and when it was time to retire, he +would go back into the cage, meek as a lamb. By every presumption he was +a happy canary, who regarded the loss of liberty as compensated by the +care and attention of such a lovely girl, and by the permission to peck +her rosy cheeks whenever he pleased. And aside from these more or less +spiritual enjoyments, for which more than one lad in the town would have +made stupendous sacrifices, and looking only at the material aspect of +existence or bodily comforts, it must be laid down as a fact that Menino +lived in his cage like an archbishop, with every want satisfied, +supplied with hemp-seed on one side, with canary-seed on the other, at +one time treated to lettuce, at others to lumps of chocolate, at others +to crumbs soaked in milk; indeed, to ask more was to offend God. And as +for neatness and cleanliness of habitation, he had just as little cause +for envying any one; every morning Marta herself cleaned it out, leaving +the cage like a mirror. But contrary to the general belief that he found +himself perfectly satisfied, and would not change places even with the +director of the mint, Menino was certainly waiting impatiently for a +chance to escape; he had allowed himself to be overwhelmed with +melancholy, his character had been soured, and his bile excited by lack +of exercise. If he had not gone out to breathe the fresh air on the day +least expected, he would have dashed the top of his head against the +bars of his cage. + +As our young people stood under the cage, they deliberated briefly what +to do. Marta was heart-broken. It was decided that Carmen, with the +laundress and the gardener should scour the garden, for they thought +that from lack of practice he would not fly very far at first; meanwhile +Marta and Ricardo should make a thorough search through the house in +case he had remained inside, flying through the halls as he had done +once before. Marta acted as guide, and they immediately began to look +through the suite of rooms next the corridor, a great square chamber +with two sleeping-rooms leading from it, in which she and Maria, when +they were children, had slept with their respective nurses. The paper on +the room represented hunting-scenes, which used to make a great +impression on Marta when she was small, especially one illustrating a +dying stag, conquered by half a dozen ferocious hounds. Then they passed +through several rooms designed for the guests who visited the house; +they inspected the girls' rooms, they went down into the kitchen, which +was in an entresol, and returned up stairs without any success. Then +they visited Don Mariano's library, which was a magnificent room with +two balconied windows facing the plaza, decorated in severe classic +taste; great leather armchairs, rich tapestries, an ebony writing-desk, +and bookcases of the same wood; on the walls hung a few family +portraits, painted in oil. Marta always felt in this library a sensation +of happiness and well-being which she did not enjoy in the other parts +of the house; in this sensation there was a delicious union of reverence +and tenderness wherein were blended all her childish recollections, +which overflowed with this exclusive, eager, and absorbing love, such as +cause the unreasonable anger of children when the nurse tears them from +the paternal arms, and the yearning to go to them when they are held out +to invite them. As soon as she had strength and skill enough to put his +room in order, she never allowed any one else to do it. In the morning +she always spent half an hour of delicious ease and comfort, dusting the +huge chairs, which cost her a great effort to move from their places, +and making Don Mariano's huge bed. She felt happy in that solemn +patriarchal chamber. The colossal bookcases, the table, the chairs, the +pictures, and the dignified figures of the tapestries fixed on her a +silent, benevolent gaze in which she felt as it were alive, her father's +great, protecting shadow. + +Ricardo halted lazily before a portrait:-- + +"Is that your aunt? How much you resemble her! What a pity she died so +young! She was a very fascinating woman." + +"I should like to resemble her. She was very tall, and I am short." + +"What difference does that make? You are like her, very much like her. +And that is natural, after all, for you are like your father, and you +are an Elorza from head to foot. What huge bookcases Don Mariano has! +there's enough here to keep one busy a good while." + +"Still, Maria has read the most of them." + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I don't read very much. I am very lazy. Papa says I don't like the +black," replied the girl, with her frank smile, and looking a little +ashamed; then she added: "But look, Ricardo, it isn't absolutely true, +what papa says; though I don't care much for books, some of them please +me; but one doesn't get time to take them up. I don't know how I manage +not to have an hour for myself. Sometimes it's one thing, sometimes +another." + +"Confess, little one,[33] that you don't like them, and I won't say any +more!" + +"If you like, I will confess it; but it isn't true. I like some of +them." + +"How about Menino?" + +"Ay! yes! come, come!" + +They went to the next room, which was Dona Gertrudis's, and this alone +was proof positive that no sign of Menino was there, though occasionally +she had in her head such a singing, as of a whole nest of birds, that it +prevented her from resting. Therefore they went to the next room, which +was Marta's. It was a room which seemed lined with mirrors, since +everything in it was polished, from the wooden floors to the railing of +the balconies; whatever was not varnished by the cabinet-maker was +rubbed bright with cloths. Marta's great hobby which gave her the most +joy and the most trouble was keeping things bright. Her exaggerated love +for cleanliness had quickly brought her to the point of trying to put a +shine on all the articles of furniture in the house, and more especially +those in her own room. Every day, aided by the maid, she rubbed them +with a dry flannel, polishing them with unwearied zeal, until you could +see your face in them. Then, all out of breath, sometimes dripping with +perspiration, her hair in disorder, and her cheeks ablaze, she lifted +the flannel and stood awhile contemplating her work, the lovely +scintillations made by the light in the polished surface, with a genuine +inward satisfaction, with almost mystic enthusiasm. The household made +much fun of her, which caused her to hide herself while performing this +task, and induced her to lock her room to everybody. Ricardo had never +been in it. And so without any thought of Menino he began to inspect it +with bold, inquisitive attention; he gazed at the pictures, halted in +front of the toilet-table, opened the bottles, felt of the curtains, and +even went into the bedroom to see the bed, uttering exclamations of +astonishment at the perfect order which he found everywhere, and +especially at the wonderful polish of all the furniture. + +"What a pretty room you have, child. It's like a silver cup! What a +lovely white little bed!" + +"Ricardo, don't be inquisitive. Go away; come, Menino isn't here!" + +The girl felt annoyed by the young man's curiosity. Every woman of +gentle birth feels a certain modesty, if we may say so, in regard to her +room, for the reason that there clings about it something like the +essence of her very self which she hesitates to let a man approach; but +in Marta's case, in addition to this modesty, there was a sense of shame +in having her stubborn, childish fancies brought to light, like that of +keeping things bright, that of placing the bottles of her dressing-table +in a sort of symmetry worthy of an altar, and other such things which +served her family as subjects for merriment at dinner time. Consequently +she tried to push him out by main force. + +"Come Ricardo; there's nothing to see here. Come along, come along!" + +"Do let me, nina, do let me have a look at this charming room! How +exquisite!" And putting his nose to the bed, he said with great +seriousness, "It smells like Marta!" + +"Will you be quiet, you foolish fellow!"[34] + +"It may not give you any trouble to keep your room in this way, but let +me tell you, child, I couldn't keep it so if my life depended on it. If +you were to see my room, Martita!" + +"Yes, yes, it must be fine! You always were a disorderly fellow.[35] But +come, dear, come; let us go!" + +"We'll go whenever you please. My room is a stable compared with this; +but just consider that it's open to dogs and cats, the gardener, with +his dirty feet, the coachman, with the smell of the stable, and, in +fact, to every living creature. It is not my fault." + +From Marta's room they passed through various other apartments, the +dining-room, the parlor, the gallery of the court, another private room, +and a few others, without finding Menino anywhere. As they were standing +in the midst of a passage-way without knowing whither to turn, an idea +suddenly struck Marta, and she said,-- + +"Let's go to the terrace; we haven't been there yet." + +The terrace was now only a large hall tiled with marble and covered over +with stained glass. It was called the terrace because it had been one in +former times; but Don Mariano had had it closed in with glass a few +years before, transforming it into a handsome, fantastic room in Moorish +style, where he went to drink coffee on summer evenings with his +daughters and friends. It was for the most part unfurnished, having only +in one corner three or four small marquetry tables and a few +rockingchairs. When our young people reached this hall, they found it +flooded with light: the sun, that morning leaving his long seclusion, +came forth bright and warm, resolved on visiting all the corners of the +city; and when he found the thousand crystals of the Elorza terrace, not +caring to see anything better, he passed through them and revelled +inside with a lively, eager pandiculation which occupied the whole +circuit of the room. It was a magical sight. Thousands of rose, green, +yellow, purple, gray, and blue lights burned within it, pouring over the +floor, the ceiling, and the walls, and dissolving into an infinity of +tints, delighting and dazzling the eyes. Over the mosaic pavement fell a +shower of blinding rays, reflecting up in a delicate, many-colored +vapor; and these rays were crossed and interwoven in the air, making a +flame-bearing web, subtile and beautiful, through the interstices of +which passed the intangible scintillations of other rays more +diaphanous, from which arose a vapor still more aerial. And these veils +of dust, of rays, of scintillations, and of colors, stretching one +behind the other, in spite of their transparency scarcely allowed you to +see with vague indefiniteness, as through a mist, the crystals and +arabesques of the windows. The sun squandered his treasures of light and +color like a Turkish pasha within the walls of some chamber in the East, +proving once more that when he endeavors to make a brilliant and +fanciful decoration with them, there is no stage director with all his +spangles, _Bengalas_, and curtains who can equal him. + +Our young people, entirely forgetting Menino, stopped an instant in +surprise at the whimsical, magical work of the light; and without saying +a word they entered the hall and went to the centre with the slow, +uncertain step of one who goes into a bath. In point of fact they stood +submerged and inundated in a luminous vapor wherein all possible colors +were floating. + +"How beautiful the terrace is to-day!" said Marta at last. + +"It seems like a room in an enchanted palace. It would be more +appropriate if, instead of us, a Moor in a white turban stood here, and +an odalisque covered with brocade and precious stones. How many +capricious effects of light! Wait a moment, Martita; step into this ray +of rosy light. If you could see what a peculiar expression it gives your +face now! You look like a gypsy,--a daughter of the desert." + +Indeed, that light turned the girl's fair complexion to brown, kindled +it with a sunset tinge, and animated it with the ardent, cruel +expression of southern natures. All the innocence of her eyes, all the +purity of her maidenly form were lost under the power of that perverse, +luxuriant flame, which transformed her into another being, fiery, and at +the same time voluptuous, and certainly far from her own true nature. +Ricardo understood this, and said,-- + +"No! that color does not suit you. Come into this one!" + +And he drew her under a ray of greenish light:-- + +"Heavens! you look like a dead person! No, no; that's just as bad! Here, +try the yellow color; that goes well, but it makes you ruddy, and +brunettes ought to stay brunettes,--I mean dark-haired people,--for of +course we know that your complexion is light; come, try the blue. Oh, +superb! wonderful! How beautiful you are, child!" + +The young marquis was right. Blue, which is the most spiritual, the +purest, and the sublimest of colors, was admirably adapted for Marta's +bright face. The sun-ray fell on it like a caress from heaven, bathing +it sweetly in a diaphanous light. Her long black hair assumed a purplish +tint, while the adorable oval of her face and her firm, mellow neck were +softly tinged with a heavenly blue. The delicate line of her regular +features acquired an ideal perfection, and her whole countenance was +transfigured with an angelic expression of beatitude. + +Nevertheless, there was a certain exaggeration not in good taste in that +rapturous, celestial expression given by the blue light. It was not the +true Marta, ingenuous and modest in her looks as in her features, but a +different Marta, affected, theatrical, and fantastic. Ricardo finally +declared that no light was so becoming to her as the natural. + +The girl suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"And Menino!" + +"It's true; we had forgotten him. But where shall we go now? we have +looked everywhere." + +"Let us go to Maria's room; perhaps it has flown up there." + +"It does not seem to me likely; however, let's go there." + +They mounted to the tower, but without any better success; neither in +Maria's room nor in Genoveva's did they find any sign of the +canary-bird. Ricardo felt a peculiar emotion in entering his lady-love's +room, and Marta did not fail to notice it. He became graver and more +silent, and began to examine with interest everything there, moving the +articles, opening the scent-bottles, and even pulling out the drawers, +so that the girl felt obliged to interfere. + +"Don't meddle with her things. When Maria comes and sees her things +tumbled up, she will be angry." + +"And what if she is?" replied the young man, with a touch of asperity. + +"The blame will be thrown on me." + +"All right; then tell her that it was mine, and that'll settle the +matter." + +He stepped into the bedroom, lifted the bed-curtains, took up the books +from the dressing-table, laid them down again, and finally pulled out +the table drawer. In it were a number of articles laid away, but he +thrust in his hand, pulling out one more extraordinary than the rest. It +was a large leather cross, full of brass brads on one side, and with a +cord to attach it to the neck. + +"What is this?" he asked, turning it over and over in his hand, with +amazement. + +Marta guessed what it was. + +"Put it back, put it back! for God's sake, Ricardo! Maria will be very +angry." + +"Horrors! What an abominable thing! This must be a cilicium." + +"It may be; but put it back, put it back for Heaven's sake!" + +The young man threw it violently into the drawer again, with a gesture +of scorn and disgust,-- + +"Maria has become crazy. It is an abomination, and there's no good in +it." + +"Don't say that; it's wrong. Maria is very religious,--" + +"Religious! religious!" muttered the young fellow, angrily. "So are you, +and you don't have to perform these penances--" + +"Don't compare me with Maria!" + +Ricardo began to pace up and down the room excitedly and without +speaking. Then he returned to the chamber, and pulled out the leather +cross once more, examining it with more care. + +"It seems to me that these nails form letters. Look! Can you make out +what they say?" + +"No; I don't see anything; it's your imagination." + +"Yes, yes; there is an inscription on it. But, however, I don't care to +bother with deciphering it. All these things are only absurdities. Come, +child, come along! Let every fool have his folly!" + +And shutting the drawer angrily he left the chamber, followed by Marta. +As they were passing by one of the windows of the boudoir, the girl +uttered a cry of surprise and joy,-- + +"Look, look! Ricardo! Look! there's Menino!" + +The young man hurried to the window, and saw, on the roof of the house, +not very far away, Menino himself, hopping about with delight, and full +of pride and stateliness. + +"What a rascal! And so that's where he's gone! We must catch him. Where +do you get out on the roof?" + +"Not here; we must go down to the house first, and climb up through the +skylight." + +"Come on, then!" + +They left the tower, and after crossing several rooms, they mounted the +garret stairs leading from one of them. It was extremely dark, and the +young man met with much difficulty. On the second step he received a +tremendous knock. + +"Oh, of course you aren't used to it. You'll hurt yourself; give me your +hand and I'll guide you." + +He took the girl's hand, which was small but firm and solid like an +Amazon's; it was not so satiny as Maria's, for her work about the house +had hardened it somewhat; in compensation it had the lovely smoothness +which testifies to health and good blood. It was not feverish either +like Maria's, but was always cool and moist and ready for any emergency, +like those of a daughter of the people. + +The young marquis did not think of making these observations, for he was +going along, intent only on not falling. They reached the +garret,--feebly lighted here and there by a few very tenuous rays of +sunlight which filtered through the cracks in the tiles. After they had +gone quite a distance, Marta dropped his hand, saying,-- + +"Wait here; I am going to open the window." + +And nimbly hurrying ahead, she ran up a half-dozen steps which led to +the skylight, and threw open the door. A burst of intense, bright, +comforting sunshine suddenly invaded the whole garret, dazzling our +young hero. + +"Here is Menino! Here's Menino!" cried Marta, enthusiastically, as she +stood on the top step. "He's very near! Menino! Menino! Come, _tonto_, +here! here! Don't you know me?" + +Menino, who was only six or eight steps away when he heard his +mistress's voice, bent his head gracefully, as if to listen. The +sunlight, falling full on him, bathed his yellow plumage, making him +contrast so vividly with the red-colored roof that he seemed like a bit +of living gold. He hopped thrice or four times, as though he were going +to Marta, and said, _Pii_, _pii_. + +"Do you want me to try to get him?" asked Ricardo. + +"No; hold still a moment; he seems to be coming of his own accord. +Menino, Menino! come here, pretty one; come here, come!" + +Menino came two or three hops nearer, and seemed to be cocking his head +to listen. I don't know what then passed through his brain; something +low, and base, and shameful, it must have been, according to the +morality of his species, for, forgetting his mistress's tender +attentions, her ceaseless caresses, the many bits of chocolate shared +with her, the feasts of biscuits, and his overflowing dishes of +canary-seed, he cleaned his feathers in her presence with perfect +indifference, several times repeated his pii, pii, with affected +laziness, and spreading his wings, he launched into space, flying out of +sight amid the foliage of the neighboring gardens. + +Marta uttered a cry of grief. + +"My stars, he has gone!" + +"Has gone?" + +"Yes!" + +"Very far?" + +"Out of sight." + +"Then, sir, he's gone for good!" + +Ricardo mounted to the window, and following the direction indicated by +the girl's finger, he looked and looked again, until his eyes pained +him, without seeing the slightest sign of anything resembling a canary +bird. When he looked at Marta again, he saw a tear rolling down her +cheeks. + +"Aren't you ashamed to cry for a bird, tonta!" + +"You are right!" replied the girl, trying to laugh, and wiping away the +tear with her handkerchief. + +"But I felt as much affection for him as for a person; yes indeed, for +three years I have been taking care of him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUSBAND OR SOUL. + + +The dew of grace kept falling copiously on the soul of the eldest +daughter of the Elorzas. The Christian virtues flourished in her like +mystical roses replete with fragrance, and with the impatience and ardor +which characterized all her actions, she continued to mount one by one +the rounds on the ladder of perfection leading to heaven. Her deeds of +charity and humility not only filled those who lived near her with +astonishment, but were bruited about the whole town, serving as an +edifying example for young and old, and as a theme of conversation among +the clergy. Her fasts and penances, always growing more frequent and +severe, increased the enthusiasm and seraphic joy of her soul; but at +last they had a naturally weakening effect upon her health. Her delicate +constitution began to rebel against so much mortification of the flesh, +and to protest at every instant by pains, sometimes in her heart, at +others in her stomach, at others in her head, and yet she endured it all +with enviable resignation, and did not let it discourage her saintly +endeavors. She suffered frequently from fainting fits in which she +remained long unconscious, and from severe convulsions; some days she +could not retain the food that she ate, and on others she complained of +acute headaches. Don Maximo began to prescribe preparations of iron, +sea-baths, and wine of quinine, and this treatment brought about some +improvement, but not much; the doctor finally declared that unless she +entirely changed her mode of life, these attacks would not cease; but +it was impossible to persuade her. + +Maria began to notice with a secret pride, of which she tearfully +accused herself to her father confessor, that she inspired admiration +and something more than respect among the people; that when she went +along the street, many saluted her with words of praise, and when she +was at church, all the faithful gazed at her with peculiar persistence. +Through the mouth of the servants many such flattering phrases came to +her ears, as that her virtues were worthy of the most venerable priests +and the most pious souls of the community, and, as she perceived a +certain sweet savor in them, she forbade their being repeated to her. +Many ladies consulted with her on matters concerning their consciences, +and she was appointed teacher of a Sunday-school for adult women, to +whom she began to explain the doctrine and moral precepts of +Christianity with so much clearness and eloquence that nothing else was +talked about. On the second Sunday the hall granted by the board of +magistrates[36] in an old convent was crowded not only with servants and +working-girls, for whom the institution had been founded, but also with +the most distinguished ladies in town, desirous of seeing for themselves +what was reported of the young woman. And indeed they had to agree that +she had decided gifts for teaching,--an artless, animated discourse, +manners free from conceit, and unwearied patience. The girls made +notable progress under her direction. Not satisfied with this, she asked +and obtained from her father permission to use a pavilion which he had +in his garden, and there she gathered every day a dozen orphan children, +whom she taught to read, write, and say their prayers, giving them an +education suitable to their sex and social position. The extreme +gentleness with which she treated her scholars soon won their love, and +even their adoration. + +From every side our virtuous heroine received unimpeachable evidence of +the great regard in which she was held, but more especially in the +society of the devout and saintly, among whom she was considered as a +brilliant beacon kindled for the advantage of religion. In the age of +unbelief, whereunto we have attained, the spectacle of such a beautiful, +well-educated, and illustrious maiden, consecrating herself exclusively +to the practice of the virtues and religious deeds, could not fail to +have a heartfelt influence on the morals of the town. + +One morning, as she was leaving the steps of the altar, where she had +just received holy communion, her face presented such a sanctified +expression that a woman left the throng, and, kneeling before her, asked +for her blessing. Maria, disturbed and perplexed, would have refused, +but finally she had no other escape than by yielding to her entreaties. +On another occasion, as she was going through one of the suburbs with +Genoveva, a poor woman, who was standing at the door of a wretched hovel +with a dying child in her arms, begged her to take him into hers and +offer a Pater Noster for him; Maria did so to satisfy her, but protested +that she was a miserable sinner, to whom God could not listen. The +child, however, had scarcely felt the tender caress of her lovely hand +before it began to smile, and in a few days was entirely restored to +health. This miraculous cure, proclaimed by the grateful mother, made a +great noise among the people; whereupon the house of Elorza was besieged +by a throng of women who came with their sick children to ask Maria to +take them in her arms and bless them. As this partook of the nature of +wonder-working, according to report, Maria hastened to consult her +confessor whether she ought to continue yielding to the entreaties of +these afflicted mothers; and the priest, after taking a day to reflect, +replied that he saw no harm in it, but, on the other hand, believed that +it might redound to the advantage of the faith. "How is it possible," +asked Maria, "for God to be willing to perform miraculous deeds through +the medium of such a low and sinful creature as I am?" And the confessor +replied that it showed great audacity to think of searching the high +purposes of God, and that she should abstain from making such irreverent +remarks; that God chose whomever He pleased to manifest His sacred will, +and that, at all events, even though no miracle took place, it was never +wrong to attribute to the power of the Almighty the blessings which we +experience both in soul and body. Maria accepted this reasoning, and +endeavored, by all the means at her command--by prayer, humility, and +penance--to make herself worthy of these incredible favors which God +gave into her hand. + +Gradually, through the renunciation to which she was compelled by her +pious life, all the ties that bound her soul to things earthly began to +be relaxed. At first she shunned all worldly recreation and amusement, +such as balls, theatres, and promenades, where she used to shine by her +beauty and elegance, and she came to the point of abhorring them. Then +she abstained from certain proper recreation, such as singing and +playing secular music, taking part in games of cards, walking in the +garden, being present at tertulias at her home; in her craze for +crucifying the flesh, she went to the extreme of not gazing often at the +landscape from the windows of her room, and of depriving herself of +breathing the scent of the flowers and the perfume of her colognes. +Still, however, and for some time, she took pleasure in dressing +elegantly; this arose from a reflection that she had read in a French +devotional book, counselling young people not to neglect the neatness +and adornment of the body, since God took delight in seeing them +beautiful and knowing that they adorned themselves for Him alone. At the +same time that she grew more and more to hate the pleasures of this +world, she crushed out in her heart the sentiment of love towards human +beings, even towards those who were nearest and dearest to her. +Understanding that if one would love God, he must free himself from +earthly affections, since no other is worthy of entering into a heart +consecrated to the Creator, she constantly struggled against her love +not only for her betrothed but also that for her parents and sister. She +ceased those frequent outbursts of affection which she used to lavish on +them all and which had always proved the tenderness of her affectionate +spirit; when she met her father in the morning, she no longer threw her +arms around his neck and covered him with caresses; she no longer +revealed to her sister the secrets and sorrows of her heart; she kept +everybody at a distance by a cautious reserve veiled in sweetness and +humility. The Senorita de Elorza compelled herself to follow literally +the solemn words of Jesus: "_If any man come to me, and hate not his +father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, +yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple_."[37] + +The fervor which constantly died away, as far as human beings were +concerned, burned like a sweet-smelling incense on a lofty altar, to an +object infinitely more worthy of it. Her heart could not remain +inactive; she had to love, for it was the law of her being; she had to +overflow with enthusiasm for something on which she should engage her +thoughts every instant of her life, and offer continual sacrifices. +Maria could not desire anything or love anything, without feeling +herself stirred by a consuming fervor. When she was a child, she had +loved another little girl of her own age, a child of dark complexion, +with great, cruel, black eyes, and she loved her so passionately that +she became her willing slave; the little black-eyed girl, the daughter +of a poor mechanic, treated her with the authority of a queen and +mistress, demanded from her all the playthings that she possessed, +compelled her to submit to all her caprices, humiliated her whenever she +felt like it, and oftentimes abused her in word and deed, without the +affection of her enthusiastic friend being diminished in the least. On +one occasion, when the two were ironing a doll's skirt, the cruel little +girl said, in a disagreeable tone of mockery, "If you love me so dearly, +why don't you put this hot iron on your arm for me?" Maria, without a +moment's hesitation, pulled up the sleeve of her dress, and laid the +heated iron on her arm, making a terrible burn. On account of other such +actions as these, which had attracted Don Mariano's attention, he drove +this unworthy friend out into the street, and forbade her ever darkening +the door of his house again, a prohibition which broke his daughter's +heart with grief. + +When a heart is to this degree inflammable, its constant tendency is to +take fire and be consumed with some extraordinary love; and if the +object is not at hand, it seeks for it as one athirst seeks the fountain +of crystalline water. Maria had sought hard for it and found it,--a love +pure and immortal, sublime and marvellous; love for a God who crushes +the stars to powder and enters the enamored soul like a gentle lamb. +This love, which took more and more violent possession of her soul, was +not only manifested in almost incomprehensible deeds of humility and +mortification, but also escaped continually from her lips in passionate +phrases, which winged themselves away like timid birdlings to take +refuge in the sacred heart of Jesus. At first she had prayed with +respectful worship, with soul and body prostrate, terrified rather than +melted, like one who makes a declaration of love; but according as she +understood, by a thousand manifest signs, that Jesus replied to her +passionate affection and returned it with increase, she found greater +freedom and eloquence in her words and a more enduring felicity in her +whole being. + +The happiest moments of her life were those which she consecrated to +prayer, which in her case was a sweet colloquy of two lovers, +incomprehensible for those who have never fathomed the secret depths of +the divine love or tasted the delights of the mystical union. By dint of +holding converse with God, of communicating to Him her most occult +thoughts and feelings, of confessing with tears each day the most +trivial spots on her conscience, she succeeded in bringing about with +the Almighty a sacred familiarity, full of joy and consolation. At the +twilight hour, after she had ceased from the pious tasks which kept her +busy all the day, she was in the habit of retiring to her room to enjoy +at her ease the sweet delights which Jesus granted to her fervent +prayers as a recompense for the labors and humiliations of the day. + +One calm, quiet evening, toward the end of winter, Maria found herself +in her room, prostrate in prayer, before the image of Jesus. All the +blinds were open to let in the slowly fading light. From the one that +looked inland could be seen the wide stretch of level meadows, and the +gentle hills on the horizon bathed in a purple vapor, which grew thicker +and thicker till it changed to mist. From the one facing the river could +be seen its tranquil surface, motionless as though all that sheet of +water had been suddenly changed to stone; near El Moral were four or +five low sand-hills called appropriately Los Arenales, which, struck by +the last rays of the setting sun, gleamed like mighty topazes. Not the +slightest sound disturbed the silence of the boudoir, which at that +moment, by reason of its gloom and loneliness, was like a great +confessional. + +For a long hour the young woman had been communing with the Beloved of +her heart, and no earthly thought had made its way into her enraptured +spirit. Never had she felt herself so abstracted and lifted above the +flesh, above mundane interests. All the life of her body had gone to her +heart, which beat with unwonted violence. She kept her eyes closed. +After she had repeated all the prayers that she could remember, some of +them composed purposely for her, she allowed her lips to rest, and +abandoned herself to a delicious meditation in which her imagination +wandered away as if in a boundless field enamelled with flowers. Both +her confessor and her books of devotion counselled her to think often on +the bloody passion and death of the Redeemer, and so she had done until +she was filled with grief and burdened with tears. In her mind she saw +that agonized, grief-stricken face of Jesus nailed upon the cross, those +dying eyes lifted, wherein still burned the eternal love and compassion +of a God. When she saw him going toward Calvary, laden with the heavy +cross and stumbling, once, again, and yet again, overcome by fatigue, +not finding in the bloodthirsty faces of those who surrounded him one +look of sympathy, she felt her throat contract and her breast choke with +sobs. She had been present at all the agonies of Christ, one after the +other, from the memorable night in the garden until the moment when he +closed his eyes forever between the two thieves, the victim of the +perfidy of men. The sublime words of pardon which he uttered as he died +rang in her ears like a promise of heaven and a hope of seeing him once +more, haloed with glory, in the other life. + +But at this moment her thought shunned the death scenes. Around her +floated smiling, glorious forms, which filled her with a delicious joy +such as she had but few times experienced before, accompanied by an +unspeakable physical comfort. It seemed to her that she felt a most +delicious sensation of warmth radiating from her heart even to her hands +and feet, as though she were plunged in a bath of warm milk. At the same +time soft fragrant hands held her eyelids closed, while a gentle breeze +cooled her brow. The boudoir in the tower was filled with vague, subtle +sounds, which her imagination transformed into mysterious harmonies. She +was so beside herself that she could not tell whether she was in reality +awake, although she had possession of all her faculties. Little by +little she began to lose her power of volition; she tried to open her +eyes and could not; she tried to separate her hands, which she kept +folded, and she had no better success. A superior power held her in its +sway, but so gently that for nothing in the world would she have broken +those bands; it was a celestial swooning of her whole being, which +carried her away into ecstasies such as she had never known before. +Tears streamed down over her face like an exquisite ichor, bathing her +lips with sweetness, and flowing from her lips into the very centre of +her being, filling her heart as with a most gentle unction, as with a +mighty perfume. This ichor intoxicated her and strengthened her at once, +and she did not weary of drinking it. Its salubrious strength penetrated +her emaciated body, bestowing on it an incomprehensible force. She +entered into a life full and divine, where no pains existed; into an +ecstatic lethargy full of soft delight, from which were born a throng of +vague longings, like flowers opening for an instant and shedding perfume +from their calyxes. The longings of her soul likewise spread and were +quenched in the immense joy which took hold of her. + +While her body was sleeping in this sweet hallucination of the senses, +her mind was attent with a marvellous activity. Her memory was bathed in +brilliancy, and her imagination, in precipitate flight, darted out into +the universe. Instead of meditating on the death of the Lord, she +thought with deep delight about his adorable life, and, completely +enchanted, she reviewed all its occurrences, representing them with as +much accuracy as though she had really been present at the time. First, +she beheld Jesus at his birth in the grotto near Bethlehem, embracing +with his sweet arms the Virgin's neck, and smiling at the shepherds and +the Magi, who from far-distant countries came to adore him. She beheld +him secretly transported to Egypt, crossing the deserts of Arabia, +sleeping on his mother's lap under some tree or in the depths of some +cavern. Then she found him in the porticos of the Temple of Jerusalem, +seated in the midst of the doctors, though he was only twelve years of +age, with his long golden hair curling in ringlets over his shoulders, +and his white tunic falling in graceful folds till it hid his feet, +astonishing them all by his more than human beauty as well as by the +profound wisdom of his words. She contemplated him in his modest +dwelling in Nazareth in the peace of an obscure and contemplative life, +nourishing his divine spirit with the sublime truths which the Eternal +Father vouchsafed him during his frequent solitary walks. Then she was +present at his first ministrations through Galilee, and at the first +miracle, with which he manifested his infinite power at the wedding of +Cana. She accompanied him to Capernaum when, as he stood in a +fishing-boat gently rocking on the waves, he addressed to the multitude +gathered on the shore his discourse, clearer than the sun which shone +upon them, sweeter than the evening breeze. She returned with him to +Nazareth, where his stubborn, ungrateful countrymen were unmoved by his +gentleness and power of speech and rejected him. She went to Bethany, +where her name-saint Mary Magdalene and Martha her sister had the +blessedness of giving him hospitality, and the former of sitting long at +his feet and listening to his words. She saw him everywhere serene and +beautiful, as he is represented by tradition, with his blue eyes of +wonderful sweetness, his skin rosy and transparent, his beard pointed, +and his golden hair parted in the middle and falling in waves on his +shoulders. The numerous pictures which she had seen, not only of his +divine person, but of the country where his ministrations had taken +place, united to her powerful imagination, carried her back to the time +of the Redeemer's life more vividly than one could conceive. But where +her imagination most revelled was in seeing his entrance into Jerusalem +followed by a multitude carried away by enthusiasm, amid hosannas and +shouts of welcome; then his beautiful face, which almost disappeared +amid the foliage of the palm-branches, assumed an expression of +divinity, his eyes so gentle flashed with the effulgence of omnipotence, +and he spread out his hands toward the city, granting it pardon in +advance for its barbarous deicide. Oh, how her soul delighted in this +fine, poetic scene where Jesus was given on earth a little of the +adoration which was his due! If she had been in those happy places, she +would have taken part in the cortege of the King of kings, and raised +her voice in acclamation. The union in him of power and humility, of +force and gentleness, filled her with enthusiasm and admiration. + +She knew, however, that Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem was +repeated daily in a mystic sense; that the divine Lord takes more +pleasure in entering into the soul of his elect than into the ungrateful +daughter of Zion; that love was efficacious against the absolute master +of all things, and took pleasure in receiving whoever professed his +name. But for this it was necessary to love him much, to love him in +such a manner as to prefer pain and torment coming from his hand to the +most exquisite delight of earth, to love him even to fainting and dying +in his presence and falling prone at his feet under the majesty of his +gaze; it was necessary to spend long hours watching for him in the +depths of the sky, in the calm of the eventide, in the beauty of +flowers, of birds, and of all creatures, at the bedside of the sick and +dying, in the midst of sorrows and penances; it was necessary to let the +hours pass in ecstatic prayer, feeling the tears stealing down, and the +cheeks on fire; it was necessary to be obedient to all men, the humble +servant of all men, to turn the mind from accepting all favors, even +from one's parents, and to despise one's self, to be the beloved of +Jesus. Thus, thus she loved him! How many hours of the day and night she +had spent thinking of him! How many tears she had shed for his sake! How +many times in the silence of the night had her soul gone forth, fired +with sickness of love, like the bride of the mystic Song of Solomon, in +search for the Lord and Master of her heart! And when she had, in this +manner, sought for him, kindled with amorous yearning, she never failed +to find him. On one occasion, having spent the whole day ministering to +the sick in the hospital, she had felt at the hour of retiring such keen +delight in her soul and body that she almost fell in a swoon. When she +humbled herself before any one, she felt an exquisite delight; in +crucifying her flesh with sharp cruelties she had felt more pleasure +than the world with its harassing joys had ever given. In this way Jesus +began to return a thousand-fold the love which she professed for him, +transforming in her case into comfort what to others was pain and +penance. + +This last consideration pierced so sharply into her spirit that it +caused her to indulge in an infinitude of thanksgivings and blessings, +which remained locked in her heart without issuing from her lips. Her +lips were silent, motionless as those of the sphynx; for she did not +dare to reproduce by the medium of sounds the ineffable thoughts that +passed through her mind. She heard within herself a thousand sweet +voices speaking to her, but she could not understand what they said; she +felt as though she were lifted up by gentle arms which ceaselessly +lavished caresses upon her, and she was conscious, though not by visual +proof, of the presence of a supernatural being, consoling her with its +power. Then she became suddenly convinced that the Lord loved her; she +saw clearly with the eyes of the Spirit that the Bridegroom listened to +the voice of the bride, and had no deeper desire than to take her to +himself, to pour out upon her all riches and joys forevermore. Even now +he was near at hand; she felt him at her side, and she was melted with +desire to look upon him; but he showed himself not; he refused to yield +to her warm, affectionate entreaties. As one who shows a dainty to a +child and then hides it, and again brings it forth and once more hides +it in order to stir his appetite, so the heavenly Bridegroom kept her in +suspense and ravishment, kindling more and more her desire. The +impassioned stanza of San Juan de la Cruz came into her mind:-- + + _"Ay! who else has power to mend me!_ + _Prithee deign to make my humble heart thy dwelling;_ + _I beseech thee now to send me_ + _Faithful angels not incapable of telling_ + _Truly all the longing in me welling!"_[38] + +And a thousand times she repeated it mentally, with a sublime +solicitude, in which it seemed as though her soul were going to burst +forth through her lips. But her lips remained speechless; she wished to +cry out, to break into praises of Jesus, to give vent to the passionate +impulses of her breast, and it was impossible. She felt a strange +oppression, torturing her with celestial death, which she would not +exchange for a hundred lives. + +A keen, eager, resistless desire suddenly took possession of her heart. +Jesus, the King of souls, had granted to more than one favors which +were terrible by their very grandeur and incomprehensibility. He had +appeared to Saint Isabel after her prodigious deeds of charity and +penance, and had said, "Isabel, if thou art willing to be mine, I also +am willing to be thine and will never leave thee." Frequently he had +come to Saint Catalina of Siena in her convent cell, had conversed with +her, had walked with and many times had helped her offer up her prayers. +He had taken Saint Teresa in his arms so that she could not move, and +had lavished caresses and kisses upon her. If she might only win such +regalement! Scarcely had this overweening thought been born in her mind +before she was filled with fear, and felt such shame that she would +gladly have had the earth open and swallow her up. "Oh, no, my God! Who +am I to receive such a favor, granted only to the martyrs of charity and +the seraphic virgins who shine in heaven like bright stars. Pardon me, +Jesus mine, pardon me!" + +But her audacious thought would not depart from her mind; it kept +following her in spite of her strongest efforts to shake it off. She was +unworthy of such glory, she knew well, but her yearning was the child of +the love with which the divine Jesus had filled her heart to +overflowing; thus not she but Jesus himself was the author of this +desire. If he had not kindled in her his celestial love, and had not +begun to pour out upon her favors as sweet as they were undeserved, such +an absurd idea would never have entered her head. No; she asked not so +great a grace, so great a consolation; it was enough for her that Jesus +was willing to give himself to her, that she had a few particles of his +immortal love. She should consider herself the most blessed among the +virgin daughters of heaven, if at the end of long years of prayer and +penance, of bitterness and tribulations, Jesus should allow her once +only to touch her lips to his divine face. "O Jesus mine, is it sinful +to ask this? Could such a base worm as I ever deserve a joy so +infinite?" + +She opened her eyes. Jesus, with his golden aureole shining amid the +shadows, as it reflected the last melancholy light that came through the +window, lifted his hands towards her, at the same time fastening upon +her a profound, sweet gaze. Through her veins ran a sensation of chill, +as though she were near to death; but instantly this was supplanted by +another of such intense heat that it made the sweat start from all the +pores of her body. She comprehended vaguely that an adorable mystery was +taking place in her presence, and a holy fear seized her. The boudoir +was wrapt in shadow: the windows seemed like great, colorless eyes +gazing through the walls. A sweet, languid delectation took possession +of her whole being, and overwhelmed her with bliss. Her fear vanished. +She was filled with the certainty that she was loved by Jesus, that she +was the bride-elect of a God. Tenderness, worship, joy, welled up in her +bosom, and she could not take her eyes from the eyes of the Lord, +drinking from them the mysterious, ineffable delight of glory. + +Once more the desire came back to her mind. This time she promulgated it +with words, the warm breath of which stole through her hands crossed +before her face. + +"Jesus mine, wouldst thou permit thy servant to touch her lips to thy +divine person?" + +Jesus bent forward still more graciously. Maria felt her hair stand on +end, and her heart wanted to leap from her breast. His voice like music +penetrated into the soul of the young girl, who believed that she was +dead and translated to heaven. + +Jesus had said,-- + +_"Arise, my beloved, my fair one, and come."_ + +"Lord, I am not worthy!" exclaimed Maria, with a cry at once of anguish +and of joy. + +Again Jesus said,-- + +_"Thou art all beautiful, my beloved; there is no blemish in thee."_ + +"My Jesus, thee I love above all things!" + +_"My dove, show me thy face, let thy voice sound in mine ears, for thy +voice is sweet, and thy face is beautiful,"_ replied Jesus, bending +still nearer. + +Then the girl, carried away by glory and enthusiasm, threw her arms +about the knees of the Lord, and flooded them with her tears, saying, +between her sobs, like the bride in the sacred book,-- + + "My soul melted within me when my beloved spake." + +And little by little, her arms clinging to the body of Jesus, stole +slowly, slowly upwards, till they were fastened around his neck. Her +breath failed her, and she felt her memory, her imagination, and all her +powers give way, fading into an immense, eager bliss, in which her whole +being was plunged as in the purest ether. Her face drew near the Lord's. +She touched with her cheeks the cheeks of the Bridegroom; she put her +lips to the whiteness of his brow, to the effulgence of his eyes, to the +coral of his lips. + +And in the chief room of the tower, silent, buried in darkness, was long +heard the sound of sobs and subdued kisses. At last, a human body, the +body of the Senorita de Elorza, senseless, fell heavily at full length +upon the floor. Genoveva, when she came in with a light, found her there +still in the swoon, with eyes open and fixed, reflecting in her face a +celestial joy. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AS YOU LIKE IT. + + +The spring came. The northeast winds, like a gigantic besom swung by the +hand of some god with a passion for cleanliness, constantly swept away +the dust and ashes of the firmament. The sailors who put out at daybreak +after fish, as they set foot on the quay often saw above the distant +houses of El Moral a wide strip of azure sky, which went on slowly +spreading to the four points of the compass, leaving a few tenuous +shreds of violet cloud like great eyebrows overhanging the horizon. The +vast sheet of the river now gave forth lovely blue sparkles in place of +the melancholy, metallic reflections of the winter; and the wooden hulks +called _barcos_ by a misnomer, pitched in the dock like colts impatient +to be off. But in the afternoon winter still clung to its rights; now +spreading over town and river a thick mantle of fog which quickly +changed into storm; now furiously driving across the sky colossal black +clouds which discharged their freight as they flew inland. Some days, +however, at sunset a breath of genial air came from the land, and +brought the delightful tidings to the peaceful inhabitants of Nieva that +the most lovely and coquettish of the seasons was present in that +jurisdiction; and this breath of air laden with perfumes, reaching by +the medium of the nostrils to the brains of those inhabitants who were +most inclined to poesy and sweet expansions of the heart, manifested +itself as the avowed enemy of tranquillity in feminine minds, and as +the infamous disturber of peace in families. The town slept placidly +like a sultana, receiving the adulatory caresses of this breeze. +Nevertheless, the calm underneath the roofs was more apparent than real; +a large part of the inhabitants slept the sleep of the righteous as +before, but another no less numerous and estimable, without knowing any +reason for it, awoke more than once in the course of the night, and +occasionally spent an hour unsuccessfully wooing sleep by lighting the +lamp, and reading the articles in _The Times_.[39] They drank great +goblets of water; they dreamed fifty thousand absurd dreams, which, when +they remembered them in the morning, made the worthy natives smile, and +more than one, and more than two, caught colds on their lungs by getting +uncovered at night. In the two apothecary shops of the town a prodigious +quantity of pearl barley was disposed of; some banished wine from the +table to the astonishment of their wives; and the behavior of young men +toward the girls became extremely dulcified. The Market Street[40] +bookseller sent to Madrid for a quantity of novels by Paul de Kock and +Adolphe Belot on commission for his customers, and the professor of the +piano made a similar demand on the music publishers, for various +sentimental romanzas with erotic titles, such as _Vorrei morir_, _Tutto +per te_, _Non posso vivere_, and others of like quality, at the request +of his pupils. The swallows began to take possession of the corridors, +and after making love for a few days, chasing each other through the air +with obstreperous chirpings and then retiring couple by couple to the +most remote corners of the gardens, without any thought of Mrs. Grundy +or of due formality; they celebrated their nuptials with the same +freedom, without consulting the desires of papas or asking for a special +dispensation, or by publishing the banns through the office of the +parochial priest, or by ordering a trousseau from Paris, or by receiving +a miserable coffee service from relatives, or sending cards to friends +and acquaintances, announcing their indissoluble union; or even by +having a notice inserted in the _Correspondencia de Espana_, saying: +"Yesterday, before a numerous and select assemblage, in which were +included the most illustrious members of the nobility and the world of +politics and literature, were celebrated in the house of the bride the +long announced nuptials of the most beautiful and distinguished dame +swallow, Lady Such an One, to the wealthy sir swallow, Lord Somebody or +Other.[41] After enjoying a splendid collation, the newly married couple +departed to their noble domain of Robledales in Aragon." And whoever +speaks of the swallows may clearly say the same thing of the whole +throng of birds which had encamped both in the gardens of Nieva and in +the immense pine groves which lined the banks of its river. + +To be reckoned among the people most manifestly influenced by this +spring breeze (leaving aside, of course, the Senorita de Delgado, with +whom no one would dare to maintain any rivalry in the matter of +sensations, sentiments, emotions, and all that refers to the life of the +heart), was our acquaintance, Manolito Lopez. His worthy family noticed +with grateful surprise, not only that the lad's character was manifestly +softening, but likewise that the habits of orderliness and an +inclination toward sedateness had sprung up, and were growing in him +with unusual rapidity. This praiseworthy inclination was manifested in +everything that pertained to the adornment of his person, but most +particularly to that of his feet; a box of superior blacking every +fortnight was not sufficient for the demands of his shoes, and he spent +a large part of the morning and of his physical powers in making them +shine like a looking-glass, and even thus he was not content: Manolito +would not have been satisfied if anything less than the brilliancy of a +Brazilian diamond, of all the jewels of the royal crowns of Europe, of +the seas and the stars had been put into them. After giving the last +finishing touch to his hair, Manolito always sallied forth in the +amiable company of his glistening boots to promenade in front of the +house of Elorza, and up the street and down the street he went all the +time allowed him by his occupations, and also a good part of the time +when he had no business to be there. The balconies of the house, as a +rule, remained hermetically sealed; but Manolito, judging by the +graceful gait which he affected as he passed, must have suspected that a +pair of steady, love-stricken eyes were always observing him through the +cracks. Once in a while the balconies were thrown open, giving a glimpse +of Carmen, of Genoveva, of Adela, or some other servant, who looked at +him without sufficient respect considering our young lad's age (fifteen +years and three months) and his character. Very, very rarely likewise +appeared Marta's pretty head. She looked out for an instant with an +expression of indifference which, be it said for the sake of the truth, +did not change into one of affection and tenderness at sight of +Manolito, but certainly remained exactly as calm and serene as though +our youth had no more personality than a column of the arcade, or the +clock on the town-house, or the sign of the Cafe de la Estrella, or any +other of the inanimate objects whereon the girl's eyes rested. +Manolito, for a few moments, felt as much disturbed as one who, sailing +through the Arctic Ocean, should suddenly see an enormous iceberg coming +down upon him; but soon he recovered his spirits, saying, for the +encouragement of his heart, "What a sly one she is!" And though the +balconies were immediately shut with a scornful screak, and remained +closed all the day, yet Manolito did not cease to promenade back and +promenade forth, fortified always in his conviction that through the +interstices of the curtains a pair of ecstatic, love-softened eyes were +launching at him a thousand passionate darts. + +But where the spring held a more absolute and even despotic sway (always +excepting, of course, the Senorita de Delgado's poetical soul) was the +Elorza garden. There, without consulting in the slightest degree the +will of the flexible mimosas or of the round acacias or of the dignified +catalpas or of any other tree or shrub, flower or plant, however +respectable, she began to clothe them all in green, carefully +variegating their garments, making this one deep and dark, that one +bright and dazzling, and the other pale and yellow, playing with them a +sort of gay, original masquerade delightful for those to see who still +persist in feeling affection for the works of nature. Above this +habiliment there shone like decorations of honor many flowers, yellow, +white, blue, or pink, quick to fill the ambient air with the sweet +perfumes stored up in their hearts. The garden was unusually extensive, +stretching out from the plaza where Don Mariano's mansion was built to +the quay on one side, and on the other to the farthest houses of the +town. And whether because it was not very easy to take the most perfect +care of such a large piece of ground, or because Don Mariano as a man +of taste did not wish to impose upon Nature his own law, by establishing +in her demesne a tyrannical system of geometrical crosses and lines, at +any rate it offered all the lawless vigor, the exuberance, and the +spontaneity, which it is not customary to find any longer except in +provincial gardens managed according to a broad and tolerant Spanish +fashion. The paths, though originally laid out in straight lines +according to the style in vogue at the time when they were first +designed, were now fluctuating, thanks to the growing up or +disappearance of quince-tree, boxwood, or rose hedges. The trees in many +places enclosed these paths with a thicket, giving them an air of long +mystery, which, according to amateurs, is the greatest charm of gardens, +and I appeal to the testimony of all ardent and elevated souls, +particularly to the Senorita de Delgado. Back of the trees, through the +hedges, could be seen a stone faun or satyr, discolored by great green +spots on the muscular shoulders, spurting water from mouth and nostrils; +in this agreeable occupation its whole life had been spent. Flowers in +the Elorza garden did not possess those inordinate privileges which they +are wont to obtain in flashy parks of modern times, but a number of +succulent vegetables had established themselves on a footing of equality +with them. At the side of a group or clump of dahlias grew an +asparagus-bed, and within sight of a splendid bunch of canna indica and +calladium flourished a thicket of artichokes and a bed of Alsatian +cabbages. And why not? However indisputable the superiority of flowers +may be, we must not deny to vegetables aesthetic qualities worthy of the +consideration and respect of French gardeners, who at the present time +have declared a merciless war upon them. Perhaps they consider that if +vegetables are banished from parks, they bury prose forever and have +poetry only left, according to the example of those ancient novelists +who did not dare to show their heroes and heroines in the act of eating +for fear of soiling or tarnishing them. In one of the angles there was a +great storehouse where were piled old furniture from the house, a number +of broken-down carriages, the gardening utensils, and other things. The +whole garden was surrounded by a wall of considerable thickness and +elevation, over which climbed ivy and honeysuckle cautiously letting +their leaves peer over the top, like two rogues coming in to rob fruit +and get away before they should be discovered by the gardener. Over one +of the faces of the wall arose the masts of the vessels at the quay, +which with their multitudinous cordage enlacing and crossing in every +direction, looked from a distance like monstrous spiders. A great gate +barred with iron led from the garden to the quay. + +The younger daughter of the proprietor of this garden found herself in +it one morning culling flowers with a pair of shears suspended from her +belt, and afterwards placing them very daintily in a small osier basket. +She went about taking them now from this side and now from that, seeming +at times to ponder before some, leaving them untouched to go straightway +to others, and then coming back to them, thus endlessly meandering in +every direction with hesitating step. She was so immersed in the depths +of some combination for her bouquet that she allowed herself to be +pitilessly burned by the sun, more splendid in his anger and pride than +was his wont. Since we last saw her, a slight change not easy to define +had taken place in her figure. She had just finished her fourteenth +year. Her physical development, always exuberant and vigorous, had taken +a sudden start during the last three months, not causing her to grow at +once tall and thin, as is apt to be the case with girls at this age, but +bringing her beauty to a more ideal perfection. Marta was destined to be +rather stout: nature had been giving the last touches to her figure, +strengthening the line of her hips, rounding her arms, filling out her +virginal bosom, and perfecting the oval of her face, without being +willing, on any consideration, to grant her three inches more of +stature, though she really needed them. On this account an Andalusian +cavalry lieutenant, while saying something in her praise and dispraise +in a game of forfeits, recently declared, "You are very charming, but +your roundness is alarming."[42] And this had given occasion for the +friends of the house to call her in fun _la redondita_ (the round), and +to plague her continually with the Andalusian rhyme. The expression of +her face was as placid, grave, and as gentle as before. Nevertheless, +her great black eyes, calm and liquid, which, as we have said, used to +present a certain strange immobility, such as is seen in those suffering +from gutta serena, acquired a movement so gentle and sweet that one of +the De Ciudad girls, the very one who had pointed her out to the +engineer Suarez, could not help exclaiming the other night,-- + +"Don't you see how sweet Martita is looking!" + +"Certainly," replied the engineer, "that girl seems to caress you with +her eyes when she looks." + +At the same time they inclined to grow liquid, which still more +increased their brilliancy and gentleness. At this particular moment she +wore a dark violet dress, extremely snug and well fitted to her body, +and, although at her earnest request it had been made a little longer +than before, still, as she stooped over to cut the flowers, it allowed +more than a glimpse to be seen of a pair of beautiful, well rounded +ankles, comparable with the arms which Ricardo had admired. + +After she had cut as many flowers as she wanted, she sat on a stone +bench in the shade, and placing the basket by her side and taking out a +ball of thread, proceeded, with great calmness, to make a nosegay. First +she took a magnificent white tea-rose, and pulled off all its thorns, +tying around it instead some leaves of althea. As she reached this stage +in her operation, Ricardo made his appearance. Marta raised her head, +hearing his steps, and quickly dropped it again, continuing her work. + +"I have been hunting for you, Martita." + +"What for?" + +"Nothing ... only to see you.... Is that a little thing?" + +"If that's all, it seems to me a very little thing; yes!" + +"Perhaps you don't want me to see you?" + +"I didn't say so ... but as it hasn't been twenty-four hours since you +got home...." + +"Well, at any rate I wanted to see you." + +Marta said nothing, and kept on with her task, placing around the rose +and in the althea three pansies. Ricardo also had changed a little since +the last time that we saw him. His face had grown somewhat thinner, and +in place of its ordinary expression of contentment had come another as +of fatigue sometimes approximating to gloom and bitterness. +Unquestionably he had not been very happy during the last months, and we +know very well that he had no good reason for being. The perpetual +struggle which he had to sustain with Maria's scruples, and the sincere +or simulated coldness which he saw in her, caused a steady, dull +discomfort which embittered his existence. The brief moments when he +succeeded in talking with his beloved, instead of being brightened by +the sweet expressions of love, were generally spent in bickerings and +recriminations, or at least in long exhortations on one side and the +other,--Ricardo trying to prove to Maria that her pious practices were +an exaggeration incompatible with human nature; Maria urging Ricardo to +abandon the frivolities of the world and enter upon the road of virtue, +which is that of salvation. + +After he had silently watched Marta's work a moment, he asked her,-- + +"Whom is that bouquet for?" + +"For Maria, who wants to begin her flowers for the Virgin this evening. +She asked me to make two, and I keep one in the house." + +A flash of joy passed through the young man's eyes at the mention of his +sweetheart's name, and he began to take an interest in the formation of +the nosegay. Marta noticed particularly her future brother's joy and +interest. Between the three pansies she placed three pinks,--one red, +one rose-colored, and the other white. Then she took a number of leaves +of sweet marjoram and rose, and tied up with them the growing bouquet; +thereupon she placed all around it a row of marguerites, alternating the +colors,--purple, white, blue, and mottled. + +"Now, you ought to put in some pinks," added Ricardo, with the boldness +of ignorance. + +"Hush, Ricardo, you don't know what you are talking about.... Now you +want a filling of sweet marjoram and althea, so that the marguerites may +have a background.... Flowers must be loose and not touch each other, so +that each may preserve its form in the bunch.... Do you see?... Now a +row of roses can be added without fear of crushing the marguerites ... +a white one, then a red one ... a white one ... another red one ... +there! that'll do!" + +The thread unrolled between her fingers, gently binding the flowers +together; the nosegay went on assuming a pyramidal form very well +proportioned. Ricardo, looking into the basket, saw some extremely +bright-colored geraniums, and cried out,-- + +"Oh, how lovely those geraniums are!... Such a bright color ought to +become you, Martita; put one in your hair." + +The girl, without more ado, took the one that he offered her, and stuck +it in her dark locks above her ear. This combination of red and black, +which is vulgar, as all girls know, appeared more harmonious than +ordinarily, through the exceptional intensity not only of the black, but +of the red. The geranium, on being translated to that position, seemed +to have fulfilled its destiny on earth, or to have realized its essence, +as my friend Homobono Pereda, shining with more beauty and satisfaction +than ever, would say. Ricardo contemplated Marta's head with genuine +admiration, while an innocent smile of triumph hovered over her lips and +in her eyes. + +Around the roses she placed, instead of the green setting of sweet +marjoram and althea, another of white and blue violets, and next a row +of geraniums of all colors, combining them exquisitely. The bouquet was +finished. To add a crowning grace she put in a few handfuls of thyme, +arranging them in such a way that they might serve as a support. The +flowers, all artistically combined, appeared loose, each one showing its +own individuality, or, as my friend Homobono would add, perfectly united +in the whole. + +Marta lifted the nosegay up, saying, with childish delight,-- + +"Isn't that fine!... isn't that fine! + +"Admirable!... admirable!" cried Ricardo, and in the height of his +enthusiasm he took the nosegay, waved it several times, and then laying +it down in the basket, seized the girl's hand and lifted it to his lips. + +Marta grew as scarlet as the geranium that she wore in her hair, and +snatched her hand away. Ricardo looked at her with a mischievous smile, +and said:-- + +"What's does this mean, senorita, what does this mean? You are ashamed +to have any one kiss your hand, when it isn't four months since we all +kissed you on the cheek? That won't do ... that won't do at all...." + +And forcibly seizing her two hands he began to shower kisses on them +without stopping, until he thought he felt something strange on his +head, and lifted it. Marta was in tears. The young man's surprise was so +great that he dropped her hands without saying a word. The girl hid her +face in them, and began to sob with keen pain. + +"Martita, what is it? What is the matter with you?" he asked, thoroughly +terrified, stooping down to look into her face. + +"Nothing! nothing!... Leave me...." + +"But what are you crying about?... Have I hurt you? Have I offended +you?" + +"No, no!... Leave me, Ricardo ... leave me, for Heaven's sake!" + +And jumping from the bench, she started to run toward the house, wiping +her eyes. Ricardo grew more and more surprised, as he saw her +disappearing, and he stayed some time at the bench, trying in vain to +explain the girl's behavior. Then he got up, and began to promenade in +the garden. In a short time he had entirely forgotten Marta's tears; +more painful memories came to disturb his mind and absorb his +attention. An hour, at least, he spent in walking up and down the park, +thinking about them, until at last, as he passed in front of the bench +where he had been sitting with the girl, he noticed that her bouquet +still remained in the basket, as she had left it, and thinking that it +was not good for it to be there, he started with it to the house. He +asked the first servant whom he met where the senorita was to be found. + +"I think she is in the senora's room." + +He turned his steps thither. At Dona Gertrudis's room he met Marta, who +was doubtless bound on some errand for her mother. The girl, who still +wore the red geranium in her hair, as soon as she saw him, gave him a +sweet smile, and showed signs of being somewhat confused. + +"Are you still vexed, Martita?" asked Ricardo, in a whisper. + +"I wasn't vexed at all, Ricardo." + +"But those tears?" + +"I myself don't know what made me.... I have not been quite well for a +few days, ... and I cry without any reason." + +"Then I am relieved in my heart, preciosa. You can't imagine how I felt +at having caused you any pain!" + +"Bah!" + +"And how violently you wept! I believed that something really serious +had occurred.... Has anything happened to grieve you to-day?" + +"No, no; nothing at all.... I shall be right back. Good by." + +The Marquis of Penalta went into Dona Gertrudis's room, where at that +time Don Mariano and Don Maximo were conversing together, neither of +them showing in their faces any of the painful anguish, the pallor, and +the fear of those who are witnessing the last agony of the dying; and +this irritated Dona Gertrudis to such a degree that she would almost +have taken delight in dying at that moment, for the sake of giving them +a scare. She was reclining, as usual, in her easy-chair, her feet and +legs wrapt up in a magnificent mountain goat-skin, casting looks of +bitter desolation, now at the ceiling, and now at a cup of milk which +she held in her hand. From time to time she carried it to her lips, and +swallowed a portion of its contents, thereupon lifting her eyes, and +exclaiming inwardly, "My God, may this cup pass from me!" Again and +again she looked at her persecutors with ineffable serenity, saying, in +a touching manner, that if God forgave their cruelty, she, for her part, +did not find it hard to grant them a full and generous pardon, though +she greatly doubted whether the Supreme Creator would grant it. + +Ricardo sat down near the persecutors, without any ceremony, for that +very morning he had had the opportunity of spending a good hour over +Dona Gertrudis's nerves. She, considering that whoever has to do with +sinners is prone to fall into sin, included him in advance in the +universal and liberal amnesty which she had declared in favor of those +who offended her. + +"I would never permit either traitorous periodicals, like _El +Tradicion_, or magistrates who would not obey the government punctually +and unconditionally, Don Maximo." + +"I agree with you up to a certain point; yet we find ourselves in a time +of conflict, and it is necessary to proceed by exceptional measures. But +you will not deny that, in a normal state of things, liberty--" + +"Liberty and not license!... Liberty to work ... that's the only kind +that we need. Roads, bridges, factories, land improvements, railways, +and ports, that is all that our unfortunate nation asks for.... The +liberty that you progressists are ambitious to get is liberty to starve +to death.... When I consider that, if it had not been for _la gloriosa_, +our railway would have been at point of completion, such desperation +seizes me that--" + +"This is only a passing conclusion, Don Maximo.... You will see how very +soon the rainbow of peace will shine!" + +"Yes, yes ... it is certainly raining now.... Have you read the leading +article in _La Tradicion_? [_La Tradicion_ was a Carlist journal, +published in Nieva every Thursday.] Then, when you read it, you will see +what rainbows the partisans of the Church and the throne are getting +ready for us...." + +"Is it very strong?" + +"It's a trifling thing!... It says that all good Catholics ought to take +arms to exterminate the horde of the impious and ruffianly who govern us +to-day...." + +At this moment Marta entered the room. As she passed in front of +Ricardo, he took her by the hand, and obliged her to sit on his knees, +giving her a speechless look of tenderness with his eyes, without losing +any of the conversation. The girl sat down without resistance, and +likewise listened in silence. + +"But does it really say that?" asked Don Maximo. + +"It certainly does.... Read it for yourself, and you will be edified.... +In my opinion the Carlists are meditating and even plotting some _coup +de main_. The general commander is taking too little care of this +region, and is carrying off all the forces to drive the guerillas from +the highlands.... The factory always requires a strong garrison for +what might happen.... It is a prize coveted by them." + +"I don't believe that they would ever dare to make any attempt in that +direction. And except that the senor marques says...." + +Ricardo did not catch Don Maximo's last words, for, with an affectionate +smile, he was saluting Maria, who at that moment came in. After she had +sat down near Dona Gertrudis, and exchanged a look or two with him, he +remembered the remark that had been directed to him. + +"What did you say Don Maximo?" + +"That I don't believe the Carlists have any intentions against the +factory.... It would be a ridiculous undertaking." + +"Oh, no indeed! Not so ridiculous as you imagine, Don Maximo.... This +very day, with the small garrison which we have there, it would not be +impossible or very difficult to take it by surprise.... How many times I +have thought, when on guard at night, that thirty decided men might get +the better of me! If they succeeded in procuring a foothold inside, the +thirty would be settled, you may believe...." + +"Do you hear what he says, you stubborn man? do you hear him? Now you +shall see how we must look out for our powder magazine, now that +thunderbolts and meteors are falling. But listen to one thing, Ricardo, +why don't you utilize for the defence of the factory the last advances +made in electric lighting?" + +"How?" + +"I should suggest that if a number of electric lamps were put in +different parts of it, which the officer on guard could set going by +simply pressing a button, all danger of a surprise could easily be +avoided; and if at the same time a goodly number of heavy bells were +set up, likewise worked by electricity, which would give an instant +alarm in the city and wake the workmen, who for the most part live +near.... Martita! what's the matter?" he exclaimed, suddenly breaking +off the thread of his discourse. + +All hastened to her assistance. The girl, who was still seated on +Ricardo's knees, had grown pale without any one noticing it. When Don +Mariano casually glanced at her, she was white as a sheet of paper. + +"What is it, my daughter?" + +"What is the matter, Martita?" + +"I don't feel quite well. Give me a glass of water." Maria ran to get it +for her. Don Maximo felt of her pulse and said,-- + +"It's only a little giddiness, which water will cure." + +In point of fact, as soon as she drank the water, and had sat down on +the sofa, she began to feel better, and in a few moments was perfectly +well. The conversation went on. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +EXCURSION TO EL MORAL AND THE ISLAND. + + +For a fortnight at least there had been talk of an excursion to El Moral +and the island. During the spring the young ladies[43] who went to the +parties at the house of the Elorzas had been anxious to form a capital +with the products of the tax and lottery to defray the expenses. Don +Mariano allowed them to do so, smiling roguishly every time that he was +told the state of the funds; but when the time came which was fixed for +the excursion, in presence of the whole tertulia, he took the handful of +silver from the little box in which it was kept and handed it to the +parish priest of Nieva to divide among the parishioners who most needed +it. + +"Why!" exclaimed the noble caballero at the same time, "is it not a +hundred-fold better to spend this money in alleviating the hunger of one +or two poor people than in a frivolous and unnecessary amusement?" + +"Certainly, certainly," said the girls, putting on an expression which +in truth did not give evidence of the purest delights of virtue and the +joys of the righteous. + +That evening there was very little talking, singing, and dancing at the +Elorza tertulia. Virtue, stern by nature, does not approve of noisy +demonstrations. The young people of both sexes expressed the deep, pure +satisfaction with which their sacrifice had inspired them by an +ineffable severity, making them demure and silent the most of the time, +as though they were meditating deeply on some Gospel text. Great, +therefore, must have been the displeasure felt by all when Don Mariano +said to them at the last moment:-- + +"Ladies and gentlemen, Thursday, at eight o'clock in the morning, I +should be greatly pleased to have you meet at the quay, properly +provided with hats, parasols, wraps, and so forth and so forth. Nothing +is more likely than that the sailors of my falua will be anxious to take +us down to El Moral, and, as you well know, it wouldn't be polite to +disappoint them." + +The tertulia deplored this determination which deprived them of making a +sacrifice for the universal brotherhood, and manifested it with a +running fire of laughter, remarks, and disorderly movements: "What a man +Don Mariano is!" "He always has to be playing these jokes!" "Thursday, +Thursday!" "What engagement have I for Thursday? Oh, none, I believe." +"Must we take waterproofs?" "I think cloaks will be enough." And so on. + +And in fact, on Thursday at eight o'clock in the morning, Don Mariano's +launch and the quarantine boat, both clean and adorned like damsels on a +fete-day, were impatiently waiting for the people, tossing side by side +in the slip by the quay. Four sailors in each were making the final +arrangements, from time to time casting inquiring glances now at the +river, now at the streets which led from the quay. The passengers were +not in sight, and the tide had already gone down two feet and a half. +One of the sailors expressed his dislike of tardiness in a rough voice +which was far enough from fashionable. At last appeared a variegated +group of women and men among whom straw hats and red cloaks +predominated, and the old sea-dog who had just been swearing like a +pirate blasphemed once more out of pure satisfaction, and put down a +gang-plank between the dock and the falua for the people to cross on. +The first to leap on board was Don Mariano. The boat gently tipped on +one side when she received her master's weight, as though making him a +loving bow. All the young ladies, including, of course, the Delgados, +next came tripping on board, leaning on Don Mariano's strong hand: the +gentlemen followed. When the first falua was full, they began to load +the second, and this was quickly accomplished. In the first, among other +people of distinction, were the two Misses de Delgado with their sister, +the widow, who chaperoned them; the De Merinos with their brother +Bonifacio, the most self-satisfied of all brothers; three or four +officials from the factory, Don Mariano, Don Maximo, Martita, and +Ricardo. Maria did not go because she would not break her vow to refrain +from all recreation. Likewise Dona Gertrudis's indisposition prevented +her from taking part in the excursion. In the second boat excellent +accommodation was found by our friend, the fascinating, sprightly +Senorita de Mori, under the watchful goggle eyes of the illustrious +Isidorito. Likewise, we can distinguish among others a very pretty young +girl named Rosario with whom the young swell at her side was not able to +dance on the evening of the Elorza soiree, on account of the war +proclaimed by the pianist against the German. The sailors were just +going to cast off the lines for starting when from one of the faluas +came a voice, asking,-- + +"But the De Ciudads?" + +The De Ciudads were missing. Don Mariano and the quarantine doctor were +in consternation at the mention of this name, which was such a guaranty +of respectability. Before they had recovered from their consternation, +there appeared at the end of one of the streets leading to the quay the +six senoritas accompanied by their papa, their mamma, their engineer +Suarez, and two small brothers. It was impossible to accommodate so many +people in the two faluas; they had to hunt up another, and man it with +the first sailors they could find, and thus precious time was lost. But +at last, as everything in this world can be managed except death, the De +Ciudads and their friends were well bestowed in a fishing-boat, and the +captain of the quarantine gave the signal for the start. The twelve oars +of the faluas began to strike the water in time with a gentle splash, +like the arms of one stretching. + +The level of the river was smooth, motionless, and bright as a mirror; +the sun cast upon it wide, silvery spots towards the centre, and darker +ones near the edges. The sky was covered by a delicate veil of clouds, +making a splendid rival for the ladies' hats and parasols. Only a gentle +breeze laden with the keen odor of pines on the shore came timidly +kissing the soft back of the waters, and the no less soft and fresh +necks of the ladies. It was not as yet a legitimate sea-breeze, but a +hybrid kind[44] with the characteristics both of sea and land. The oars +now put out all their agility, and with their blades lifted the crystal +of the waters, causing fleeting, foamy whirlpools; all faces showed the +healthful joy which is always caused by motion and the ever new and +beautiful spectacle of nature. The girls, bending over the gunwale of +the boat, delighted in taking off their rings and plunging their hands +into the water, letting it pour with a murmur through their white +fingers: they talked, they screamed, they laughed, and they exchanged +greetings from one boat to the other. The young fellows spattered their +faces with their canes or suddenly leaned to one side to scare them, +taking great pleasure in their cries of desperation. All was noise and +hubbub in the little squadron. As they came near El Moral, the marine +characteristics of the breeze began to get the upper hand of the inland +ones; it grew stronger, sometimes even blowing violently, as when the +faluas passed by some glen made through the hills or sloping banks which +shut in the river valley. The ribbons on the hats, the pennants on the +mast-heads, handkerchiefs and neckties began to flutter violently. The +voyagers felt the sweet deafness caused by the keen, salt-nurtured wind +of the sea. A few aquatic birds of little account flew out from one +shore and went flapping above the faluas, which was sufficient cause for +Don Serapio, in a fit of enthusiasm for the sea, to get upon deck and, +leaning over the flagstaff like one possessed, to sing the song which +begins:-- + + "_Al ver en la inmensa llanura del mar._ + + When o'er the mighty prairie of the sea, + I watch the sea-gulls in their rapid flight, + My soul is filled with envious thoughts," etc. + +If the river could blush, it would not have failed to do so on hearing +itself called so hyperbolically the _mighty prairie_; but it took it in +bad part, believing that there was some joke intended, and was seriously +angry. At all events, the wind undertook to wreak vengeance for it by +suddenly snatching off the inspired singer's sombrero and cutting short +the current, not to say the torrent, of his voice. The falua in the wake +picked up the hat and restored it in a very water-soaked condition to +its owner, who showed no more desire for the time being to continue +apostrophizing the sea-gulls. + +The little squadron stood nearer and nearer to the handful of houses at +El Moral, distant from Nieva about a league and a half. The town kept +growing more distant from our voyagers, offering them a beautiful +spectacle. It was situated under the brow of a not very lofty mountain, +decorated with green gardens and groups of laurel and orange trees on +all sides; its white-walled houses seemed to have been placed in such a +situation by the hand of an artist who believed in combining the +advantages of nature so as to produce the aesthetic emotion, as a stage +manager would say; the dazzling whiteness of the town stood out against +the dark green of the mountain like a great patch of snow stretching +down from the top; the silvery sheet of the river extending at its feet +waited motionless and humble till it should melt into its bosom. The +gentle, pine-clad hills which bordered the shores, and which our +voyagers left one after the other, seemed like the bristling backs of +huge, fantastic monsters. + +The remarks made by one falua to another gradually ceased. Each of the +boats recovered self-jurisdiction, living for itself alone. Let us +listen to what is said in them. + + +IN THE ELORZA FALUA. + +"I am well in years, Don Maximo, but I expect that my daughters are +going to see this river perfectly channelled. The amount of water +entering the mouth of the port would be sufficient to float vessels of +the greatest draught, if it were not so spread out. The question is to +utilize it. And how can this be done? Why, it must be done by force, by +means of two parallel jetties, which should begin at the very bar and +come up as far as Nieva. The water, both at ebb and flow, will pass +between them with greater rapidity, working over the bottom until it +deepens it. Gradually the space included between the channel and the +shores will be left dry, and can be easily improved. To accomplish the +drainage, all that is needed is to construct a clay dike against each of +the jetties, and open large gates through which the water can flow out +but not come in.... Excuse my earnestness!... I know well that this is +not a work of months, but of many years; still there is nothing +impossible about it.... Once reclaimed, these wide spaces would +doubtless be utilized by the population of Nieva, even to the very bank +of the beautiful canal, which would be constantly crowded with every +kind of craft. The new city built on such a wide level would most +certainly have its streets laid out at right angles, like those of the +American cities, and magnificent wharves. The true port, however, cannot +be here, but near the roadstead of Los Arenales, ... very soon we shall +be passing by it. It is a well-sheltered and extensive site, where a +whole fleet could have stay-room.... At present it is not very deep; I +am perfectly aware of that, but it has a sandy bottom, and you know that +with the powerful dredging-machines which we have nowadays, in a very +short time, it could be made two or three metres deeper.... Then Nieva +will be the most important part of El Cantabrico; the larger part of our +mineral products will be exported through it, for the dock at Sarrio is +very small, and there is no chance to increase it; instead of going to +French watering-places to spend the summer, the Spaniards will come to +these beautiful Northern Provinces, neglected to-day for lack of means +of communication.... How is Biarritz to be compared in spring with these +fresh, delicious regions? What sea-coast of Arcachon can enter into +rivalry with ours at Miramar and Las Huelgas?..." + + +ON BOARD OF LA SANIDAD. + +"Last night I slept splendidly, after a number of nights when I didn't +close my eyes hardly at all," said the Senorita de Mori to her friend +Rosario, who was seated near her.... "I don't know what has been ailing +me this long time.... I feel nervous.... My head aches when I get up.... +I think I need a tonic." + +"Sometimes you need to give the heart a tonic, senorita," said +Isidorito, boldly, with his face frightfully contracted by a smile. + +"I didn't know that the apothecary shops furnished tonics for the +heart," replied the young lady, with a scornful gesture, directing her +words to Rosario. + +"Oh, no, senorita; not in the apothecary shops; the heart is not cured +by the preparations of ordinary therapeutics, nor by any formulas of the +pharmacopoeia, for it has, apart from its physical nature, which is +not unlike the rest of the viscera, another nature purely spiritual as +we are generally accustomed to speak of it, and this cannot be treated +except by moral medicaments. When I said that sometimes you need to give +your heart a tonic, I meant to indicate that possibly it would be good +for you to drive away certain preoccupations of an amorous character, +which often are wont to affect it." + +"I am not troubled by these _preoccupations_ of which you speak, nor do +I intend to have them at present, God helping me," replied the senorita +with the same air of dissatisfaction as before, and addressing herself +only to Rosario. + +"You cannot affirm that in such a categorical manner." + +"And why not?" + +"For in the state in which you find yourself it is very difficult, not +to say impossible, to fathom all the profundities of the spirit and +scrutinize all of its hiding-places. Frequently impressions make their +way into our souls in a surreptitious manner without our taking note of +it; they begin by being vague and fugitive, and for that very reason +pass without being observed; but slowly they go on taking shape, growing +in strength, and finally they conquer the individual and rule him at +their will. Then they pass into the category of the passions." + +"But I know perfectly well what I feel and what I don't feel." + +"Oh, no, senorita; allow me to contradict you. You cannot know." + +"Man, for goodness' sake! Can't I know what I feel?" + +"Why, then, you must know that--" + +"Perhaps I know better than you do. Self-observation, according to all +the philosophers and moralists, is more difficult than to observe +others, and there are very few who are able to reach to it. On the other +hand, youth is little prone to reflection, and above all women are +incapable of taking perfect account of their inclinations and of the +vague emotions passing through their hearts." + +"Look you! women are as God created them, and so are men." + +"I don't doubt it; but God has so created them, with a sensitive +capacity (if I may express myself in this way) more quick and delicate +than that of men. It may be said that they are born exclusively for +love, and that love ought to fill the measure of their existence. Love +and the consequences which arise from love constitute the first end of +conjugal union or, in other words, matrimony. Thus it has been +established in all legislative codes, and particularly in the canonical, +which is the purest fountain of all. Woman consequently works more +under the impulse of fancy and sentiment than of reason...." + +"Heavens! how much Isidorito knows about us poor women!" exclaimed the +Senorita de Mori, in a tone between anger and jest. + +The district attorney was somewhat crushed, but at length he went on +with his remarks, without ceasing the pseudo-smile which afflicted his +face. + +"Love being, for the reason above given, the most powerful, not to say +the only, motive of a woman's life, there is nothing wonderful in the +supposition that a young lady like you may find herself agitated by this +omnipotent feeling, and paying tribute to what constitutes an +irrecusable law of life. You may now see how I was not out of the way +when I affirmed that sometimes it is necessary for you to give your +heart a tonic or--and this is the same thing--alleviate it of some too +grievous impression." + +"O my![45] what a bore!" said the Senorita de Mori in a whisper; but she +replied aloud, "Why, you are absolutely mistaken, Isidorito; nothing +grieves me or disturbs me at present!" + +"Allow me to doubt it." + +"You are welcome to doubt it; but I assure you that I have the best +reason for knowing." + +"Certainly, according to all logic, although you may declare the +contrary, yet there is no possibility of sustaining such an opinion; not +only reason and good sense oppose it, but from the most superficial +observation of the facts it results, first, that love is a natural and +constant sentiment in young ladies; second, that you have no reasons for +escaping from it; and third, that the fact of sleeping little and +uneasily makes the supposition that you are in love a very reasonable +one." + +The Senorita de Mori shrugged her shoulders, made a scornful grimace +with her lips, and without deigning to reply, resumed her conversation +with her friend Rosario. + +Isidorito had triumphed over his opponent as usual; for always the woman +with whom he was conversing was in his eyes his opponent, and he +believed in the necessity of involving her in the meshes of his logic, +and of getting her close in his grasp, until he subdued her like a +rebellious rival in the law. Thus he expected to win the admiration and +respect of the feminine sex. But the feminine sex (be it said to its +dishonor) not only did not admire Isidorito for his belligerent logic, +for his sedateness, and for his vast legal knowledge, but it looked upon +him with marked disfavor, and avoided his conversation as though it were +a disgusting clatter. The Senorita de Mori, with whom he had carried on +the most pugnacious argument on the nature of love and friendship, the +sweets of remembrance, the bitternesses of forgetfulness, sympathy, and +all else relating to the heart, in which he always came out instantly +victorious, had learned to hate him like death. Consequently our wise +youth was really more than a hundred leagues from the lovely heiress's +three thousand duros income, while he believed that he could touch them +with his finger-tips. His never-failing sedateness, his self-possessed +and serene eloquence, his long-tailed coats, his ideas of order, and his +legal diction had aroused against him a prejudice as cruel as it was +unjustified. + + +IN THE DE CIUDAD FALUA. + +"Maria, Julia, Consuelo, just see how lovely the water feels when you +put your hand in!" + +"How lovely! how lovely!" + +"You'll wet your clothes, Amparo!" + +"See what cunning white feathers the water makes between the fingers, +Suarez!" + +"Splendid!... but you'll wet the sleeve of your dress." + +"Wait a moment.... I am going to tuck it up.... There, that's good.... +Look! look!..." + +"It still seems to me as though it would get wet.... Tuck it up a little +more." + +"More?" + +"Yes." + +"But I shall show my whole arm!" + +"What difference does that make?" + +"Be sensible; it isn't the time to give one a cold.... Now it seems to +me all right.... Uf! how cold this water is!... It isn't noticeable on +the hands, but on your arms! Look! Look how it jumps up!... If you put +your palm flat against the current, it runs clear up your arm. Don't you +see how beautiful and clear it is to-day?" + +"Speaking frankly, I will tell you," whispered the engineer in Amparo's +ear, "that at this moment my attention is attracted more by your fair +arm!" + +"If you don't hush, you rogue, I shall spatter the water in your face," +replied the girl, threatening him with her chaste vengeance. + +"Though you should throw me into the river, I should still say so.... I +am an artist, above all things, as you well know.... There is nothing so +beautiful as the human form, ... when it is beautiful; and that arm of +yours stands comparison with the most perfect models of the sculptor's +art." + +"Come, come! don't be absurd!... My arm is like any one else's. The +main thing is, that it is beginning to feel cold.... Whew! what +water.[46] It seemed so warm at first!... And how it keeps on growing +colder and colder, till at last it chills one to the bone!..." + +"Take it out, take it out ... we must dry it!" + +And Amparito obeyed, taking her arm out of the water, and innocently +holding it towards the engineer, who began to wipe it with his +handkerchief, lavishing upon it delicate attentions, and saying, at the +same time:-- + +"But what a lovely arm you have, Amparito! How white! what soft skin! +and how round it is, above all!... A woman's arm ought to be so, ... +round and slender, like that of the Venus di Medici ... the arm ought to +diminish gradually and symmetrically to the wrist.... The truth is, with +such an arm you ought to be worthy of being a sculptor's model.... +Well-formed women are scarce enough nowadays. To this is due the decay +of sculpture, according to some critics.... If there were many like you, +this certainly could not be said.... What an arm! what a lovely arm!... +You can't imagine the pleasure I feel in touching it with my hand...." + +The engineer, as he said this, suited the action to the word, and rubbed +it so hard that Senor de Ciudad, who, with grim eyes, was watching the +operation from the bow, could not help exclaiming, in an angry tone,-- + +"Amparo, please pull down your sleeve.... You most foolish girl!" + +The girl blushed, and pulled down her sleeve. The engineer, not being +able to evolve his artistic theories with his model in sight, renounced, +for some time, the use of speech. + +The faluas were now over against the Arenales. The sun had succeeded in +making a few rifts in the veil of cloud, and was threatening, sooner or +later, to rend it in pieces. The pencil of rays which penetrated through +these rifts, and fell on the sand-hills, made them gleam like enormous +flakes of gold, shedding their splendors over the whole breadth of the +watery sheet; occasionally, when the sunbeams were cut off a moment by +the interposition of some cloud, the splendors paled, and the sand +assumed the grayish or gilded shades of webs of yellow silk. The +voyagers all agreed that those sand wastes gave a very good idea of the +deserts of Africa; and Don Mariano expressed his opinion that it would +be very easy to control the sand by means of feather-grass and other +suitable vegetation, and soon convert them into magnificent groves of +pines. + +The valley, which in the midst of the way opened out till it acquired +considerable breadth, became narrower again as it neared El Moral. The +waters became more restless, revealing the proximity of the sea; the +hills, protecting the village with their stony slopes and their bare, +melancholy tops, likewise made it evident. The breath of the monster +began to be felt, blowing freshly and proudly through the narrow mouth +of the river; and far away could be heard the low, portentous beating of +his heart. The faluas now and then pitched upon patches of foam, which +came rolling over the water, like tatters torn from the mantle of some +god who had been battling all the night with the monsters of the ocean. + +They reached El Moral. Don Mariano had prepared for them a delicious +luncheon in a large ware-house, which he owned there, and the numerous +company gave one more proof that the sea breezes are the most excellent +stimulant for the appetite. When they had done good justice to it, and +rested a little while, they re-embarked to continue their excursion. A +short distance from El Moral was the mouth of the harbor from which they +put out to sea, leaving on the starboard quarter the lighthouse tower +set on a bluff. The sailors dropped their oars and hoisted the sails to +take advantage of the fresh north-east wind which forced them ahead. It +was eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The cloud veil had entirely vanished +down the horizon, leaving in view a beautiful, diaphanous blue sky +wherein the sun swam haughty and brilliant as never before. The sea +stretched out before our voyagers' eyes like one enormous, measureless +blue plain, shutting in on all sides the celestial vault to collect its +light and its harmony. Above this azure plain the luminous disk of the +sun made a wide path of shining silver peopled with tremulous, sparkling +gleams and extending in a direct line towards the east. In each one of +the crests which the breeze raised on the water the sunbeams left a +fugitive, vivid light which, on mingling and joining with the rest in an +incessant dance, seemed like the monstrous, fantastic ebullition of the +treasures hidden in the depths of the ocean. The voyagers followed that +silvery path with their gaze, and did not open their lips for a long +time, enjoying the deeply fine and solemn impression which the sea +always makes on the mind. The outlines of the island, dimmed and +confused by the excess of light, stood out opposite the very mouth of +the river, about five miles from the coast. Around it could be seen +great flocculent shreds of foam which alternately grew and narrowed down +again, girdling it with a white belt of lace-work. The wind blew strong, +but with generous benignity, for it had plenty of room to exercise its +powers. The three faluas, with sails spread, cut through the water, one +behind the other, like so many sea-gulls chasing them. The cordage +whistled, the masts creaked in the holes imprisoning them, and the sails +bellied under the breath of the breeze which tipped the boats more than +was relished by the ladies. The water, as it passed, broke into foam, +making a musical murmur against the bow, and sliding along on both sides +with a rustle like the unrolling of silk. + +Don Serapio felt himself attacked by a maritime ecstasy, and, holding +his hat in one hand and gesticulating dramatically with the other, he +sang:-- + + "How blessed that man who can number + His joys on the ocean; + For the billows rock him to slumber + With somnolent motion." + +The almost imperceptible voice of the proprietor of the canning-factory +had the honor of joining in with the eternal concert of the seas, like +one of so many noises of tumbling billows or rattling pebbles. The wind +would not deign to carry it twenty yards away. + +The faluas, as they glided out on the swelling breasts of the waves, +mounted and fell with a gentle, lazy motion which at first was +delightful to the passengers. They began to sway, softly closing their +eyes with a smile of delicious content, surrendering themselves in full +to the vague, poetic dreams awakened in their hearts by the sea. Who +would have said, alas! that those who were dreaming so comfortably, and +rejoicing in a smiling world of gentle fancies and gilded illusions, +would be seen in a few minutes with heads sadly bent over the sea, necks +leaning on the gunwale, as though it were a chopping-block, faces livid +and eyes fixed upon the water, as though they were trying to sound the +secret arcana of the ocean! Oh terrible fickleness of human affairs! + +But what was taking place in the quarantine boat, that she should come +about and leave her companions? An unforeseen contingency, and certainly +one most annoying. Isidorito's breakfast had played him false. Hardly +were they clear of El Moral when he began to be pale and silent, though +no one noticed it; but at last the pallor increased to such a degree +that he really looked like a corpse. Then it was suspected that he was +seasick, and they advised him to put his fingers in his mouth; but the +municipal attorney, very thoroughly acquainted with the tragedy at that +moment enacting in his stomach, would not do any such thing, and begged +humbly that, if it were possible, they should turn about and leave him +on shore. All were stupefied at this proposition, and the falua +continued on her swift course, as though she had not heard. But, after a +time, Isidorito propounded it in a still more energetic manner, and the +sailors were obliged to reply that, though it was not impossible, still, +to return to shore would cost them an hour's time. Another interval +passed. Isidorito got up suddenly, with his face convulsed, and, +extending his right hand toward the shore, he exclaimed with a voice of +mighty anguish, "Turn around, turn around for God's sake, or I shall +jump into the water!" Then the falua, not wanting to be an accomplice in +a suicide, veered around, dropped sail, and, putting out oars, began to +make its way, as quick as possible, to the nearest point on the shore. +There are reasons, however, for believing that the distinguished legal +gentleman did not reach land in sufficient time. The Senorita de Mori +felt sufficiently avenged for the many annoyances which his inflexible +logic had occasioned her. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE EXCURSION CONTINUED. + + +Meantime the ocean, indifferent to the laughter and the discomfort of +those petty insects which skim over its burnished surface, reflected the +fire of the sun over all its immensity, enjoying this lofty pleasure +with the same calmness as in the first days of the world. The light +could wander freely over its humid surface, running leagues upon leagues +in a second, shooting its blazes to the furthest confines of the +horizon, or gathering them in a splendid bundle. It could sport over the +foamy crests of its waves, or timidly kiss the diaphanous mirror of the +waters, or spatter it with fine silver powder, or fall in a swoon with +languid, voluptuous tremors, losing themselves amid the folds of the +billows: nothing could change the solemn peace of his heart or cause him +to utter a note lower or a note higher in the grandiose air in basso +profundo which he has sung since the beginning of the world. + +The outlines of the island now stood out with clearness, black and burnt +as though they had just emerged from a fire. As they came nearer, the +white belt, which from a distance seemed to girdle it, broke into a +thousand separate pieces, a considerable distance from one another. The +formidable roar as of multitudes fighting, chains dragging, and rocks +crashing, came from that direction, announcing to our voyagers that they +were approaching their destination. At the end of an hour they +succeeded, not without difficulty, in effecting a landing on its +rockbound shore; then they had to climb up by a narrow, perilous footway +hollowed out of the rock, before they reached the solid, level land. The +island did not deserve this name.[47] It was an islet two or three +kilometers long, belonging to Don Mariano Elorza, who made use of it +only for occasional hunting excursions, and for collecting a few hundred +gulls' eggs from it every year. It was covered here and there with +pines, but for the most part it was clad in furze, where hares and +rabbits had their warrens: on nearly all sides it presented +perpendicular cliffs to the sea, which beat incessantly against it, +furiously rushing in and out of the hollows in the rocks everywhere +abounding. Don Mariano had built in the centre a small house as a +hunting-box which, little by little, he had provided with many +conveniences. It contained only a large parlor, a dining-room, a few +bedrooms, and the kitchen; but it was quite well furnished, and was +surrounded by a small garden where a few shade-trees reluctantly grew. + +While the dinner was in preparation and they were waiting for the +quarantine falua, which had gone to deposit Isidorito like a melancholy +exile on a barren coast, the ladies and gentlemen scattered about, +devoting themselves to hunting and fishing, according to the tastes and +dispositions of each. Shots began to be heard here and there, showing +that the rabbits, which had multiplied in geometrical progression, +suffered the law of repression discovered by Malthus. The voyagers who +had not bloodthirsty instinct made themselves comfortable on the moss at +the edge of the cliffs, contemplating the horizon from quarter to +quarter, where the sail of some bark was often seen. Others studied the +flora, plucking flowers and entering into long discussions about the +cultivation which would suit that soil and the products which it might +give. When everything was arranged, Don Mariano sent word by his +servants, and one after the other the guests made their way back to the +house and entered the parlor, where a splendid table had been +improvised, loaded with viands and flowers. It took much labor and +sufficient noise to seat so many people, but at last it was +accomplished, thanks to the activity of the master of the house, greatly +aided by the young man with the banged hair, whom we had the honor of +meeting on the evening of the soiree, celebrated in honor of Dona +Gertrudis. + +The feast was worthy of Amphitryon. No gastronomic refinement was +lacking; everything was wisely provided by an imagination familiar with +culinary subjects and, as some one at the table was moved to say with +truth, "life on a desert island was not so unhappy as it was pictured in +Robinson Crusoe and other books." Each plate had before it five or six +glasses which two servants were commissioned to keep filling +successively with different kinds of wine according to the courses +served. No one will be surprised, therefore, that after dinner was over +there were enthusiastic toasts preceded by most eloquent speeches and +accompanied by shouts, bravos, and congratulations of all sorts to the +orator. Don Maximo cut them short by a few phrases, ill enough expressed +but very touching, referring to the brevity of human life, to the vanity +of pleasures, to the recompense which we shall have for our sorrows in +another world, and other supernal subjects. The orator ended by shedding +copious tears stirred by such funereal thoughts. Nevertheless, there +were some who said in an undertone that Don Maximo's _papalina_ was the +least diverting that they had ever known. Then the engineer, Suarez, +made a speech elegantly phrased and ornate, directed to emphasizing the +importance enjoyed by woman in our civilization and the salutary changes +which, thanks to her influence, had obtained in the manners of modern +nations. He made a eulogy, as brilliant as it was finished, of her +artistic abilities, declaring it to be much superior to man's. He +likewise spoke of her physical perfections, enumerating them with great +satisfaction, and he ended by toasting her unconditionally as the most +beautiful and exquisite work of creation, as the eternal and sweet +companion of man. The Senoritas de Ciudad clapped their hands. Thereupon +Don Serapio got up and with rather unctious speech proposed in concrete +terms that the brilliant assemblage who was hearkening to him should +settle for good in the island, in order to populate it, and invited each +one of those present to select as quickly as possible their partners. +The fact that at the end of his invitation he tipped a mischievous and +impudent wink at one of the maid-servants who was helping at table +raised against him a tempest of hisses and interruptions. Not being able +satisfactorily to explain his behavior, Don Serapio grew very angry and +went out into the kitchen, where, after a short time, was heard a +ringing box on his ears. + +Next followed the toasts, growing constantly more fiery and tempestuous, +so that nothing that was said could be heard. One of the most famous was +Martita's. By the advice of Ricardo, who sat by her side, she had drunk +three glasses of champagne and did not know what was going on. The poor +girl, so reserved and silent by temperament, began to let her tongue +have free course, directing very facetious sallies at all present, who +received them with rejoicing and applause. When a lady said that she +was a little tipsy, she grew very serious and declared that she was only +rather happy, which was nothing very strange considering that she was +young. This repartee caused great laughter among the picnickers. When +she was speaking, she kept fanning herself with her handkerchief. Her +eyes, ordinarily so steady and serene, had acquired a strange loveliness +and a malicious brilliancy which attracted the attention of Suarez, the +engineer. The very timbre of her voice had notably altered, making it +deeper and firmer. For the time being, she seemed like a woman in all +the plenitude of her powers. + +When they were tired of talking nonsense, Don Mariano had the tables +removed from the parlor, so that the young people might dance. A piano, +which had reached a dignified old age in that cloistered retreat, was +called upon to mark the time of a mazurka with its cracked voice. As was +to be expected, the dance from the first instant lost all ceremony and +was converted into a whirlwind of hops, screams, and laughter. Marta, +who was dancing with Ricardo, quickly said,-- + +"I can't endure this heat! Don't you want to go out into the fresh air +for a little?" + +"Let us go; I, too, am almost suffocated." + +When they were in the garden, she said to him,-- + +"If you will come with me, I will take you to a place which no one here +knows anything about except papa and me; it is a beach hidden among the +rocks; you don't see it until you are on it ... it is a lovely place." + +"If I like! you know well enough the love I have for landscapes, and +above all for seascapes! How do you get to it?" + +"Follow me ... you shall see." + +Marta started out toward a clump of pines situated not far from the +house, and Ricardo followed her. The girl wore a marine blue dress with +white lace trimmings, and she had on her head a straw hat with a wreath +of red convolvulus. + +"After we reach that grove, you are going to enjoy a surprise." + +"Indeed?" + +"Just wait and see!" + +In fact, after they had reached the grove and had been walking some time +in it, they came upon a grotto half covered up with trees and +underbrush. Marta, without saying a word, entered it, and in two seconds +disappeared from sight. Ricardo waited an instant in uncertainty and +deep surprise; but a gay peal of laughter echoing from within startled +him from his stupor. + +"What does this mean? Don't you dare to come in, coward?" + +"But, child, don't you see, you might get hurt!" + +"Come in, come in, brave warrior!" + +"Very well ... seeing that you have set the example." + +When he joined Marta, he found that the grotto was quite large and had a +sandy floor. + +"Oh, I didn't suppose it was so large and comfortable!" + +"Good; now follow me." + +"Where?" + +"How inquisitive you are!... You shall see, man, you shall see for +yourself." + +She entered further into the cave, which kept growing darker and darker, +and Ricardo followed, not taking his eyes from her for fear she should +fall or stumble upon some obstacle. After some little time the girl's +silhouette vanished in the gloomy depths of the cavern, and Ricardo +found himself in real darkness. + +"Don't be worried; follow me, and nothing will happen to you. I will be +talking all the time, so you can walk in the direction of my voice.... +If you want me to give you my hand, I will.... No?... very well, but +don't fall far behind.... In a very short time you will begin to +descend, but it is a gentle slope.... Do you see?... Don't grumble +against the footing.... Still, if one should fall, it would not do much +harm.... We shall be in the light soon.... Be careful; turn to the +right, for the path here makes a bend.... There, we have light at last!" + +A luminous point was, in fact, visible below our young friend's feet a +hundred yards distant. Marta's silhouette again emerged from the +darkness and stood out against the niggardly light which entered through +the aperture. + +A long, dull murmur was audible in the cave, hinting at the proximity of +the ocean. In a few moments they came out into the light. + +Ricardo was in ecstasies over the sight which met his eyes. They stood +facing the sea in the midst of a beach surrounded by very high, jagged +crags. It seemed impossible to issue from it without getting wet by the +waves, which came in majestic and sonorous, spreading out over its +golden sands, festooning them with wreaths of foam. Our young people +advanced toward the centre in silence, overcome with emotion, watching +that mysterious retreat of the ocean, which seemed like a lovely hidden +trysting-place where he came to tell his deepest secrets to the earth. +The sky of the clearest azure reflected on the sandy floor which sloped +toward the sea with a gentle incline; months and years often passed +without the foot of man leaving its imprint upon it. The lofty, black, +eroded walls, shutting in the beach with their semicircle, threw a +melancholy silence upon it; only the cry of some sea-bird flitting from +one crag to another, disturbed the eternal, mysterious monologue of the +ocean. + +Ricardo and Marta continued slowly drawing nearer the water, still under +the spell of reverence and admiration. As they advanced, the sand grew +smoother and smoother; the prints of their feet immediately filled with +water. Coming still nearer, they noticed that the waves increased, and +that their curling volutes at the moment of breaking would cover them up +if they could get them in their power. They came in toward them solid, +stately, imposing, as though they were certain to carry them off and +bury them forever amid their folds; but five or six yards away they fell +to the ground, expressing their disappointment with a tremendous, +prolonged roar; the torrents of foam which issued from their destruction +came spreading up and leaping on the sand to kiss their feet. + +After considerable time of silent contemplation, Marta began to feel +disturbed; she imagined that she noticed in them a constantly increasing +desire to get hold of her, and that they expressed their longing with +angry, desperate cries. She stepped back a little and seized Ricardo's +hand, without confessing to him the foolish fear that had taken +possession of her; she imagined that the sheet of foam sent up by the +waves, instead of kissing her feet, was trying to bite them; that as it +gathered itself up again with gigantic eagerness, it attracted her +against her will, to carry her away no one knows whither. + +"Doesn't it seem to you that we are going too close to the waves, +Ricardo?" + +"Do you think perhaps they'll come up as far as where you are?" + +"I don't know ... but it seems to me as though we were sliding down +insensibly ... and that they would get hold of us at last." + +"Don't you be alarmed, preciosa," said he, throwing his arm around her +shoulder and gently drawing her to him; "neither are the waves coming up +to us, nor are we going down to them.... Are you afraid to die?" + +"Oh, no, not now!" exclaimed the girl, in a voice scarcely audible, and +pressing closer to her friend. + +Ricardo did not hear this exclamation; he was attentively watching the +passage of a steamboat which was passing down the horizon, belching +forth its black column of smoke. + +After a time he felt like renewing the theme. + +"Are you really afraid of death? Oh, you are well off.... To-day the +world has in store for you its most seductive smiles ... not a single +cloud obscures the heaven of your life. God grant you may never come to +desire it!" + +"And are you afraid to die? tell me!" + +"Sometimes I am, and sometimes I am not." + +"At this moment are you?" + +"Oh! how funny you are!" exclaimed the young fellow, turning his smiling +face towards her. "No, not at this moment, certainly not." + +"Why not?" + +"Because, if the sea should carry us away, we two should die together; +and going in such charming company, what would it matter to me leaving +this world?" + +The girl looked at him steadily for a moment. Over the young man's lips +hovered a gallant but somewhat condescending smile. She abruptly tore +herself from him, and turning her back, began to walk up and down on +the beach skirting the dominions of the waves. + +The steamship was just hiding behind one of the headlands like a +fantastic warrior, walking through the water until only the plume of his +helmet was visible. When it had disappeared, Ricardo joined his future +sister, who seemed not to notice his presence, so absorbed was she in +contemplation of the ocean; yet after a moment she suddenly turned +around, and said,-- + +"Do you dare to go with me to the point which extends out there at the +right?" + +"I have no objection, but I warn you that it's flood tide, and that that +point will be surrounded by water before the end of an hour." + +"No matter; we have time enough to go to it." + +Leaping and balancing over the rocks along the shore, which were full of +pools and lined with seaweed, whereon they ran great risk of slipping, +they reached the point far out in the sea. + +"Let us sit down," said Marta. "Sometimes the sea comes up as far as +this, doesn't it?" + +Ricardo sat beside her, and both looked at the humid plain extending at +their feet. Near them it was dark green in color; farther away it was +blue; then in the centre the great silvery spot was still resplendent +with vivid scintillations reflecting the fiery disk of the sun. From the +liquid bosom of the boundless deep arose a solemn but seductive music, +which began to sound like a paternal caress in the ears of our young +friends. The great desert of water sang and vibrated in its spaces like +the eternal instrument of the Creator. The breeze coming from the waves +brought a refreshing coolness to their temples and cheeks; it was a +keen, powerful breath, swelling their hearts and filling them with +vague, exalted feelings. + +Neither of them spoke. They enjoyed the contemplation of ocean's majesty +and grandeur, with a humble sense of their own insignificance, and with +a vague longing to share in its divine, immortal power. Their eyes +followed again and again unweariedly along the fluctuating line of the +horizon which revealed to them other spaces, endless and luminous. +Without noticing it, by an instinctive movement they had again drawn +nearer to each other as though they had some fear of the monster roaring +at their feet. Ricardo had laid one arm around the young girl's waist, +and held her gently as if to defend her from some danger. + +At the end of a long time, Marta turned her kindled face toward him and +said, with trembling voice,-- + +"Ricardo, will you let me lean my head on your breast? I feel like +weeping!" + +Ricardo looked at her in surprise, and drawing her gently toward him, +laid her head on his knee. The girl thanked him with a smile. + +The waters beat upon the point where they were, spattering them with +spray, and ceaselessly pouring in and out of the deep caves of the +rocks, which seemed hollow, like a house. The rivers tumbling over them +awoke strange, confused murmurs within, seeming sometimes like the +far-off echoes of a thunder-clap, again like the deep rumbling of an +organ. + +Marta, with her head resting on the young man's knee and her face turned +to the sky, allowed her great, liquid eyes to roam around the azure +vault, with ears attent to the deep murmurs sounding beneath her. The +fresh sea breeze had not yet succeeded in cooling her burning cheeks. + +"Hark!" she said, after a little; "don't you hear it?" + +"What?" + +"Don't you hear, amid the roar of the water, something like a lament?" + +Ricardo listened a moment. + +"I don't hear anything." + +"No; now it has stopped; wait a while.... Now don't you hear it?... Yes, +yes, there's no doubt about it ... there's some one weeping in the +hollows of this rock...." + +"Don't be worried, tonta; it's the surf that makes those strange +noises.... Do you want me to go down and see if there's any one in +there?" + +"No! no!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "stay quiet.... If you should move, it +would disturb me greatly...." + +The great spot of silver kept extending further over the circuit of the +ocean, but it began to grow pale. The sun was rapidly journeying toward +the horizon, in majestic calm, without a cloud to accompany him, wrapt +in a gold and red vapor, which gradually melted, till it was entirely +lost in the clear blue of the sky. The point where they were, likewise +stretched its shadow over the water, the dark green of which, little by +little, grew into black. The roaring of the waves became muffled, and +the breeze blew softly, like the indolent breathing of one about to go +to sleep. An august, soul-stirring silence began to come up from the +bosom of the waters. In the caverns of the rock Marta no longer +perceived the mournful cry which had frightened her; and the thunders +and mumblings had been slowly changing into a soft and languid glu glu. + +"Are you going to sleep?" asked Ricardo again. + +"I have told you once that I don't care to go to sleep.... I am so happy +to be awake!... He who sleeps doesn't suffer, but neither does he +enjoy.... It is good to sleep only when one has sweet dreams, and I +almost never have them.... Look, Ricardo; it seems to me now that I am +asleep and dreaming.... You look so strange to me! I see the sky below, +and the sea above; your head is bathed in a blue mist; ... when you +move, it seems as though the vault covering us swung to and fro; when +you speak, your voice seems to come out of the depths of the sea.... +Don't shut your eyes, for pity's sake! how it makes me suffer! I imagine +that you are dead, and have left me here alone. Don't you see how wide +open mine are! Never did I want less to sleep than now.... Hark! put +down your face a little nearer; should you suffer much, if the sea were +to rise slowly, and finally cover us up?" + +Ricardo trembled a little; he cast a look about him, and saw that the +water was ready to cut off the isthmus uniting them to the shore. + +"Come, we are almost surrounded by water already." + +"Wait just a little ... I have something to tell you.... I am going to +whisper it very low, so that no one shall hear it ... no one but you.... +Ricardo, I should be glad if the sea would come up now, and bury us +forever.... Thus we should be eternally in the depths of the water; you +sitting, and I with my head on your lap, with eyes wide open.... +Then,--yes, I would dream at my ease; and you would watch my sleep, +would you not? The waves would pass over our heads, and would come to +tell us what is going on in the world.... Those white and purple fishes, +which sailors catch with hooks, would come noiselessly to visit us, and +would let us smooth their silver scales with our hands. The seaweed +would entwine at our feet, making soft cushions; and when the sun rose, +we should see him through the glassy water, larger and more beautiful, +filtering his thousand-colored beams through it, and dazzling us with +his splendor!... Tell me, doesn't it tempt you?... doesn't it tempt +you?" + +"Be quiet, Martita; you are delirious ... Come along, the tide is +rising." + +"Wait a moment ... We have been here an hour, and the wind hasn't cooled +my cheeks ... they are hotter than ever.... No matter ... I am +comfortable.... Do you want to do me a favor?... Listen! I must ask your +forgiveness ..." + +"What for?" + +"For the scare I gave you the other day. Do you remember when we were +making a nosegay together in the garden?... You wanted to kiss my hand, +and I was so stupid that I took it in bad part, and began to cry.... How +surprised and disgusted you must have been!... I confess that I am a +goose,[48] and don't deserve to have any one love me.... However, you +may believe me that I was not offended with you.... I wept from +sentiment ... without knowing why.... What reason had I to weep? You did +not want to do any harm ... all you wanted was to kiss my hands; isn't +that so?" + +"That was all, my beauty!" + +"Then I take great pleasure in having you kiss them, Ricardo.... Take +them!..." + +The young girl lifted up her gentle hands, and waved them in the air, +fair and white as two doves just flying from the nest. Ricardo kissed +them gallantly. + +"That doesn't suit me," continued the girl, laughing; "you always used +to kiss my face whenever you met me or said good by.... Why have you +ceased to do so?... Are you afraid of me?... I am not a woman ... I am +still only a child.... Until I grow up you have the right to kiss me +... then it will be another thing.... Come, give me a kiss on the +forehead...." + +The young man bent over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. + +"If you would not be angry, I would ask for another here;" and she +touched her moist, rosy lips. + +The young marquis grew red in the face; he remained an instant +motionless; then bending down his head, he gave the girl a prolonged +kiss on her lips. + +A strong gust of wind waked the ocean just as he was getting ready to +sleep; he stirred an instant in his immense bed of sand, as though he +were going to change his position, and uttered a low murmur of +discontent. The waves in the distance began to roll in, big and blue; on +the beach they clamored with strong voices. The lights which had shone +on their crests were gone, and the magnificent ebullition of the +submarine treasure had ceased. The silver spot was fast taking on the +melancholy reflections of burnished steel. + +When Ricardo raised his head, the first thing he did was to cast an +anxious glance along the line of the point. The water already surrounded +them. He sprang up hastily, and, without saying a word, seized Marta in +his arms as easily as though she had been a fawn, and making a +tremendous leap, he fell headlong on the nearest point, slightly cutting +his hand. Marta was entirely unharmed, and she looked at the young man's +wound; then taking out her delicate linen handkerchief she silently +bound it around it, and started off with rapid steps. Ricardo followed +her. They both walked in perfect silence. The distance between them grew +greater and greater; for Marta no longer walked; she ran. The young +marquis felt a vague discomfort, and a strange uneasiness which caused +him to deliberate as he walked; he was angry with himself. When they +entered the mouth of the tunnel leading to the pine grove, he entirely +lost sight of his friend, and could not even hear the noise of her boots +on the ground. When he reached the middle of the cave where it was +perfectly dark, he thought he heard, very confusedly, the echo of a sob, +and his heart was still more oppressed. After he got out into the light +he felt better. + +When they got to the house they found that a number of servants had been +sent out in search of them, as everything had been long ready for the +return. The afternoon was wearing on, and the ladies would not find it +much to their liking should night catch them on the sea. They were +welcomed back therefore with signs of satisfaction, and all hands +hastened to settle themselves again in the faluas, which, on account of +the swell, were as restless as horses harnessed and waiting for their +master at the stable door. + +Their sails were raised, and making long tacks to get advantage of the +wind, they bore away to El Moral. Marta, when she entered the yawl, had +lost the bright color from her cheeks. + +The sun constantly hastened toward the horizon. The ladies looked with +foreboding as the shadows crept over the sky and the sea, and they cast +anxious looks at the sailors. The frequent tacks made by the yawls +delayed them extraordinarily, and at last they had to furl the sails and +follow the direct course by oars. There is nothing strange in this, and +it is the most usual way when the wind is not astern; but it happened +that Rosarito, the Senorita de Mori's friend, took it into her head that +the change from sails to oars signified imminent danger of shipwreck, +and this she represented in her imagination with all the horrors by +which it is surrounded in magazine stories,--the pitchy darkness of the +night, the waves rising like mountains to the sky, the cries of the +sailors mingling with the roaring of the sea, etc., etc. And being +unable to control herself, she began to clutch her friend with nervous +hands and to utter exclamations of anguish and fear. + +"Alas! O God![49] we are going to perish, we are going to perish!" + +"There is nothing wrong; calm yourself, Rosario." + +"Yes, yes! we are going to perish ... we are going to be drowned.... O +God, what a terrible death!... Why should I have gone to the island?... +What will my papa say when he learns that his daughter is dead?... Papa! +my heart's papa!" + +"But, child alive, there's absolutely nothing to be afraid of!" + +"Don't tell me so, for God's sake; because can't I see that they have +lowered the sails. Alas! what a death! what a frightful death!... To die +without confession!... To die away from my papa!... And to be buried +right here in these awful black depths!... And be eaten by the fishes! +and by crabs.... It's horrible!..." + +The Senorita de Mori's efforts to calm her friend were useless. It added +no little to her fright to hear the shouts of the sailors, who in order +to encourage each other and overcome the resistance of the waves, at +each stroke of the oars shouted in chorus, yo-heave-oh![50],--yo-heave-oh! +Every time that this exclamation rang through the air with its brutal +rhythm, Rosario breathed a shriek of anguish; till the vivacious +Senorita de Mori, fearing that she was getting ill, said to the +sailors,-- + +"Gentlemen, will you have the goodness not to say yo-heave-oh! for it +greatly frightens this young lady." + +But Rosario, quite irritated and shedding a sea of tears, instantly +exclaimed,-- + +"No, no; let them say yo-heave-oh! but let us perish quickly if we are +going to!..." + +Little by little, however, and seeing that the tremendous catastrophe +did not take place, her nerves grew calmer, and before long she was +laughing, giddy girl that she was, at her ridiculous fears. + +In the Elorza falua there was little talking. Don Mariano and Don Maximo +were too full of medoc to feel like indulging in an animated +conversation. The Senorita de Delgado, seconded by her sisters, admired +the sunset with lively transports of enthusiasm, and with much opening +and shutting of eyes. The Marquis of Penalta had closed his, and seemed +to be dozing with his cheek in his hand. One or two couples were +whispering together. + +What was Marta thinking about at that moment, her gaze fastened on the +sea, serious, motionless, and pale as a statue? What black phantasms +rose before her from the depths of the waters to trace in her fair brow +the deep furrows with which it was corrugated? What deathly secrets +whispered the breeze in her ear? + +Ah! easier were it to unriddle the mystery in the murmurs of the ocean +and the secrets of the breeze than the vague thoughts hidden behind a +maiden's brow! + +The sea once more tried to dispose itself for slumber; the crests of its +waves no longer gleamed white from afar with their crown of foam; the +horizon withdrew its indefinite line, which faded away in the twilight +shadow. The smooth, swelling billows rose and fell like the indolent, +tranquil breathing of a gigantic bosom. One by one, with lovely ease and +confidence, the faluas, leaving them behind, swept onward to the port. +The coast with its dark, undulating line girdled the luminous plain. Far +in the distance inland, the peaks of the mountains could be seen bathed +in a transparent violet haze. + +Marta's thought broke through the glutted cloud which girt it in with a +sea of confusions and vaguenesses, and in her soul arose all at once a +host of sweet and ineffable recollections like so many luminous points +with which the serene sky of her life was sown. She amused herself a +long time in recounting them, taking new delight in each. How bright and +beautiful they burned in her memory! What a gentle light they cast over +the monotonous, laborious days of her existence! They were surrounded by +silence and mystery; no one had enjoyed them, no one had known them +except herself; the very hand which had dropped into her heart the balm +of joy was absolutely ignorant of its beneficent influence. This thought +filled her with a secret delight which brought a smile to her pale lips. +One by one, however, and without her knowing why, those luminous points +vanished away, were blotted out and lost in the deep, black abyss of an +idea. Her imagination began to fly about like a bewildered bird within +this sad and desperate idea where not the slightest ray of light could +penetrate. Why was she in the world? The happiness which she had +discovered was another's, and there was nothing else left to do but to +look upon it without grief and without envy, for envy in this case would +be a terrible sin. And was she sure of not falling into it at any +moment, or what was worse, was she sure of not raising her hand against +that happiness? The hidden beach on the island came instantly into her +memory, with its golden sands and its foaming waves flinging their foam +flakes upon her. A great remorse, a keen, cruel remorse, began to make +its way into her innocent heart like the sharp point of a dagger, +causing her such anguish that she uttered a muffled groan heard only by +herself. Confusion and dizziness tormented her brain; her head burned +like a volcano. She raised her hand to her brow, and it was as cold as +though made of marble. This gave her an extraordinary shock of surprise. +So much heat within and so cold without! + +The ocean at that moment seemed full of peace and gentleness. The sun +was just about submerging his heated face in the crystal of the waters, +but still lighted up a few places in the vast plain with a fantastic, +gilded light, leaving others in the shade. The murmurs were heavier and +deeper, of an infinite melancholy; that measureless mass of water was +slowly losing its azure hue and changing to another, of very opaque +green, sown here and there with fleeting reflections. The melancholy +ease with which the sea took leave of the light made a deep impression +upon Marta. With her head leaned over the water, and with dreamy eyes, +she watched the most delicate tints which the light was awakening in it, +and listened to the murmurs which resounded in the depths. + +The sun was entirely sunken. The ocean gave one immense, colossal sob. +In this sob was so much compassion that Marta thought she felt the +ambient air vibrate with a movement of sympathy and wonder. Never had +she seen the sea so grand and so sublime, so strong and so generous at +once. That august silence, that momentary repose of the great athlete, +moved her to the depths of her soul, filled her turbulent spirit with an +ardent desire for peace. Who had told her that the sea was terrible? +What small heart had spoken to her of his cruel treacheries? Ah, no! The +sea was noble and generous, as the strong always are, and his wrath, +though fearful, was quickly over: in his tranquil depths live happily +pearls and corals, the white sea-nymphs, the purple fishes. + +The falua, when it pressed up against his humid shoulder, made between +bow and stern a broad, comfortable couch, with foamy edges, a couch +where one might sleep eternally with face turned toward the sky, +watching through the transparent bosom of the water the flashing of the +stars. + + * * * * * + +"Heavens!... What was that?" + +"Who has fallen overboard?" + +"Daughter of my heart!... Marta!... Marta! Let go of me!... Let me save +my daughter!" + +"She is already safe, Don Mariano; there is no need of you wetting +yourself." + +"Back water! Back water! Steady!..." said the captain's rough voice. +"Fling that line, Manuel.... Don't be alarmed, ladies; it is nothing at +all.... Back water! Weigh all.... Lay hold, all of you, on that line. +There is nothing to worry about." + +At first the confusion was great. Ricardo and one of the sailors had +leaped into the water and were swimming powerfully to make up the short +distance which the falua had gone before the alarm was given. Ricardo, +who was ahead, dived, and in a few seconds re-appeared with the girl on +his arm. The falua was near them, and he could clutch the rope which +they had flung him, and then the gunwale of the yawl, finding himself +suspended by a number of arms which lifted them on deck. Don Mariano, in +the short moments that this lasted, struggled with Don Maximo and +others, trying to leap into the water. When he saw his daughter on +board, it took him but a moment to press her to his heart. + +Martita had fainted away. Various ladies hastened to loosen her clothing +and shake her violently to rid her of the water which she had swallowed. +Then they laid her down on one of the seats on the deck, and Ricardo, +taking a bottle of salts which Don Maximo had brought with him, applied +it to her nostrils. She soon opened her eyes and, on seeing the young +man's solicitous face leaning over her, she smiled sweetly, and said to +him, so that no one else could hear:--"Thanks, senor marques!... It is +not so bad down below there." + +When they reached El Moral, they dried themselves at the house of some +friends who were taking baths there, and they donned the first clothes +that came to hand. Then they once more took up their homeward way, and +reached the quay at one o'clock, finding each of their respective +families were beginning to feel anxious over their late arrival. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE. + + +Don Mariano's guests were amusing themselves with the game of forfeits. +The evening was thoroughly disagreeable, and only the most courageous +had ventured out. When this happened (and it was not very infrequent) +music and dancing were forbidden and games of cards, of commerce[51], or +of forfeits were substituted, or at times merely a pleasant, bright +conversation. On the evening of which we are speaking, the feminine sex +was represented by three Misses de Ciudad, two Delgados, the Senorita de +Mori, and one more who, together with those of the family made a +sufficiently respectable nucleus; in the masculine part figured the +family physician, Senor de Ciudad, Don Serapio, the engineer Suarez, and +four or five other young fellows who, being simple and insignificant, +deserve no special mention. The tertulia occupied only one corner of the +parlor, although on occasions when the game required, it was scattered +about over the whole of it. Don Mariano, surrounded by the _solemn +fathers_, walked up and down, and enjoyed his discussions, frequently +stopping to lay down some intricate logic, and then continuing his walk +with hands behind his back. + +It fell to Don Serapio's lot to say _yes_ and _no_ three times each, and +consequently he retired to one of the corners, gazing at the wall. The +ladies and gentlemen once more gathered together in one group, and +began to whisper with the greatest animation, each one proposing some +question. At last they agreed to ask him if he enjoyed _bisogne_. + +"Eeeeeh?" shouted the chorus, dwelling on the vowel. + +"Yes," replied the unhappy Don Serapio. + +The reply was received with tumult and delight, making the proprietor of +the canning factory tremble in his shoes. Next they agreed upon asking +him if he had any intention of getting married. "No" was his +unhesitating reply. "Bravo, bravo!" shouted the men. + +"What a stony-hearted man!" cried the women. + +One of the young fellows proposed that they should ask him if he still +had a fondness for chamber-maids. The ladies wanted to oppose this, but +there was no remedy. + +"Eeeeeh?" + +"Yes." + +Great laughter and applause in the group. The same malevolent young +fellow proposed something even worse: "to ask him if he intended to give +any of his children a profession." The ladies seriously objected to this +question, and another was given in its place. And thus they continued +until he had said the three _yeses_ and the three noes required by the +game, and then, greatly despondent, he came to find out what the +questions had been. + +It came next to Amparito Ciudad to give a favor to all the gentlemen of +the party, and she began to perform the duty with the greatest +discretion and grace, beginning with the young fellows, except the +engineer Suarez, who roundly declared that he was not satisfied with any +of her propositions, and whispered to her very softly what the only +thing was that would satisfy him. Amparito blushed a little, and replied +with a gentle look of reproach, at the same time casting a glance at +her father, who fortunately had his back turned while promenading with +Don Mariano. + +Isidorito's turn came next, and it unfortunately fell to him to be put +"in Berlina"; and what a chance this was for the Senorita de Mori! +Isidorito, though not attractive at all, inspired general respect on +account of his reputation as a studious, sensible young man: thus the +majority of the girls and boys contented themselves with criticising +him[52] as "too serious," as "having too little hair," as "dancing very +badly," as "studying to excess," as "wearing too long coat tails," etc., +etc.; but when it came to the Senorita de Mori, who was impatiently +waiting her turn, she put him _in Berlin_ with unconcealed satisfaction +as "very heavy in brain and light in stomach." Isidorito, noticing the +reasons for their criticisms, recognized with grief the source of that +envenomed dart; but he did not care to show that he did, and preferred +to preserve in this respect a noble, and at the same time, a prudent +silence. + +The eldest daughter of the family, as usual, took no share in the game. +She was sitting by her mother's side, totally oblivious of all that was +going on around her, with her eyes fixed on vacancy. A strange, intense +pallor covered her somewhat emaciated but always lovely face, and her +whole body showed signs of uneasiness and anxiety. She scarcely answered +the questions which Dona Gertrudis asked her from time to time, and if +she did, it was with such curtness that it took away all the worthy +lady's desire to repeat them. Four or five times already she had got up +from her chair and gone to the balcony, remaining a long time in it with +her forehead leaning on the glass, without any one knowing what she was +looking at. The plaza of Nieva, just as on the first night when we saw +it, was dark and checkered with pools of water, wherein were reflected +the melancholy beams from the kerosene lamps burning in the corners. Not +a soul was crossing it that night. She strained her eyes in vain to +penetrate the darkness under the arcades: the neighbors had all +withdrawn into their houses, perfectly convinced that dampness is the +cause of many infirmities. The windows of the Cafe de la Estrella were +the only ones that were lighted. The air was filled with a gentle murmur +of rain which barely made itself audible through the panes to the young +girl's ears. + +It came Rosarito's turn to act the sultana. The dandified young fellow +with the hair over his forehead, placed a chair in the middle of the +room and seated her in it: then he spread before her a velvet cushion. +The young men of the tertulia, like genuine Moors, began to march before +her, bending their knees in her presence and waiting humbly for her +choice. Rosarito, with the notable ability which all women have for +playing queen, rejected them one after the other with a gesture of +sovereign disdain. Only when the young fellow of the mazurkas came by, +and tremblingly bent low at her feet, the beautiful but ferocious +sultana deigned to hand him the handkerchief which she held in her hand +and to select him as her lover, as a just reward for his most +distinguished neckties and his no less exceptional _chaquets_! Then the +two marched in a triumphal procession to the harem; or, what amounts to +the same thing, they walked twice around the parlor, and sat down on the +sofa where they had been before. + +The little tertulia, after exhausting the not very varied resources of +the game of forfeits, remained inactive and comfortable in the corner of +the parlor, engaging in a low but very lively conversation, broken by +bursts of laughter and exclamations, as the brilliant young men of the +party found occasion to amuse them at the expense of some unfortunate, +whom they flayed pitilessly. Those who had not this talent contented +themselves with smiling and stupidly applauding the others' repartees, +and occasionally trying to put their fingers in the pie with little +success. They made interminable jokes on the girls about their suitors, +and the girls defended themselves as usual with the classic replies: "I +don't know why you should say so." "You have been very ill-informed." +"He comes to see me as a friend and nothing more," etc., etc. The +mischievous smiles and the expression of something hidden accompanying +these replies, told very clearly that the girls did not object to be +chaffed in that way. + +Dona Gertrudis had gone to sleep. Don Mariano and his proselytes were +still promenading from one end of the parlor to the other, involved in +deep disquisitions on the probable fall of real estate. Maria was again +standing with her forehead leaning against the panes, apparently +absorbed in one of her long and frequent meditations to which her +household were accustomed, but in reality exploring with anxious eyes +the shadows which enwrapped the plaza of Nieva. She paid little heed to +the frivolous conversation kept up by the guests. She soon heard a +strange noise in the distance and trembled. She abstracted herself as +much as possible from the confusion in the room, and lent a deep and +uneasy attention to that distant rumble which gradually grew louder and +louder in the silence of the night, each moment becoming clearer and +more definite. It was not a confused, fantastic noise, like those +caused by the wind or the sea, but solid and well-defined, perfectly +clear in Maria's ears. Soon it grew into the measured and characteristic +sound of a multitude marching in step. The young woman's astonished eyes +could distinguish by the street lamps the points of bayonets and the +varnished caps of the soldiery. All the guests on hearing the noise, +hurried to the balconies, and saw with surprise two companies marching +by the house, crossing the plaza, and disappearing from sight in the +cross-streets of the town. + +Don Mariano's friends looked at each other in amazement. + +"What are those soldiers going to do at this time o' day?" asked one +lady. + +"I don't understand where they are going," replied Don Mariano. "To get +to the interior of the province, even though they came from the West, +there is no need of their going through here; they have the valley of +Canedo, and that is a much shorter road." + +"This very day I was calling on the captain," said Don Maximo, "and he +did not say a single word to me of the coming of these companies." + +"I didn't know it, either," said the Senor de Ciudad. "The most likely +thing is that they are on the march, and are only going to spend the +night here, and start off again in the morning." + +"It's a strange thing," added Don Mariano, "but of course it may be--it +may be." + +The young people returned to their places, and quickly forgot the +incident, as they gayly took up the broken thread of conversation. Their +elders continued their promenade, making interminable comments and +endless hypotheses about the unexpected visitation. Maria still stayed +obstinately at the window, shielded from the eyes of her friends by the +great damask curtains. + +A very heated discussion about music had been set on foot in the group +of _young_ people, among whom figured the sensitive Senorita de Delgado, +in spite of the vehemently expressed protests of Rosarito, who declared +on her word that the said senorita had often held her in her arms, and +that, when she as a child was going to confession, and the Senorita de +Delgado was at her house, she had kissed her hand, as an _elderly +person_.[53] One of the most elegant of young men, who had been educated +in Madrid for five different professions in succession, upheld the +superiority of the German composers, declaring that there were no operas +like _Roberto_, _Les Huguenots_, and _Le Prophete_, and that no +symphonies could be compared with those of Beethoven and Mozart. The +ladies, powerfully supported by the rest of the men, stood up for the +advantages of Italian music. + +"Don't nauseate us with your Germans, Severino! What kind of music do +they make! It sounds to me like a pack of dogs barking." + +"That is only at first; if you should continue to hear it, you would +acquire the taste for it; the same thing happens with olives and ale." + +"Then if one has to go through such wretched moments to get used to it, +surely the thing isn't worth the trouble, you see! This does not happen +with Italian music; you enjoy it from the very first." + +"Of course, for the most part of Italian music is only a melody +accompanied by four guitars." + +"Silence, man, silence! Don't speak blasphemies. Would you think of +comparing rubbish, which they themselves don't understand, with the sublime +finale of _Lucia_, or with the soprano aria of La Favorita which begins, _Oh +mioooo--Ferna--a--a--an--do--riii--raaa--ri--ro--ra--riii--ira--_" + +"Ah, if you had heard the fourth act of _Les Huguenots!_ What dramatic +music! How expressive! It makes the hair stand on end! How magnificent +this duet is: +_La--sciami--paar--tiiir--la--sciami--paar--tiiiir--riira--riri--riri--ra +--rooo--riri--ra--roo--laaa--to--rii--ro--ra--_" + +"But could you ever hear anything sweeter than the concerted piece in +_Somnambula_ beginning, +_Tooo--ra--ri--ro--ra--roooo--laa--riii--roo--raa--rora--rooo,--rii--ra +--ri--roo_?" + +"Impossible! impossible!" said several at once. + +"Above all, Italian music stirs the heart, while German music only +deafens you," added the Senorita de Delgado. + +"That's true," affirmed her sister, the widow. + +"I believe," continued the senorita, "that the object of music is to +move ... to elevate the soul ... to cause us to shed tears ... to +transport us to ideal regions far away from the prosaic world in which +we live.... For the truth is that prose is getting such control over +society that soon it will seem ridiculous to speak of things which are +not material and sordid." + +"Certainly," affirmed the widow again. + +"Music follows the road of prose like everything else.... Don't you hear +what silly things they sing nowadays? what insipid, popular airs? And +you are lucky if it isn't some indecent piece from some opera bouffe! In +songs love is not mentioned; there are only phrases with double meanings +hiding some nastiness." + +"I believe that you know some very pretty romantic ballads, and sing +them admirably," said the youth with the banged hair, ready, as always, +to provide the tertulia with a new enjoyment. + +"No, senor ... don't you believe it.... In days gone by I used to sing +some ... but I have forgotten them...." + +"For my part," persisted the youth, with a deeply diplomatic +smile,--"and I think the same may be said of all these people--it would +give the greatest pleasure if you would search into your memory and let +us listen to some.... Isn't it so, friends?" + +"Yes, yes, Margarita, sing something, for Heaven's sake!" + +"But supposing I don't remember anything!" + +"Nonsense! it will come back to you.... If you once begin, you will find +yourself gradually remembering it." + +"It seems to me impossible.... Besides I always accompanied myself with +the guitar." + +"Isn't there a guitar in the house?" quickly asked the youth, jumping up +from his chair. + +The guitar which Marta brought lacked two or three strings, and they had +to be put on, in which operation some time was lost. Then there was +delay in getting them in tune. When it was once tuned the Senorita de +Delgado declared up and down that she would not sing, for she did not +remember anything. The tertulia was deeply grieved, and with reiterated +entreaties endeavored to inspire her to recollect some delicious melody. +But as the singer did not put up the instrument, and continued to thumb +the strings softly, all became silent and waited eagerly for the song. +However, just as the sensitive senorita was about to utter the first +note, she made a fresh and categorical protestation to the same effect +as before, and this so grieved the tertulia and particularly the youth +with the banged hair, that they would gladly have granted the singer all +the memory at their disposal, on condition that she would not leave it +in any bad place. At last the senorita fixed her eyes on the ceiling, +and in a quite dulcet though quavering voice, she struck up the +following song, the music of which I would transfer to paper with great +pleasure, if I knew how to write the score. Unfortunately, in my +philharmonic studies I never went beyond the key of G with even moderate +success:-- + + "_Hope that art so flattering to my inmost feeling,_ + _Thou dost all my bitter sorrow calm._ + _Ay! thou art no creature of imagination._ + _To the heart thou bringest welcome balm._ + _If a cruel fate remove me from the presence_ + _Of my loved one many leagues away,_ + _Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,_ + _Promising a brighter, happier day._" + +"Bravo, bravo!"--"How pretty!"--"How sweet!"--"How melancholy!"--"Go on, +Margarita, do go on!" The Senorita de Delgado continued in this way:-- + + "_If at solitary midnight I am thinking_ + _Of my sweetheart's ever blessed name,_ + _And before my spellbound memory slowly rises_ + _Her enchanting features limned in flame,--_ + _Then 'tis thou, O Hope, that softly prophesyest_ + _That my loved one will not say me nay;_ + _Then 'tis Hope alone that soothes my deep affliction,_ + _Promising a brighter, happier day._" + +Just as this point was reached, and when the audience was getting ready +to enjoy the unspeakable sweetness of a new strophe, even more +passionate and more pathetic than the last, when the Senorita de +Delgado was languorously laying her pudgy fingers on the strings of the +instrument, and drooping her head still more languorously on her bosom +in testimony of her bitter grief, there occurred one of those strange +and terrible events, more terrible still from being unexpected, and +therefore overwhelming, that suspend and for the time being cut short +the use of speech: an extraordinary scene, occurring with such rapidity +that it allowed no time for reflection, and left the spectators in the +deepest consternation without power of interference. + +The parlor door was thrown violently open, and the eyes of the +bystanders turned toward it, saw with surprise the pale face of a +servant, who addressed his master, saying,-- + +"Senor! Senor!" + +"What is the trouble?" asked Don Mariano, in the energetic tone +customary to high-strung natures, when they suspect danger. + +"The soldiers are here!" + +"And what have I to do with soldiers, you dolt!" replied the master in +an angry voice. + +"Th-they're c-come to arrest you!" + +"It isn't true!" cried a voice from the hall. + +And at the same time six or eight figures filled the doorway behind the +servant. The first to be seen were a very young officer in undress +uniform, and a caballero, not very well favored, in a tight-buttoned +great-coat, and holding in his hand a staff with tassels. Behind them +were seen the caps and the muskets of several soldiers. The man with the +staff, who was apparently the one who had spoken, advanced two steps +into the parlor, and without removing his hat asked Don Mariano +sharply,-- + +"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?" + +The old gentleman's eyes sparkled with indignation. + +"First of all, take off your hat!" + +The man with the staff, somewhat bluffed by Don Mariano's attitude and +the looks of the company, took off his sombrero. + +"Now, what is your business?" + +"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?" + +"No! I am the _excelentisimo senor_ Don Mariano Elorza!" + +"It's the same thing." + +"It is not the same thing!" + +"Well, let us drop discussions; I have orders to arrest your daughter, +Dona Maria." + +All the Senor de Elorza's energy suddenly vanished like a shadow, at +hearing those portentous words. He stood a few moments bewildered and +petrified, with his face crestfallen, like one who has just beheld a +miracle and has no faith in his own eyes. Then suddenly recovering +himself, he sprang at the man with the staff, and shaking him violently +by the lappel of his coat, he said to him in a voice of thunder,-- + +"And who are you, insolent man, to dare think of such a thing?" + +"I am the chief of police[54] for this province, and I warn you that if +you offer the least resistance I shall make use of the force which I +have with me." + +"Are you perfectly sure that it is my daughter whom you come to arrest?" + +"Yes Sir; I have orders to arrest the Senorita Dona Maria Elorza. I +request you to hand her over to me without delay." + +"Here I am," said Maria, issuing from the hollow of the balconied +window, and advancing toward the chief of police. + +"But it cannot be," thundered Don Mariano again, holding his daughter +back. "This man is crazy or has come to the wrong place." + +"Are you ready to go with me?" asked the _comisario_ of the young woman. + +"Yes, senor," was her firm reply. + +"Then come along." + +"Don Mariano hid his face in his hands, and exclaimed with a cry of +agony,-- + +"Daughter of my heart, what have you been doing?" + +"Nothing that dishonors me or dishonors you," replied the girl proudly, +lifting her lovely face and hastening from the room. Don Mariano was +held back by all his friends who clustered around him, but quickly +finding himself alone, as all, warned by a cry from Marta, hastened to +the assistance of Dona Gertrudis who had fainted, he darted like a flash +from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GATHERED THREADS. + + +Some time before the events which we have just related, the loves of +Ricardo and Maria, which had been going on in a gradual diminuendo like +the notes of a beautiful melody, until Ricardo himself knew not whether +they really existed or had completely died away; whether he was the +lover of the first-born daughter of the Elorzas, or whether he had other +rights over her heart than those granted to an old valued friend--these +loves, I say, had suddenly and unexpectedly gained, without any one +knowing a reason for it, a new lease of life, just as a light about to +die from lack of oil is renewed by being given a good quantity of this +combustible. Every one was surprised to see them together, talking as +before in one corner of the parlor, during long interviews, oblivious of +everything around them, dwelling in that nook of heaven which lovers +find as easily in crowds as in solitude. Satisfaction followed surprise +in their friends, and this in turn was followed by hypotheses as to the +approach of the wedding-day, and conjectures about the motives serving +to make such a change in the conduct of the lovers. The mischievous +ones, winking as they said it, declared that of the three enemies of the +soul, the flesh was the most to be feared, and that God had said, +_Crescite et multiplicamini_, and that it was folly to fight against the +laws of nature. The ladies, casting down their eyes, declared that in +all states one could well serve God, and that not the easiest of +penances were imposed by the care and education of children and the rule +of the house. But at all events, the fact was that things had changed +without any one knowing why, and that ladies and gentlemen were +delighted, hoping that the illustrious partners would soon vouchsafe +them a happy day. Don Mariano's delight was so great that it shone +through his eyes every time that he turned them toward the handsome +couple, and a thousand lovely dreams in which figured a swarm of rosy, +frolicsome grandchildren, just as his daughter had been, came at night +to caress him in the solitudes of his feudal couch. Dona Gertrudis, as +usual, thoroughly approved of Maria's conduct. Learn now how this state +of things came about. + +One morning when the young Marques de Penalta awoke earlier than usual, +noticing from the window of his room that the sky was clear (contrary to +its time-honored custom), he felt an inclination to take a walk in the +environs of the town, and making the thought father to the act, he +hastily dressed and went down into the street in search of pure air; but +before he left the inner town, as he was passing the Elorza mansion, he +accidentally met Maria going to church with her maid. His heart gave a +leap, and, somewhat agitated, he stopped to salute her. The girl met him +with that gay, blithesome gesture, full at once of mischievousness and +candor which was peculiar to her nature, and therefore impossible to +overcome by any force. + +"You have got up early--to hear mass, I suppose?" + +"Oh no," replied Ricardo with a smile; "I was going to take a walk in +the country, as it must be very lovely now." + +"Very well; but to-day you must not go to walk: I claim you, and am +going to take you to mass," said the girl in a tone of resolution, and +with a decidedly adorable inflection of voice; and suiting the action to +the word, she took him by the hand and led him captive this way for a +number of feet. + +Lucky Ricardo! what better could he desire at that moment than to see +himself captured in such a lovely way? He could not say a word during +the first few moments. Emotion overmastered him, and a tear slid down +his honest, manly face. + +"Oh, Maria, if you knew how happy you make me!" he said to her in a low, +trembling voice. "If you wanted to take me with you, where would I not +go? You cannot comprehend how I long for you to speak with me, to smile +on me, to lead me. I try eagerly to find ways to please you, and I don't +find them. Tell me how I can cause you any pleasure, how I can melt the +ice which is destroying our love, and I will try to do it, even if it +should cost me my life. If I did not love you more than any other being +in this world, and also as the blessed remembrance of my mother, how +long ago I should have left you forever!... But my love is of such a +nature, it is so strong, so eager, so absorbing, that it has succeeded +in disarming all my pride ... and I fear that it has got the better of +my dignity," he added in a low tone. + +The young woman looked at him steadily, full of delight and admiration +of such sincere affection, and she replied gayly,-- + +"At present you can please me by going to mass with me; will you?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Will you come to-morrow also, and every other day?" + +"Yes, loveliest, I ask nothing better." + +"You don't know how you rejoice me, Ricardo!" + +"Truly?" + +"Yes, I love you dearly, but I want you to be good and religious, +because, before everything else we ought to think of our salvation, and +make it our richest possession in this world." + +The young man at that moment felt his heart melt within him, as he drank +in the drops of affection which his sweetheart let fall upon his lips. +There is nothing that can so quickly change our most deeply rooted ideas +and our firmest judgments as the voice of the woman whom we love. +Ricardo was a lukewarm believer, like most men of our day, and he +detested exaggerations, and looked with decided repugnance upon +religious practices. Accordingly then, by the work of enchantment, that +is, by the work of that sweet voice and those still sweeter eyes, which +gazed upon him with eloquent expression, he was stripped of his +anti-clerical opinions, and was transformed into a decided champion of +the altar and a fervid devotee of the saints, male and female, of the +celestial court. He took delight in thinking that what his betrothed was +doing was, after all, not blameworthy; that her piety and mysticism were +the reflection of a noble and lofty spirit; that this same piety was the +sweet pledge of her conjugal happiness, since it would cause her to +refrain from the vanities to which other women after marriage devote +themselves; that there was nothing strange in the poor girl desiring her +betrothed to be a believer and devout, when her ideas about eternal +salvation were taken into consideration, and that in this regard he had +done very wrong to oppose her so obstinately, striking her in the very +heart of her sensitive and admirable faith; finally he came to the +conclusion that he was a barbarian, incapable of enjoying the sacraments +or of understanding the adorable mysteries which a heart consecrated to +God might take in, and that Maria was a saint who had borne with him +with too much patience. Moved, partly by this thought, and infinitely +more by the emotion caused by his sweetheart's unexpected favor, he +replied with accents of tenderness:-- + +"Listen Maria.... You know well that I am not, and have never been an +unbeliever.... It is true I have looked with a certain coolness on +religious practices, but you ought to know just as well that this is a +common fault among young men, and particularly among the military.... As +for the rest, I tell you with all the sincerity of my soul, I have never +abandoned the faith which my sainted mother taught me in childhood.... +Even now ring in my ears her counsels, and still I can repeat without +mistake, the multitude of prayers which she made me say on my knees on +the bed, when I retired.... That cannot be forgotten, Maria.... It would +be infamous if one forgot it! To-day the same counsels are repeated by +lips that I worship.... How could you think that a religion always +inculcated by the beings whom I have most loved and respected in my +life, should not be sweet!... Yes, my loveliest, I am religious by birth +and by conviction, and I hope to be still more fervently so by your +aid.... Tell me what you desire me to do in this regard, and I will do +it.... Tell me what thoughts you wish me to think, and I will think +them!... I am all yours, body and soul...." + +"Thus, thus I love you.... But you must not be religious for the sake of +my love, for then it has no merit in it, but for the sake of God. The +ties which are made in this world,--what are they worth in comparison +with that existing eternally between the Creator and his creatures? If +you love me much, love me in God and for God, as I love you. In any +other way it is a sin to fix our attention and our love on any +creature." + +Ricardo's emotion and ardor received from these words a dash of cold +water, but they were strong enough to persist without diminution, and +they still kept control of his heart until they reached the portico of +the church. Then Maria, taking the holy water, and offering it to him +with the tips of her fingers, said:-- + +"Now you must stay under the choir to hear the mass; I am going up to +the altar. Be careful not to look for me a single time! You must +understand that this would be to profane the sanctuary, and in such a +case it would be better for you not to come in." + +"No, I will not look at you, though it will be very hard work." + +"Give me your word that you won't." + +"I give it." + +"Well, then, adios, ... it won't be long[55] ... wait for me at the +entrance...." + +After she had gone several steps away, she turned around to say in a +very subdued tone,-- + +"Be sure to do as I said, ... and be reverent, will you?" + +Ricardo gave a sign of assent, while a happy smile brightened his face. + +From that time forth the Marques de Penalta every morning escorted the +eldest daughter of the Elorzas to mass, leaving her at the church door +and joining her again when service was over. Maria evidently felt great +pleasure in having his company, and as for Ricardo, it is not easy to +exaggerate the joy which suddenly fell upon him through the change +brought about in the behavior of his betrothed. Gradually her influence +began to have such weight upon his spirit, that before long, as he +himself had already suspected would be the case, his ideas began notably +to modify, and not only his ideas but likewise his habits and manner of +life, causing him to be more circumspect in nature, more careful in his +speech, more gentle and more religious ... Anxious to please his +betrothed, who did not cease to urge him with entreaties and advice, he +began to give up the noisy amusements and even the company of the other +officers of the gun factory, going home early, frequenting churches, and +spending many afternoons with some of the clergymen; he became a member +of several pious confraternities, among them that of Saint Vincent de +Paul, visiting the poor in company with the _beatos_ of the town, and +spending no little money in contributions for worship; finally, after +many heartfelt prayers he made general confession to Fray Ignacio, +Maria's confessor. + +However strange it may seem, we must declare that Ricardo, far from +feeling repugnance or discomfort in this new life, found deep, +mysterious pleasures, which till then he had never enjoyed. The pomp and +circumstance of the Catholic religion, to which he had hitherto paid +little attention, began to fascinate him; the sweet seclusion of the +church at eventide, when it is peopled with shadows and murmurs, filled +him with a gentle perturbation, with a certain peculiar longing for a +lofty secret something; the odors of the incense and wax were for him +like a pleasant poison, which put him to sleep, carrying him away to +glorious regions of immortal bliss; his frequent deeds of charity +produced in him an agreeable aftertaste and a great sense of comfort, +increasing his faith; the humiliation of the sacrament of penance, +which at first had been so distasteful to him, came to be a fountain of +delights; he himself did not know whence they proceeded or how they took +possession of his soul. Perhaps some of the psychological novelists who +know so much and take such delight in investigating the deepest recesses +of the consciousness of other people might discover the origin of those +joys in the close union which our young friend created in the depths of +his soul between religion and his love for Maria, and might see in the +pleasure which Ricardo felt in running counter to his ideas, and +mortifying his self-love, a certain analogy to what mystics and ascetics +feel in the midst of their cruel torments,--the pleasure of sacrificing +self for the beloved object. Perhaps they would set themselves minutely +to investigate what part of that pleasure corresponded to pure devotion, +and what part to the development of amorous sentiments and the movement +of the feelings. Possibly, carried away by their love of analysis, and +dragged from their moorings by the hurricane of impiety, which is +nowadays apt to carry away with it this class of novelists, they might +go so far as to declare that there exists at the bottom of religious +practices and the ceremonial of the Church something which instead of +calming the voice of the feelings adds to it, and that the inclination +of the sexes, in the very heart of the religious life, within the temple +itself, enjoying the soporific light reflected gently from the gilding +of the altars, breathing the keen odors of the dust and the wax, and the +narcotic perfume of the incense, listening to the moaning of the organ, +and the vague murmur of the prayers of the faithful, acquires the +flattering savor of forbidden fruit, and is more delicious and +voluptuous than amid the splendor and elegance of the ball-room. +Possibly they would say this and add many other considerations to prove +it, but I will not follow them on this path, which, without good reason, +leads to the offending of timid consciences and the grievous confusing +of the novelist with the philosopher. I limit myself gladly to setting +forth facts without launching out into the philosophy of them, and I +faithfully describe what I have seen and experienced, or have been told +by trustworthy people. + +One genuine fact, therefore, was that Ricardo enjoyed in his own way +yielding to the counsels of his betrothed in reference to the practice +of Christian virtue and pious deeds. The afternoon when he made general +confession, he felt more deeply than ever the singular consolation and +the lively delights to be enjoyed in the depths of humility. It was a +clear, beautiful spring afternoon. Fray Ignacio, forewarned by Maria, +was waiting for him in the sacristy of San Felipe, and received him with +a certain familiar solemnity not free from condescension. He confessed +in the sacristy itself, Fray Ignacio being seated in a wooden chair +blackened and polished by use, while he knelt at his feet with the +diffidence and emotion such as he used to feel as a boy when his mother +led him by the hand to the same confessional. The shame of announcing +his sins soon passed away, giving place to a gentle tenderness full of +unspeakable sweetness, which was so overpowering that he was constrained +to tears. The spacious room in which he found himself, its lofty +ceiling, its dusty walls set with black shelves and gloomy paintings, +gave a melancholy echo to the murmured words of his confession; the +sunlight made its way in through the leaded panes of the two windows, +making in the wide spaces lines of floating, luminous dust. The priest +threw one arm around his neck and brought his ear close to his lips, +gradually probing with many leading questions the inmost nooks and +corners of his conscience and the deepest secrets of his soul, sometimes +severely chiding him, sometimes giving him sweet counsels, sometimes +entertaining him with exemplary anecdotes which agreeably occupied for a +few moments the intervals of the pious proceeding. He stopped to speak +long of Ricardo's love and its advantages and of Maria's splendid +character. Ricardo felt a lively pleasure in these words: he looked with +admiration and reverence on that man who was the absolute master of his +loved one's secrets, and he determined to put his soul into his hands, +that he might guide it just as she had done. The priest continued with a +final exhortation full of fire, wherein he eloquently united Maria's +name with all the acts of virtue which he expected from him henceforth, +so as to stir him to the highest pitch and kindle in his spirit sincere +repentance and an irresistible desire to live piously and rejoice his +betrothed. When they were done, and Fray Ignacio, assuming a certain +solemnity, drew back a little and let fall upon him a full and generous +absolution, the lines of the floating luminous dust had vanished and the +sacristy was half enveloped in shadows. On the following day, when he +went to mass with Maria, instead of waiting under the choir, he went +with her to the great altar and received in her presence and to her +great joy the holy wafer. + +"You have given me the greatest pleasure of my life, Ricardo," she said +as they went out of the church. + +The young marquis smiled beatifically, and replied in a whisper,-- + +"Do you love me more now?" + +"I don't care to answer you," replied the girl with a sweet expression +of face. "After communion one ought not to speak of such things.... Let +us wait till to-morrow." + +They waited till the morrow, and then Maria told him without hesitation +that his virtuous conduct inspired her with more and more love, and that +he must not faint in the way if he desired to see himself always loved. +Ricardo had no other thought than this, and he found so much to delight +him in this new state of affairs that for no earthly advantage would he +consent to change it. Thus, then, each day he kept on with greater +resolution in the path which his betrothed laid out for him, and paid no +heed to the chaffing of his companions of the factory, since it was +difficult to catch sight of him anywhere else except at home, at Don +Mariano's, or at church. + +"You have converted me into a _beato!_" he said sometimes to Maria, as a +sort of affectionate reproach. + +"Why? are you getting tired of it, you rogue?" + +"No, dear, no; I am happy enough because thus I have conquered your +love...." + +"Is that the only reason?" + +" ...And because I like to lead this better regulated and sober life." + +"That is a different thing!" + +Let us say here (though the reader will not have failed to perceive it) +that in imagination, and even intelligence, Maria was the young Marques +de Penalta's superior, and that in this regard, and taking into account +the deep affection which he professed for her, it was nothing strange +that he should yield to his mistress and her counsels in matters wherein +men of greater learning and talent frequently give way to their mothers +and wives. Maria, aside from her vivid imagination, stimulated and +kindled by continual reading, had a special gift for persuading. Her +language was always easy and picturesque, and she took especial delight +in moving her friends to compassion, when she wanted to entice from them +money for the poor or for church services; the rare facility with which +she passed from the serious and pathetic to the humorous, and mingled +with an earnest entreaty the salt of a witty saying, made her +irresistible. The religious confraternities and societies of Nieva had +no more active and influential member, and they relied upon her in +emergencies as upon a guardian angel who would be able to rescue them +from their difficulties. As may be supposed, this lofty estimation was +supported, not only by the young lady's splendid moral and physical +qualities, but also in no small degree by the fact that she was the +daughter of the richest and most respected gentleman in town. + +Let us say also that at the period when these events occurred, the +clergy and the religious tendencies of our people were suffering a mild +sort of persecution on the part of the government, which was then under +the control of liberals most extreme in their views and notorious for +their heretical ideas, and this, as was to be expected, had greatly +excited the consciences of the God-fearing, and had kindled in the +Northern provinces, naturally more religious and more tenacious of +tradition, an obstinate and bloody civil war which threatened to +overthrow the body politic, and, at the same time, our wealth and +prestige. All people of greater or less piety who loved our Catholic +traditions, every one who detested the persecution suffered by the +Church, and yearned for the kingdom of Jesus on earth under the +mediation of his ministers, waited eagerly the result of this formidable +war, in which were at stake not only the more or less genuine rights of +a claimant to the throne, but likewise the dearest and most august +interests of religion. Those who frequented the churches and were on +terms of intimacy with the clergy, took a tacit stand together against +the heretics in power, receiving joyfully and quickly spreading all +intelligence favorable to the royal-Catholic cause, and falling into +anxiety and melancholy when bad news came. In the houses of the richest +landed proprietors, in the sacristies, and in the back shops of many an +absolutist merchant was read on the sly the _Cuartel Real_, the official +journal of the Pretender, which came from time to time between pieces of +_cretonne_ or packages of macaroni. Festivals in honor of the Virgin +were celebrated with great pomp as an atonement for the manifold +impieties of the Congress of Deputies, and these festivals on more than +one occasion ended violently by the interference of drunken Republicans. +There was a great increase in attention to religious worship, especially +to that of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and many pious people +went on pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Lourdes, on their return telling +their friends about the fine arrangement and the solid organization of +the Catholic hosts in the Basque provinces. A number of young men of the +best known families of Nieva had not been seen over night, concealing +the real purpose of their absence. From this to open, resolute +conspiracy is but a step, and in Nieva this preparatory step had already +been taken. There was formed in the town a Carlist committee,[56] which +held its meetings with a certain mystery and kept up close relations +with the Central Committee, whose orders it obeyed, and a lively +correspondence with the army of the Pretender. As in the country, +though not to such a degree as in the Basque provinces, there existed +sufficient elements for the service of the Catholic-monarchical cause, +to bring about, provided they were well managed, if not a formal war, at +least a serious agitation. The committee of Nieva, instigated by that of +the capital, decided, after much vacillation and no few discussions, to +raise a company within the territory. The preparations were very +extensive; they began early in the winter, and did not terminate until +the beginning of the spring. There were reports emanating from Bayonne, +there came orders and plans of action, there were numberless secret +meetings, a few women were enlisted, muskets were surreptitiously +abstracted from the factory by a few Carlist workmen, a quantity of +white caps and spatterdashes[57] were made; finally, one night there +went out to camp some thirty young men, for the most part students and +seminarists, at whose head marched the president of the committee, Don +Cesar Pardo, whom we had the honor of meeting at the end of the third +chapter of this narration. Those who had sworn to go forth that night +were more than three hundred, but only that handful of braves were on +hand, and Don Cesar, giving proofs of what he was, that is, a bold, +heroic caballero, did not hesitate to take command of them, hoping by +his example to carry along the timid. They made their way to the +mountain by the valley of Canedo; but on the next day a dozen +policemen,[58] who immediately started in pursuit of them, took them by +surprise just as they were dining in camp, and brought them back to the +city, bound, without being able to make the least resistance. The +people, hearing of the incident, hastened in great numbers to await +them on the highway, and saw them filing toward the jail, melancholy but +dignified and stern, showing in their haughty eyes that if they had not +been victims of a surprise, much blood would have been shed. + +The eldest daughter of the house of Elorza, a most ardent devotee of +religion, enlisted body and soul in the divine mission of sanctifying +her spirit and saving it from the clutches of sin. An unwearied worker +in the field of evangelical virtue, ever aspiring to greater perfection, +and a zealous propagator of the faith, she could not fail to share in +the indignation burning in the breast of the people with whom she had +most to do. To her ears came, greatly exaggerated, the rumor of the +revolutionary excesses, and the blasphemies daily uttered by the +newspapers at the capital, though of course she never ventured to read +them. Her confessors commanded her to implore God in her prayers, that +the Church might triumph and its enemies be brought to confusion and +repentance; her friends and companions in the confraternities asked her +to join them in special novenas for the consolation of the Virgin; not a +few times they asked alms of her for some priest who was lying in +misery, and at other times for the unfortunate nuns of some convent, +cruelly torn from it that it might be turned into barracks. All these +things, along with a fervid affection for the holy institutions thus +persecuted, continually fomented in her ardent, enthusiastic soul a deep +aversion for the persecutors and the impious men who governed contrary +to the law of God. Sometimes, carried away by her impressionable +temperament, she felt powerful impulses to follow the example of Judith, +making some villain expiate such horrible deeds of sacrilege. She would +have liked to hold in her power the persecutors of Jesus, to destroy +them and crush them to powder. When these cruel impulses passed away, +they left her always with a warm compassion for the innocent victims of +the madness of impiety, and a vague desire to contribute with her blood +to the reign of Jesus and Mary over all the powers of the earth. She +felt that a something was born in her heart spurring her toward active +life, persuading her to leave for a time the joys of contemplation for +the pains of struggle, repose for labor, the enchantment of solitude for +tumult; she heard, like the bride of the Sacred Song, a voice saying: +"_Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is +fitted with dew and my locks with the drops of the night._" She saw +clearly that her Jesus suffered for the injustices of men, and that he +demanded her aid; that he asked a new proof of love by tearing her away +from the comfort which she enjoyed and casting her amid the hurricanes +of the world. But the beautiful young girl at the same time saw the +enormous difficulties rising before her at the first step which she +should make, the persecutions which would come upon her, and the +certainty that those who loved her would regard her conduct as absurd. +She understood her weakness, was afraid of the bitter griefs in store +for her, and she replied, like the bride: "_I have put off my coat; how +shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?_" +Long she struggled with herself to quench the voice calling her to +active life, and convince herself that she could not do anything for the +cause of the Lord; but it was in vain. All her specious arguments were +answered victoriously by the voice, putting it before her that she ought +not to question whether her aid would or would not be valuable, but +simply to consider the will with which she offered it; that God was +pleased oftentimes to show his power by entrusting the execution of +great deeds to humble and frail creatures, as was proved by the +renowned Jean d'Arc, Saint Catalina of Sienna, Saint Teresa, and other +excellent virgins who accomplished mighty works in spite of the high +powers of the earth. + +An insignificant incident brought Maria to a decision. Her uncle +Rodrigo, Marques de Revollar, who was one of the most important magnates +of the court of the Pretender, learning of her enkindled faith and the +relations which she maintained with the partisans of Catholic monarchy +in Nieva, wrote her from Bayonne, asking her if she were ready to serve +as intermediary for the correspondence between him and Don Cesar Pardo, +president of the Carlist committee. Maria hastened to reply that she +should be delighted to do so, and from that time she began frequently to +receive letters from her uncle, enclosed in which came others for Don +Cesar. These were doubtless the thread by which the Carlist conspiracy +of Nieva was connected with the lofty spheres whence the orders +emanated. And, without her knowing how, she found herself +compromised--and she was not troubled by it--in the cause of the good +Christians who, as she frequently heard from the lips of Don Cesar and +others, were endeavoring to restore Jesus to his sacred throne, and to +rescue him from pride and heresy. Far, as I said, from feeling fear or +trouble by it, her courage increased from the danger that she ran, and +this was for her a manifest sign that the favor of heaven accompanied +her, and she constantly entangled herself more and more in the designs +of the conspirators, being present at their meetings and serving them +with zeal and enthusiasm to the best of her ability. At the time of Don +Cesar's armed expedition she it was who embroidered the standard and the +flannel hearts which the defenders of the faith wore, sewed on their +waistcoats. The conspirators felt toward her the greatest respect on +account of her reputation for sanctity, and they professed for her deep +affection for the enthusiasm with which she burned for the cause. In +some of these meetings she was invited to give her opinion, and she did +so with such talent and eloquence, she showed so much fire, and at the +same time so much discretion in her language, that the conspirators saw +in the beautiful young girl an angel sent from God to sustain their +faith and cause them to hold firm in their mighty schemes. + +After Don Cesar's abortive attempt the Carlists of Nieva were quite cast +down. Maria shed many tears, and besought God earnestly that He would +not allow iniquity and falsehood to prevail against His holy law, and +that He would have compassion on His good soldiers, now banished and +persecuted. And, in fact, God had compassion, and allowed Don Cesar and +the larger part of the young men, who with him had been banished to the +_Canary Islands_, to escape in a foreign steamship, and return incognito +to their fatherland, where they hid in the houses of their faithful and +valorous friends. Thereupon the partisans of tradition recovered their +energy and began once more to plot, though it was vaguely and without +definite object. The object did not appear for some time, until the +heroic and determined Don Cesar suggested the idea of striking an +audacious blow which would suddenly give them the means of struggling +advantageously with the few troops in the province. This stroke, +proposed by the valiant ringleader, was nothing less than to seize the +gun factory[59] of Nieva. At first all thought the project a crazy one, +but gradually, by dint of thinking the idea over and over, they came to +look upon it as less unreasonable, and even began quietly, and with +great enthusiasm, to prepare the means for carrying it out. Such being +the state of things, Maria, one afternoon, went to the house where Don +Cesar was concealed, and asked to speak with him in private. What the +damsel said must have been exceedingly important and flattering, for the +old ringleader, offering her his hand, and giving her a kiss upon the +forehead, replied with trembling voice:-- + +"My daughter, you are going to be our salvation. God desires to submit +the lot of many brave men to such dainty hands, and who knows if not +also the triumph of His cause?" + +The young woman retired to her room, where she engaged in prayer for a +long time, and then she went down to her mother's apartment. Ricardo +soon came in, according to his habit. After a few moments of +conversation, Dona Gertrudis went off to sleep, and the two young people +retired to a nook in the window to tell each other the sweet every-day +secrets, which are sweeter and more delicious the more they are +repeated. Maria was preoccupied; her betrothed, with the quickness of +one who truly loves, instantly noticed it. + +"What ails you to-day?... it seems to me that you are troubled...." + +"I feel sad, Ricardo.... I feel sad, as though some misfortune were +hurrying on me." + +"It's your nerves, which are overtaxed, dear.... Fasts greatly weaken +you. You ought to stop them for a while, as well as so many hours of +prayer.... You are weakening yourself very much...." + +"On the contrary, I have never felt so well as I have lately. It is not +my nerves, but a genuine sadness.... It is my soul that suffers, and not +my body." + +"But have you any reason for being melancholy?" + +"I have a presentiment." + +"But who cares for presentiments?" + +Maria kept silent, and Ricardo also. It was the twilight hour; both +gazed steadily out of the window, upon the great plaza of Nieva, +surrounded by its arcades, where the boys who had been let out of school +were amusing themselves, running and shouting. The sun was already down, +leaving above the tiled roof of the town-hall[60] a wide stretch of sky +slightly tinted with rose, which took bluish shades toward the zenith, +and yellow toward the horizon. The people of the town were hurrying +through the streets, attending to the last duties of the day, and +enjoying the sweet gloaming. Such an evening was rare. The balconies of +the Cafe de la Estrella were occupied by a few customers, who were +casting their restless eyes around the plaza. On the balcony of the +opposite house a little boy, with blue eyes and light, curly hair, was +having a good time with a wooden pipe, blowing soap-bubbles. Several +ragamuffins below, with no little chatter, caught them as they floated +down, bursting them with their hats and handkerchiefs. + +After a while, Maria turned to her betrothed, and fixing upon him an +intense, anxious look, said, with trembling voice,-- + +"Ricardo, do you love me much?" + +"Why do you ask me that question?... Don't you know that I do?" + +"Yes, I know that you love me.... You have already given me proof of it +... but in love, as in everything not transitory in this world, there is +always a more and less.... Only divine love is infinite.... The love +that you bear me has stood certain proofs; who knows if it could stand +others?" + +"The love which I have for thee," said the young marquis, placing his +hand on his heart, "has power to stand all proofs." + +"All?" + +"All." + +"Even if I were to ask you your life?..." + +"Bah! bah!" replied the young man, shrugging his shoulders with gesture +of disdain, "that would be to ask very little." + +Maria smiled with satisfaction, and after a pause, demanded timidly,-- + +"And if I asked your honor ... or what you men understand by honor?..." +she added, correcting herself. + +Ricardo, slightly pale, arose to his feet, and hesitated some time +before he replied. At last he said in a low tone, calmly:-- + +"Honor, my love, is not our own possession; it is a trust which heaven +places in our hands at birth, demanding account of it when we die." + +A flash of indignation and scorn passed through Maria's eyes, as she +heard those words. + +"And who has told you[61] what heaven grants you or asks of you, and why +do you mix heaven with things that oftentimes pertain to hell?" + +But calming herself in an instant, and giving her words a sweet, +persuasive tone, she added:-- + +"What heaven confides to man at birth nothing can reveal except +religion, and religion tells us that man not seldom counts his honor in +what he ought to look upon as his ruin and destruction.... Generally +what the world most appreciates and thirsts for goes against God's +law.... Therefore we ought to make very little account of this pretended +honor with which pride and haughtiness are cloaked. The true honor of +the Christian consists only in serving God, and obeying His holy +commands.... Listen, Ricardo.... I asked you if you loved me much for +the reason that it was imperative for me to know ... to know with +absolute and entire certainty.... I am going to make you a confession, +after which, if you are as noble and have as much faith as I may demand +of you, perhaps you will love me more than ever; ... but if your faith +is frail and vacillating, and you pay tribute to the frivolous +considerations of the world, you will surely love me less, and possibly +you will even desert me...." + +"Never that!" + +"Wait a moment.... Imagine that your betrothed, neglecting and even +violating certain rules laid down by society, and overstepping the +limits always set for woman, especially when she is an unmarried girl, +mingles in actions that are purely masculine; ... for example, in +politics, ... and not only mingles in them with thought and word, but +actually takes an active part in them. Imagine her to enter into a +conspiracy, and work with ardor for the triumph of her cause, ... and +put her life or her liberty at stake to accomplish it...." + +"What, you?..." + +"Yes," replied Maria, with resolution. "I have entered with all my heart +into a conspiracy.... I am working with all my might and main for the +triumph of the cause of the righteous.... God knows well that it makes +no difference to me whether one set of men or another rule over us, and +that no earthly consideration has tempted me to such a step. But I have +seen, and I still see religion and the ministry of religion, abused; I +see the salvation of many souls endangered, I see every day the divine +Jesus and his sweet name made a mockery by the impious men who chance to +rule in Spain, wearing a crown of thorns a thousand times more grievous +than what he bore at Jerusalem ... and I feel that his eyes implore me +and I hear his celestial voice begging me to lift that terrible crown a +little.... Do you think that I can weigh against the sublime interests +of religion, the safety of my soul, and the glory of Jesus, the childish +fear of displeasing the world?" + +"I know nothing about it," replied Ricardo, in a dull voice, buried in +deep thought. + +"You see how I was right! Now that I have confessed to you and told you +my secret, your love already grows dim, and you certainly will soon +drift away from me and abandon me!" + +The young girl's last word caused Ricardo to lift his head quickly. He +had a presentiment that something serious was at hand, and he replied in +a tone of ill humor,-- + +"And what is it that has moved you to confide to me all these things, +which you have kept so secret till now?" + +"Before all, forgive me for not having confided in you before.... They +were secrets that did not belong to me.... Besides, I imagined that you +would not think as I did, and would raise some objection to my plans.... +But now you have greatly changed: you are more religious, and you love +the name of Christian which you bear.... Therefore I decided to open my +soul entirely before you, and to put into your trusty, honest hands the +lives of many noble-souled men.... I am very weak, Ricardo mio; I am +only a poor girl, incapable of struggling and resisting; ... a shadow +makes me tremble, ... a word startles me and moves me to the very depths +of my being.... My eyes are more accustomed to shed tears than to direct +imperious glances, and my hands are folded with more pleasure than they +are raised in anger.... I have no cunning to avoid impositions, or +fortitude to endure pain.... I can do nothing, ... nothing, ... and I am +filled with despair; but thou art brave, thou art noble, and thou art +generous.... I can rely on thee as the bird in the air, and thanks to +thee, win heaven.... These moments are supreme for me.... I feel as +though I was near the abyss, and I have no power to stay my steps.... If +thou dost not reach me out thy hand, thou wilt very soon see me plunging +into it.... Ricardo mio, do not abandon me, ... for God's sake do not +abandon me!..." + +The young man felt that the danger was nearer than ever, and +exclaimed,-- + +"Let us have it done with at once, Maria. Let us know what it is all +about." + +"It is about a great act of merit which you can accomplish toward your +salvation if you will abandon the wicked suggestions of the world and +listen to the invitation of heaven.... In this town there is a mighty +weapon which, instead of serving God, as everything in this world ought +to serve Him, is an awful auxiliary of the devil. This weapon is the gun +factory...." Maria stopped a moment, and then, casting a frightened look +at her lover, continued in a trembling voice: "You can snatch this +weapon from the evil one and restore it into the hands of God by +delivering it over to the defenders of religion and--" + +Maria stopped a second time, and looked with horror at the livid, +contracted face of the young marquis, who grasped her by the arm, and +shaking her violently, roared, rather than spoke:-- + +"Who suggested to you the idea of proposing _that_ to me?... Answer +me.... Who was the vile, low wretch who advised you to do it?... I'll go +myself this very instant and tear out his tongue for him! Tell me, tell +me, Maria!... This thought never originated with you.... You couldn't +have supposed that your lover, the Marquis of Penalta, the descendant of +so many noble gentlemen, a soldier of honor and loyalty, could calmly +listen to such a proposition!... You could not have imagined that the +man who adored you was a cowardly traitor, whom his comrades would +justly laugh to scorn!... Only thus can I pardon the horrible words +which you have just spoken.... Listen for God's sake, Maria.... Just now +my brain is on fire and my heart is frozen.... I hear within me a voice +which prophesies a great misfortune.... Yet still, at this moment I tell +thee that I love thee with all my soul.... Even to the point of giving +my life for thee gladly; ... but if this love which I have for thee were +multiplied a thousand-fold, and were not to be gratified in this world, +I would crush it, I would blot it out as a light is blotted out,--with a +breath,--and I would remain all my life long in darkness sooner than +consent to such villany.... What am I saying?... If God himself came +down to propose that to me, and threatened me with the eternal torments +of hell, I would refuse.... I would prefer to be damned with the loyal +than be saved with traitors." + +Maria hung her head in consternation. After some little time she +succeeded in saying in a weak voice:-- + +"You do not understand me, Ricardo, nor do I understand you any better. +In judging of the things of this world we put ourselves at very opposite +points of view: you look through the glass of the conventions +established by men, and I only through that of the law of God. For you +the renown of bravery, the reputation of being loyal and noble, is the +first thing; for me the main thing is the salvation of my soul.... +Pardon me if I have offended you, and let this _honor_ which you worship +so fervently serve you to forget forever what we have been talking +about." + +Ricardo gave the girl a long, sad look. He had just learned once and for +all that that woman could never be his; that he held only a very +subordinate place in that idolatrous heart, so full of mysterious +sentiments, grand and sublime, perhaps, but incomprehensible for him. A +tear sprang into his eyes and rolled tremblingly down his cheeks. + +"You are right, Maria.... I don't understand you.... My father was a man +of honor, and he also could not have understood you.... My grandfather +was a soldier who lost his life in the defence of his country, and he, +too, would not have understood you any better.... But my father and my +grandfather would have felt insulted, as I feel insulted, that any one +should remind them that they ought to keep secrets confided to them." + +Both maintained a protracted silence, gazing sadly through the panes +upon the great plaza of Nieva, which began to be concealed under the +gathering shades of night. The passers-by were going to their homes with +slow and lazy gait. A few lights were already burning in the depths of +the houses. The ragamuffins, who had been laboriously catching the +soap-bubbles sent out to them by the boy in the opposite house, had +disappeared, and he, tired of blowing through his pipe, finally flung it +to the ground together with his bowl of soap-suds, and set himself +making faces at Ricardo and Maria; but they, solemn and motionless, paid +no attention, as on other occasions, and the child, surprised to find +them so serious, likewise remained motionless, staring at them with his +bright, beautiful, cherub eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN WHICH ARE TOLD THE LABORS OF A CHRISTIAN VIRGIN. + + +The general commander kept by the fickle Spanish republic in the +province of * * * was a good deal of a barbarian,--be it said without +intention of hitting him too hard, for every man has the right to be as +much of a barbarian as he finds consistent with sound morals and good +habits. The first thing that he did, as soon as it was breathed to him +that the Carlists of Nieva were getting ready for a surprise +(_algarada_, battering-ram, was what he called it), and intended nothing +less than to get possession of the gun factory, was to summon the +commandant Ramirez and say to him:-- + +"Within an hour you must start for Nieva with two companies, together +with the inspector of police, and as soon as you get there, you arrest +and bring to me lashed arm to arm--do you understand?--lashed arm to +arm, all the individuals who are put down on this paper." + +"'Tis well, my brigadier!" + +"It will not need more than half a company to guard them. You, with the +rest of the force, put yourselves under command of the colonel-director +until I make other arrangements." + +"'Tis well, my brigadier!" + +As the commandant Ramirez, having made his salute, was going out of the +office door, the brigadier called him back,-- + +"Harkee, Ramirez, how did I tell you to bring the prisoners?" + +"Lashed arm to arm, my brigadier." + +"Correct; God go with you!" + +The night on which the two companies reached Nieva was the one chosen by +Don Cesar's friends to sound the battle-cry and seize the factory. The +conspiracy was well planned. At one o'clock in the morning fifty men +were to meet in the garden of a rich Carlist proprietor, and fifty more +in the wine-cellar of another, to arm and equip themselves. At two +precisely they were all to march against the factory, the guard of +which, at this time under command of the young Marques de Penalta, did +not exceed twenty-five men, and attack it ostensibly at the doors, while +others should scale the walls in the rear. Once inside they would +quickly seize upon the arms already manufactured, loading them upon +mules which were in readiness, set fire to the workshops, and haste away +from the town. In case they should be attacked, they expected to raise +easily five or six hundred men well provided with arms and ammunition. +Don Cesar had no doubt of the success of his enterprise, but the cursed +bird[62] traditional in all conspiracies, past and to come, upset the +brave caballero's project. At eleven o'clock that evening the commandant +Ramirez and the inspector of police had possession of all the +individuals of the committee, and ten or a dozen of the most outspoken +Carlists of Nieva, who, tied together and under the guard of half of a +company, according to the orders of the general commander, were under +the arcade of the town-hall, waiting the order of march. The only woman +among these was Maria. In vain did Don Mariano, with tears in his eyes, +beg the leader of the force to let him take her in a carriage. The +commandant Ramirez declared that he was deeply grieved at not being able +to gratify him, and that the only thing that he could do, out of respect +for him, was to give her parole-leave and wait a few moments until she +procured thick footwear and suitable outside garments, though to do this +exposed him to the wrath of the brigadier who ... (and here the +commandant Ramirez employed the term which we have already had the honor +of applying to him). + +At last the order was given, and the lieutenant set out on the march +with the prisoners. Don Mariano would not leave his daughter. Though it +did not rain at that particular moment, the night was very damp and the +roads truly abominable, as was proved by the spatterdashes of the +soldiers. In the town almost everybody was aware of what was going on, +and many dark, silent forms filled the balconies, straining their eyes +to see the prisoners pass by. As they went through a certain street, an +angry female voice cried from a balcony,-- + +"Villains, you will pay for all these things in hell!" + +The soldiers lifted their heads and dropped them again, silently +proceeding on their march, the measured sound of which inspired +melancholy and fear. They all felt on their caps a steady broadside of +looks of hatred, which, notwithstanding their innocence, they received +with the resignation of those accustomed to suffering injustice. They +soon left the last houses of the town and entered the high-road, the +first stretches of which were adorned with lofty poplars. The sky was +still dark and thick, wrapping the earth in darkness. Scarcely could +they see the trunks of the neighboring trees, or the shapes of the +houses or farm buildings along the roadside. The feet of the company no +longer produced the sharp clatter which they made when they were +walking over the paved streets, but a muffled sound still more sad. The +lieutenant, a pretty good-natured young fellow of twenty, ordered the +soldiers to march in parallel columns, with the prisoners in the middle. +Then he approached the latter, and asking them if he could do anything +for them, apologized courteously for taking them bound together, but +they must understand that the brigadier was somewhat of a ... (the young +lieutenant made use of the same expression which his commandant, and we +as well, has already applied to him). The prisoners muttered their +thanks and relapsed into a dignified silence. Soon it began to rain +furiously. Don Mariano, who had not exchanged a word with his daughter, +hastily spread his umbrella to shelter her, and held her long pressed to +his heart, whispering in her ear:-- + +"My daughter, what a bitter trial you are giving me!... Wrap yourself up +well!... Are you cold? oh, that obstinate brute shall answer me for +this!... I will go to Madrid and see the Minister of War, and have him +sent to prison!... Does the rain reach you anywhere, sweetheart +mine[63]? Do you want my waterproof?... To send and have my daughter +pinioned!... Oh, the confounded pig! in what sty did this farcical +government find him!... If you get sick, I will kill him without a +moment's hesitation.... But you, silly girl, who inveigled you into this +pack of conspirators without my permission?... If I had not let you +wander about so much among these churches, you would not at this time be +suffering such trials.... What have you to do with Carlists or with +Republicans?... A well-educated girl stays quietly at home, looking +after her father's shirts and knitting stockings.... Do you hear?... +knitting stockings!... The beast! wretch! to send and take my daughter +pinioned!... If I see him, I won't promise not to seize him by the +throat...." + +"Calm yourself, papa, ... calm yourself, for Heaven's sake. I am +perfectly comfortable.... When one suffers for God the suffering is +turned into pleasure.... Never did I feel better than at this moment ... +and it is because I feel in my soul the consolation of having done +something to restore Jesus to his holy kingdom.... The only thing that +makes me suffer, is to see you unhappy.... Ay! papa, what wouldn't I +give to have your faith as living and ardent as mine, so that you would +despise all the pains of earth, and march calm and content, as I am +marching, whither God may wish to take me!" + +Don Mariano felt a torrent of sharp, angry words choking him, but he +could not give them utterance. All that he did was to wrap his +waterproof around his daughter, emitting a sort of grunt significantly +eloquent. + +It ceased to rain at last. A slight breath of south-west wind made +itself felt, and the thick mantle over the sky began to thin away, +letting through a slender, feeble light which brought out the +silhouettes of the soldiers, and the trees, and the enormous forms of +the mountains girding the valley. The silence in the band was +sepulchral. The prisoners exchanged not a single word, devouring their +rage and grief. In the country, likewise, was heard none of those +pleasant sounds that increase the mystery of the night, and fill the +soul with soft melancholy. Only as they passed in front of some house, +they heard within the threatening bark of a dog, protesting against the +march of troops at such an unusual hour, and, now and then, the no less +gentle muttering of Sergeant Alcarez as he cursed the night, and his +luck, and the mother who bore him. + +The wind kept blowing stronger and stronger, a soft, moist wind which +the prisoners took to be of sufficiently evil import. The trees, lining +the sides of the road, twisted, as though in agony, scattering all the +rain drops with which they were laden. In the feeble light of the sky +the forms of the huge, black clouds began to appear, rushing swiftly +through the air, as though closely pursued by some monster of the night. +Back of these clouds the faint blue of the firmament could not be seen, +but a thick mantle of gray, seemingly impenetrable. Nevertheless, the +wind, still increasing in violence, began at last to rupture it in a few +places, making beautiful rifts, in the depths of which could be seen the +soft lightning of some star. The great, black clouds swept over them, +and blotted them out, but the mantle was constantly rifted again in +other places, and the little stars once more tipped friendly winks to +the earth. At last a great burst of silvery light suddenly bathed the +whole landscape: the moon had come out between two clouds, fair and +splendid as a virgin who opens the windows of her apartment. But hardly +had she cast one look of curiosity at our band, when the rude clouds +drew together, binding a fillet over her eyes, and leaving the earth +gloomy and dark. Again she appeared on high, and once more she was +hidden, as she saw a hurrying legion of clouds of every form and shape, +flying to unknown regions, pass before her face. In the space of half an +hour, she presented and hid herself an incredible number of times, +seeming to the eyes of the pilgrims like a ship ready to sink in some +restless, stormy ocean. + +Finally the tempest of the sky grew calm. Slowly the thick cloud +masses, which spotted the face of the sky, had disappeared behind the +mountains. A few, which still remained, and at long intervals, passing +across the moon, left the earth in darkness, likewise hid the +mountain-peaks. And the sky was left clear and bright, spreading out its +dark mantle adorned with stars. The moon traced a luminous circle around +her, in which, like a haughty queen, she let no other star shed his +light. The wide valley seemed to quiver gently with joy at feeling the +kiss of her silvery beams, and sent forth from the orange groves, and +the quiet streams, and the white hamlets scattered here and there, +millions of reflections vanishing with gentle mystery in the air. In +some places great, luminous sheets stretched out, where could be seen +with wonderful clearness the outlines of trees and fences; in others, +clustered shadows, guarding the dreams of flowers. The broad valley, +when thus illumined, had the semblance of a sleeping lake. + +After tramping along for a considerable time through the midst of the +valley, our band struck into the mountains girting it. It was necessary +to cross them to reach the plain surrounding * * *. The highway followed +the most accessible places, skirting the side of one of the mountains +with a pretty decided slope. The horizon widened wonderfully. As they +began to climb, the lieutenant commanded a halt before a huge tavern, +situated near the highway, and sending to the landlord obliged him to +arise and provide his people with food. The prisoners went into the +house and rested some time. Then they set forth once more, calmly +climbing the sharp declivity. + +The exuberant vegetation of the valley had ceased. The mountains, which +constantly shut them in closer, leaving barely room for the highway, +were clad only in ferns. From time to time they came upon the opening +of some coal mine, dug near the road. Don Mariano could not resist the +temptation of talking about the railway to Nieva, and he approached the +lieutenant and showed him where the line from Sotolonga was going, +explaining in full the advantages which it had over the line from +Miramar. The pathway was now considerably drier on account of the +hillside, and the moon from on high still lighted up the way, and fixed +her sweet, calm gaze on the pilgrims. The notes of a guitar were heard. +When did the guitar ever cease to sound during a march of Spanish +soldiers? And a voice of heroic timbre sang in the accents of the +South:-- + + "_Como cosita propria_ + _Te miraba yo_ + _Te miraba yo;_ + _Pero quererte como te queria_ + _Eso se acabo_ + _Eso se acabo._" + +Four or five soldiers scattered here and there likewise showed their +southern origin by shouting at the end of the strophe, _Ole, ole!_ That +song, born in the warm soil of Andalucia, was a magic wand which +banished sadness from all hearts. The stern mountains, as though +possessed by a sudden sympathy, re-echoed the soldier's voice, carrying +it far away across its gorges and ravines. Lively conversation arose in +the company, stopping every time that the Andalusian soldier struck up a +new verse. The prisoners persisted in their obstinate silence. All +marched negligently, with mouths open, instinctively enjoying the +favorable change which the night had undergone. Suddenly, as they were +doubling one of the numerous turns in the road, in the roughest part of +the divide, the report of a musket was heard. A soldier dropped to the +ground. Almost at the same time the portentous cry of _iViva Carlos +Septimo!_ was hurled into space. Lifting their heads, all saw at no +great distance, standing on one of the rocks commanding the road, a man +with long, white mustachios, dressed in a sheepskin _zamarra_ and Basque +cap.[64] The prisoners instantly recognized in him the president of the +committee, Don Cesar Pardo. The lieutenant ordered the men to close up, +fearing an ambuscade, and gave the command to fire; but the volley had +no result. When the smoke cleared away Don Cesar was still seen calmly +reloading his gun. As he fired it, he cried again with still more +fury,-- + +"_iViva Carlos Septimo!_" + +"May the lightning strike you, you old fox; you have spoiled my arm for +me," exclaimed Sergeant Alcarez, raising his hand to the wound. + +"Second column, aim! fire!" shouted the lieutenant. + +This time there was no better result. Don Cesar fired again, crying,-- + +"_iViva la religion!_" + +Then the lieutenant angrily gave the command,-- + +"Fire as you please!" + +An incessant crackling of musketry followed from the half company, drawn +up in battle array; but the solitary enemy neither retreated nor fell. +Standing on the rock, without even deigning to shelter himself behind +it, he steadily loaded and fired his musket, always repeating in a +terrible voice,-- + +"_iViva Carlos Septimo! iViva la religion!_" + +He rarely fired without causing some loss in the company. The moon +illuminated his proud, fierce face loaded with wrinkles, giving it a +fantastic appearance. His eyes gleamed like those of a madman, and his +tall, lusty frame stood forth in the luminous atmosphere, like that of a +supernatural being who had come down to punish offences committed +against heaven. + +"Do you know me, republicans, do you know me?" he cried, without ceasing +to fire. "I am Don Cesar Pardo, an old Christian and a Carlist from head +to foot." + +"You're a scoundrel," replied a soldier. + +"Hearkee, little fellow; you're all of a tremble, and the balls you +shoot go wide of the mark." + +"Try this one then!" + +"No, sir!... it didn't hit.... If I had ten men with me how you would +all scatter, you lapdogs!" + +"Do what you please, boys!... Kill that whelp!" cried the lieutenant at +the height of irritation. + +The soldiers broke for the mountain, and began to climb it with the +agility of wildcats. The rage which possessed them redoubled their +powers. But at the same time the lieutenant, snatching a musket from one +of the soldiers, levelled at Don Cesar and brought him down. + +"That'll do, boys!... Come back!... the hawk is winged at last," he +cried in triumphant accents. + +"It only wounded my leg; ... my bill is whole yet," replied the +ringleader, with hoarse voice. + +And in truth, though his hip was shot through, he managed to raise +himself up and load his musket, which he instantly fired at those who +were coming up against him. They roared with rage as they pulled +themselves up by the ferns, or dug their fingers into the moss to climb +faster. + +"Come, come, you cowards," screamed Don Cesar, likewise maddened with +rage. "Come and learn how to fight!... You see how a Carlist officer +makes war!... You see how he is equal to fifty republicans!... To-morrow +tell your exploit to General Bum Bum who sent you!... Let 'em give you +the laurel wreath, you heroes! Now here goes a shot for Don Carlos!... +Ah! I know how you are taking off a girl as prisoner, you brave warriors +of the republic!... Here goes another for Dona Margarita!... Did the +pill taste bad, eh, fellow?... Oh, how glad I am to see you! _iViva +Carlos!_ ..." + +He was not allowed to finish. A soldier who had reached the summit put +the muzzle of his gun to his forehead and blew off his head, saying,-- + +"Die, you hog!" + +He killed him without heeding the voices of his comrades, who said, +"Leave him for me! Leave him for me!" + +As they reached him with pale cheeks and bloodshot eyes, they all +discharged their guns at the lifeless body of the terrible ringleader, +quickly destroying it in the most horrible manner. When that act of +barbarism, inspired by wrath, was accomplished, the soldiers remained +silent. Their irritation being calmed, they began to realize how they +had been fighting with one single man, and they were dissatisfied with +themselves. In spite of themselves they felt stirred to admiration. + +"The old man had gall," said one, as he wiped off a few drops of blood +which had spattered into his face. + +"He was well quit of his life," declared a second. + +"The truth is, that taking them one at a time, that old man would have +swallowed this whole division, uniform and all," said a third, finally; +and no one uttered a protest. + +In the company there were one killed and five wounded, as the result of +the skirmish. They placed them all, as well as they could, on improvised +stretchers, and again took up the line of march. Not only the soldiers, +but the prisoners, plodded on in silence and melancholy, profoundly +impressed by the tragic event which had just occurred. + +The night was still as calm and bright as before, and in the zenith the +moon, which had just been lighting that unequal combat with her soft +poetic beams, still shed them upon the company slowly ascending the +highway, and upon the livid, dismembered corpse which they had left +behind on the crag. The struggles, the joys, the griefs of us poor +devils who creep on the earth, what worth have they? what do they +signify before the august serenity of the heavens? For them the fall of +an empire and the fall of a leaf are of equal consequence; for them the +sigh of a maiden in love and the groan of a dying man are alike in +sound. "Nature is deaf," said the great Leopardi, "and cannot pity." + +But Maria walked along with her eyes fixed on the sky, regarding it with +far different thoughts. There where the poet found nothing but a blind +will, incapable of good, the pious girl saw a foreseeing and merciful +God, as merciful as terrible, who received the good into his bosom, and +sent the wicked to eternal torment--a God, who, like ourselves, was +appeased by prayers and tears. She felt stirred as she thought of the +fate which the soul of him who had just died would meet in presence of +divine justice, and by a quick, spontaneous movement of her heart, she +said in a loud, clear voice:-- + +"For the soul of the departed Don Cesar Pardo: Our Father who art in +heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on +earth as it is in Heaven." The prisoners began to pray with fervor. +Some of the soldiers did the same. Then they relapsed into silence as +they marched along, and nothing was heard but the sound of labored +breathing, and occasionally the complaints of the wounded, not very well +accommodated in their litters. At last they crossed the highest point of +the watershed, and began to descend toward the wide valley of * * *. The +dawn was already appearing in the confines of the east. The dull blue of +the sky in that quarter was fading into a pale, melancholy light, which +at the same time blotted out the sparkling stars. The travellers felt a +chill, unpleasant breath of wind which turned their noses and hands +purple. Very soon a great golden fringe spread over the eastern hills, +and the band could regard at their pleasure the valley stretching out at +their feet, where the green of the meadows and the yellow of the plowed +lands shone in multitudinous tones, coarse or soft, like a rich mantle +of brocade. A few tufts of cloud were slowly rising from the depths of +the streamlets which furrowed it; and yonder, in the west, a great +curtain of black mountains, on whose summits the snow still gleamed +white, shut it in abruptly, casting across it a great mantle of shadow. +In spite of this shadow, the eyes of the travellers who knew the region +could distinguish in the very edge of the black curtain the spire of the +proud tower of the cathedral of * * *. The prisoners and their guards +reached the plain, and crossed the valley from one end to the other, +expending much time in the transit, principally because of the care +required by the wounded. Finally, at eight o'clock in the morning, they +reached the first houses of the suburb of * * *. + +The inhabitants of the capital had heard of the sudden blow struck by +the military governor against the Carlists of Nieva, and a great throng, +collected in the streets, was impatiently waiting to see the prisoners +pass by. It was composed almost entirely of what, during the +revolutionary period, was called the sovereign people; that is, of all +the ragamuffins and rough-scuff of the city, together with quite a +number of respectable people, though loungers, and almost all the +_ladies_ of the suburbs. + +On seeing the band from afar, the multitude was stirred tempestuously, +and there arose a dull, universal clamor:-- + +"There they are now! There they are now!"--"I was told that they +intended to assassinate all the liberals of Nieva last night."--"Ah! the +rascals! Fortunate they fell beforehand into the trap!" + +"They must be undeceived," declared a fat and highly-colored caballero, +with a good-natured face; "all the Carlists are either rascals or fools. +I would not employ any other means with them than extermination.... Fire +and sword!" + +"Let us sing them _El tragala_ when they pass," said a ragged lad to two +other swells accompanying him. + +The people pressed close as the band approached, those who could finding +standing-room on the street-walls and the trees along the way. On seeing +the wounded, and learning through the curt account of some soldier about +the incident of Don Cesar, the inquisitive citizens felt justified in +manifesting their indignation, and though at first they contented +themselves with giving each other the benefit of their hostile thoughts, +finally they began to belch forth against the prisoners furious insults, +apostrophizing them in loud tones, as though they had all received from +their hands some wrong. Thus they continued escorting them through the +streets of the city, their fury and indignation ever on the increase, +until words were not enough to satisfy them. The prisoners marched with +sunken heads and flushed faces. + +"Oh, you hypocrites! saint-killers!" shouted one at them; "may the day +soon come when we shall see you strung up!" + +"See how those cursed rascals[65] hang their heads! If they had us in +their fists the meanest of them would be happier." + +"Now cry 'Long live Carlos Seventh,' you rubbish!" But the popular fury +was most madly excited against Maria. Neither her youth, nor her beauty, +nor her weakness, served to spare her from ferocious, filthy insults. + +"Who is that woman with 'em? They say she's a saint."--"Yes, a saint, +but she's a loose character!"--"See here, wench, if you are hunting for +a husband, you'll find one here!"--"That one needs a few dozen +lashes!"--"See what hypocritical eyes the harridan[66] has!" + +It is easy to appreciate the state of disturbance, wrath, anguish, and +excitement which overmastered Don Mariano Elorza, at being obliged to +listen to these rude remarks. In his impotent rage he bit his hands and +stopped his ears, fearing that his blood would boil over and lead him to +do something endangering his daughter's life. + +As we have already said, the crowd, not content with flinging insults, +took it into their heads to indulge in brutal treatment of them. One +rough youth gave the example by hurling a piece of orange. Many others +followed his example, and there fell on the unfortunate prisoners a +hailstorm of projectiles, more disgusting, it must be confessed than +deadly. However, a cabbage stalk thrown violently, hit Maria in the +face and made her lips bleed. + +Oh! then the unhappy Don Mariano's fury burst forth, terrible and +resistless, as the sea in its moments of tempests, as a volcano in +eruption. His athletic figure fell upon the group of loungers nearest +him, and he annihilated it with his onslaught, scattering the men on the +ground as though they had been made of straw; those who were left on +their feet fled without awaiting a second attack. The Senor de Elorza +would have made his way through the whole crowd, but meeting with +resistance in the serried ranks, he grasped the throat of the first +ruffian at hand and would have surely choked him to death, had not the +soldiers come to his aid and pushed back the angry father. His wrath +then broke out in a storm of frenzied words, which brought the throng to +silence. + +"Guttersnipes! vile guttersnipes! cowards! beasts!... If they had not +prevented me, I would have pulled your tongues out, one at a time.... +You have wounded my daughter.... Didn't you know she was my daughter, +you rascals! Here you showed your valor, you bullies! why don't you go +to Navarra to fight with armed men, instead of attacking the +defenceless?... Because you are cowards!... An indecent rabble that +ought to be scattered with whips! If there be among you any one worthy +of meeting me, let him come out so that I can spit in his face.... Let +go of me, let go of me, for God's sake! Let me kill one of these pimps +who have wounded my daughter. Let me go, senores, let me go!..." + +Don Mariano struggled to tear himself from the arms of the soldiers. The +rabble who had fallen back before his attack, seeing him in custody, +recovered from their alarm, and crowded back again like basilisks, +foaming at the mouth with rage. + +"This old coxcomb insults the people!"--"He's a crazy fool!"--"It's a +shame for the people to be so insulted!"--"Why don't you kill this +knave!"--"Kill him, yes, kill him!"--"Kill him!"--"Kill him!" + +And the throng pressed up to the band closer and closer, though slowly, +like an ocean of waves swelling and threatening, and would soon have put +an end to Don Mariano and the prisoners, had not the lieutenant +prevented such an act of barbarism by shouting at the top of his +voice,-- + +"Attention, company--ready--aim!" + +Then the swelling waves subsided as by magic. The lieutenant's voice was +Neptune's _sed motos prestat componere fluctus_. The sovereign people +turned tail, and saying in their hearts "escape if you can," started to +run in all directions, tripping up here, and scrambling to feet again +there. And it is reported that His Majesty ran so fast and so far, that +in less than three minutes he disappeared from before the guns of the +military. + +Thanks to this, the prisoners were left in peace until they reached the +prison, where they were lodged in a great hall, filthy enough, with a +wooden floor, filled with rat-holes in many places. Maria was assigned a +separate room, comparatively clean and comfortable. + +The hour set for the hearing before the council of war was twelve +o'clock; and when the clock struck, the prisoners, perfectly guarded, +were transferred to a handsomely decorated salon in the building where +it met. The officers composing it were seated behind a long table, +covered with red damask trimmed with gold lace, under a velvet canopy +which, in other times, before we had the republic, had served to give +regality and prestige to the portrait of the king. The presiding officer +was the military governor, who was anxious to have done with the +business in a rapid and violent manner. He wished to inflict exemplary +punishment upon all of the conspirators, or, what is the same thing, +"not to leave a mannikin with his head on," to use his own words. He was +a chubby man, with great blub-cheeks and a thin mustache: a perfect +image of what we, and likewise the Commandant Ramirez, and the +lieutenant of the convoy, have already called him. The other officers +had absolutely nothing remarkable in their faces: coarse features, black +eyes, twisted mustachios, sharp-pointed goatees, commonplace faces, on +the whole, though manly. At first sight, it was evident that they wore +their togas broad. When the prisoners entered, the doors and the +standing-room of the building were invaded by a great crowd, not so rude +and low as that of the morning; it was made up of people of more +respectability,--students for the most part, hidalgos and officeholders. +This throng preserved a thoughtful, compassionate silence at seeing them +enter. + +They were introduced one at a time in the great hall of state. The +captain, who acted as prosecutor,[67] took their depositions, having +before him documents in proof of the crime. The members of the Carlist +committee of Nieva gave their testimony as best suited their ideas of +propriety, denying the majority of the counts, astutely pleading guilty +to others, and, in fine, doing all in their power to be let off easily. +The fat-cheeked brigadier lost his temper not a few times during the +course of the hearing, interrupting the prosecutor to launch harsh +apostrophes at the prisoners, and threatening to have them shot in the +interim, if they did not reveal all the minutiae and ramifications of the +conspiracy; but he accomplished little by his intimidations. When +Maria's turn came, he smiled sarcastically, and said with rough irony,-- + +"Have the goodness to draw near, senorita, and to reply to the questions +which this caballero capitan will put to you." + +"What is your name?" asked the prosecutor. + +"Maria de Elorza y Valcarcel." + +"_De, dee, dee_," snorted the brigadier, "always the same aristocratic +pretensions!" + +"You are accused of serving as intermediary in the correspondence +between the Marques de Revollar, Don Carlos's minister and counsellor, +and the ringleader, Don Cesar Pardo, lately exiled by virtue of sentence +of the counsel of war, which met on the 14th of March. Moreover, you are +accused of having been present as an active participant at various +meetings held by the conspirators of Nieva, with the assistance of the +same ringleaders who escaped, and various other political criminals. In +these meetings you have indulged in speech fomenting rebellion, and +making suggestions to help its success. It is said that you embroidered +the banner for the rebels, and have hidden hats and spatterdashes in +your house, and likewise have procured money for the conspirators...." + +The prosecutor stopped speaking. There were a few instants of silence. +The brigadier impatiently said,--"Come.... Reply! Are the deeds of which +you stand accused true?" + +Maria, with her clear gaze fastened on the president's supercilious +face, replied in firm, calm accents:-- + +"All that the Senor Fiscal has just set forth is pure truth, and I take +the warmest pride in it. It is true that I have served as intermediary +in the correspondence between my noble uncle, the Marques de Revollar, +and the brave Don Cesar Pardo (whom may God take to glory!). It is +certain that I have been present at the meetings, where a conspiracy was +planned against the impious government now existing, and that I have +endeavored, with my feeble speech, to stir the conspirators to the +combat, and it is equally certain that I embroidered the banner and +other articles for the defenders of the faith. It is likewise true that +I have furnished all the money that I could, but it is not enough to say +that I hid in my father's house hats and spatterdashes: I have also +hidden arms, muskets, and their bayonets and ammunition." + +The officers of the council were stupefied. The brigadier himself, in +spite of his choleric temper, remained for some instants dumb before the +girl's audacity. But if they had known her as we know her, it is certain +that they would not have had reason to be surprised. The eldest daughter +of the Elorzas had entered into the Carlist conspiracy, completely +persuaded that she was accomplishing a work very grateful in the eyes of +God, and she had firmly determined not to turn back before any danger. +Her ardent, all-powerful faith was eager to find means to serve Him, and +moreover the longing for imitation, for which we have already given her +credit, impelled her to imitate the conduct of those sainted virgins who +fought against the power of the cruellest tyrants, and gave a glorious +example of constancy in times of persecution. She knew by heart the +lives of Saint Leocadia, Saint Barbara, Saint Julia, Saint Eulalia, and +other illustrious martyrs of the Christian faith, and their +steadfastness was for her an example and further incentive in the road +to sanctity upon which she had entered. Countless times she had imagined +scenes of martyrdom in which she was the principal personage, and in +which she had always come forth conqueror; just as many men fond of +battles, dream that they are fighting with a dozen champions and making +them run ignominiously, and others enamored of oratory represent +themselves as speaking before multitudes, moving them and carrying them +away by their eloquence. With what admiration had she read about the +flight of the sainted maiden of Merida, from the battlefield of her +fathers to the city where she presented herself voluntarily before the +governor Calfurniano to confess her faith, and ask a martyr's death! In +the march which she had just made from Nieva, she had many times +recalled the details of that memorable flight, gladly seeing in it a +certain analogy with that of the saint. Now that she saw herself in the +presence of stern, angry judges, she found the resemblance still more +striking, and this encouraged her, in no small degree, in her +determination to stand firm in spite of danger. + +The brigadier, who was not very well informed in regard to what had +happened to Saint Eulalia at the hands of Calfurniano, believed honestly +that the silly girl was ridiculing him, and, giving a tremendous rap on +the table with his fist, he shouted:-- + +"Listen, senorita, do you know with whom you are talking? Do you know +that I am the military governor of the province, and that I have never +had any decided fondness for jests? Do you know what risk you run at +making sport of this most dignified council of war, over which at this +moment I preside? Do you know that I have a mind to send you to prison, +and shut you up in a cell, and keep you there on bread and water until +you rotted? Did you know it? heh!... Did you know it? heh!... heh?... +heh?..." + +"I know perfectly," replied Maria in steady, but modest tone, "that I +am in the presence of a council of war; but, though I were facing a +battalion of soldiers, aiming at me with their guns, I should say the +same thing without dropping or adding a letter. I am not accustomed to +tell falsehoods, and when it concerns acts which may be some service to +the cause of God, I should be unworthy of calling myself a Christian, if +I denied them in the presence of any one." + +"And what is it that you call the cause of God, my beautiful senorita?" +asked the brigadier with apparent calmness, while his eyes flashed +lightnings of wrath. + +"I call the cause of God that which is at the present time represented +by the legitimate and Catholic king, around whom are collected all those +who feel scandalized to see religion persecuted and its ministers +molested; those who mourn at seeing the infamous blasphemies uttered in +Congress, and daily spread broadcast by the journals; those who do not +wish to see impiety enthroned in Spain, the Catholic land, above all +others, granted by God one single faith and one single worship." + +The brigadier grew redder than a guindilla pepper; his lips trembled +with wrath; he was about to make some shocking remark, but at last he +controlled himself, and said to the prosecuting officer,-- + +"Continue your examination, Senor Capitan." + +For the first time in his life the brigadier smothered his barbarous +words. The fiscal, over whom the force of attraction for the opposite +sex had not yet lost its influence, perhaps from the reason that he was +younger, continued, all the time softening his voice and sweetening the +smile that distorted his countenance:-- + +"Very well; since you have the candor to confess that you have been a +party to the conspiracy, let us hope that you will continue to be as +frank, and tell us all its details and the names of the persons +connected with it." + +"Oh, no, ... that cannot be. I declare and confess my acts, but I cannot +those of the others. Even if they granted me permission, be very sure +that I would not do it, since it seems to me a sin to put into the hands +of the impious arms to murder good Christians...." + +"This cannot be allowed," vociferated the brigadier, overcome by wrath. +"Let us see, senorita; do you believe that I have not the means to make +you tell the whole story?[68] Let us have the session in peace, and do +you tell mighty quick what you know, for otherwise there'll be trouble +[_mal_]; ... there'll be trrrouble [_maaal_]; ... there'll be +trrrrrouble [_maaaaal_]...." + +"Senor Presidente, I am not willing to say a single word that might +compromise my friends, the pious and loyal defenders of the faith of +Jesus Christ. Do with me whatsoever you will, but you must know that I +shall accept with delight any chance to suffer something for Him who +suffered so much for us." + +"Heavens and earth!" [_iRayo de Dios!_] screamed the brigadier, giving +another terrible pound to the table. "This child has put an end to my +patience!... Orderly, see that this girl is instantly conducted to +prison, and keep her in solitary confinement until further orders." The +officials of the council, understanding that this would make a scandal +without any result, put it before the governor in a whisper, and he +became a little calmer. He himself understood it. + +"You are right," he said aloud; "all the information that this girl can +give is already known to us, and more too. I don't wish these scrubby +Carlist newspapers to be saying that we lost our temper with a +woman.... Harkee, orderly! see if this young woman's father is anywhere +about, and have him brought in." + +In a few moments Don Mariano entered. + +"I find myself obliged to tell you, Senor de Elorza," said the +brigadier, addressing him, "that you have a very ill-educated daughter, +and that thanks to the fact of your not figuring as a Carlist and to our +own benevolence, we do not adopt in her case the rigorous measures which +she deserves for her boldness. You can take her home whenever you +please, pledging yourself to us that she shall not directly or +indirectly enter into any conspiracy or into anything of the like.... Do +we agree?... Have a little more care of her if you don't want to expose +her to greater tribulations, and don't let her go so free and easy as +hitherto...." + +Don Mariano almost spoiled everything by hurling an insult in that rough +soldier's face; but the sorrows which he had been undergoing since the +night before kept him very humble. Besides, he feared to compromise his +daughter's situation, and seeing her free he had no wish to lose her +again. Reserving, then, _in pectore_ for more favorable times, the right +of demanding of the governor full satisfaction for his impudent words, +he gave the promise demanded, and immediately passed from the hall and +from the building with Maria, and went to call upon one of his +relatives. In the afternoon they set out for Nieva, reaching home just +at nightfall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PALLIDA MORS. + + +When the carriage stopped, Don Mariano perceived by the face of the +servant who came to open the door that nothing very delightful had +occurred during his absence. + +"The senora?" he asked in alarm. + +"The senora is in bed." + +"Oh, I might have known it! How could the poor soul have had strength to +resist this blow!" + +The faces of the other servants whom they met on the way had the same +expression of silent solemnity, and this greatly increased his +agitation. Maria followed him. When they reached Dona Gertrudis's room, +they saw that there were a number of people in it who, on catching sight +of them, came toward them with a warning gesture. + +"What! Is she so ill?" exclaimed the unhappy Don Mariano, in a hoarse, +trembling voice. + +"She is not very ill," said an officious lady: "but it is better that +you should not enter so suddenly, for a powerful excitement might be bad +for her. She has had a number of attacks since last night, and finds +herself rather weak.... Let me prepare her." + +The lady, in fact, went to tell Dona Gertrudis that her daughter was at +liberty, and would soon be back to Nieva. + +"My daughter is here!" cried the invalid, with that wonderful instinct +of mothers and hysterical women.... Yes, she is here!... I know she +is!... I see her.... Come, my daughter, come!" + +And at the same time she made a desperate effort to sit up in bed. Maria +entered her bedchamber, and kneeling beside the bed respectfully kissed +the hands which her mother extended to her. + +"Forgive me, mamma! forgive me for the anxiety which I caused you.... +You were made ill because of me, but the Lord will soon make you +well...." + +"No, my daughter; you have done nothing that needs my forgiveness; you +have done what God commanded.... It made me ill ... that is true ... but +it is because I have not virtue enough, as you have, to suffer the +trials God imposes upon us.... You are a saint.... I shall be well.... +Don't worry about me.... What frightens me now is, that I did not die +when I saw you marching off that way, among soldiers.... My poor +daughter.... Come, give me a kiss!" + +When Maria entered the bedroom, Ricardo and Marta were there; the girl +seated near the pillow, and Ricardo at the foot of the bed. The young +marquis, on learning at the factory that Maria was arrested, had asked +the colonel to be relieved that night of guard duty, and his request +being granted, he hastened to the Elorza mansion just as Don Mariano and +his daughter were outside of the town. Dona Gertrudis was in the midst +of a very severe fit, from which it was feared that she would not +recover; she came to herself but only to fall immediately into another. +What an anxious night! Don Maximo and the Senora de Ciudad remained with +poor little Marta to watch by the sick woman. Ricardo likewise was +unwilling to leave the house. The girl appreciating that her mother's +health and life depended on her behavior, kept up her courage, and did +not cease to busy herself about the bed, entering and leaving the room +hundreds of times. As soon as Don Maximo gave an order she fulfilled it +with admirable exactness. A multitude of remedies requiring much skill +and some practice were taken: mustard poultices, leeches, assafoetida +washes, various applications to the temples, etc., etc. Marta would not +consent for any servant to touch her mother; she did everything herself +without bustle, without noise, as though all her life she had done +nothing else. During the intervals of rest she sat by the bedside and +watched the invalid's face with anxious eyes. The bedroom was feebly +lighted by a lamp half turned down in the hall; a strong smell of drugs +and medicines arose from the vials accumulated on the dressing-table; +but Marta was not nauseated by any of the odors; her head was steady and +her never-failing health was the envy of all the household. Ricardo +likewise sometimes sat at the invalid's feet. The girl scarcely saw more +than his silhouette outlined against the brighter opening of the door, +but this was a great comfort to her. She was not alone; Ricardo was not +a stranger. Sometimes when the invalid asked for something and both +arose in haste to give it to her, if their hands met, Marta withdrew +hers hurriedly, as though she had touched a viper, and she let her +friend minister to Dona Gertrudis. Neither spoke. Marta, forgetful of +herself, thought only of her mother. Ricardo, more egotistical, thought +of Maria. The girl's whole soul was wrapped up in the dear being +painfully breathing by her side, and without making the slightest error, +with the accuracy of a chronometer, she counted her pulse and watched +her respiration. Don Maximo and the Senora de Ciudad were whispering in +the adjoining room, as though they were making confession. The lady was +explaining to the old doctor the character and temperament of each one +of her daughters; the conversation was long. In the course of nine hours +the sick woman had four severe attacks, leaving her so prostrated that +the doctor seriously feared a fatal result. Nevertheless, after the +fourth, she remained comparatively comfortable, and passed the day quite +easily. The danger, in spite of this, continued. + +After the first moments of effusion were over, Maria called her sister +aside into a corner of the room. + +"Tell me; has mamma made confession?" + +"No." + +"And why didn't you call the priest?... Didn't you perceive that she was +in danger?" + +The truth was, Marta had scarcely thought of doing such a thing. +Besides, she was afraid of frightening her mother, and thought that this +might be bad for her. In the bottom of her heart, likewise, there was a +great terror of that tremendous scene, and she wanted to banish it from +her mind. Maria chided her severely for her negligence, bringing before +her the terrible responsibility which she would have incurred had her +mother died. Marta saw that she was right, and hung her head. She sent +instantly to summon Dona Gertrudis's confessor, and Maria undertook to +prepare her mother. Wonder of wonders! Dona Gertrudis, who during her +life had asked an infinite number of times to have her confessor +summoned, now felt overwhelmed with surprise and fear when her daughter +told her that she must get ready. Possibly the fact was, that when she +had asked for it, she harbored the conviction that there was no real +danger of death, while now she understood that matters were really +serious. At all events, her daughter's words made a great impression +upon her, and she raised all the objection in her power against +receiving him, urging as an excuse that she felt better; that when +there should be danger, she would herself call for him. + +Maria opposed this delay, and found herself under the cruel necessity of +clearly explaining to the invalid the seriousness of her situation. Dona +Gertrudis yielded, but her face betrayed a great discouragement. + +When the priest arrived he was left alone with her, all retiring from +the apartment. Marta went to weep alone in her room, so as not to sadden +her father; he did the same, so as not to frighten his daughters. Maria +watched at the door for the signal that the pious act was accomplished. +At last the priest left the room, and, with the mask of solemnity which +all daily witnesses of death-scenes are obliged to assume, hiding the +real indifference, logically caused by such familiarity, he said to +those who were waiting:-- + +"You can enter: we have finished." + +"How is she?" was the question of each one. + +"Well!... well!... well!... The poor woman is calm.... I believe that +for her to receive the Divine Majesty will be good for her, as well for +the body as for the soul." + +"That is true.... You are right, Senor Cura," said several ladies. + +"I have seen in my own family a very notable case of the power of +faith," declared one of them. "My uncle Pepe had a very serious lung +trouble, confirmed consumption. He had consulted a multitude of +physicians, and had taken more than a cartload of medicine. Well, then +it was suggested that, unless he were prepared to die, he would not +recover. He had the priest called, made confession, received the +viaticum, and even wanted to have extreme unction.... But from that very +time, I don't know what it was, but it is a fact that he became more +comfortable, and began to improve ... to improve ... to improve, until +at last he became what you see him to-day." + +The other women confirmed this opinion. Each one related her experience +in support of it, and the priest summed up all the arguments, showing +that such miraculous effects were nothing more than was to be expected, +granting that the sick person's body received the presence of the Lord +of the Heaven and earth, in whose hands is the safety of all mankind. + +At eleven o'clock in the evening, they brought the viaticum to Dona +Gertrudis with all the ceremony required by such a solemn act. The house +of Elorza was filled with strange faces; a throng composed for the most +part of working people invaded the stairway, the corridors, and even the +invalid's sick-room, with wax tapers in their hands. The priest, with +the acolyte before him, and the holy box on his breast, passed by the +physician, and entered the sick-room. Don Mariano had gone to hide +himself. Maria, with a book of devotions in her hand, read to her mother +the prayers which were to be said before communion. Marta stood leaning +against the wall, pale and frightened, gazing at the solemn ceremony, as +though she saw some terrible vision. One of the women, who made their +way into the room, handed her a lighted candle, and she took it without +knowing what she did. When the priest brought forth the Holy Wafer, they +had to tell her to kneel. The scene was sad and stirring for any one: +how much more for a daughter! The wax candles lugubriously sputtered in +the silence of the sick-room, and cast tremulous yellow reflections on +the walls. The voice of the priest, as he raised the Host, was still +more lugubrious than the sputtering of the tapers. The invalid, +weakened by her illness, had grown terribly pale from emotion; she sat +up as well as she could and, supported by Maria, and with her hands +folded over her breast, she opened her mouth to receive the body of +Jesus Christ. Then the bystanders went out softly, and on the staircase +was heard the vibrating tinkle of the sacristan's little bell, +announcing that the Lord was departing from the house. Only the intimate +friends remained. A group of ladies invaded the sick woman's room to +congratulate her, and to ask after her health. Dona Gertrudis said that +she was more comfortable; and, taking her daughter Maria's hand, she +thanked her for having given her the pleasure of communion. Her recovery +was to be hoped for; all the ladies found her very much like herself, +and assured her that it would not be long before she was well. + +"God can do all things, Dona Gertrudis. When one's accounts are settled +with the Lord, there is no fear of any harm befalling. Nothing, this is +nothing, senora; you will see how you will soon recover." + +"I have offered a mass to the Sacred Christ of Tunis for the day on +which our senora shall get well," said Genoveva, Maria's maid. + +"Woman, why did you not offer it to the Ecce Homo of Mercy?" asked an +old laundress of the house, in some surprise. She had always lighted the +lamp before the said Ecce Homo, and kept the chapel clean, so that she +came to look upon it as her own property. + +"Ay, woman! because the Holy Christ of Tunis is more miraculous." + +"A cuckold on _him_," exclaimed the washerwoman, quickly, with angry +eyes. + +A furious altercation arose between the two, until Maria was +scandalized, and bade them be still, explaining that the Christ of +Tunis and of Grace was one and the same Lord, though every Christian was +free to have the most faith in whatever image he pleased. + +At last the ladies withdrew, leaving only two,--the widow De Delgado and +one of her sisters,--to spend the night with the young ladies. Don +Maximo went to rest awhile, promising to return before long. The +confessor did not wish to leave the house because he saw no improvement +in his penitent, and he threw himself down on the sofa. Ricardo likewise +remained. + +At two o'clock what Don Maximo feared took place. The attack was +renewed, and unfortunately with such violence that the unhappy lady very +narrowly escaped passing away in it. Marta, on seeing the danger, +recovered the activity which she lost before the lugubrious ceremony of +the communion; she prepared all the medicines; she rubbed the sick +woman's feet with a flesh-brush; she held her upright a long time, so +that she might not choke to death, and acted as Don Maximo had +prescribed in the former cases. All those who touched Dona Gertrudis +hurt her; only Martita's soft hands had the privilege of moving her from +side to side, and placing her in the most comfortable positions without +causing her pain. Finally the sick woman came to herself and spoke, but +Don Maximo, hastily summoned by the servants, found her pulse so feeble +on his arrival that he could not help making a slight gesture of alarm. +Marta noticed that gesture, and calling him alone into the passage-way, +she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing: "Don Maximo, my dearest, +for God's sake, save my mother!... yes, my mother is dying!... yes ... +she is dying.... I saw your gesture...." + +"Don't cry, child,"[69] said the old physician, drawing her head to his +breast; "as yet there is no reason for alarm.... I will certainly do all +in my power, and more, to save her." + +"Yes, yes, Don Maximo.... Do it, I beseech you by all that you most love +in this world!... by the memory of your wife, whom you loved so dearly!" + +"Don't! try not to cry any more! the thing to do now is to go and give +her a spoonful of quinine; then we will put a cataplasm on her stomach." + +The good Don Maximo, disguising the presentiment which he felt, +succeeded in calming the girl, and he set himself to applying the +remedies which his poor science but rich desire suggested. + +But he was not able to halt the swift approach of death which in full +career was fast approaching the noble lady's couch. At four o'clock in +the morning they noticed that she spoke with greater difficulty; her +pronunciation halted, and she often stammered. Almost all her words were +directed to Maria, asking her numberless times about the events of the +preceding night, and insisting on being told, showering boundless praise +on her for her bravery, and congratulating herself on having such a good +daughter. + +"My daughter, beseech God for my safety.... God cannot ... deny thee +anything." + +"Maria, perceiving that her mother was dying, replied: + +"Mamma, the one important thing is the safety of the soul.... If God +wishes to restore you, let it be a miracle to you of his sacred +grace...." + +"But ... am I dying ... my daughter?" + +"God only can tell.... Do you wish the senor cura to come in and give +you a short confession?" + +"Yes ... let him come in ... my daughter, let him come in!" + +The priest came, and remained a few moments alone with the sick woman. +Those who were in the adjoining room kept a sad silence. Don Mariano +lying on a sofa, with his cheek resting in one hand, shut his eyes and +gave evidence of deep dejection. After the priest had finished, Marta, +Maria, Ricardo, and Don Maximo returned. Dona Gertrudis's condition grew +continually more critical. There began to be noticeable in her a +restlessness of bad augury; she turned her head from one side to the +other as though she could not find a resting-place, as though she were +already searching for the pillow on which she was to repose eternally. +Her vacillating hands picked up and dropped the bedclothes incessantly, +while her eyes also restlessly rolled in their orbits, fastening, from +time to time, on the ceiling of the room; it seemed as though she found +no one on whom to rest them. Soon Martita noticed that her hands were +cold, and she mentioned the fact aloud, in a simple manner, without +appreciating its unfortunate significance. Don Maximo turned away his +head to hide his emotion; the priest let his fall on his breast. + +"I feel ... very well ... now," she said to Maria, raising her +daughter's hand to her lips. "As soon as I ... I am well ... we will go +... to Lourdes ... together ... will we not?... It is very ... pretty +... is it that one?... very pretty ... very pretty.... If you knew ... +what I see now!... The Virgin ... the Virgin coming ... surrounded by +stars.... Put on my ... velvet dress ... to receive her.... Come ... +quick ... quick.... Don't you see ... I am entering by the door?... Ay! +what trials!... Good day, Senora.... I have a daughter ... who much +resembles you.... She has a fair complexion ... and blue eyes ... very +beautiful!... very beautiful!" + +A slight hoarseness began to choke the sick woman's throat; the last +words were rather breathed than spoken; it was a dry, sharp huskiness +constantly growing more pronounced. The confessor hearing it made a sign +to Maria, and she quickly took a silver image of Christ hanging on the +wall, and put it in her mother's hand, saying:-- + +"Mamma, think on the Lord.... Think of what the Divine Saviour suffered +for us." + +"I ... am not ... dying," said the invalid. + +"Yes, mamma ... yes ... you are dying," replied the young woman with +kindled face, full of fear and anguish, fearing that she was not well +prepared. "Repent of the sins that you have committed!... You do repent, +and ask forgiveness of God for them, don't you?" + +"Yes ... yes," murmured the invalid. + +"Repeat the creed with me!" said the confessor, assuming a more solemn +tone: "I believe in God the Father Almighty ... maker of heaven ... and +earth...." + +Dona Gertrudis repeated the priest's words clumsily, and as though she +were not heeding what she did. She looked at the ceiling with strange +persistence, while the features of her countenance were rapidly +changing; a purple circle was drawn around her eyes, and her nostrils +became strangely pinched. When the priest was done she again began to +address Maria. + +"The truth ... is ... that I have ... no hat ... fit to make the journey +... to Lourdes in.... Those that I ... have ... are ... very +old-fashioned.... Do me ... the favor ... to write to Luisa ... and have +her ... send me one ... in the newest style.... You also ... need a +dress.... Attend to it, my daughter ... attend to it." + +"Mamma, leave the vanities of the world.... Think on God.... Consider +that you are going to appear very soon in his presence." + +"No ... no.... I am not dying." + +"Ay, mamma, by the Holy Virgin, I beg you to feel that you are going to +die.... Think on your salvation!" + +"I am thinking about it ... yes ... I am thinking about it," said the +invalid mechanically. + +The priest began to read from a book the Commendation of the Soul in +Latin. All knelt. Then the dying woman, raising her head a little, +asked:-- + +"Why are you all kneeling?" + +"To recommend you to God, mamma," replied Maria. + +And getting up and putting her face near her mother's, she continued in +a whisper:-- + +"Say with me, mamma: '_My Jesus_....'" + +The mother repeated listlessly: "My Jesus." + +_"By thy most sacred passion."_ + +"By thy most sacred ... passion." + +_"By the innumerable pains that thou hast suffered."_ + +"By the in ... numerable ... pains." + +"_That thou hast suffered_," repeated Maria. + +"That thou hast suffered." + +_"Pardon thou my offences."_ + +"Pardon thou ... my offences." + +_"And save my soul."_ + +"That'll do, that'll do!" said the dying woman, pushing her daughter +away with her trembling hand. "No, I am not dying.... I am well.... Come +here, Martita.... It isn't true ... that I am ... dying ... is it, +daughter?" + +"No, mamma," replied the girl, pressing her hands. "You are not dying, +mamita; no.... You must get well soon, and we will go to drive in the +carriage as we used ... now the weather is fine." + +"Yes, loveliest, yes.... We will go ... wait ... lift me a little.... I +am uncomfortable in this position." + +Marta helped her to sit up; but as she did so her mother's eyes rested +upon her, fixed, motionless, terrible. That look smote the poor girl to +the depths of her heart, and uttering a frightful, piercing cry, she let +her fall back on the pillow. The Senora de Elorza's head relaxed as +though the neck were dislocated, with open mouth and rigid lips; and +still from the pillow her great glassy eyes continued to follow her +daughter with the same fixed and terrifying gaze. + +"Mother of my heart!" cried the girl, instantly throwing her arms around +her. "Do not look at me so, for God's sake! Mamita mia, do not look at +me so. Ay! do not look at me so. Ay! how you terrify me!... Mamita! +mamita!... Ay! O God, what is it?" + +Don Mariano, who, on hearing the cry, had hurried into the bedchamber +with anxious face, and hair standing on end, tried to draw his daughter +from the corpse. + +"Come away! my soul's daughter, now you have no longer a mother!" + +"Yes, I have her.... Yes ... here she is.... Mamma! Mamita! You are +here, are you not?... Answer me!... Speak!... Kiss me, for God's sake, +mamita!... Let go of me, papa!... Let go of me!... Now she is going to +kiss me.... Wait a moment, for God's sake!... Let go of me, papa +darling!... Let her kiss me!" + +The girl had embraced the dead body of her mother with extraordinary +force, and covered it with eager loud kisses. Don Mariano, terribly +excited, almost beside himself, pulled her away brutally, as though the +welfare of all depended upon wrenching her from that position. Maria, +kneeling in one corner of the room, had lifted her eyes and her hands to +heaven, and was praying for the eternal glory of the departed. + +At last they succeeded in dragging Marta away, and took her to another +room. Without intending it at all, they caused her great harm. The +unhappy girl had not sufficiently mastered her grief; by taking her away +they choked the fountain of her tears, and they did not flow again. +Pale, completely altered, with eyes fixed on vacancy, she neither +listened to what was said to her, nor was willing to take what was given +to calm her. She did nothing else but repeat incessantly, in a low, +somewhat hoarse voice:-- + +"Mamma.... Mamma.... Mamma!" + +The priest went to her, and said:-- + +"My daughter, calm yourself, calm yourself. It is a test which God sends +you that you may show your resignation. Instead of rebelling against His +will, you ought to thank Him for His remembrance of you, showing that He +loves you...." + +"Don't say foolish things!" exclaimed the girl, in an angry voice, +casting upon him a look of scorn. "Is that a proof of God's love, that +he has taken away my mother?... Then that's a fine kind of love!... a +fine kind of love ... a fine kind of love!" + +Marta kept repeating the expression over and over again for some time, +in a tone of irritation. When she had calmed down a little the priest +said once more,-- + +"My daughter, you should take example of your sister. She feels her +misfortune as much as you, but she is giving proof of Christian +resignation and fortitude.... She does not rebel: she acknowledges the +working of the Almighty hand, and with her prayers is contributing to +the greater happiness and glory of her who is no more." + +Marta saw that the priest was right; she repented of her anger and hung +her head, murmuring,-- + +"Oh, my sister is a saint!" + +"You also can be one, my daughter. The road to perfection is open to all +who wish to follow it...." + +The girl received the counsels of the priest and of the others who were +with him, but did not answer a word. She continued in the same way, not +moving a finger, her face pale and distorted, and her eyes fixed. Her +indifference began to cause them anxiety, and they told her father. The +instant Don Mariano entered the room, she felt a shock, and suddenly +jumping up she threw herself into his arms sobbing bitterly. She was +saved. + +The friends of the family, by dint of strong pressure, made Don Mariano +and Martita go and rest for a few minutes, while the proper arrangements +were made for laying out the body and for the funeral. Maria remained +praying in her mother's room. The pale rays of the dawn found her still +on her knees, with her face turned to heaven. The wax tapers which she +herself had taken care to place around the deathbed were burning +funereally, their crude yellow beams struggling with the languid light +pouring into the room. No one dared to call her from her devout +meditations; those who penetrated into the dressing-room and saw her in +that attitude, whispered a few words of surprise, and retired silently +with emotion and admiration. + +Finally, all the outside people went away, and Maria shut herself in her +room to take the rest which she so much needed, after the cruel series +of changes and the great labors that she had undergone during the last +few hours. At noon the father and his two daughters met in the +dining-room, to begin the melancholy meal which all who have experienced +a family affliction will recall with horror: a meal in which tears +mingle with the food, and sobs fill the long intervals of silence. At +this first meal scarcely any one spoke; no one ventured to lift his eyes +lest they should meet those of the others, and only furtive, +grief-stricken glances were cast at the place left vacant by the being +who had just fled from this world forever. The courses were eaten +mechanically, without appetite, and handkerchiefs were lifted to the +eyes oftener than napkins to the lips; the rattle of the dishes cruelly +wounded their ears, and the rare words exchanged fell from their lips +tremulously and without animation. The spirit protested dumbly against +the brutal necessity imposed upon it by the body, obliging it, by such a +wretched act, to give over the expression of its bitter grief and break +the current of its melancholy thoughts. + +They arose from the table in the same silence. Maria shut herself in her +room again. Don Mariano, accompanied by Martita, likewise went to his. +They sat down together on a sofa, with their arms closely clasped about +each other for the larger part of the afternoon; the caresses which they +bestowed upon each other gradually changed their desperate sorrow into a +most tender feeling, melting into tears. They took turns in consoling +each other; the girl declared that her mother in heaven would be on the +watch for them all, and promised to be always good and prudent, and +never to cause her father sorrow; the father pressed her to his heart, +and blessed her mother for having given him such good and beautiful +daughters. When a servant came to tell them of the call of some ladies, +they felt an unspeakable annoyance, a painful impression, as though +they had been wakened from some melancholy sweet sorrow to plunge into +despair again. + +Don Mariano suspected the motive of the call. They wanted to distract +their attention, so that they might not notice the noise made by the men +in carrying the body from the house. And, in fact, a group of ladies and +a few gentlemen endeavored, by repeated entreaties, to persuade them to +go to more retired apartments; but their efforts, as far as Don Mariano +was concerned, were in vain; he strenuously urged his friends, in a tone +which gave no chance for reply, to leave him alone as they had done, but +to take Martita with them. + +Alone with his grief the Senor de Elorza felt more keenly his loss and +more deeply his misfortune. In youth there is scarcely any loss that is +not reparable; the passions, the feelings are more intense, but at the +same time more transitory. One lives for the future, and through the +darkest and most furious storms there never fails to shine some bright +spot, promising consolation. But at the age which our caballero had +reached hope is no more; the future exists not. Every misfortune +undergone is a new pain, coming to join those that are past, and waiting +for those that are to come: the affections which perish, like the hair +that falls, find no substitute. Don Mariano, with eyes closed and head +sadly bent upon his breast, let his thoughts fly back over all the +events of his long life, and in all of them, whether fortunate or +unlucky, he saw the image of his wife, the inseparable companion of his +manhood. He saw her awakening in his youthful heart a passion at once +tender and ardent: beautiful and pure as an angel, with delicate oval +face and blue eyes, looking at him with love. He remembered perfectly +the few times when he had had lover's quarrels with her, and the little +reason that there had been for almost all of them. Gertrudis had such a +peaceable disposition and such a gentle nature. It always ended in +making her weep. He saw her on the day of his marriage, in her black +satin (she was still in mourning for her father, the Marques de +Revollar) with which the fairness of her complexion and the gold of her +hair made a dazzling contrast. A distinguished gentleman of Madrid, +present at the wedding, taking him into a corner of the drawing-room, +said to him: "Elorza, you are marrying one of the most beautiful women +of Spain. I tell you so, and I have seen many in my life." The same day +he started on a journey through foreign lands. He remembered, as though +it were but yesterday, the intoxicating, ineffable impression, perhaps +the sweetest and most blissful of his life, that he felt when he +suddenly found himself alone with his beloved, as the coachman whipped +up his horses, and they heard the farewells of the relations and +friends, who sped them from the door of the palace of Revollar. How the +poor little girl blushed when she realized that they were alone, and she +in her lover's power! But he was polite and generous. He merely asked +for one hand, and raised it timidly to his lips. All the enchanting +details of that journey were imprinted on the Senor de Elorza's memory. +Then he remembered the strange sensation of pleasure and surprise which +he felt at the birth of his first child, and the deliciously cruel +impression which his wife made upon him, by keeping him rigorously away +from her during those moments of anguish. But, ay! in a short time poor +Gertrudis became an invalid, and never recovered perfect health. In +spite of this, his love for her had never grown cool; he took the +greatest care of her, endeavoring, by all the means in his power, to +alleviate her sufferings. She appreciated his sacrifices, seeing in him +a Providence who always soothed her by his caresses. Even after many +years had gone by, and when no one at all took any notice of the good +lady's tribulations, still Don Mariano was the one who pitied her most, +though he made believe look upon her attacks with disdain, and she +comprehended it perfectly, and she still reserved for him in her heart +the same privileged place as in her youth. The harmony of generous, warm +sentiments in both, the affection which they had lavished upon their +daughters, the deep esteem which they mutually felt, and the ever vivid +recollection of their passionate loves, had been so woven into life that +neither of them understood it without being side by side. It was the +intimate, perfect, and absolute union ordained by God, such as men +rarely heed. + +A melancholy, ominous noise, heard through the walls of his room, caused +him to raise his head, and fix his eyes on space. Yes, there could be no +doubt; they were carrying her away, carrying her away. Don Mariano flung +himself, face down, on the sofa, and hid his face in the cushions to +choke his sobs. + +"My wife! wife of my heart!... They are carrying you away ... carrying +you away forever!... Ay! how terrible!" + +And the good caballero's tears soaked through the texture of the damask, +and his athletic form shook convulsively because of his sobs. Then he +felt a great curiosity, that terrible curiosity which exerts a +fascination at such moments, and leaves an indelible mark on the memory +of him who has satisfied it. He waited attentively and soon heard the +heavy shuffling of feet, and after a little the funereal, heart-rending +song of the clergy almost under the balconies. Then he got up quickly, +and cautiously lifted one of the curtains. And he saw the coffin, the +black, gilded coffin, borne like a boat above the throng. The sky was +cloudy and gray, leaving the great plaza of Nieva in shadow. The surging +multitude extended to the farthest corners, moving with a slow and +measured tread. And the boat, preceded by a great silver cross between +two lighted candles, was borne away, carrying from him for evermore his +treasure. + +He let the curtain drop and once more flung himself on the sofa, +muttering incoherent words. He knew not how long he remained thus. The +light was fading, leaving the room in shadow, and everything was +silent.... Everything except his thoughts, which spoke to him +ceaselessly, and the sobs which broke from his breast. + +And thus he remained a long time, a long time. At last he perceived that +the door of his room was softly opening; he turned his head and saw his +daughter Maria. She came and sat silently beside him. But he, as though +having a presentiment of a new sorrow, asked her no question, said +nothing. He merely took her hand and closed his eyes again. + +"Papa," said the young woman after a long period of silence, "we have +suffered a fearful misfortune, one of those misfortunes which cause even +the most sceptical to turn their eyes to heaven in search of +consolation. God alone possesses the key to them; He knows their reason, +and is able to turn them into a result advantageous for us. This +misfortune has confirmed me in a resolution which I made some time +since, to consecrate myself to God forever.... I know by a thousand +signs that He calls me, and I should be truly ungrateful if I did not +obey His call.... I am useless in the world.... All its amusements weary +me; thus, then, I make no sacrifice in confining myself in a +convent.... Besides, there I can better pray for you and be more useful +to you than here.... The idea of matrimony, which you have desired for +me, is repugnant to my heart, where fortunately there has sprung up +another and purer love which is immortal.... This resolution ought not +to surprise you.... I believe that you ought not to feel it.... At this +solemn moment in which afflictions weigh down upon you, perhaps it may +be a consolation to you to know that you are going to have a daughter +safeguarded from all deceit, from all disloyalty, who is living happily +in the service of God and praying for you." + +Maria had spoken with frequent pauses, as though she expected her father +to interrupt her. But she ended, and still there passed a long period of +silence without his opening his lips. At last the young woman asked him, +timidly,-- + +"Have you nothing to say to me, papa?" + +"Nothing," he replied, without looking at her. + +"But do you give me your consent to do as I said?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I knew you would!... You are so good ... and sufficiently +religious.... You are not like other fathers who are blinded, and would +rather their daughters were exposed to the dangers of the world than be +forever servants of the Lord, in the safe precincts of a holy house.... +Thanks, papa, thanks.... I was afraid ... it is true, I was afraid that +you would not approve my resolution.... But God has touched your +heart.... Now I will leave you.... Marta is waiting for me.... Adios, +papa!.... Let me kiss you.... Adios!" + +And the door opened and shut again softly. The Senor de Elorza remained +motionless in the same position in which his daughter left him, sitting +with his hands clasped and his head bent on his breast. + +The room remained in darkness. The noises outside slowly died away. An +immense, keen, cruel grief palpitated in that lonely room, and a pair of +fixed, stupefied, tearless eyes reflected the few rays of light that +still wandered lost in the atmosphere. + +How long did he remain so? + +Perhaps the little birds that came at dawn to perch on the bars of the +balconies might reply. But the pallor of his cheeks, the livid circles +around his eyes, and the deep wrinkles in his brow, doubtless more +exactly told. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LET US REJOICE, BELOVED. + + +In the small but pretty church of the nuns of San Bernardo, in Nieva, +there was great bustling. The sacristan, aided by three acolytes, the +two serving women of the convent, and a female from the city, celebrated +for her skill in dressing the saints, were stirring up a more than +ordinary noise in brushing the ornaments of the altars with fox tails +and feather dusters. They had no hesitation in standing upon them, and +even climbing upon the saints themselves, whenever it was required by +the need of dusting some carved work or placing a taper in the proper +place. The Mother Abbess from the choir, with her forehead pressed +against the grating, shouted her orders like a general-in-chief, in a +sharp, piping voice. + +"A candlestick there! Yonder a wreath of flowers! Lift up that lamp a +little more! Place the crown on that Virgin straight...." + +In the interior of the convent likewise reigned considerable excitement. +A group of nuns was watching at the door of a cell, as one of their +companions was giving the last touches to the poor bed which she was +making. She had just put up above the pillow the crucifix demanded by +the rules. A great silver waiter stood on the table, which was pine, +likewise according to the rules. When the nun had made the bed ready, +she came out of the cell, addressing a word or two to the others as she +passed. Then she returned with a bundle of clothes in her hand, and all +hastened to relieve her of them, unfolding them, pulling them, and +giving them a hundred turns. It was the complete dress of a novice,--the +white flannel tunic, the linen hood, the shoes, the rosary, the bronze +crucifix, and other things. The nuns looked eagerly at each one of the +articles, as though it were something that they had never seen before, +uttering in low voices many different opinions. + +"Ay! it seems to me that this rosary has very coarse beads."--"No, +sister, take yours and you will see that they are alike."--"I am going +to see, just for my own satisfaction.... It's true; they are alike.... +What a goose!"--"The flannel is too harsh."--"It is because it wasn't +well washed."--"This hood is beautifully ironed!"--"Hesus mio! what +stitches!... that is not sewing, it is basting!... Who made this +tunic?"--"The Sister Isabel."--"Then it's splendid!"--"Don't say so, +sister, perhaps you wouldn't have done it so well!"--"I? do it worse ... +Come ... come ... never in my life did I make such a botch!"--"How many +have you ever done, sister?"--"Never did I, never!" repeated the nun, in +angry voice. "I could sew better when I was seven years old." + +At this moment the Mother Superior appeared in the passage-way; the nun +who had chided her companion stepped aside from the group, and said to +her,-- + +"Mother, Sister Luisa has just boasted that she sews better than Sister +Isabel, and she lost her temper because I told her that she ought not to +do it." + +"Is it true, daughter?" demanded the Mother Superior, in a severe tone. + +Sister Luisa hung her head. + +The Mother Superior meditated a moment or two; then she said:-- + +"Daughter, you know well that here no one ought to boast of doing +anything better than any one else.... You ought to believe yourself the +least of all, for perhaps you are.... For some time you have been very +far from humble, and it is necessary for us to begin to correct this +fault.... First thing, go and ask pardon of Sister Isabel for your +fault, and then shut yourself in your cell and pray a rosary to the +Virgin.... Afterwards when I am in the reception-room with the novice, +you must present yourself there and kneel, so that the people may see +that you are in disgrace." + +Sister Luisa bent her head still lower and hurried away. A smile of +triumph hovered over the lips of the nun. + + * * * * * + +At the same time, the servants of the Elorza mansion were coming and +going, hither and thither, with various objects in their hands. Pedro, +the old coachman, was polishing the state carriage, while two +stable-boys were grooming the horses. Martin, the cook, was preparing a +splendid collation. The maid-servants were running up and down stairs, +from the principal floor to Maria's apartments, which were full of +people, though it was not yet ten o'clock in the morning. The fifteen or +twenty ladies who could scarcely find room to turn around, were all +talking at once, as is natural, turning that silent elegant retreat into +an insufferable hen-roost. Standing in the middle of it was Senor de +Elorza's eldest daughter, half-dressed, and around her were several +ladies, some of them on their knees, adorning her and adjusting her as +though she were a wooden virgin. Great emotion reigned everywhere. They +had already put on her a costly garment of white satin, decorated in +front, from the neck to the bottom of the skirt, with a fringe of orange +flowers. One lady was just putting on her feet a pair of diminutive and +most elegant boots of the same cloth, while another was hurriedly sewing +on a number of flowers, which had fallen off. Others were arranging a +garland of orange blossoms upon the top of her head; this proceeding +caused a great commotion. Amparito Ciudad claimed that the garland was +too large, and did not show enough of her friend's beautiful hair; the +rest believed that there was no need of making it smaller. After a +lively discussion, it was decided to adopt a middle course by taking a +number of flowers, though very few, from the wreath. Frequent +exclamations were heard from those who took no share in the +preparations. + +"Ay! what an expense it takes, Dios mio!" + +"Can it be her true vocation!... A girl so young and so lively!" + +"There is nothing else talked about in town.... Everybody is excited +over this fortunate event!" + +"Fortunate for her, my dear! I don't know as I shall have strength +enough to see the ceremony." + +"But I am going to see it, though it should cost me a fit of sickness." + +Some were already beginning to shed tears, putting their handkerchiefs +to their eyes; others were whispering about the preparations for the +festival, and the circumstances which had led the young woman to take +the veil. Much was said about a letter which she had written to the +Marques de Penalta, bidding him farewell, and exculpating herself. Some +pitied Ricardo, while others said in an undertone, that he would have no +trouble in finding somebody to marry him. "After all, if God called her +to Him by this path, had she any reason to turn from Him, because a +young lad was in love with her? If she had left him for another, that +would be different! but as it was for God, he had no right to complain." +This was the same argument that shone in the Senorita de Elorza'a +letter, written and sent to Ricardo a fortnight before the day of which +we are speaking. Thus it ran:-- + + * * * * * + +"MY DEAR RICARDO,-- + +"Though it is now some time since the course of our love was +interrupted, tacitly, and by virtue of providential circumstances, +rather than by my desire, I feel it my duty to explain to thee something +about the resolution which I have made, and which, of course, is known +to thee, I cannot forget, and indeed I ought not to forget, that thou +hast been my betrothed, with the approbation of my parents, and the +sincere affection of my heart. + +"Before renouncing the world forever, I must tell thee that I have +absolutely no reason to complain of thy behavior to me. Thou hast ever +been good, true, and affectionate, and hast estimated me higher than I +deserve. It is indeed true, that if I were to remain in the world I +would not give thee in exchange for any other man, and I should count +myself very happy in calling thee my husband, if I did not count myself +much more so in being the bride of Jesus Christ. The preference which I +make cannot offend or trouble a man who is as good and pious as thou +art. Henceforth no earthly love exists between us; there remains only a +pure and most sweet friendship, uniting us in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. +I shall not forget thee in my poor prayers. Forget me as far as +possible. Thou art good, thou art noble, handsome, and rich. Seek for a +woman who will deserve thee more than I deserve thee, and marry, and be +happy. I shall pray without ceasing for you. + + "Adios, + + "MARIA." + +Could he have had a better gilded pill? No; no; Ricardo had no right to +complain. + +While the most of the ladies added innumerable glosses to this document, +those who were robing the new bride-elect of Jesus were about finishing +their task and giving the last touches to her dress, with the same +complacency that an artist shows in laying the last shades on his +picture, stepping back and coming near a thousand times to realize the +effect produced. Here a pin; the throat a little more open to show the +beautiful alabaster neck; a few ringlets on her brow carelessly escaping +from among the orange flowers; a button that needed fastening. Maria +aided her maids of honor with quick motions. All admired her serenity. +And, in fact, the young bride could not have shown a face more joyous at +such moments. Nevertheless there was a certain agitation noticeable in +her joy. Her movements were too quick and eager, as though she were +trying to hide the slight trembling of her hands and the tremor that ran +over her whole body. Was it a tremor of delight? + +Oh, yes, Maria felt an intense delight. + +The brilliant rose bloom of her cheeks told the same story; the +unnatural glitter of her eyes likewise proclaimed it. Her lips were dry, +and her nostrils pink and more dilated than usual. Her white brow was +marked by a long, slight furrow, telling of the quick desire, the +restless, sensual eagerness hidden in her heart. It was the cheerful +eagerness of the epicure, who finds himself face to face with his +favorite food after a long fast. Over her excited brilliant face passed +a throng of warm flushes, in a vague, intricate confusion of dismay, +dread, and voluptuous desires. She was going to be the bride of Jesus +Christ and shut herself forever between four walls, passing her whole +life in a mysterious union, whose sweet delight she had not as yet +enjoyed in full. A great curiosity overwhelmed her, stirred her +unspeakably. The choir of the Convent of San Bernardo, where the half +light pouring in through the lofty windows slept in mystic calm upon the +gray oaken chairs, had always fascinated her. How many times she had +trembled, when she saw a silent white figure cross the floor and sit +down there in the body of the church. It was a sweet voluptuous +trembling, which made her eagerly long to enter that fantastic retreat. +The nuns, with their tall white figures, seemed to her like supernatural +beings,--angels come down to earth for a while, who would soon mount up +to heaven again. She was particularly attracted by one who was young and +beautiful; when she saw her enter the choir, she could not take her eyes +from her. The stern, classic beauty of that sister, and her clear, +steady gaze made an impression upon her, which she could not explain. In +her breast sprang up a certain extravagant attraction toward her, and a +quick, eager desire to be her friend, or rather her disciple; to kneel +before her and say: "Teach me, guide me." Oh, if she would permit me to +give her a kiss, even though it were the briefest! One evening a +tremendous temptation assailed her to ask her for it. The church was +empty; she looked back and saw that the beautiful nun had made her way +into the choir and was kneeling near the grating. And, without further +consideration as to what she was doing, she went to her and said in +trembling voice: "Senora, give me your hand, that I may kiss it." The +nun made a graceful sign that it could not be, but rising, she offered +her the crucifix of her rosary, with a smile so sweet and assuring, that +Maria, when she kissed it, felt deeply moved. + +Always when she entered the church of the convent she felt the same +rapture, a species of voluptuous somnolence penetrating her whole being +like a caress. From that choir came languorous, sweet murmurs, calling +her, inviting her to leave the pleasures of the world for others more +sweet and mysterious, which she had already begun to enjoy without full +knowledge of them. Jesus had granted her already rich enjoyments in her +prayers, but He would not abandon himself completely,--certainly would +not lose consciousness of self in the arms of the bride; would not give +His all to her with the infinite, immortal love which she eagerly +desired, except within that silent poetic retreat where no sound could +disturb them. + +At last the day had come for her to satisfy her desire; within an hour +she would be within that mysterious choir which had caused her so many +dreams, and would cross with floating tunic the warm sunlight falling +through the lofty windows. She felt impatient for the moment to arrive. +She was nervous, restless, but smiling. Never had she been so +self-satisfied. Her friends were not weary of exalting her virtue and +heroism; the town regarded her with surprise, and around her she heard +only praise and words of admiration. Maria really found herself upon a +pedestal. And like every one who is under the public gaze, our heroine +succeeded in hiding the emotions of her soul, and showed a serene and +joyous face. It was her day; it was the day of the great battle, and she +smoothed her brow and composed the expression of her face, like a +general when the hour of the attack has come. + +Nevertheless, from time to time she gazed with anxiety at one of the +corners of her boudoir. In that corner sat her sister, with her face in +her hands, sobbing. At last, not being able to control herself longer, +she suddenly left her maids of honor and went to Marta, and bending down +her face so that it touched her, she said:-- + +"Do not weep, dear, do not weep more; ... there is no misfortune here to +make you so sorrowful. On the other hand, think of the great favor which +God has shown in calling me to be his bride.... You ought to rejoice, my +little pigeon;[70] come, don't weep any more, darling [_monina_].... +Consider that you are taking away my strength." + +And as she said that, she kissed her pretty little sister's smooth rosy +cheek. The girl replied amid her sobs,-- + +"Ay! Maria, I lose you forever!" + +"No, monina, no ... you will often see me ... and you will speak with +me...." + +"What does that amount to?... I am going to lose you, my sister." + +And Marta could not help saying this "I lose you; I lose you +forever"--she could not because it was the only thought that filled her +heart at that instant, her heart that never was untrue; she was +accustomed to speak freely her beliefs and opinions. Marta accepted +without resistance the idea that her sister was doing well to enter the +convent, but she was absolute mistress of her heart; there no one held +sway but herself, and her heart told her that she had no longer any +sister, that all Maria's love, all her tenderness was about to evaporate +like a divine essence in the depths of a mysterious, vague something, +totally incomprehensible to her. + +Just as Maria's toilet was almost completed, a young man came rushing +into the room with the violence of a gust of wind. It was that youth +with the banged hair, who gradually had made himself indispensable in +all festivals, solemnities, ceremonies, and merry-makings of the town. + +"Mariita! the secretary of the senor bishop sends me to tell you that +his eminence is ready, and is at this moment starting for the church." + +"Very well, I shall be right out." + +"I have attended to the organ-loft. I notified Don Serapio and the +organist.... Preciosa, Mariita preciosa.... Do notice the blue hangings +which I put on the picture of the Virgin...." + +"Thanks, Ernesto, many thanks; I am deeply grateful to you." + +At a sign from Maria all the ladies arose, and hastened behind her down +the stairs, but for all that there was no cessation of their impertinent +chatter. The young woman went straight to her father's room, and +remained shut in it for some time. No one knew what passed within. Those +who were waiting at the door heard the sound of sobs, confused sentences +spoken in angry tones, the movement of chairs. The ladies, waiting in +the anteroom, whispered to those who came in, "She is taking farewell, +farewell of her father.... Don Mariano will not attend the ceremony." + +Shortly afterward, Maria re-appeared, smiling and serene as before, +saying, "Come, ladies, let us go!" + +With the same serenity she passed through the great room of the mansion +without giving a glance at the furniture, and descended the broad, stone +stairway without showing the slightest trepidation, as she walked along +in her dainty white satin shoes. + +And yet what recollections she left behind her! How many hours of light +and joy! The prattle of her childish lips, sweet as the trilling of a +bird; her father's somewhat gruff but, for that very reason, all the +sweeter singing, as he rocked her to sleep in his arms; the dreams, the +fresh laughter of her girlhood; the lovely sun of April mornings, +filling her room with light; the constant caresses of her mother, the +warmth of home; in short, that warmth which all the treasures of earth +cannot buy; all this remained behind her, imprinted on the walls, +ingrained in the furniture. And she left it all without a tear! + +At the door stood waiting a magnificent barouche, drawn by four white +horses. Pedro had shown his taste by decorating them with great blue +plumes, and by donning a livery of the same color. On that day +everything must be blue, the color of purity and virginity. Even the +sky, for greater glory, had clad itself in blue, and shone clear and +beautiful. Maria climbed into the carriage with the Senora de Ciudad, +her godmother, and the others took leave of her for the nonce, and +hastened to the church. + +Extraordinary agitation reigned in the town. The taking of the veil by +the Senorita de Elorza, though expected for some time, nevertheless did +not fail to make a profound impression. A young lady so rich, so +beautiful, so flattered by all that the world considered gay and +desirable! Interminable comments were made during these days, as people +met in the shops. "But didn't they say that she was to be married to the +marquesito?"--"No! not at all! there's no such thing. The marquesito was +greatly disappointed; the girl, after the strange experience of being +arrested, and her mother's death, returned with more zest than ever to +her pious occupations; it is decidedly her vocation: there is no +fickleness about her." Some looked upon it in one way, some in another; +but as a general thing, Maria's conduct aroused lively sympathy, and +over many, especially among the people, it exerted a certain fascination +like everything extraordinary, and up to a certain point, marvellous. +She had the reputation of being a saint: the quenching of all the +splendor of her beauty, wealth, and talent in the solitudes of the +cloister, was the unparalleled complement of her fame, the crowning +stroke in the process of her popular canonization. All those rough +women, who pitilessly elbowed each other in order to see her pass toward +the church, would have felt themselves defrauded, if she had wedded +prosaically, and had they seen her arm in arm with her husband, preceded +by a nurse-maid with a tender infant in arms. + +The plaza was full of spectators. When the young lady entered the +carriage, and Pedro, cracking his tongue and his whip, started up his +horses, there was a great tumult among the throng, which reached Maria's +ears like a chorus of flatteries. The people separated precipitately, +making way for her to pass. In presence of that magnificence, which only +some old woman had ever seen before, the peaceful inhabitants found +themselves overwhelmed with respect, and equally excited by a great +curiosity. The carriage rolled away, at first slowly, breaking the close +ranks of the spectators; the horses pranced impatiently, shaking their +blue plumes as though they were anxious to carry the bride to the arms +of the mystic Bridegroom. It was a royal procession; and, in truth, +Maria, from her elegant appearance, splendidly adorned, with her deep +blue eyes, shining with emotion, and her cheeks of milk and roses, was +worthy of being a queen. She was a figure of remarkable beauty, and +offered many points of resemblance to the fair Virgin of Murillo, that +we see in the Museum at Madrid. The women of the town could not +restrain their enthusiasm, and they burst out in a thousand flattering +adjectives. + +"Look at her! look at her! What a splendid creature,--a woman after my +very heart!" + +"I should like to devour her with kisses!" + +"And what a rich dress she wears!" + +"They say that it came expressly from Paris. She did not want to dress +in _tisu_; the chasubles which it will make into will be given away +separately, and the gown will remain for the Virgin of Amor Hermoso." + +"Oh, I never saw such a lovely creature!... She looks like an angel." + +The carriage followed its majestic course, and the young woman smiled +sweetly on the multitude. From two or three houses a deluge of flowers +was showered upon her, and their variegated petals for a moment enameled +the white cloth of her dress; a few remained entangled in her hair. The +people applauded. + +"Woman, this girl's vocation teaches us a lesson." + +"How fortunate she is!... Who would be in her place?" + +"It can't be said that she was obliged to.... I know that her father was +furious when he heard about it, and tried every way to dissuade her." + +"Come now, she is wedded to Jesus Christ, and her family don't like it," +declared a youth, who was listening to this conversation. + +The women turned around ready to crush the scoffer, but he made off, +laughing. + +And the carriage continued on its way under the radiant sun, which made +the panes of the balconied windows glitter, and reflected on the white +houses of the town with transports of delight. The sky opened up its +purest depths, smiling upon all the wishes for happiness, all the +joyful aspirations of mortals, even upon those of the beautiful maiden +who, of her own free will, was going to lose it from sight and shut +herself forever in the shadows of the cloister. The carriage passed by +the feudal palace of the Penaltas, the ancient walls of which, spotted +here and there with moss, cast upon the street a mantle of gloom, making +still more vivid the blazing light of the sun. + +What was Ricardo doing during this time? + +Maria did not ask this; she passed by without casting even a furtive +look at the Gothic windows; on her lips still hovered the serene, +condescending smile. The shadow nevertheless caused in her a slight +tremor of chill. + +At the church door all her girl friends, including Martita, were waiting +for her. The temple was overflowing with people; they made way for her +to pass. At the high altar the bishop of----, who had come purposely to +give her the veil, stood ready to receive her. He knelt and prayed for a +few instants. The confused murmur of the congregation ceased; an intense +silence reigned. + +The prelate began to speak in a clear and solemn voice:-- + +"I know, beloved daughter, that you have formed the resolution to shut +yourself forever in this holy house, to the end that you may be all your +life long the servant of the Lord.... I know, likewise, that your will +is steadfast, and that you have been enabled to resist not only the vain +seductions of the world, but also those proper pleasures which the +goodness of God allows us to enjoy.... But life, my daughter, can be in +the midst of mortification and penance more broad than in the tumult of +pleasures; and while our spirit remains imprisoned in the flesh we are +the target of severe and constant temptations." + +The venerable bishop spoke with extraordinary deliberation, making long +pauses at the end of his sentences, which lent great dignity to his +discourse. His voice was sweet and clear, and rang through the silent +nave of the church like sweet music. He went on to trace with terrible +accuracy the details of the religious life, spreading out before the +young woman's eyes all the apparatus of mortification which it involved; +the pleasures of the world entirely forgotten, the senses crucified, +earthly affections, even the purest, crushed; and this, not for a day, +not for a month, not for a year only, but for all days, all months, all +years, until the hour of death, always eagerly seeking for pain as +others seek for pleasure. But after he had painted the gloomy picture of +the mortification, he went on to express eloquently the pure, lively +pleasures to be found in it. "To trust one's self to the arms of God, as +a child goes to its mother, that he may do with us as he pleases. To +find God in the depths of bitterness and grief, to unite one's self to +Him.... To possess Him ... and to be the beloved child in whom His +infinite grandeur can take delight.... To live eternally united to +Him.... To be His bride!... Is not that a sufficient recompense for the +petty sorrows that we may experience in a life so brief?" + +Began the profession of faith. The bishop asked, reading his questions +from a book, if she were ready to leave the life of the world and +intercourse with its creatures, to consecrate herself exclusively to the +service of God. Maria replied that she had heard the voice of the Lord +and hastened at the call. The prelate asked once more if she had +meditated well on her resolution, if she had made it from some mundane +consideration, wounded by some ephemeral disillusion. Maria replied that +she came of her own free will to give herself up to the Beloved of her +soul and rest in Him; all the armies of the earth could not make her +retrace her steps, for the Lord had made her steadfast and immovable as +Mount Zion. + +Over the heads of the faithful appeared a great silver waiter, the same +which a few hours before was in one of the convent cells, and on it the +habit of the novice of San Bernardo. The prelate blessed it. + +Then were heard the sharp, nasal tones of the organ, and the procession +took up the line of march: Maria in front, and at her side her godmother +and Marta; next came the bishop and behind him the clergy. Some of the +people followed and some stayed in the church. Near the door was the +entrance to the convent, through which they passed, penetrating into a +large, gloomy cloister, illuminated at intervals by a bright sunbeam +coming through the swell of the arches. At the end of one of the +galleries was an open door, and guarding it, silent, motionless, were +seen the white figures of two nuns with wax tapers in their hands. The +bride-elect again knelt, and instantly rising she convulsively pressed +her sister to her heart. It was the last embrace. When she wished to +extricate herself, Martita's arms were so tightly clasped about her neck +that it required the intervention of several ladies to accomplish it. +She also kissed all her girl friends, who wept bitterly, while she, +giving an example of sublime serenity, joyous and smiling, entered the +house of the Lord escorted by the two nuns. + +The doors closed. Though it was the month of August, Marta and her +friends felt a sudden chill in the cloister, and hastened to take refuge +in the church, where Don Serapio, accompanied by the organ, was +annihilating Stradella's beautiful prayer. + +All waited some time with impatient curiosity. No one paid any attention +to the cracked voice of the proprietor of the canning factory; the eyes +of the congregation were fixed, glued to the choir of the Bernardas, +gazing through the bars at the little door in the rear. + +At last she appeared. She came, escorted still by the two nuns. The garb +of novice made her look a little older. Yet she was beautiful; very +beautiful; for she really was beautiful, that saintly and extraordinary +creature. The people devoured her with their eyes, and repeated in a +whisper, "She comes smiling, she comes smiling." + +Ah, yes, the new bride of Jesus Christ was smiling, in her expectation +of the sweet reward for her sacrifice. But the venerable man who, at +that same instant, was walking alone through one of the state +departments of the Elorza mansion ... he did not smile! And the young +man who, at the same time, was sitting with folded arms, and head sunken +for his breast, face to face with a woman's portrait, was he perhaps +smiling?... No, no! neither did he smile. + +The prelate came to the grating, and said to the novice,-- + +"Thou shalt not call thyself Maria Magdalena, but, Maria Juana de +Jesus." + +The novice prostrated herself before the abbess, and respectfully kissed +the crucifix of her rosary. Then she embraced, one after another, her +new companions. While this scene was transpiring, many of the ladies in +the congregation shed tears. The bishop said the solemn mass, and +finally all the sisterhood, including Maria, took the Communion. The +organ shrilled, whistled, and snorted with more energy than ever, +spurred, perhaps, by competition. It seemed as though Don Serapio and +the organ had entered into a tremendous contest, a duel to the death, +and the obstreperous consequences fell upon the ears of the faithful. +But the organ mocked the manufacturer in most audacious fashion. When he +reached the highest point of ecstasy, emitting from this throat some +complicated _fioritura_, or _fermata_, a horrisonant bellowing broke in +upon him pitilessly, leaving him lost and inundated for a long time. Don +Serapio struck out again with a tender note, sure of the effect.... Zas! +the organ, like a blood-thirsty beast, fell upon it, and tore it in +pieces. Thus it wantoned for a long time, until, tired of amusing itself +and intoxicated with triumph, it suddenly broke in with all its voices +at once, clamoring in the silence of the church with a monstrous +insufferable shriek. The manufacturer remained choked in that diabolical +roar, and ceased to appear. + +Silence reigned for a few moments, but it was disturbed by a peculiarly +melancholy tinkling. It was the curtain of the choir being drawn. +Nothing more was seen. They began to put out the lights, and the people +withdrew in all haste. + +Maria's intimate friends went to the reception-room[71] to give her +their felicitations. + +The reception-room was a square, and rather gloomy apartment, cut in two +by a double iron grating. The novice appeared, accompanied by the Mother +Superior.... Still smiling, perhaps?... Yes, smiling. + +"What examples you have given us of courage and goodness, Maria," said +one to her. + +The young woman shrugged her shoulders, with a gesture of throwing from +her the glory which was heaped upon her. + +"Don't fail to pray for us!" + +"Yes, I will pray for you, dear. We"--she added with a little +emphasis--"we are obliged to pray for those who remain in the world." + +"If you knew how all the servants wept a moment since." + +"Poor people!... I love them all so much!" + +"Here is Marta, who wants to say good by." + +"Come nearer, Marta ... Are you becoming reconciled yet?" + +"What remedy have I, Maria," replied the girl, struggling to repress her +sobs. + +"No, sister; you must resign yourself gladly, and be thankful to the +Lord for the favors which he has heaped upon me.... You will always be +good, will you not?... Console papa.... Don't forget those prayers which +I gave you, nor fail to read the books of which I told you.... Come to +hear mass every day.... Try to be always earnest and humble...." + +Ah, no! Martita would not try, would not try. As she was born good and +humble there is no need of striving for it. In this regard the bride of +the Lord may be at rest. + +The small room where the two nuns stood near the grating seemed like a +prison cell by its ugliness and gloom. Their tunics stood out like two +white spots against the black lattice. + +The friends took turns in speaking, or all spoke at once to Maria, with +a strange mixture of admiration, of pity, of curiosity, and of +affection. They asked a thousand impertinent questions and many +ridiculous requests about prayers, medals, and other things. A few young +fellows who had belonged to the old tertulias at the Elorza mansion, +had slipped in with the crowd, and were gazing with wide-open eyes of +wonder at the new nun, but dared not speak to her. She showed herself +serene and lovely, and called them by name with a certain reassuring +condescension, giving them messages for their families. The boldest was +the ceremonious youth of the banged hair, who stepped up, and reaching +the grating, very much stifled, called the novice by her new name, +saying,-- + +"Sister Juana, I want to ask you a favor; please give me as a +remembrance a few orange blossoms from the crown which you wear...." + +"If the mother is willing...." murmured Maria, turning her face to the +Mother Superior. + +She bowed assent, and the gift of orange flowers was liberal and +gracefully granted. + +At that instant the Sister Luisa, the nun who was to be punished for her +vanity, came in and fell upon her knees, but not the slightest trace of +a blush passed over her face. The habit of performing such deeds +deprived them of all worth. + +The conversation wandered off upon festivals, novenas to come, the +journey of the vicar who was called to be canon of the cathedral, his +successor, and other subjects. Insensibly all were lowering the tone of +their voices until there was only a monotonous and melancholy +whispering. It seemed like a visit of condolence rather than of +congratulation. They continued to extol Maria's courage and virtue. "Ay, +Dios mio! to think that she is a prisoner forever and living a life of +so much labor...." + +The Mother Superior looking at the novice, with a sort of half smile not +very encouraging, exclaimed, "Poor little one! poor little one! "But +she, turning around with one of those graceful gestures so +characteristic, replied, "Rich little one, rich little one,[72] say I, +mother!" + +Gradually the young men had been getting near the girls, and without +respect to the holiness of the place, or heeding the stern crucifixes +fastened to the walls, they began to whisper more or less roguish +remarks. + +"When are you going to follow her example, Fulanita? The truth is, that +if all of you did the same, what would become of us? But you would be +sure to look lovely in the habit! See here, Amparito! If you should +become a nun, I should wish to be vicar!" + +"Now I wish you would be a little more serious, Suarez." + +"How long should I have to be a priest to become vicar?... the worst +thing is the grating.... Can't the vicar get behind the grating?" + +"Be silent, man alive! it is a sin to say such things in this place!" + +Rosarito and her lover had taken possession of a corner, only from time +to time making some insignificant remark roused into the category of the +sublime by the inflection of the voice and the trembling of the lips. +Only the old women, and a few young girls who had not succeeded in +finding mates, still continued talking with the nuns. At last the Mother +Superior arose from her chair, and Maria followed her example. + + * * * * * + +A man, a venerable man, crossed the plaza of Nieva with rapid strides; +he followed the winding streets, he reached the convent of San +Bernardo, he entered the court, mounted the stairway, pushed open the +door of the reception-room, forced his way through the people, and laid +heavy hands on the grating. He intended to say something solemn, +something tremendous. It could be seen by the wrathful expression of his +face, by the pallor of his cheeks, by the disorder of his white locks. + +But he let his head fall, and only murmured,-- + +"My daughter! my daughter!" + +And a flood of tears burst from his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA'S DREAM. + + +The transfer of the young artillery lieutenant, Ricardo de Penalta, had +not yet arrived. He had applied for it a fortnight before the Senorita +de Elorza took the veil. A month had already passed since the great +ceremony ... and nothing! The influential personages whom our friend had +in Madrid, devoted to his interests, this time took little pains to +fulfil his desires. + +But why was our hero so anxious to leave Nieva? Be it said in honor of +the truth, that when Ricardo asked for the transfer he was exceedingly +desirous of turning his back forever upon those places where he had been +so happy, and where he was going to be so wretched; but now, after the +lapse of a month, the violence of his sorrow had somewhat subsided, and +he was beginning to get accustomed to his misfortune. Still he continued +to be greatly downcast; the whole town noticed it. + +From the day when his betrothed had made him that horrible proposition, +which he could not remember without being hot with anger, he understood +that he should never be the master of Maria's heart. A secret and +implacable voice kept ceaselessly whispering this to him. Thus the +letter in which she announced her determination to enter the convent +caused him no great surprise; for some time a rumor of this had been +current in society. Yet, in spite of his best efforts, he could not help +feeling a quick, keen pang and a melancholy that prostrated him +completely. The more or less well-founded belief that the beloved woman +does not return one's affection, is by no means the same thing as to see +it confirmed by a material tangible fact. Not any longer did he retain +the right to lose his temper and relieve his wrath by calling her +perfidious and treacherous, as happens in the majority of cases. As the +sincere Christian that he was, it became him to look with patience, even +with pleasure (the letter said so distinctly!), upon that pious +substitution of holy, sublime affections for those of earth, noble +though they were. Maria was blameworthy in no respect,--absolutely in no +respect; her conduct was worthy of all praise, and he saw how the whole +city spontaneously and warmly rendered her their tribute. Possibly in +this thought the young marquis found the only possible consolation; for +the certain thing was, that the beautiful girl had not left him for any +other man, but to follow the hard road that leads to heaven, for which, +doubtless, it must require the doing of great violence to self. And in +this violence our marquis took a little pride by thinking with delight, +and at the same time with pain, on the strength which the new bride of +Jesus must have employed, to tear up the roots of such a solid and +long-established affection. But amid the beautiful foliage of these more +or less consoling thoughts, a sad and cruel doubt often raised its +odious head. Though Ricardo employed all expedients to get rid of such +an idea, he could not help thinking very frequently that Maria had never +professed for him a sincere and vehement love, like his for her; that +she had been his betrothed through a compromise, through the influence +of the peculiar circumstances in which both had found themselves in +Nieva; that perhaps she had deceived herself in thinking that she loved +him, since if she had really loved him, the idea of taking part in +ridiculous conspiracies would never have entered into her head, still +less that of proposing to him odious acts of treason; that Maria was a +girl of much talent and great imagination, admirably fitted to shine in +the world, or to undertake some religious or secular enterprise, of no +matter how lofty a character, but incapable, perhaps from the very same +reason, of delicacy of sentiments, of constancy, of the modest and +humble abnegation which ought to characterize good wives and mothers. +Finally Ricardo came to the conclusion that his mistress had more head +than heart, or else he did not know what he was talking about. + +And gradually under the influence of these doubts, which went almost as +far as to be certainties, there sprang up in his mind a strong aversion +to the amorous memories, which were a drawback to him. When he thought +of the Maria of former times, so joyous, so lovely, so buoyant, his +heart would melt within him, and the tears would flow; when his thought +went back to the day on which, hidden behind the curtains, he saw her +pass by his house unmoved and smiling, without so much as casting a +glance at his windows, his heart was filled with a bitterness not free +from rancor. And when he saw her in his imagination in the garb of a San +Bernardin nun, entirely oblivious of the sweet scenes which had been the +enchantment of his life, despising them, perhaps, and looking upon them +with horror, as though they had been crimes, our young friend--may God +forgive him the sin--began to look with hatred upon the bride of Jesus +Christ. These doubts which constantly assaulted him were a genuine +cautery for his passion, painful and cruel, like all cauteries, but very +salutary in their effects. + +He did not for an instant cease to frequent the Elorza mansion as +before. There he found two human beings whom he pitied and who pitied +him. Moreover, it was a habit of his to spend a few hours each day +between those four walls, and not only a habit, but a debt of gratitude +for the affection lavished upon him, and not only a debt, but also--and +why should we not say so?--also a pleasure, a great pleasure, since he +could not fail to find it so in being with such an accomplished +gentleman as Don Mariano, who had showed that he loved him like a son, +and with such a good and beautiful girl as Marta, whom he loved like a +sister. Grief had still further limited the circle of his affections. In +proportion as the recollection of Maria became less pleasant to him, the +sweeter did he find the love of that family, and he clung to it as to +the last plank in the shipwreck of his hopes. If he let this plank +escape him, he would be left alone. Alone! alone! This word brought back +to him that terrible night spent in the train, when he returned to Nieva +after his mother's death. Cruel fate sounded it in his ears when he +least expected it. Finally, while he stayed in Nieva, it did not ring +with such a mournfully and disconsolate accent, because all that he saw +and touched in his own house spoke to him of his mother's tenderness; +and all that he found in the Elorza mansion, recalled Maria's love; but +how would it be in the future?... What would the desert fields of +Castilla say to him, across which the swift locomotive would carry him? +What would the indifferent multitude in the streets of Madrid say to +him?... Therefore Ricardo feared more than he desired the transfer which +he had asked for with so much eagerness. + +Every day when he reached the Elorza's, Martita asked him, "Has it come +yet, Ricardo?" + +Sometimes he replied between jest and earnest,-- + +"Perhaps you are anxious for me to go away, Martita?" + +"Oh, no," would be the young girl's reply, with an inflection of voice +equal to a poem. + +But Ricardo did not have the power of reading it. These love-wrecked +men, these men wounded by disenchantment, cannot read other poems than +their own. + +Marta, after the death of her mother, in whose illness Ricardo had so +much aided and consoled her, once more treated him with the same +confidence and affection as of old. For some time she had been rather +cool toward him. Don Mariano's younger daughter had passed through a +terrible crisis, and no one in the house had a suspicion of it. While it +lasted she was rather more brusque in her behavior, more restless, more +serious and reserved; but at last her calm spirit and her healthy and +well-balanced nature came out victorious. Dona Gertrudis's death, which +was a more serious and genuine calamity than anything else, had no small +effect in calming the disturbances and commotions of her heart. She was +once more the same Marta, tranquil, serene, and affectionate as before, +always anxious to free obstacles from the path of others, though her own +were blocked by an unsurmountable wall. Fortunate are they who in life +meet with these blessed beings who found their own happiness in that of +others, and who offer the flowers and content themselves with the +thorns. + +Ricardo spent long hours at the Elorzas'. Whole afternoons, especially, +he devoted to Don Mariano and his daughter, going to walk with them when +the weather was fair, and staying in the house when it rained. +Sometimes, too, he came in the morning, and then Don Mariano would +invite him to stay to dinner. While Ricardo refused and the caballero +insisted, Marta did not open her lips, but her anxiety was betrayed in +her face, and her eager desire to keep him shone in her supplicating +eyes. When, finally, he accepted, the girl's joy was evident, and her +solicitude was evident in the way that she took charge of everything, +going to and from the kitchen any number of times, preparing the dishes +which she knew were most to the young marquis's taste, and keeping the +servants alert; the _beefsteak a la inglesa_ (for Ricardo had learned in +Madrid to eat it rather rare), the cold fish, the boiled rice, the slice +of lemon (Ricardo put lemon on almost all his food), the English +mustard, the olives, and other things. But where Marta used her five +senses was with the coffee. Ricardo was a perfect Arab, a Sybarite in +regard to coffee. Thus it was that the girl bestowed a more lively and +vigilant care upon the preparation of this liquid than a chemist on the +analysis of some precious metal. While she came and went, making all the +preparations, the young fellow did not cease to rally her in the same +affectionate tone as of old; and this, too, though Marta, if still a +little short for her age, was now a real woman, and not among the worst +favored, either, as we have already had occasion to remark. She had +grown slightly, nevertheless. + +"Come, _caponcita_,[73] when did you stop growing?" said Ricardo, +detaining her by one of her braids of hair, as she was passing in front +of him. + +The girl smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and continued on her way. + +From the day on which he had been vexed with her, Martita had never +asked him about the transfer, but whenever he entered the house, all +gave him a keen, anxious look, as though trying to read some tidings in +his face. As it did not come, the girl recovered her tranquillity and +resumed her work, which she rarely failed to have in her hands. Ricardo +likewise said nothing about going away; either he did not remember his +petition, or affected not to remember it, or wished not to remember it. +Perhaps it was a little of all. The Marquis de Penalta had passed from +disconsolateness to melancholy, and from this he was gradually letting +himself drift on toward a happier frame of mind. The house where Marta +sewed began to inspire jocund ideas of sweet ease and happiness. + +One morning, Ricardo, as though it was the most natural thing in the +world, as though the tidings did not tear any one's heart, as though it +were some mere trifle of little consequence at issue, came into the +Elorzas', and said,-- + +"Yesterday evening at last my transfer to Valencia came!" + +Blind! blind! dost thou not see that girl's pallor? Dost thou not notice +the painful trembling that runs over her body? Look out! she is going to +fall! Run, run to her assistance! + +Nothing, the young marquis perceived nothing! He, too, was a little +pale. The indifferent tone in which he made the announcement was pure +comedy, for I know on good authority that he walked up and down his room +the night before, till he was tired out, and that the rays of the +morning found him still unable to close his eyes. + +Don Mariano made a gesture of disappointment, exclaiming,-- + +"There, my son, there!... I feel that we are going to lose you!... +However, if it is your pleasure...." + +Ricardo preserved a gloomy silence. Gladly would he have exclaimed, +"How can it be my pleasure? My pleasure would be to ask for a discharge +at this very moment, and stay here forever and live calmly near you! +Near you, the people whom I love most in this world!" But he had the +weakness to hold his tongue, and such weaknesses as these generally cost +very dear in life. + +"And when do you expect to go?" pursued the caballero. + +"To-morrow. I must stop in Madrid a few days to attend to some business. +I shall reach Valencia the tenth of next month." + +"Are you going to some regiment?" + +"To the First Cavalry." + +"Ah!" + +And there was silence. Sadness ruled them all, choking conversation, +which usually was very animated, even though it touched upon the details +of domestic affairs. Don Mariano renewed it in a sad and distracted +tone. + +"Have you ever been in Valencia?" + +"Yes, sir; I spent a month there a few years ago." + +"It is very pretty, isn't it?" + +"Yes; very pretty." + +"Many oranges, eh?" + +"A great many." + +"I think it is a very gay city." + +"No, not gay; it seemed to me very melancholy." + +"Then, my dear fellow, I should think...." + +But they relapsed into silence. Their hearts were oppressed, and the +indifferent tone of the words was not sufficient to hide it. Marta had +not once spoken during all the time, and, as she sat in a low chair next +the window, paid close attention to her crochet work. Ricardo was +lounging on the sofa near Don Mariano. A thousand melancholy thoughts +sifted through the minds of all three, and that cheerful room, bright in +the pure, brilliant morning light, was nevertheless filled with sadness +and silence. When the Senor de Elorza spoke to Ricardo again, his +emotion shone through his slightly hoarse and tremulous voice. + +"And what arrangements have you made about your house?... Are you going +to dismiss the servants?" + +"All except Pepe, the gardener, and Cesar, the inside man." + +"Have you packed yet?" + +"No; I shall have time this afternoon and to-morrow morning." + +"And your calls?" + +"Really, Don Mariano, the only people with whom I am intimate are you +here.... Three or four other calls, and I am done.... I shall send cards +to the rest.... What I am most sorry about is, to leave the improvements +in my garden unfinished, and the two pavilions in the corners just +begun...." + +"Don't be troubled about that, I will attend to it.... I will attend to +it.... I will attend to it...." + +He could say no more. Emotion choked him. Those pavilions had been +Maria's idea before the engagement was broken, and this recollection +brought in its train many others, all painful, in which his wife, his +daughter, and Ricardo were mingled, bringing before his eyes the +terrible misfortunes which he had recently suffered. He hastily arose +and left the room. + +Ricardo, likewise moved and overwhelmed by great dejection, remained +with bent head, and silent. Marta kept on busily with her task, as +though she felt no interest in what was going on. She did not once lift +her head during the conversation, nor even when her father left the +room. Ricardo looked at her fixedly a long time. The girl's impassive +attitude began to mortify him. He had presumptuously imagined that it +would affect Martita very deeply to hear the announcement of his +departure, for she had always given evidence of being fond of him. He +had blind confidence in the goodness of her heart and the strength of +her affections; but when he saw her so serene, moving the ivory needle +between her slender rosy fingers, without asking him anything about it, +without urging him to postpone his journey for a few days, without +speaking a word, he felt a new and painful disenchantment. And he +allowed himself, by the weight of his gloomy thoughts, to be drawn away +into a desperate, pessimistic philosophy. + +"Then, sir," he said to himself tearfully, "you must accept the world +and humanity as they are.... This girl whom I believed to be so +tender-hearted.... What is to be done about it?... In woman exists only +one true affection.... Can it possibly be that this child is in love +with some one?" + +Ricardo had no reason to be indignant at such a thought. But it is +certain that he was indignant, and not a little. He tried to drive it +away as an absurdity, and succeeded only in convincing himself that, not +only it would not be an absurdity, but would not even be strange. But as +he was downcast, indignation very soon gave way to sadness; deep, +painful sadness. + +"Aren't you sorry that I am going away?" he asked, with a sort of +melancholy smile creeping over his face. + +"Not if it is your pleasure to go...." replied the girl, not lifting her +head. + +Confound the pleasure! Ricardo had no longer any desire to go away; he +was furious with himself for having asked to be sent. Gladly would he +give everything to exchange.... But he did not say a word of what he +thought. + +His sadness and depression kept increasing. He felt a cruel desire to +weep. He dared not say a word to Marta, lest she should notice his +emotion. Besides, what reason had he to speak to her?... Such an +unfeeling child! + +He found himself in one of those moments of dejection in which +everything appears clad in black, and he took a certain bitter delight +in it; moment, in which one (if the expression be permissible) wallows +voluptuously in sadness, endeavoring to add to it by unhappy +recollections and expectations. He dropped his head on the pillow of the +sofa, and shut his eyes, as though he were meditating. Our hero had been +meditating deeply, deeply, for many hours. His nerves had been on the +strain for a long time, and he began to feel the attack of a languor +akin to faintness. He lifted his head a little, to prove to himself that +he still had the power of motion, and he looked once more at Martita, +who was still in the same position; but very soon he let it fall again. +It seemed to him as if he were seized against his will, and kept lying +there, without the possibility of moving a finger. He still had his eyes +open, but they were as heavy as if the lids had been made of lead. At +last he closed them, and fell asleep. That is, we cannot say that he +slept, or only napped. It is certain, however, that the Marques de +Penalta, thus stretched out, with eyes closed, seemed to be asleep, and +his face looked so pale, there were such dark rings under his eyes, and +his whole appearance was so lifeless that it inspired alarm. + +In the space of a few moments one can dream of many and very different +things. All have experienced this phenomenon. Ricardo had not as yet +entirely lost the idea of reality, when he found himself in a room like +the one in which he really was. However, there was this difference, that +in the new one the window had very thick iron gratings, like lattices, +and one of the walls was likewise grated, through which there could be +seen in the background, gilded altars, images of saints, lamps hung from +the ceiling; in fact, a real church. Looking attentively from the sofa, +he perceived that a great throng was pouring into the church, causing a +low, but disagreeable noise, until they filled it entirely, and there +was no more room. Then he began to hear the tones of an organ playing +the waltzes of the Queen of Scotland, which made him suspect that the +organist was Fray Saturnino, the capellane of San Felipe. Then, rising +above the heads of the people, he saw the gilded points of a mitre. The +organ ceased, and he heard the nasal voice of a preacher delivering a +long sermon, although he could not understand a word of what he said. +When the sermon was over, he heard a sweet song which made him tremble +with delight; it was Maria's sweet voice, singing with more sweetness +than ever, the aria from _Traviata_: "Gran Dio morir si giovane." When +this was finished, prolonged applause rang through the church. Then all +the people crowded up to the great altar, leaving the spaces near the +grating free. Something was going on there, for he clearly heard some +voices saying,-- + +"Now he gives her the benediction ... now ... now." + +And at the same instant Don Maximo appeared in the door of the room, and +said,-- + +"What are you doing, lying down here? Didn't you know that Maria is +being married?" + +"Whom is she marrying?" + +"Jesus Christ! Come and see the ceremony!" + +He desired to arise, but could not. Then the physician said,-- + +"Well, since you cannot move, I will go into the church, to see if I can +persuade the people to stand aside a little so that you may see from +here." + +And in fact, he soon perceived that the congregation was making a +sufficiently wide passage from the grating, so that he could see afar +away, over the steps of the great altar, Maria's proud figure in bridal +array. At her side stood another little human figure holding her by the +hand. The bishop was giving them his blessing. It was no more Jesus +Christ than it was a pumpkin! The person whom Maria was marrying was +neither more nor less than Manolito Lopez, that most impertinent and +uncongenial of urchins! He was like one who saw a vision! Could it be +possible that a girl so beautiful and wise, would unite herself to this +cub and leave him, who in every respect was a man abandoned to despair? +The truth is, he had reason for serious and painful reflections. But +just as he was getting deeper and deeper involved in them, behold the +same Maria enters the room in the garb of a San Bernardo nun, and coming +directly to him said, sweetly smiling,-- + +"Art thou sad because I marry?" + +"Why should I not be?" + +"Fool," says the young woman, coming still closer, "though I am wedded +to Jesus Christ, yet I love thee the same as before." + +Then Ricardo began to sigh and groan. + +"No, Maria, you do not love me; you love Manolito Lopez." + +"Come, Ricardo mio, don't talk nonsense. How could I love this urchin?" + +"Have you not just married him?" + +"You must be dreaming; don't say any more absurd things.... Wake up, +man--wake up ... or wait a little, I am going to wake you. But see in +what a sweet way!" + +And in fact, the beautiful nun came even closer still, and took his face +between her dainty hands with an affectionate gesture. Then she brought +her own close to his slowly, and gave him a warm and prolonged kiss on +the brow. + +Oh! wonderful chance! Ricardo noticed with amazement, that just as she +gave him the caress, Maria's face had suddenly changed into Marta's. +Yes; it was her bright black eyes; her fresh rosy cheeks; her dark hair +falling in ringlets around her brow. But her face seemed so sad and +mournful that he could not do less than cry,-- + +"Marta, Marta! what ails thee?" + +And the very cry that he made awoke him. + +Marta still sat in the low chair beside the window, apparently absorbed +in her work. And nevertheless, the young man, though awake, was sure +that he had cried out. All that had passed was a dream; but neither the +cry nor the warm, moist lips which he felt imprinted on his brow were +imaginary; though he were killed, he could not be convinced of it. + +What was it? What had passed? + +He remained some instants looking at Martita, while he slowly collected +his ideas. At last he decided to speak to her. The girl lifted her face +which was flushed and disturbed. + +"Did I not just cry out?" + +Martita grew still more flushed and disturbed, and scarcely could she +answer in trembling voice,-- + +"No.... I heard nothing." + +Ricardo looked at her steadily and with surprise: "Why was that girl +blushing so?" + +"I was asleep, but I would take my oath that I cried out ... and I would +also take my oath--such a strange thing!--that you gave me a kiss." + +Marta's color, when she heard these words, suddenly changed from rosy to +pale, betraying a profound consternation. Her tremulous hands could not +hold her crochet work, and dropped it in her lap. At the same time her +eyes rested on Ricardo with such an expression of fear, of tenderness, +of supplication, of dismay, that he felt a strong shock, like that +caused by an electric discharge. + +It was the same look--the same that he had just seen in his dream. + +He felt himself inundated by a great light, a divine light. At that +supreme moment he saw everything, he comprehended all. The mist that +blinded his eyes faded away, and he saw himself face to face with the +scene in the garden, when Marta seemed so offended because he kissed her +hands ... and he saw and comprehended. The strange dismay following that +scene he likewise saw and comprehended. Then he went back in imagination +to the beach on the island. The sun pouring floods of light over the +sand; the blue and white waves girdling a peninsula where two young +people had been long sitting; the sob which broke the silence of the +tunnel; then a girl falling into the water, and a young man plunging in +after her and saving her. "Thanks, Senor Marques, it is not so bad down +below there." This also he saw, he comprehended. Then a sudden and +extraordinary estrangement: a pair of eyes that did not look at him, two +lips that did not speak to him, a pair of hands that did not touch him. + +Ah, yes; he saw all; he understood all. + +He sprang up hastily from the sofa, and bringing his face close to +Marta's, said to her in sweet, affectionate tones, but with innocent +petulance,-- + +"Don't deny it, Martita; you just gave me a kiss!" + +The girl raised her hands to her face, and broke into a passion of +tears. A thousand emotions of fear, of penitence, of affection, of +doubt, of joy, of anxiety, instantly crossed the heart of the young +marquis who bent his knee before her, exclaiming in accents of +emotion,-- + +"Marta, for God's sake, forgive my stupidity.... I am a fool!... I just +dreamed such sad things, and they suddenly all ended so well!... I could +not resign myself to let happiness escape so ... an absurd idea came +into my head, inspired by the very idea of seeing it realized.... But no +... no! I cannot be happy on earth.... I was born to be unfortunate.... +Luckily I shall die early, like my father ... and like my mother.... +Forgive me that momentary folly, and don't weep.... Do you want to know +what I was dreaming?... I am going to tell you, because perhaps it will +be the last time that you will see me.... I dreamed ... I dreamed, +Marta, that you loved me." + +The girl opened her hands a little, and ejaculated with a certain +wrathful, but adorable intonation these words, which were immediately +cut short by sobs,-- + +"You dreamed the truth, ingrato!" + +The Marques de Penalta, beside himself, entirely carried away by his +emotions, his heart ready to burst, pressed her in his arms without +being able to speak a word. At last, very softly, very softly, with the +sublime incoherence of the heart, like a murmur of celestial harmony, he +whispered into the ears of his friend the hymn of love. Dios mio! how +sweet sounded that hymn in Marta's ears! I do not intend to repeat it: +no; the pen cannot reproduce that mysterious language which comes +directly from the heart, scarcely touching the lips,--accents escaping +from heaven and hastening to take refuge in the breast of virgins,--for +the earth does not understand them, notes perhaps lost from the song +with which the angels celebrate their immortal bliss. + +Marta listened. Tremulous, confused, she hid her head in her lover's +breast, shedding a flood of tears. Ricardo pressed her closer and closer +to his heart without wearying of repeating the same phrase,--the most +beautiful phrase that God ever suggested to man. Once the girl raised +her head to ask in low and tremulous voice,-- + +"You will not go now, will you?" + +Little desire had Ricardo at that moment to go away! Not for all that +was precious in earth and in heaven would he go away. His spirit did not +dare to pass by even the window-panes, fearful lest it should lose the +bliss in which it was bathed. Nevertheless, he had sufficient +self-control to tear himself away a moment and rush to the door, +crying,-- + +"Don Mariano! Don Mariano!" + +The Senor de Elorza, alarmed, nervous as he had been for some time, came +in haste, fearing some new misfortune. Ricardo's face, wherein shone the +deep emotion which overmastered him, was not calculated to calm any one. +What was the matter? Why did they call him? + +"Don Mariano," said the young man, and his voice stuck in his throat.... +"I have the honor of asking the hand of your daughter Marta." + +That was a thunder-stroke; but what the devil! Had he gone crazy?... +What did it mean, sir? We shall see, we shall see! Nothing; Don Mariano +could say nothing, could do nothing, could think of nothing, for before +he could say, do, or think of anything, his daughter's arms were around +his neck, and she was weeping as though her heart would break.... What +was left for the noble caballero? To weep likewise. Why, this was +exactly what he did, pressing his beloved child with one arm, and +squeezing with his other hand the Marques of Penalta's. + +"You will not abandon me, will you, my children?" entreated the +venerable man, lifting his noble, manly face bathed in tears. + +Ricardo pressed his hand more warmly. Marta clung to his neck more +fondly. + +There were a few moments of silence, during which all the angels of +heaven swept through the room, which was bathed in the morning sun, and +gazed with radiant eyes of joy upon that interesting group. But now +Martita lifts her face a little from her father's breast, and, smiling +through her tears, asks her lover coyly: "Will you dine with us to-day, +Ricardo?" + +"Yes, preciosa mia," replied the young marquis, falling on his knees, +and kissing the girl's hands again and again; "I will to-day, and +to-morrow, and every day forever!" + +Marta hid her face again on the paternal breast! Her heart was so full +of joy! The three shed tears in silence; but what sweet tears! + +O eternal God, who dwellest in the hearts of the good! are they perhaps +less pleasing to Thee than the mystic colloquies of the Convent of San +Bernardo? + +THE END. + +_"The demand for these Russian stories has but just fairly begun; but it +is a literary movement more widespread, more intense, than anything this +country has probably seen within the past quarter of +a century."_--BOSTON TRAVELLER. + +=DOSTOYEVSKY'S WORKS.= + +=Crime and Punishment=, 12mo. $1.50. + +=Injury and Insult.= In press. + +=Recollections of a Dead-House.= In press. + +"The readers of Turgenief and of Tolstoi must now add Dostoyevsky to +their list if they wish to understand the reasons for the supremacy of +the Russians in modern fiction."--_W. D. Howells, in Harper's Monthly +for September_. + + * * * * * + +=Anna Karenina.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOI. Translated from the Russian by +NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. Royal 12mo. $1.75. + +"Will rank among the great works of fiction of the age."--_Portland +Transcript_. + +"Characterized by all the breadth and complexity, the insight and the +profound analysis, of 'Middlemarch.'"--_Critic, New York_. + +=My Religion.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOI. Translated by HUNTINGTON SMITH. +12mo. Gilt top. $1.25. + +"Every man whose eyes are lifted above the manger and the trough should +take 'My Religion' to his home. Let him read it with no matter what +hostile prepossessions, let him read it to confute it, but still read, +and 'he that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'"--_New York +Sun_. + +=Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.= By Count LYOF N. TOLSTOI. Translated by +ISABEL F. HAPGOOD. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.50. + +"Will make profound impression on all thoughtful people."--_Nation, New +York_. + +"A rare and veracious picture of character development."--_Star, New +York_. + +"These exquisite sketches belong to the literature which never grows +old, which lives forever in the heart of humanity as a cherished +revelation."--Literary World. + +=Taras Bulba.= By NIKOLAI V. GOGOL. With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1. + +"For grandeur, simplicity of conception, and superbness of description, +can hardly be equalled."--_New York Times_. + +"A wonderful prose epic, having all the charm and style of a stately +poem,--one of the masterpieces of literature."--_New York Star_. + +=St. John's Eve, and Other Stories.= By NIKOLAI V. GOGOL. 12mo. $1.25. + +In these tales of Gogol, the marvellous abounds. His field of +observation is the village. His heroes are unimportant people, with +superstitious imaginations,--very simple souls, whose artless passions +are shown without any veil, but whose very ingenuousness is a +deliciously restful contrast to our romantic or theatrical characters, +so insipid and perfunctory in the refinements of their conventionality. + +This volume is the second of a series of Gogol's Works which we have in +preparation, and will be followed by "Dead Souls," now in press. + +=A Vital Question; or, What is to be Done?= By NIKOLAI G. TCHERNUISHEVSKY. +With portrait of the author. 12mo. $1.25. + +"A famous but crude novel."--_New York Tribune_. + +"Yet it so touches the deep realities of life that in its force one +forgets its crudity of form."--_Evening Traveller, Boston_. + +"People accustomed to think out of leading strings will be glad to read +it."--_Hartford Post_. + +=Great Masters of Russian Literature.= By ERNEST DUPUY. Sketches of the +Life and Works of Gogol, Turgenief, Tolstoi. With portraits. Translated +by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE. 12mo. $1.25. + +"This volume, with its clear outline of the lives of these three great +novelists, and its delineation of their literary characteristics, will +be found a most available and useful hand-book."--_Traveller_. + + * * * * * + +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., +13 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Anglice_, oil of birch. + +[2] _Paraphernalia bona_, in Spanish _bienes parafernales_, are the +goods and chattels brought by a wife independent of her dower. + +[3] _tertulia_. + +[4] _buenas noches_. + +[5] _pataches_ and _quechemarines_. + +[6] _palomita_. + +[7] _mi corazon_. + +[8] _cordera_. + +[9] 1 John ii. 1. + +[10] Psalms xxxiv. 8. + +[11] _gracias_. + +[12] _criatura_. + +[13] _Buenas noches_: _que usted lleve feliz viaje!_ + +[14] _querido_. + +[15] _vaya gracias a Dios_! + +[16] _licenciado_. + +[17] _chica_. + +[18] _Fulanito_, diminutive of _Fulano_, such an one; hence, little +master, little miss. + +[19] _mira_, _chica_. + +[20] _secretas y santas fantasias_. + +[21] _quinque_. + +[22] _con mil amores_, literally, with a thousand loves. + +[23] _tonta_. + +[24] _mi palomita del alma_. + +[25] _monina_, literally, little monkey. + +[26] _pasacalle_. + +[27] _pesado_. + +[28] The epoch of _novatada_. + +[29] _antiguos_. + +[30] _nuevos_. + +[31] _Dios mio_. + +[32] _novetada_. + +[33] _chica_. + +[34] _majadero_. + +[35] _un adan_. + +[36] _ayuntamiento_. + +[37] Luke xiv. 26. + +[38] + + _Ay! quien podra sanarme!_ + _Acaba de entregarte ya de vero,_ + _No quieras enviarme_ + _De hoy mas ya mensajero_ + _Que no saben decirme lo que quiero._ + + +[39] _El Tiempo_. + +[40] _Calle de la Industria_. + +[41] _Dona Fulana de Tal to Don Zutano de Cual_. + +[42] _Ez uzte mu bonita, pero ez uzte mu redondita_. + +[43] _tertulianas_. + +[44] _mestiza_. + +[45] _Ay Dios_. + +[46] _Caramba con el agua_. + +[47] La Isla. + +[48] _tonta_. + +[49] _Ay, Dios mio_. + +[50] _aaaguanta_. + +[51] _aduana_. + +[52] _ponerle en Berlina_. + +[53] _persona mayor_. + +[54] _jefe de orden publico_ + +[55 1] _hasta luego._ + +[56] _junta._ + +[57] _boinas blancas y polainas._ + +[58] _guardias civiles._ + +[59] _fabrica de armas._ + +[60] _casas consistoriales._ + +[61] _vosotros, not te._ + +[62 1] _soplo: literally breath._ + +[63] _corazon mio._ + +[64] _boina._ + +[65] _tunantes._ + +[66] _pendanga._ + +[67] _fiscal._ + +[68] _cantar de plano_. + +[69] _chiquita_. + +[70] _pichona_. + +[71] _locutorio_. + +[72] _riquita_. + +[73] little stopple. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Marquis of Penalta (Marta y Maria), by +Armando Palacio Valdes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARQUIS OF PENALTA *** + +***** This file should be named 37969.txt or 37969.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/6/37969/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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