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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Froth, by Armando Palacio Valdes
+
+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: Froth
+
+Author: Armando Palacio Valdes
+
+Translator: Clara Bell
+
+Release Date: December 26, 2011 [EBook #38411]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROTH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images available at The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FROTH
+
+
+=Heinemann's International Library.=
+
+=Edited by EDMUND GOSSE.=
+
+_Crown 8vo_, _in paper covers_, 2_s._ 6_d._, _or cloth limp_, 3_s._
+6_d._
+
+_IN GOD'S WAY._ By BJOeRNSTJERNE BJOeRNSON. Translated from the Norwegian
+by Elizabeth Carmichael.
+
+_PIERRE AND JEAN._ By GUY DE MAUPASSANT. Translated from the French by
+Clara Bell.
+
+_THE CHIEF JUSTICE._ By KARL EMIL FRANZOS. Translated from the German by
+Miles Corbet.
+
+_WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT._ By COUNT LVOF TOLSTOI. Translated from
+the Russian by E. J. Dillon, Ph.D.
+
+_FANTASY._ By MATILDE SERAO. Translated from the Italian by Henry
+Harland and Paul Sylvester.
+
+_FROTH._ By ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES. Translated from the Spanish by Clara
+Bell.
+
+_THE COMMODORE'S DAUGHTERS._ By JONAS LIE. Translated from the Norwegian
+by H. L. Braekstad and Gertrude Hughes.
+
+     Other Volumes will be announced later.
+    Each Volume contains a specially written
+           Introduction by the Editor.
+
+London:
+
+WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C.
+
+
+
+
+FROTH
+
+A NOVEL
+
+BY
+
+ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH
+
+BY
+
+CLARA BELL
+
+LONDON
+
+WILLIAM HEINEMANN
+
+1891
+
+(_All rights reserved_)
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+According to the Spanish critics, the novel has flourished in Spain
+during only two epochs--the golden age of Cervantes and the period in
+which we are still living. That unbroken line of romance-writing which
+has existed for so long a time in France and in England, is not to be
+looked for in the Peninsula. The novel in Spain is a re-creation of our
+own days; but it has made, since the middle of the nineteenth century,
+two or three fresh starts. The first modern Spanish novelists were what
+are called the _walter-scottistas_, although they were inspired as much
+by George Sand as by the author of _Waverley_. These writers were of a
+romantic order, and Fernan Caballero, whose earliest novel dates from
+1849, was at their head. The Revolution of September, 1868, marked an
+advance in Spanish fiction, and Valera came forward as the leader of a
+more national and more healthily vitalised species of imaginative work.
+The pure and exquisite style of Valera is, doubtless, only to be
+appreciated by a Castilian. Something of its charm may be divined,
+however, even in the English translation of his masterpiece, _Pepita
+Jimenez_. The mystical and aristocratic genius of Valera appealed to a
+small audience; he has confided to the world that when all were praising
+but few were buying his books.
+
+Far greater fecundity and a more directly successful appeal to the
+public, were, somewhat later, the characteristics of Perez y Galdos,
+whose vigorous novels, spoiled a little for a foreign reader by their
+didactic diffuseness, are well-known in this country. In the hands of
+Galdos, a further step was taken by Spanish fiction towards the
+rejection of romantic optimism and the adoption of a modified realism.
+In Pereda, so the Spanish critics tell us, a still more valiant champion
+of naturalism was found, whose studies of local manners in the province
+of Santander recall to mind the paintings of Teniers. About 1875 was the
+date when the struggle commenced in good earnest between the schools of
+romanticism and realism. In 1881 Galdos definitely joined the ranks of
+the realists with his _La Desheredada_. An eminent Spanish writer,
+Emilio Pardo Bazan, thus described the position some six years ago: "It
+is true that the battle is not a noisy one, and excites no great warlike
+ardour. The question is not taken up amongst us with the same heat as in
+France, and this from several causes. In the first place, the idealists
+with us do not walk in the clouds so much as they do in France, nor do
+the realists load their palette so heavily. Neither school exaggerates
+in order to distinguish itself from the other. Perhaps our public is
+indifferent to literature, especially to printed literature, for what
+is represented on the stage produces more impression."
+
+This indifference of the Spanish reading public, which has led a living
+novelist to declare that a person of good position in Madrid would
+rather spend his money on fireworks or on oranges than on a book, has at
+length been in a measure dissipated by a writer who is not merely
+admired and distinguished, but positively popular, and who, without
+sacrificing style, has conquered the unwilling Spanish public. This is
+Armando Palacio Valdes, who was born on the 4th of October, 1853, in a
+hamlet of Asturias, called Entralgo, where his family had at one time a
+mansion which has now disappeared. The family spent only the summer
+there; the remainder of the year they passed in Aviles, the maritime
+town which Valdes describes under the name of Nieva in his novel _Marta
+y Maria_. From Asturias he went, when still a youth, up to Madrid to
+study the law as a profession. But even in the lawyer's office, his
+dream was to become a man of letters. His ambition took the form of
+obtaining at some university a chair of political economy, to which
+science he had, or fancied himself to have, at that time, a great
+proclivity.
+
+Before terminating his legal studies, the young man published several
+articles in the _Revista Europea_ on philosophical and religious
+questions. These articles attracted the attention of the proprietor of
+that review, and Valdes presently joined the staff. Next year he became
+editor. He was at the head of the _Revista Europea_, at that time the
+most important periodical in Spain from a scientific point of view, for
+several years. During that time he published the main part of those
+articles of literary criticism, particularly on contemporary poets and
+novelists, which have since been collected in several volumes--_Los
+Oradores del Ateneo_ ("The Orators of the Athenaeum"); _Los Novelistas
+Espanoles_ ("The Spanish Novelists"); _Un Nuevo Viaje al Parnaso_ ("A
+New Journey to Parnassus"), sketches of the living poets of Spain; and,
+in particular, a very bright collection of review articles, published in
+conjunction with Leopoldo Alas, _La Literatura_ en 1881 ("Spanish
+Literature in 1881"). These gave Valdes a foremost rank among the
+critics of the day. He wrote no more criticism, or very little; he
+determined to place himself amongst those whose creative work demands
+the careful consideration of the best judges.
+
+Soon after he took the direction of the _Revista_, Valdes wrote his
+first novel, _El Senorito Octavio_, which was not published until 1881.
+In 1883 he brought out his _Marta y Maria_, a book which, I know not
+why, is called "The Marquis of Penalta" in its English version. This
+novel enjoyed an extraordinary success, and had more of the graphic and
+sprightly manner by which Valdes has since been distinguished, than the
+books which immediately followed it. Spanish critics, indeed,
+remembering the wonderful freshness of _Marta y Maria_, still often
+speak of it as the best of Valdes' stories. In this same year, 1883, he
+married, on the day when he completed his thirty years, a young lady of
+sixteen. His marriage was a honeymoon of a year and a half, of which _El
+Idilio de un Enfermo_ ("The Idyl of an Invalid"), a short novel of 1884,
+portrays the earlier portion. His wife died early in 1885, leaving him
+with an infant son to be, as he says, "my illusion and my fascination."
+His subsequent career has been laborious and systematic. He has
+published one novel every year. In 1885 it was _Jose_, a shorter tale of
+sea-faring life on the stormy coast of the author's native province.
+About the same time appeared a collection of short stories, called
+_Aguas Fuertes_ ("Strong Waters").
+
+It was not until 1886, however, that Valdes began to rank among the
+foremost novelists of Europe. In that year he published his great story,
+_Riverita,_ one of the characters in which, a charming child, became the
+heroine of his next book, _Maximina,_ 1887. Of this character he writes
+to me: "My Maximina in these two books is but a pale reflection of that
+being from whom Providence parted me before she was eighteen years of
+age. In these novels I have painted a great part of my life." A
+Sevillian novice, who has helped to care for Maximina in Madrid, reigns
+supreme in a succeeding novel, _La Hermana San Sulpicio_ ("Sister San
+Sulpicio"), 1889. But between these two last there comes a massive
+novel, describing the adventures of a journalist who founds a newspaper
+in the provincial town of Sarrio, by which Santander seems to be
+intended. This book is called _El Cuarto Poder_ ("The Fourth Power"),
+and was published in 1888. To these must now be added _La Espuma_
+("Froth"), of which a translation is here given. When these words are
+published, the original will just have appeared in Madrid. It is by the
+kindness of the author, in supplying us with a set of proof-sheets, that
+I am able to speak of a book which even the critics of Madrid have not
+yet seen in Spanish.
+
+In _La Espuma_ Valdes has reverted from those country scenes and those
+streets of provincial cities which he has hitherto loved best to paint,
+and has given us a sternly satiric picture of the frothy surface of
+fashionable life in Madrid. From the illusions of the poor, pathetic and
+often beautiful, he has turned to the ugly cynicism of the wealthy. With
+his passion for honesty and simplicity, his heart burns within him at
+the parade and hollowness which he detects in aristocratic and
+bureaucratic Madrid. One conceives that, like his own Raimundo, he has
+been invited to enter it, has taken his fill of its pleasures, and has
+found his mouth filled with ashes. His talent for portraiture was never
+better employed. If he is occasionally tempted to commit the peculiarly
+Spanish fault of exaggeration--scarcely a fault there, where the shadows
+are so black and the colours so flaring--he has resisted it in his more
+important characters. The brutality of the Duke de Requena, the sagacity
+and urbanity of Father Ortega, the saintly sweetness of the Duchess,
+the naivete of Raimundo, the sphinx-like charm of Clementina de Osorio,
+with her mysterious sweetness and duplicity, these are among the salient
+points of characterisation which stand out in this powerful book. _La
+Espuma_ is a cry from the desert to those who wear soft raiment in
+kings' palaces. It is the ruthless tearing aside of the conventions by a
+Knox or a Savonarola. It is stringent satire, yet tempered with an
+artist's moderation, with a naturalist's self-suppression.
+
+Those exquisite descriptions of Nature in which Valdes sparingly
+illuminates the pages of his country-novels, must not be looked for
+here. There is nothing in _La Espuma_ like the splendid approach to
+Seville in _La Hermana San Sulpicio_, or the noble picture of the
+Asturian sea-board, ravaged by the ocean, in _Jose_. The desolation of
+the mining district, at the close of the book, is all that we can
+compare with these. But one descriptive gift of Valdes, his power of
+rendering with sustained vivacity a varied social scene, was never
+better exemplified than by the dinner-party at the Osorios', by
+Salabert's ball to Royalty, in which Clementina ejects the
+_demi-mondaine_, or by the scene in Pepe's dressing-room when the mad
+Marquis wants to shoot him. The absence of sensational emphasis of every
+kind is notable. This is the result of severe self-training on the
+novelist's part. He has confessed himself displeased with the end of his
+own _Riverita_ as too theatrical, and in the prologue to _La Hermana San
+Sulpicio_, he wears a white sheet, and holds a penitential candle for a
+too stagey episode in _El Cuarto Poder_. No charge of this kind can be
+brought against _La Espuma_. It is closely studied from life, and is
+careful not to affront the modesty of nature, which loves an occasional
+tragic catastrophe, but loathes the artifice of a smartly constructed
+plot.
+
+Of the author of so many interesting books but little has yet been told
+to the public. In a private letter to myself, the eminent novelist gives
+a brief sketch of his mode of life, so interesting that I have secured
+his permission to translate and print it here:--"Since my wife died,"
+Senor Valdes writes, "my life has continued to be tranquil and
+melancholy, dedicated to work and to my son. During the winters, I live
+in Asturias, and during the summers, in Madrid. I like the company of
+men of the world better than that of literary folks, because the former
+teach me more. I am given up to the study of metaphysics. I have a
+passion for physical exercises, for gymnastics, for fencing, and I try
+to live in an evenly-balanced temper, nothing being so repugnant to me
+as affectation and emphasis. I find a good deal of pleasure in going to
+bull-fights (although I do not take my son to the Plaza dressed up like
+a miniature _torero_, as an American writer declares I do), and I
+cultivate the theatre, because to see life from the stage point of view
+helps me in the composition of my stories."
+
+EDMUND GOSSE.
+
+
+
+
+FROTH
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+DRAMATIS PERSONAE
+
+
+At three in the afternoon the sun was pouring its rays on the Calle de
+Serrano, bathing it in bright orange light which hurt the eyes of those
+who went down the left-hand side where the houses stood closest. But as
+the cold was intense the pedestrian was not eager to cross to the other
+pavement in search of shade, preferring to face the sunbeams which,
+though blinding, were at any rate warming. At this hour, tripping slowly
+and daintily along, her muff of handsome otter-skin held up to shade her
+eyes, an elegantly dressed woman was making her way down the street,
+leaving behind her a wake of perfume which the shopmen standing at their
+doors sniffed up with enjoyment, as they gazed in rapture at the being
+who exhaled such a delightful fragrance.
+
+For the Calle de Serrano, albeit the widest and handsomest in Madrid,
+has an essentially provincial stamp; little traffic, shops devoid of
+display, and dedicated for the most part to the sale of the necessaries
+of life, children playing in front of the houses, door-keepers seated in
+committee and discussing matters at the top of their voices with the
+unemployed butchers' boys, fishmongers, and grocers. Hence a
+well-dressed woman could not pass unremarked, as she might in the more
+central parts of the town. The glances of the passers-by, as well as of
+the loungers, rested on her with pleasure; the women commented on the
+quality of the clothes she wore, and horrible jests were uttered by the
+dreadful apprentices, provoking their companions to outbursts of brutal
+glee. One of the most ruffianly and greasy looking threw out as she
+passed one of those coarse remarks which would bring the colour to the
+smooth cheek of an English Miss, and make her call the policeman, and
+almost exact an apology. But our valiant Spanish lady, her soul above
+prudery, did not even wince, but went on her triumphant way with the
+dainty and hesitating step of a woman who rarely sets foot in the dust
+of the highway.
+
+For that hers was a triumphant progress there could be no doubt; no one
+could look at her without admiration, not so much of her luxurious
+attire, as of the severe beauty of her face and the distinction of her
+figure. She was five-and-thirty at least. There was something extremely
+original in the type of her features. Her complexion was clear and dark,
+her eyes, blue, her hair coppery red. Such a strange mingling of
+different races is rarely seen in a face: if it showed a stronger dash
+of one than another, it was of the Italian. It was one of those faces
+which suggest an English lady burnt under a Neapolitan sun. In some of
+Raphael's pictures we see heads which may give some notion of our fair
+pedestrian.
+
+Her predominant expression at the present moment was one of proud
+disdain, to which perhaps the sun contributed by making her knit her
+smooth and delicate brows. There was not, it must be confessed, any
+sweetness in this face; its firm and regular lines betrayed a haughty
+spirit devoid of tenderness; those blue eyes had not the limpid serenity
+which lends perfect harmony to a certain virginal style of countenance,
+occasionally seen and admired in Spain, but more frequently in the north
+of Europe. They were made to express the tumult of vehement and violent
+passions, among which ardent love might, perhaps, have its turn, but
+never that humble and silent devotion which would consent to die
+unspoken.
+
+She wore a high red hat, and a short thin veil, also red, reaching only
+to her lips. The hue of this veil contributed to lend her face that
+singular tinge which caught the eye of every one who met her. Her
+wrapper was a handsome fur cloak, over a dress of the same shade as her
+hat, with an overskirt of lace or grenadine such as was then the
+fashion.
+
+She held up her muff, as has been said, to shade her eyes, and kept her
+eyes fixed on the ground as one who does not care to see or heed
+anything which may come in her way. Consequently, till she came to the
+Calle de Jorge Juan, she did not detect the presence of a young man,
+who, keeping pace with her on the opposite side of the way, gazed at her
+with even more admiration than curiosity. But on reaching the corner,
+without knowing why, she raised her head, and her eyes met those of her
+admirer. A very perceptible shade of annoyance clouded her face; she
+frowned with greater severity, and the haughty expression of her eyes
+was more marked than before. She walked a little faster, and, on
+reaching the Calle de Villanueva, she stood still, and looked down the
+street, hoping, no doubt, to see a tramcar. The youth dared not do the
+same; he went on his way, not without sending certain eager and
+significant glances after the graceful figure, to which she vouchsafed
+no notice. The car at last arrived; the lady stepped in, showing, as she
+did so, a pretty foot shod in a kid boot, and took her seat in the
+farthest corner. Finding herself safe from indiscreet observation, her
+eyes by degrees grew more serene, and rested with indifference on the
+few persons who were with her in the vehicle; still the cloud of anxious
+thought did not altogether disappear from her face, nor the touch of
+disdain which lent dignity to her beauty.
+
+Her youthful admirer had not resigned himself to losing sight of her. He
+went on confidently down the Calle de Villanueva; but as the tramcar
+went by he nimbly caught it up, and got on the step without being
+observed. And contriving to place himself where the lady could not see
+him, behind other persons standing on the platform, he was able to gaze
+at her by stealth, with an enthusiasm which would have made any
+looker-on smile.
+
+For the difference between their ages was considerable. Our young friend
+looked about eighteen; his face was as beardless, as fresh and as rosy
+as a girl's, his hair red, his eyes blue, gentle, and melancholy. Though
+he wore an overcoat and a felt hat, his appearance was that of a
+gentleman; he was in the deepest mourning, which contrasted strongly
+with the fairness of his complexion. Under the magnetic influence of a
+firm gaze, which we all have experienced, our heroine ere long turned
+her eyes to the spot whence the young man fired darts of passionate
+admiration. Her face grew dark again, and her lips twitched with
+impatience, as though the poor boy's adoration was an aggression. And
+she began to show signs of feeling ill at ease in the coach, turning her
+pretty head now this way and now that, with an evident desire to escape.
+However, she did not alight till they reached the church of San Jose,
+where she stopped the car and got out, passing her persecutor with a
+look of proud disdain, which might have annihilated him.
+
+He must have been a very bold man, or quite devoid of shame, to jump out
+after her as he did, and follow her along the Calle del Caballero de
+Gracia, taking the opposite side-walk to be able to stare more at his
+ease on the face which had so taken possession of him. The lady
+proceeded at a leisurely pace, and every man who passed her turned to
+gaze. Her step was that of a goddess who condescends to quit her throne
+of clouds for an hour, to rejoice and fascinate mortal men, who, as they
+behold her, are enraptured and stumble in their walk.
+
+"Merciful Virgin, what a woman!" exclaimed a young officer in a loud
+voice, clinging to his companion as if he were about to faint with
+surprise.
+
+The fair one could not help smiling very slightly, and the flash of that
+smile seemed to light up her exceptional loveliness. Presently two
+gentlemen in an open carriage bowed respectfully to her, and she
+responded with an almost imperceptible nod. When she reached the corner
+where the streets part by San Luis she hesitated and paused, looking in
+every direction, and again catching sight of the red-haired youth, she
+turned her back on him with marked contempt, and went on at a more rapid
+pace down the Calle de la Montera, where her appearance caused the same
+excitement in the passers-by. Three or four times she stopped in front
+of the shop windows, though evidently she did so less out of curiosity
+than in consequence of the nervous state into which the youth's
+unrelenting pursuit had plunged her.
+
+Near the Puerta del Sol, to avoid him no doubt, she made up her mind to
+go into Marbini's jewel shop. Seating herself with an air of
+indifference, she raised her veil a little, and began to examine without
+much attention the latest importations in gems which the shopman
+displayed before her. She could not have done worse by way of releasing
+herself from the observations of her boyish admirer, since he could
+pursue them at his leisure and with the greatest ease through the plate
+glass windows, and did so with a persistency which enraged her more and
+more every minute.
+
+In point of fact, the elegantly decorated shop, glittering in every
+corner with precious stones and metals, was a worthy shrine for her
+beauty, the setting best fitted for so delicate a gem. And so the youth
+was thinking, to judge from the impassioned ecstasy of his eyes and the
+statue-like fixity of his attitude. At last, unable any longer to
+control her irritation, the lady abruptly rose, and with a brief "Good
+morning" to the attendant, who treated her with extraordinary deference,
+she quitted the shop, and set off as fast as she could walk, towards the
+Puerta del Sol.
+
+Here she stopped; then she went a little way towards a hackney cab, as
+though intending to take it; but, suddenly changing her mind, she turned
+with a determined step towards the Calle Mayor, still escorted by the
+youth at no great distance. Half-way down the street she vanished into
+a handsome house, not without sending a hasty but furious glance at her
+follower, who took it with perfect and wonderful coolness. The porter
+who was standing in the portico, gravely clipping his bushy black
+whiskers, hastily pulled off his braided cap, made her a low bow, and
+flew to open the glass door to the staircase, pressing, as he did so,
+the button of an electric bell. She slowly mounted the carpeted steps,
+and by the time she reached the first floor the door was already open,
+and a servant in livery was awaiting her.
+
+The house was that of the Excellentisimo Senor Don Julian Calderon, the
+head of the banking firm of Calderon Brothers, who occupied the whole of
+the first floor, with a staircase apart from that which led to the rest
+of the apartments, let to other persons. This Calderon was the son of
+another Calderon, well known, in the commercial circles of Madrid, as a
+wholesale importer of hides and leather, by which he had made a good
+fortune, and in the later years of his life he had greatly augmented it
+by devoting himself, not to trade alone, but also to circulating and
+discounting bills of exchange. He being dead, his son Julian followed in
+his footsteps, without deviating from them in any particular, managing
+with his own property that of his two sisters--both married, one to a
+medical man, and the other to a landowner of La Mancha. He, too, had
+been married for some years to the daughter of a wealthy merchant of
+Zaragoza, Don Tomas Osorio by name; the father of the well-known Madrid
+banker, whose house in the Salamanca quarter of the town, Calle de D.
+Ramon de la Cruz, was kept upon a princely footing. The handsome lady
+who had just entered the Calderon's house was this banker's wife, and
+consequently the sister-in-law of Senora de Calderon.
+
+She passed in front of the servant without waiting to be announced,
+walking on as one who had a right there; crossed three or four large,
+elegantly decorated rooms, and, pulling aside with her own hand the rich
+velvet curtain with its embroidered fringing, entered a much smaller
+drawing-room where several persons were sitting.
+
+In the seat nearest to the fire reclined the mistress of the house; a
+woman of some forty years, stout, with regular features, and large black
+eyes, but devoid of sparkle; her skin was fair, her hair chestnut, and
+remarkably soft and fine. By her, in a low easy chair, sat another lady,
+a complete contrast in every respect; brunette, slight, delicate, and
+full of excessive vivacity, not only in her keen, bright eyes, but in
+her whole person. This was the Marquesa de Alcudia, of one of the first
+families in Spain. The three young girls, who sat in a row on straight
+chairs, were her daughters, all very like her in physique though they
+did not imitate her restlessness, but remained motionless and silent,
+their eyes cast down with such an affectation of modesty and composure
+that it was easy to see in what severe order they were kept by their
+lively and nervous mamma. To one of them every now and then the daughter
+of the house spoke in an undertone. She was a child of thirteen or
+fourteen, with round cheeks, small eyes, a turn-up nose, and scars in
+the throat which argued a delicate constitution. Her hair was plaited
+into a long tail tied at the end with a ribbon, as was that of the
+youngest Alcudia, with whom she carried on a subdued and intermittent
+conversation. This young lady and her sisters wore fanciful hats, all
+alike, while Esperanza Calderon sat with her little round head
+uncovered, and wore a blue morning frock much too short for a girl of
+her age.
+
+Facing the Senora, and lounging, like her, in an arm-chair, was General
+Patino, Conde de Morillejo. He was between fifty and sixty years of age,
+but his eyes sparkled with all the fire of youth; his grey hair was
+carefully dressed, and large moustaches a la Victor Emmanuel, a pointed
+beard and aquiline nose, gave him a gallant and attractive appearance.
+He was the ideal of a veteran aristocrat. By him sat Calderon, a man of
+about fifty, stout, with a fat florid face, graced with short grey
+whiskers, his eyes round, vacant, and dull. Not far from him was an
+elderly woman, his mother-in-law, but quite unlike her daughter in face
+and figure; so thin, that she was no more than skin and bone, dark, and
+with deep-set, penetrating eyes, every feature stamped with intelligence
+and decision. Talking to her was Pinedo, the occupant of the third-floor
+rooms. His moustache showed no grey hairs, but it was easy to see that
+it was dyed; his face was that of a man verging on the sixties; a
+good-humoured face too, with prominent eyes full of eager
+movement--those of an observant character; he was dressed with care and
+elegance, his whole person exquisitely clean.
+
+On seeing the beautiful lady in the doorway, the whole party showed some
+excitement; all rose, excepting the mistress of the house, on whose
+placid face a faint smile of pleasure showed dimly.
+
+"Ah! Clementina! What a miracle to see you here!"
+
+The lady in question went forward with a smile, and, while she embraced
+the ladies and shook hands with the gentlemen, she replied to her
+sister-in-law's affectionate reproach.
+
+"Come, come. Fit the cap to your own head--you who never come to my
+house above once in six months."
+
+"I have my children to think of, my dear."
+
+"What an excuse; I ask you! I, too, have children."
+
+"Yes, at Chamartin."
+
+"Well, but having sons does not hinder you from going to the opera or
+out driving."
+
+Clementina seated herself between her sister-in-law and the Marquesa de
+Alcudia; the rest resumed their seats.
+
+"Oh, my dear!" Senora de Calderon went on, "if you could have seen what
+a cold I caught at the play the other night. It was all the fault of
+that goose Ramon Maldonado; with all his bowing and scraping he could
+not manage to shut the door of the box. The draught pierced my very
+bones."
+
+"Happy was that draught!" remarked General Patino with a gallant smile.
+
+Every one else smiled, excepting the lady addressed, who gazed at him in
+amazement, opening her eyes very wide.
+
+"How--happy?" said she.
+
+The General had to explain that it was a covert compliment, and not till
+then did she reward him with a smile.
+
+"And was not Gayarre delightful?" said Clementina.
+
+"Admirable, as he always is," replied Senora de Calderon.
+
+"He seems to me to want style of manner," the General suggested.
+
+"Oh no, General, I beg your pardon----" And they went off into a
+discussion as to whether the famous tenor had or had not the actor's
+art, whether he dressed well or ill. The ladies were all on his side;
+the men were against him.
+
+From the tenor they went on to the soprano.
+
+"She is altogether charming," said the General, with the confidence and
+conviction of a connoisseur.
+
+"Oh! delicious," exclaimed Calderon.
+
+"Well, for my part I regard the Tosti as extremely commonplace. Do you
+not think so, Clementina?"
+
+Clementina agreed.
+
+"Do not say so, pray, Marquesa," the General hastened to put in,
+glancing as he spoke at Senora de Calderon. "The mere fact that a woman
+is tall and stout does not make her commonplace if she holds herself
+proudly and has a distinguished manner."
+
+"I do not say so, General; do not make such a mistake," replied the
+Marquesa, with some vehemence. But she proceeded to criticise the grace
+and fine figure of the soprano with much humour and some little temper.
+
+The argument became general, and the issue proved the reverse of the
+former discussion; the men were favourable to the actress and the ladies
+adverse. Pinedo summed up by saying in a grave and solemn tone, which,
+however, betrayed some covert meaning, "A fine figure is more essential
+to a woman than to a man."
+
+Clementina and the General exchanged significant glances. The Marquesa
+frowned sternly at the dandy, and then hastily looked at her daughters,
+who sat with their eyes downcast, in the same rigid and expressionless
+attitude as before. Pinedo himself was quite unmoved, as though he had
+said the most natural thing in the world.
+
+"For my part, friend Pinedo, it seems to me that a man too should have a
+good figure," said slow-witted Senora de Calderon.
+
+As she spoke a faint gasp was heard as of laughter hardly controlled. It
+was the youngest of the Alcudia girls, at whom her mother shot a
+pulverising look, and the damsel's face immediately resumed its original
+expression of timidity and propriety.
+
+"That is a matter of opinion," replied Pinedo with a respectful bow.
+
+This Pinedo, who occupied one of the apartments on the third floor of
+the house, the whole belonging to Senor de Calderon, held a place of
+some importance in one of the public offices. The changes of political
+administration did not affect his tenure; he had friends of every party,
+and had never thrown himself into the scale for either. He lived as a
+man of the world; was received at the most aristocratic houses in the
+metropolis; was on terms of intimacy with almost every one who figured
+in finance or politics; was an early member of the Savage Club (_Club de
+los Salvajes_), where he delighted in making fun every evening with the
+young aristocrats who assembled there, and who treated him with a
+familiarity which not rarely degenerated into rudeness. He was a genial
+and intelligent man, with considerable knowledge and experience of the
+world; tolerant towards every form of vanity from sheer contempt for
+all; and nevertheless, under the exterior of a courteous and inoffensive
+creature, he had in the depths of his nature a power of satire which
+enabled him to take vengeance quite gracefully, by some incisive and
+opportune phrase, for the impertinence of his young friends the
+juveniles of the club, who professed an affection for him mingled with
+contempt and fear.
+
+No one knew whence he had sprung, though it was regarded as beyond doubt
+that he was of humble birth. Some declared that he was the son of a
+butcher at Seville; others said that in his youth he had been a waif on
+the beach at Malaga. All that was positively known was that, many years
+since, he had come to Madrid as hanger-on to an Andalucian of rank, who,
+after dissipating his fortune, blew his brains out. Under his protection
+Pinedo had made a great many useful acquaintances; he came to know and
+be known by everybody who was anybody, and was popular with all. He had
+the tact to efface himself when he crossed the path of a pompous and
+overbearing man, letting him pass first; he gave rise to no jealousies,
+and this is a certain means of exciting no hostility. At the same time
+his cleverness, and his caustic wit, which he always kept within certain
+bounds, were a constant amusement at social meetings, and sufficed to
+give him a certain importance which he otherwise would not have enjoyed.
+
+His family consisted of one daughter aged eighteen, and named Pilar. His
+wife, whom no one had known, had died many years before. His salary
+amounted to forty thousand reals,[A] on which the father and daughter
+lived very thriftily in the third-floor rooms which Calderon let to them
+for twenty-two dollars a month. Pinedo's chief outlay was on
+"appearances"; that is to say, as he moved in a rank of society above
+his own he was obliged to dress well and frequent the theatres.
+Understanding the necessity for keeping up his acquaintances--the
+pillars on which his continuance in office rested--he indulged in such
+expenses without hesitation, pinching himself in other departments of
+domestic economy. Thus he lived in a state of stable equilibrium; his
+position enabled him to move in the society of the great, while they
+unconsciously helped to keep him in his position. No Minister could
+venture to dismiss a man whom he would inevitably meet at every evening
+party and ball in the capital. As Pinedo had occasionally had the honour
+of speaking with Royalty, certain sayings of his were current in
+fashionable drawing-rooms, where they enjoyed a fame out of all
+proportion to their merits, since, as a rule, there is a conspicuous
+lack of wit in most drawing-rooms; he was a good shot with pistol or
+rifle, and possessed a voluminous library on the culinary arts. The very
+highest personages were flattered when they heard that Pinedo had
+praised their cook.
+
+"How long is it since you were at the Colegio, Pacita?" asked Esperanza
+of the youngest de Alcudia, in an undertone.
+
+"On Friday last. Do not you know that mamma takes us to confession every
+Friday? And you?"
+
+"It is at least three weeks since I was there. Mamma and I confess once
+a month."
+
+"And is Father Ortega satisfied with that?"
+
+"He says nothing about it to me. I do not know whether he does to
+mamma."
+
+"He would say nothing to her; he knows better than to put his foot in
+it. Have you seen the Mariani girls?"
+
+"Yes; I met them in the Retiro Gardens a few days ago."
+
+"Do you know that Maria is engaged?"
+
+"She did not tell me."
+
+"Yes. In the cavalry, a son of Brigadier Arcos. Such a queer-looking
+fellow; not ugly, but his legs tremble when he walks, as if he had just
+come out of the hospital. You see, as the brigadier is her mamma's most
+devoted--it is all in the family."
+
+"And you? Do you keep it up with your cousin?"
+
+"I really cannot tell you. On Monday he went off in a huff and has not
+been to the house since. My cousin is not what he seems; he is no
+simpleton, but a very presuming fellow; if you give him an inch he takes
+an ell. If I did not keep a very sharp look out there is no knowing to
+what lengths he would go at the pace he makes. Do you know that the
+other day he insisted on kissing me?"
+
+Esperanza gazed at her, smiling and curious. Pacita put her mouth close
+to Esperanza's ear and whispered a few words.
+
+"Mercy!" exclaimed the girl, turning scarlet.
+
+"As I tell you, child. Of course I told him he was a horrid wretch, and
+I would not touch him with a pair of tongs. He went off very much
+nettled, but he will come back."
+
+"Your cousin rides very well. I saw him on horseback yesterday."
+
+"It is the only thing he can do. Books make him idiotic. He has been
+examined six times already in Roman law, and has failed to pass every
+time."
+
+"What does that matter!" exclaimed Esperanza, with a scorn which might
+have made Heinecius turn in his grave. And she went on, "Did Madame
+Clement make those hats?"
+
+"No. Mamma had them bought in Paris by Senora de Carvajal, who arrived
+on Saturday."
+
+"They are very pretty."
+
+"Yes, prettier than any Madame Clement makes."
+
+Little Esperanza de Calderon, though plain enough, was nevertheless not
+without attractions, consisting partly perhaps in her youth, and partly
+in her mouth, on which, with its full fresh lips and even white teeth,
+sensuality had already set its seal. The youngest of the Alcudias was a
+delicate creature, all bones and eyes.
+
+At this point another lady was shown in--a woman of forty or more,
+pretty still, though painted, and marked with lines left by a life of
+dissipation rather than by years.
+
+"Here is Pepa Frias," said Mariana--the Senora de Calderon--with a
+smile.
+
+"Quite right; here is Pepa Frias," said the lady so named, with an
+affectation of bad humour. "A woman who is not in the very least ashamed
+to set foot in this house." The company all laughed.
+
+"You would suppose by my appearance that I had come out of the
+workhouse? That I had no home of my own? But I have. Calle de Salesas,
+Number 60--first floor. That is to say, the landlord has--but I pay him,
+which is more than all your tenants do, I am very sure. Oh! Pinedo, I
+beg your pardon, I did not see you. And I am at home on Saturdays--it
+is not so hot as you are here, oof! And I give chocolate and tea and
+conversation and everything--just as you do here."
+
+And while she spoke she went from one to another shaking hands with a
+look of fury. But as every one knew her for an oddity they took it as a
+joke and laughed.
+
+She was a woman of substantial build, her hair artificially red, her
+eyes rather prominent, but handsome, her lips rosy and sensual--a
+decidedly attractive woman, in short, who had had, and, in spite of
+advancing years, still had, many devoted admirers.
+
+"What there is not at my house," she went on to Senora de Calderon,
+giving her a sounding kiss on each cheek, "is a woman so graceless and
+so insignificant as you. For, of course, I am not come to see you, but
+my dear Senor Don Julian, who now and then comes to wish me good
+evening, and tell me the latest prices of stocks. And _a propos_ to
+prices, Clementina, tell your husband to hold his hand till I give him
+notice. No, you had better say nothing about it. I will call at your
+house this evening."
+
+"But, child, how you are always loaded with papers about shares and
+stocks!" exclaimed Mariana.
+
+"And so would you be if you had not such an energetic husband, who heats
+his head over them that you may keep yours cool and easy."
+
+"Come, come, Pepa, do not be calling me names, or you will make me
+blush," said Calderon.
+
+"I am saying no more than the truth. You may imagine that it is pure joy
+to be always thinking whether shares are going up or down, and writing
+letters and endorsements, and walking to and from the bank."
+
+"I imagine, Pepa," said the General, with a gallant smile, "that, from
+all I hear, you have a perfect talent for business."
+
+"You imagine! That is an event!"
+
+"I have not so much imagination as you, but I have some," retorted the
+General, somewhat put out by the laugh Pepa's speech had raised.
+
+Pepa enjoyed the reputation in society of being a very funny person,
+though, in fact, her wit was hardly to be distinguished from audacity.
+Speaking always with an affectation of anger, calling things bluntly by
+their names, however coarse they might be, saying the most insolent
+things without respect of persons--these were the characteristics which
+had won her a certain popularity. She had been left a widow while still
+young, with two children, a boy who had entered the navy and was at sea,
+and a girl who had now been married about a year. Her husband had been a
+merchant, and in his later years had gambled successfully on the Bourse.
+At that time Pepa had caught the same passion, and, as a widow, she had
+cultivated it. Prudence, or more probably the timidity which generally
+hampers a woman in such a business, had hitherto saved her from the ruin
+which, as a rule, inevitably overtakes gamblers. She had somewhat
+impaired her fortune, but still enjoyed a very enviable competency.
+
+"Pepa, the matter is going on famously," said Pinedo. "Zaragoza wishes
+to have one volcano, and at Coruna the authorities have decided on
+making two, one on the east and one on the west of the town."
+
+"I am glad; I am delighted. So that the shares will not be put on the
+market?"
+
+"No; the syndicate has ample security that they will be at three hundred
+before the month is out."
+
+The few who were in the joke laughed at this. The rest stared at them
+with intense curiosity.
+
+"What is all this about volcanoes, Pepa?" asked Senora de Calderon.
+
+"Senora, a society has been formed for establishing volcanoes in various
+districts."
+
+"Indeed. And of what use are volcanoes?"
+
+"For warming, and as decorative objects."
+
+Every one understood the joke excepting the lymphatic mistress of the
+house, who still inquired into the details of the affair with continued
+interest, her friends laughing till Calderon, half amused and half
+annoyed, exclaimed:
+
+"Why, my dear, do not be so simple. Do you not see that it is a joke
+between Pepa and Pinedo?"
+
+The couple protested, affecting the greatest gravity. But Pepa whispered
+in her friend's ear: "Mariana is such a simpleton that for the last
+three months that carpet-knight, the General, has been making love to
+her and she has never found it out."
+
+Pepa was not far wrong in styling General Patino a carpet-knight. In
+spite of his swagger, his somewhat damaged features and his martial
+airs, Patino was but a sham veteran. He had got his promotion without
+losing a drop of blood--first as military instructor to one of the
+princes, then as member of various scientific committees, and finally as
+holding a place under the Minister of War; cultivating the favour of
+political personages; returned as deputy several times; senator at last
+and a member of the Supreme Court of Naval and Military Jurisdiction, he
+had never been on the field of battle excepting in pursuit of a
+revolutionary general, and then with the firm determination never to
+come up with him.
+
+As he had travelled a little and boasted of having seen every implement
+in the arts of war, he passed for an accomplished soldier. He subscribed
+to two or three scientific reviews; when his profession was under
+discussion he would quote a few German authorities, and he spoke in an
+emphatic tone and a deep chest voice which impressed his audience. But
+in fact the reviews were always left to lie open on his table, and the
+German names, though correctly pronounced, were no more than empty
+sounds to him. He piqued himself on being a soldier of the modern
+school, and for this reason he was never seen in his uniform. He was
+fond of the arts, especially of music, and was a regular subscriber to
+the Opera House and the Conservatorium Quartetts. He was fond of
+flowers, too, and of women--more especially of his neighbour's wife;
+insatiable in tasting the fruits of other men's gardens. His life
+glided on in simple contentment, in watering the gardenias in his little
+garden--Calle de Ferraz--and making love to his friends' wives.
+
+This he did as one who makes it his business, and in the most
+business-like way. He devoted all his mind to it, and all the powers of
+his considerable intelligence, as a man must who means to achieve
+anything great or profitable in this world. His strategical knowledge,
+which he had never had occasion to display in the battle-field, served
+him a good turn in storming the fair ones of the metropolis. First he
+established a blockade with languishing glances, appearing at the
+theatre, in the parks, in the churches frequented by the lady;
+where-ever she went Patino's shining new hat, gleaming in the air,
+proclaimed the ardent and respectful passion of its owner. Then he
+narrowed the _cordon_, making himself intimate in the house, bringing
+bonbons to the children, buying them toys and picture-books, taking them
+out to breakfast occasionally and bribing the servants by opportune
+gifts. Then came the attack; by letter or by word of mouth. And here our
+General displayed a daring, an intrepidity, which contrasted splendidly
+with the prudence and skill of the siege. Such a combination of talents
+have always characterised the great captains of the world: Alexander,
+Caesar, Hernan Cortes, Napoleon.
+
+Years did not avail to cool his ardour for great enterprises, nor to
+diminish his extraordinary faculties; or, to be accurate, what he lost
+in energy he gained in art; thus the balance was preserved in this
+privileged nature. But since fortune--as many philosophers have taught
+us--refuses her aid to the old, in spite of his skill the General had of
+late experienced certain repulses which he could not ascribe to any
+defect of foresight or courage, but only to the vagaries of fate. Two
+young wives in succession had snubbed him severely. But, as is always
+the case with men of real genius, in whom reverses do not produce any
+womanly weakness, but, on the contrary, only prompt them to concentrate
+and brace their spirit and power, Patino did not weep like Augustus
+over his legions. But he meditated, and meditated long. And his
+meditations were rich in results; a new scheme of tactics, wonderful as
+all his schemes were, rose up from the labour of his lofty thoughts.
+Taking stock very accurately of his means of attack, and calculating
+with admirable precision the amount of resistance which the fair foe
+could offer, he perceived that he could no longer besiege new citadels,
+where the fortifications were always comparatively recent, but only
+those which, being ancient, were beginning to show weak spots. Such keen
+penetration in planning the attack and such skill in execution as the
+General could bring to bear, promised him certain victory. And in fact,
+as a result of this new and sure plan of action, first one and then
+another of the most seasoned and mature beauties of the capital
+surrendered to his siege, and at the feet of these silver-haired Venuses
+he won the reward due to his prudence and courage.
+
+Like Hannibal of Carthage Patino could vary his tactics as circumstances
+required, according to the position and temperament of the enemy.
+Certain strongholds demanded severity, a display of the means of
+coercion; in other cases craftier measures were needed, a stealthy and
+noiseless approach. One fair enemy preferred the martial and manly
+aspect of the conquering hero: she would listen with delight to the
+history of the famous days of Garrovillas and Jarandilla, when he was in
+pursuit of the rebels. Another took pleasure in hearing him discourse in
+his highest style of oratory and richest chest notes on political and
+military problems. A third, again, went into ecstasies over his
+interpretation of some famous melody of Mozart's or Schumann's, on the
+violoncello. For our hero played the 'cello remarkably well, and it must
+be confessed that this elegant instrument had helped him considerably in
+his most successful achievements. He brought out the notes in a quite
+irresistible manner, revealing very clearly that, in spite of his
+dashing and bellicose temperament, he had an impressionable heart, alive
+to the blandishments of love. And lest the long-drawn notes should not
+express this with absolute clearness, they were corroborated by eyes
+upturned till they disappeared in their sockets at each impassioned or
+pathetic point of the melody--eyes which really could not fail of their
+effect on any beauty, however stony-hearted.
+
+Pepa's malicious insinuation was not unfounded. The gallant general had
+for some time past been turning his guns on Senora de Calderon without
+her showing any signs of being aware of it. Never in the course of his
+many and brilliant campaigns had he met with a similar case. To bombard
+a citadel for several months, to pelt it with shell as big as your
+head--and to see it as undisturbed, as sound asleep, as though they had
+been pellets of paper! When the General came out, point-blank, with some
+perfervid address Mariana smiled complacently.
+
+"Hush, wretch! A nice specimen you must have been in your day!"
+
+Patino would bite his lips with annoyance. In his day! He who fancied
+his day was still at its noon! But his amazing diplomatic talent enabled
+him to dissimulate, and smile in bland reply.
+
+"How much did you give for that bracelet?" Pacita inquired of Esperanza,
+who was wearing a very pretty and fanciful trinket.
+
+"The General gave it me a few days ago."
+
+"Indeed! The General evidently makes you a great many presents then?"
+said her friend, with a slightly ironical tone which the girl did not
+understand.
+
+"Oh, yes. He is very kind. He is always giving us things. He gave my
+little sister a beautiful locket to wear at her neck."
+
+"And does he make presents to your mamma?"
+
+"Yes, sometimes."
+
+"And what does your papa say?"
+
+"Papa!" exclaimed Esperanza, opening her eyes in surprise, "What should
+he say?"
+
+Pacita, without replying, called the attention of one of her sisters.
+
+"Mercedes, look what a pretty bracelet the General has given to
+Esperanza."
+
+The second of the Alcudias abandoned her rigidity for a moment, and
+taking Esperanza's arm examined the bracelet with interest.
+
+"It is very pretty. And the General gave you that?" she asked,
+exchanging a meaning glance with her sister.
+
+"Here comes Ramoncito," said Esperanza, looking towards the door.
+
+"Ah! Ramoncito Maldonado."
+
+A tall young man, slight and thin, very pale, with black whiskers which
+encroached on his nose, in the style adopted by his Majesty the King,
+and, following his example, by many of the youthful aristocracy, came
+into the room with a smile and proceeded to greet the company without
+any sign of shyness, taking their hands with a slight shake, and
+pressing them to his breast in the affected style which, a few years
+since, was the correct thing among the coxcombs of Madrid society. As he
+came in he filled the room with some penetrating scent.
+
+"Heavens, what a poisonous atmosphere!" Pepa exclaimed in an undertone,
+after shaking hands with him. "What a puppy that fellow is!"
+
+"Hallo! Old boy!" exclaimed this youngster, coolly taking Pinedo by the
+beard. "What were you doing yesterday? Pepe Castro called on you----"
+
+"Pepe Castro called on me! So much honour overwhelms me!"
+
+Such familiarity on Maldonado's part to a man already of mature age and
+venerable appearance was somewhat startling. But all the gilded youth of
+the Savage Club treated Pinedo in the same way without his taking
+offence at it.
+
+"And here is Mariana," Pinedo went on, "who has just been abusing you;
+and with reason."
+
+"Indeed."
+
+"Do not believe him, Ramoncito," exclaimed Senora de Calderon, much
+surprised.
+
+"Oh, and Pepa too."
+
+"You, Pepa?" asked the youth, trying to appear indifferent, but in fact
+somewhat uneasy; for Pepa de Frias was very generally feared, and not
+without cause.
+
+"I? Oh yes, and I will have it out with you. What do you mean by soaking
+yourself with scent? Do you hope to subdue us all through our olfactory
+organs?"
+
+"I only wish I could subdue you through any organ, Pepa."
+
+The retort was generally acceptable. There was a spontaneous burst of
+laughter, led by Pacita. Her mother bit her lip with rage and whispered
+to the daughter next her to tell the second, to communicate to the
+youngest that she was a shameless minx, and that she would hear more of
+it when she got home.
+
+"Well said, boy! Shake hands on it!" exclaimed Pepa, holding out her
+hand to Ramoncito. "That is the first sensible speech I ever heard you
+make. Generally you only talk nonsense."
+
+"Thank you very much."
+
+"There is nothing to thank me for."
+
+"We have just read the question you put in the Assembly, Ramoncito,"
+said Senora de Calderon, trying by amiability to discredit Pinedo's
+accusation.
+
+"Pshaw! Half a dozen words!"
+
+"Every one must make a beginning, young man," said Calderon, with a
+patronising air.
+
+"No, no. That is not the way to begin," said Pinedo, gravely, "You begin
+by dissentient murmurs; next come interruptions"--"That is inaccurate;
+prove it, prove it; you are misinformed"--"Then you go on to appeals and
+questions. Next comes the explaining of your own vote, or the defence of
+some incidental motion. Finally a speech on some great financial
+question. So you see Ramon is at the third stage, that of appeals and
+questions."
+
+"Thanks, Pinedito, thanks!" replied the young man, somewhat piqued.
+"Then, having reached that stage, I appeal to you not to be so devilish
+clever."
+
+"I declare! That too is not so bad," exclaimed Senora de Frias in a tone
+of surprise. "Why Ramoncito, you are sparkling with wit!"
+
+The youthful deputy found himself a seat between the daughter of the
+house and Pacita de Alcudia who parted reluctantly to make room for his
+chair. Maldonado, a man of good family, not altogether devoid of
+fortune, and recently elected member of the Chamber, had for some time
+been paying his addresses to Esperanza de Calderon. It was in the
+opinion of their friends a very suitable match. Esperanza would be
+richer than Ramoncito, since Don Julian's business was soundly
+established on an extensive scale; still, the young man, who was by no
+means a beggar, had begun his political career with credit. The young
+girl's parents neither opposed nor encouraged his advances--Calderon,
+with the dignity and superiority which money gives, hardly troubled
+himself as to who might profess an attachment to his daughter, satisfied
+with the certainty that when the time came for marrying her she would
+have no lack of suitors. Indeed, five or six young fellows of the most
+elegant and superfine society in Madrid buzzed in the parks, at evening
+parties, and at the theatre, round the wealthy heiress, like drones
+round a beehive.
+
+Ramon had many rivals, some of them men of position. But this did not
+trouble him so greatly as that the damsel, by nature so subdued, and
+usually so silent and shy, with him was saucy and at her ease, allowing
+herself sundry more or less harmless little jests, and blunt answers,
+and grimaces, which amply proved that she did not take him seriously.
+And for this reason, Pepe Castro, his friend and confidant, constantly
+told him that he should make himself more scarce, that he should seem
+less eager and less anxious, that a woman was the better for being
+treated with a little contempt.
+
+Now Pepe Castro was not merely his friend and confidant, but his model
+for every action of social or private life. The verdicts he pronounced
+on persons, horses, politics--of which however he rarely spoke at
+all--shirts and walking-sticks were to the young deputy incontrovertible
+axioms. He copied his dress, his walk, his laugh. If Castro appeared on
+a Spanish mare, Ramon sold his English cob to buy such another as his
+friend's; if he took to a military salute, raising his hand to the side
+of his head, in a few days Ramon saluted like a recruit; if he set up a
+flirtation with a shop-girl, it was not long before our youth was
+haunting the low quarters of the city, in search of her fellow. Pepe
+Castro combed all his hair forward to hide a patch that was prematurely
+bald; Ramon, who had a fine head of hair, also combed his hair forward;
+nay, he would very willingly have imitated the baldness to appear more
+_chic_.
+
+However, in spite of all this devout imitation of his model, he could
+not obey him in the matter of his incipient passion. And for this
+reason: strange as it may seem, Ramoncito was beginning really to care
+for the girl. Love is but rarely a single-minded impulse; various other
+passions often contribute to suggest it and vivify it: vanity, avarice,
+sensuality, and ambition. Still it is hardly to be distinguished from
+the real thing; it inspires the same watchful care, and causes the same
+doubts and torments; the touch-stone lies in unselfishness and
+constancy. Else it is very easy to mistake them. Ramon believed himself
+to be sincerely in love with Esperanza, and perhaps he was justified,
+for he admired her and thought of her night and day, he sought every
+opportunity of pleasing her, and hated his rivals mortally. However he
+might try to follow the advice of the infallible Pepe and to conceal his
+devotion, or at any rate the ardour of his feelings, he could not
+succeed. He had begun to court her out of self-interest with all the
+unconcern of a man whose heart is free, and the young lady's disdainful
+indifference had quickly brought him to thinking of her constantly, and
+feeling himself confused and fascinated in her presence. Then the
+rivalry of other suitors had fired his blood and his desire to win her
+hand as soon as possible. And in deference to the truth it must be said
+that he had _almost_ forgotten Calderon's thousands, and was _almost_
+disinterested in his attachment.
+
+"So you really made a speech in the Chamber, Ramon?" asked Pacita. "And
+what did you say?"
+
+"Nothing! Half a dozen words about the service of the bridges," replied
+the young man, with an air of affected modesty.
+
+"Can ladies go to the Chamber?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I should so much like to hear a debate one day. And Esperanza,
+too, I am sure."
+
+"No, no. Not I," Esperanza hastily put in.
+
+"Nonsense, child; do not make any pretence. Do not you want to hear your
+lover speak?"
+
+Esperanza turned as red as a poppy and burst out: "I have no lover, and
+do not wish for one."
+
+Ramon, too, coloured scarlet.
+
+"Paz, what horrible things you say," Esperanza went on, in indignant
+confusion. "If you say any such thing again I will go away and leave
+you."
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear," said the malicious little thing, enchanted
+at having put her friend and the deputy to such confusion. "I quite
+thought--so many people say--Well, if it is not Ramon it is Federico."
+
+Maldonado frowned.
+
+"Neither Federico nor any one else. Leave me in peace. Look, here comes
+Father Ortega. Get up!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MORE OF THE ACTORS.
+
+
+A tall priest, still young, with a full, pale face, blue eyes, and the
+vague gaze of short sight, was standing in the doorway. Every one rose.
+The Marquesa was the first to come forward and kiss his hand. After her,
+her daughters did the same, and then Mariana and the other ladies.
+
+"Good-evening, Father." "Delighted to see you, Father." "Sit here,
+Father." "No, no, not there; come near the fire, Father."
+
+The men shook hands with him affectionately and respectfully. The
+priest's voice, as he returned their greetings, was sweet and very low,
+as though there were a sick person in the adjoining room; his smile was
+grave, patronising, and insinuating. He had an air of having been
+dragged from his cell and his books with extreme difficulty--of coming
+hither much against his will, simply to do some good to the Calderons,
+whose spiritual director he was, by the mere contact of his learned and
+virtuous person. His clothes and robe were fine and well cut; his shoes
+of patent leather with silver buckles; his stockings of silk.
+
+Every one complimented him enthusiastically on a sermon he had delivered
+the day before at the Oratory Del Caballero de Gracia. He merely smiled,
+and murmured sweetly: "I am only glad, ladies, if you derived any
+benefit from it."
+
+Padre Ortega was no common priest--at any rate, in the opinion of the
+fashionable society of the metropolis, among whom he had a large
+following. Without being a meddler, he was a constant guest in the
+houses of persons of distinction. He did not love to make a noise, or
+attract the attention of the company to himself; he neither made jokes
+nor allowed joking; he had none of the frank, gossiping temper which is
+commonly found in those priests who are addicted to social intercourse.
+If he had any love of intrigue it must have been of a different type to
+that usually seen in the world. Discreet and affable, modest, grave, and
+silent in society, effacing himself completely and mingling with the
+crowd, he stood out in full relief when he mounted the pulpit, as he
+very frequently did. Then he expressed himself with amazing ease and
+fluency; he did not move his audience to emotion, and never attempted
+it, but he displayed very remarkable talents, and a distinction rare
+among his order.
+
+For he was one of those very few ecclesiastics who are--or who at any
+rate seem to be--up to the mark of modern science. Instead of the moral
+platitudes, the empty and absurd declamation, which are hurled by his
+brethren against science and logic, his sermons boldly rose to the level
+of the literature of the day; he invariably ended by proving directly or
+indirectly that there is no essential incompatibility between the
+advance of science and the dogmas of the Church. He would discourse of
+evolution, of transmutation, of the struggle for existence; would quote
+Hegel sometimes, allude to the Malthusian theory of population, to the
+antagonism of Labour and Capital; and from each in turn would deduce
+something in support of Catholic doctrine; to meet new modes of attack
+new weapons must be employed. He even confessed himself an advocate, in
+principle, of Darwin's theories--a fact which surprised and alarmed some
+of his more timid friends and penitents, although at the same time it
+enhanced their respect and admiration. When he addressed himself to
+women only, he avoided all erudition which might bore them, adopted a
+worldly tone, spoke of their little parties and balls, their dress and
+their fashions like an adept, and drew similes and arguments from
+social life. This delighted his fair audience, and brought them to his
+feet.
+
+He was the director of many of the principal families of Madrid, and in
+this capacity he showed exquisite discretion and tact, treating each one
+with due regard to his or her temperament and past and present position.
+When he met with a woman like the Marquesa de Alcudia, devout,
+enthusiastic, and fervent, the shrewd priest pressed the keys firmly,
+was exacting and imperious, inquired into the smallest domestic details,
+and laid down the law. In the Alcudia's household not a step was taken
+without his sanction; and in such cases, as though he enjoyed exerting
+his power, he adopted a stern and grave demeanour which, under other
+circumstances, was quite foreign to him.
+
+If he had to do with a family of worldlings, indifferent to the Church,
+he played with a lighter hand, was benign and tolerant, requiring them
+only to conform outwardly, and refrain from setting a bad example. He
+did all he could to consolidate the beautiful alliance which in our days
+has been concluded between religion and fashion; every day he found some
+new means to this end, some derived from the French, some the offspring
+of his own brain. On certain days of the year he would collect an
+evening congregation of ladies of his acquaintance in the chapel or
+oratory of some noble house. Then there were delightful _matinees_, when
+he would extemporise a prayer, some accomplished musician would play the
+harmonium, he himself would speak a short friendly address, and then
+discuss religious questions with the ladies present; those who chose
+might confess, and, to conclude, the party would adjourn to the
+dining-room, where they took tea,--and changed the subject.
+
+When any member of one of these families died, Padre Ortega had his name
+inserted on the letters of formal announcement, as Spiritual Director,
+requesting the prayers of the faithful for the departed soul; and then
+he would distribute printed pamphlets of souvenirs or memoirs, with
+prayers in which he besought the Supreme Redeemer, in persuasive and
+honeyed words, that by this or that special feature of His most Holy
+Passion, he would forgive Count T---- or Baroness M---- the sin of pride
+or avarice, or what not; but, as a rule, not the sin to which the
+deceased had been most prone, for the worthy father had no mind to cause
+a scandal or hurt the feelings of the family. He also undertook the
+business of arranging for the acquisition of the greatest possible
+number of indulgences, for the Papal benediction _in articulo mortis_,
+for the prayers of any particular sisterhood, and so forth. Those who
+were his friends and of his flock, might be quite certain of not
+departing for the other world unprovided with good introductions. What
+we do not know is how far they proved useful in the sight of God:
+whether He passed them with a superscription in blue pencil as an
+ambassador does, or whether, like the lady in the story, He asked: "And
+you, Padre Ortega--who introduces you?"
+
+When he had exchanged a few polite words with every person present, with
+such courtesy as was due to the position of each, the Marquesa de
+Alcudia took possession of him, carrying him off into a corner of the
+room, where, seated face to face in two armchairs, they began a
+conversation in an undertone, as though she were making confession. The
+priest, his elbow resting on the arm of his seat, and his shaven chin in
+his hand, listened to her with downcast eyes, in an attitude of
+humility; now and then he put in a measured word to which the lady
+listened with respect and submission; though she immediately returned to
+the charge, gesticulating vehemently, but without raising her voice.
+
+Soon after the ecclesiastic, a youth had made his appearance--a fat
+youth, very round and rosy, with little whiskers which came but just
+below his ears, his eyes deep set in flesh, and a fine fresh colour in
+his cheeks. His clothes looked too tight for him; his voice was hoarse,
+and he seemed to produce it with difficulty. Ramon Maldonado's face
+clouded over as he came in. This new-comer was the heir of the Conde de
+Casa-Ramirez, and one of the suitors for the first born of the house of
+Calderon. Jacobo--or Cobo Ramirez, as he was generally called, was
+regarded as a comic personage for the same reasons as Pepa Frias, but
+with less foundation. He too displayed great freedom of speech, cynical
+disrespect of persons, even of the most respectable, and an almost
+incredible degree of ignorance. His jests were the coarsest and grossest
+which decent people could by any means endure. Sometimes, indeed, they
+hit the nail on the head, that is to say, he had a happy thought; but as
+a rule his sallies were purely and unmitigatedly indecent.
+
+And yet the company were pleased to see him. A smile of satisfaction
+lighted up every face but that of Ramoncito.
+
+"I say, Calderon," he exclaimed as he came in, without any sort of
+preliminary greeting; "how do you manage to have such good-looking boys
+for your servants? As I came in, in the dim light, by the mezzo-soprano
+voice I heard, I took one of them for a girl."
+
+"Nonsense, man," said the banker, laughing.
+
+"I tell you I did, man, not that I care if you have as many Romeos as
+you please. Is your friend Pinazo coming this evening?"
+
+All understood the allusion; almost every one burst out laughing.
+
+"No, no, he is not coming," replied Calderon, choking with laughter.
+
+"What are they laughing at, Pacita?" asked Esperanza, in a low voice.
+
+"I do not know," she replied with perfect sincerity, shrugging her
+shoulders; "Cobo has said something horrid no doubt. I will ask Julia
+by-and-bye; she will be sure to know."
+
+They both looked at the eldest of the three sisters, but she sat unmoved
+and stiff, with downcast eyes as usual; nevertheless the corners of her
+mouth quivered with a faint smile of comprehension which showed that her
+youngest sister's confidence in her profound intuition was amply
+justified.
+
+"Hallo! Ramoncillo!" said Cobo, going up to Maldonado, and patting him
+familiarly on the cheek. "Always the same sweet and seductive youth?"
+
+The tone was half affectionate and half ironical, which the other took
+very much amiss.
+
+"Not to compare with you; but getting on," replied Ramoncito.
+
+"No, no, you are the beauty of the two--let these young ladies decide.
+You are a little too thin perhaps, especially of late, but you will
+double your weight as soon as you have got over this."
+
+"I have nothing to get over. And after all, no one can run to as many
+pounds as you," retorted Ramon, much nettled.
+
+"You have more graces."
+
+"Come, that will do; do not come talking such nonsense here, for it is
+very bad form, especially in the presence of these young ladies."
+
+"Why must you two always be quarrelling?" exclaimed Pepa Frias. "Have
+done with this squabbling, or the world will not be wide enough to hold
+you both."
+
+"No, the place that is not wide enough for these two, is Calderon's
+house," said Pinedo, in an undertone.
+
+"Nothing of the kind," Cobo exclaimed, in a cheerful voice "friends who
+quarrel are the best friends--eh old fellow?"
+
+And taking Ramoncito's head between his hands, he shook it
+affectionately. Maldonado pushed him away crossly.
+
+"Have done, have done; you are too rough."
+
+Cobo and Maldonado were intimate friends. They had known each other from
+infancy, they had been at school together; then in the world of fashion
+they had kept up a close acquaintance, chiefly at the club which both
+frequented regularly. As they followed the same profession, that,
+namely, of "men about town," on horseback, on foot, or in a carriage, as
+they visited the same houses, and met everywhere and every day, their
+mutual confidence was unlimited. At the same time, they were always on
+terms of mild hostility, for Cobo had a true contempt for Ramon, and
+Ramon, suspecting the fact, was constantly on his guard. This hostility
+did not exclude liking; they were insolent to each other, and would
+quarrel for hours on end, but afterwards they would drive out together,
+just as if nothing had occurred, and arrange to meet at the theatre.
+Maldonado took everything Cobo said quite seriously, and Cobo delighted
+in contradicting him whenever he spoke, till he had succeeded in putting
+him out of patience.
+
+But all affection vanished from the moment when they had both cast their
+eyes on Esperanza de Calderon; hostility alone remained. Their relations
+were apparently the same as before, they met every day at the club,
+often walked out, and went hunting together, but at the bottom of their
+hearts they hated each other. Each spoke ill of the other behind his
+back; Cobo, of course, with more wit than Ramon, because, with or
+without good reason, he had a real and sincere contempt for his rival.
+
+"Come, you are just like my daughter and her husband," said Senora de
+Frias.
+
+"Not so bad, not so bad, Pepa!" Ramirez put in, with affected horror.
+
+"What a shameless fellow you are!" exclaimed the lady, trying to control
+her laughter, which ill-matched her affectation of wrath. "They are just
+like you two, for they are always squabbling and making it up again."
+
+And then she went on to describe in racy terms her daughter's married
+life. She and her husband alike were a couple of children, dear
+children, but quite insupportable. If he did not hand her a dish as
+quickly as she expected, or had not poured her out a glass of water; if
+his shirt-buttons were off, or his clothes not brushed; or if there was
+too much oil in the salad, there were frightful rows. They were both
+equally susceptible and touchy. Sometimes they did not exchange a word
+for a week at a time, and to carry on the affairs of life they would
+write little notes to each other in the most distant terms: "Asuncion
+has asked me to go with her to the play at eight o'clock. Is there any
+objection to my going?" she would write, and leave the note on his
+study-table.
+
+"You may go wherever you choose," he would reply in the same way.
+
+"What will you have for dinner, to-morrow; do you like pickled tongue?"
+
+"You ought to know by this time that I never eat tongue. Do me the
+favour to order the cook to get some fish; but not fresh anchovies, as
+we had them the other day; and desire her not to burn the fritters."
+
+Neither of them chose to give way to the other, so that this nonsense
+would go on indefinitely, till she, Pepa, took them both by the ears,
+gave them a piece of her mind and obliged them to make it up. Then they
+went to the other extreme in their reconciliation.
+
+"Do you know, Pepa, that I should not care to be there at the moment of
+reconciliation?" said Cobo, with another outburst of malignant
+vulgarity.
+
+"Nor I, my friend," she replied with a sigh of resignation, that was
+very laughable. "But, what can I do? I am a mother-in-law, which is the
+lowest function one can fill in this world, and I must endure that
+penance and many more of which you know nothing."
+
+"I can imagine them."
+
+"You cannot possibly imagine them."
+
+"But then, my dear, it would be a great joy to me, to see my children
+friends once more," said the gentle Mariana, in her slow, drawling,
+lethargic way. "There is nothing more odious than a quarrelsome couple."
+
+"And to me, too--when the scene is over," replied Pepa, exchanging
+smiles with Cobo Ramirez and Pinedo.
+
+"How gladly would I make friends with you, Mariana, on the same terms,"
+said the insinuating general, in a low voice, taking advantage of a
+moment when Calderon's wife stooped down to stir the fire with an
+enamelled iron poker. At the same time, as if he wished to take it from
+her, and save her the trouble, the General's fingers were laid on the
+lady's, and without exceeding the truth, may be said to have lightly
+pressed them.
+
+"Make friends?" said she, in her usual voice. "But first we should have
+to quarrel, and thank God we have not done that."
+
+The old beau did not venture to reply; he laughed awkwardly with an
+uneasy glance at Calderon. If he persisted, this simpleton was capable
+of repeating aloud the audacious speech he had just made.
+
+"Of course," Pepa went on, "I interfere as little as possible in their
+disputes. I hardly ever go to their house even--Pah! I loathe playing
+the part of mother-in-law."
+
+"Well, Pepa, I only wish you were my mother-in-law," said Cobo, with a
+meaning look into her eyes.
+
+"Good! I will tell my daughter; she will be much flattered."
+
+"No, it has nothing to do with your daughter! It is that--that I should
+like you to interfere in my concerns."
+
+"Stuff and nonsense! Cease your compliments," replied the lady, half
+vexed. But a symptom of a smile which curled her lips showed
+nevertheless that the speech had pleased her.
+
+Ramoncito now brought the conversation back to the opera--the hare which
+runs in every fashionable meeting in Madrid. The opera is, indeed, to
+the subscribers, no mere amusement, but an institution. It is not,
+however, a love of music which makes it a constant subject of
+discussion, but the fact that they have nothing else to think about. To
+Ramoncito Maldonado, to Senora de Calderon, and to hundreds of others,
+the world is divided into two classes: those who subscribe to the opera
+and those who do not. The former alone really and completely represent
+the essential part of humanity.
+
+Gayarre and Tosti once more came under discussion. Those of the party
+who had just come in gave their opinion on the merits as well as on the
+physical advantages or defects of the two singers.
+
+Ramoncito began to tell Esperanza and Paz in a low voice how that he had
+last evening been presented to La Tosti in her dressing-room. A very
+amiable and refined woman; she had received him with wonderful
+graciousness and friendliness. She had heard much of him--Ramoncito--and
+had been most anxious to know him personally. When she was told that he
+was a member of the Assembly she was amazed to think of his having risen
+to such a position while still so young. "So absurd you know; it would
+seem that in other countries it is the custom only to elect old
+men.--She is even handsomer near than from a distance--a skin like
+velvet, exquisite teeth; then a splendid figure--a noble bust, and such
+arms!"
+
+Vanity had made the young man not only a blunderer--for it is a
+well-known rule that in courting one woman it is never wise to praise
+another too vehemently--but a little over free in speaking to two such
+young girls. They looked at each other and smiled; their eyes sparkling
+with mischievous fun, which the young deputy did not detect.
+
+"And tell me now, Ramon, did you not make her a declaration on the
+spot?" Pacita inquired.
+
+"Certainly not," replied he, seeing through the ironical meaning of the
+question.
+
+"Then you will."
+
+"Never! I love another lady." And as he spoke he shot a languishing
+glance at Esperanza. The young girl suddenly turned serious.
+
+"Really? Tell me, tell me----."
+
+"It is a secret."
+
+"Well, we can keep a secret. You will not tell, will you, Esperanza?"
+
+And the mischievous little thing looked slily at her friend, enjoying
+her vexation and Ramoncito's discomfiture.
+
+"I do not want to know anything about it."
+
+"There, Ramon, do you hear? Esperanza does not want to hear anything
+about your love affairs. I know why, though I shall not say."
+
+"What a silly thing you are, child," exclaimed Esperanza, now really
+angry.
+
+The young man, flattered by these hints from an intimate friend,
+nevertheless thought it well to change the subject, for he saw that
+Esperanza was seriously annoyed.
+
+"But you must not believe that it would be so very difficult to make a
+declaration to La Tosti, and for her to respond to it. Ask Pepe Castro;
+you can depend on what he says about it."
+
+"But Pepe Castro is not you," said Esperanza, with marked disdain.
+
+Maldonado fell from the celestial spaces where he had been soaring. This
+pointed speech, uttered in a tone of contempt, touched him to the quick.
+For, as it happened, the transcendent superiority of Pepe Castro was one
+of the few truths which dwelt in his mind as absolutely indisputable.
+There might be doubts as to Homer's, but as to Pepito's--none. The
+certainty of never rising, however much he might try, to the supreme
+height of elegance, indifference, contempt, and sovereign scorn of all
+creation, which characterised his admired friend, humiliated him and
+made him miserable.
+
+Esperanza had laid her finger on the wound which was threatening his
+existence. He could not reply; the shock was so great.
+
+Clementina was depressed and uneasy. As soon as she had entered her
+sister-in-law's drawing-room, she had sought a pretext for leaving; but
+she could find none. She was compelled to let some little time elapse;
+the minutes seemed ages. She had chatted for a few moments with the
+Marquesa de Alcudia, but that lady had quitted her when Father Ortega
+had come in. Her sister was appropriated by General Patino, who was
+giving her an elaborate account of the mode of rearing and feeding
+nightingales in captivity. The two Alcudia girls, who sat next to her,
+might have been wax dolls, they were so stiff and motionless, answering
+only in monosyllables to the few questions she addressed to them. By
+degrees a sort of obscure irritation took possession of her; to a woman
+of her temperament it was a matter of minutes only before she would
+cast all conventionality to the winds and take an abrupt departure. But
+on hearing the name of Pepe Castro, she looked up eagerly, and listened
+with keen interest. At Ramoncito's abrupt allusion to him she suddenly
+turned pale; however, she immediately recovered herself, and, joining in
+the conversation with a smile, she said: "Nay, nay, Ramon, do not be
+malignant. We poor women, if you begin to talk of us----!"
+
+"I speak ill of none who do not deserve it, Clementina," replied the
+youth, encouraged by the rope thus thrown out for him.
+
+"You men discuss us all. It strikes me that your friend Pepe Castro is
+not a man to bite his tongue out rather than sully a woman's
+reputation."
+
+"But, indeed, Clementina, I never yet found him out in a falsehood. All
+Madrid knows him for a favourite with women."
+
+"I cannot imagine why!" exclaimed the lady, with a disdainful pout.
+
+"I am no connoisseur in male beauty," said the young man, laughing at
+his own phrase, "but everybody says that Pepito is handsome."
+
+"Pshaw! That is a matter of individual taste. Pacita, who is his
+relation, will excuse me--but I, who am one of the 'everybody' do not
+say so."
+
+"It is quite true," said Esperanza timidly, "that Pepito is not
+considered bad-looking. Besides he is very elegant and _distingue_. Do
+you not think so?" And she turned to Pacita, colouring slightly as she
+spoke. Clementina glanced at her with a penetrating and singular
+expression which deepened the blush.
+
+"What are you talking about?" asked Cobo Ramirez, joining the little
+circle.
+
+He hardly ever sat down. He liked wandering from group to group,
+breathing as hard as an ox, and firing some audacious remark at each in
+turn. Ramoncito's brow darkened at his rival's approach. Cobo did not
+fail to perceive it and looked at him with a slight sneer.
+
+"Well, Ramoncito? Tell me, how do you contrive to keep these ladies so
+well amused? I was just saying to Pepa that you really sparkle with
+wit."
+
+"No, indeed. How should I sparkle when you monopolise it?" said the
+deputy, with some irritation.
+
+"Well, well, my son, if you are afraid of me I will go."
+
+An ironical smile, both bitter and triumphant, beamed on Ramoncito's
+sharp features. He had the enemy in a trap. It should be said that, a
+few days since, a learned discussion had given rise to a decision by an
+expert philologist that _afraid_ was wrong and _afeard_ alone was right.
+
+"My dear Cobo," he exclaimed, throwing himself back in his chair and
+gazing at him with ironical amazement. "Before you talk in the presence
+of persons of quality you might learn to speak your mother-tongue. I
+mean--it seems to me----"
+
+"Well?" said the other, in surprise.
+
+"That no one now says _afraid_ but _afeard_, my dear Cobo. I give you
+the information for your satisfaction and future guidance."
+
+Ramon's manner as he spoke was so arrogant, and his smile so impertinent
+that Cobo, disconcerted for a moment, asked in a fury:
+
+"And why afeard rather than afraid?"
+
+"Because it is so--because I say so! That is why," replied the other,
+not ceasing to smile with increasing sarcasm, and casting a triumphant
+look at Esperanza.
+
+The two rushed into an animated and violent discussion. Cobo held his
+own, maintaining with great spirit that no one ever said _afeard_, that
+he had never heard the word in his life, and that he was in the habit of
+talking to educated persons. The young and scented deputy answered him
+briefly, still smiling impertinently, and sure of his triumph. The more
+angry Cobo became, the more Ramon gloated over his humiliation in the
+presence of the damsel to whom they both were paying court. But the
+tables were turned when Cobo, thoroughly provoked and seeing himself
+beaten, called General Patino to the rescue.
+
+"Come here, General; you who are eminent as an authority--Do you think
+it correct to say _afeard_?"
+
+The General, greatly flattered by this opportune mouthful of honey,
+replied, addressing Maldonado in a tone of paternal instruction:
+
+"No, Ramoncito, no. You are mistaken. Such a word as _afeard_ was never
+heard of."
+
+The young man jumped in his chair. Suddenly abandoning all irony, and
+his eyes flashing, he began to exclaim that they did not know what they
+were talking about, that it would seem that the best authorities were
+liars, and so on, and so on--that he was quite certain he was right, and
+that he wanted a dictionary forthwith.
+
+"To tell you the truth," said Don Julian, scratching his head, "the
+dictionary I used to possess has disappeared. I do not know who can have
+taken it. But it seems to me--I agree with the General--that we say
+afraid and not afeard."
+
+This fresh blow was too much for Maldonado; pale already, and tremulous
+with vexation, he uttered a last cry of despair.
+
+"But _afeard_ is derived from _fear_, gentlemen!"
+
+"Fear or small beer, it is all the same!" exclaimed Cobo, with an
+insolent peal of laughter. "Confess now that you have put your foot in
+it, and promise not to do it any more."
+
+Maldonado's disgust and rage knew no bounds. He struggled on a few
+minutes with incoherent words and gestures; but as the only reply to his
+energetic protests were laughter and sarcasm, he resigned himself to an
+attitude of dignity and scorn, chewing the cud of bitterness, his lips
+quivering, his looks grim, a snort of indignation now and again
+inflating his nostrils. Cobo remained unmoved, taking every opportunity
+that offered for shooting a poisoned dart of repartee at the foe, which
+enchanted the girls and made their elders smile soberly. No one in this
+world ever hungered and thirsted for justice as did Ramoncito at this
+moment.
+
+The arrival of another visitor ended, or at any rate, suspended, his
+torments. The Duke of Requena was announced. His entrance produced an
+agitation which sufficiently indicated his consequence. Calderon went
+forward to receive him, offering him both hands with much effusion. All
+the men rose in haste, and left their seats to meet him with smiles and
+gestures expressive of the reverence he inspired. The ladies turned
+their heads to greet him with curiosity and respect, and Pepa Frias rose
+to shake hands with him. Even Father Ortega deserted his Marquesa and
+went forward with a submissive and engaging bow, smiling at him with his
+bright eyes behind the strong spectacles for short sight which he wore.
+For a few minutes the only words to be heard in the room were "Senor
+Duque," "Senor Duque"--"Oh Senor Duque!"
+
+The object of all these attentions was a short, stout man with a
+lividly-pale face, prominent squinting eyes, white hair, and a grizzled
+moustache as stiff and harsh as the quills of a porcupine. His lips were
+thick and mobile, stained by the juice of a cigar which he held, not
+lighted, between his teeth, incessantly passing it from one corner of
+his mouth to the other. He might be about sixty years of age, more
+rather than less. He was wrapped in a magnificent loose fur coat, which
+he had not removed in the ante-room, having a cold. But on setting foot
+in the little drawing-room, the heat struck him as unpleasant, and
+hardly replying to the greetings and smiles which hailed him from all
+sides, he only muttered rudely, in the hoarse, thick voice
+characteristic of men with a short neck: "Poof! a perfect furnace!" And
+he added a Valencian expletive more vehement than choice. At the same
+time he unbuttoned his overcoat. Twenty hands were laid on it to help
+him to take it off, which somewhat hindered the process.
+
+And now, in the Calderon's drawing-room, was repeated the scene which
+has oftener than any other been performed in this world, of the
+Israelites in the desert worshipping the Golden Calf. The new-comer was
+no less a person than Don Antonio Salabert, Duke of Requena--the famous
+Salabert, the richest of the rich in Spain, one of the colossal figures
+of finance, and, beyond a doubt, the most famous for the extent and
+importance of his transactions. He was a native of Valencia. No one had
+ever heard of his family. Some said he had been a mere waif in the
+streets; others that he had begun as a footman to some banker, and had
+risen to be a sort of messenger and errand man, others that he had been
+an adventurer under Cabrera in the first civil war, and that the origin
+of his fortunes was a valise full of gold, of which he had robbed a
+traveller. Some even went so far as to credit him with having belonged
+to one of the notorious troops of banditti who infested Spain just after
+the war. He, however, explained the growth of his fortune--which
+amounted to no less than four hundred millions of reales[B]--in the
+simplest and most graphic way. When he was angry with any of his
+clerks--as very frequently happened--and found that they took offence at
+his gross abuse, he would say to them, shouting like a possessed
+creature: "Do you know how I came by my money? By taking many a kick
+behind. Nothing but kicks will ever help you up the ladder. Do you
+understand?"
+
+It must be confessed that there was something a little vague about this
+explanation, but the authority with which it was delivered gave it
+irrefragable value. Assuming it as the basis of the inquiry, we might
+perhaps be able to form a just estimate of the character and the
+achievements of the wealthy banker.
+
+"Hallo, little lady," said he, going up to Clementina and taking her by
+the chin as if she were a child. "You here? I did not see your carriage
+below."
+
+"No, Papa; I came on foot."
+
+"You are a wonder. You can take mine if you like."
+
+"No, I would rather walk. I have been out of spirits lately."
+
+The duke had turned his back on all the company, and was talking to his
+daughter with as much affability as he was capable of. He rarely saw
+her. Clementina was his natural daughter, the child of a woman of the
+lowest type, as he himself had probably been. Afterwards, when he was
+already beginning to be rich, he had married a young girl of the middle
+class, by whom he had no family. This lady, whose health since her
+marriage had been extremely delicate, had agreed, or to be exact, had
+herself proposed that her husband's daughter should come to live with
+her. Clementina had therefore been brought up at home, and was loved as
+a daughter by her father's wife, whom she loved and respected as a
+mother. Since her marriage she had paid her frequent visits; but as her
+father was always busy, she did not go into his rooms, but left her
+mother's--for so she called her--only to quit the house. Excepting on
+days when there was some great dinner or reception, or when she met him
+by chance in the street or at a friend's house, they never talked
+together.
+
+After inquiring for her husband and sons, the duke, without sitting
+down, turned to talk to Calderon and Pepe Frias. He was a man of common
+and provincial appearance; he rarely smiled, and when he did, it was so
+faintly as to be hardly perceptible. He was in the habit of calling
+things by their names, and addressing every one without any formula of
+courtesy, saying things to their face which might have seemed grossly
+rude, but that he knew how to give them a tone of friendly bluntness
+which deprived them of their sting. He was not loquacious; he generally
+stood silently chewing the end of his cigar and studying his
+interlocutor with his squinting and impenetrable eyes. When he talked it
+was with a factitious and cunning simplicity which was not unattractive,
+but through it pierced the old man, the Valencian foundling, shrewd,
+sarcastic, crafty and uncommunicative.
+
+Pepa Frias began to talk of money matters; on this subject the widow was
+inexhaustible. She wanted to know everything, was afraid of being taken
+in, always greedy of large profit, and comically terrified at the idea
+of a depreciation of the Stocks she held. She would have every detail
+repeated to satiety.
+
+"Should she sell Bank Stock and buy Cubas? What was the Government going
+to do about entailed estates? She had heard rumours! Would money be
+dearer at the next settlement? Would it not be better to sell at once,
+and make thirty centimes, than to wait till the end of the month?"
+
+To her Salabert's words were as the Delphic oracle; the banker's fame
+acted like a charm. But, unluckily, the Duke--like every oracle, ancient
+or modern--was wont to answer ambiguously. Often his only reply was a
+grunt, which might mean assent, dissent, or doubt; while the words,
+which now and then made their way between the cigar and his moist,
+stained lips, were obscure, brief, and frequently unintelligible.
+Besides, every one knew that he was not to be trusted, that he loved to
+put his friends on the wrong track, and see them get a tumble in some
+bad speculation. Nevertheless, Pepa persisted in hoping to wring from
+that great mind the secret of the hidden Pactolus, playfully taking him
+by the lapels of his coat, calling him old fellow, old fox, Sphinx,
+glorying in her audacity, which amounted to a flirtation. But the banker
+was not to be cajoled. He humoured her mood, answering her with grunts,
+or with some coarse joke at which Calderon would laugh, though he felt
+in no laughing mood as he noted the frequency of the duke's
+expectorations on his carpet; for the munching of his cigar gave rise to
+the necessity, and he was not accustomed to note what he was doing.
+Calderon was as much irritated, and annoyed as if his visitor had spit
+in his face. The third time it happened he could contain himself no
+longer; with his own hands he fetched a spittoon. Salabert gave him a
+mocking glance and winked at Pepa.
+
+Calderon, now easier in his mind, became quite loquacious, and
+endeavoured to reply instead of the Duke, and advise Pepa as to her
+investments; but though he was a man of prudence and experience in such
+matters, the widow did not value his counsels, nor would she listen to
+them. When all was said and done, there was an enormous gulf between him
+and Salabert--the one an ordinary stock-broker, the other a genius of
+banking. The Duke, no doubt, assented inarticulately to the opinions of
+the master of the house, but Pepa would none of them.
+
+Salabert presently left them to themselves, and seated himself on the
+arm of a chair in a lounging attitude, which he alone would have
+ventured on. Instead of being disliked for his coarse rudeness, his bad
+manners contributed not a little to his prestige and to the idolatrous
+reverence which was paid him in society. Having left the spittoon behind
+him, he again expectorated on the carpet with a malicious pleasure which
+was visible through his imperturbable mask of good humour. Calderon on
+his part frowned gloomily once more, till at length, with a heroic
+determination to ignore the conventionalities, he once more fetched the
+spittoon, but less boldly than before, for he only pushed it along with
+his foot. Pepa, meanwhile, seated herself on the other arm, and went on
+coaxing the Duke till at last he paid more attention to her. He glanced
+at her several times from head to foot, dwelling with satisfaction on
+her figure, which was round and shapely. Altogether Pepa was a
+fresh-looking and attractive woman. In a few minutes the banker leaned
+over her without much delicacy, and, putting his face so close to hers,
+that he almost seemed to touch her cheek with his lips, he said in a
+whisper:
+
+"Have you many Osunas?"
+
+"A few--yes----"
+
+"Sell at once."
+
+Pepa looked him straight in the eyes, and, taking the advice as meant,
+she said no more. A few minutes later it was she who put her face across
+to the banker's, and asked him mysteriously:
+
+"And what shall I buy?"
+
+"Entailed estate," he replied in the same tone.
+
+Just now a lady and gentleman came in, a young couple, both under the
+middle height, smiling, and lively.
+
+"Here are my young people," said Pepa.
+
+They were, in fact, a pleasing pair; well matched, with attractive,
+candid faces, and so young that they really looked like a couple of
+children. They shook hands with every one in turn, and every face beamed
+with the affectionate protecting feeling which they could not fail to
+inspire.
+
+"Here is your mother-in-law, Emilio. What a vexatious meeting, eh?" said
+Pepa to the young man.
+
+"Mother-in-law! No, no. Mamma, mamma," replied he, pressing her hand
+affectionately.
+
+"Heaven reward you!" replied the lady, with a comical sigh of gratitude.
+
+Once more the company settled into their seats. The young couple sat
+down by the mistress of the house. Clementina had left her seat, and was
+talking to Maldonado; Pepe Castro's name recurred frequently in their
+conversation. Meanwhile Cobo was improving the opportunity, and making
+Pacita laugh with his impertinence; but although he hoped that Esperanza
+might receive his jests with equal favour, this was not the case. The
+young lady was grave and absent-minded, and evidently trying to overhear
+what Ramoncito and Clementina were saying; Pinedo had remained standing,
+and was doing the civil to the Duke; and the General, seeing his adored
+one in eager conversation with the new comers--tired, too, of finding
+that his elaborately disguised compliments were not understood, nor even
+his poetical allusions--followed his example. The Marquesa and the
+priest still sat whispering vehemently to each other in a corner, she
+more and more humble and insinuating, sitting at the very edge of her
+chair, and bending forward to make herself heard; he every minute more
+grave and rigid, closing his eyes from time to time as if he were in the
+confessional.
+
+"What a pair of babies!" said Pepa to Mariana, alluding to the young
+couple. "Is it not a shame to think of such children being married? How
+much better they would be playing with their tops!"
+
+The young people in question laughed, and looked lovingly at each other.
+
+"They play with them still, at spare moments," said Cobo Ramirez in a
+childish squeak.
+
+"Don't talk nonsense!" cried Pepa, turning on him fiercely. "Have they
+told you what they play at?"
+
+Cobo and Mariana exchanged a significant look. Irenita, the young wife,
+coloured deeply.
+
+"You are growing old, Pepa. Remember you are a grandmother," said
+Mariana.
+
+"And such a grandmother!" exclaimed Cobo in an undertone, intended to be
+heard only by the lady concerned. She glanced at him, half smiling and
+half vexed, showing that she had heard, and was on the whole pleased.
+Cobo affected innocence.
+
+"Is your quarrel over?" said the widow, turning to her children. "And
+how long will peace last? Mercy, what a squabbling pair. Look here, I
+will go to your house no more, for when I find you sulking I long to
+take a broomstick and break it over your shoulders."
+
+The whole company turned round to look at the husband and wife, who were
+smiling beatifically. This time they both blushed. But in spite of the
+gravity which remained stamped on Emilio's features, it was clear that
+his mother-in-law's free and easy sallies did not altogether displease
+him.
+
+General Patino, at Senora de Calderon's request, pressed the button of
+an electric bell. A servant came in to whom his mistress gave a sign,
+and five minutes later he reappeared with two others, carrying trays
+with cups, tea, cakes and biscuits. There was a stir of satisfaction; a
+change of attitude in all the party, and the sparkle in their eyes of
+the animal pleased to satisfy a craving of nature. Esperanza hastened to
+leave her friend and Ramirez, and proceeded to help her mother in the
+task of pouring out tea for the company. Ramoncito took advantage of the
+moment when the young girl offered him a cup, to observe in an aside
+that he was much surprised at her finding any pleasure in listening to
+the nonsensical or unseemly speeches of Cobo Ramirez. Esperanza looked
+at him somewhat abashed, but she replied that she had heard no nonsense;
+that Cobo was very pleasant and amiable. Ramoncito, in his lowest and
+most pathetic tones, protested against such an opinion, and persisted in
+running down his friend, till Cobo's suspicions were aroused, and he
+came up, jesting as usual. On this our illustrious deputy grew sullen
+once more, and drew in his horns; it only remained for Cobo to bring out
+some piece of insulting nonsense to turn the laugh against his rival.
+
+This was the moment for discussing literature; a stage which always
+supervenes in every afternoon or evening party in Madrid. General Patino
+mentioned a new play which had just been brought out with great success,
+and raised some objections to it, chiefly on the ground of certain
+scenes being too highly coloured. Mariana declared that on no account,
+then, would she go to see it; and all agreed in anathematising the
+immorality which nowadays is the delight of play-writers. Naturalism was
+becoming a curse. Cobo Ramirez, who had taken tea and then more tea, and
+had eaten a fabulous quantity of sandwiches and biscuits, told the
+company that he had lately read a novel entitled "Le Journal d'une
+Dame"--in French of course--which was precious, charming, the most
+delightful thing he had ever read. For in literature Cobo--strange to
+say--was all for refinement, spirituality and delicacy. It was of no use
+to talk to him of those dreary books which dwell on the number of times
+a bricklayer stretches himself when he gets out of bed--or of biscuits
+and cakes a young gentleman can eat at afternoon tea--or describe the
+birth of a child and other such horrors. Novels ought to deal with
+pleasant things since they are written to give pleasure. And all this he
+pronounced with decision, snorting like a war-horse as he talked. All
+the audience agreed with him.
+
+But this literary lecture was prematurely cut short by the arrival of
+another visitor, a man, neither tall nor short, nor stout nor thin,
+square shouldered and dapper, sallow, and wearing a black beard so thick
+and curly that it looked like a false one. This was no less a personage
+than the Minister of Public Works, a member of the Cabinet. He carried
+his head so high that the back of it was almost lost between his
+shoulders, and his half-closed eyes flashed self-confident and
+patronising gleams from between his long black lashes. Till the age of
+two-and-twenty he had carried his head as nature intended; but from the
+day when he had been made vice-president of the section of Civil and
+Canon Law in the Academy of Jurisprudence, he had begun to hold it
+higher and higher, by slow and majestic degrees, as the moon rises over
+the sea on the stage at the opera-house, that is to say by slight and
+frequent jerks with a rope. He was elected a provincial member--a little
+jerk; then deputy to the Cortes--another little jerk; Governor of a
+district, and another little jerk; Director General of a
+department--another; President of the Committee of Ways and
+Means--another; Member of the Cabinet--yet another. But now the rope was
+at an end. If they had made him heir to the throne, Jimenez Arbos could
+not have held his large head a tenth of an inch higher.
+
+His entrance on the scene produced some little sensation, but not such
+as that of the Duke of Requena. He, whose puffy, sensual face could not
+conceal the scorn he felt for the Assembly, nevertheless hurried to
+greet him with a deference and servility which amazed every one, all the
+more by comparison with the rough discourtesy he usually displayed in
+social intercourse. The Minister, on his part, distributed hand-shakings
+with an air of abstraction which was positively offensive. It was only
+when he greeted Pepa Frias that he showed any signs of animation. The
+widow asked him in a familiar tone:
+
+"How is it that you are in evening dress?"
+
+"I am on my way to dine at the French Embassy."
+
+"And then home?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+This dialogue, carried on very rapidly in a low voice, was noticed by
+the Duke, who went up to Pinedo and asked him mysteriously, with an
+expressive sign: "I say--Arbos and Pepa Frias?"
+
+"These two months past, at least."
+
+The gaze which the banker now bestowed on the widow was widely different
+from his former glances. He was more attentive, more respectful, keener,
+and presently somewhat meditative. Calderon had approached the Minister
+and was talking to him with polite attention; Salabert joined them. But
+the great man was not inclined to talk of business, or perhaps he was
+afraid of the financier; the press had thrown out some malevolent hints
+as to Requena's transactions with the Government. So in a few minutes
+the Duke attached himself, instead, to Pepa Frias, and stood chatting
+with her in a corner of the room.
+
+Clementina was growing more and more impatient, longing vehemently to
+get away. Still, she would not go, for fear her father should insist on
+accompanying her. The Minister was the first to depart, taking leave
+with the same impressive absent-mindedness, never looking at the person
+he addressed, but up at the ceiling. The Duke meanwhile had quite taken
+possession of the widow, displaying such effusive gallantry that he
+might have been about to make her a declaration of love. The General,
+observing this, said to Pinedo:
+
+"Look how eager the Duke has become! He is certainly making love to
+Pepa."
+
+"No," replied the other very gravely. "He is making love to the transfer
+of the Riosa Mining Company."
+
+At this moment Pepa Frias announced in a loud voice that she was going.
+
+"Where are you off to, next?" asked the banker.
+
+"To Lhardy's shop, to buy some Italian sausages."
+
+"I will take you there."
+
+"Do--and I will treat you to some little tarts."
+
+The Duke was delighted to accept the invitation.
+
+"Come along, too, child?" she added to her daughter.
+
+Clementina waited only five minutes longer. As soon as she felt sure of
+not overtaking her father on the stairs, she rose, and, under the
+pretext of having forgotten some commission, she also took leave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SALABERT'S DAUGHTER.
+
+
+Clementina descended the stairs in some anxiety, and on setting foot in
+the street, breathed a sigh of relief. She went off at a brisk pace down
+the Calle del Siete de Julia, across the Plaza Mayor, and on through the
+Calle de Atocha. On reaching this, she suddenly remembered the youth who
+had previously followed her, and turned her head in anxiety. No one.
+There was nothing to alarm her. No one was in pursuit. At the door of
+one of the best houses in the street she stopped, looked hastily and
+stealthily both ways, and went in. A hardly perceptible sign of inquiry
+to the porter, was answered by his hand to his cap. She flew to the back
+staircase, to escape any unpleasant meeting no doubt, and ran up in such
+a hurry that on reaching the second floor she was quite breathless, and
+pressed one hand to her heart. With the other, she knocked twice at one
+of the doors, which was instantly and noiselessly opened; she rushed in
+as if the enemy were at her heels.
+
+"Better late than never," said a young man who had opened it, and who
+carefully shut it again.
+
+He was a man of eight-and-twenty or thirty, above the middle height,
+slightly built, with delicate and regular features, a colour in his
+cheeks, a moustache curled up at the ends, a pointed chin-tuft, and
+black hair carefully parted down the middle. He looked like a toy
+soldier--that is to say, he was of the effeminate military type. His
+face was not unlike those of the dolls on which tailors display
+ready-made clothing, and was not less unpleasing and repulsive. He wore
+a pearl-grey velvet morning jacket, elaborately braided, and slippers
+of the same material and colour, with initials embroidered in gold. It
+was evident at a glance that he was one of those men who care greatly
+for the decoration of their person; who touch up every detail with as
+much finish and attention as a sculptor bestows on a statue; who believe
+that curling and gumming their moustaches is a sacred and bounden duty;
+who accept the fact that the Supreme Creator has bestowed on them a
+fascinating presence, and do their best to improve on His work.
+
+"How late you are!" he exclaimed once more, fixing on her face a
+conventional gaze of sad reproach.
+
+The lady rewarded him with a gracious smile, saying at the same time in
+a tone of raillery, "It is never too late if luck comes at last."
+
+She took his hand and pressed it fondly; then, still holding it, she led
+him along the passages to a small room which seemed to be the young
+man's study. It was a luxurious den, artistically decorated; the walls
+were hung with dark blue plush curtains, held up by rings on a bronze
+rod under the cornice; there were arm-chairs of various shapes and
+sizes, a writing-table in walnut-wood ornamented with wrought-iron, and
+by the side of it a book-stand with a few books--about two dozen
+perhaps. Suspended by silken cords from the ceiling, and against the
+walls, were horse-trappings and several saddles, common and military,
+with their stirrups hanging down; curbs of many ages and lands, whips,
+fine woollen horse-cloths richly embroidered, gold and silver spurs, all
+very handsome and in perfect order. The hippic tastes of the owner of
+this "study" were no less evident in the corridor which led to it from
+the door; everywhere there were portraits of horses saddled or stripped.
+Even on the writing-table, the inkstand, paper-weights, and paper-knife
+were decorated with horse-shoes stirrups, or whips. Through an arch with
+columns, only half-closed by a handsome tapestry curtain representing a
+youth in powder kneeling to a lady _a la Pompadour_, a handsome mahogany
+bedstead with a canopy was visible.
+
+On reaching this little room the lady let herself drop gracefully into a
+pretty little lounging chair, and went on in a light jesting tone: "So
+you are not glad to see me?"
+
+"Very. But I should have been glad to see you sooner. I have been
+waiting for you above an hour and a half."
+
+"And what then? Is it such a sacrifice to wait an hour and a half for
+the woman who adores you? Have you not read how Leander swam every
+evening across the Hellespont to see his beloved? No, you have never
+read that nor anything else. Well, I believe that knowledge would not
+suit you. Books would spoil that pretty colour in your cheeks, and
+undermine the strength and agility with which you ride and drive.
+Besides, some men were born only to be handsome and strong and to amuse
+themselves, and you are one of them."
+
+"Come, come. It seems to me that you regard me as an idiot ignorant even
+of my alphabet?" exclaimed the young man somewhat piqued and distressed,
+as he stood in front of her.
+
+"No, my dear, no!" she replied, laughing, and seizing one of his hands
+she kissed it with a sudden impulse of tenderness. "Now you are
+insulting me. Do you think I could love an idiot? Take this," she went
+on, taking off her hat. "Put my hat on the bed with the greatest care.
+Now come here, wretch that you are. You are so touchy that you forget
+you began by being rude to me. An hour and a half! What then? Come
+close; kneel down; wait till I pull your hair for you."
+
+But the young man, instead of obeying her, drew up a smoking chair, and
+perched himself on it in front of her.
+
+"Do you know what kept me? Why that tiresome boy who followed me again."
+
+And as she spoke she suddenly grew serious: a well-defined frown
+puckered her pretty brows.
+
+"It is insufferable," she went on. "I do not know what to do. Whenever I
+stir, morning or evening, this shadow haunts me. I had to take refuge at
+Mariana's; then, having gone there I had no choice but to stay a little
+while. Papa came in, and to avoid his escorting me home I had to wait
+till he went first. So you see."
+
+"A pretty fellow is that boy!" exclaimed the man, with a laugh.
+
+"Very much so! It would be very amusing if he found out where I come,
+and every one were to hear of it, and it were to reach my husband's
+ears. Laugh away, laugh away!"
+
+"Why not? Who but you would think of objecting to so platonic an
+admirer? Have you had any note from him? Has he ever spoken a word to
+you?"
+
+"That would not matter in the least. It is the persecution which jars on
+my nerves. He is just such a boy as would be capable out of mere spite,
+if he detected me entering this house, of writing an anonymous letter.
+And you know the peculiar position in which I stand with regard to my
+husband."
+
+"There is not a chance of it. Those who write anonymous notes are not
+admirers, but envious women. Shall I meet him face to face and give him
+a fright?"
+
+"How can you ask such a question!" exclaimed Clementina, indignantly.
+"Listen Pepe, you are a man of feeling, and have plenty of intelligence,
+but you sadly lack a little more delicacy to enable you to understand
+certain things. You should give rather less time to your club and your
+horses, and cultivate your mind a little."
+
+"Is that your opinion?" cried Pepe, angered extremely by this reproof.
+
+"Well, if you wish that I should not tell you such things, there are
+others which you should not say."
+
+Pepe Castro shrugged his shoulders scornfully, and rose from his chair.
+He paced the room two or three times with an air of abstraction, and
+stopped at last in front of a little picture which he took down to dust
+it with his handkerchief. Clementina watched him with anger in her eyes.
+She suddenly started to her feet as if moved by a spring; but then,
+controlling her petulance, she quietly went into the adjoining room,
+took her hat off the bed, and began to put it on in front of a
+looking-glass, very deliberately, though the slight trembling of her
+hands still betrayed the annoyance she was repressing.
+
+"There," she presently exclaimed, in a tone of indifference, "I am
+going. Do you want anything out?"
+
+The young man turned round, and exclaimed with surprise: "Already!"
+
+"Already," replied she with affected determination.
+
+Castro went up to her, put his arm round her neck, and raising the red
+veil with the other hand, kissed her on the temple.
+
+"It is always the same," said he. "I get the broken head and you want to
+wear the bandage."
+
+"What is that you are saying?" she replied in some confusion. "I am
+going because I have another visit to pay before dinner."
+
+"Come Clementina, you cannot make believe, even if you wish it. You must
+understand that I cannot listen to insults and laugh, and you insult me
+at every moment."
+
+"I really do not understand you; I do not know what insults or make
+believe you allude to," she replied, with affected innocence.
+
+Pepe tried coaxingly to take her hat off again, but she repelled him
+with an imperious gesture. He then put his arm round her waist and led
+her to the sofa; he sat down and taking her hands kissed them again and
+again with passionate affection. She stood upright and would not be
+softened. However, he was so vehement and so humble in his endearments,
+that at last she snatched away her hands and exclaimed, half laughing,
+but still half vexed:
+
+"Have done, have done: I am tired of your whining--like a Newfoundland
+dog! You are abject. I would be torn in pieces before I would humiliate
+myself like that."
+
+She took her hat off, and went herself to place it on the bed.
+
+"When a man is as much in love as I am," replied the youth somewhat
+abashed, "he does not regard anything as a humiliation."
+
+"Really and truly, boy?" said she, smiling and taking him by the chin
+with her slender pink fingers; "I do not believe it. You are not the
+stuff that lovers are made of. Well, I will put you to the proof. If I
+told you to do a thing that might cost you your life, or, which is
+worse, your honour--a few years in prison--would you do it?"
+
+"I should think so!"
+
+"Well then--well then, I want you to kill my husband."
+
+"How barbarous!" he exclaimed in dismay, opening his eyes very wide.
+
+The lady looked at him steadily for a few minutes with scrutinising,
+sarcastic eyes. Then with a sharp laugh, she exclaimed:
+
+"You see, miserable man, you see! You are a fine gentleman of Madrid, a
+member of the _Savage Club_. Neither for me nor any other woman would
+you exchange your dress-coat and white waistcoat for a prison uniform."
+
+"You have such strange ideas."
+
+"Well, well. Go on in the way which your pusillanimous nature points out
+to you, and do not get into mischief. You will understand that I only
+spoke in jest; but it has confirmed me in the opinion I had already
+formed."
+
+"But if you have so poor an opinion of my devotion, I do not know why
+you should love me," said the young man, again somewhat piqued.
+
+"Why I love you? For the same reason for which I do everything--Caprice.
+I saw you one day in the Park of the Retiro, breaking in a horse
+splendidly, and I took a fancy to you. Then, two months later, I saw you
+at the fencing gallery at Biarritz, crossing foils with a Russian, and
+that finally bewitched me. I got you introduced to me, I did my best to
+please you--I did in fact please you--and here we are."
+
+Pepe made up his mind to endure with patience her half cynical tone of
+raillery, and by dint of talking she presently dropped it. Clementina
+when she was content, was affectionate and gay, and ready to yield to
+impulses of generosity; her face, as singular as it was beautiful, never
+indeed softened to sweetness, but it had a kind, maternal expression
+which was very attractive. But if her nerves were irritated, and her
+opinions or wishes were crossed, the under-current of pride, obstinacy
+and even cruelty, which lay beneath, came to the surface, and her blue
+eyes shot flashes of fierce sarcasm or fury.
+
+Pepe Castro, who was neither illustrious nor clever, had nevertheless
+the art of amusing her with the gossip of society, and innuendoes
+against those persons for whom she had a marked antipathy. The means
+were coarse but the effect was excellent. The Condesa de T----, a lady
+whom Clementina hated mortally for some displeasure she had once done
+her, was desperately hard up; she had gone to borrow of Z---- the old
+banker, who had granted the loan, but at a percentage which had made the
+lady stare. The Marques de L----, and his wife, for whom also she had an
+aversion, had, before he was in office, given entertainments to the
+electors at their country house, with splendid banquets; but as soon as
+he was made Minister, though they still gave parties there was no
+_buffet_. Julita R----, a very pretty girl who, again, was no favourite
+with the haughty lady, had been turned out of doors by the M---- s for
+having been found in their son's room--a lad of fifteen. This and much
+more of the same kind fell from the lips of the generous youth, with a
+scornful humour which put the fair one into a better temper. This was
+Pepe Castro's sole talent of an intellectual character; his other
+accomplishments were purely physical.
+
+The clouds had cleared from Clementina's brow. She was now loquacious,
+smiling, and lavish of caresses; during the hour she remained with her
+lover, he was amply indemnified for the stabs she had given him on first
+arriving, as happy as their _tete-a-tete_ could make him.
+
+It had already long since become dusk. The youth lighted the two lamps
+on the chimney-piece, without calling the servant--his only servant, and
+the only living soul with him in his rooms.
+
+Pepe Castro was the son of a noble house of Arragon; his elder brother
+bore a well-known title, and his sister had married into a family of
+rank. He had been educated at Madrid; at the age of twenty he lost his
+father. For a time he lived with his elder brother, but it was not long
+before they quarrelled, since the elder, who was economical to avarice,
+could not endure Pepe's wasteful extravagance. He then tried living
+under his sister's roof, but at the end of a few months incompatibility
+of temper between himself and his brother-in-law led to such violent
+disputes, that it was said in the Madrid clubs and drawing-rooms that
+they had cuffed and cudgelled each other soundly; a duel was only
+prevented by the interference of some of the more respectable members of
+the family. Then, after living for some time at an hotel, he decided on
+furnishing rooms. He engaged a servant, had his breakfast brought in
+from an eating-house, and dined sometimes at Lhardy's and sometimes with
+one or another of his numerous friends. His stables were in the
+immediate neighbourhood, Calle de las Urosa, and were not ill-furnished:
+two saddle horses, one English and one cross-bred; two teams, one
+foreign and one Spanish; a Berline, a cart, a mail-phaeton, and a break;
+it was a channel through which his fortune was rapidly running away,
+though it was not the principal one. He had, in fact, left the greater
+portion on the gaming-tables at the club, and by no means a small part
+bad been grabbed by certain smart damsels, whom he had promoted in a few
+hours to the rank of fashionable courtesans. This, however, was a fact
+he always denied, thinking it might diminish his prestige as a
+lady-killer; but it is nevertheless a fact, like everything else herein
+set down.
+
+All this is as much as to say that Pepe Castro was at this moment a
+ruined man; nevertheless, he went on living in the same comfort and
+style. His losses and his borrowing cost him a great deal: loans from
+his brother on the mortgage of estate he could not sell, post-obits to
+merciless usurers on his prospects from an old and infirm uncle,
+accepted for three times their cash value; jewels given him by his
+sister, who could not give him money; exorbitant charges run up by the
+importers of carriages and horses; bills with the tailor, the perfumer;
+with Lhardy, the restaurant-keeper, with every one in short.
+
+It seemed impossible that a man could live easy in such a tangle of
+toils and nets. And nevertheless, our young gentleman enjoyed the same
+beautiful serenity of mind and lightness of heart as many others of his
+comrades and acquaintances, who, as we shall have occasion to see, were
+no less ruined, though less fascinating.
+
+"I have a surprise in store for you," said Clementina, as she again put
+on her hat and tidied her hair in front of the glass.
+
+The handsome puppy sniffed the air, like a hound that scents game, and
+he went up to Clementina.
+
+"If it is a pleasant one let me see it."
+
+"Yes, and no less if it is an unpleasant one, rude boy. Everything I can
+do ought to be pleasant to you."
+
+"No doubt, no doubt.--Let me see," he went on, trying to conceal his
+eagerness.
+
+"Very well; bring me my muff."
+
+Castro flew to obey. Clementina, when she had it in her hands, sat down
+on the sofa with an affectation of calm, and flourishing it in the air,
+she exclaimed: "Now you will not guess what I have in this muff?"
+
+Her eyes were bright with glee and pride at the same time. Castro's
+sparkled with anxiety; the colour mounted to his cheeks, and he replied
+in a tone between assertion and inquiry:
+
+"Fifteen thousand pesetas."[C]
+
+The lady's triumphant expression instantly changed to one of wrath and
+disgust.
+
+"Go--go away--Pig!" she furiously cried, giving him a hard box on the
+ear with the handsome muff. "You think of nothing but money. You have
+not a grain of delicacy."
+
+"I thought----" The change in Pepe's face was no less marked; it was
+more gloomy than night.
+
+"Of money, yes; I tell you so. Well then, no. Nothing of the kind.
+Nothing but a little tie-pin, which--fool that I am--I bought at
+Marbini's as I came along, to show you that I am always thinking of
+you."
+
+"And I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my sweet pigeon," said the
+young man, making a supreme effort to recover from his sudden dejection,
+and producing, as a result, a forced and bitter smile. "Why do you fly
+into such pets? Give it me. But I know what a bad opinion you have of
+me."
+
+Clementina would not give him her present. Pepe begged for it humbly;
+still there was in his entreaties a shade of coldness, which to the keen
+intuition of a woman, betrayed very plainly the disappointment at the
+bottom of his soul.
+
+"No, no! My poor little pin that you despise so--I can see it in your
+face. It shall go into the box where I keep memorials of the dead."
+
+She rose from her seat and pulled down her veil. Pepe was pressing in
+his endeavours to be attentive, and to mollify her wrath. At last, when
+she had almost reached the door, she suddenly turned about and drew out
+of her muff a neat little jewel-box, which she gave to her lover,
+looking him straight in the face meanwhile.
+
+The young man's eyes opened, resting on the box with an expression of
+delight; then they met those of his mistress. They gazed at each other
+for a minute, she with a look of mischievous triumph, he with gratitude
+and suppressed joy.
+
+"I always said so! No one in the world knows what love means, but you,
+my darling. Come here; let me thank you, let me worship you on my
+knees."
+
+He dragged her to the sofa, made her sit down, and falling on his knees,
+kissed her gloved hands with rapture.
+
+"Mercy, what madness!" cried the lady quite bewildered. "What a
+whirlwind round a trifle."
+
+"It is not for the money, my darling, not for the money; but because you
+have such an original way of doing things. Because you are such a trump,
+such an angel!" He clasped her knees, he grovelled before her, and
+kissed her feet--or, to be exact, her boots.
+
+"What an abject thing you are, Pepe!" said she, laughing.
+
+"I don't care what you call me; I am yours, your slave till death. I owe
+you not only happiness, but honour. You cannot think what I have gone
+through these two days, over that cursed debt!" he said, in a voice of
+genuine emotion.
+
+"And will you go and gamble any more, eh? Gamble, and lose it all, you
+wretch," said she, tumbling his hair and spoiling the beautiful parting
+down the middle.
+
+"No--I swear it on my word of honour."
+
+"On your word, and on your money, wretched man? Well, I am off," she
+added, with a fond little pat, and she went to look at the clock on the
+chimney-piece. "Mercy! How late it is--I must fly. Good-bye."
+
+She ran to the door, waving her hand to her lover, without looking at
+him. He could only clutch it, and kiss the tips of her fingers.
+
+He rushed to open the door for her, but her hand was already on the
+lock; indeed, she was in a fury, because her feeble efforts would not
+turn it.
+
+"By-bye--till Saturday!" said she, in a whisper.
+
+"Till the day after to-morrow."
+
+"No, no--till Saturday."
+
+She ran downstairs with the same cautious haste as she had used in
+coming up, nodded imperceptibly to the porter, and went out. She walked
+as far as the Plaza del Angel; there she took a hackney coach to drive
+home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was now past six; the lights in the shops had been blazing for an
+hour or more. She sat as far back in the corner as she could and gazed
+without interest or curiosity at the streets she passed through. Her
+face had resumed its characteristic expression of scornful haughtiness,
+qualified by a certain degree of disdain and absent-mindedness.
+
+Her refined elegance, her arrogant mien, and, above all, the severe
+majesty of her exceptional beauty stamped Clementina beyond question as
+one of the most _distinguees_ women of Madrid. At the same time, though
+she was recognised as such, figuring in all the drawing-rooms of the
+aristocracy, in all the lists of fashionable persons which the papers
+publish on the day after a ball, a race, or any other entertainment, by
+birth-right she was far from belonging to such a set. Her origin could
+not have been more humble. Her mother had been an Irish girl, the
+mistress of a cooper, who had landed at Valencia in search of work. Her
+name was Rosa Coote; she was extraordinarily handsome, and would have
+been even more so if she had cared for dressing or adorning her person;
+but the squalor in which the illicit home was kept had made her
+neglectful and dirty. The Valencia waif and the handsome Irish girl came
+to an understanding behind the cooper's back. Salabert was quite young
+and a brisk youth; he was not, like the girl's present protector, a
+victim to drunkenness. Rosa abandoned her former lover to go off with
+him. Within a few months, Salabert, who saw an opening for going to Cuba
+as steward on board a steamboat, in his turn deserted her. The
+Irishwoman, expecting then the birth of the offspring of this
+connection, wandered about for some time without any protector or means
+of living till she became acquainted with a carpenter, who ultimately
+made her his lawful wife. Clementina grew up as an intruder in this new
+home. Her mother was a violent and irascible creature, with bursts of
+tenderness which she kept exclusively for her legitimate children.
+Clementina she seemed to hate, and avenged on her her father's offence
+with cruel injustice.
+
+A fearful childhood was that of Clementina.
+
+If some details of it could but have been known in Madrid; if, only in
+some brief vision, the scenes through which this proudest and most
+arrogant of dames had passed could have been placed before the eyes of
+her fashionable acquaintance, who would have envied her? What tortures,
+what refinement of cruelty! At the age of four or five she was made the
+watchful nurse of two brothers younger than herself, and if she
+neglected the smallest particular of her duties the punishment followed
+at once, but not such punishment as was due--a slap, or her ears pulled.
+No, it was premeditated to hurt her as much and as long as possible;
+after flogging her with a strap the wounds were washed with vinegar, she
+was made to tread for hours on hard peas, to wear shoes that pinched her
+feet, to go without water, she was thrashed with nettles.
+
+More than once, on hearing the hapless child's outcries, the neighbours
+had intervened and had remonstrated with the unnatural mother. But
+nothing ever came of it beyond a noisy discussion, in which the
+passionate Irishwoman, in sputtering Valencian, poured out her wrath on
+the gossips of the quarter, and afterwards vented her fury on the cause
+of the squabble. She was always declaring that she would send the child
+to the workhouse, but this was opposed by the carpenter, who prided
+himself on being a kind-hearted and merciful man, and who sometimes
+interfered to mitigate her punishment, though he generally left it to
+his wife "to correct her daughter," as he said to the neighbours who
+blamed him. His educational notions clashed with his more kindly
+instincts, and when they got the upper hand, alas, for the poor little
+girl!
+
+Certain details of these horrible torments were sickening. On one
+occasion Clementina had been to the well and broken the pitcher. It was
+the third within a month. The child dared not go home, and sought refuge
+with a neighbour. The woman took her to her mother, but did not leave
+her till she had extorted a promise that she should not be punished. And
+in point of fact her mother did not punish her by any ordinary process
+of chastisement; her cries might have led to a disturbance. She formed
+the diabolical idea of holding the girl's head over a foul sink, till
+she was half asphyxiated and fainted away. The worst days for the
+wretched child were when she had dropped asleep at her prayers. The
+cruel Irishwoman was a bigot, and this offence she never forgave. On one
+occasion, she beat her so mercilessly for repeating her prayers half
+asleep before going to bed, that the carpenter, who was peacefully
+eating his supper in the kitchen, heard her cries, and went up to the
+bedroom, where he rescued her from her mother, who would otherwise
+perhaps have been the death of her.
+
+This course of incredible cruelties ended at last in one which led to
+the interference of justice. The unnatural mother, at her wit's end how
+to torture the girl, burnt her legs with a candle. A neighbour happening
+to hear of it told others, and the scandal in the quarter produced a
+stir; they appealed to justice, informed against the Irishwoman, and the
+crime being proved, she was condemned to six months' imprisonment, while
+the girl was placed in an asylum.
+
+About a year later Salabert came to Valencia, not yet a potentate, but
+with some money. On hearing what had occurred he went to see his
+daughter at the school for poor girls, whence he removed her to one
+where he paid for her education, and at long intervals went to see her.
+His generous deed was highly lauded, and he knew how to make it tell,
+setting himself up in the eyes of those who knew him as a living model
+of paternal devotion, in shining contrast to the brutality of his
+deserted mistress.
+
+Not long after, he married, and settled in Madrid. His wife was the
+daughter of a dealer in iron bedsteads and spring mattresses, in the
+Calle Mayor. She was plain and sickly, but gentle and affectionate, with
+fifty thousand dollars for her portion. At the end of three or four
+years of married life, finding her health increasingly delicate, Dona
+Carmen lost all hope of having any children, and knowing that her
+husband had an illegitimate daughter in a Convent at Valencia, she
+proposed, with rare generosity, to have her at home and treat her as
+their child. Salabert accepted gladly; he went to fetch Clementina, and
+thenceforward a complete change came over the girl's fate.
+
+She was at this time aged fourteen, and already a marvel of beauty, a
+happy combination of the refined and delicate northern type with the
+severer beauty of the Valencian women. Undeveloped as yet, in
+consequence of the cruel experiences of her childhood followed by the
+quiet routine of a convent, under this change of climate and mode of
+life she acquired in two or three years the commanding stature and
+majestic proportions we have seen. Her moral nature left much more to be
+desired. Her temper was irritable, obstinate, scornful, and gloomy.
+Whether she was born with these characteristics or they were the result
+of the misery and sufferings of her wretched infancy it would be hard to
+decide. In the convent, where she was never ill-treated, she was not
+much loved by her teachers or her companions; her character was
+suspicious, and her heart devoid of tenderness. Her companions' troubles
+not only did not touch her; but brought a cruel smile to her lips, which
+filled them with aversion. Then, from time to time, she had fits of
+fury, which made her both feared and hated. On one occasion, when a
+young girl had spoken to her in offensive terms, she had clutched her by
+the throat and nearly strangled her. And it was quite impossible
+afterwards to induce her to beg pardon, as the mother superior required
+her to do; she preferred a month of solitary confinement rather than
+humble herself.
+
+The first months of her life in her father's house were a period of
+trial for kind Dona Carmen. Instead of a bright young creature, grateful
+for the immense favour she had done her, she found herself confronted
+with a little heartless savage, devoid of affection or docility,
+extravagant and capricious to the last degree, who never laughed
+heartily excepting when a servant had an accident, or a groom was kicked
+by a horse. But the good woman did not lose courage. With the unfailing
+instinct of a generous heart she understood that if no love could spring
+from the soil it was because nothing had been sown in it but the seeds
+of hate. The softer affections exist in every human soul, as
+electricity exists in every body; but to detect them, to rouse a
+response, they must be treated for a length of time with a strong
+current of kindness. This was what Dona Carmen did to her stepdaughter.
+For six months she kept her in a warm atmosphere of affection, a close
+net of delicate thoughtfulness, and unfailing proofs of lively and
+loving interest. At last Clementina, who had begun by being first
+disdainful and then indifferent, who would pass hours together locked in
+her own room and never go near her stepmother but when she was sent for,
+who never had made any advances, but lived in absolute reserve, suddenly
+succumbed, feeling the vital and mysterious throb which binds human
+beings to each other, as it does all the bodies of the created universe.
+The change was strange and violent, like everything else in that
+strangely compounded temperament. At the most unlooked-for moment she
+fell on her knees before Dona Carmen, professing such deep respect, such
+passionate affection, that the good woman was amazed, and had great
+difficulty in believing in her sincerity. The revelation of
+lovingkindness had burst at length on the girl's soul; her icy heart had
+melted under the motherly warmth of the large-hearted woman; the divine
+essence of love henceforth had a home where hitherto the essence of
+Satan alone had dwelt.
+
+It was a perfect miracle. Instead of spending her life in her room, she
+would never leave her stepmother's; she now called her "Mamma" with a
+fervour, a joy, a determination, such as are only to be seen in the
+devout when they appeal to the Virgin. And Clementina's feeling for her
+father's wife was in truth devotion. Amazed to find that so gentle, so
+tender a being could exist in this world, she was never tired of gazing
+at her, as though she had dropped from heaven. She would read her
+thoughts in her eyes, anticipate her smallest wishes, let no one serve
+her but herself; and, like every lover, insisted on the exclusive
+possession of the object of her affection. The slightest sign of
+disapproval on Dona Carmen's part was enough to disconcert her and
+plunge her into the deepest grief. The haughty creature, who had made
+herself generally odious, would humble herself with intense satisfaction
+before her stepmother. It was the humiliation of the mystic prostrated
+by an irresistible spiritual impulse. When she felt the good woman's
+hand caress her face she fancied it was the touch of God Himself, and
+hardly dared to touch those thin, transparent fingers with her lips.
+
+But it was only to her stepmother that she had so entirely changed. To
+all else, including her father, she still displayed the same scornful
+coldness, the same proud and obstinate temper. If now and again she
+seemed sweeter and more tractable, it was due, not to her own will, but
+to some express command of Dona Carmen's; and as soon as this command
+was at an end, or forgotten, she was the same malevolent being once
+more. The servants hated her for the insufferable pride which she showed
+as soon as she realised her position as her father's heiress, and for
+her total lack of compassion if they did wrong.
+
+The greatest sufferer was the English governess whom her father had
+engaged for her. She was an elderly woman, but she had a mania for
+dressing and tricking herself out like a girl. This harmless weakness
+was so constantly the theme of Clementina's mockery, that only necessity
+could have made the poor woman endure it. All the secrets of her toilet
+were mercilessly revealed for the amusement of the servants, and her
+physical defects, mimicked by the young lady's waiting-maid, were the
+laughing-stock of the kitchen. On a certain grand occasion, a day when
+there was a dinner-party, Clementina hid the old maid's false teeth,
+which she had left on the dressing-table after washing them. Her
+discomfiture may be imagined. But she took an innocent revenge by
+calling her "_Senorita Capricho_" and setting her as an exercise to
+translate from English into French certain maxims and aphorisms of
+scorching application, as: "Pride is the leprosy of the soul; a proud
+girl is a leper whom all should avoid with horror." "Those who do not
+respect their seniors can never hope to be respected," and the like.
+
+Clementina laughed at these innuendoes; sometimes she would even dare to
+substitute some phrase of her own for that of her governess. Where she
+should have translated: "There is nothing so odious and contemptible as
+haughtiness in the young," she would write: "There is nothing so
+ridiculous and laughable as presumption in the old." Miss, as she was
+called, took offence, and complained to Dona Carmen, who would appeal to
+her stepdaughter, reproving her gently, and Clementina, seeing her
+grieved and annoyed, would smoothe her brow and kiss her lovingly. And
+all was well till next time. In fact Miss Anna and the servants were no
+doubt in the right when they said that the Senora would be the ruin of
+the girl. Dona Carmen, living in fearful solitude of soul, was so
+captivated and gratified by the warm affection her stepdaughter was
+always ready to lavish on her that she had no eyes for her faults, and
+even if she had, would not have found the courage to correct them.
+
+At eighteen Clementina was one of the loveliest and wealthiest women of
+Madrid. Her father's fortune grew like the scum of yeast. He was
+regarded as one of the great bankers of the city, and was not known to
+have any other heir, nor was it likely that he would have one. The young
+aristocrats of family or wealth--the best known members of the _Savage
+Club_--began to flutter about her with the most pressing and eager
+attentions. If she appeared at a party a group of men fenced her round;
+if she went to church, another and a larger party stood in a row
+awaiting her exit; if she drove out in the Castellana Avenue, a
+cavalcade of admirers galloped beside her carriage as a guard of honour;
+at the theatre pairs of opera-glasses were invariably fixed upon her.
+The name of Clementina Salabert was to be heard in all the conversations
+of the gilded youth of Madrid, to be seen in print in every drawing-room
+chronicle, and was registered in the capital as that of one of the
+brightest stars of the firmament of fashion. She took up and dropped one
+lover after another without a thought, thus earning the reputation of a
+flirt and feather-brain. But this never interferes with a girl's chance
+of adorers; on the contrary, the self-love of men prompts them to pay
+great attentions to women of that stamp, in the hope, born of vanity, of
+being the nail to fix the weather-cock. Nor did she suffer any serious
+damage from a coarse and malignant rumour which, all through Madrid,
+connected her in a strange friendship with a young and famous
+bull-fighter. In this affair Dona Carmen's simplicity and weakness
+played a leading part. Not only did the good lady allow the man to visit
+at her house, and sit at her table, but she even accompanied the pair in
+public on more than one occasion. This, and her having cheered him at
+the death of several bulls, gave scandal--as busy in the capital as in
+the provinces--sufficient pretext for an attack on the envied beauty.
+But as it could bring forward nothing but bold suspicion and vague
+conjecture, and as, on the other side, there were positive facts which
+far outweighed them, the calumny did not diminish the number of her
+adorers. Its only use was as an outlet for the bile of some rejected
+one.
+
+At this age, and often after, Clementina's manners betrayed a strong
+infusion of Bohemianism--of the free and easy airs and sarcastic
+coolness of the adventuresses of Madrid. A similar tendency may be
+observed, in a more or less exaggerated form, in all the upper circles
+of Madrid Society; it is a mark which distinguishes it from that of
+other countries. And in this tendency, which is everywhere conspicuous
+from the palace to the hovel, there is some good; it is not wholly evil.
+In the first place it implies a protest against the perpetual falsehood
+which the increasing refinement and complication of social formalities
+inevitably entail. Propriety of conduct and moderation of language are
+highly praiseworthy no doubt, but in an exaggerated form they result in
+the cold courtesy of a _diplomate_ at a foreign Court. Men and women,
+crushed under the weight of so much formality, become artificial beings,
+puppets, whose acts and words are all set forth in a programme. To
+exclude liberty and familiarity from society is to undermine human
+nature; to prohibit frankness of speech is to destroy the charm which
+ought to exist in all human intercourse.
+
+Moreover, an instinct of equality underlies this assertion of freedom,
+and cannot fail to make it attractive to every lover of Nature and
+truth. A lady is not a bundle of fine clothes, of foregone conclusions
+and ready-made phrases; she is, above all else, a woman in whom culture
+has, or ought to have, tempered impetuosity of character and impulses of
+vanity, but not to have impaired the genuineness of Nature by
+transforming her in society into a cold dry doll, devoid of grace and
+originality. It must not be supposed that the perfect refinement and
+elegance proper to the scenes where the upper classes meet are unknown
+in Madrid. They are constantly observed by almost every Spanish woman of
+family; but, happily, they are united with the vivacity, grace, and
+spontaneity of the Spanish race, making our fair ones, in the opinion of
+impartial observers, the most accomplished, gracious, and agreeable
+women in Europe--excepting, perhaps, the French.
+
+Clementina had a somewhat exaggerated taste for this freedom of word and
+action. She had acquired it no one knows how--by contagion in the
+atmosphere perhaps--since women in her position are not in the habit of
+spending their time with the commoner sort. She had had a waiting maid,
+born and brought up in Maravillas, and it was from her, in her moments
+of excitement, that Clementina picked up the greater part of her slang
+and sayings. Then came her friendship with the _torero_ above-mentioned;
+an acquaintance with various young men who cultivated that style; the
+lower class of theatres, where the manners and customs of the lower
+classes of the Madrid populace are set on the stage--not without grace;
+and her intimacy with Pepe Frias, and some other fast women of fashion,
+finally gave her the full Bohemian flavour. She was an enthusiast for
+bull-fights. It was a perfect marvel if she missed one, sitting in her
+private box with the orthodox white mantilla and red carnations. And she
+would discuss the chances, and fulminate criticisms, and bestow
+applause; and was regarded by the _habitues_ as a keen and eager
+connoisseur. The national sport, exciting and bloody, was quite after
+her mind, violent and indomitable as she was by nature. When she saw
+other women covering their eyes or showing weakness over the fortunes of
+the arena, she laughed sardonically, as doubting the genuineness of
+their horror.
+
+Among the many adorers and suitors who successively and rapidly rose and
+fell in her favour, there was one who succeeded in securing her notice,
+at any rate, for a rather longer time than the rest. His name was Tomas
+Osorio. He was a young man of twenty-eight or thirty, rich, small and
+delicate, with a pleasing face and a lively, determined temper. Either
+of deliberate purpose, or from genuine independence of character, he
+made a deeper impression than his peers. When he first paid attention to
+her he did not cringe nor completely abdicate his own will. In some
+differences on important points in the course of his long courtship--for
+it lasted not less than two years--he firmly maintained his dignity. He
+was, like her, irritable, haughty and scornful; purse-proud too, and
+with a spiteful wit which stood him in good stead with women. Thanks to
+these qualities, Clementina did not tire of him so soon as of the rest.
+But at the end of the two years, within a few days of the marriage, it
+was broken off in a very public and almost scandalous manner. All Madrid
+was talking of it, and commentary was endless. The conclusion arrived at
+was that it was the gentleman who had taken the first steps towards the
+rupture, and this report, whether true or false, reached Clementina's
+ears, and was such a stab to her pride that she was almost ill with
+rage.
+
+Another year went by. She had other suitors, off and on, and Osorio, on
+his part, courted other damsels. But in both, notwithstanding, the
+memory of the past survived. She was burning for revenge. So long as
+that man was going about the world, so perfectly content as he seemed,
+she felt herself humiliated. He, on the contrary, in spite of his
+affected indifference, was still consumed by love, or rather by desire.
+Clementina had captivated his senses, had pierced his flesh, and, do
+what he would, he could not extract the dart. She was always in his
+thoughts, always before his eyes, provoking his passion. The longer the
+time that elapsed the fiercer the fire burned within him, and the
+greater were the effort and the anguish of keeping up a haughty and
+indifferent demeanour when they happened to meet. Clementina, with a
+penetration common in women, had no difficulty in guessing that her
+former love still cherished a secret passion for her, and felt a
+malicious joy. Thenceforward she dressed and adorned herself for him
+alone--to bewitch him, to fascinate him, to make him drain the bitter
+cup of jealousy.
+
+From this moment dated her fame as an elegant woman. Clementina was
+indeed, in this matter, a great artist. She knew how to dress so that
+her clothes should never by their colour or quality attract attention to
+the prejudice of her face. Understanding that what a woman wears should
+be not a uniform, but an adornment to set off the perfections which
+nature has bestowed upon her, she was no blind slave of fashion; when
+she thought it unbecoming to her beauty she boldly defied it or modified
+it. She avoided glaring hues, a profusion of trimmings, and elaborate
+styles of hair-dressing; she regarded and treated her person as a
+statue. Hence a certain tendency, constantly evident in her costume,
+towards drapery, and amplitude of flowing folds. Her fine, majestic
+figure gained greatly by this style of dress, which, though it became
+rather pronounced after her marriage, was never exaggerated beyond the
+limits of good taste. She was fond of wearing white, and this, with a
+simple manner of dressing her hair like that of the Milo Venus, made her
+appear in the drawing-rooms of Madrid like a beautiful Greek statue. One
+thing she did which, though highly censurable from a moral point of
+view, is not so as a matter of art. She wore her dresses very low. Her
+bust was superb; it might have been moulded by the Graces to turn the
+head of a god. The vain desire to display her beauty, unchecked by the
+wholesome control of a mother, led her on more than one occasion to
+incur the severest comments of society. Poor Dona Carmen, besides
+knowing nothing of social custom, was so lenient to her stepdaughter's
+fancies and caprices, that she accepted them as quite reasonable, and as
+undoubted evidence of her indisputable elegance and taste.
+
+However, her vanity brought its own punishment. On one occasion when she
+made her appearance at a ball given by the Alcudias, the Marquesa said
+as she greeted her:
+
+"Very pretty, very nice, Clementina. Your dress is lovely; but it is too
+low, my dear. Come with me and let us set it right."
+
+She took the girl up to her room and, with motherly kindness, arranged
+some gauzy material to cover what really ought not to be displayed.
+Clementina managed to conceal her mortification, ascribing the fault to
+the dressmaker; but she felt so humiliated by the lecture, and the
+pitying smile which accompanied it, that she never again could endure to
+see the prudish Marquesa.
+
+Under this constant fanning Osorio's flame waxed fiercer and fiercer,
+and he could no longer keep it to himself. At last he confided in his
+sister, who was fairly intimate with the young lady; he begged her to
+sound the way, and ascertain whether he might once more make advances
+without fear of a rebuff. Mariana undertook the commission. Clementina
+heard her with ill-disguised triumph, but sat demure until Senora de
+Calderon had poured out all her story, and assured her that Tomas was
+burning with devotion. Then she replied ambiguously, and with laughter:
+"She would think it over. She was deeply aggrieved by the reports that
+had been spread as to their rupture, but at any rate, he was not to give
+up all hope."
+
+She did reflect seriously as to the means of satisfying the demands of
+her wounded pride, and at the end of a few days she announced to Mariana
+her ultimatum. If she was to consent to give her hand to Osorio, he must
+beg it of her parents on his knees, in the presence of such witnesses
+as she might choose.
+
+Such a preposterous idea would never have occurred to any Spanish woman
+of pure race, and only the admixture of British blood could have led her
+to conceive of such a monstrous refinement of arrogance.
+
+When Osorio was informed of the conditions imposed by his ex-_fiancee_
+he flew into a violent rage, and swore defiantly that he would be cut in
+pieces before he would suffer such degradation. The matter dropped, and
+things went on as before. But as, in spite of his utmost efforts, the
+serpent of desire gnawed at his heart with increasing virulence, the
+poor wretch at the end of two months had fallen into utter dejection; he
+was really dying of love; he could not tear himself from Madrid, and
+once more he besought his sister to open negotiations. Clementina, quite
+sure of having him in her power, was inflexible; either he must pass
+beneath these strange Caudine forks, or there was no hope.
+
+And Osorio submitted.
+
+What could he do?--The extraordinary ceremony was carried out one
+evening at the lady's residence. On reaching the house Osorio found
+assembled about a score of women whom Clementina had chosen from among
+the most envious of her acquaintances, or those who had been most
+malignant as to the cause of their former quarrel. He adopted the best
+conduct he possibly could in such a case: grave and solemn, with a
+certain ease of language and manner, betraying a suspicion of irony, as
+if he were performing a comedy for the benefit of a crazy person. He
+gave a brief preliminary sketch of their former engagement; confessed
+himself to blame; praised Clementina in extravagant terms--with so
+little moderation indeed that he seemed to be speaking
+sarcastically--and professed himself unworthy to aspire to her hand.
+Finally declaring that as she was so worthy to be adored, and the joy of
+winning her so great, he thought it but a small thing to ask her of her
+parents on his knees. At the same time he fell on one knee. Dona Carmen
+hastened to raise him, and embraced him effusively. Clementina even
+pressed his hand, better pleased by the grace and dignity with which he
+had got through the ordeal, than gratified in her conceit. In truth, on
+this occasion she felt for him, what she never felt again, a tiny spark
+of love. If any one suffered humiliation from this scene it was she
+herself, from the light and easy dignity with which her lover carried it
+off. But this was a trifle; a woman enjoys nothing more keenly and
+deeply than the superiority of the man who mollifies her. Clementina was
+happy that evening.
+
+But though Osorio had come so well out of the ordeal, he never forgave
+her the intention to humiliate him; he was as proud as she. The insane
+passion she had inspired for a time smothered every other. His honeymoon
+was as brief as it was delicious. The shock of two such characters, both
+equally obstinate and proud, was inevitable. It soon came in the form of
+a series of petty annoyances which instantly extinguished the feeble
+sparks of affection which her husband had struck in the young wife's
+heart. In him passion survived longer. The knowledge each had of the
+other made them cautious, for fear of a more formidable collision which
+must have led to disaster. But this too came at last. Report said that
+Osorio, tired of his wife's indifference and scorn, had insulted her
+beyond forgiveness. Whether or no the story as it was told was true in
+all its details, their union at any rate was practically at an end for
+ever. Osorio forfeited his own right to interfere with his wife on the
+score of conduct, and could only look on while Clementina unblushingly
+and confessedly accepted the attentions of every man who offered them.
+He certainly, to parry the ridicule to which he was thus exposed, threw
+himself into excesses of dissipation, raising women from the lowest
+ranks to figure as his mistresses.
+
+At home the husband and wife spoke no more to each other than was
+absolutely necessary. To escape the discomfort of a _tete-a-tete_ at
+table, they always had some guest. In public they made a show of the
+most natural and friendly relations; Osorio would sometimes go late to
+fetch his wife from the theatre or party to which she had been. But
+every one understood the facts of the case. Clementina, as a rule, would
+go out on her lover's arm; they would stand talking in the lobby in the
+sight of all the world, while waiting for the carriage; she stepped in;
+before it drove off they would yet exchange a few confidential and
+incoherent remarks interrupted by gay laughter. Morality--fashionable
+morality--was satisfied, so long as the lover did not drive off in the
+same carriage, though a few minutes later they might meet again at some
+rendezvous.
+
+When Clementina reached home it was half-past six o'clock. The driver
+whistled; the porter came out of his lodge and opened the gate first,
+and then the door of the hackney coach. He paid the man. The lady,
+without uttering a syllable, went through the garden, which though small
+was exquisitely kept, and up the outside steps of white marble, screened
+by a verandah, which extended across half the front of the house. The
+house itself was not very large, but handsome and artistic, of white
+stone and fine brickwork. It had been built by Osorio about four or five
+years since. As the plans had been fully discussed and considered, the
+rooms were well arranged, and this made it more comfortable than his
+brother-in-law's, though that was three or four times as large.
+
+She asked a servant in the anteroom: "Where is Estefania?"
+
+"It is some time since I last saw her, Senora."
+
+She crossed a magnificent hall, lighted by two large lamps with polished
+vases borne by bronze statues, went along the corridor, and up the
+stairs leading to the first floor, meeting no one on her way. At the
+door of the drawing-room leading to her boudoir, she met Fernando, a
+page of fourteen in a smart livery.
+
+"Estefania?" she asked.
+
+"She must be in the kitchen."
+
+"Tell her to come up at once."
+
+She entered the boudoir, and going up to a long mirror resting on two
+pillar-feet of gilt wood, she took off her hat. The room was a small
+one, hung with blue satin bordered with wreaths in _carton-pierre_. On
+the chimney-piece, covered also with blue satin, stood a clock and two
+fine candelabra, the work of a silversmith of the last century. The
+carpet was white with a blue border; in the middle of the room there was
+a _causeuse_ upholstered in gold colour, the armchairs were gilt, two
+large feather pillows lay on the floor. In one corner was the mirror, in
+another a _Pompadour_ writing-table of inlaid wood; in the other two
+were columns covered with velvet, to support the lamps which now lighted
+the room. On one side this room opened into Clementina's drawing-room,
+and then into her bedroom. On the other side, a door led into a small
+drawing-room, where she was at home to her friends on Tuesday
+afternoons, and where cards were played at night by an intimate circle.
+Only a few very confidential friends were ever admitted to her boudoir,
+calling at the hours when she was "Not at home." Here those long and
+secret colloquies were held which women so greatly relish, in which they
+pour out their whole mind, with swift transition from the profoundest
+depths to the frivolities of the day and details of dress and fashion.
+
+Within a few seconds of her taking off her hat Estefania came in. She
+was a pale young girl, with pretty black eyes; dressed suitably to her
+rank but with care and finish; over her skirt she wore a holland apron
+trimmed with white edging.
+
+"You might have been ready for me, child. Where had you hidden
+yourself?" said her mistress, in a tone at once cross and indifferent.
+
+"I was in the kitchen. I went to put a few stitches into Teresa's skirt;
+she had torn it on a nail," replied the girl, with affected servility.
+
+Clementina made no reply, absorbed, no doubt, in thought. Standing in
+front of the mirror to take off her cloak, she gazed at herself with the
+perennial interest which a pretty woman feels in her own face.
+
+"Did you go to Escobar's?" she asked at length.
+
+"Yes, Senora."
+
+"And what did he say?"
+
+"That he has no silk so thick of that colour, but that he would send for
+it if the Senora wishes."
+
+"Turura! That journey won't kill him! And to the milliner's?"
+
+"Yes, they will send the caps on Saturday."
+
+"Did you inquire after Father Miguel?"
+
+"No, I had not time. It is such a long way."
+
+"A long way! Why, did you not go in the carriage?"
+
+"No, Senora. Juanito said that the mare was not shod."
+
+"Then why did he not put in one of the Normandy horses?"
+
+"I do not know. Whenever you tell me to take the carriage he finds some
+excuse."
+
+"So it seems. Never mind, child; I will see to it. What next, Senor
+Juanito, with your masterful airs?"
+
+But as she glanced up at the maid's face in the glass she thought she
+noticed something strange about her eyes, and turned round to see her
+better. In fact, Estefania's eyes were red with weeping.
+
+"You have been crying, child?"
+
+"I--no, Senora, no."
+
+The denial was evidently a subterfuge. The lady had not to press her
+much to make her confess even the cause of her tears.
+
+"The head cook, Senora," she whimpered out, "who used to take my
+part--when I say anything he bursts out laughing or says something rude,
+and the others, of course, as they are jealous because you are good to
+me, and to flatter the cook--the others laugh too; and because I said I
+should tell you, he said all manner of horrid things, and turned me out
+of the kitchen."
+
+"Turned you out! And who is he to turn you out?" exclaimed her mistress
+vehemently. "Tell him to come here. I must give him a rowing, as well as
+Juanito, it seems! If we do not take care, the servants will rule this
+house instead of the masters."
+
+"Senora, I dare not. If you would send Fernando!"
+
+"Do as you please, but bring him here."
+
+She had worked herself up into high wrath at the girl's story. Estefania
+was her favourite, whom she petted above all the other servants, and
+made the confidant of many of her secrets. The girl's fawning and
+flattery had won her heart so completely that, without being aware of
+it, she had allowed a large part of her will to go with it. It was, in
+fact, Estefania who ruled the house, since she ruled its mistress. The
+servant who could not win her good graces might prepare sooner or later
+to lose his place. And what happened was the necessary result in all
+such cases: the mistress's favourite was hated by all the rest of the
+household, not only from envy--the disgraceful passion which exists, in
+a greater or less degree, in every human being--but also because the
+nature that is hypocritical and time-serving to superiors, is inevitably
+haughty and malevolent to inferiors.
+
+The _chef_, on being called by Fernando, to whom Estefania gave the
+message, soon made his appearance at the door of the boudoir wearing the
+insignia of his office, to wit, a clean apron and cap, both as white as
+snow. He was a man of about thirty, with a fresh and not bad-looking
+face, and large black whiskers. The frown on his brow and the anxious
+expression in his eyes betrayed that he knew why he had been sent for.
+Clementina had seated herself on the ottoman. Estefania withdrew into a
+corner, and when the cook came in she fixed her eyes on the floor.
+
+"I hear, Cayetano, that after behaving very rudely to my maid, you
+turned her out of the kitchen. I have, therefore, sent for you to tell
+you that I will not allow any servant to behave badly to another; nor
+are you permitted to turn any one out so long as you are in my house."
+
+"Senora, I did nothing to her. It is she who treats us all
+badly--teasing one and nagging at another, till there is no peace," the
+cook replied, with a strong Gallician accent.
+
+"Well, even if she teases one and nags at another, you have not any
+right to insult her. She is to tell me, and there is an end of it,"
+replied his mistress sharply, and mimicking his accent.
+
+"But you see----"
+
+"I see nothing. You hear what I say; there is an end of it," and she
+waved her hand imperiously.
+
+The cook, with his face scarlet and quivering with rage, stood without
+stirring for a few seconds. Then, before he withdrew, he boldly fixed
+his wrathful gaze on the girl, who kept her eyes on the carpet with a
+bland hypocrisy which betrayed the triumph of her self-importance.
+
+"Tell-tale!" he said, spitting out the words rather than speaking them.
+
+The lady rose from her seat, and, bursting with rage at this want of
+respect, she exclaimed:
+
+"How dare you insult her before my face? Go, instantly. Get out of my
+sight!"
+
+"Senora, what I say is, that the fault is hers."
+
+"So much the better. Go!"
+
+"We will all go--out of the house, Senora. We can none of us put up with
+that impudent minx!"
+
+"You go forthwith, as though you had never come! You may find yourself
+another place, for I will never allow any servant to get the upper hand
+of me."
+
+The cook, in some dismay at this prompt dismissal, again stood rooted to
+the spot; but, suddenly recovering himself, he turned on his heel,
+saying with dignity:
+
+"Very well, Senora, I will."
+
+But when he was gone Clementina still muttered: "An insolent fellow is
+that Gallician! I don't believe any one but I gets such servants!"
+
+Then, suddenly pacified by a new idea, she said:
+
+"Come, now, I must dress; it is getting late."
+
+She went into her dressing-room, followed by Estefania, who, contrary to
+what might have been expected, looked grave and gloomy. Clementina
+hurriedly began to remove her walking-dress and change it for a simple
+dinner-dress, such as she wore at home to receive a few friends in the
+evening--always very light in hue, and cut open at the throat, though
+with long sleeves. At a sign from the mistress the maid brought out a
+"crushed-strawberry" pink dress from the large wardrobe with mirrors,
+which lined all one side of the room. Before putting it on she arranged
+her hair, and exchanged her bronze kid boots for shoes to match the
+dress. The pale girl meanwhile never opened her lips; her face grew
+every moment sadder and more anxious. At last, on her knees to put on
+her mistress's shoes, she raised beseeching eyes to her face and said
+timidly:
+
+"Senora, may I entreat you--not to send Cayetano away?"
+
+Clementina looked at her in amazement.
+
+"Is that it? After you yourself----"
+
+"The thing is," said Estefania, turning as red as her complexion would
+allow, "if you send him away the others will take offence."
+
+"And what does that matter?"
+
+But the girl insisted very earnestly with urgent and persuasive
+entreaties. For a time the lady refused, but as the matter was
+unimportant, and she perceived, not without surprise, the interest and
+even anxiety of her favourite for the cook's reprieve, she presently
+yielded, desiring Estefania to make the necessary explanations. On this
+the girl's face immediately cleared; she was as bright as a bird, and
+began to help her mistress to dress very deftly and briskly.
+
+Two taps at the door made them both start.
+
+"Who is there?" called the lady.
+
+"Are you dressing, Clementina?" was asked from outside.
+
+It was her husband's voice. Her surprise was not the less; Osorio very
+rarely came to her rooms when she was alone.
+
+"Yes, I am dressing. Is there any one downstairs?"
+
+"As usual--Lola, Pascuala and Bonifacio. I want to speak to you. I will
+wait for you here in the drawing-room."
+
+"Very well; I will come."
+
+Until her toilet was complete Clementina spoke no more; her expression
+was one of gloomy anticipation, which her maid could not fail to
+observe. Her fingers, as she gave the last touches to the folds of her
+skirt, trembled a little, like those of a young lady dressing for her
+first ball.
+
+Osorio was, in fact, waiting for her in the little drawing-room beyond
+the boudoir. He was lounging at his ease in an arm-chair, but, on seeing
+his wife, he rose, and dropped the end of the cigar he was smoking into
+the spittoon. Clementina saw that he was paler than usual. He was the
+same neat and dapper little man, with a bad complexion, as when he had
+married; but in the course of these twelve years his temper had been
+greatly spoiled. He had many wrinkles on his face, his hair and beard
+were streaked with grey, and his eyes had lost their brightness. He
+closed the door which his wife had left open, and going up to her said,
+with affected ease: "My cashier handed me to-day a cheque from you, for
+fifteen thousand pesetas. Here it is."
+
+He took out his pocket-book, and from it a half-sheet of scented satin
+paper which he held out to her. She looked at it for a moment with a
+grave and gloomy face, but did not wince. She said not a word.
+
+"A fortnight ago he gave me one for nine thousand. Here it is." The same
+proceedings, the same silence.
+
+"Last month there were three: one for six thousand, one for eleven
+thousand, and one for four thousand. Here they are."
+
+Osorio flourished the handful of papers before his wife's eyes; then, as
+this did not unlock her lips, he asked: "Do you acknowledge it?"
+
+"Acknowledge what?" she said, shortly.
+
+"That these documents are correct."
+
+"They are, no doubt, if they bear my signature. I have a bad memory,
+especially for money matters."
+
+"A happy gift," he replied with an ironical smile, as he went through
+the papers in his pocket-book. "I, too, have often tried to forget them.
+Unfortunately my cashier makes it his business to refresh my memory.
+Well," he went on as his wife said no more, "I came up solely to ask you
+a question--namely: Do you suppose that things can go on like this?"
+
+"I do not understand."
+
+"I will explain. Do you suppose that you can go on drawing on my account
+every few days such sums as these?"
+
+Clementina, who had been pale at first, had coloured crimson.
+
+"You know better than I."
+
+"Why better? You ought to know the amount of your fortune."
+
+"Well, but I do not know," she replied, sharply.
+
+"Nothing can be more simple. The six hundred thousand dollars which your
+father paid over when we were married, being invested in real estate,
+produce, as you may see by the books, about twenty-two thousand dollars
+a year. The expenses of the house, without counting my private outlay,
+amounts to about three times as much. You can surely draw your own
+conclusions."
+
+"If you are vexed at your money being spent you can sell the houses,"
+said Clementina with scornful brevity, her colour fading to paleness
+again.
+
+"But if they were sold I should none the less be responsible for the
+whole value. You know that?"
+
+"I will sign you any paper you like, saying that I hold you responsible
+for nothing."
+
+"That is not enough, my dear. The law will never release me from
+responsibility for your fortune, so long as I have any money. Moreover,
+if you spend it in pleasure"--and he emphasised the word--"it may be all
+very well for you, but deplorable for me, because I shall still be
+compelled to supply you with--necessaries."
+
+"To keep me, in short?" she said with a bitter intonation.
+
+"I wished to avoid the word; but it is no doubt exact."
+
+Osorio spoke in an impertinent and patronising tone, which piqued his
+wife's pride in every possible way. Ever since the violent differences
+which had led to their separation under the same roof, they had had no
+such important interview as this. When, in the course of daily life,
+they came into collision, matters were smoothed over with a short
+explanation, in which both parties, without compromising their pride,
+used some prudence for fear of a scandal. But the present question
+touched Osorio in a vital part. To a banker money is the chief fact in
+life.
+
+His personal pride, too, had suffered greatly in the last few years,
+though he had not confessed it. It was not enough to feign indifference
+and disdain of his wife's misconduct; it was not enough to pay her back
+in her own coin, by flaunting his mistresses in her face and making a
+parade of them in public. Both fought with the same weapons, but a woman
+can inflict with them far deeper wounds than a man. The misery he
+suffered from his wife's disreputable life did not diminish as time went
+on; the gulf which parted them grew wider and deeper. And so revenge was
+ready to seize this opportunity by the forelock.
+
+Clementina looked him in the face for a moment. Then, shrugging her
+shoulders and with a contemptuous curl of her lips, she turned on her
+heel and was about to leave the room. Osorio stepped forward between her
+and the door.
+
+"Before you go you must understand that the cashier has my orders to pay
+you no cheques that do not bear my signature."
+
+"I understand."
+
+"For your regular expenses I will allow a fixed sum on which we will
+agree. But I can have no more surprises on the cash-box."
+
+Clementina, who had been about to quit the room by the ante-chamber,
+turned to go to her boudoir. Before leaving the room she held the
+curtain a moment in her hand, and facing her husband she said, with
+concentrated rage, "In that you are as mean a cur as your
+brother-in-law, only he never made believe, like you, to be generous."
+
+She dropped the curtain, and slammed the door in his face.
+
+Osorio made as though to follow her; but he instantly stopped short and
+yelled, rather than spoke, so she might hear him:
+
+"Oh, yes! I am a mean cur, because I do not choose to maintain a crew of
+hungry puppies. I leave that to the hags who choose to pet them!"
+
+This brutal speech seemed to have eased his mind, for his lips wore a
+smile of triumphant sarcasm.
+
+Five minutes later they were both in the dining-room, laughing and
+jesting with a small party of guests.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW THE DUKE DE REQUENA REWARDED VIRTUE.
+
+
+"Let me see, let me see. Explain yourself."
+
+"Senor Duque, the matter is as clear as possible. I spoke with Regnault
+to-day. If the furnaces are altered, a few roads made, and proper
+machinery set up, the mine can be made to yield half as much again as it
+now does. It may be as much as sixty thousand flasks of mercury. The
+outlay needed to produce these results would not exceed a hundred to a
+hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
+
+"That seems to me a great deal."
+
+"A great deal for such a result?"
+
+"No, that seems to me a great many flasks."
+
+"But I have no doubt that what Regnault says is true. He is an
+intelligent and practical engineer. He worked for six years in
+California; and, indeed, the English engineer said the same."
+
+The persons holding this discourse were Requena and his secretary, or
+head-clerk, or whatever he called himself, since he had no particular
+style or title in the household. He was known only by his name--Llera.
+He was an Asturian, tall and bony, with a colourless, hard-featured
+face, enormously long arms and legs, and large hands and feet. His
+manner was rough and awkward; his eyes, which were fine, had a frank,
+honest look, and were bright with energy and intelligence. He was an
+indefatigable, an amazing worker. No one knew when he ate or slept. When
+he made his appearance at eight in the morning, he brought with him as
+much work ready done as most men get through in a day, and at midnight
+he might often still be seen in his office, pen in hand.
+
+Salabert, having the gift of judging men, without which no one makes a
+great success in the world, had discovered Llera's intelligence and
+character after employing him for a short while as an underling, and
+without giving him any showy position--which was not at all his way--he
+made him a responsible one, by accumulating in his hands all the most
+important business of the house. He very soon was the great banker's
+confidential man, the soul of the business. His laborious industry put
+all the other employes to shame, and Salabert took advantage of it to
+load him with work after regular hours. Llera was at the same time his
+private secretary, his steward, the head clerk of the office, the
+inspector of all the works he had in construction, and the agent in most
+of his transactions. And for doing all this inconceivable amount of
+work--more than four men of average industry would have got through--he
+paid him six thousand pesetas a year. The man thought himself well paid,
+remembering that only six years ago he was earning but twelve hundred
+and fifty.
+
+Every day, before taking his morning walk and paying his round of
+business calls, Requena looked into Llera's office, made inquiries as to
+things in general, and chatted with him for a longer or shorter time
+according to circumstances.
+
+The Duke's offices were at the top of his palace in the Avenue de
+Luchana, a magnificent mansion, standing in the midst of a garden which
+for extent was worthy to be called a park. In the spring the dense
+foliage of the fine old trees almost hid the white tops of the turrets;
+in winter the numbers of firs and evergreens which grew there, still
+gave it a pleasant verdure. It was the meeting-place of all the birds in
+that quarter of the city. The entrance to the house was up a large
+flight of marble steps; above the ground floor, where the
+reception-rooms were, and the dining-room, there were three storeys, and
+the Duke's offices, which were not large, filled part only of the upper
+floor. They were large enough for Salabert, who conducted his affairs
+from thence, with the help of a dozen expert clerks.
+
+The luxury displayed in the house was amazing; the furniture and
+fittings were almost priceless. This was not in keeping with the avarice
+with which the master was generally credited; but this and other
+contradictions will be explained as we become better acquainted with his
+character, which was curious enough to be well worthy of study.
+
+The kitchens were in the basement, roomy and well-fitted; the
+dining-room, at the back of the house, opened into a conservatory of
+vast dimensions, filled with exotic shrubs and flowers, where water was
+laid on to form little pools and water-falls of charming effect and
+imitating nature as closely as possible. The picture-gallery was in a
+separate building at the end of the garden, and in another some of the
+servants slept, but not all.
+
+The Duke, occupying the only chair in Llera's office, while the
+secretary stood in front of him twirling a large pair of scissors used
+for cutting paper, turned his wet cigar three or four times from one
+corner of his mouth to the other, and made no reply to the clerk's last
+words. At last he growled rather than said:
+
+"Humph! The Ministry grows more pig-headed every day."
+
+"What does that matter. You know the secret of making it give way.
+Telegraph to Liverpool, and within a fortnight the price of mercury will
+have fallen from sixty to forty dollars the flask."
+
+About four years since, Requena, at Llera's suggestion and advice, had
+formed a company or syndicate for buying up all the mercury which should
+come into the market. Thanks to these tactics, the price of this product
+had gone up wonderfully. The company had now an enormous stock in hand
+at Liverpool; Llera's scheme was to throw this into the market at a
+given moment and so produce a great fall in the price, which would
+frighten the Government. This, which was to be done at the moment when
+the Government was about to repay a loan of fifteen million dollars
+borrowed ten years since of a foreign house, would reduce them to
+selling the mines of Riosa. If Requena was then prepared to pull the
+affair through at the sacrifice of a few thousands, to subsidise the
+press, and bribe certain individuals, he might be certain of success.
+This project, conceived of by Llera, and matured by the Duke, had run
+its due course, and was now near the final _coup_.
+
+"Well, we shall see," said the rich man, and after meditating a few
+minutes he went on: "When the mines are for sale it will be necessary to
+form another company. The Mercury Syndicate will not serve our turn."
+
+"Of course!"
+
+"The thing is that I do not want to sink more than eight million pesetas
+in this concern."
+
+"That is a different matter," said Llera, becoming very serious. "It
+does not seem to me possible to keep the control of such a business with
+so small a stake in it. The management will slip into other hands, and
+the profits will soon be reduced to so much per cent., more or
+less--that is to say, a mere nothing."
+
+"Very true, very true," mumbled Salabert, again falling into deep
+thought. Llera too remained silent and pensive.
+
+"I have already explained to you the only way of keeping the concern in
+your own hands," said he.
+
+This way consisted in securing a sufficiently large number of shares in
+the mine which the company was to purchase, and to go on buying up as
+many as possible; then to throw them into the market at so low a price
+as to alarm the shareholders. Thus to buy and sell at a loss for some
+time was Llera's plan for bringing down the price of the shares, when he
+could acquire half the shares _plus_ one, for much less money, and be
+master of the whole concern.
+
+To Salabert this was not so clear as to his clerk. His intellect was
+keen and far-seeing, but he lacked breadth of view and initiative,
+though those who saw him boldly undertake ventures of vast scope were
+apt to think that he had them. The first conception, the mother idea, of
+a new concern scarcely ever originated in his brain. It came to him from
+outside; but once sown there it germinated and developed as it would
+have done in no other in Spain. By degrees he analysed it, or rather
+dissected it, laying bare its inmost fibres, contemplating it from all
+sides; and once convinced that it would prove advantageous, he launched
+it with the rare and surprising audacity which had so greatly deceived
+the public as to his gifts as a speculator. He was perfectly convinced
+that when once he had made up his mind to an enterprise, vacillation
+must be fatal. Still, this boldness proceeded not from his temperament
+but from reflection; it was the outcome of extreme astuteness.
+
+Otherwise he was by nature timid, and this weakness, instead of
+diminishing under the almost invariable success of his undertakings,
+increased as time went on. Avarice is always suspicious and full of
+alarms, and Salabert grew more and more avaricious. Also, as a man grows
+older, it is a rule without exceptions, that pessimism soaks into his
+mind. Our banker, accustomed to grand results from his speculations,
+regarded any concern in which the profits were small as altogether
+deplorable; if by any chance they were _nil_, or he even lost a trifle,
+he thought it a matter for serious lamentation. Thus, but for Llera,
+with his bold temperament and fertile imagination, the Duke de Requena
+would not, for some years past, have ventured on any concern of even
+moderate extent. On the other hand, what he had lost in dash and
+resource he had made good by really astounding tact and skill, and a
+knowledge of men which can be acquired only by years of unremitting
+study. Thus it may be said that he and Llera complemented each other to
+perfection.
+
+Salabert's sagacity and knowledge of human nature sometimes erred by
+excess; now and then he was caught in his own trap. In his dealings with
+men, studying them always from the point of view of substantial
+interest, he had formed so poor an opinion of them, that it became
+monstrous, and led him into serious mistakes. Perhaps, after all, what
+he saw in others was no more than the reflection of himself; to this
+error we are all liable. To him every man and woman had a price; a cheap
+conscience or a dear one, but all alike for sale. Of late years his
+faith in bribery had become a passion. If he came across any one who
+would not yield to money, he never suspected it could be in good faith,
+but only supposed the price was higher than his bid.
+
+One of Llera's hardest tasks was to get such schemes of bribery out of
+his master's head when he had to do with men who would have rejected it
+with indignation. If he were engaged in a law-suit, the first thing he
+thought of was how much it would cost him to bribe the judge who would
+decide it; if he were concerned in a government transaction, he
+calculated the sum to be handed over to the Minister, or the
+Under-Secretary, or the Councillors of State. Unluckily, he not
+unfrequently made practical use of the black-lead he had always ready to
+disfigure the face of humanity with.
+
+Requena had absolutely no moral sense, and never had known what it was.
+His life, as a nameless waif in Valencia, had been characterised by a
+series of tricks and dodges, and such a lively inventiveness of means
+for extracting coin from his fellow-creatures, as made him worthy to
+compare with the favourite heroes of Spanish romance. In fact the name
+of one of them, _El picaro Guzman_, had actually been bestowed on
+Salabert as a nickname by some wags of his acquaintance, but they kept
+it to themselves.
+
+It was told of him with apparent truth that when he was in Cuba, whither
+he went to seek his fortune, he bought a tavern with all its furniture,
+including a negro woman who managed the business. This negress, for all
+the time he remained, was his servant, his housekeeper, his slave and
+his concubine, by whom he had several children. When he had saved some
+thousands of dollars to return to Spain, he squared his petty accounts
+by selling the tavern, the furniture, the black woman, and the
+children.
+
+Then he took army contracts, speculated in tobacco, government loans and
+tenders for roads; these he sometimes sold again at a premium, and
+sometimes carried out the works without any regard to the conditions of
+the contract. But in all he did he displayed his wonderful capacity, his
+practical sagacity, and so large a development of the organ of
+acquisitiveness, as made him a man of mark among bankers.
+
+He was not disagreeable to deal with, though, unlike most men who aspire
+to wealth or power, his manners were not smooth nor his language choice.
+He was brusque rather than courteous, but he was keen in the distinction
+of persons, and could be very civil when he must. The natural abruptness
+of his manners served him well to disguise the subtle astuteness of his
+mind. That blunt, straightforward air, that exaggerated freedom and
+provincial rusticity, could only cover a frank and loyal heart. To the
+outside world he was the perfect type of the old Castilian school,
+freespoken, downright and impertinent. He would be loquacious or
+taciturn as suited his purpose, expressed himself with real or affected
+difficulty--which, no one ever could discover--could sometimes jest with
+some wit, but with unfailing coarseness, and was wont to say such
+detestable things to the face of friend or foe as made him a terror in
+drawing-rooms. The importance his wealth conferred on him had encouraged
+this defect: he talked to most people, even to ladies, with a plainness
+which verged on cynicism and grossness.
+
+Nevertheless, when he came across a person of political importance whom
+he desired to propitiate, this bluntness vanished and became flattery
+that was almost servile. But the farce, however well played, deceived no
+one. The Duke of Requena was regarded as a very wily old fox; no one
+believed a word he said, or allowed himself to be deluded by that blunt
+_bonhomie_. Those who had dealings with him were on their guard even
+when feigning confidence and satisfaction. Still, as always happens with
+a man who has succeeded in raising himself, the faults which every one
+recognised--or to be exact, his ill-fame--did not hinder his neighbours
+from respecting him, talking to him hat in hand and with a smile on
+their lips, even when they had no need of him. Men not unfrequently
+humble themselves for the mere pleasure of it. Salabert well knew this
+innate tendency of the human spine to bend, and took unfair advantage of
+it. Many men in quite independent circumstances not only took from him
+impertinence which they would have thought intolerable in their oldest
+friend, but even sought his society.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"We will see, we will see," he repeated, when Llera recapitulated the
+scheme for getting sole control of the mines. "You are too full of
+fancies. Your head is too hot. That does not do in business. We must
+take care not to get into the same scrape as we did with the granaries."
+
+By Llera's advice the banker had constructed granaries in some of the
+principal towns of Spain, and they had not proved such a success as had
+been hoped. However, as the undertaking had been on a moderate scale the
+losses, too, had not been great. But the Duke, who had bewailed them as
+though they had been enormous, and had not spared his secretary much
+gross insult, was always reminding him of the disaster. It served him as
+a weapon when he wished to depreciate Llera's schemes, though he would
+afterwards avail himself of them, and owed to them considerable
+additions to his wealth. By such means he kept him in subjection,
+ignorant of his real value, and ready to undertake any task however
+disagreeable.
+
+Llera, though somewhat mortified by this reminder, still insisted that
+the transaction now under consideration would infallibly succeed if it
+were conducted on the lines he had suggested. Salabert abruptly closed
+the discussion by changing the subject. He briefly inquired into the
+business of the day. The loss of some money he had advanced for a
+relation in Valencia put him into a frantic rage; he stamped and fumed
+like a bull stung by the darts, called himself a thousand fools, and
+actually had the face to declare, in Llera's presence, that his good
+nature would be the ruin of him. The whole loss amounted to about four
+or five thousand dollars. The form of loan which Requena adopted to his
+most intimate friends was this: he paid the sum usually in paper,
+demanding six per cent. on the securities deposited, and besides this he
+himself cut off the coupons, and claimed the dividends. So that the
+securities, instead of bringing in the net interest, yielded him six per
+cent. more. These were the dealings to which he was prompted, not by
+interest, but by kindness of heart!
+
+He left Llera's office in a state of fury, went to the counting-room,
+and learning there that it was necessary to draw on the bank for nine
+thousand dollars in currency, he himself took charge of the cheque,
+after having signed it; he would have to go there to a meeting of
+directors, and it would be no trouble to him as he passed to get it
+cashed.
+
+He went out on foot, as was his custom in the morning. The birds were
+singing in the beautiful trees which bordered the walks. It was quite
+clear that they had incurred no bad debts. The Duke cursed their foolish
+trick of singing, and would not listen to their gleeful trills. He
+walked on slowly with a gloomy scowl, taking no notice of the greetings
+of the gardeners and the gate-keeper, biting his huge cigar with more
+than usual viciousness. In the street, however, his face somewhat
+recovered its tone. He had a pleasant and useful meeting with the
+President of the Council of State, who likewise was fond of an early
+walk, and who bowed to him in the Avenue de Recoletos; they stood
+talking for a few minutes, and he availed himself of the opportunity of
+recommending to the President, with the intentional bluntness which he
+affected, the prospectus of certain salt-marshes in which he was
+interested. Then, at a deliberate pace, gazing with his prominent,
+guileless eyes at the passers by, and more especially at the fresh
+damsels hastening home from market with their baskets loaded, and their
+cheeks rosy from the effort, he proceeded to the Bank of Spain. Numbers
+of persons lifted their hats to him, now and again he paused for a
+moment, shook hands with one or another, and after exchanging a few
+words with an acquaintance, went on his way.
+
+It was still early. Before reaching the Bank, it occurred to him that he
+would go to see his friend and connection Calderon, whose warehouse and
+counting-house were in the Calle de San Felipe Neri, still in the state
+in which his father had left them--that is to say, very
+poverty-stricken, not to say dirty and squalid. In these quarters, where
+the light filtered in through panes darkened by dust and protected by
+clumsy ironwork, and where the smell of hides was perfectly sickening,
+old Calderon with mechanical regularity had accumulated dollar on
+dollar, till several piles of a million each had formed there. His son
+Julian had made no change. Though he was one of the wealthiest bankers
+in Madrid he had not given up the hide warehouse and the small profits
+which this business brought in--small as compared with those on
+securities and stocks which the banking house dealt in.
+
+Calderon was a banker of a different type from Salabert. He was of an
+essentially conservative temper, timid in speculation, always preferring
+small profits to large when there was any risk. His intelligence was
+somewhat limited, cautious, hesitating and circumspect. Every new
+undertaking struck him as madness. When he saw a friend embarking on one
+he smiled maliciously, and congratulated himself on the superior
+shrewdness with which he was gifted; if it turned out well he would
+shake his head, saying with determined foreboding: "Those who laugh
+last, laugh longest." At home he was parsimonious, nay stingy to a
+scandal; and though the house was kept on a comparatively luxurious
+footing, this was partly the result of his wife's entreaties, and the
+raillery of his friends, but even more of his conviction, slowly formed,
+that some external prestige was indispensable, if he was to compete with
+the numbers of skilful financiers established in the capital. But after
+having bought good furniture, he insisted on such care being taken of
+it, such refinements of precaution on the part of the servants and his
+wife and children, that they were really the slaves of these costly
+possessions. Then with regard to the carriage, it is impossible to
+imagine the anxieties and agitations without end which it cost him.
+Every time the coachman told him that a horse wanted shoeing it was a
+fresh worry. He had a pair of French mares of some value, and he loved
+them as he loved his children, or more. He drove them out of an evening;
+but never to go to the theatre for fear of cold; he would rather see his
+wife walk or take a hired carriage than expose them to any risk. And if
+one of them really fell ill, there are no words for our banker's state
+of mind; anxiety and dejection were written in his face. He went
+frequently to see the animal, patted and petted her, and would often
+assist the coachman and the vet. in applying the remedies, however
+unpleasant. Till the invalid had recovered no one in the house had any
+peace.
+
+As a husband he was most officious; but in this he was hardly to blame.
+His wife's apathy was such that if he had not taken charge of the
+kitchen accounts and the store-cupboard keys, God knows how the house
+would have been kept. Mariana did nothing and gave no orders. Any other
+woman would have felt humiliated by finding herself obliged to refer to
+her husband at every moment for the most trifling details of domestic
+life, but she took it quite as a matter of course, and found it most
+convenient, when Calderon's stinginess did not make itself too
+pressingly felt. Her part was that of a child in the house, and she was
+quite content to play it.
+
+The person who sometimes dumbly rebelled against the exclusive
+centralisation of all administrative power in the master's hands was
+Mariana's mother, the diminutive lady with deep set eyes, of whom
+mention was made in the first chapter. Her protests indeed were neither
+frequent nor lengthy. At heart she and her son-in-law were in perfect
+agreement. The old woman, the widow of a provincial merchant, who
+herself had helped in saving his capital, was even more devoted to order
+and economy than Calderon himself--that is to say, more sordidly
+thrifty. For this reason she never would have endured to live with her
+son; his expensive tastes, and, yet more, Clementina's extravagance and
+disreputable caprices enraged her, and would have embittered every
+moment of her life. In Calderon's house she was inspector or spy over
+the servants, and she filled the part to admiration. Her son-in-law
+could rest in confidence, and thanks to this and to his expectation that
+Mariana would be enriched by her will, he showed far more consideration
+for her than for his wife.
+
+Salabert was at heart not less covetous than Calderon, and hardly less
+timid; but his intellect was very superior, his cowardice was
+counterbalanced by a strong infusion of bounce, and his avarice by a
+profound knowledge of mankind. He knew very well that the paraphernalia
+and ostentation of wealth have a marked influence on the minds of the
+most indifferent, and contribute in a great measure to inspire the
+confidence without which no important enterprise can prosper. Hence the
+luxury in which he lived--his palace, his servants, and the famous balls
+he occasionally gave to the fashionable world of Madrid. For Calderon he
+had a profound contempt, though at the same time his society put him
+into a good humour. As he contemplated his friend's inferiority he
+swelled in his own esteem, regarding himself as a greater man than he
+really was, and deriving from it the liveliest satisfaction. He not only
+judged himself to have more cleverness and astuteness--the only superior
+qualities he really possessed--but, to be, by comparison, generous and
+liberal, almost a prodigy.
+
+Panting and puffing he went into the dark warehouse in the Calle de San
+Felipe Neri, producing the usual effect of amazing, crushing,
+annihilating the clerks of the house, to whom the Duke de Requena was
+not merely the greatest man in Spain, but a quite supernatural being.
+His visit impressed them with the same reverence and enthusiasm, awe and
+adoration, as the appearance of the Mikado arouses in the Japanese. And
+if they did not prostrate themselves with their foreheads in the dust,
+they coloured up to their ears, and for some minutes they could not put
+pen to paper, nor attend to the requirements of a customer. They looked
+at each other with awe-stricken eyes, repeating in an undertone, what
+indeed they all knew: "The Duke!" "The Duke!"
+
+The Duke passed in, as usual when he by chance called there, without
+vouchsafing them a glance, and made his way to the little room where
+Calderon sat. Long before reaching him, he began shouting: "Caramba,
+Julian! When do you mean to get out of this hole? This is not a
+banking-house, it is a stye. Are you not ashamed to be seen here? Poof!
+Do you skin the beasts here, or what? The stink is intolerable."
+
+Calderon's private room was beyond the front office, a mere closet,
+separated from the rest by a partition of painted wood, with a spring
+door. Thus he could hear all that his friend was saying, before Salabert
+reached him.
+
+"What do you expect, man?" said he, somewhat nettled at his clerks being
+made the confidants of this philippic. "We are not all dukes, trampling
+millions under foot."
+
+"Millions! Does it need millions to keep an office clean and
+comfortable? You had better confess that you cannot bear to spend a
+peseta in making yourself decent. I have told you many times, Julian,
+you are poor, and you will be poor all your days. I should be richer
+with a thousand pence than you with a thousand dollars--because I know
+how to spend them."
+
+Calderon grumbled a protest and went on with his work. The Duke, without
+taking his hat off, dropped into the only easy chair, covered with white
+buckskin, or which ought to have been white, for it was of a doubtful
+hue now, between yellow and greenish-grey, with black patches where
+heads and hands were wont to rest. There were besides three or four
+stools covered with the same material, in the same state, a book-case
+full of bundles of papers, a small cash-box, an ancient walnut-wood
+writing-table covered with oil-cloth, and behind the table a greasy,
+shabby arm-chair in which the head of the house sat enthroned. This
+small room was lighted by a barred window, to ward off the prying looks
+of passers-by; there were blinds, which, being the cheapest and
+commonest of their kind, had this peculiarity, that one was much too
+wide and the other so short that it did not cover the lower pane by at
+least a quarter.
+
+"Why in the world don't you quit this blessed leather-shop, which is not
+worthy of a man of your position and fortune?"
+
+"Fortune--fortune!" muttered Calderon with his eyes still fixed on the
+paper he was writing on. "People talk of my fortune I know, but if I
+were compelled to liquidate, who knows what would come of it?"
+
+Calderon never confessed his wealth; he loved to crawl; any allusion to
+his riches annoyed him beyond measure. Salabert, on the contrary, loved
+to flourish his millions in the face of the world, and play the nabob,
+at the smallest possible cost of course.
+
+"Besides," Calderon went on with some acerbity, "every one looks at what
+comes in and never thinks of what goes out. Our expenses are greater
+every day. Have you any idea, now, of what our private expenditure has
+been this year? Come."
+
+"Nothing much," replied Requena, with a depreciating smile.
+
+"Nothing much? Why it amounts to more than seventy-five thousand
+dollars, and we are only in November."
+
+"What do you say?" exclaimed the Duke greatly astonished. "Impossible!"
+
+"As I tell you."
+
+"Come, come; do not try to throw dust in my eyes, Julian. Unless you
+include in the seventy-five thousand the cost of the house you are
+building in Calle Homo de la Mata."
+
+"Why, of course."
+
+At this Salabert burst into such a fit of laughing that he seemed about
+to choke; the cigar dropped out of his mouth, his face, usually so
+pale, turned so red as to be alarming, and the fit of coughing which
+ensued was so violent that it threatened him with congestion.
+
+"My dear fellow, I thank you! That is really delicious," he gasped
+between coughing and laughing. "I never thought of that before.
+Henceforth I will include in my household expenses all the paper I buy
+and the houses I build. I shall have accounts like a king's to show."
+
+The Duke's hearty and uproarious mirth annoyed and piqued Calderon out
+of all measure.
+
+"I really do not see what you are laughing at. The money goes out of the
+cash-box under the head of expenditure. And, at any rate, Antonio, a
+fool knows more of his own affairs than a wise man knows of his
+neighbours'."
+
+The Duke's visits to his friend had of late been somewhat frequent. He
+had been hovering round him a good deal to tempt him into the mining
+speculation. The moment was drawing near when the sale must come on, and
+meanwhile he was anxious to secure the co-operation of some of the more
+important shareholders. Don Julian was one, not merely by reason of the
+capital he represented, but by the position he held. He enjoyed the
+reputation in the financial world of being a very cautious, or indeed
+suspicious man; thus his name as participator in a speculation was a
+guarantee of its security, and this was what Salabert required. So he
+was anxious not to vex him seriously, and changed the subject. With the
+curious suppleness and cunning which lay beneath his abrupt roughness,
+he managed to put him in a good humour by praising his foresight in a
+certain case when he would not be caught, reflecting on the folly of
+some rival dealers, and implying Calderon's superior skill and
+penetration. When he had got him into the right frame of mind he spoke,
+for the third or fourth time, in vague terms, of the mining company. He
+mentioned it as an unattainable vision, just to whet his friend's
+appetite.
+
+"If they only could buy up the mine one of these days, what a stroke of
+business that would be! He had never in his life met with a better.
+Unfortunately the Government were not disposed to sell. However--damn it
+all! By a little good management and steady perseverance, in time
+perhaps--meanwhile what was wanted were a few men who could afford to
+invest a good round sum. If they were not to be found in Spain they must
+be sought elsewhere."
+
+At the mere notion of a speculation Calderon shrank as a snail does when
+it is touched. And this was so big a thing, to judge from the vague
+hints the Duke threw out, that he completely disappeared into his shell.
+Then, when Salabert spoke rather more plainly, he turned gloomy and
+dull, uneasy and suspicious, as if he expected to be bled there and then
+of an exorbitant sum.
+
+When Requena had finished a long and rather incoherent speech, which was
+almost a monologue, he abruptly rose:
+
+"Ta ta, Julianito, I am off to the Bank."
+
+He took out a fresh cigar, and without offering one to Calderon, who did
+not smoke, he lighted it for form's sake; but he at once let it go out
+and began chewing it as usual.
+
+Don Julian gave a sigh of relief.
+
+"Always in a state of feverish activity," said he with a smile, holding
+out his hand. "Always on the track of money!"
+
+Just as he reached the door Calderon remembered that he might make
+something out of this visit.
+
+"I say, Antonio, I have a heap of Londres. Do you want them? I will let
+you have them cheap."
+
+"No, I don't want any at present. What do you ask for them?"
+
+"Forty-seven."
+
+"Are there many of them?"
+
+"Eight thousand pounds in all."
+
+"Well, I really don't want them, but it is a good bargain. Good-bye."
+
+He went to the Bank, assisted at the meeting, and after cashing his
+cheque for nine thousand dollars, went out with his friend Urreta,
+another of the great Madrid bankers. On reaching the Puerta del Sol they
+shook hands to part.
+
+"Which way are you going?" asked Salabert.
+
+"I am going to Calderon's office to see if he happens to be able to help
+me to some Londres."
+
+"Quite useless," said the other promptly. "I have just bought up all he
+had."
+
+"That is unlucky. What did you give for them?"
+
+"Forty-seven ten."
+
+"Not very cheap. But I need them badly, so I should have taken them."
+
+"Do you really need them?" said Salabert, putting his arm on the other's
+shoulders.
+
+"I do indeed."
+
+"Then I will be your Providence. How many do you want?"
+
+"A large quantity, at least ten thousand pounds."
+
+"Oh I cannot do that, but I can send you eight thousand this evening."
+
+Urreta's face beamed with a grateful smile.
+
+"My dear fellow, I cannot allow it. You want them yourself."
+
+"Not so much as you do, and even if I did, you know my regard for you.
+You are the only Guipuzcoan of brains I ever met with," and as he spoke
+he patted him affectionately on the shoulder. They shook hands once
+more, Urreta pouring out a flood of grateful speeches, to which Salabert
+replied with the rough frankness which so greatly enhanced the merits of
+any service he might render; then they parted.
+
+The Duke instantly got into a coach from the stand. "Go to Calle de San
+Felipe Neri, No.----."
+
+"Yes, Senor Duque."
+
+The Duke raised his head to look at the man.
+
+"So you know me?" and without waiting for a reply, he jumped in and shut
+the door.
+
+"Julian, Julian," he shouted to his friend before opening the door into
+Calderon's office. "I have come to do you a service. You are in luck,
+you wretch! Send me home those Londres."
+
+"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Julian with a triumphant smile. "So you want them?"
+
+"Yes, my dear fellow, yes. I always want the thing you want to get rid
+of. Good-bye."
+
+And without going into the little office, he let go of the spring door
+he had held open, and left. He desired the coachman to drive to a house
+in one of the northern quarters of the city, and reclined in a corner,
+munching his cigar and smoking with evident gratification. For our
+banker felt as much satisfaction after committing this piece of
+rascality, after cheating his friend of so many pesetas, as the
+righteous man knows after doing an act of justice or charity. His
+imagination, always on the alert when money might be made, wandered over
+the various concerns in which he was engaged, and the vehicle meanwhile
+carried him on towards the Hippodrome. More especially he dwelt on the
+mines of Riosa; the longer he thought of Llera's scheme, the better it
+pleased him. Still, it had its weak points, and he meditated on the
+means of fortifying them.
+
+It was not yet late. Salabert had time still to pay one of those
+unavowed visits which form an item in the social round of many a man
+whose virtues are more conspicuous, and whose vices less blatant than
+his. He dismissed the coach he had hired, and, his call paid, he walked
+home.
+
+As soon as he found himself in his private room, he put his hand in his
+pocket to take out his note-book. His face, which had shone with
+satisfaction at the consciousness of carrying about with him the golden
+key to every pleasure on earth, suddenly fell. A cloud of anxiety came
+over it. He felt more thoroughly. The pocket-book was not there. He
+tried all his other pockets. The same result.
+
+"Damnation," he muttered, "I have been robbed. Robbed of ten thousand
+odd dollars. Curse my ill luck! If a day begins badly--three thousand
+dollars gone in a bad debt, and now nearly eleven thousand in a lump! A
+pretty morning's work I must say!"
+
+He started to his feet and rang the bell vehemently for Llera. When the
+factotum appeared, he was walking up and down the room, strangely
+excited for a man who owned so many millions. He explained the case to
+the clerk. A torrent of words, growls, foul expletives, poured from his
+lips, and he flung away his half-chewed cigar, a sign of excessive
+disturbance.
+
+"Possibly, Senor, you have not been robbed," Llera suggested, "you may
+have lost it. Where have you been?"
+
+But this was a question the Duke was not prepared to answer.
+
+"Damn it, what concern is that of yours?" he replied. "Do you suppose I
+am likely to have lost eleven thousand dollars? That is to say, lost
+them--of course I have. But some one else found them before they touched
+the ground."
+
+"The best thing you can do, Senor Duque, is to let me go over the ground
+wherever you have been."
+
+"I will go myself after luncheon. Go, if you have nothing else to
+suggest but calling on all my acquaintances."
+
+Requena went downstairs, dismaying the house like a bombshell, not
+indeed of powder or dynamite, since uproariousness was not part of his
+nature, but of sulphuric acid or corrosive sublimate, which trickled
+into every corner and annoyed and burnt every one in turn. His wife, his
+lodge-keeper, his cook, Llera, and almost every one of his clerks, had
+some coarse insult flung in their teeth, in the tone of cynical
+brutality which he affected. After luncheon he was about to go out on
+his quest, when a servant came to tell him that a hackney coachman
+wished to speak with him.
+
+"What does he want?"
+
+"I do not know. He said he wanted to see the Duke."
+
+Salabert, with a sudden flash of intuition, said:
+
+"Show him up."
+
+The man who came in was the driver of the coach which had conveyed him
+from Calderon's office to his mistress's house. The Duke looked at him
+anxiously.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"This, Senor Duque, which is your excellency's no doubt," said the man,
+holding out the pocket-book.
+
+The Duke seized it, hastily opened it, and shaking out the pile of bank
+notes it contained, counted them with the skill and rapidity of a
+practised hand. When he had done, he said:
+
+"All right; there are none missing."
+
+The man, who had no doubt looked for some reward, stood still for a
+minute or two.
+
+"It is all right, my good fellow, quite right. Many thanks."
+
+Then the poor man, with angry disappointment stamped on his face, turned
+to go, muttering good-day. The Duke looked at him with cruel humour, and
+before he had reached the door called after him with deliberate sarcasm:
+
+"Look here, my man, I give you nothing, because to so honest a fellow as
+you the best reward is the satisfaction of having done right."
+
+The coachman, at once puzzled and vexed, looked at him with an
+indescribable expression. His lips parted as if he were about to speak,
+but he finally left the room without a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+PRECIPITANCY.
+
+
+Raimundo Alcazar--for this was the name of the pertinacious youth who
+had so provoked Clementina by following her when we first had the honour
+of making her acquaintance--met the wrathful glance she had fired at him
+as she went into her sister-in-law's house with perfect and resigned
+submission. He waited for a moment to see whether she had gone thither
+merely on a message, and finding she did not come out again, he placidly
+walked away in the direction of the little Plaza de Santa Cruz. He
+stopped in front of a flower-stall. The florist smiled as he drew near,
+recognising him as an old customer, and took up a bouquet of white roses
+and violets, which no doubt were awaiting him. He then went to the Plaza
+Mayor, and took the tramcar for Carabanchel. At the turning which leads
+to the Cemetery of San Isidro he got out and proceeded on foot. On
+reaching the graveyard he hastily ascended the slope and went into the
+new enclosure, where, as the law directs, the dead are laid in graves,
+and not in long vaulted galleries. He went on with a swift step to a
+tomb covered with a white marble slab, and enclosed by a little railing.
+There he stopped. For some minutes he stood still, gazing at it. On the
+stone, in black letters, was the name, _Isabel Martinez de Alcazar_.
+Below the name, two dates--1842-1883--those, no doubt, of the birth and
+death of the dead who slept below. A few faded flowers lay there, which
+Raimundo carefully removed, and untying the bunch he had brought with
+him, he scattered the fresh blossoms on the grave, and used the string
+to tie up the dead ones. With these in one hand and his hat in the other
+he again stood for some minutes contemplating the spot, with tears in
+his eyes. Then he walked quickly away without a single curious glance at
+the other sepultures.
+
+Raimundo Alcazar had lost his mother eight or nine months ago. He had
+never known his father, or, rather, he had no recollection of him, since
+he was but four years old at the time of his parent's death. His name,
+too, had been Raimundo, and at the time of his death he had filled a
+professor's chair at the University of Segovia. When he had first
+married he had been a youth waiting for an appointment. Isabel's father,
+a dealer in forged iron in the Calle de Esparteros, had in consequence
+refused his consent, and only sanctioned their union when at last
+Alcazar won the professorship above mentioned. He was a young fellow of
+exceptional talents, and published some works on geology, the branch of
+science to which he had devoted himself. His death, at the age of
+thirty-two, was much lamented in the small circle to whom men of science
+are known in Spain. Isabel, with her little son, returned to her
+father's house in Madrid, and there, three months after her husband's
+death, she gave birth to a daughter, who was baptised by the name of
+Aurelia.
+
+Isabel was a remarkably handsome woman, and, as the only child of a man
+who was supposed to be in easy circumstances, she did not lack for
+suitors. But she refused every offer. Her friends called her romantic,
+perhaps because she had more mind and heart than they could generally
+boast of. She appreciated talent, and detested the prosaic beings who
+almost exclusively constituted her father's social circle. She
+worshipped the memory of her husband, whom she had adored while he
+lived, as a man of superior talents; she treasured with the greatest
+care every eulogy that had appeared in print on his works; the sole
+desire and aim of her life was that her son should tread in his father's
+footsteps, and become respected for his talents and eminence. Heaven
+blessed her aspirations. At first she saw him growing up before her
+eyes the living image of his father. Not in face only, but in gesture
+and voice, he was exactly like him. Then the boy's progress at school
+caused her the keenest joy. He was intelligent and studious. His masters
+were always entirely satisfied with him. Every word of praise which came
+to her ears, every mark of approbation written against his name, gave
+the poor mother the most exquisite delight. Now she had no doubt that he
+would inherit his father's gifts.
+
+She was stricken with remorse sometimes when she reflected how far from
+equitably she divided her affection between her two children. Whatever
+efforts she might make to preserve the equilibrium, she could not but
+confess that she loved Raimundo much the best. Her devoted affection was
+shown in constant petting and small cares, which pampered the boy and
+weakened his character. She brought him up with excessive fondness. He,
+on his part, loved her with such exclusive ardour that at times it was
+almost a fever. Every time he had to leave the shelter of her petticoats
+to go to school it cost him some tears. He insisted on her watching him
+from the balcony, and before turning the corner of the street he looked
+round twenty times to kiss his hand to her. Even when he was grown up
+and a science-student, Isabel still kept up the habit of going out on
+the balcony to wave him an adieu when he went to his lectures. Either by
+nature, or perhaps in consequence of this rather effeminate education,
+Raimundo was a timid boy, indifferent to the sports of his companions;
+and he grew up a melancholy youth, and a serious and uncommunicative
+man. He had scarcely any friends. At college he joined his
+fellow-students in a walk before going in to lecture but as soon as it
+was over he went home, and did not care to go out unless with his mother
+and sister.
+
+Long before that, when he was no more than ten years old his grandfather
+died. Thus, by the time he was sixteen, he had to play the part of the
+man in the house. He took his mother to the theatre, accompanied her in
+paying visits, and sometimes in the evening, when the weather was fine,
+he took her out for a walk, giving her his arm like her husband or
+sweetheart. Isabel's beauty did not desert her with years. Those who saw
+them together never supposed they could be mother and son, but rather
+sister and brother, if not a married pair. This was the cause of some
+distress to the lad. As in Madrid men are not remarkable for respect for
+the fair sex, he used to overhear, in spite of himself, complimentary
+speeches, or even bold addresses from the passers-by to his mother. And
+as he heard them, he felt a strange mixture of shame and pleasure, of
+jealousy and pride; the position of a son in such a case is extremely
+peculiar and embarrassing.
+
+Old Martinez, his grandfather, after retiring from business, had lost
+all his savings. They had been invested partly in a gunpowder-making
+company which had failed, and partly in Government stock. All he had to
+leave was an income of from seven to eight thousand pesetas.
+
+On this the three lived very thriftily, though they did not lack the
+necessaries of life. On a second floor in the Calle de Gravina, Raimundo
+pursued his scientific studies. He hoped to become a professor, like his
+father, and, seeing how brilliantly he passed every examination, no one
+doubted that he soon would attain that position; but, instead of turning
+his attention to geology, he preferred the study of zoology, and more
+especially that of butterflies. He began making a collection, and
+displayed so much eagerness and intelligence that, before long, he was
+possessed of a very fine one. Before he had left college he was already
+remarkable as an entomologist. The walls of his room were lined with
+cabinets, containing the rarest and most precious specimens. For two
+years he saved up his pocket-money to buy a microscope, and at last was
+able to purchase a fairly good one, which was as useful as it was
+delightful. The day he took his doctor's degree, when he was just
+one-and-twenty, Isabel experienced one of those joys that mothers alone
+can know. She embraced him, shedding a flood of tears.
+
+"Now, mamma," said he, "I am qualified to compete for a professorship. I
+shall devote myself to preparing for it, and as soon as I succeed I
+shall renounce anything you may be able to leave me in favour of
+Aurelia. I have few wants, and can live on my salary."
+
+These generous words went to the mother's heart; she found fresh reason
+every day for adoring this model son.
+
+Raimundo now plunged into his studies with ardour, working up the
+special branches required without neglecting his entomology. Thanks to
+this, and to the honoured name of his father, he was soon eminent among
+men of science. He wrote some papers, corresponded with various foreign
+_savants_, and had the satisfaction of receiving from them the most
+encouraging praises. He was, it may be said, a happy man. He had no
+desires for the impossible to devour his soul, no tormenting
+love-affairs, or intrusive friends; he enjoyed the peace of home-life,
+the love of his family, and the pure delights of science; his days
+glided on in tranquillity and happiness. His mother's friends were
+amazed at such virtuous simplicity. Had Raimundo no love entanglement?
+Did he not care for women? And Isabel would reply with a smile of
+evident satisfaction:
+
+"I do not know. I believe he has never yet thought of such a thing. He
+is so tied to my apron-string that he is like a child of three. He would
+find it hard, to be sure, to meet with a woman who would love him as I
+do."
+
+And it was as she said. She kept him wrapped in such an atmosphere of
+protection, of warm and loving care, as he could never have found with a
+wife, however devoted she might be. Only mothers have this gift of
+absolute and unwearying self-sacrifice, never hoping for or dreaming of
+a return. Raimundo's every need of a practical kind was satisfied with a
+refined completeness which few men enjoy. He had never known what it was
+to have to think how he was fed, clothed, and shod, or to take any care
+for necessaries such as many women do not understand. Every detail of
+his life was foreseen and arranged for him. He might devote himself
+wholly to the exercise of his intellect. If he complained of a taste in
+his mouth, his mother was at his bedside early in the morning with an
+effervescing saline draught; if his head ached there was a soothing
+drink at bed-time. If he coughed in the night, ever so little, Isabel
+could not rest till she had stolen into his room in her nightshift to
+see that he had not thrown off his bedclothes. As soon as Aurelia was
+old enough she too helped her mother in the task of averting every pain
+and removing even the tiniest thorns from the young entomologist's path.
+
+Unhappily--though we might also say very naturally, since happiness
+cannot last in this world--this blissful course of life came to a sudden
+end. Isabel fell ill of bronchitis which she could not completely shake
+off, either because she neglected it or because the physician had
+hesitated to apply sufficiently severe treatment. It left her with a
+catarrh of the lungs which weakened her greatly. Then, by the doctor's
+advice, she went to the baths of Panticosa with Raimundo, leaving
+Aurelia in the care of some relations. She rallied a little, but fell
+ill again within a few days of returning to Madrid. She was then visibly
+failing; so much so that her friends could plainly see that she was
+dying. Never for a moment did such a notion enter her son's head. His
+life was so bound up with hers that the two seemed as one. Things went
+on as they almost always do with the sick who do not know that they are
+dying. Isabel, though very weak, carried on the housekeeping with her
+usual care. Raimundo, indeed, had entreated her, and then, taking
+advantage of his influence over her, had commanded her to rest; but she,
+evading his vigilance, and prompted by the invincible impulse which busy
+natures feel to be doing something, would not give up her duties. One
+day, when she was already almost dying, Raimundo found her on her knees
+dusting the legs of a table. He was quite horrified, and, chiding her
+affectionately, helped her up with many kisses.
+
+A pious friend, who came to see her, thought proper to hint to her that
+she ought to confess. Isabel was painfully impressed; her son, coming
+in, found her weeping, and flew into a rage, breaking out vehemently
+against all such bigots. However, the sick woman, who was beginning to
+understand her danger, insisted gently but firmly on the priest being
+sent for. Raimundo, much annoyed, sent for the doctor to uphold him in
+his refusal. The physician at first replied evasively, then he said that
+it was at any rate being on the right side, that if strong people were
+liable to sudden death much more were the sickly.
+
+But even now light did not dawn on the young man's apprehension. After
+seeing the priest, Isabel went on as before, and this contributed to
+keep up his delusion. She rose in the morning, ate at table with them,
+went into the sitting-room on her son's arm, and spent the chief part of
+the day in an armchair. At the same time she was so excessively thin
+that those who saw her only at long intervals were quite shocked. And
+yet she did not lose her beauty; on the contrary, it seemed to have
+increased, her complexion was clearer and more delicate, and her eyes
+brighter.
+
+One morning she said she would rather not get up. Raimundo sat down by
+her bed reading a novel. She presently said:
+
+"I am uncomfortable. Lift me up a little; I have no strength."
+
+He rose to do it, and at that very instant his mother's head drooped on
+one side and she was dead, without a sigh, without the smallest gesture
+or sign of suffering--like a bird, to use a vulgar but expressive
+phrase.
+
+The young man's despairing cry brought in the people of the house.
+
+Some relations took him and his sister away to their own home; in the
+state of stupor in which he was, there was no difficulty in getting him
+to go whithersoever they would. That same evening some of his college
+friends came to see him and found him in fairly good spirits, which
+amazed them, knowing the passionate devotion to his mother he had always
+professed. He discussed scientific matters for a long time, expressing
+himself with greater volubility than usual. This led them to suspect
+that he was under the influence of some violent excitement, and the
+suspicion was confirmed when he proposed to play at cards. They yielded,
+but presently the young fellow began to talk quite at random.
+
+"What do you think of the game, mamma?" he asked of a lady who was
+playing.
+
+All those present looked at each other with consternation and pity.
+
+After this he became quite incoherent. His excitement increased, he
+began laughing so wildly that no one could doubt that it must end in a
+violent nervous attack. And, in fact, when they least expected it, he
+started from his seat, ran to the window, threw it open, and would have
+flung himself from the balcony, if they had not stopped him. This ended
+in acute hysterics, which happily were soon over, and then to collapse,
+compelling him to remain in bed three or four days.
+
+Time at last exerted its soothing power. At the end of a fortnight he
+was well again, though a prey to extreme dejection, from which his
+relations and friends vainly strove to rouse him.
+
+His uncle proposed that the brother and sister should continue to live
+with him, since Raimundo was young to be at the head of a house, and
+especially to guard and guide Aurelia. He was now three-and-twenty and
+she eighteen. But neither of them would listen to the plan. They would
+live alone and together. They took third floor rooms in the Calle de
+Serrano, very pretty and sunny, and thither they transferred their
+furniture; once installed there they continued their former life, sadly,
+no doubt, under the ever present remembrance of their mother, but calmly
+and contentedly. Raimundo centred all his thoughts and care in Aurelia.
+Anxious to fulfil his part as father and protector to the young girl, he
+did for her what his mother had hitherto done for him, surrounding her
+with kindness, and cherishing her with a tenderness which touched all
+who saw them. Aurelia was not beautiful nor particularly clever, but
+for her brother she felt the passionate adoration she had inherited from
+her mother. Nevertheless, in the details of daily life the young man
+sorely missed his mother. Aurelia did her utmost to prevent his feeling
+her absence, but she was far from achieving the same delicate
+anticipation of his needs. By degrees she became more expert in the
+management of the house, and Raimundo, on his part, did not look for the
+refined comfort of a past time. The feeling of guardianship, and the
+consciousness of his own duties towards his sister, made him think less
+of himself. If, on the other hand, some little attention from Aurelia
+came to him as a surprise he accepted it as though from a child. Thus
+their lives supplemented each other.
+
+They lived humbly; their rent came to twenty dollars; they kept a single
+maid. Thus their little income of twelve hundred dollars was sufficient
+for their needs. As it was derived from dividends on State securities
+and shares in a manufactory, it was regularly paid. Raimundo was able to
+dedicate himself with renewed ardour to his studies; he longed to fulfil
+to his sister the promise he had made his mother, of renouncing his
+share of their inheritance, and saving for her a little fortune which
+might enable her to marry well. Ever since his illness he had gone twice
+a week to lay flowers on his mother's grave; on Sundays he took Aurelia
+with him. As a rule he went out very little. The studies requisite to
+fit him to compete for a professorship on the one hand, and on the other
+his passion as a collector and naturalist, absorbed almost the whole of
+his time. It was a wonder indeed if he were seen in a cafe, and being in
+mourning he did not go to the play.
+
+One day when he happened to be at a bookseller's in the Carrera San
+Jeronimo, where he frequently amused himself by turning over new works
+from abroad, an elegantly dressed woman came into the shop. Raimundo's
+eyes dilated at the vision, resting on her with such a fixed look of
+admiration, that she was fain to turn away. While she bought a few
+French novels he contemplated her with rapture and emotion; the book he
+was holding shook in his hand. As she went out he hastily laid it down
+to follow her; but a carriage was waiting for her. The man-servant, hat
+in hand, opened the door, and the horses instantly snatched her from his
+sight.
+
+"What is it, Don Raimundo?" said the bookseller, as he came into the
+shop again. "Are you struck by my fair customer?"
+
+The young man smiled to conceal his agitation, and replied with feigned
+indifference:
+
+"Who could fail to notice such a beautiful creature? Who is she?"
+
+"Do not you know her? She is the wife of a banker named Osorio, and
+Salabert's daughter."
+
+"Ah! Salabert's daughter! Then she lives in that palace in the Avenue de
+Luchana?"
+
+"No, Senor. She lives in the Calle don Ramon de la Cruz."
+
+He wanted no more. Away he went. This lady bore a singular likeness to
+his mother. The state of his mind, still grieving and sore, made the
+resemblance seem to him greater than it really was, and it impressed him
+vividly. A few minutes later he was walking up and down in front of the
+Osorios' house; but he did not succeed in catching another glimpse of
+the lady. The next day he went to walk in the Retiro, and there again he
+met her. Thenceforth he watched and followed her with a constancy which
+betrayed the strong hold she had on his feelings. Though he at no time
+forgot his mother's face, Clementina Salabert brought it yet more
+vividly before him, and this gave him a pathetic pain in which he
+revelled, paradoxical as it may seem. But any one who has lost a loved
+face from the world will understand it; there is a kind of luxury in
+uncovering the wound, and renewing the pain and regret. Raimundo could
+not gaze long at Clementina's features without feeling the tears on his
+cheeks; and this, perhaps, was why he so constantly sought her. In her
+face there was indeed a hardness and severity which his mother's had
+never had; but when she smiled and all sternness vanished the
+resemblance was really amazing.
+
+Our young man was well aware of the annoyance his pursuit caused her. At
+the same time he could not help laughing to himself at her
+misapprehension of the case. "If this lady could know," he would say to
+himself, as he saw her lips curl with scorn, "why she fascinates me so
+much, how great would her astonishment be!" A current of attraction, it
+might be said of adoration, drew him to her. But for her forbidding
+dignity, he might very possibly have addressed her, have explained to
+her the strange consolation he derived from her presence. But Clementina
+moved in so distant a sphere that he dreaded her contempt. It was enough
+that she should so evidently scorn him for his joy in beholding her. On
+the other hand, he had heard rumours greatly to her discredit; but he
+took no pains to confirm them--in the first place, because they did not
+concern him, and also because if they proved to be true he would be
+compelled to think ill of her, and he could not bear that a woman so
+like his mother should be, in fact, disreputable. He would know nothing,
+he would be content to indulge, as often as he could, that strange
+longing to revive his grief and move himself to tears. As he did not
+live in fashionable society and could not go to the theatre to procure
+this satisfaction, he had no choice but to haunt her in the streets or
+the parks when she was out driving. He also attended Mass on Sundays at
+the Jeronymite church, and there he could contemplate her at his ease
+and leisure.
+
+He had told Aurelia of his discovery, but he had not pointed the lady
+out to her. He was afraid lest Aurelia should not see the likeness so
+clearly as he did, and should thus despoil him of his illusion.
+Clementina went out walking two or three times a week, in the afternoon,
+as she had done on the day when we made her acquaintance. Raimundo, from
+the window of his study in the Calle de Serrano spied her approach, as
+from an observatory, and when he discerned her from afar, down he went
+to follow her as far as he could. This persecution vexed the lady all
+the more, as it was at this hour that she went to visit her lover. Not
+that it was a matter of any particular importance that this new
+connection should become known, but for a remnant of shame which
+survived in her. No woman, however unblushing, can bear to be seen
+entering her lover's dwelling.
+
+Moreover, she knew, for she had heard it quite lately, that a husband
+who, finding out his wife's guilt, kills her on the spot, is held
+excused. Now, as she knew that Osorio hated her, she was afraid lest he
+might take advantage of this excuse to get rid of her. These vague
+terrors, added to that residue of decency, increased her rage against
+Raimundo. Her violent and imperious temper rose in arms at this
+unforeseen interference. She had not even paid any particular attention
+to the young man's appearance. She hated him without troubling herself
+to look at him. His indifference and submission to the utter contempt
+which she did not attempt to conceal, was also an offence. It was
+evident that this youngster was making game of her; if he were
+love-stricken he could not possibly show so much serene cynicism. No
+doubt he had discovered that he annoyed her, and meant to insult her out
+of revenge. And beyond a doubt he succeeded perfectly. The turns she was
+compelled to take in order to elude him, the visits she paid against her
+will, and all the terrors his pursuit cost her, rendered him more odious
+to her every day, and made her blood boil. She went out in the carriage,
+drove to the Calatravas church, and there dismissed it; but Raimundo,
+after being deprived for some days of the sight of her, committed the
+extravagance of taking a hackney coach to keep up with her.
+
+This enraged her beyond measure, and she determined to put an end to the
+intolerable persecution, though she did not know how. At first she asked
+Pepe Castro to speak to the youth and threaten him; but on seeing how
+coolly he took the proposal, she indignantly determined never to return
+to the subject. Then she thought of addressing him herself in the
+street, and desiring him, in a few words of freezing scorn, to annoy her
+no more. But when the opportunity offered she dared not--though timidity
+was not her besetting sin--the predicament seemed too delicate.
+
+She was still in this state of doubt and hesitancy, when one day, as she
+went down the Calle de Serrano, happening to look up, she spied the
+enemy on the look out, high above her. This suggested to her the idea of
+asking his name and writing to him. And with the vehemence which
+prompted all her actions she immediately went in, and inquired of the
+porter:
+
+"Would you be so good as to tell me who lives on the third floor here?"
+
+"A lady and gentleman, both quite young; a brother and sister. They have
+been here only four months; they are orphans. Not long since, it would
+seem----"
+
+The woman, seeing so elegant a lady, was ready to be communicative; but
+Clementina cut her short by asking:
+
+"What is the gentleman's name?"
+
+"Don Raimundo Alcazar."
+
+"Many thanks." And she hurried away.
+
+She went out into the street, but it struck her that writing to him
+would have its disadvantages, and that a verbal explanation would really
+be more satisfactory, since no one of her acquaintance could know
+anything about it. For a moment she paused in doubt; then she abruptly
+faced about and went in again. She passed the portress without saying a
+word, and lightly ran upstairs. On reaching the third floor, in spite of
+her determined spirit, her courage was somewhat dashed, and she was on
+the point of retreating. But her proud and haughty temper spurred her
+on, as she reflected that the young man must have seen her come in and
+would suspect her repentance.
+
+There were two doors on the landing. One set of rooms, as Clementina had
+observed, was to let, so she decided on knocking at the door on the
+left, since there was a mat outside--plain proof that it was inhabited.
+
+A maid answered the summons, and Clementina asked for Don Raimundo
+Alcazar.
+
+"I wish to see him" she added, on learning that he was at home.
+
+The girl showed her into the drawing-room, and as the visit struck her
+as strange, she asked whether she should announce it to the Senorita.
+
+"No. Tell Don Raimundo I want to speak to him."
+
+He, meanwhile, was sitting in his study, in a state of extreme
+agitation. On first seeing the lady enter the house, he had been
+startled without exactly knowing why. He recovered himself on seeing her
+depart, and was again excited when she came back. The idea that she
+might be coming up to his rooms flashed across his mind, but he
+immediately dismissed it as improbable. She must no doubt have come to
+call on one of the residents on the first or second floor, who were
+persons of fashion. Still, in spite of all reason, he could not be calm.
+When he heard the door-bell, he was aghast; he could hardly get so far
+as the ante-room, and before he could give the maid a sign, she had
+opened the door, compelling him to beat a hasty retreat. He was tempted
+to say he was not at home, even though the lady was in the sitting-room;
+but, after all, he made up his mind to go to her, reflecting that he had
+no rational motive for refusing.
+
+Raimundo had seen very little of the world. His mother's friends had
+been few--relations and two or three families of acquaintance. He, on
+his part, had done nothing to extend the circle, and, as has been said,
+had formed no intimacies with any of his fellow-students, much less had
+he any familiarity with the public or private entertainments of the
+capital. His youth and early manhood had been happily spent at home, in
+studying and arranging his butterflies. He knew life only from books. At
+the same time Nature had bestowed on him a frank and simple temper, some
+ease of speech, and a certain dignity of manner, which amply made up for
+the polish and distinction produced by constant friction with the upper
+ranks of society.
+
+He went into the drawing-room with perfect composure, nay, with a
+lurking sense of hostility roused by the lady's eccentric proceeding. He
+bowed low on entering. The situation was, in fact, so strange, that
+Clementina, in spite of her pride, her experience, and her
+indifference--it might almost be said her effrontery, was suddenly at a
+loss. It was only by an effort that she recovered her spirit.
+
+"Here I am, you see," she said in a sharp tone, which was strangely
+inappropriate and discourteous.
+
+"To what do I owe the honour of your visit?" replied Raimundo in a
+rather tremulous voice.
+
+"Well--" she paused for a moment, "you owe it to the honour you do me of
+following me everywhere like my shadow, as you have been doing these
+past two months. Do you suppose that it can be agreeable to be haunted
+whenever I appear in the street? In short, you have made me quite
+nervous, and to avoid injury to my health I have taken the ridiculous
+step of coming up here to beg you to cease your pursuit. If you have
+anything interesting to say to me say it at once and have done."
+
+She spoke the words impetuously, as feeling herself in a false position,
+and wishing to get out of it by an exaggerated display of annoyance.
+
+Raimundo looked at her in amazement, and this vexed Clementina, and
+added to her vehemence.
+
+"Senora, I am grieved to the soul to think that I should have offended
+you; nothing could be further from my intentions. If you could only know
+the feelings your face arouses in me!" he stammered out.
+
+Clementina broke in:
+
+"If you are about to make me a declaration of love, you may save
+yourself the trouble. I am married; and if I were not it would be just
+the same."
+
+"No, Senora, I have no such confession to make," said the young
+entomologist with a smile. "I will explain the matter. I can quite
+understand your having misunderstood the sentiments which prompt me,
+and it is natural that you should feel offended. How far you must be
+from suspecting the truth! I have not fallen in love with you. If I had
+I should certainly not follow you like a sort of street pirate--above
+all, under the circumstances----"
+
+Here Raimundo looked grave, and paused. Then he added precipitately, in
+a voice husky with emotion:
+
+"My mother died not long since, and you are wonderfully like her."
+
+He looked at her, as he spoke, with anxious attentiveness; there were
+tears in his eyes, and it was only by a great effort that he checked a
+sob.
+
+The confession roused Clementina's surprise and doubts. She stood still
+gazing at him for her part with fixed inquiry. Raimundo understood what
+must be passing in her mind, and opening the door into his study, he
+said:
+
+"See for yourself. See if what I say is not the truth."
+
+The lady advanced a few steps, and saw on the wall facing her, above the
+writing-table, an enlarged photograph of an exceptionally lovely woman,
+who, no doubt, bore some resemblance to herself, though it was not so
+striking as the young man fancied. The frame was wreathed with
+immortelles.
+
+"We are somewhat alike," said she, after studying the portrait
+attentively. "But this lady was far more beautiful than I."
+
+"No, not more beautiful. Her eyes were softer, and that gave her face an
+indescribable charm. It was her pure and loving soul which shone through
+them."
+
+He spoke with ardour, not heeding the want of gallantry the words
+implied. Clementina's pride suffered all the more from the simplicity
+and conviction of his tone; both contemplated the picture for a few
+seconds in silence. Tears trembled in Raimundo's eyes. At last the lady
+asked:
+
+"How old was your mother?"
+
+"Forty-one."
+
+"And I am five-and-thirty," she replied, with ill-disguised
+satisfaction.
+
+Raimundo looked at her once more.
+
+"Yes, you are younger and handsomer. But my mother's complexion was
+finer, though she was some years older. Her skin was as soft as satin,
+and there was no worn look about her eyes; they were like a child's. It
+was very natural. My mother's life was calm and uneventful; she had done
+nothing to wear out her body or soul."
+
+He was quite unconscious of implying anything rude to the lady whom he
+addressed. She was indeed exceedingly nettled, but she did not dare to
+show it, for the youth's grief and perfect sincerity inspired her with
+respect. She therefore changed the subject, glancing round the study,
+with some curiosity.
+
+"You collect butterflies it would seem."
+
+"Yes, Senora, from my childhood, and I have succeeded in getting
+together a very respectable number of varieties. I have some very
+beautiful and curious species--look here."
+
+Clementina went to one of the cabinets. Raimundo eagerly opened it and
+placed a tray in her hand full of lovely creatures of the most brilliant
+hues.
+
+"They really are very pretty and strange. Of what use are they when you
+have got them? Do you sell them?"
+
+"No, Senora," said he with a smile, "my object is purely scientific."
+
+"Ah!" And she glanced at him with surprise. Clementina had very little
+sympathy with men of science, but they inspired her with a vague respect
+mingled with awe, as beings of another race in whom some people
+discerned superior merits.
+
+"Then you are a naturalist?" she inquired.
+
+"I am studying with that view. My father was a naturalist."
+
+While he displayed his precious collection--not without the
+condescension with which the learned explain their labours to the
+profane--he gave her some insight into his simple existence. As he spoke
+of his mother's illness emotion again got the better of him, and the
+tears rose to his eyes. Clementina listened with interest, looking
+meanwhile at the drawers he placed before her, and speaking a few words
+of admiration of the martyred insects, or of sympathy as Raimundo
+related his mother's death. She affected to be cool and at her ease, but
+she could not quite dissemble her embarrassment in the anomalous
+situation to which her strange action had given rise.
+
+She released herself abruptly, as she did everything. She quite gravely
+held out her hand to the young man, saying:
+
+"Many thanks for your kindness, Senor Alcazar. I am glad to find that I
+have not been the object of such a pursuit as I had supposed. At the
+same time, nevertheless, I beg you not to repeat it. I am married, you
+see; it might be thought that I encouraged it, or had given you some
+reason----"
+
+"Be quite easy, Senora. From the moment when I know that it annoys you
+it shall cease. Forgive me on the score of the motive," and he pressed
+her hand with a natural and frank sympathy, which achieved the conquest
+of the lady. But she did not show it; on the contrary, she looked
+sternly grave and turned to go. Raimundo followed her, and as he passed
+her to open the door, he said with a smile of engaging candour:
+
+"I am but a nobody, Senora, but if some day you should wish to make use
+of my insignificant services, you cannot imagine what pleasure it would
+be to me!"
+
+"Thanks, thanks," said Clementina drily, without pausing.
+
+As they reached the door opening on the stairs, just as he was about to
+open it, Raimundo caught sight of his sister's little head peeping
+inquisitively into the passage.
+
+"Come here, Aurelia," said he.
+
+But the girl paid no heed and hastily withdrew.
+
+"Aurelia, Aurelia!"
+
+Very much against her will she came out into the anteroom, and
+approached smiling and as red as a cherry.
+
+"This is the lady of whom I spoke to you as being so like mamma."
+
+Aurelia looked at her not knowing what to say, still smiling and
+blushing.
+
+"Do you not think her very like?"
+
+"I do not see it," replied his sister after a moment's hesitation.
+
+"There, you see!" exclaimed Clementina, turning to him with a smile. "It
+was only a fancy, an hallucination on your part."
+
+There was a touch of annoyance in her tone. Aurelia's advent made her
+position more false than ever.
+
+"Never mind," said Raimundo, "I see the resemblance clearly, and that is
+enough."
+
+The door was standing open.
+
+"So pleased," said Clementina, addressing Aurelia without offering her
+hand, but with one of those frigid and condescending bows by which a
+woman of fashion at once establishes the distance which divides her from
+a new acquaintance.
+
+Aurelia murmured a few polite words. Raimundo went out on the landing to
+take leave of her, repeating his polite and cordial speeches, which did
+not seem to impress the lady, to judge from her grave reserve. She went
+downstairs, dissatisfied with herself and full of obscure irritation. It
+was not the first time, nor the second, that her impetuous nature had
+placed her in such a ridiculous and anomalous position.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SAVAGE CLUB OF MADRID.
+
+
+At two in the afternoon about a dozen of the most constant habitues of
+the Savage Club lay picturesquely scattered on the divans and easy
+chairs of their large drawing-room. In one corner was a group formed of
+General Patino, Pepe Castro, Cobo Ramirez, Ramoncito Maldonado, and two
+other members with whom we have no concern. Apart from these sat
+Manolito Davalos, alone; and beyond him Pinedo with a party of friends.
+The attitudes of these young men--for they were most of them
+young--corresponded perfectly with the refinement which shone in every
+revelation of the elegance of their minds. One had his head on the divan
+and his feet on an armchair; another, while he curled his moustache with
+his left hand, was stroking the calf of his leg below his trousers with
+his right; one leaned back with his arms folded, and one condescended to
+rest his exquisite boots on the red velvet seats of two chairs.
+
+This _Club de los Selvajes_ is a parody rather than a translation of the
+English Savage Club. To be accurate, it is a translation of such
+graceful freedom that it keeps up the true Spanish spirit in close
+alliance with the British. In honour of its name, all the outward aspect
+of the club is extremely English. The members always appear in full
+dress every evening in the winter, in smoking jackets in the summer; the
+servants wear knee-breeches and powder; there is a spacious and handsome
+dining-room, a fencing court, dressing-rooms, bath-rooms, and a few
+bed-rooms; the club has, too, its own stables, with carriage and saddle
+horses for the use of the members.
+
+The Spanish character is revealed in various details of internal
+management. The most remarkable feature is a general lack of ready
+money, which gives rise to singular situations among the members
+themselves, and in their relations to the outer world, producing a
+complicated and beautiful variety which could nowhere be met with in any
+other city in Christendom. It more especially leads to an immense and
+inconceivable development of that powerful engine by which the
+nineteenth century has achieved its grandest and most stupendous
+efforts--Credit. Within the walls of the Madrid Savage Club there is as
+much business done on credit as in the Bank of England. Not only do the
+members lend each other money and gamble on credit, but they effect the
+same transactions with the club itself viewed as a responsible entity,
+and even with the club-porter, both as a functionary and as a man.
+
+Outside this narrow circle the _Savages_, carried away by their
+enthusiasm for credit, bring it into play in their relations with the
+tailor, the housekeeper, the coach-builder, the horse-dealer, and the
+jeweller, not to mention transactions on a large scale with their banker
+or landlord. Thanks to this inestimable element of economical science,
+coin of the realm has become almost unnecessary to the members of the
+club. Its function is beautifully fulfilled by an abstract and more
+spiritual medium--promises to pay, verbal or written. They live and
+spend as freely as their prototypes in London, without pounds sterling,
+shillings, dollars, and pesetas, or anything of the kind. The superior
+advantages of the Madrid Club in this respect are self-evident.
+
+Nor are they less in the cool and frank impertinence with which the
+members treat each other. By degrees they have quite given up the polite
+and ceremonious courtesy which characterises the solemn British
+gentleman; their manners have gained in local colour approaching more
+and more to those of the picturesque quarters of Madrid known as
+Lavapies and Maravillas. Nature, race, and opportunity are elements it
+is impossible to resist, whether in politics or in social amusements.
+
+The club always begins to warm up after midnight, the fever is at its
+height at about three in the morning, and then it begins to cool down
+again. By five or six every one has gone piously to bed. During the day
+the place is comparatively deserted. Two or three dozen of the members
+drop in in the afternoon, before taking a walk, to colour their pipes.
+Stupefied by sleepiness they speak but little. They need the excitement
+of night to display their native talents in all their brilliancy. These
+are concentrated for the time on the noble task of bringing a meerschaum
+to a fine coffee-colour. If, as some assert, objects of art were once
+objects of utility, so that the notion of art involves that of
+usefulness, it must be confessed that, in the matter of their pipes, the
+members of the Savage Club work like true artists. They have them sent
+from Paris and London; on them are engraved the initials of the owner
+with the count's or marquis's coronet, if the smoker has a right to it;
+they keep them in elegant cases, and when they take them out to smoke,
+it is with such care and so many precautions that the pipes become more
+troublesome than useful. A "Savage" has been known to make himself ill
+by smoking cigar after cigar solely for the pleasure of colouring his
+mouthpiece sooner than his fellows. No one cares about the flavour of
+the tobacco; the only important point is to draw the smoke in such a way
+as to colour the meerschaum equally all over. Now and again taking out a
+fine cambric handkerchief, the smoker will spend many minutes in rubbing
+the pipe with the most delicate care, while his spirit reposes in sweet
+abstraction from all earthly cares.
+
+Grave, dignified, and harmonious in grace, the most select of the
+members of the club sucked and blew tobacco smoke from two till four in
+the afternoon. There is something confidential and pensive in the task,
+as in every artistic effort, which induces them to cast their eyes down
+and fix their gaze so as to enjoy more entirely the pure vision of the
+Idea which lies occult in every amber and meerschaum cigar-holder. In
+this elevated frame of mind lounged our friend Pepe Castro, smoking a
+pipe in the shape of a horse's leg, when the voice of Rafael Alcantara
+roused him from his ecstasy by calling across the room:
+
+"Then you have actually sold the mare, Pepe?"
+
+"Some days ago."
+
+"The English mare?"
+
+"The English mare?" he echoed, looking up at his friend with reproachful
+surprise. "No, my good fellow, the cross-bred."
+
+"Why, it is not more than two months since you bought her. I never
+dreamed of your wanting to get rid of her."
+
+"You see I did," said the handsome dandy, affecting an air of mystery.
+
+"Some hidden defect?"
+
+"No defect can be hidden from me," replied Alcantara haughtily. And
+every one believed him, for in this branch of knowledge he had no rival
+in Madrid, unless it were the Duke de Saites, who had the reputation of
+knowing more about horses than any other man in Spain.
+
+"Want of pace, then?"
+
+"No, nor that either."
+
+Rafael shrugged his shoulders, and turned to talk to his neighbours; he
+was a ruddy youth, with a dissipated face and small greenish eyes full
+of cruelty. Like some others who were to be seen at the club every day,
+he frequented the company of the aristocracy without having the smallest
+right. He was of humble birth, the son of an upholsterer in the Calle
+Mayor. He had at an early age spent the little fortune which had come to
+him from his father, and since then had lived by gambling and
+borrowing. He owed money to every one in Madrid, and boasted of the
+fact.
+
+The qualities for which he was still admitted to the best houses in the
+capital were his courage and his cynicism. Alcantara was really brave;
+he had fought three or four duels, and was always ready to fight again
+on the slightest pretext. He was, too, perfectly audacious; he always
+spoke in a tone of contempt, even to those who most deserved respect,
+and was disposed to make game of any one and every one. These
+characteristics had gained him great influence among his fellow
+"Savages;" he was treated an equal by all, and was indispensable to
+every ploy; but no one asked him for repayment of a loan.
+
+"Well, General, did you like Tosti's singing last night?" asked
+Ramoncito of General Patino.
+
+"Only in her ballad," replied the General, after skilfully blowing a
+large cloud of smoke from a pipe made in the image of a cannon on its
+gun carriage.
+
+"You do not mean that she was not good in the duet?"
+
+"Certainly I mean it."
+
+"Then, Senor, I simply do not understand you; to me she seemed sublime,"
+replied the young man, with some irritation.
+
+"Your opinion does you honour, Ramon. It is greatly to your credit,"
+said Cobo Ramirez, who never missed an opportunity of vexing his friend
+and rival.
+
+"So I should think; that is as true as that you are the only person here
+of any judgment. Look here, Cobo, the General may talk because he has
+reasons for what he says--do you see? But you had better hold your
+tongue, for you wear my ears out."
+
+"But mercy, man! Why does Ramon lose his temper so whenever you speak to
+him?" asked the General laughing.
+
+"I do not know," said Cobo, with a whiff at his cigar, while he puckered
+his face into a slightly sarcastic smile. "If I contradict him he is put
+out, and if I agree with him it is no better."
+
+"Of course, of course! We all know that you are great at chaff. You need
+make no efforts to show off before these gentlemen. But in the present
+instance you have made a bad shot."
+
+"I am of the General's opinion. The duet was very badly sung," said
+Cobo, with aggravating coolness.
+
+"What does it matter what you say, one way or the other?" cried
+Maldonado, in a fury. "You do not know a note of music."
+
+"What then! I have all the more right to talk of music because I do not
+strum on the piano as you do. At any rate, I am perfectly inoffensive."
+
+This led to a long dispute, eager and incoherent on Ramon's part, cool
+and sarcastic on Cobo's; he delighted in putting his rival out of
+patience. This afforded much amusement to all present, and they sided
+with one or the other to prolong the entertainment.
+
+"Do you know that Alvaro Luna has a fight on hand this evening?" said
+some one when they were beginning to tire of "Just tell me," and "Let me
+tell you," from Cobo and Ramon.
+
+"So I heard," replied Pepe Castro, closing his eyes ecstatically as he
+sucked at his cigar. "In the Escalona's gardens, isn't it?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Swords?"
+
+"Swords."
+
+"Another honourable scar!" said Leon Guzman from where he was sitting.
+
+"Rapiers."
+
+"Oh! that is quite another thing."
+
+And the whole party became interested in the duel.
+
+"Alvaro has but little practice. The Colonel will have the best of it;
+he is the better man, and he fights with great energy."
+
+"Too much," said Pepe Castro, taking out his handkerchief, after
+throwing away his cigar-end, and wiping the mouthpiece with extreme
+care.
+
+Every one looked at him, for he had the reputation of being a first-rate
+swordsman.
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+"Yes, I do. Energy is a good thing up to a certain point; beyond that it
+is dangerous, especially with rapiers. With the broadsword something may
+be done by a rapid succession of attacks; it may at any rate bother the
+adversary. But with pointed weapons you must keep a sharp look-out.
+Alvaro is not much given to sword-play, but he is very cool, very keen,
+and his lunge is perfection. The Colonel had better be careful."
+
+"The quarrel is about Alvaro's cousin?"
+
+"So it would seem."
+
+"What the devil can she matter to him?"
+
+"Pshaw! who knows!"
+
+"As he is not in love with her I do not understand."
+
+"Nothing is impossible."
+
+"The girl is a perfect minx! This summer at Biarritz, she and that
+Fonseca boy behaved in such a way on the terrace of the Casino at night,
+that they would have been worth photographing by a flash light!"
+
+"Why, Cobo, there, before he left, figured in some dissolving views in
+the garden."
+
+"Alas! too true; that girl compromised me desperately," said Cobo in a
+tone of comical despair.
+
+"Well, you had not much to lose. You lost your character by that affair
+with Teresa," said Alcantara.
+
+"Beauty and misfortune always go hand in hand," Ramon added ironically.
+
+"_Et tu_, Ramon!" exclaimed Cobo with affected surprise. "Why the time
+is surely coming when the birds will carry guns."
+
+"Well, gentlemen, I confess my weakness," said Leon Guzman. "I cannot go
+near that girl without feeling ill."
+
+"And the damsel cannot be near so sweet and fair a youth as you without
+feeling ill too," said Alcantara.
+
+"Do you want to flatter me, Rafael?"
+
+"Yes; into lending me the key of your rooms to-morrow, and not coming in
+all the afternoon. I want it."
+
+"But there is a servant who devotes himself to water-colour painting
+every afternoon."
+
+"I will give him two dollars to go and paint elsewhere."
+
+"And a lady opposite who spends all her time in looking out of her
+window to see what is done or left undone in my rooms."
+
+"She will have a real treat! I will shut the Venetians.--I say,
+Manolito, do you mean to pass the whole of your youth stretched on that
+divan without uttering a word?"
+
+Davalos was in fact lying at full length in a gloomy and dejected manner
+without even lifting his head to notice his friend's sallies. But on
+hearing his name, he moved, surprised and annoyed.
+
+"If you were in my place you would feel little inclined for jesting,
+Rafael," said he with a sigh.
+
+It should be said that the young Marquis, who had never had a very
+brilliant intelligence, had now for some time been suffering from a
+distinct cloud on his brain. He was slightly cracked, as it is vulgarly
+termed. His friends were aware that this depression was all the result
+of his rupture with Amparo, the woman who had since thrown herself on
+the Duke's protection. She had, in a very short space, consumed his
+fortune, but he still was desperately in love with her. They treated him
+with a certain protecting kindness that was half satirical; but they
+abstained from banter about his lady-love, unless occasionally by some
+covert allusions, because whenever they touched on the subject, Manolo
+was liable to attacks of fury resembling madness. He was hardly more
+than thirty, but already bald, with a yellow skin, pale lips, and dulled
+eyes. His sister-in-law had taken charge of his four little children. He
+lived in an hotel on a pension allowed him by an old aunt whose heir he
+was supposed to be; on the strength of this prospect some money-lenders
+were willing to keep him going.
+
+"If I were in your shoes, Manolito, do you know what I would do? I would
+marry that aunt."
+
+The audience laughed, for Manolo's aunt was a woman of eighty.
+
+"Well, well," said he, in a piteous voice, "you know very well that you
+have not had to spend the morning fighting with unconscionable usurers
+only to end by giving in--in the most shameful way," he added in an
+undertone.
+
+"Don't talk to me! Don't you know, Manolo, that I have to get a new bell
+for my front door once a month, because my duns wear it out? But I take
+it philosophically."
+
+He went up to Davalos, and laying a hand on his shoulder, he said in so
+low a voice that no one else could hear him:
+
+"Seriously, Manolo, I mean it, I would marry my aunt. What would you
+lose by it? She is old--so much the better; she will die all the sooner.
+As soon as you are married, you will have the management of her fortune,
+and need not count up the years she still hopes to live. What you want,
+like me, is hard cash. Make no mistake about that. If we had it, we
+would get as fat as Cobo Ramirez. Besides, if you were rich, you could
+make Amparo send Salabert packing--don't you see?"
+
+Davalos looked wide-eyed at his adviser, not sure whether he spoke in
+jest or in earnest. Seeing no symptom of mockery in Alcantara's face, he
+began to be sentimental; speaking of his former mistress with such
+enthusiasm and reverence as might have made any one laugh. The scheme
+did not seem to him preposterous; he began to discuss it seriously and
+consider it from all sides. Rafael listened with well-feigned interest,
+encouraging him to proceed by signs and nods. No one could have supposed
+that he was simply fooling him, while from time to time, taking
+advantage of a moment when Manolo gazed at the toes of his boots,
+seeking some word strong enough to express his passion, Rafael was
+making grimaces at the group, who looked on with amusement and
+curiosity.
+
+The door of the room presently opened and Alvaro Luna came in. His
+friends hailed him with affectionate pleasure.
+
+"Bravo! Bravo! Here is the condemned criminal."
+
+"How dismal he looks!"
+
+"Like a man on the brink of the grave!"
+
+The new-comer smiled faintly, and glanced round the room. Alvaro Luna,
+Conde de Soto, was a man of about thirty-eight or forty, slightly built,
+of medium height with hard, keen eyes and a bilious complexion.
+
+"Have any of you seen Juanito Escalona?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," said some one. "He was here half an hour ago. He told me that you
+expected him, and that he would return punctually at a quarter to four."
+
+"Good, I will wait for him," was the answer, and Luna quietly came
+forward, and sat down among the party.
+
+Then the chaff began again.
+
+"Here, let me feel your pulse," said Rafael, taking him by the wrist,
+and pulling out his watch.
+
+The Count smiled and surrendered his hand.
+
+"Mercy, how frightful! a hundred and thirty. You might think he was
+condemned to death."
+
+It was a pure invention. His pulse was quite normal, and Alcantara shook
+his head at his friends in denial. The jest did not vex him. Conscious
+of his own courage, and convinced that no one doubted it, he still
+smiled as calmly as before.
+
+"Well, the funeral is at four to-morrow," said another. "I am sorry,
+because I had promised to go out hunting with Briones."
+
+"And it is a long way to the cemetery at San Isidro," said a third.
+
+"No, no, my dear fellow. We will take him to the Great Northern station,
+and carry him to Soto, the family Pantheon."
+
+This joking was not in good taste; however, Alvaro made no demur,
+fearing perhaps that the least symptom of impatience might suggest a
+doubt of his perfect coolness. Encouraged by his phlegmatic smile, the
+"Savages" did not know when to leave off; the jest about the funeral was
+repeated with variations. In point of fact he was getting tired of it;
+but they could not move him from his cold and placid smile. He said very
+little, and when he spoke it was in a few supercilious words. At last,
+taking out his watch, he said: "It is three o'clock. Three-quarters of
+an hour yet. Who is for a game of cards?"
+
+It was an excuse for releasing himself from these buzzing flies, and at
+the same time showed his perfect coolness. Three of the men went with
+him to the card-room. There the banter went on as it had done in the
+drawing-room.
+
+"Look at him! How his hand shakes!"
+
+"To think that within an hour he will have ceased to breathe!"
+
+"I say, Alvaro, leave me Conchilla in your will."
+
+"I see no objection," said Alvaro, arranging his hand.
+
+"You hear, gentlemen, Conchilla is mine by the testator's will. What do
+you call such a will as that, Leon?"
+
+"Nuncupatory," said Leon, who had picked up a few law terms in the
+course of a lawsuit against some cousins.
+
+"Conchilla is mine, by nuncupatory bequest. Thank you, Alvaro. I will
+see that she goes into mourning, and we will respect your memory so far
+as may be. Have you any instructions to leave me?"
+
+"Yes, to give her a dusting every eight or ten days; if she does not get
+a good cry once a week she falls ill."
+
+"Very good, it shall be done."
+
+"With a stick. She is used to a stick, and will not take a slapping."
+
+"Quite so."
+
+The fun grew broader and louder. Alvaro's imperturbability had the
+happiest effect. He understood that beneath all this banter his friends
+cared for him and appreciated his bravery.
+
+At this moment a servant came in who handed him a note on a silver
+waiter. He took it and opened it with some interest. As he read it he
+again smiled and handed it to the man next him. It was from the manager
+of a Cemetery Company, offering his services and enclosing a prospectus
+and price list. Some of the youngsters had amused themselves by getting
+him to do it. But Luna did not take offence, and he seemed greatly
+interested in his game.
+
+At last Juanito Escalona came to fetch him. After settling accounts he
+rose. They all gathered round him.
+
+"Good luck to you, Alvaro!"
+
+"I cannot bear to think of your being run through."
+
+"Do not be absurd; there is no running through in the case. It will soon
+be over, with nothing but a scratch."
+
+Jesting was now at an end, it was all good fellowship. Alvaro lighted a
+cigar with perfect coolness, and said quite easily: "_Au revoir_,
+gentlemen."
+
+There was a large infusion of true courage in this demeanour; but there
+was also a touch of affectation, and deliberate effort. The younger
+members of the Savage Club, though not much addicted to literature, are
+nevertheless to a certain extent influenced by it. The class of work
+they chiefly study is the _feuilleton_, and the fashionable novel. These
+books set up an ideal of manhood, as the old tales of chivalry did
+before them. Only in the old romances the model hero was he who
+attempted achievements beyond his strength, out of noble ideas of
+justice and charity, while in the modern story it is he who for fear of
+ridicule abstains from all enthusiasm and generosity. The man who was
+always risking his life for the cause of humanity is superseded by the
+man who risks it for empty vanity or foolish pride. Swagger has taken
+the place of chivalry.
+
+The party remained, talking of their friend's coolness. However, he was
+not for long the subject of their praise, for the first rule of "high
+tone" is never to show surprise, and the second is to discuss trifles at
+some length and serious matters very briefly. The company presently
+broke up, all the illustrious gentlemen going out to diffuse their
+doctrines throughout Madrid--doctrines which may be summed up as
+follows: "Man is born to sign I.O.U.'s and cultivate a waxed moustache.
+Work, education, and steadiness are treason to the law of Nature, and
+should be proscribed from all well-organised society."
+
+Maldonado, as usual, hung on to Pepe Castro's coat-tails. The reader is
+already aware of the deep admiration he felt for his model. And Pepe
+allowed himself to be admired with great condescension, initiating his
+disciple now and then into the higher arcana of his enlightenment on the
+subject of English horses and amber mouth-pieces. By degrees Ramon was
+acquiring clear notions, not alone of these matters, but also of the
+best manner of introducing French words into Spanish conversation. Pepe
+Castro was a perfect master of the art of forgetting at a proper moment
+some good Spanish word, and after a moment's hesitation bringing out the
+French with an air of perfect simplicity. Ramoncito did the same, but
+with less finish. He was also learning to distinguish Arcachon oysters
+from others not of Arcachon; Chateau Lafitte from Chateau Margaux; the
+chest-voice of a tenor from the head-voice; and Atkinson's tooth-paste
+from every imitation.
+
+But, as yet, Ramon, like all neophytes, especially if they are prone to
+exaltation and enthusiasm, exaggerated on the example of the teacher. In
+shirt-collars, for instance. Because Pepe Castro wore them high and
+stiff, was that any reason why Ramoncito should go about God's world
+with his tongue hanging out, enduring all the preliminary tortures of
+strangulation? And if Pepe Castro, in consequence of a nervous affection
+he had suffered from all his life, constantly twitched his left
+eyelid--a very graceful trick no doubt--what right had Ramon to spend
+his time grimacing at people with his? Then, too, the young civilian
+scented not only his handkerchief and beard but all his clothes, so that
+from a distance of ten yards, it was almost enough to give you a sick
+headache. And there was certainly nothing in the doctrines of his
+venerated master to justify this detestable habit.
+
+But the noblest and loftiest precepts of a great man too often
+degenerate, or are perverted, when put into practice by followers and
+imitators. Pepe Castro, though he was aware of his disciple's
+deficiencies and imperfections, did not cast them in his teeth. On the
+contrary, with the magnanimity of a great nature, he showed his clemency
+in pardoning and screening them. In his presence no one dared to make
+game of Ramoncito's collars or grimaces.
+
+It was a little after four when the two "Savages" came out of the club,
+buttoning their gloves. At the door stood de Castro's cart, which he
+sent away after fixing an hour for his drive. He was first to pay a
+visit by Ramoncito's request. They went down the Calle del Principe,
+where the club was situated, not hurrying themselves, and looking
+curiously at the women they met. They paused now and then to make some
+important remark on this one's elegance, or that one's style; not as
+bashful passers-by who gaze and sigh, but rather as Bashaws, who, in a
+slave market, discuss the points of those exposed for sale. On the men
+they bestowed no more than a contemptuous glance, or, as if that were
+not enough, they shrouded themselves, so to speak, in a dense puff of
+smoke, to show that they, Pepe and Ramon, belonged to a superior world,
+and that if they were walking down the street, it was only in obedience
+to a transient whim. Whenever Castro condescended to be seen on foot,
+his face wore an expression of surprise that his presence was not hailed
+by the populace with murmurs of admiration.
+
+Maldonado was the more talkative of the two. He expressed his opinion of
+those who came and went, looking up at Castro with a smile, while his
+friend remained grave and solemn, replying only in monosyllables and
+vague grunts. Ramoncito, it may be noted, was as far below his companion
+physically as mentally. When they walked out together they really looked
+very like some learned professor shedding the dew of learning drop by
+drop, and an ardent disciple greedy of knowledge.
+
+"By the way, where are we going?" asked Castro, vaguely, when they had
+gone down three or four streets.
+
+"Why, were we not going to call on the Calderons?" asked Ramon, timidly,
+and a little disconcerted.
+
+"Ah! to be sure; I had forgotten."
+
+Maldonado kept silence, wondering in his heart at the singular faculty
+of forgetfulness possessed by his friend. And they went along the
+Carrera de San Jeronimo to the Puerta del Sol.
+
+"How are you getting on with Esperancita?" Castro condescended to
+inquire, blowing a cloud of smoke, and stopping to examine a shop-front.
+
+Ramoncito suddenly turned very grave, almost pale, and began to stammer
+a reply.
+
+"Just where I was. Sometimes up, sometimes down. One day she is very
+sweet--well, not sweet--no; but any rate she speaks to me. Another day
+she is as gloomy as the grave; hardly comes into the room before she is
+gone again; scarcely notices me--as if I had offended her. Once, I
+understood, she had some reason to be vexed, for at the opera I often go
+to the Gamboas' box, and I fancy she had taken it into her head that I
+was sweet on Rosaura. Can you imagine such folly? Rosaura! But I have
+not been near them for this month past, and she is just the same, dear
+boy, just the same. The other day I had her to myself in the little room
+for a few minutes, and in the greatest haste I just managed to tell her
+that I wanted to know where we were; for you see I cannot hang on for
+ever. Well, she listened to me patiently. I must tell you that I was
+altogether carried away, and hardly knew what I was saying. When I
+ended, she assured me she had nothing to be vexed about, and fled to the
+drawing-room. After that, would you not suppose that it was a settled
+thing? Tell me, would not any man in my place suppose that he was on the
+footing of a regular engagement? Nothing of the kind; two days after,
+when I called, I tried to say a few words to her apart, as a lover may,
+and she snubbed me--she froze me. So there I am. I do not know whether
+she loves me, or ever will, and I have not the peace of mind to go about
+my business, or do anything on earth but think of that confounded little
+slut."
+
+"It seems to me," replied Castro, without diverting his attention from
+the window before which they stood, "that the girl has begun the
+attack."
+
+Ramoncito looked up at him with surprise and respect.
+
+"The attack?" said he.
+
+"Yes, the attack. In every battle the important point is to be the first
+to attack. If at the moment when the adversary is about to advance, you
+attack him with decision, you are almost sure to succeed; if you
+hesitate, you are lost."
+
+As he uttered the last words, he turned away from the shop-window and
+continued his majestic progress along the side-walk. Ramon did the same;
+he had very imperfectly understood the application to his case of this
+simile, derived from the art of fencing, but he abstained from asking
+any explanation.
+
+"So that you think----"
+
+"I think that you are preposterously in love with the girl, and that she
+knows it."
+
+"But then, Pepe, what reason can she have for refusing me?" Ramoncito
+began in a fume, as if he were talking to himself. "What does the girl
+expect? Her father is rich, but there are several children to divide the
+money. Mariana is still young, and besides, you know what Don Julian is.
+He would be torn in pieces sooner than part with a dollar. Honestly,
+waiting for his death does not seem to me a very hopeful business. I am
+not a nabob, but I have my own fortune; and it is my own, without
+waiting for anybody to die. I can give her as much comfort and luxury as
+she has at home--more!" he added, giving his head a determined shake.
+"Then I have a political career before me. I may be Under-Secretary or
+Minister some day when she least expects it. My family is better than
+hers; my grandfather was not a shop-keeper like Don Julian's father.
+Besides, she is no goddess; she is not one of those girls you turn
+round to stare at, you know. Why should she give herself airs when I
+take a fancy to her? Do you know who is at the bottom of it all? Why,
+Cobo Ramirez, and such apes as he, who have turned her head for her. The
+little fool expects a prince of the blood to come courting her,
+perhaps!"
+
+Ramoncito denied his lady's beauty, a sure sign of his being deeply and
+sincerely in love with her; his affection was not the offspring of
+vanity. His excess of devotion led him to run her down. Castro reflected
+that his companion's personal defects might have something to do with
+his ill-success in this and some other affairs; but he did not express
+the opinion. He thought it safer, as he closed his eyes and sucked his
+cigar, to pronounce this general truth:
+
+"Girls are such idiots."
+
+Ramoncito, agreeing in principle, nevertheless persisted in driving the
+application home.
+
+"She is a little goose. She does not know herself what she wants. I say,
+Pepe, what would you do in my place?"
+
+Castro walked on in silence for a little way, staring up at the
+balconies, wondering, no doubt, that all the world did not come out to
+see him pass. Then, after two or three deep puffs at his cigar, he put
+on a very grave and judicial air, and replied: "My dear fellow (pause),
+in your place, I should begin by not being in love. Love is _pour les
+bebes_, not for you and me."
+
+"That is past praying for," said the young deputy, looking so miserable
+that it was quite sad to behold.
+
+"Well, then, if you cannot get over the ridiculous weakness, at any rate
+do not let it be seen. Why do you try to convince Esperancita that you
+are dying for her? Do you think that will do any good? Convince her of
+the contrary, and you will see how much better the result will be."
+
+"What would you have me do?" asked Ramon anxiously.
+
+"Do not make such a show of your devotion, man; don't be so spoony. Do
+not go to the house so often and gaze at her with eyes like a calf with
+its throat cut. Contradict her when she talks nonsense; hint that you
+have seen much nicer girls; give yourself a little consequence, and you
+will see how matters will look up."
+
+"I cannot, Pepe, I cannot!" exclaimed Ramon, wiping his brow in excess
+of anguish. "At first I could master myself, talk without embarrassment,
+and flirt with other girls. Now, it is impossible. As soon as I am in
+her presence, I grow confused and bewildered, and do not know what I am
+saying, especially if I find her cross; every word she utters freezes
+me. You cannot imagine how haughty she can be when she chooses. If I try
+to talk to some one else, Esperanza has only to smile to bring me to her
+side at once. I did once pass nearly a month, almost without speaking to
+her; but at last it was too much for me. I would rather talk to her,
+even when she ill-treats me, than to any one else in the world."
+
+The two young men walked on in silence, as though under the burden of
+some great calamity. Pepe Castro was deep in thought.
+
+"You are lost, Ramon," he said at last, throwing away the end of his
+cigar, and wiping the mouth-piece with his handkerchief, before putting
+it by. "You are utterly done for. What you say has no sense in it. If
+you had any notion of managing yourself, you would never have got into
+such a mess. Women must always be treated with the toe of your boot;
+then you get on all right."
+
+Having given utterance to these few but profound words he again pulled
+up in front of a shop window.
+
+"Look," said he, "what a pretty dog-collar, it would just do for Pert if
+I bought it."
+
+Ramon looked at the collar without heeding, completely absorbed in his
+melancholy reflections.
+
+"Yes, Ramoncito," the young man went on, laying his arm on his
+companion's shoulder, "you are altogether done for; still, I venture to
+say that Esperanza will love you yet, if you only do as I tell you. Just
+try my plan."
+
+"I will try; I must come out of this fix one way or another," replied
+the youth pathetically.
+
+"Well, then, for the present you must go to the Calderon's not more than
+once a week, or less. We will go together or meet there. You must not
+find yourself alone with her, or in some weak moment you will undo
+everything. You are not to talk much to Esperanza, but a great deal to
+the other girls who may be present. Then you should sing the praises of
+rosy cheeks, tall figures, fair skins--of everything, in short, that is
+least like her, and be sure you are sufficiently enthusiastic.
+Contradict her, and without seeming too much grieved. You are very
+obstinate, and it does not do to discuss matters too much, a tone of
+mild depreciation is far more effective. You had better glance at me
+from time to time; I can give you some covert signals, and so you will
+always be sure of your ground."
+
+And thus, by the time they had reached the door of the Calderons' house,
+Castro had expatiated on his masterly plan of campaign, with many
+valuable hints and details. Only a marvellously lucid intellect, joined
+to wide and rich experience, only the most subtle nature could have
+entered so completely into the secret struggle to which Esperanza's
+objection to Ramon had given rise in his soul. At the same time he was
+the only person who could solve the riddle. Maldonado reached the young
+lady's home in a state of comparative tranquillity. As to his inmost
+purpose, it may be said that he had fully determined to assume the
+utmost dignity he could put on, and to offer a bold resistance to
+Esperanza's advance and attack.
+
+To begin with, he thought proper to put his hands in his pockets and
+pinch his lips into an ironical and patronising simper. He thus entered
+the little drawing-room where the banker's family were assembled, gently
+shaking his head as though he could not hold it up for the weight of
+many thoughts it contained. From the elegant to the coarse--as from the
+sublime to the ridiculous--there is but a step, and it would be bold to
+declare that Ramoncito, at the beginning of his interview with
+Esperanza, always kept on the right side of the narrow rift. There is
+some reason for supposing that he did not. What is, at any rate, quite
+certain, is that the young lady did not immediately detect the change,
+and when she did, it did not make so deep an impression as he had hoped.
+
+In the little sitting-room, when they were shown in, Mariana and
+Esperancita, with Dona Esperanza, the grandmother, were seated at their
+needlework; or, to be exact, Dona Esperanza and her grand-daughter were
+at work, Mariana was lounging in her chair, her eyes fixed on vacancy,
+and not moving a finger. Pepe Castro and Ramon, as being intimate with
+the family, were made welcome without ceremony. After shaking
+hands--excepting that Maldonado did not go through the ceremony with
+Esperancita--they sat down; Esperanza quite unable to imagine why Ramon
+intentionally neglected her, by way of a worthy beginning to the grand
+course of unpleasant discipline by which he hoped to school his beloved.
+Pepe took a chair next to Mariana, and Ramon next to Dona Esperanza.
+Before seating himself he had a momentary weakness. Seeing Esperancita
+sitting at some little distance from her mother, it seemed to him a
+favourable opportunity for a few private words, and as he moved his
+chair he hesitated; an expressive frown from Castro brought him to his
+senses.
+
+"The sight of you is good for weary eyes, Pepe," said Esperancita,
+fixing her smiling glance on the illustrious dandy.
+
+"They are beautiful eyes which see him now!" Ramon hastily put in.
+
+Castro, instead of replying, looked sternly at his friend, and the
+deputy much abashed, went on to remedy his blunder.
+
+"Fine eyes are the rule in this family."
+
+"Thank you, Ramon. But you are beginning to be as false as all
+politicians," said Mariana.
+
+"I do every one justice," replied he, blushing with delight at hearing
+himself spoken of as a public personage.
+
+"Why, how long is it since I was here?" said Pepe to the girl.
+
+"A fortnight, at least. It was on a Monday; Pacita was here. And this is
+Saturday; so you see--thirteen days."
+
+No one recollected so precisely when Maldonado had called last. Castro
+accepted this proof of interest with entire indifference.
+
+"I did not think it was so long. How the time flies!" said he
+profoundly.
+
+"Evidently. It flies for you--away from us."
+
+The young man smiled affably, and asked leave to light a cigar. Then he
+said:
+
+"No. It flies fastest when I am with you."
+
+"Faster than with Clementina?" asked the girl in an innocent tone, which
+betrayed no malice. But Castro looked at her gravely. His connection
+with Osorio's wife had hitherto remained more or less a secret; and that
+it should be known here, in her sister-in-law's house, disturbed him.
+Esperancita blushed scarlet under his inquiring gaze.
+
+"Much the same," he said coolly. "We are very good friends."
+
+"Are you going there to-day?" asked Mariana, not observing this by-play.
+
+"Yes; Ramon and I are going--Saturday? Isn't it? And you?"
+
+"I am not inclined to go out. I have been suffering a little these few
+days from sore throat."
+
+"Do not say you are ill, mamma," said Esperancita, pettishly; "say you
+would rather go to bed early." Her mother looked at her with large, dull
+eyes.
+
+"I have a relaxed throat, my dear."
+
+"How opportune!" exclaimed the girl, ironically. "I have not heard a
+word about it till this moment."
+
+"If you wish to go," said Mariana, understanding at last, "your father
+will take you."
+
+"You know very well that if you do not go, papa will not care to go
+either."
+
+Her voice betrayed her irritation. A gleam of satisfaction lighted up
+Ramon's face, and he shot a look of triumph at Pepe. It was when she
+heard that he, too, was going that she had begun to wish to join the
+party.
+
+The conversation now drifted into common-place, dwelling chiefly on the
+most trivial subjects: the news of the day, or the singers at the opera.
+Tosti's beauty was again discussed. Ramoncito, in the joy of his
+triumph, dared to call it in question, and abused tall and, above all,
+red-haired women. He admired only brunettes, round faces, a medium
+stature, and black eyes--in short, Esperancita; there was no need to
+name her. His friend Pepe, alarmed by this outburst, which was directly
+opposed to all the plans of siege on which they had agreed, made a
+series of grimaces for his guidance, and presently brought him back into
+the right way; but he then went so far into the other extreme, and began
+to contradict himself in so disastrous a manner, that the ladies
+presently remarked it, and he got bewildered and tied himself into a
+knot, from which he could not have extricated himself but for a timely
+rescue by his friend and chief.
+
+To remedy the blunder to some extent he entered on a long account of the
+sitting of the day before, with so many details that Mariana began to
+yawn, like the simpleton she was, and Dona Esperanza devoted herself to
+her embroidery, and made no secret of thinking of something else.
+Esperancita at last made a sign to Castro to come and sit by her. He
+obeyed, taking a low seat at her side.
+
+"Listen, Pepe," said she, in a low and tremulous voice. "Of late you
+have been very sullen with me. I do not know whether I can have said
+anything to vex you. If so, pray forgive me."
+
+"I do not know what you mean. I could never be vexed by anything that
+such a sweet little person as you might say," replied the young man,
+with the lordly smile of a Sultan.
+
+"I am glad it was a false alarm on my part. Many thanks for the
+compliment, if you mean it--which I doubt. It would grieve me to the
+heart to displease you in any way," and as she spoke she blushed up to
+her ears.
+
+"But I hear you are very apt to be displeasing."
+
+"Oh, no!"
+
+"So my friend Ramon tells me."
+
+Esperancita's countenance clouded, and a deep line marked her childlike
+brow.
+
+"I do not know why he should say so."
+
+"Your conscience does not prick you?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+"What a heart of stone!"
+
+"Why? If I have hurt his feelings it is his own fault."
+
+"So I told him. But I believe his complaint is in a fair way to be
+cured, and that he will not again expose himself to your thrusts. He has
+been more cheerful and less absent-minded these last few days."
+
+Castro was quite honestly doing his best for his friend.
+
+"I should be only too glad to hear it," said the girl, with perfect
+simplicity.
+
+Castro sang the praises of his friend and earnestly recommended him to
+Esperancita's good graces. But as he poured exaggerated eulogies into
+the girl's ear, his tone of disdain and the satirical smile which
+accompanied them somewhat weakened their effect. And even if it had not
+been so, she would have received them with no less hostility.
+
+"Come, Pepe, you want to make a fool of me?"
+
+"Indeed, Esperancita, Ramon has a great future before him, and in time
+may very likely be made Minister."
+
+The hero in question, meanwhile, was explaining, with his usual fluency,
+to Mariana and her mother, how he had discovered an extensive fraud in
+the custom-house returns on imported meat: three hundred and fifty hams
+had been brought into the country, a few days since, smuggled in with
+the cognisance of some of the officials. Ramoncito meant to bring these
+men to justice without delay. Mariana implored him not to be too severe
+with them; they were perhaps fathers of families, but she could not
+mollify him. His sense of municipal rights was more rigid perhaps than
+the muscles of his neck--to judge by the number of times he turned his
+head to look where Pepe and Esperancita were talking. He was not
+jealous; he had absolute confidence in his friend's loyalty; but he
+wanted his beloved to hear him when he brought out certain phrases: "To
+the bar of justice;" "I can no doubt obtain an adverse verdict;" "The
+municipal law requires that they should be prosecuted," and so forth, so
+that the angel of his heart might fully appreciate the high destiny in
+store for her if she were united to so energetic an administrator.
+
+They now heard steps in the adjoining room, and a cough which they all
+knew only too well. Dona Esperanza when she heard it hastily handed her
+work to her daughter, or, to be exact, crammed it into Mariana's hands.
+
+When Calderon came in, his wife was stitching with affected diligence,
+while her mother was sitting with her hands folded, as if she had not
+stirred from her attitude for a long time. Ramon and Castro had scarcely
+noticed the manoeuvre. The reason of it was that Calderon could not
+forgive his wife her apathy and indolence, regarding these faults as
+positive calamities, and himself as most unfortunate for having married
+so inert a woman. Not that any work she might do mattered in the
+household; but his vehemently laborious temperament asserted itself
+against one so diametrically opposed to it. Mariana's limpness and
+indifference irritated his nerves and gave rise to sharp discussions and
+frequent squabbles. She feebly defended herself, declaring that her
+parents had not brought her up to be a maid-of-all-work, since they had
+enough to allow her to live like a lady. Whereupon Don Julian would turn
+furious, and declare that it was the duty of every one to work, or at
+any rate to do something; that total idleness was incomprehensible; that
+it was a wife's duty to see that the property of the household was not
+wasted, even if she could not add to it, &c. &c. And, finally, that the
+mistress's incurable indolence was at the bottom of their domestic
+discomfort.
+
+Dona Esperanza was very unlike her daughter; by nature she was active,
+vigilant, and at least as avaricious as her son-in-law; she could never
+sit a quarter of an hour without something to occupy her hands. In the
+affairs of the house, indeed, she played no important part, because
+Calderon took a pleasure in managing and ordering everything himself.
+And this indicated a contradictory characteristic which must here be
+mentioned for a full comprehension of his character. He complained that
+his wife did not undertake the care of the house, and that he
+consequently was compelled to manage it, but at the same time, though he
+knew that his mother-in-law was both capable and willing, he would not
+leave it to her. This gave rise to a suspicion that, even if Mariana had
+been a prodigy of energy and method, he would no more have entrusted her
+with the management of domestic affairs than with his business. His
+suspicious and sordid nature made him prefer toil to rest; he would have
+liked to possess a hundred eyes to watch over everything that belonged
+to him. Dona Esperanza also lamented her daughter's incapacity, and
+eagerly seconded her son-in-law's stinginess, helping him very
+materially in his close vigilance. But while she herself found fault
+with Mariana's apathy, she was her mother after all; she hated that
+Calderon should blame her, and acutely felt their matrimonial
+differences. Consequently, whenever she could avert one she did so, even
+at the cost of some sacrifice, concealing Mariana's faults and
+voluntarily taking them on herself. It was for this reason that she had
+so precipitately handed to her the cushion she was embroidering.
+
+Don Julian came into the room reading the _feuilleton_ of _La
+Correspondencia_, which he carefully preserved and stitched together.
+Don Julian, strange as it may seem, was very fond of novels; but he only
+read those which came out in the _Correspondencia_, or the religious
+tales he gave his daughter who was at school. He had never been known to
+go into a bookseller's of his own accord to buy one. And not only did he
+read them, but he was very prone to weep over them. He was deeply
+sentimental at the bottom of his heart; it was a weakness of his
+constitution, like rheumatism or asthma. The misfortunes or poverty of
+others touched him greatly; if he could have remedied them by any means
+not involving any loss of money he would no doubt have done so at once.
+Generous deeds made him shed tears of enthusiasm; but he thought himself
+incapable of doing them--and he was right. And he made great efforts to
+do violence to his instincts; he was by no means the least ready to give
+of the rich men of Madrid. He set aside a fixed sum for the poor, and
+entered it in his accounts as though they were his creditors. But when
+once the monthly allowance was spent, he might, perhaps, have left a
+poor wretch to die of hunger in the street and not have given him a
+penny; not for want of feeling, but by reason of the strong hold figures
+had over his mind. The idea of depriving himself of a peseta for any
+other form of outlay than buying to sell was beyond his ken. Thus far
+his almsgiving had superior merits to that of other men.
+
+As he now entered the little morning-room his face betrayed traces of
+emotion. After greeting his visitors, he said, as he seated himself in
+an arm-chair:
+
+"I have just read an exquisite chapter in this novel--quite exquisite! I
+could not resist the temptation of bringing it in to read to these
+ladies."
+
+He paused, not daring to propose it to Castro and Maldonado, though he
+would have liked to do so. He was very fond of reading aloud, because he
+did it fairly well, and Mariana took pleasure in hearing him; so far
+they were well matched.
+
+"Read it, by all means, my dear; I do not think that Pepe and Ramon will
+object," said his wife.
+
+Pepe bowed slightly; Ramoncito hastened to express enthusiastic
+pleasure: he was devoted to fine passages, &c. From the father of his
+inamorata he would have listened to the reading of a table of
+logarithms.
+
+Don Julian wiped his spectacles, and, in a mild throat-voice which he
+kept for such occasions, began to read the episode describing the
+sufferings of a child lost in the streets of Paris. But his eyes
+instantly grew dim and his voice began to break, till at length he was
+so choked by emotion that he could scarcely be heard, and Ramon took the
+paper and read on to the end. Castro, looking on at this absurdity, hid
+a superior smile behind volumes of tobacco-smoke.
+
+The chapter being ended, every one praised it in the most flattering
+terms. Mariana looked at her work, and observed that she would need a
+piece of silk for the lining, since the cushion was nearly finished.
+Dona Esperanza, to whom she made the remark, was of the same opinion.
+
+"Ramoncito," said she, "be so good as to ring that bell."
+
+The young civilian hastened to comply, and the lady's maid immediately
+appeared.
+
+"I want you to go out and buy me a yard of silk," said her mistress.
+
+The girl, having taken her instructions, was about to depart on the
+errand, when Don Julian, who was listening, stopped her.
+
+"Wait a moment," said he; "I will see if I do not happen to have the
+thing you want." And he briskly left the room. In three minutes he
+returned with an old umbrella in his hand.
+
+"Do not you think the silk of this umbrella might serve your purpose?"
+he said. "It seems to me to be just the colour."
+
+Castro and Maldonado exchanged significant glances. Mariana blushed as
+she took the umbrella.
+
+"It is, no doubt, the right colour," she said; "but it is full of holes;
+it will not do."
+
+Esperancita pretended to be absorbed in her work, but her face was of
+the colour of a poppy. Dona Esperanza alone took up the question and
+discussed it seriously. Finally, the silk was rejected, to the chagrin
+of the banker, who muttered various uncomplimentary remarks on the
+management and economy of women.
+
+Ramon, by this time, could no longer endure the torments of Tantalus, to
+which his friend's plans had condemned him; he never ceased gazing
+across to the spot where Pepe and Esperancita were chatting. He began by
+rising from his chair under pretence of moving about a little, and
+walked to and fro. By degrees he approached the couple, and stood still
+in front of them.
+
+"Well, Esperancita, is it long since you saw Pacita?"
+
+How absurd an excuse for addressing her! He himself was conscious of it,
+and blushed as he spoke. Pepe flashed an indignant glance at him, but
+either he did not see it, or he pretended not to see it. The girl
+frowned, and replied, shortly, that she did not exactly recollect. This
+would have been enough for most people, but Ramon would not take an
+answer; on the contrary, he tried to prolong the conversation with
+vacuous or irrelevant remarks, and even tried to wedge a chair in
+between them and sit down; but Castro hindered him by covertly giving
+him a fiercely expressive stamp on the toes, which brought him to his
+senses. He continued his melancholy walk till, presently, he went back
+to his seat by the two elder ladies. He was soon engaged in an animated
+discussion with Calderon as to whether the paving of the streets should
+be done by contract or managed by a commission. He would have been only
+too glad to agree with his host; it was his interest to do so, since his
+happiness or misery lay in his hands, but the obstinate and fractious
+temper which Nature had bestowed on him led him to continue the
+argument, though he saw that Calderon was heated, and within an ace of
+being angry. Fortunately for him, before this point was reached, a
+servant entered the room.
+
+"What is it, Remigio?" asked the banker.
+
+"A man, Senor--a friend of Pardo's--Senor Mudela's coachman--has come to
+say that Senorito Leandro is not very well."
+
+"Bless me! What has happened to the boy? He is not accustomed to such
+dissipation. He has spent all his life at school or tied to his mother's
+apron-string. He must be taken away from this life of excitement.--And
+what is the matter with him?"
+
+Leandro was Don Julian's nephew, the son of a sister who lived in La
+Mancha. He had come to pay a visit to Madrid, and was leading a very
+jolly life in the society of other youths of his own age. He had begged
+his uncle to lend him his carriage for an excursion into the country.
+Don Julian, anxious not to offend his sister, to whom it was his
+interest to be civil, had granted the favour, though sorely against the
+grain.
+
+"The sun and the dinner have upset him a little."
+
+"Pooh! an attack of indigestion. He will get over that!"
+
+"I think you ought to go to see him, Julian," said Mariana.
+
+"If it were necessary, of course I should go; but, so far, I see no
+necessity. I say, Remigio, is he too ill to come here? Is he in bed?"
+
+"Well, Senor," said the man, turning his cap in his hands, and looking
+down, as conscious that his news was serious, "the fact of the matter is
+this--one of the mares, Primitiva, is knocked up."
+
+Calderon turned pale.
+
+"And she could not come home?"
+
+"No, Senor; she seems to be pretty bad, from what the Mudela's coachman
+says. Of course, those youngsters know nothing about it, and they let
+her drink her fill."
+
+Don Julian started up in the greatest agitation, and, without saying
+another word, he left the room, followed by Remigio. The young men again
+exchanged meaning looks. Esperancita happened to see this, and turned
+scarlet.
+
+"Papa takes such things so much to heart!" said she.
+
+"How should he do otherwise, child?--a thoroughbred which cost him three
+thousand dollars! It is a shame in Leandrito!" And for some minutes the
+old lady gave expression to her wrath, which was almost as great as her
+son-in-law's. Castro and Maldonado presently took leave. Mariana, who
+had taken the disaster with much philosophy, asked them to dinner.
+
+"Stay and dine; it is too late now for a walk."
+
+"I cannot," said Castro; "I dine at your brother's."
+
+"Ah, to be sure; it is Saturday. I had forgotten. We will look in, if I
+am no worse, at ten, when the cards begin."
+
+"Do you dine with Aunt Clementina every Saturday?" asked Esperancita in
+a low voice, but with a peculiar intonation. The young dandy looked at
+her for a moment.
+
+"Most Saturdays, since I dine with your Uncle Tomas."
+
+"Aunt Clementina is very pretty and very agreeable."
+
+"She is considered so," replied Castro, a little uneasy.
+
+"She has heaps of admirers. Are not you one of the most ardent of them?"
+
+"Who told you so?"
+
+"No one; I imagined it."
+
+"You imagined rightly. Your aunt is, in my opinion, one of the loveliest
+and most elegant women of Madrid. Good-bye till this evening,
+Esperancita." And he held out his hand with a condescending air, which
+pained the poor child. She showed her annoyance by addressing Ramon, who
+was standing a little apart.
+
+"And you, Ramon, why cannot you stay? Are you, too, going to dine at
+Aunt Clementina's?"
+
+"I? Oh, no."
+
+"Then stay with us--do. We will take care not to bore you."
+
+"I--bored in your society!" exclaimed he, almost overcome with delight.
+
+"Well, you will stay, then--won't you? Let Pepe go if he has other
+engagements."
+
+Ramoncito was about to accept with the greatest rapture, but Castro
+began to make negative signs at him over the girl's head, and with such
+vehemence that his hapless friend could only say, in a subdued voice:
+
+"No, I cannot either."
+
+"But why, Ramon, why?"
+
+"Because I have some business to attend to."
+
+"I am sorry."
+
+The young man was so deeply touched that he could scarcely murmur his
+thanks, and he left the room almost at a snail's pace. As soon as he was
+in the street Pepe complimented him eagerly, and assured him that his
+firmness must lead to the best results. But he received these
+congratulations with marked coldness, and preserved a stubborn silence
+till he reached home, where his friend and guide left him, his head full
+of gloomy presentiments and the blackness of night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+DINNER AND CARDS AT THE OSORIOS'.
+
+
+On the day after her visit to Raimundo, Clementina felt even more
+ashamed and crestfallen at having paid it than at the moment when she
+came down those stairs. Proud natures feel as much remorse for an action
+which, in their opinion, has humiliated them, as the virtuous do when
+they have failed in humility. In her inmost soul she confessed that she
+had taken a false step. The youth's serenity and courtesy, while they
+raised him in her eyes, irritated her vanity. What comments must he and
+his sister have been making since her absurd and uninvited call! She
+coloured to think of them. Not to see or to be seen by Alcazar from his
+observatory, she ceased to go out on foot. The young man kept his word;
+she saw no sign of him.
+
+But, why she knew not, his visage constantly rose before her eyes; he
+was perpetually in her thoughts. Was it aversion that she felt? Or
+resentment? Clementina could not honestly say that it was. There was
+nothing in his face or behaviour to make him odious to her. Was it, on
+the contrary, that his person had impressed her too favourably? Not at
+all. She met every day other men of more attractive manners and of more
+amusing conversation. So that it surprised as much as it provoked her to
+find herself thinking about him. She never ceased protesting to herself
+against this tendency, and reproaching herself for indulging it.
+
+One afternoon, some days after the scene just narrated, she decided on
+taking a walk. Not to do so seemed to her cowardly; she was doing this
+boy too much honour. As she passed the house where he lived she glanced
+up at his window and saw him sitting there, as usual, with a book in his
+hand. She immediately looked down, and crossed the road with stately
+gravity; but after going a few steps, she felt a vague sense of
+dissatisfaction with herself. In fact, not to bow to the young man, not
+even to return his bow, was unmannerly, after his frank explanation and
+the politeness with which he had shown her his fine collection of
+butterflies.
+
+Next day she again went out on foot, and repaired her injustice of the
+day before by looking steadily up at the window. Raimundo made her so
+respectful a bow, with so candid a smile, that the beauty felt
+flattered, and could not deny that the young fellow had singularly soft
+eyes, which made him very attractive, and that his conversation, if not
+remarkably elegant, showed a solid understanding and cultivated mind.
+She ought to have seen all this at first, no doubt, but for some unknown
+reason she had not. From this day forward she went out walking as
+before. As she passed the house in the Calle de Serrano she never failed
+to send a friendly nod to the upper window, or he to reply with eager
+courtesy; and as the days went on these greetings became more and more
+expressive. Without exchanging a word they were on quite intimate terms.
+
+Clementina made an attempt to analyse her feelings towards young
+Alcazar. She was not in the habit of introspection. She vaguely thought
+that it was an act of charity to show him some kindness. "Poor boy," she
+said to herself, "how fond he was of his mother! What happiness to have
+had so good and loving a son!"
+
+One afternoon when these greetings had been going on for more than a
+month, Pepe Castro asked her:
+
+"I say, is it long since that red-haired boy left off following you
+about?"
+
+Clementina was conscious of an unwonted shock, and coloured a little
+without knowing why.
+
+"Yes; I have not seen him for at least a month."
+
+Why did she tell an untruth? Castro was so far from imagining that there
+could be any acquaintance between this unknown devotee and his mistress
+that he did not notice her blush, and changed the subject with complete
+indifference. But to the lady herself, this strange shock and rising
+flush were a vague revelation of what was taking place within her. The
+first definite result of this revelation was that on quitting her
+lover's house, instead of thinking of him, she reflected that Alcazar
+kept his promise not to follow her with singular fidelity; the second
+was, that as she stopped to look into a jeweller's window and saw a
+butterfly brooch of diamonds, she said to herself that some of those she
+had seen in her friend's collection were far more beautiful and
+brilliant. The third effect came over her suddenly: on going into a
+book-seller's to buy some French novels, it struck her, as she saw the
+rows of books, that Pepe had certainly not read and would probably never
+read, one of them. Hitherto she had admired his ignorance, now it seemed
+ridiculous.
+
+Time went on and Senora de Osorio, tired of her fashionable existence,
+and having tasted every emotion which comes in the way of a beautiful
+and wealthy woman, began to find a quite peculiar pleasure in the
+innocent greetings she exchanged almost every day with the youth at the
+corner window. One afternoon, having dismissed her carriage to take a
+turn in the Retiro Gardens, she met Alcazar and his sister in one of the
+avenues.
+
+She bowed expressively; Raimundo saluted her with his usual respectful
+eagerness; but Clementina observed that the girl bowed with marked
+coolness. This occupied her thoughts and made her cross for the rest of
+the day, since she was forced to confess more than ever that this was at
+the bottom of her _malaise_ and melancholy. By degrees, and owing
+chiefly to her fractious and capricious nature, this love-affair, which
+might have died still-born, occupied her mind and became the germ of a
+wish. Now in this lady, a wish was always a violent desire, above all
+if there were any obstacle in her way.
+
+On a certain morning, after greeting Raimundo with the gesture peculiar
+to Spanish ladies, of opening and shutting her hand several times and
+going on her way, an involuntary impulse prompted her to look back once
+more at the corner window.
+
+Raimundo was following her movements with a pair of opera glasses. She
+blushed scarlet and hurried on, ashamed at the discovery. What had made
+her guilty of such folly? What would the young naturalist think of her?
+At the very least he would fancy that she was in love with him. But in
+spite of the ferment in her brain, while she walked on as fast as she
+could to turn down the next street and escape from his gaze, she was
+less vexed with herself than she had been on other occasions. She was
+ashamed, no doubt, but when she presently slackened her pace, a pleasant
+emotion came over her, a light flutter at her heart such as she had not
+felt for a long time.
+
+"I am going back to my girlhood," said she to herself, and she smiled.
+And it amused her to study her own feelings. She was happy in this
+return to the guileless agitations of her early youth.
+
+She was so absorbed in her meditations, that on reaching the Fountain of
+Cybele, instead of going down the Calle de Alcala, to go to Pepe Castro,
+with whom she had an appointment, she turned about, as though she had
+merely come for a walk. When she perceived it she stood still,
+hesitating; finally she confessed to herself that she had no great wish
+to keep the engagement.
+
+"I will go to see mamma," thought she. "It is days since I spent an hour
+with her, poor thing."
+
+And she went on towards the Avenue de Luchana. She was in the happiest
+mood. An organ was grinding out the drinking-song from _Lucrezia
+Borgia_, and she stopped to listen to it; she who was bored at the Opera
+by the most famous contralto! But music is the language of heaven, and
+can only be understood when heaven has found a way into our heart.
+
+Coming towards her, down the Avenue de Recoletos, was Pinedo, the
+remarkable personage who lived with one foot in the aristocratic world
+and the other in the half-official world to which he really belonged. By
+his side was a pretty young girl, no doubt his daughter, who was unknown
+to Clementina: for Pinedo kept her out of the society he frequented, and
+hid her as carefully as Triboulet hid his. The Senora de Osorio had
+always treated Pinedo with some haughtiness, which, as we know, was not
+unusual with her. But at this moment her happy frame of mind made her
+expansive, and as Pinedo was passing her with his usual ceremonious bow,
+the lady stopped him, and addressed him, smiling:
+
+"You, my friend, are a practical man; you too, I see, take advantage of
+these morning hours to breathe the fresh air and take a bath of
+sunshine."
+
+Pinedo, against both his nature and habit, was somewhat out of
+countenance, perhaps because he had no wish to introduce his daughter to
+this very smart lady. However, he replied at once, with a gallant bow:
+
+"And to take my chance of such unpleasing meetings as this one."
+
+Clementina smiled graciously.
+
+"You ought not to pay compliments even indirectly, with such a pretty
+young lady by your side? Is she your daughter?"
+
+"Yes, Senora--Senora de Osorio," he added, turning to the girl, who
+coloured with pleasure at hearing herself called pretty by this lady
+whom she knew well by sight and by name. She was herself pale and
+slender, with an olive complexion, small well-cut features, and soft
+merry eyes.
+
+"I had heard that you had a very sweet daughter, but I see that
+reputation has not done her justice."
+
+She blushed deeper than ever, and faintly murmured her thanks.
+
+"Come, Clementina, do not go on or she will begin to believe you. This
+lady, Pilar," he continued to his daughter, "takes as much delight in
+telling pleasant fibs as others do in telling unpleasant truths."
+
+"She is, I see, most amiable," said Pilar.
+
+"Do not believe him. Any one can see how pretty you are."
+
+"Oh, Senora----"
+
+"And tell me, tyrant father, why do you not give her a little more
+amusement? Do you think that you have any right to be seen at every
+theatre, ball and evening party, while you keep this sweet child under
+lock and key? or do you fancy we care more about seeing you than her?"
+
+Poor Pinedo felt a pang which he tried to hide; Clementina had laid a
+frivolous finger on the tenderest spot in his heart. His salary, as we
+know, allowed him to live but very modestly; if he went into a class of
+society which was somewhat above him, it was solely to secure his tenure
+of an office which was the sole means of sustenance for himself and his
+child. She knew nothing of this. Pinedo hoped to be able to marry her to
+some respectable and hardworking man; she was never to see the world in
+which she could not live, and which he himself despised with all his
+heart, although from sheer force of habit perhaps he could not have
+lived contentedly in any other.
+
+"She is still very young; she has time before her," he said, with a
+forced smile.
+
+"Pooh, nonsense! I tell you, you are very selfish. How long is it since
+you were at the Valpardos?" she went on to change the subject.
+
+"I was there on Monday; the Condesa asked much after you, and lamented
+that you had quite deserted her."
+
+"Poor Anita! It is very true."
+
+Pinedo and Clementina then plunged into an animated and endless
+discussion of the Valpardos and their parties. Pilar listened at first
+with attention; but as the greater number of the persons named were not
+known to her, she presently amused herself with looking about her, more
+especially at the few passers-by who were to be seen there at that early
+hour.
+
+"Papa," said she, taking advantage of a pause, "here comes that young
+friend of yours who maintains his mother and sisters."
+
+Clementina and Pinedo looked round both at once, and saw Rafael
+Alcantara approaching--the scapegrace youth whom we met in the Savage
+Club.
+
+"Who maintains his mother and sisters?" echoed Clementina, much
+surprised.
+
+"Yes, a very good young man, and a friend of papa's, called Rafael
+Alcantara."
+
+The lady looked inquiringly at Pinedo, who gave her an expressive
+glance. Not knowing what it could mean, but supposing that her friend
+for some reason did not wish her to speak of Alcantara as he deserved,
+she held her tongue. The young man as he passed them greeted them half
+respectfully, half familiarly. Pinedo immediately held out his hand to
+take leave.
+
+"This is Saturday you remember," said the lady. "Are you coming to
+dinner?"
+
+"With much pleasure. My regards to Osorio."
+
+"And bring this dear little girl with you."
+
+"We will see, we will see," replied the official again, much
+embarrassed. "If I cannot manage it to-day, some other time."
+
+"You must manage it, tyrant father. _Au revoir_ then, my dear."
+
+She took the girl by the chin, and kissed her on both cheeks, saying as
+she did so: "I have long wished to make your acquaintance. I sadly want
+some nice pretty girls in my drawing-room."
+
+And as she walked on, in better spirits than ever, she said to herself:
+"What on earth can Pinedo be driving at by making a saint of that
+good-for-nothing Alcantara?"
+
+With a light step, a colour in her cheeks, and her eyes sparkling as
+they had done in her girlhood, she soon reached the gate of the large
+garden in which her father's house stood. The porter hastened to open it
+and rang the house-bell. She went in, and, contrary to her usual custom,
+she smiled at the two servants in livery, who awaited her at the top of
+the stairs. She went by them in silence, and straight on to her
+stepmother's rooms, like one who has long been familiar with the place.
+
+The Duquesa at that moment was in council with the medical director of
+an asylum for aged women which she had founded some time since in
+concert with some other ladies. When the curtain was lifted and her
+stepdaughter appeared she smiled affectionately.
+
+"It is you, Clementina! Come in, my child, come in."
+
+Clementina's heart swelled as she saw her mother's pale, thin face. She
+hastened to her and kissed her effusively.
+
+"Are you pretty well, mamma? How did you sleep?"
+
+"Very well. But I look ill, don't I?"
+
+"Oh, no," her daughter hastily assured her.
+
+"Yes, yes. I saw it in the glass. But I feel well, only so miserably
+weak; and, as I have completely lost my appetite, I cannot get any
+stronger.--Then, as I understand, Yradier," she went on to the doctor,
+who was standing in front of her, "you undertake to look after the
+servants and the sick women, so that there may be no lack of due
+consideration for the poor old things?"
+
+The doctor was a pleasant-looking young man with an intelligent
+countenance.
+
+"Senora Duquesa," said he with decision, "I will do everything in my
+power to prevent the pensioners having any complaints to make; but at
+the same time, I must warn you that some may still reach your ears. You
+cannot imagine the vexatiousness and spite of which some women are
+capable. Without any cause whatever, simply to insult me and my
+colleagues, they are capable of heaping insolence on us. And the more
+attention we show them, the more airs they give themselves. I taste
+their broth and their chocolate every day, and I have never found it
+bad, as that old woman declared it to be. The hours are fixed and I have
+never known the meals to be late. If you will make inquiries you will
+convince yourself that the persons who have ground for complaint are the
+poor servants, whom the old women treat shamefully."
+
+The doctor had become quite excited and spoke these words in a tone of
+conviction.
+
+The lady smiled gently.
+
+"I believe you, I believe you, Yradier. Old women are very apt to be
+troublesome."
+
+"Ah! Senora, that depends."
+
+"We are, for the most part. But it is in itself an infirmity, and should
+excite compassion in those who suffer from it. I need not say so to you,
+for you have a charitable soul. But I beg of you to entreat those who
+are less forgiving, in my name, to be gentle and patient with the poor
+old women."
+
+"I will, Senora, I will," replied Yradier, won by the lady's sweetness.
+"We shall see you on Thursday then?"
+
+"I do not know whether my strength will allow of it."
+
+"Oh, yes, I will answer for it." And feeling that he was not wanted, the
+young man then took his leave, pressing the lady's hand with affection
+and respect which spoke in his eyes, while he bowed ceremoniously to
+Clementina.
+
+As soon as he was gone, she, who had been gazing with pain at her
+stepmother's worn features, and had been deeply moved by the goodness
+which was revealed in every word she uttered, rose from her seat and,
+kneeling down by Dona Carmen, took her thin white hands and kissed them
+in a transport of feeling. The beauty, who to all the rest of the world
+was so haughty, had a peculiar joy, not unlike the rapture of a mystic,
+in humbling herself before her stepmother. Dona Carmen's voice acted
+like a spell, stirring the dim sparks of virtue and tenderness which
+still lived in her heart, and fanning them for a moment to reviving
+heat. Then the elder lady gently removed her daughter's hat, and, laying
+it on a chair, bent down to kiss her fondly on the forehead.
+
+"It is four days since you last came to see me, bad girl"
+
+"Yesterday I could not, mamma. I spent the whole day over my accounts,
+doing sums. Oh, those hateful sums?"
+
+"But why do you do them? Is not your husband there?"
+
+"It is for fear of my husband that I do them. Do not you know that he
+has become as stingy and miserly as his brother-in-law?"
+
+Dona Carmen knew that Osorio's affairs were not prospering, and that he
+had lately lost heavily on the Bourse; but she dared not tell his wife
+so.
+
+"Poor, dear child! To have to think of such things when you were born to
+shine as a star in society."
+
+"This alone was wanting to make him absolutely detestable. If one could
+but live one's life over again!"
+
+The tender look had gone out of her eyes, they were gloomy and fierce; a
+deep frown puckered her statuesque brow, and in a husky tone she poured
+out all her grievances and related the daily vexations which her husband
+heaped upon her. To no one in the world but her stepmother would she
+have confided them; and she could speak of them without a tear, while
+Dona Carmen's weary eyes shed many as she listened.
+
+"My darling child! And I would have given my life to see you happy! How
+blind we were, your father and I, to entrust you to such a man!"
+
+"My father, indeed! A man who has never found out that he has a saint in
+his own house whom he ought to worship on his bended knees. When I
+think----"
+
+"Hush, hush! He is your father," exclaimed Dona Carmen, laying a hand on
+her lips. "I am quite happy. If your father has his faults, I have mine;
+so I have no merit in forgiving him his if he on his part forgives me.
+Do not let us discuss your father. Talk about yourself. You cannot think
+how these money difficulties worry me; I am not accustomed to them. I
+would set them right on the spot if I could; but, as you know, very
+little money passes through my hands. I have to account to Antonio for
+all I draw, and he is not easily hoodwinked. I might, to be sure, put
+aside a few gold pieces for you; but my savings would not help you far.
+However, I hope your difficulties will soon be over."
+
+The good woman paused, gazing sadly into vacancy; then, kissing her
+daughter, who was still on her knees before her, she spoke into her ear
+in a low voice, and went on:
+
+"Listen, child. I cannot live much longer, and I shall leave all I have
+to you. Half of your father's fortune is mine, as I understand from the
+family lawyer."
+
+Clementina felt a thrill, a shock, which a psychologist would find it
+hard to define--a mixture of sorrow and surprise, with an undercurrent
+of satisfaction. However, sorrow predominated; she kissed her stepmother
+again and again.
+
+"What are you saying? Die! No, you are not to die! I want you much, much
+more than your money. But for you I should have been a very wicked
+woman--and I shall be, I fear, the day you cease to live. The only
+moments when I feel any goodness in me are those I spend with you. I
+fancy, mamma, that you infect me with some of your exquisite virtue."
+
+"There, there--flatter me no more," said Dona Carmen, again stopping her
+mouth. "You think yourself worse than you are. You have a good heart.
+What sometimes makes you seem bad is your pride. Is not that the truth?"
+
+"Yes, mamma, quite true. You do not know what pride is, or the miseries
+it brings to those who feel it as I do. To be constantly thinking of
+things which hurt me--to see enemies on all sides--to feel a look as
+though it were the point of a dagger in my heart--to catch a word, and
+turn it over and over in my brain till it almost makes me sick--to live
+with my heart sore, my mind full of alarms--oh! how often have I envied
+those who are as good and as humble as you. How happy should I be if I
+had not a gloomy and suspicious temper and the pride which devours my
+soul! And who knows," she went on after a pause, "that I might not have
+been happier in some other sphere of life? If I had been poor, and had
+married some hard-working and intelligent young fellow, my lot might
+have been better. Obliged to help my husband, to take care of a
+business, or attend to the details of the house, like other women who
+labour and struggle, I might, perhaps, not have come to this. I ought to
+have had a loving and patient husband--a man of talent, who could guide
+me. As it is, mamma, accustomed as I am to luxury and the fashionable
+world, I would gladly give it all up this very day and go to live in
+some pleasant spot in the country, far from Madrid. I only want a little
+love, and to keep you with me to teach me to feel and be good."
+
+Clementina's present mood was idyllic; she had been pleasantly impressed
+by the simple home in the Calle de Serrano. In every woman, however
+hardened, however immersed in love adventures, there remains an eclogue
+in some corner of her brain which now and again comes to the surface.
+Good Dona Carmen listened to her and encouraged her by her smiles, and
+the younger lady's confidences lasted long. She recalled her early life,
+when she came to tell her stepmother of the declarations made to her at
+the ball of the night before, and to read her the _billets-doux_ of her
+adorers. These reminiscences of the past made her happy. She was even
+tempted to talk about Pepe Castro and Raimundo, and confess the childish
+feelings which stirred her soul; but a feeling of respect withheld her.
+Dona Carmen's leniency was indeed so excessive as to verge on folly; it
+is very possible that, even if her stepdaughter had confessed her worst
+sins, she would hardly have been scandalised.
+
+They breakfasted together, the Duke having gone to breakfast with a
+Minister. Afterwards, having relieved and refreshed their spirits with
+this long chat, they went together in the carriage to San Pascual's,
+where they prayed a while; and then they drove to the Avenue of the
+Retiro. They went home before dark, as the evening air was bad for Dona
+Carmen, and Clementina must be home in good time.
+
+It was Saturday, the day on which the Osorios kept open house for dinner
+and cards. Before going up to dress, Clementina looked round the
+dining-room, studied the arrangement of the table, and ordered some
+little alterations in the dishes of fruit which decked it. She sent for
+the packet of _menus_--written on parchment paper with the Duke's
+monogram stamped in gold--begged her husband's secretary to write the
+name of a guest on each, and herself laid them in order on the table
+napkins: herself and her husband opposite each other in the middle; to
+the right and left of Osorio, two ladies in the seats of honour; to her
+own right and left, two gentlemen; and then the rest of the party in
+order of dignity, age, or her own preference for her guests. Then she
+spoke a few words with the butler, and after giving him her
+instructions, she went away. At the door she turned to look once more at
+the table, and added:
+
+"Remove those strong-smelling flowers from the Marquesa de Alcudia's
+place and give her camellias, or something else which has no scent."
+
+The pious Marquesa could not endure strong perfumes, being liable to
+headache. Clementina, who hated her, showed more consideration for her
+than for any of her friends; her ancient title, severe judgment, and
+even her bigotry, made her respected, and her presence in a drawing-room
+lent it prestige.
+
+Clementina went to her room, followed by Estefania, the coachman's sworn
+foe. She put on a magnificent dress of creamy-white, cut low. She
+usually wore a sort of _demi-toilette_ for these Saturday receptions,
+with sleeves to the elbow. But this evening she was moved to display her
+much-praised person in honour of a foreign diplomate who was to dine in
+the house for the first time. While the maid was dressing her hair, her
+mind wandered vaguely over the events of the day. She had not kept her
+appointment with Pepe; he would certainly arrive in a rage. She pouted
+her under lip disdainfully, and her eyes had a spiteful glitter, as if
+to say: "And what do I care?" Then she remembered Raimundo's greeting
+and that ill-starred look backwards, with a feeling of shame to which
+her cheeks bore witness by a deepening colour. She called herself a
+fool--heedless, mad. Happily for her, the young man seemed to be simple
+and unpretending; otherwise he would at once have built wild castles in
+the air. She thought of him a good deal, and with some tenderness. He
+was, in fact, attractive and good-looking and had a way of speaking, at
+once gentle and firm, which impressed her greatly; then his passionate
+devotion to his mother's memory, his retired life, his strange mania for
+butterflies, all helped to make him interesting.
+
+How many times Clementina had thought over all this during the last few
+months it would be hard to say, but very often, beyond a doubt. Her
+spirit, lulled by a slumberous sweetness, was sentimentally inclined.
+That home on the third floor, that sunny study, that quiet and simple
+life. Who knows! Happiness may dwell where we least expect to find it. A
+heap of frippery, a handful of gems, a dish or two more on the table
+cannot give it. But an odious reflection, which for some little time had
+embittered all her dreams, flashed through her mind. She was growing
+old--yes, old. She allowed herself no illusions. Estefania found it more
+difficult every week to hide the silver threads among her golden hair.
+Though she firmly resisted every temptation to apply any chemical
+preparation to her beautiful tresses, she was beginning to think that
+there would be no help for it. The candid, eager, happy love, of which
+her adventure with young Alcazar had given her visions, was not for her.
+Nothing was left for her, nor had been for some time, but the vapid,
+vulgar inanities of aristocratic fops, all equally commonplace in their
+tastes, their speech, and their unfathomable vanity. What connection
+could there be between her and this boy but that of mother and son? She
+sometimes wondered whether Raimundo's feelings towards her were quite
+what he had described them in that first interview; but at this moment
+she was sure that he had spoken the simple truth, that love was
+impossible between a lad of twenty and a woman of seven-and-thirty--for
+she was seven-and-thirty though she was wont to take off two years--at
+any rate such love as she at this moment longed for.
+
+These reflections furrowed her brow, and with an effort she determined
+to think of something else. Looking at her maid in the glass, she
+noticed that the girl was deadly pale. She turned round to make sure,
+and said:
+
+"Are you ill, child? You are very white."
+
+"Yes, Senora," said the girl in some confusion.
+
+"Do you feel the old sickness again?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Well, go and lie down, and send up Concha. It is very odd. I will send
+for the doctor to-morrow, to see if he can do anything for you."
+
+"No, no, Senora," the girl hastened to exclaim. "It is nothing, it will
+go off."
+
+A few minutes later the lady made her appearance in the drawing-room,
+brilliantly beautiful. Osorio was there already, walking up and down the
+room with his friend and almost daily visitor at dinner, Bonifacio. He
+was a man of about sixty, solemn and starch, with a bald head, a yellow
+face and black teeth. He had been Governor in various provinces, and now
+held the post of chief of a Department of State. He talked little, and
+never contradicted--the first and indispensable virtue of a man who
+would fain dine well and spend nothing, and his dress-coat was
+perennially adorned with the red cross of the order of Calatrava to
+which he belonged. In his own house, the most conspicuous object was a
+portrait of himself with a very tall plume in his cap and an amazingly
+long white cloak over his shoulders.
+
+In one corner sat Pascuala, a widow with no perceptible income, whom
+Clementina regarded partly as a friend, and partly as a companion to be
+made use of, and with her, Pepa Frias, who had just arrived. As
+Clementina passed the two men to shake hands with Pepa, her eyes met her
+husband's in a flash like gloomy and ominous lightning. Osorio's face,
+always dark and bilious, was really impressive by its ferocity. It was
+only for an instant. The ladies exchanged a few words, and the men
+joined them, the banker beginning to jest with his wife about her dress
+in a tone of affectionate banter.
+
+"That is the way my wife wastes my money. My dear, though you may not
+care to hear it, I may tell you that you grow stout at an alarming
+rate."
+
+"Do not say so, Osorio, Clementina has the loveliest skin of any woman
+in Madrid," said Pascuala.
+
+"I should think so. The enamelling she went through in Paris last spring
+cost me a pretty penny."
+
+Clementina fell in with the jest, but she had great difficulty in acting
+her part. Through the convulsive smiles which now and then lighted up
+her face, and her brief enigmatical phrases, it was easy to see her
+uneasiness, and even a spice of hatred.
+
+The door-bell rang frequently, and in a few minutes the drawing-room
+held fifteen or twenty guests. The Marquesa de Alcudia brought none of
+her daughters; they were rarely seen at the Osorios'. Then came the
+Marquesa de Ujo, a woman who had been pretty, but was now much faded; as
+languid as a South American, though she was a native of Pamplona,
+somewhat romantic, by way of being _incomprise_, with literary tastes.
+She had with her a daughter, taller than herself, and who must have been
+fifteen at least, though her mother made her wear petticoats above her
+ankles that she might not make her seem old. The poor girl endured the
+mortification with a fairly good grace, though she blushed when any one
+happened to look at her feet.
+
+Next came General Patino, Conde de Morillejo; he never missed a
+Saturday. Then the Baron and Baroness de Rag appeared; it was their
+first dinner there, and Clementina devoted herself to them, heaping them
+with attentions. The Baron was plenipotentiary of some great foreign
+Power. The Minister of Arts and Agriculture, Jimenez Arbos, Pinedo, Pepe
+Castro, and the Cotorrasos husband and wife--all came in together.
+
+At the last moment, when it wanted but a few minutes of seven, Lola
+Madariaga and her husband arrived. This lady, though much younger than
+Clementina, was her most intimate friend, and the confidant of all her
+secrets. She dined with her three or four times a week, and hardly a day
+passed without their driving out together. She could not be called
+pretty, but her face was so animated, her eyes sparkled so sweetly, and
+her lips parted in such a bewitching smile to show her little white
+teeth, that she had always many admirers. As a girl she had been an
+accomplished flirt, turning all the men's heads, loving to have them at
+her feet, prodigal of those insinuating smiles alike to the son of a
+duke or a humble employe, to the old man with a bald head and a bottle
+nose, or the slender youth of twenty, to the rich or the poor, the noble
+or the plebeian. Her coquetry equalised ranks and fortunes, uniting all
+men in a holy brotherhood to bask in the bright light of her fine black
+eyes, and adore the delicious dimples which a smile brought into her
+cheek, with all the other gifts and graces which a merciful Providence
+had bestowed on her. Since her marriage she still showed the same
+inexhaustible benevolence towards the human race, but in a less
+wholesale fashion--that is to say, towards one, or at most two, at a
+time. Her husband was a Mexican, very rich, with traces of Indian blood
+in his features.
+
+They had been in the room only a minute or two when they were followed
+by Fuentes, a very lively little man, ugly and lean, and a good deal
+marked by the small-pox. No one knew what he lived on; he was supposed
+to have some small investments. He was to be seen in every drawing-room
+of any pretensions, and had a seat at the best tables. His titles to
+such preference lay in his being regarded as a brilliant and witty
+talker, intelligent and agreeable. For more than twenty years he had
+shone at the dinners and balls of Madrid, playing the part of first
+funny man. Some of his jests had become proverbial; they were repeated
+not only in drawing-rooms but in the cafes, and from thence were
+exported to the provinces. Unlike most men of his stamp, he was never
+ill-natured. His banter was not intended to wound, but only to amuse the
+company, and excite admiration for his easy, quick, and subtle wit. The
+utmost license he allowed himself was to seize on the ridiculous side of
+some absent friend as the subject for an epigram, but never, or almost
+never, at the cost of his credit. These qualities made him the idol of
+his circle. No one thought a party complete unless Fuentes at least put
+in an appearance in the course of the evening.
+
+"Ah, Fuentes! Here is Fuentes!" cried one and another, as he appeared,
+and a number of hands were extended to greet him. Shaking the first he
+happened to grasp, he turned to the mistress of the house, saying in a
+dry voice which in itself had a comic effect:
+
+"Pardon me, Clementina, if I am a little late. On my way I was caught by
+Perales. You know Perales; I need say no more. Then, when I escaped from
+his clutches, at the corner by the War Office, I fell into those of
+Count de Sotolargo, and he, you know, is saddled with fifty per cent.
+handicap."
+
+"Why?" asked Lola Madariaga.
+
+"He stammers, Senora."
+
+All laughed, some loudly, others more discreetly. That the sally was not
+impromptu was evident a mile off; but it produced the desired effect,
+partly because it really was droll, and partly because it was a point of
+honour with every one to laugh whenever Fuentes opened his lips.
+
+A moment later a servant in livery opened the door, and announced that
+dinner was served.
+
+Osorio hastened to offer his arm to the Baroness de Rag, and led the way
+to the dining-room. The Baron closed the procession, leading Clementina.
+The servants all stood in a row, armed with napkins and headed by the
+butler. Osorio marshalled each guest to his place, and they soon were
+all seated.
+
+The table was elegantly and attractively laid. The light from two large
+hanging lamps shone on bright-hued flowers and fruit, on a snowy cloth,
+sparkling glass, and shining porcelain. This light, however, being
+somewhat crude, did not do justice to the ladies; it gave everything the
+sharpness of an image in a camera. To moderate the glare and produce a
+more diffused light, Clementina had two large candelabra, with coloured
+shades, placed at each end of the table. All the ladies were in low
+dresses--some, like Pepa Frias, disgracefully _decolletees_. The
+gentlemen were in evening dress with white ties.
+
+At first the conversation was only between neighbours. The Baroness de
+Rag, a Belgian, with brown hair and light blue eyes, and rather stout,
+was asking Osorio the Spanish names for the various objects on the
+table. She had not been long in Spain, and was most anxious to learn the
+language. Clementina and the Baron were talking French. Pepa Frias, who
+was between Pepe Castro and Jimenez Arbos, said to Castro, in an
+undertone:
+
+"What do you think of Lola's husband? Really, not so bad for a
+Brazilian?"
+
+Castro smiled with his characteristic superciliousness.
+
+"He must have lassoed many cows in the Pampas?"
+
+"Till a cow lassoed him."
+
+"But that was not on the Pampas."
+
+"I know--in a public garden. That is no news."
+
+General Patino, faithful to military tradition and his own instincts,
+was laying siege in due form to the Marquesa de Ujo, who sat by him.
+
+"Pearls suit you to perfection, Senora. A smooth and slightly olive skin
+like yours, betraying the warm blood and fire of the South, is
+peculiarly set off by Oriental splendour."
+
+"Flattering me as usual, General. I wear pearls because they are the
+best gems I happen to possess. If I had emeralds as fine as
+Clementina's, I would leave my pearls in the jewel case," replied the
+lady, showing a row of rather faulty teeth when she smiled, heightened
+with a few bright spots of dentist's gold.
+
+"You would be in error. A pretty woman should always wear what becomes
+her most. The Almighty is surely best pleased to view His finest works
+at their best. Emeralds suit fair complexions; but you are like the
+Xeres grape: amber-tinted, with a heady and intoxicating essence at the
+core."
+
+"As it might be a raisin!"
+
+"No, no, Marquesa; no."
+
+The General eagerly repelled the charge and defended himself as
+valiantly as though in front of the enemy.
+
+Meanwhile the servants were moving about handing various dishes, while
+others, bottle in hand, murmured in the ear of each guest, "Sauterne,
+Sherry, Margaux," in a hollow tone like that of a Carthusian monk
+muttering his _memento mori_.
+
+"I drink nothing but iced champagne," Pepa Frias announced to the
+servant behind her.
+
+"You need so much cooling," exclaimed Castro.
+
+"You surely knew that," said the widow with a meaning look.
+
+"To my sorrow!"
+
+"Why, are you tired of Clementina?"
+
+Fuentes was not happy under these conditions. It grieved him to lavish
+his wit in a _tete-a-tete_, so he seized the first opportunity of
+raising his voice and attracting the attention of the whole party.
+
+"I saw you in the Carrera de San Jeromino yesterday morning, Fuentes,"
+said the Condesa de Cotorraso, who sat three or four places lower down.
+
+"That depends on what you call the morning, Condesa."
+
+"It was about eleven, a little before or after."
+
+"Then allow me to dispute your statement. I am never out of bed till
+two."
+
+"Till two!" exclaimed one and another.
+
+"That is going to an excess!" cried the Marquesa de Alcudia.
+
+"But it is an aristocratic excess. Who gets up earliest in Madrid? The
+scavengers, porters, scullions. A little later you will see the shopmen
+taking down their shutters, the old women going to early Mass, grooms
+airing their masters' horses, and so forth. Next come the men of
+business and office clerks, who do all the real work of the Government,
+milliners' girls and the like. By about eleven you may meet a better
+class, officers in the army, students, civilians of a higher grade, and
+merchants. At noon you see the larger fry, heads of houses, bankers, and
+land-owners; but it is not till two that Ministers of State, Directors,
+Grandees of the realm and distinguished writers are to be seen in the
+streets."
+
+The whole company were listening, greatly edified by this defence of
+laziness, and feeling themselves in a position to laugh at it, saying in
+an undertone:
+
+"That Fuentes! Oh, that Fuentes can talk any one down!"
+
+Then, simply for the pleasure of it, some one contradicted him.
+
+"But then, my dear fellow, you do not know the delights of getting up
+early in the morning to breathe the fresh air and bathe in the
+sunshine!"
+
+"I would sooner bathe in warm water with a little bottle of Kananga."
+
+"Can you deny that the sun is glorious?"
+
+"Glorious by all means, but just a little vulgar. I do not say that at
+the creation of the world it may not have been a very striking thing,
+worth getting up to look at; but you must admit that by this time it is
+a little played out. Can there be anything more ridiculous in these
+downright days than to call oneself Phoebus Apollo and drive a golden
+chariot? And, after all, the sun has no intrinsic merits; it stays
+blazing where God put it, while gas and the electric light represent the
+brain-work of men of genius. They are the triumph of intelligence, a
+record of the power of mind over matter, the sovereignty of intellect
+throughout the universe. Besides, you can always see the sun for
+nothing, and I have always had a horror of free exhibitions."
+
+The company were all in fits of laughter, and Fuentes, encouraged by
+their mirth, outdid himself in paradoxes and ingenious quibbles,
+obviously forcing his own hand now and then. He fell into the mistake of
+certain over-praised actors: he did not know where to stop, and at last
+became farcical. From the farcical to the gross is but a step, and
+Fuentes not infrequently crossed the line.
+
+The Conde de Cotorraso persisted in his defence of the sun to encourage
+his friend's ingenious abuse. It was the sun which gave vitality to all
+nature, which warmed the earthly globe, and so forth.
+
+"As to the sun giving life, I deny it," replied Fuentes. "Madrid is much
+more alive by night than by day, and, as to warming me, I much prefer
+coke, which does not give rise to fevers. Come, Count, be frank now.
+What particular merit can there be in a thing which, under all
+circumstances, your valet must see before you do?"
+
+This was regarded as a final happy hit, and the subject was dropped.
+
+From talking of the sun they came to talking of the shade, and of the
+shade of poisonous trees. The Marquesa de Ujo asked Lola's husband, the
+Mexican, whose name was Ballesteros, whether the manchineel were a
+native of his country. He replied that it was not, but that he had seen
+it growing in Brazil. The lady inquired very particularly into its
+properties, but she was greatly disenchanted on hearing that the shade
+of the tree was not pernicious, and that it was only the acrid juice of
+the fruit which was poisonous.
+
+"So that you do not die if you fall asleep under it?"
+
+"Senora, I did not fall asleep, don't you see? But I breakfasted under
+one with a party of friends, and we were none the worse."
+
+"Well, then, how does Selika commit suicide in the _Africaine_ by lying
+down in the shade of a manchineel?"
+
+"It is a fable, an invention of the poet's. It is a pretty idea but not
+true."
+
+The Marquesa, quite disappointed by this realistic view of the matter,
+refused altogether to accept it, and argued that possibly the
+manchineels of India were not the same as the American kind.
+
+"Is it true, Ballesteros," asked Clementina, "that you have eight
+hundred thousand cows?"
+
+"Oh, Senora, that is an exaggeration! My herds number three hundred
+thousand at most."
+
+"If they were mine," said Fuentes, "I would build a tank as large as the
+Retiro Gardens, and fill it with milk and sail a boat on it."
+
+"We make no use of the milk, Senor, nor of the butter. We sometimes dry
+the meat for exportation, don't you see? But generally we only save the
+skin. And the horns also are sold for various forms of manufacture."
+
+"Plague take him for a bore!" said Pepe Castro in a low voice, but loud
+enough for Jimenez Arbos to hear where he sat by Pepa Frias, who was
+taken with a fit of laughter which she had the greatest difficulty in
+choking down.
+
+She addressed herself to Clementina to conceal her mirth as far as
+possible:
+
+"Pass me the mustard, there's a trump," said she.
+
+"Trump, trump? What is a trump?" asked the Baroness de Rag, in her
+eagerness to learn the language, and Osorio explained the use of the
+word.
+
+Pepa addressed herself from time to time to Jimenez Arbos; a few brief
+sentences in a low tone, which showed that they were on intimate terms,
+and at the same time revealed a desire to be prudent. Her conversation
+with Castro on her left was more animated.
+
+"Why don't you advise Arbos to eat more meat?" he asked her.
+
+"Why should I?"
+
+"Because he ought to eat meat to give him strength to endure the
+fatigues of daily life."
+
+"To be sure," said the widow, sarcastically. "But do you take care of
+yourself and leave others to settle their own affairs as Providence may
+guide them."
+
+"Well, you see I manage to get fed."
+
+"Yes, but do not let it go to your brain, or one fine day, when you
+least expect it, you may find yourself without a dinner."
+
+"Have I offended you?" said the young man, laughing as if he had heard
+something very amusing.
+
+"No, my dear fellow, no. I mean what I say. For my part I cannot think
+how Clementina can bear such a Narcissus as you."
+
+"Hush! hush! Be careful, Pepa, pray be careful!" cried Castro, with an
+alarmed glance at the mistress of the house.
+
+"Do you know she is wonderfully artful. She has not looked at you once."
+
+Castro, who had been a good deal piqued these few days past by his
+lady's coldness, smiled a forced smile and then knit his brows. Pepa did
+not fail to observe this.
+
+"Look at the black cloud on Osorio's face; it is enough to frighten one!
+And you are the guilty cause of it, you wretch!"
+
+"I! Oh, dear no! It is more likely to be some question of ready money
+which makes him look so bilious. I hear he is ruined, or within an ace
+of it."
+
+Pepa started visibly.
+
+"Who says so? Where did you hear that?"
+
+"Several persons have told me so."
+
+The widow turned sharply to Arbos on her other hand, and asked him in a
+whisper:
+
+"Have you heard anything about Osorio's being ruined?"
+
+"Yes, I have heard it said that Osorio has for some time been buying for
+a fall, and the market has gone up steadily," replied the official, with
+a toss of his head suggesting a peacock, and there was a touch of
+evident satisfaction in his tone. To a politician, buying for a fall is
+a crime worthy of any punishment. "I do not know how much he may be let
+in for at the next account; but if it is anything considerable, he is a
+ruined man. Consols have gone up one per cent., by the end of the month
+they may have risen to two."
+
+Pepa's good spirits had entirely disappeared. She sat looking at her
+plate and listlessly using her fork to finish the slice of York ham she
+had taken. The Minister, observing her gloomy silence, asked her:
+
+"Have you by any chance any money in his hands?"
+
+"By chance! No, by my own idiocy. Almost everything I possess is in his
+hands."
+
+"The devil it is!"
+
+"Everything I have eaten has turned on my stomach; I believe I am going
+to be ill," said the lady, who was as pale as a sheet.
+
+Arbos did his best to tranquillise her; perhaps it was not true: sudden
+losses, like sudden fortunes, are always greatly exaggerated. Besides,
+if any deposit were sacred to Osorio, it would surely be that of a lady
+who had entrusted her money to him out of pure friendship.
+
+Though they were talking almost in a whisper, their grave looks and
+earnest manner attracted the notice of General Patino, who, turning to
+the Marquesa de Ujo, said with singular perspicacity:
+
+"Just look at Pepa and Arbos, a summer cloud has fallen on them. Love is
+a beautiful thing even in its transient torments!"
+
+Clementina meanwhile, with Lola and the Condera de Cotorraso, had been
+discussing the effects of arsenic as a drug for beautifying the
+complexion and skin. It was the first time Lola had heard of it, and she
+was quite delighted, declaring that she would forthwith try this
+miraculous elixir.
+
+"Good heavens, Lolita!" exclaimed Fuentes, "if, as you are, you cause
+such havoc in masculine hearts, what will happen after you have followed
+a regimen of arsenic for a few months? Senor Ballesteros, do not permit
+her to take it; it is too cruel to the rest of us."
+
+"Come, come, friend Fuentes," said the pretty brunette, casting an
+insinuating glance at Castro, for she had taken it into her head that
+she would snatch him from Clementina, "are you trying to chaff me?"
+
+"Chaff, what is chaff?" the Baroness de Rag asked again.
+
+Bonifacio had for some moments been staring, without winking even, at
+the Belgian lady. A few days since he had purchased a photograph of a
+figure lounging in a hammock. He fancied that the Baroness strongly
+resembled this picture, and was anxious to convince himself by a
+prolonged study of what he could see whether what he could not see was
+equally like it.
+
+The dinner could not end of course without a long discussion of the
+opera, Gayarre and Tosti. Otherwise the meal could not have been
+digested. The coffee was served in the dining-room, as was the custom of
+the house. Then the ladies withdrew to the drawing-room, followed by
+several of the men; others remained to smoke, but it was not long before
+they joined the others. The dining-room was intolerably hot.
+
+Pepe Castro took advantage of the little stir as they left the
+dining-room to ask Clementina:
+
+"Why did you not come this morning?"
+
+Clementina paused a second, and looked at him with a condescending
+smile. "This morning?" she said. "I don't know."
+
+"You don't know?" said the lordly youth with a sovereign frown.
+
+"I don't know, I don't know," and she turned away still smiling a little
+disdainfully.
+
+"You will come to-morrow?"
+
+"We will see," she replied, walking away.
+
+Castro felt that smile like a stab in his breast. He bit his under-lip,
+muttering: "Coquetting, eh? You shall pay me for this, my beauty!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+AFTER DINNER.
+
+
+There were already some fresh arrivals in the drawing-room, among them
+Ramon Maldonado, and Pepa's daughter with her husband. In the adjoining
+room, six tables were laid out for cards, and some of the company sat
+down immediately to play _tresillo_. Others waited for their usual party
+to appear. It was not long before the rooms were crowded. Don Julian
+arrived with Mariana and Esperancita, Cobo Ramirez with Leon Guzman and
+three or four others of the same kidney, General Pallares, the Marquis
+de Veneros, and several others, most of the men being merchants and
+bankers.
+
+One of the last to arrive was the Duke de Requena, who was welcomed with
+the same eager and flattering deference here as elsewhere. He came in
+snuffling, smoking, spitting, insolently sure of the respect always paid
+to his immense fortune. He spoke little and laughed less, expressed his
+opinions with gross rudeness, and sat to be adored by the crowd of
+ladies who gathered round him. His cheeks were more flabby, his eyes
+more bloodshot, his lips blacker than ever. His whole appearance was so
+hideous that Fuentes, pointing him out, remarked to Pinedo and Jimenez
+Arbos: "There you see the Devil holding court among his witches at a
+Sabbath."
+
+He was invited to join a party at _tresillo_, as usual, but declined. He
+had caught sight of two bankers, whom he was eager to secure for the
+affair of the Riosa Mines, and he also wanted to pay court for a few
+minutes to Arbos. He had already contrived to get the mine put up to
+sale by auction with all its lands and plant. A company had been formed
+to buy it, but there was a difference of opinion among the directors;
+some wanted to pay for it money down, and among these was Salabert,
+while others wished to take advantage of the ten instalments allowed by
+the Government. The difference in interest was of course enormous.
+
+The Duke made his way to speak to a Mr. Biggs, the representative of an
+English house, which was largely interested in the company, and the head
+of the party who were for payment by instalments. He put his arm over
+his shoulder, and led him into the recess of a window, saying roughly:
+
+"Then you are bent on ruining us!"
+
+And he proceeded to discuss the matter with a bluntness which
+disconcerted the Englishman. He replied to the Duke's brutal attack with
+mild and courteous argument, and a fixed benevolent smile. The Duke only
+spoke with added rudeness, which was in point of fact, very diplomatic.
+
+"I have no fancy for throwing away my money. It has cost me a great deal
+of trouble to get it at all, you see; and in the long run I may very
+likely be obliged to escape with my skin by getting out of the
+business."
+
+"Senor Duque, it is no fault of mine," said Biggs, with a strong English
+accent, "I must obey orders."
+
+"These orders are instigated by an old fox in Madrid that I know of."
+
+"Oh, Senor Duque! there is no old fox in the case," said Biggs,
+laughing.
+
+And the banker could not get anything out of the Englishman, though he
+left him much to think of.
+
+Pepa Frias, in great agitation, after ascertaining from various
+authorities that Osorio's affairs were looking badly, was talking
+matters over with Jimenez Arbos. Every one was of opinion that Osorio
+could meet his engagements; he had a large capital, and though he had
+lost heavily at the last few settlements, it was not supposed that he
+could be seriously hit. It must, however, be added, that none of these
+gentlemen gambled, as Osorio did, for differences in the market. With
+him it had become a vice, and, in spite of the warnings of his friends
+and colleagues, he could not control the passion which sooner or later
+must inevitably bring him to ruin.
+
+Pepa was watching him closely, and with a woman's keen insight she
+divined a troubled sea under his cold, quiet demeanour. Arbos was
+soothing her in stilted and well turned phrases--for not even to his
+mistress could he throw off the orator--while the widow herself was
+meditating some means of salvation. Her plan was to give the alarm to
+Clementina, and extract her promise to snatch Pepa's fortune from the
+burning, if burning there must be, by pledging her own settlements.
+Trusting much to her own diplomacy, and to her friend's reckless habits,
+she grew somewhat calmer, and Arbos took advantage of her restored
+serenity to exert the exceptional gifts of persuasion which Providence
+had bestowed on him.
+
+Pepa recovered so far, in fact, as to sit down to cards with Clementina,
+Pinedo, and Arbos. As she crossed the drawing-room, she saw in a corner
+her daughter and son-in-law, sitting like two devoted turtle-doves. She
+stopped to speak to them, and as her temper was not entirely pacified,
+her tone was sharp.
+
+"Yesterday you were ready to call each other out, and to-day nothing
+will part you! Come, children, do not sit together all the evening. You
+should not be so spooney in company."
+
+Emilio was offended by her authoritative tone, the colour mounted to his
+face, and he was on the point of answering his mother-in-law in the same
+key, but she was gone into the card-room. So there he was left muttering
+an oath, and saying that he had never been in the habit of taking a
+scolding from any one, and he was not going to begin with his
+mother-in-law, with other equally vehement and incoherent declarations,
+which made Irenita look very doleful, and would have ended in tears if
+he had not discovered it in time, and, giving her a loving little nip
+inside her arm, asked her at the same time to let him have half of the
+mint-drop she was sucking in her pretty mouth. And hereupon they fell to
+cooing again, as if they had been in the virgin forest instead of
+Osorio's drawing-room.
+
+A party of five or six young girls, and among them Esperancita, were
+talking with a group of the younger men. Two of these were Cobo Ramirez
+and our intelligent friend Ramon Maldonado. It would be difficult to
+reduce to writing the ideas exchanged by these youthful talkers. They
+must have been subtle, amusing, and pointed, if we may judge by the
+mirth they gave rise to. At the same time the keen observer would have
+detected the fact that the young ladies' gestures, appealing eyes, saucy
+glances, and insinuating graces, even their shouts of laughter, had no
+direct connection with what was said.
+
+For instance, a bland youth remarked:
+
+"I saw you, yesterday, Manolita, at San Jose's, confessing to Father
+Ortega."
+
+The damsel addressed laughed heartily.
+
+"No, Paco, I am sure you did not see me."
+
+"Pilar," said another, "Where do you buy such pretty fans?"
+
+Pilar went into fits of laughter.
+
+"What a joke! And you--where did you buy such a hideous dog as you take
+trotting at your heels?"
+
+"Hideous, yes. But a darling, you must own."
+
+Such speeches as these excited the most noisy merriment among the young
+people. They talked loud, giggled and gesticulated. The girls especially
+seemed to have swallowed quicksilver. Those who had good teeth showed
+them incessantly; those who had not laughed behind their fans. But the
+person who made most noise, and gave rise to most amusement was, beyond
+a doubt, Leon Guzman. Manolita, a vixenish little thing, with black
+eyes, and a wide mouth full of beautiful teeth, asked him what o'clock
+it was. He, drawing out his watch, replied that it was a quarter past
+ten. Then the Count produced his watch, and it appeared that it was
+already nearly twelve. This subterfuge amused the girls immensely.
+Manolita, especially, laughed till she was quite limp; the more she
+tried to suppress her laughter the more convulsive she became. It was
+very evident that there was in the speech, and beneath the common-place
+and even stupid aspect of these gentlemen, a well-spring of humour, as
+fresh as it was deep, such as only young people of from fifteen to
+twenty can assimilate and enjoy.
+
+When this mirth had somewhat subsided Leon Guzman contrived with some
+skill to move a little apart, and enter into conversation with
+Esperancita. This deeply pained and vexed Ramon. For the last ten days
+he had observed that the Conde de Agreda had cast admiring eyes in the
+direction of the lady of his adoration. He regarded him as a more
+dangerous rival than Cobo, being a man of much better position. Cobo,
+indeed, as he could see, was making no way, and this had comforted him;
+but now the aspect of affairs had changed. He could take no part in the
+merriment of the group, but sat making calf's eyes at the damsel in the
+most lamentable fashion. Esperancita, to his great consolation, was by
+no means especially amiable to the Count; she seemed bored, indeed, and
+depressed, looking very frequently towards the spot where Ramon himself
+was sitting. Behind him, to be sure, were Pepe Castro and Lola, talking
+with the greatest animation; but of this the young civilian was not
+aware.
+
+When Leon moved, Ramon led him aside, and in a low tone made his plaint.
+Leon was to know that he, Ramon Maldonado, was also paying attentions to
+Esperancita, and was, in fact, hopelessly in love with her. It was a
+blow he could not bear, that so intimate a friend should come in his
+way. He pathetically reminded him of their childhood; their sports
+together, their school-life; and ended by beseeching him, in a voice
+broken by emotion, that unless he were really attached to Esperanza, he
+would cease to make him jealous. To all this Leon listened, half
+ashamed, and half impatient; to be rid of Ramon he promised all he
+asked; and presently among his intimates he had a good laugh at the cost
+of the low-born deputy.
+
+Requena, after explaining his schemes to Biggs, sat down to play cards
+with the Condesa Cotorraso, the Mexican, and General Pallares. But in a
+few minutes he was snorting with rage over his bad hands. In spite of
+his wealth he always played as eagerly as though it were of the greatest
+importance to him, whether he lost or gained a few dollars. If luck was
+against him, he got into a positively infernal temper, grumbling at his
+antagonists, and almost insulting them. His daughter was not
+unfrequently obliged to interfere and take his cards to play them in his
+place. Just now, Clementina was playing at the next table, apparently to
+her own satisfaction, and laughing at Pepa Frias for being silent and
+absent-minded.
+
+"By the way, Pinedo, I had forgotten," said she, as she sorted the fan
+of cards she held. "Why on earth did you try this morning to make your
+little daughter believe that Alcantara, of all men, was a saint of
+virtue?"
+
+"That is my secret," replied Pinedo.
+
+"Tell it, tell it!" cried Clementina and Pepa, both in the same breath.
+
+He let them beg and pray a little; then, after bidding them promise
+solemnly that they would never reveal it, he told them that, having
+observed a marked tendency in girls to fall in love with idlers and
+evil-minded youths, and to reject those who were steady and
+hard-working, he reversed the facts when talking of a scapegrace, in
+order that his daughter might not fall into the hands of one of them.
+When a well-conducted, hard-working young fellow went past, he always
+spoke of him as a simpleton or a rogue; if, on the contrary, they met a
+man like Alcantara, who deserved the worst character, he spoke of him in
+the highest terms.
+
+Pepa, Clementina, and Arbos had paused in their game to smile at this
+strange explanation.
+
+"And has this plan had the desired effect?" asked the Minister.
+
+"Admirably, up to the present time. It never occurs to my daughter even
+to speak of those whom I have praised for their virtues. On the other
+hand, she will sometimes say, with a smile: 'Do you know, papa, I met
+that profligate young friend of yours. He is really very pleasant and
+nice looking, as you must allow, and seems to be intelligent. What a
+pity that he should not sober down.'"
+
+At this instant, Cobo Ramirez, who was wandering about, snorting like a
+tired ox, came up to the table and asked what they were laughing at. No
+one could be induced to tell. Pinedo signed to them to be silent, for he
+was greatly afraid of Cobo's tongue. Pepe Castro, too, tired of trying
+to rouse Clementina's jealousy by his behaviour to Lola without any
+visible result, softly approached her table with an air of deep
+melancholy. He posted himself behind Pepa Frias, resting his arms on the
+back of her chair. Fuentes came up to say Good night.
+
+"Will you not take some chocolate?" asked Clementina, holding out her
+hand.
+
+"How can you expect a man to drink chocolate when he has just had a
+sonnet fired off in his face?"
+
+"Mariscal?"
+
+"The very man. In the dining-room--he lay in ambush."
+
+Mariscal was a young poet in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, who wrote
+sonnets to the Virgin and odes to duchesses. "But I avenged myself like
+a Barbary Moor. I introduced him to Cotorraso who is giving him a
+lecture on oils. Look how the poor wretch is suffering!"
+
+The gamblers looked round, and saw, in fact, the two men in a corner
+together. The Count was haranguing vehemently, and holding his victim by
+the lapel of his coat. The unhappy poet, with a rueful countenance,
+trying to give signals of distress by glances, stood like a man who is
+being taken to prison.
+
+"Arbos, do you think I am sufficiently avenged?"
+
+He turned on his heel and hastily left the room, not to weaken the
+effect of his sarcasm. Thus, every evening, he made his appearance at
+two or three houses, where his wit and cleverness were the subject of
+constant praise.
+
+The servants presently came with trays of chocolate and ices. Cobo
+Ramirez seized a little Japanese table, carried it off into a corner,
+sat down to it, and prepared to stuff. Pepa Frias looked about her, and
+seeing General Patino, called to him.
+
+"Here, General, take my cards, I am tired of playing. Hand yours over to
+Pepe, Clementina, and let us go into the other room."
+
+The two gentlemen took their seats, and the ladies went towards the
+drawing-room; but, on their way, Pepa said:
+
+"I want to speak with you on a matter of importance; let us go somewhere
+else."
+
+Clementina stared with amazement.
+
+"Shall we go into the dining-room?"
+
+"No, we had better go up to your dressing-room."
+
+Her friend was more surprised than ever, but, shrugging her shoulders,
+she said: "Just as you please; it must be something very serious."
+
+They went upstairs, Clementina imagining that her friend wished to speak
+of Pepe Castro, and their relations to each other. And as, to tell the
+truth, the subject had greatly lost its interest, she walked on feeling
+very indifferent, not to say considerably bored. When they were alone in
+the boudoir, Pepa took her hands, and looking her straight in the face,
+she said:
+
+"Tell me, Clementina, do you know how your husband's affairs stand?"
+
+It was a home-thrust; Clementina, though she had no exact information,
+had heard of her husband's losses, and of his increasing and delirious
+passion for gambling. And in a discussion on money matters they had
+recently had, he had frightened her in order to obtain her signature;
+also she could see that he was every day more absent-minded and
+depressed. But though she could give her thoughts to such matters for a
+few minutes now and again, the complicated bustle of her life as a woman
+of fashion, seconded by her dislike of all disagreeable subjects, soon
+put them out of her head. It never for an instant occurred to her that
+such losses might seriously affect her comfort or convenience, her
+ostentatious display, or her caprices. Osorio's conduct gave her every
+reason to continue in this faith, for he had never desired her to
+retrench in her extravagance. But the viper was lurking at the bottom of
+her heart, and at a lash like this from Pepa it began to gnaw.
+
+"My husband's affairs?" she stammered, as though she did not understand.
+"I never heard. I do not inquire."
+
+"Well, I am told that he has been losing a great deal of money lately."
+
+"I dare say," exclaimed her friend, with a shrug of supreme contempt.
+
+"But you may find your hair singed, too, my dear. Is your own money
+safe?"
+
+"I do not know what you are driving at. I tell you I know nothing of
+business."
+
+"But in this case you had better gain some information."
+
+"But I tell you I do not trouble my head about it, and beg you will
+change the subject."
+
+In proportion as Pepa was obstinate Clementina was reserved and haughty.
+Her pride, always on the alert, led her to suppose that this lady had
+plotted for this discussion on purpose to mortify her.
+
+"The thing is, my dear, as I feel bound to tell you, that your husband
+does not speculate with his own money only," said the widow, driven to
+bay.
+
+"Ah! Now I begin to see! You have a few hundred dollars in Osorio's
+hands, and are afraid of losing them," said Clementina with a satirical
+smile, and with difficulty swallowing down her wrath.
+
+Pepa turned pale. A surge of rage rose from her heart to her lips, and
+she was on the point of casting her fortune over-board and simply
+railing like a market woman--a style for which she was especially
+gifted--but an instinct of self-interest, of self-preservation, checked
+the outburst. If she were to quarrel with her friend, or even to offend
+her, all hope of saving her capital would be lost. She perceived that
+the better part was not to provoke her implacable nature, but to hope
+that friendship, or even pride, might prompt her to an act of
+generosity. With a great effort she controlled her annoyance at
+Clementina's supercilious and arrogant gaze, and said, dejectedly:
+
+"Well, yes; I own it. Your husband has in his hands the whole of my
+little possessions. If I lose it I shall be absolutely destitute. I do
+not know what will become of me. I would rather beg than be dependent on
+my son-in-law."
+
+"Beg! No, you need not do that. I will engage you as my companion in the
+place of Pascuala," said Clementina scornfully, for her pride was by no
+means propitiated.
+
+Pepa was more stung by this than she had ever been before, but still she
+controlled herself.
+
+"Well, my dear," she said, again taking her hands with a caressing
+gesture, "do not fling your millions in my teeth. If I come to worry you
+about the matter, it is because I regard you as my best friend. I know,
+of course, that there is a great deal of exaggeration, and that envy is
+rampant. More than half that is said about Osorio's losses is probably
+not true."
+
+"And even if it were, it really matters very little to me. Only to-day
+my stepmother told me that she meant to leave me her whole fortune."
+
+Pepa's eyes opened very wide.
+
+"The Duchess! And she cannot have less than fifty million francs! Poor
+soul! I am afraid she is very ill."
+
+"Pretty bad."
+
+At this moment arrogance had the upper hand in Clementina of every
+instinct of affection. She spoke the two words "pretty bad" in a tone of
+freezing indifference.
+
+The two ladies had soon come to a perfect understanding. Pepa, still
+affecting an easy manner, flattered her friend in every possible way:
+she was beautiful, rich, a model of elegance. Clementina allowed herself
+to be flattered, inhaling the incense with intense satisfaction. In
+return she promised Pepa that she should not lose a centime of her
+capital.
+
+They went down the stairs with their arms round each other's waist,
+chattering like a pair of magpies. As they reached the drawing-room
+door, before parting, they embraced and kissed.
+
+And it did not occur to either of them that the embrace and kiss were
+those of a corpse--the corpse of a good and generous woman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+RAIMUNDO'S LOVE AFFAIRS.
+
+
+Clementina's new love adventure went on in a manner no less childish
+than pleasing for her. After the inopportune act of heedlessness which
+had brought her to so much shame, she took care for some days not to
+look up at Raimundo, though the greetings he waved her were more
+expressive and affectionate than ever. This fancy--for it deserves no
+better name--was, however, taking such deep root in her imagination that
+she determined to indulge it again, and on each occasion she found the
+young man's opera-glasses directed towards her. Finally, one day, as she
+turned the corner, she kissed her hand to him.
+
+"Really, I have lost all sense of shame!" said she to herself, with a
+blush. And it was so true that she did the same again whenever she went
+by.
+
+But the situation, though romantic and novel, began to weigh upon her.
+Her impetuous temperament would never allow her to enjoy the present in
+peace; it drove her to seek further, to precipitate events; though not
+unfrequently, instead of procuring her pleasure, they only left her
+entangled in the ruins of the dream-palace she had raised. On this
+occasion, however, she had better reason than usual for wishing to get
+out of the predicament. It was altogether such a false position as to
+verge on the ridiculous; and she owned as much to herself in her most
+secret soul.
+
+"In point of fact, I am treating this boy like a dancing bear."
+
+But though she every day determined to put an end to the adventure by
+going out no more on foot, or by passing by Raimundo's house without
+looking up, bowing to him coldly at the utmost, she had not resolution
+enough to carry out her purpose, nor even to cease sending her greeting
+up to the corner window. One thing still puzzled her, and that was, that
+the young man, seeing the evident tokens she had given of her change of
+mind, and the rather humiliating proofs of her liking for him, had never
+failed in his obedience--never followed her, nor attempted to meet her
+out walking. This at last piqued her vanity; she thought he played his
+new part with too much zeal. And thinking this she was sometimes quite
+angry with him; but then as she went past and saw him so smiling, so
+happy, so eager to bow to her, the black mood of her pride was
+dispelled, and her heart was again full to overflowing, of sympathy for
+the boy, and of the whimsical desire to love and to be loved by him.
+
+How would it all end? In nothing, probably. Nevertheless, she did her
+utmost to carry on the affair, and bring it to some definite issue; of
+that there is no doubt. And her wish being thwarted by causes which she
+could not clearly understand, it grew, till by degrees it became a
+fierce appetite. One afternoon, when disappointment and bitterness
+possessed her breast, as she was walking down the Calle de Serrano,
+seriously pondering on giving up this ridiculous adventure, as she
+passed beneath the window, after bowing to the young man seated there,
+she felt a handful of loose flowers fall upon her. She looked up,
+understanding that it was he who had flung them, and gave him a smile of
+tender gratitude. This shower refreshed her spirit and revived her
+drooping fancy. Now she only thought of some way of bringing him nearer
+to her. She thought of writing to beg his forgiveness for her visit and
+her stern words, but it was too late for that. Then she fancied that
+perhaps among her friends, particularly among journalists, there might
+be some one who would know him, and by whom she might send him some
+civil message. But this idea she dismissed as dangerous. She almost
+thought of giving him some signal to come down to her, and explaining
+herself verbally, but this again she did not dare. It was too
+humiliating.
+
+Chance came to her aid, solving the dilemma to her satisfaction when she
+least expected it. They met one evening at the theatre. Raimundo, whose
+year of deep mourning was nearly at an end, now occasionally went out,
+and he and his sister were in the stalls. Clementina was in a box just
+above them. They exchanged bows, and then for some time there was a
+cross-fire of glances and smiles, which attracted Aurelia's attention.
+
+"Who is it? Have you been meeting that lady again?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then what is the meaning of your smiles? You seem to be intimate
+friends."
+
+"I do not know," said the brother, somewhat embarrassed. "She is always
+very friendly to me. Perhaps she thinks she offended me when she came to
+our rooms, and wishes to mollify me."
+
+Between the first and second acts, a beautiful spray of camellia was
+handed to Aurelia by a flower-seller.
+
+"From the lady in box number eleven."
+
+Aurelia looked up, and saw Clementina gazing and smiling at her. She and
+Raimundo bowed their thanks, Aurelia blushing deeply.
+
+"Do not you think," said her brother, "that I ought to go upstairs and
+thank her?"
+
+It was but natural. Raimundo, when the curtain next fell, left his
+sister for a moment, and went up to the Osorios' box. A happy smile
+beamed on Clementina's face as she saw the young man at the door. She
+received him as an old friend, bade him sit down by her side, and began
+a conversation in an undertone, completely neglecting Pascuala whom she
+had brought with her. Happily for this lady, Bonifacio came in before
+long; he never took a stall at any theatre where he knew that the
+Osorios had a box.
+
+"I am glad to see that you have no grudge against me," said she in a low
+voice, with an insinuating glance. "That is right. It shows you have
+both a good heart and good sense. I must frankly confess that I was
+utterly mistaken in my estimate of your conduct and character. I can
+only assure you that when I came out of your house, I would gladly have
+turned back to beg your pardon. If not in words, in looks and gestures I
+have asked it many times since, as you will have understood." And she
+proceeded, in the most masterly way, to give him three or four more
+encouraging hints, which quite turned poor Raimundo's head--that is to
+say, left him speechless, confused, and fascinated; just as she would
+have him, in short. At the same time she skilfully accounted for the
+rather singular display of liking for him which she herself was ashamed
+to recall.
+
+Without leaving him time to reply, she inquired after his sister, his
+health, and his butterflies. Raimundo answered briefly, not out of
+indifference, but for lack of worldly ease of manner. But she was
+nothing daunted, she became more and more affectionate, entangling him
+in a perfect maze of flattering speeches and inviting glances. At the
+moment when she was most fluent, it might almost be said inspired to
+conquer her youthful adorer, suddenly, in the passage between the
+stalls, Pepe Castro appeared on the scene, in evening dress, the ends of
+his moustache waxed to needle points, the curls of his hair waving
+coquettishly over his temples, his whole air easy, self-sufficient, and
+scornful. He first cast his fascinating and Olympic eye over the stalls,
+subjugating every marriageable damsel who happened to be occupying one,
+and then, with the serene dignity of an eagle's soaring flight, he
+raised it to box number eleven. He could not suppress a start of
+surprise. Who was this with whom Clementina was on such intimate terms?
+He did not know this young man. He brought his diminutive opera-glasses
+to bear on him--no, he had never seen him in his life. Clementina,
+conscious of her lover's surprise, after returning his greeting, became
+doubly amiable to Raimundo, addressing herself solely to him, leaning
+over to speak to him, and going through endless manoeuvres to attract
+the attention of the illustrious "Savage." She felt a malignant glee in
+doing this. Castro was now absolutely indifferent to her. Raimundo
+returned Pepe's impertinent stare through his opera-glasses, by a
+curious glance now and then, for he had not the honour of knowing the
+"husband's bugbear!"
+
+Then reflecting that his sister would be losing patience, though he
+could keep an eye on her from the box, he rose to depart.
+
+"We are friends, are we not?" said the lady, holding his hand. "Remember
+me affectionately to your sister. I owe her, too, an apology for my
+strange and unexpected visit. Tell her I shall call on her some day and
+take her by surprise in the midst of her household cares. I take the
+greatest interest in you both--a brother and sister, both so young--good
+night, good night."
+
+When he found himself by his sister's side once more, feeling rather
+bewildered, Aurelia said to him:
+
+"How very handsome that lady is! But still I cannot see that she is like
+mamma."
+
+Raimundo, who at the moment had forgotten the likeness, was taken by
+surprise.
+
+"Oh, there is a sort of look--an air," he stammered out.
+
+So now it was no more than an air. The young man was conscious of a
+vague remorse. The impression Clementina now produced on his mind was
+not that respectful devotion which had possessed him before they had
+made acquaintance in so strange a manner.
+
+Pepe Castro, when he saw him in the stalls, simply stared at him,
+hoping, perhaps to annihilate him. As he concluded that the red-haired
+youth did not belong to the elevated sphere in which he himself moved,
+it occurred to him--for his imagination was lively--that this might be
+the youth of whose pertinacity Clementina had formerly complained. As
+was but natural this did not prejudice him in Alcazar's favour.
+Raimundo himself was too much absorbed in contemplating the Osorios' box
+to notice his rival's determined stare, and Pepe, tired of it at last,
+went up to join Clementina. He seated himself by her side in the very
+place occupied shortly before by Alcazar, who, on seeing him there, was
+aware of a strange _malaise_, an obscure dejection which he did not even
+attempt to define. Nevertheless, he observed that the lady smiled a
+great deal, and that the gentleman was very grave, also that she found
+time to cast frequent glances in his direction, whereat her companion
+grew more and more sullen and gloomy.
+
+"Have you noticed how that lady gazes down at you?" said Aurelia to her
+brother. "She seems to have taken quite a fancy to you."
+
+"Nonsense!" he replied, turning very red. "Such a fellow as I am too! If
+it were that gentleman who is sitting by her now."
+
+Aurelia protested, laughing, that her brother was far better looking
+than that doll of a man, with pink cheeks like a ballet-dancer's.
+
+When the performance was over, Raimundo, not without a pang of jealousy,
+found Clementina waiting in the lobby for her carriage, attended by this
+same man. But she greeted him so eagerly, that Castro, who was becoming
+uneasy, turned to give him a long and scrutinising stare.
+
+For some days after this, the young entomologist anxiously expected
+Clementina to stop at the door, and come up to pay the promised visit.
+But he was disappointed. The lady constantly went by with her light
+brisk step, bowed as she approached, and before she turned the corner,
+waved him an adieu. Every time she passed the door, Raimundo's heart
+sank, and at last he grew angry. "Pshaw! She has forgotten all about
+it," he said to himself. "I shall never, probably, speak to her again,
+since we never by any chance meet anywhere."
+
+He did his best to assist chance, by going more often to the play, where
+he never saw her. At the opera, he would certainly have found her, but
+he never was so bold as to go there for fear she might think he had
+renewed his pursuit. Why he had taken it into his head that she would
+call at any one hour more than at another it is impossible to say. But
+in the end his surprise and agitation were unbounded when one morning
+Clementina really made her appearance. This time she asked for the
+Senorita. Aurelia received her in the drawing-room, and immediately sent
+for her brother. By the time he appeared the lady was sitting on the
+sofa and chatting with the frank ease of an old acquaintance.
+
+"This visit is not to you, you understand," said she, giving him her
+hand.
+
+"I should never have dared to imagine that it was," he replied, shyly
+pressing her fingers.
+
+"There is no knowing. I do not think you conceited, but a woman must
+always be on her guard."
+
+There was something not quite genuine in the candour of her jesting
+tone. Her voice was slightly tremulous, and there was a pale circle
+round her eyes, a sure sign of some emotion which weighs on the mind.
+Her visit was short, but she found time to charm the young girl by her
+delicate flattery and effusive offers. She made her promise to return
+her visit soon; in the evening if she preferred to meet no one, and they
+would have a long chat together. She would show Aurelia the house, and
+some work she was doing. The girl's loneliness and youth had really made
+an impression on her, and if, in fact, she bore some resemblance to
+their mother, as Raimundo said, she felt she had some claim on her
+affection.
+
+"Well, then, when you are bored here by yourself, come to my house--it
+is such a little way--and we will bore each other. That will be a
+variety, at any rate."
+
+Poor Aurelia, bewildered by her visitor's condescension and unfamiliar
+worldly tone, could only smile in reply. When Clementina rose to go, she
+said:
+
+"I rely on you, Alcazar, to see that your sister keeps her promise. As
+for you--you can do as you please. I never press my society on a
+_savant_, for I know one may be boring him when one least suspects it."
+
+She had quite recovered her balance, and spoke in an easy protecting
+tone, with almost a maternal air. Even on the staircase she paused to
+reiterate all her friendly advances. She would not allow Raimundo to
+escort her to the house-door; she went down alone, leaving a trail of
+perfume which he enjoyed more than his sister did. When their door was
+closed on her, Aurelia did not speak; and she replied to her brother's
+rapturous eulogies in so few words that his ardour was soon dashed.
+
+It was too true: the feeling of filial adoration which the young
+professor had felt at first for the lady of his dreams was fast dying
+away, or rather was being transformed into another, less saintly though
+still akin to it. In him, as in every man who lives out of the society
+of women, and exclusively devoted to study, the instincts of sex and the
+revelation of the divine law of love were sudden and intense. On the
+very next day he urged Aurelia to return Clementina's call, though he
+expressed his wish with some timidity and hesitation. His sister,
+however, insisted on the propriety of allowing some little time to
+elapse, and he submitted. At length the visit was paid. Aurelia spent an
+afternoon in the Senora's boudoir. Raimundo, after much deliberation,
+did not venture to accompany her.
+
+Three or four days later Clementina again called to invite them both to
+her box at the Opera that evening. It was a terrible joy. Raimundo had
+not a dress coat, and Aurelia's wardrobe was not much better furnished.
+However, they went. A relation lent Raimundo a coat, and Aurelia wore
+the best she had. Next day Raimundo ordered a dress suit, of the first
+tailor in Madrid; nor was this all: without saying anything to his
+sister, he went to the box-office of the Opera-house and subscribed for
+a stall as near as possible to the Osorios' box, and for the same
+evenings.
+
+Thanks to Raimundo's efforts, the intimacy grew apace, though his
+sister, while she spoke warmly of her new friend's kindness, opposed a
+passive resistance to all familiarity with her. Do what she might, she
+could not forget the extraordinary way in which their acquaintance had
+begun, nor the sense of falsity with which Clementina had impressed her.
+Raimundo, fully aware of all this, did his utmost by direct and indirect
+means to conquer her suspicions.
+
+Aurelia was plain, rather than pretty, with sound common sense, and an
+upright spirit. Her adoration for her brother, inherited from her
+mother, did not blind her to the weak points in his character. He was
+easily impressed and as easily led, and still very puerile. In fact, in
+a certain sense, she represented the masculine and he the feminine
+element in the house. He was easily moved to tears; she, with great
+difficulty. He was liable to whimsical alarms and bewilderments,
+amounting sometimes almost to hallucinations, her nervous system was
+calm and well balanced; she was healthy and sound, he frail and placid.
+During the months immediately following on his mother's death, Raimundo,
+making a great effort, with the idea of being his sister's protector,
+had shown more manliness and firmness; but, as time went on, his nature
+reasserted itself, and he fell into his childish fancies and womanly
+susceptibilities again, in proportion as she developed a resolute,
+honest, and well-balanced character.
+
+It cost Clementina hardly an effort to fascinate and subjugate the young
+naturalist. Sometimes the young people went to her, and sometimes she to
+them; or she would fetch them to go to the theatre, or out driving with
+her, and thus they soon met almost every day. The first evening that
+Pepe Castro met Alcazar in the Osorios' drawing-room he perfectly
+understood the situation, and it filled him with rage.
+
+"So this precious hussy is taking up with a baby!" he muttered between
+his teeth. "They all come to such folly at last."
+
+He thought of insulting the boy and provoking him to fight; but he soon
+saw that this could do him no good. What could he gain by it?
+Absolutely nothing, for Clementina would only hate him the more, and the
+scandal would betray his discomfiture--all the more ignominious for him,
+as his successful rival was a boy, whom no one knew anything about. So
+he came to the prudent conclusion that he would not wear his heart for
+daws to peck at, but would for a while leave his mistress to her own
+devices. By-and-by, perhaps, she would tire of playing with this pet
+lamb and call the sheep back to the fold.
+
+Alcazar was not such a boy as Castro thought him; he was
+three-and-twenty. But his face was so youthful and delicate that he did
+not look more than eighteen. His health was variable and frail;
+especially, since his mother's death, he had been liable to attacks of
+the brain, when he lost sometimes his sight, and sometimes the power of
+speech, complicated with other evils, but happily of very short
+duration. He was a frequent prey to melancholy, ending in a violent
+crisis and floods of tears, like a hysterical woman. He was terrified of
+spiders; the sight of a surgical instrument gave him the horrors.
+Sometimes he suffered acute anguish from a dread of going mad; at others
+his fear was lest he should kill himself against his will. He never
+would have any kind of weapon within reach, and for fear of throwing
+himself from the balcony he always had his bedroom window locked at
+night and placed the key in his sister's keeping: she was the only
+witness and confidant of his vagaries. They were the outcome, partly of
+his temperament, and partly of the effeminate training he had received.
+But he kept them a secret, as every man does who suffers in this
+way--many more than are ever suspected of it--and by constant
+watchfulness he kept them under control, knowing how ridiculous a man
+thus constituted must appear.
+
+It may easily be supposed what his fate must inevitably be when a woman
+like Clementina--a beautiful and experienced coquette--had set her heart
+on conquest. At first his extreme bashfulness kept him from
+understanding the lady's aim and tactics. He took her gracious bows and
+inviting smiles for the expression of her sympathy with their orphaned
+loneliness. And when she had made friends with them, and shown him every
+indication of her liking, when his sister even had given him a warning
+hint, he still could not believe that there could be anything between
+them beyond a more or less affectionate good-fellowship, protecting and
+motherly on her side, devoted and ardent on his. However, the elixir of
+love which Clementina shed drop by drop on his lips, as it were, made
+its way to his heart. When he was least expecting it, he found that he
+was madly in love. But the discovery filled him with bashful fears, and
+he thought that he could never dare to declare it. Though his idol's
+demeanour towards him, and constant demonstrations of sympathetic regard
+were enough to justify any hopes on his part, it seemed to him so
+strange as to be impossible that a shy and inexperienced man, devoid of
+all worldly advantages, should find favour with so rich and so beautiful
+a woman. Nor could he entirely free himself from the remorse which stung
+him from time to time. It was her resemblance to his mother which had
+first attracted him in Clementina. Was not his passion a profanation?
+
+But in spite of his remorse, of his timidity, and of his reason,
+Raimundo felt himself every day more enslaved by this woman. Clementina,
+to be sure, brought every weapon into play; and she had many at her
+disposal. In proportion as she found her youthful adorer more bashful,
+her own audacity and coolness increased. This is almost always the case,
+but in the present instance, circumstances made the contrast all the
+more conspicuous. Timidity in him amounted to a disease, a peculiarity
+which he full well knew to be ridiculous while he could not overcome it;
+on the contrary, the greater the efforts he made, the more his
+nervousness betrayed itself. At first he could speak to her with
+sufficient calmness, and could allow himself some little compliment or
+jest, but he had now lost all his presence of mind, he could not go near
+her without losing his head, nor take her hand without trembling; if she
+did but look at him his cheeks tingled.
+
+Clementina could not help smiling at these innocent symptoms of love.
+She was full of curiosity, and happy to find herself still handsome
+enough to inspire the boy with such a passion. Sometimes she would amuse
+herself by playing the fish, making him blush, and behaving with the
+license and frivolity of a _grisette_. At others she affected to fall in
+with his melancholy mood, making eyes at him like a school-girl; or,
+again, she treated him with tender familiarity, inquiring into his life,
+his work, and his thoughts, like a fond mother or elder sister. Then
+Raimundo would recover his spirits a little, and dare to look the
+goddess in the face. Clementina would occasionally cajole him by an
+affectation of scientific tastes, going up to his study and covering the
+table and the floor with his butterfly-boxes. This, which if any one
+else had done it, would have brought the house about their ears, only
+made the young naturalist smile.
+
+But by this time the lady's acquaintances were beginning to make remarks
+on her last and most extravagant love-affair, assuming, of course, that
+it had gone much further than was really the case. One Saturday evening
+at the Osorios' house Pepa Frias ended by exclaiming to three or four of
+the "Savages," with whom she had been discussing the matter:
+
+"You will see. Clementina will end by falling in love with a
+Newfoundland dog or a journalist!"
+
+When Raimundo came into the room with his rosy, melancholy, cherubic
+face, his diffident, embarrassed air, every one looked at him with
+curiosity: there were smiles, murmurs, witticisms, and stupid remarks.
+He was much discussed. In general, and especially by men, Clementina was
+thought ridiculous; some of the ladies, however, looked more kindly on
+the youth, thought his candid looks very attractive, and sympathised
+with her whim.
+
+Thus our young friend was regarded as _amant en titre_ to Clementina
+before he had dared to kiss her finger-tips, or even dreamed of it. He
+was perfectly miserable if she was in the least disdainful, and was as
+happy as an angel if she made the smallest show of affection.
+Clementina was in no hurry to hear his declaration, though fully
+determined that he should make it. It amused her to watch the progress
+of the affair, noting the development of his passion, and the phenomena
+to which it gave rise. She had had her fill of ravings, and thought it
+delightful to be adored with this dumb devotion, and play the part of a
+goddess. A mere glance was enough to turn this worshipper red or pale, a
+word made him happy or reduced him to despair.
+
+Raimundo went to the Opera whenever Clementina was to be there; he went
+up to pay his respects to her in her box, and often, by her invitation,
+sat there during two or three acts. Then she would retire to the back of
+the box and chat with him there, screened by the curtains. When she was
+tired of this, or if some important scene was being sung on the stage,
+she would lapse into silence, turn her back on her companion, and listen
+to the performance. Raimundo, his ears full of the echo of her tones,
+and his heart on fire from the ardour of her gaze, would also remain
+silent, though, in truth, more attentive to the music in his brain than
+to that performed for his delectation. Sure of not being seen, he could
+contemplate the alabaster shoulders of his idol with religious
+absorption, and bend down his head, on pretence of hearing better, to
+breathe the perfume she used, shutting his eyes and allowing it to
+intoxicate him. One evening he put his face so close to her head that he
+actually dared to let his lips touch the heavy plaits of her beautiful
+hair. No sooner had he done it than he was in great alarm lest
+Clementina should have felt it; but she sat unmoved, listening
+ecstatically to the music. At the same time, as the young man could see,
+her eyes sparkled with a conscious smile. Encouraged by this success,
+whenever she had her hair done in this particular way, he ventured, with
+the greatest precaution, and after much hesitation, to press it to his
+lips. The pleasure was so acute and delightful that it dwelt on his lips
+for many days.
+
+But then, one evening--whether because she was out of temper or because
+it was her pleasure to mortify him--she treated him with such contempt
+all the time he was in the box, leaving him to entertain Pascuala while
+she chatted with some more aristocratic youth of her acquaintance, that
+poor Raimundo was thrown into despair. He had not even courage enough to
+take leave; he stood, pale and crestfallen, a frown of anxiety furrowing
+his brow. Clementina stole a glance at him from time to time. When the
+other gentleman made his bow, Raimundo, too, was about to take leave.
+The lady detained him, holding his hand.
+
+"Nay, wait a minute, Alcazar; I have something to say to you," and she
+withdrew, as usual, to the back of the box and began chatting with all
+her frank amiability. The young man breathed again; still, when she
+turned away to listen to the music, he was so unstrung and confused that
+he did not dare to kiss her hair, though it was plaited low, and the
+opportunity was propitious.
+
+After a long pause Clementina suddenly turned on him and asked in a low
+voice:
+
+"Why do you not kiss my hair, as you always do?"
+
+His amazement was quite a shock to him. All the blood rushed to his
+heart, leaving him as pale as a corpse; then it mounted to his face,
+turning it to the colour of a poppy.
+
+"I--your hair," he gasped abjectly. And he was forced to cling to a
+chair-back to save himself from falling.
+
+"Do not be frightened, my dear fellow," she exclaimed, laying her hand
+on his. "If I allowed it, that is sufficient proof that I did not
+object." But seeing that he was gazing at her wildly, as if he did not
+understand her, she added: "Perhaps you imagine that I did not know that
+you care for me a little?"
+
+The young man gave a convulsive cry.
+
+"Yes, I have known it for some time," she went on in a still lower
+voice, and speaking into his ear. "But there is something which you do
+not know. And that is, that I care for you."
+
+Casting a hasty glance round the house, to make sure that they were not
+observed, she took his hands in hers, and her breath was warm on his
+cheek as she said: "Yes, I love you--beyond anything you can imagine."
+
+Clementina had not anticipated the effect of these words on her
+susceptible and effeminate adorer. The violent emotions he had gone
+through, and now the high tide of happiness, so completely upset him
+that he began to cry like a child. She hastily drew him into a corner,
+filling up the space between the curtains with her person. Her face was
+radiant with happiness.
+
+Her conquest, in fact, had a novelty about it which quite enchanted her.
+This lover was hardly more than a boy; nor was he one of the herd of
+puppies and dandies whom she met at every turn, all cast in the same
+mould, devoid of all originality, having all the same vices, the same
+vanities, uttering almost the same jests. Raimundo was different from
+these, not merely by his humble position and secluded life, nor even by
+his talents and culture, but most of all by his character. How sweet a
+nature was this boy's! How innocent, how sensitive, how refined, and yet
+how impassioned! Accustomed as she was to the monotonous type of Pepe
+Castros, every new psychological aspect, every burst of enthusiasm,
+every alarm and every joy in her new friend, was to Clementina a
+delightful surprise. She was never tired of studying his mind, and would
+sometimes affect to doubt his love for her.
+
+"Do you really love me? Are you sure? Remember, I am an old woman; I
+might be your mother."
+
+And Raimundo always replied with some fond caress and a tearful glance,
+which revealed the depth of his devotion.
+
+From that memorable evening Raimundo could think of nothing but
+Clementina. To him the whole world had shrunk into one person, and that
+person a woman. Not only did he live and breathe for her, but he thought
+of her all day and dreamed of her all night. At first the lady had
+received him at her own house, but she, ere long, thought this unwise,
+and they took rooms in a neighbouring Street, a small entresol, which
+they furnished with taste.
+
+His life had undergone a complete change. From living in absolute
+seclusion he suddenly came out into the world of fashion: theatres,
+balls, dinners, riding-parties, and shooting expeditions. Clementina
+bound him to her chariot, and exhibited him in every drawing-room as if
+she were proud of him. For our young friend, with his delicate features,
+gentle temper, and superior intelligence, became popular wherever he
+went; no one stopped to ask whether he were rich or poor, noble or
+plebeian.
+
+Aurelia sometimes accompanied him, but always against her will. Though
+she dared not contravene her brother's line of conduct, it was easy to
+see that she condemned it in her heart, and was out of her sphere at the
+Osorios'. She had become taciturn and grave, and her eyes, when she bent
+them on Raimundo, took a sad and gloomy expression, as though she feared
+disaster. Clementina did all she could to win her, but she made no way
+in the girl's affections; and under Aurelia's modest smiles and blushes
+she fancied she could detect a vein of hostility which often
+disconcerted her.
+
+Senora de Osorio persisted in the lavish expenditure she had always
+indulged in, notwithstanding the rumours of imminent ruin which had so
+greatly alarmed Pepa Frias. But the catastrophe did not come as had been
+prophesied. The banker contrived to stave it off, giving it to be
+understood by those who had money in his hands that there was nothing to
+be got by falling on him tooth and nail, as they would not by such means
+save one quarter of their capital. On the other hand, they had only to
+wait to recover every penny. His wife must, ere long, come into an
+immense fortune. His creditors listened to reason, kept their own
+counsel as to the state of his affairs, and only stipulated that
+Clementina's signature should be affixed, as well as her husband's, to
+every renewed bill. Soon after, fortune favoured Osorio in the turns of
+the money-market, and he was able to launch out once more, though men
+of business looked askance at his dealings, and unanimously declared
+that the crash was only deferred. His wife, feeling that she was safe at
+any rate, thought no more of such unpleasant subjects. It was only when
+she went to her father's house and saw Dona Carmen's pale, worn face,
+that her heart throbbed with a feeling which she was loth to confess
+even to herself, and which she strove to drown under the sound of
+affectionate words and kisses.
+
+Raimundo's love was an extraordinary joy to her. She felt herself borne,
+as she had never been before, on a wave of devoted and poetic passion
+which rocked and soothed her. She was well content to play the goddess.
+She enjoyed showing herself as now amiable and tender, and again gravely
+terrible, putting her adorer to a thousand proofs, to make quite sure,
+as she said, that he was indeed wholly hers.
+
+But the habit of dealing with men of a different stamp led her into
+fatal mistakes, which grieved and hurt the youth. One day, in their own
+little rooms, she said, with a smile:
+
+"I have a present for you, Mundo," as she called him for a pet name.
+
+She rose and took out of her muff a very pretty little note-book.
+
+"Oh, that is most sweet!" he exclaimed pressing it to his lips. "I will
+always use it."
+
+But on opening it he was struck with consternation. It was full of
+bank-notes.
+
+"You have forgotten to take the money out," he said handing her the
+pocket-book.
+
+"I have not forgotten it. It is for you."
+
+"For me?" he said turning pale.
+
+"Do you not wish for it?" she said, somewhat abashed and blushing
+scarlet.
+
+"No," he said firmly, "certainly not."
+
+Clementina dared not insist. She took the pocket-book, turned out the
+bank-notes, and returned it to him. There was a pause of embarrassed
+silence. Raimundo sat with his elbow on the table, his cheek in his
+hand, serious and thoughtful. She watched him out of the corner of her
+eyes, half angry and half curious.
+
+At last a bright smile lighted up her face. She rose from her seat, and
+taking his head between her hands, she said gaily:
+
+"Well done! This action raises you in my esteem. Still, you may take
+money from me without a blush. Am I not your mamma?"
+
+Raimundo said nothing; he only kissed the hands that had held him fast.
+Money was never again spoken of between them.
+
+But still, in spite of his three-and-twenty years, there was something
+childlike about the lad which was an infinite delight to his mistress.
+It was due chiefly to his solitary and effeminate youth. He was very
+easily taken in, and as easily amused; he never had those fits of black
+boredom which afflict the spoilt worldling; he never uttered one of the
+caustic and ironical speeches which are common even on a lover's lips.
+His glee was effervescent and boyish to the verge of the ridiculous. He
+thought it fun to play follow-my-leader behind Clementina in their
+little lodgings, or to hide and startle her. He would entertain her with
+conjuring tricks, which perhaps showed some intelligence; or they would
+play at cards with absorbed attention, as though they were gambling for
+large sums; or they would dance to the music of some grinding organ,
+that had stopped within hearing. Then they would eat bon-bons for a
+match, seeing who would get through most. One day he was bent on making
+pine-apple ice; he declared that he was great at making ices. All the
+apparatus was borrowed from a cafe in the neighbourhood, and after
+stirring and turning for some time, he at last turned out an ugly and
+untempting mass, which so greatly depressed him that Clementina actually
+swallowed a large dose of the liquid. He was fond of mimicking the
+accent and manner of any one he had met at her house; and this he did to
+such perfection, that Clementina laughed with all her heart; nay, she
+sometimes entreated him to cease, for it hurt her to laugh so much.
+Raimundo had the gift of observing the most trifling peculiarities of
+the persons he met, and imitating them to perfection. It was difficult
+to believe that the person mimicked was not speaking. However, it was
+only in the strictest confidence that he displayed this accomplishment.
+
+Sometimes if he was in a merry mood he would perform a Royal reception.
+He hastily erected a throne in the middle of the room, on which
+Clementina must sit. Then the Ministers and high political personages in
+turn approached the Queen and spoke a short address. Clementina, who
+knew them every one, could guess who each was from only a few words.
+Raimundo, having often been present at the meetings of Congress, had
+picked up the accent and gesture of each to the life. He was
+particularly happy in his imitation of Jimenez Arbos, whom he knew well
+from meeting him at the Osorios'. Of course, after each speech, he
+kissed the sovereign's hand with a reverent bow, and resumed the paper
+cocked-hat he had made for the occasion. These childish games amused the
+lady, and helped to open a heart which had always been closed by pride
+or ennui. She came away from their long interviews quite rejuvenescent,
+her eyes sparkling, her step lighter, and ready to bestow a nod on
+persons to whom as a rule she would vouchsafe only the coldest bow.
+
+And then Raimundo would amaze her by some inconceivably childish and
+innocent proceeding. One day, when she noiselessly entered their
+rooms--for each had a key--she found him industriously sweeping the
+floor. He blushed to the ears with confusion, at being discovered.
+Clementina, in fits of laughter, covered his face with kisses.
+
+"Really, child, you are too delightful!" she exclaimed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+MATTERS OF BUSINESS.
+
+
+It was a very busy morning in Salabert's counting-house. Some large
+payments had to be made. The Duke himself had presided over the
+transactions and helped the cashier to count the notes. In spite of the
+many years he had spent in handling money, he could never part with a
+large sum without his hand shaking a little. He was nervous now, and
+absorbed, nibbling his cigar, but not spitting as usual, for his throat
+was dry. More than once he checked the clerk, believing that he was
+allowing two notes to pass for one, but on each occasion he was in
+error; the man was very dexterous at his work. When it was all done, the
+Duke withdrew to his private room, where he found waiting M. de Fayolle,
+the great importer of foreign horses, which he supplied to all the
+aristocracy of Madrid.
+
+"_Bon-jour, Monsieur_," said the Duke, clapping him roughly on the
+shoulder. "Have you got another screw you want me to take off your
+hands?"
+
+"Oh, Monsieur le Duc, the horses I sold you are not screws, not a bit of
+it. You have the best cattle that ever passed through my stables," said
+the Frenchman with a foreign accent and a servile smile.
+
+"All the cast-off rubbish from Paris is what you sell to me. But do not
+suppose that I am taken in. I have known it a long time, Monsieur, a
+very long time. Only I can never look in your cherubic and smiling face
+without giving way."
+
+M. Fayolle was smiling at the moment, showing his large yellow teeth
+from ear to ear.
+
+"The face is the mirror of the soul, Monsieur le Duc; you may rely on me
+never to offer you anything but what is absolutely first-rate. Has
+Apollyon turned out badly?"
+
+"Hm. So-so."
+
+"You must surely be jesting! I saw him in the street the other day, in
+your phaeton. Every one turned round to look at him."
+
+For some minutes they discussed various horses which Requena had bought
+of the Frenchman; he found fault with every one of them. Fayolle
+defended them with the enthusiasm of a dealer and a connoiseur.
+Presently, at a pause, he looked at his watch, saying:
+
+"I will not detain you any longer. I came for the settlement of that
+last little account."
+
+The Duke's face clouded. Then he said half laughing and half angry:
+
+"Why, my good man, you are never happy unless you are getting money out
+of me."
+
+At the same time he put his hand in his pocket and took out his
+note-book. M. Fayolle still smiled, saying that he could not bear to ask
+for it, knowing that the Duke was such a pauper, and that it would be
+dreadful indeed to see him reduced to beggary, a delicate joke which
+Requena did not seem to hear, being absorbed in counting out the paper.
+He laid out seven notes of one hundred dollars each and handed them to
+Fayolle, ringing a bell for a clerk to bring a form of receipt. Fayolle,
+on his part, counted them, and then said:
+
+"You have made a mistake, Monsieur le Duc, the account is for eight
+hundred dollars, and you have only given me seven."
+
+Salabert did not seem to have heard him. With his eyes half-closed, and
+shifting his cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other, he sat
+silent, looking at the pocket-book, after fastening it with an elastic
+band.
+
+"This is one hundred dollars short," Fayolle reiterated.
+
+"What? Short? Count once more. It is impossible!"
+
+The horse-dealer counted.
+
+"Three thousand five hundred pesetas."
+
+"You see, I could not be wrong."
+
+"But the horse was to cost four thousand. That was a bargain."
+
+The Duke's face expressed the most candid surprise.
+
+"What! Four thousand pesetas? No, my friend, no. The horse was to be
+three thousand five hundred. It was on that understanding that I bought
+it."
+
+"Monsieur le Duc, you really are under a mistake," said Fayolle, now
+quite grave. "You must remember that we finally agreed on four
+thousand."
+
+"I remember all about it. It is you who have a bad memory. Here," he
+added to a clerk who came in with the receipt-form, "go downstairs, one
+of you, to the stables, and ask Benigno how much I told him I was to
+give for Apollyon?"
+
+And at the same time, taking advantage of the moment when Fayolle looked
+at the messenger, he made a significant grimace at the man. The
+coachman's answer by the clerk was that the horse was to be three
+thousand five hundred pesetas.
+
+Thereupon the dealer grew angry. He was quite positive that the bargain
+had stood at eight hundred dollars, and it was in this belief that he
+had delivered it. Otherwise the horse should never have left his stable.
+
+Requena allowed him to talk himself out, only uttering grunts of
+dissent, without exciting himself in the smallest degree. Only when
+Fayolle talked of having the horse back, he said in a lazy tone:
+
+"Then you evidently have some one in your eye who will give you eight
+hundred, and you want to be off the bargain?"
+
+"Monsieur le Duc, I swear to you that it is nothing of the kind. Only I
+am positive I am right."
+
+The banker was seized by an opportune fit of coughing; his eyes were
+bloodshot, and his cheeks turned purple. Then he deliberately wiped his
+mouth and rose, and said in his most boorish manner:
+
+"Bless me, man! Don't put yourself out over a few miserable pesetas."
+
+But he did not produce them.
+
+The Frenchman was willing to take back the horse, but this again he
+failed to achieve. There was a short silence. Fayolle was within an ace
+of flying out, and making a fool of himself. But he restrained himself,
+reflecting that this would do no good, and that sueing the Duke would do
+even less. Who would be counsel for the plaintiff against such a man as
+Requena? So he resigned himself to his fate, and took his leave, the
+Duke escorting him to the door with much politeness, and clapping him
+affectionately on the shoulder.
+
+When the banker returned to his seat at the table, his eyes glistened
+under his heavy eyelids with a smile of sarcastic triumph. A few minutes
+after he again rang the bell.
+
+"Go and inquire whether the Duchess is alone, or if she has visitors,"
+he said to the man who answered it. And while the servant went on the
+errand he sat motionless, leaning back in his chair, with his hands
+folded, meditating.
+
+"Padre Ortega is with the Duchess," was the answer in a few minutes.
+
+Salabert "pshawed" impatiently, and sank into thought once more. He had
+made up his mind to have a solemn discussion with his wife on ways and
+means. Dona Carmen had never mentioned money to him in her life, and he
+had never felt called upon to give her any account of his speculations
+and business matters. He regarded himself as absolute master of his
+fortune, and it never entered his head to think that she could make any
+claims on it. A friend, however, had lately enlightened him on this
+point. Speaking of Dona Carmen's feeble health, he had very naturally
+inquired whether she had made her will, and this friend, who was a
+lawyer, had at the same time mentioned the fact that, by the law of
+Spain, half of the business and fortune was hers.
+
+This was a terrible shock to Salabert. He was frightened to watch his
+wife's decline; at her death her relations would claim half of all he
+had made, would poke their noses into his concerns, even the most
+private. Horror!
+
+He consulted his lawyer. The simplest way of remedying the mischief, and
+depriving these relations of their rights, was to induce his wife to
+make a will in his favour. To the Duke this seemed the most natural
+thing in the world, and in the interview he proposed, he intended to
+suggest it to her as diplomatically as he could, so as not to alarm her
+as to her own state of health.
+
+So he waited, arranging and looking over his papers, till he thought it
+was time to send again to inquire whether the priest was gone. But just
+as he was about to do so, the porter came in and told him that some
+gentlemen wanted to see him, and among them Calderon. The banker was
+much annoyed.
+
+"Did you say I was at home?"
+
+"Well, as you always are at home in the morning, Senor Duque----"
+
+"Damn you!" said the banker, with a furious scowl. But raising his voice
+at once, and putting on the clumsy abruptness which he was so fond of
+affecting: "Show them in, of course," he said, "show the gentlemen in."
+
+On this Calderon came in, followed by Urreta and two other bankers not
+less well known in Madrid. They all looked grave, almost sinister. But
+Salabert, paying no heed to their looks, began shaking hands and
+slapping backs, making a great noise. "Good business! Very good
+business, now to lock you all four up, and make you each pay a round sum
+as ransom! Ha, ha! Why here, in my room, are the four richest rascals in
+Madrid. Four gorged sharks! How is your rheumatism, Urreta? It strikes
+me that you want thoroughly overhauling as much as I do. And you,
+Manuel, how long do you expect to hold out? Your cousin, you see, is
+looking out very sharp."
+
+The four gentlemen maintained a courteous reserve, and their extreme
+gravity cut short this impertinent banter. The case was, in fact, a
+serious one. About a year ago Salabert had sold them the business of a
+railway from B---- to S----, which was already in full work, with all
+the plant and rolling-stock. Though it had not been committed to
+writing, it was fully understood by both parties that when the extension
+from S---- to V---- should be put up for sale, as it was in connection
+with the other line, Salabert should advance no claims, but leave it to
+them to treat for it. Now, it had come to their knowledge that the Duke
+had failed to keep his word, and had tried to jockey them in the most
+barefaced way, by making a bid for the line.
+
+The first to speak was Calderon.
+
+"Antonio," he said, "we have come to quarrel with you very seriously."
+
+"Impossible! Quarrel with such an inoffensive creature as I am?"
+
+"You will remember that when we bought up your railway, you agreed, or
+to be accurate, you solemnly promised, not to tender for the purchase of
+the extension from S---- to V----."
+
+"Certainly I remember it, perfectly."
+
+"But we see with surprise that an offer from you----"
+
+"An offer from me!" exclaimed the Duke, in the greatest surprise, and
+opening his prominent eyes very wide. "Who told you that cock-and-bull
+story?"
+
+"It is not a cock-and-bull story. I, myself, saw your signature," said
+the Marques de Arbiol.
+
+"My signature? Impossible."
+
+"My good friend, I tell you I saw it with my own eyes. 'Antonio
+Salabert, Duke de Requena,'" replied Arbiol, very gravely.
+
+"It cannot be; it is impossible!" repeated the Duke, walking up and down
+the room in the most violent excitement. "It must be a forgery."
+
+Arbiol smiled scornfully.
+
+"It bore your seal."
+
+"My seal?" he exclaimed, with ready parry. "Then the forgery was
+committed in my own house. You cannot imagine what scoundrels I have
+about me. I should need a hundred eyes." Foaming with rage, he rang the
+bell.
+
+"Now we shall see; we will find out whether I have been deceived or no.
+Send Llera in here," he said to the servant who appeared. "And all the
+clerks--immediately, this instant!"
+
+Arbiol glanced at his companions, and shrugged his shoulders. But
+Requena, though he saw this, did not choose to notice it; he went on
+growling, snorting, uttering the most violent interjections, and walking
+to and fro. Presently Llera made his appearance, followed by a group of
+abject-looking clerks, ill-dressed and common. Salabert placed himself
+in front of them, with his arms crossed, and said vehemently:
+
+"Look here, Llera, I mean to find out who is the scoundrel who presented
+a tender, in my name, with a forged copy of my signature, for the
+purchase of the S---- and V---- line of railway. Do you know anything of
+the matter?"
+
+Llera, after looking him straight in the face, bent his head without
+replying.
+
+"And you others, do you know anything about it? Heh, do you know
+anything whatever?"
+
+The clerks in the same way stared at him; then they looked at Llera, and
+they too bent their heads and stood speechless.
+
+Salabert, with well-feigned fury, eyed them all in turn, and at length
+addressing his visitors:
+
+"You see," he said; "no one answers. The guilty man, or men, lurk among
+them; for I suspect that more than one must be concerned. Do not be
+afraid, I will give them a lesson, a terrible lesson. I will not rest
+till I have them before the judge. Go," he added, to the delinquents,
+"and those of you who are guilty may well quake. Justice will soon
+overtake you."
+
+To judge by the absolute indifference with which this fulmination was
+received, the criminals must have been hardened indeed. Each man went
+back to his place and his work as though the sword of Nemesis were not
+drawn to cut his throat.
+
+The bankers were half amused and half angry. At last one of the
+quartette, biting his lips for fear of laughing outright, held out his
+hand with a contemptuous gesture, saying:
+
+"Good-bye, Salabert--_au revoir_."
+
+The others followed his example without another word about the business
+which had brought them. The Duke was not at all disconcerted; he
+politely saw them to the head of the stairs, firing wrathful lightnings
+at his clerks as he led his visitors through the office. On his return
+he took not the slightest notice of the men; he walked down the room
+like an actor crossing behind the scenes as he comes off the stage.
+
+Soon after this performance he went downstairs himself, to go to his
+wife's room. He found her alone, reading a book of devotions. Dona
+Carmen, who had always been pious, had of late given herself up almost
+exclusively to religious exercises. Her failing strength cut her off
+more and more from the outer world, and left her sadly submissive to the
+priests who visited her. Salabert had never opposed this taste for
+devotion; he regarded it with pitying indifference, as an innocent
+mania. However, just lately, some rather large bounties of Dona Carmen's
+had alarmed him, and he had felt obliged to give her a paternal lecture.
+He was accustomed to find her submissive, unambitious, absolutely
+indifferent to the result of his various speculations; he treated her as
+a child, if not as a faithful dog, whose head he might now and then pat
+kindly. The hapless woman never had interfered in his life, his toil, or
+his vices. Though his mistresses and fearful extravagance were discussed
+by all the rest of the world, Dona Carmen knew nothing of them, or
+ignored them. Nevertheless, the Duke's last connection with Amparo had
+distressed her more than any former one. This arrogant but low creature
+delighted in annoying the Duchess in every possible way, which was what
+none of her predecessors had done. If she went out driving with her
+husband, Amparo would keep pace in her carriage and exchange significant
+glances with Requena. When the good lady gently complained of such
+conduct, Salabert would simply deny, not merely his smiles and ogling,
+but all acquaintance with the woman: he only knew her by sight, he had
+never spoken to her in his life. It was the same at the Opera; Amparo
+would stare all the evening at the Duke's box. At bull-fights and at
+races she made a display of reckless luxury which attracted general
+attention. Certain well-intentioned friends, in their compassion for
+Dona Carmen, kept her informed as to the enormous sums this woman was
+costing the Duke by her extravagance and caprices. These constant
+vexations, endured unconfessed to any one but her director, had told on
+the lady's health, reducing her to a state of weakness which made it
+seem a miracle that she was still alive. Salabert had something else to
+do than to consider her sufferings. He thought that with the title of
+Duchess, and such enormous wealth, in so splendid a house, Dona Carmen
+ought to be the happiest woman on earth.
+
+"Well, how are you, old woman, how are you?" said he as he went in, in a
+half rough and half kindly tone which betrayed his entire indifference.
+
+Dona Carmen looked up with a smile.
+
+"What, you? What miracle brings you here at this hour?"
+
+"I should have come earlier, but I was told that Father Ortega was with
+you. How did you sleep? Pretty well? That's right. You are not so ill as
+you fancy. Why do you let the priests come hanging about you as if you
+were at the point of death?"
+
+"Do you suppose a priest is of no use but when one is dying?"
+
+"Of course priests about a house are indispensable to make it look
+respectable," he answered, stretching himself in an easy chair, and
+spreading out his legs. "Without a rag of black fustian, a newly
+furnished palace like this is too gaudy. Still, in the long run, they
+become a nuisance; they are never tired of begging; they have a swallow
+like a whale's. I should like to buy sham ones made of wax or
+papier-mache, they would answer every purpose."
+
+"There, there, Antonio. Do not talk so wildly. Any one who heard you
+would take you for a heretic, and that you are not, thank God!"
+
+"What should I gain by being a heretic? That does not pay." Then
+suddenly changing the subject, he said: "How is that caravansary of
+yours in the Cuatro Caminos getting on?"
+
+He meant the asylum of which Dona Carmen was the chief benefactress.
+
+"It is doing very well, excepting that the Marquesa de Alcudia wishes to
+retire, and we do not know whom to appoint as treasurer in her place."
+
+"It is always empty on the Sabbath, I suppose?"
+
+"Why?" said the lady, innocently.
+
+"They are all off to Seville on broomsticks, no doubt."
+
+"Bah! do not make game of the poor old things," said she, laughing. "You
+and I are old folks, too."
+
+"Very true, very true," replied the banker, affecting serious
+melancholy. "We are a pair of old puppets, and one fine day, when we
+least expect it, we shall find ourselves removed to other quarters."
+
+He had discovered an opening for the subject he wished to discuss, and
+had seized on it at once.
+
+"No," said his wife, "you are strong and hearty enough. You will live to
+fight many a battle yet; but I, my dear, have but one foot in the
+stirrup."
+
+"Nay, nay, we are both in the same plight. Once over the sixties there
+is no knowing."
+
+"If such reflections did anything to bring you nearer God, and make you
+labour in His service, I should be glad indeed."
+
+"Do you think I do nothing in His service, when I spend above five
+thousand dollars in masses every year?"
+
+"Come, Antonio, do not talk like that."
+
+"My dear child, it is a very good thing to think of the next world, but
+it is prudent, to say the least, to think of this world to. I have just
+lately been considering that if you or I were to die, there would be no
+end of complications for the survivor."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because husband and wife are not by law nearest of kin to each other,
+and if by chance either of us died intestate, our relations would be a
+perfect torment to the survivor."
+
+"For that there is an easy remedy. We make our wills and it is settled."
+
+"That is just what I have been thinking," said Salabert, endeavouring to
+make a show of calm indifference, which he was far from feeling. "It
+struck me that instead of our each making an independent will, we might
+come to a mutual arrangement."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"A will by which each is the heir to the other."
+
+Dona Carmen looked down at the book she still held, and did not
+immediately answer. The Duke, somewhat uneasy, watched her narrowly from
+under his eyelids, gnawing his cigar with impatience.
+
+"That is impossible," said she at last, very gravely.
+
+"What is impossible? And why?" he hastily asked, sitting upright in his
+chair.
+
+"Because I intend to leave all I have, whether much or little, to your
+daughter. I have promised her that I will."
+
+Salabert had never dreamed of stumbling on such an obstacle, he had
+thought of the mutual bequest as a settled thing. He was equally
+startled and vexed, but he immediately recovered himself, and assuming a
+serious and dignified manner, he spoke:
+
+"Very good, Carmen. I have no wish to coerce you in the matter. You are
+mistress of your possessions, and can leave them to whom you choose,
+though you must remember that that fortune has been earned by me at the
+cost of much toil. During the years of our married life, pecuniary
+questions have never given rise to any differences between us, and I
+sincerely wish that they never may. Money, as compared with the
+feelings of the heart, is of no importance whatever. The thing that
+pains me is the thought that any other person, even though it be my own
+daughter, should have usurped my place in your affections."
+
+At these words his voice broke a little.
+
+"No, Antonio, no," Dona Carmen hastened to put in. "Neither your
+daughter nor any one else can rob you of the affection due to you. But
+you are rich enough without needing my fortune, and she wants it."
+
+"No. It is vain to try to soften the blow, I feel it in the depths of my
+heart," replied Salabert in pathetic accents, and pressing one hand to
+his left side. "Five-and-thirty years of married life, five-and-thirty
+years of joys and griefs, of fears and hopes in common, have not availed
+to secure me the foremost place in your affections. Nothing that can be
+said will remedy that. I fancied that our union, the years of love and
+happiness that we have spent together, might be closed by an act which
+would crown our lives by making one of us inherit the whole of what we
+have gained. The devotion of a husband and wife is never better
+displayed than in a last will and testament."
+
+Requena's oratory had risen to a tone of moral dignity which, for a
+moment, seemed to impress his wife. However, she replied with perfect
+sweetness but unshaken firmness:
+
+"Though Clementina is not my own flesh and blood, I love her as if she
+were. I have always regarded her as my own child, and it seems to me an
+act of injustice to deprive a child of its share of an inheritance."
+
+"But, my dear," exclaimed the Duke vehemently, "for whom do you suppose
+I want it but for my daughter? Make me your heir, and I pledge myself to
+transmit it to her, not only undiminished but greatly augmented."
+
+Dona Carmen kept silence, but shook her head in negation. Her husband
+rose as though emotion were quite too much for him.
+
+"Oh, yes! I understand! You cannot forgive me some little errors of
+caprice and folly. You are taking advantage of this opportunity of
+revenge. Very well, very well. Indulge your vengeance; but believe me
+when I say that I have never loved any woman better than you. The heart
+cannot be made to obey orders, Carmen; if I desired to tear your image
+out of mine, my heart would answer: 'No, I cannot give it up without
+breaking.' It is sad, very sad, to meet with so cruel a disenchantment
+at the end of our lives. If you were to die to-morrow, which God forbid!
+what worries and troubles must await me, besides the grief of losing the
+wife I adore. Why I, a poor old man, might be compelled to quit the
+house where I have lived so many years, which I built and beautified in
+the hope of dying under its roof in your arms!"
+
+Requena's voice broke at judicious intervals, and his eyes filled with
+tears. When he ceased speaking he sank into his armchair as though quite
+crushed, pressing his handkerchief to his eyes.
+
+But Dona Carmen, though tender-hearted and sensitive, showed no signs of
+emotion. On the contrary, she replied in a steady voice:
+
+"You know perfectly well that there is no truth in all that. I am not
+capable of taking any revenge, nor, if I were, could there be any such
+vengeance in leaving all I can to your daughter, who is mine solely by
+the affection I bear to her."
+
+The Duke changed his tactics. He looked at his wife compassionately for
+a few minutes, and then he said:
+
+"The greatest happiness you could confer on Clementina to show your
+affection would be to get out of her way as soon as you can. Poor Osorio
+is up to the ears in hot water. Now I understand why his creditors have
+been so long-suffering. You no doubt have said something to his wife of
+this will of yours, and as you are somewhat ailing they are looking for
+your death like showers in May. Make no mistake about that."
+
+Dona Carmen at these cruel words turned even paler than she always was.
+She clutched the arms of her chair with an effort to keep herself from
+fainting. This that her husband had said was horrible, but only too
+probable. He saw her agitation, and at once brought forward facts to
+confirm his hypothesis. He drew a complete picture of Osorio's position,
+pointing out how unlikely it was that his creditors should still give
+him time if they had not some definite hope to count on; and this could
+only be her own death.
+
+The unhappy woman at last spoke. Her words were almost sublime:
+
+"If, indeed, Clementina desires my death," she said, "then so do I, with
+all my heart. Everything I can leave is for her."
+
+Salabert left the room in a towering rage, fighting like a bull assailed
+by crackers, or an actor who has been hissed off the stage.
+
+Dona Carmen lay for some time motionless in the attitude in which he had
+left her, her eyes fixed on vacancy. At last two tears dropped from her
+eyes and slowly trickled down her cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE DUKE'S BALL.
+
+
+Weeks and months went by. Clementina spent the summer at Biarritz as
+usual. Raimundo followed her, leaving his sister in charge of some
+relations, and only returned at the end of September. A storm had swept
+over the orphan's dwelling which had completely wrecked its happiness.
+Raimundo, entirely neglecting his methodical habits of study, had rushed
+into the world of pleasure with the ardour of a novice. His sister,
+amazed at such a change, remonstrated mildly but without effect. The
+young man behaved with the petulance of a spoilt child, answering her
+sharply, or if she spoke with sterner decision, melting into tears,
+declaring that he was miserable, that she did not love him, that it
+would have been better if he had died when his mother died, and so
+forth. Aurelia saw that there was nothing for it but to suffer in
+silence, and kept her fears and gloomy anticipations to herself. She
+could too easily guess the cause of this change, but neither of them
+ever made any allusion to it; Raimundo because he could not speak to his
+sister of his connection with Clementina, and she because she could not
+bear that he should suppose she even understood it.
+
+Meanwhile it led our young friend to great extravagance, far beyond what
+his income allowed. To enable him to keep up with the lady's carriage as
+she drove in the fashionable avenues, he bought a fine horse, after
+taking some riding lessons. Theatres, flowers and gifts for his
+mistress, amusements shared with his new friends of the Savage Club,
+dress, trinkets, everything, in short, which a youth "about town"
+thinks indispensable, cost him enormous sums in proportion to his
+income. He was forced to touch his capital. This, as we know, was in the
+form of shares in a powder manufactory, and in the funds. His mother had
+kept her securities in an iron box inside her wardrobe. When she died,
+the guardian she had appointed to her two children, examined the
+documents and made due note of them, but as Raimundo was esteemed a very
+steady young fellow of impeccable conduct, and as he had for some time
+past presented and cashed the coupons, his uncle did not take the
+securities out of his keeping, but left them in the box where he had
+found them. And now Raimundo, needing money at any cost, and not daring
+to borrow it of any one, broke his trust, for he was not yet of legal
+age, and sold some of the securities. And the strange thing is, that
+although he had hitherto lived so blamelessly, upright in thought and
+honest in purpose, he did it without feeling any very deep remorse. His
+passion had so completely stultified and altered him.
+
+Of course he did not do this without its leading to worse consequences.
+His uncle, hearing of his extravagant expenditure, came to the house one
+day, shut himself up with him in his study and attacked him point-blank:
+
+"We must settle accounts together, Raimundo. From what I am told, and
+from what I can see, you are living at a rate which you cannot possibly
+afford. This is a serious matter, and, as your trustee, I must know
+where the money comes from, if not for your own sake, at any rate for
+your sister's."
+
+Raimundo was greatly startled. He turned pale and muttered some
+unintelligible words. Then finding himself at bay, at once perceiving
+that his safety depended on this interview--that is to say, the safety
+of his love affair--he did not hesitate to lie boldly.
+
+"Yes, uncle, it is true that I am spending a good deal, more than my
+income would permit, no doubt. But you need not therefore conclude that
+it is the capital I inherited from my parents."
+
+"Well, then?"
+
+"Well, then," said the young man, and his voice dropped as if he had
+some difficulty in speaking, "I cannot tell you whence I get the money,
+uncle, it is a matter of honour."
+
+His guardian was mystified.
+
+"Of honour! I do not know what that may mean. But listen to me, boy; I
+cannot let the matter drop. My position is critical. If I do not take
+proper care of your interests I may find myself called upon to pay up,
+and there is no mercy for trustees."
+
+Raimundo remained silent for some seconds, at last, stammering and
+hesitating, he said:
+
+"If you must know then I will tell you. You have heard perhaps of my
+intimacy with a lady?"
+
+"Yes, I have heard something of a flirtation between you and Osorio's
+wife."
+
+"Well, that explains the mystery," said the nephew, colouring violently.
+
+"So that, in point of fact, this woman"----said the elder, snapping his
+thumb and finger.
+
+Raimundo bent his head and said no more, or, to be exact, his silence
+said everything. The man who had indignantly refused his mistress's
+bank-notes now confessed himself guilty of this humiliation, though
+perfectly innocent, simply out of fear.
+
+His uncle was a vulgar mortal enough, who kept a shop in the Calle de
+Carmen. His nephew's confession, far from rousing his indignation,
+raised the youth in his esteem.
+
+"Well, my dear fellow! I am glad to see that you have hatched out at
+last and are beginning to know the ways of the world. Ah, you rogue, how
+quiet you have kept it!"
+
+But as he still remained in the study, betraying the remains of a
+suspicion, Raimundo, with the audacity peculiar to women and weak men in
+critical circumstances, said firmly enough:
+
+"My capital and my sister's are intact; I can show you the securities
+this very minute."
+
+He took out the key and was going to fetch the box. His uncle stopped
+him.
+
+"No need, my boy, no need. What for?"
+
+And thus he escaped as by a miracle from this dreadful predicament,
+which might so easily have ended in a catastrophe. At the same time, his
+triumph cost him many moments of bitter reflection, and a collapse of
+mind and body which made him quite ill for a time. It is impossible to
+break suddenly with all the traditions and ideas which constitute the
+back-bone of our character without the acutest pain.
+
+At about this time a gentleman from Chili came to call on him; a
+naturalist himself, and, like Raimundo, devoted to the study of
+butterflies. He had last come from Germany, and was on his way home to
+America; he had read some of the young man's scientific papers, and
+having also heard of his fine collection, he would not pass through
+Madrid without visiting it. Raimundo received him with great pleasure,
+and some little shame; for some months he had scarcely thought of
+scientific subjects, and had neglected his specimens. The South American
+nevertheless found it extremely interesting and was full of intelligent
+sympathy; he told him that he was commissioned by his Government to
+recruit some young men of talent to fill the professors' chairs lately
+created at Santiago in Chili. If Alcazar would emigrate one of them was
+open to him.
+
+In any other circumstances Raimundo, who had no tie of blood excepting
+his sister, would certainly have decided on this step. But as it was,
+enmeshed by the toils of love, the proposal struck him as so absurd that
+he could but smile with a trace of contempt, and he politely declined it
+as though he were a millionaire, or a man at the head of Spanish
+society.
+
+Then to pay for his journey to Biarritz, he was again obliged to sell
+some shares in the funds. He carried five thousand francs with him, a
+more than ample sum for his summer in France. But at the end of a few
+days, led away by the example of his friends, he took to betting at the
+Casino, on the game of racing with dice, and in two evenings he had lost
+everything. Not being accustomed to these proceedings, the only thing he
+could think of to help himself was to return to Madrid at once, sell
+some more shares, and come back again. His fortune was dwindling from
+day to day. By the beginning of the winter he had sacrificed several
+thousand dollars; but this did not check his lavish expenditure.
+Aurelia, who from some hints of her uncle, or suspicions of her own,
+imagined that she knew from whom the money came, was melancholy and
+distressed. Her eyes, as she looked at her brother, were full of grief
+and pity, not unmingled with indignation.
+
+So matters went on till the Carnival. The Duchess of Requena's health
+had been improved by some waters in Germany, to which her husband had
+taken her in the autumn. No sooner had she made her will in favour of
+her step-daughter, than he devoted himself to taking care of her,
+knowing how important her existence was to him. The great speculator's
+affairs meanwhile were progressing satisfactorily. He had bought the
+mines at Riosa, as he had proposed, money down. From that moment he had
+been waging covert war against the rest of the company, selling shares
+at lower and lower prices, to depreciate their value. This had worked
+entirely to his satisfaction. In a few months the price had fallen from
+a hundred and twenty, at which they had stood just after the sale of the
+property, to eighty-three. Salabert waited on from day to day to produce
+a panic, by throwing a large number of them into the market, and so
+bring the quotation down to forty. Then, by means of his agents in
+Madrid, Paris, and London, he meant to buy up half the shares, _plus_
+one, and so to be master of the whole concern.
+
+It was at this time that, in order to serve his political ends, as well
+as to gratify his native taste for display--in spite of his
+counter-balancing avarice--he determined to give a fancy dress ball, in
+his magnificent residence, inviting all the aristocracy, and securing
+the presence of the royal family. Preparations were begun two months
+beforehand. Although the palace was splendidly fitted up, he had some
+rather heavy and over-large pieces of furniture removed from the
+drawing-rooms, and replaced by others from Paris, of lighter and simpler
+style. He got rid of some of the hangings, and purchased several
+decorative works of art, which it must be owned were certainly lacking.
+Three weeks before the day fixed for the ball he sent out the
+invitations. Three weeks, he thought, were not too much to allow his
+guests to prepare their costumes. Fancy dress was indispensable;
+gentlemen to wear dominoes at the very least. The newspapers had soon
+announced the ball to every town in Spain.
+
+As her stepmother took little interest in such things, and from her
+delicate health was not able to play an active part in the preparations,
+Clementina was the life and soul of the whole affair. She spent all her
+days in her father's house, save only a few hours which she bestowed on
+Raimundo. Osorio at this juncture took it into his head to have their
+two little girls home from school, one ten and the other eleven years
+old, to spend a few days with their parents; but the poor little things
+had to return some days sooner than their father had promised, because
+Clementina was so busy that she scarcely found time to speak to them.
+This made their father so angry that, one day, without allowing them to
+take leave of their mother, he put them into the carriage, and himself
+accompanied them back to school. That evening, however, when Clementina
+returned home, there was a violent quarrel between them on the subject.
+
+Raimundo, too, found himself neglected; still he looked forward with
+childish delight to this entertainment, at which he meant to appear as a
+court page. This was an idea suggested by Clementina. The model for his
+dress was taken from a famous picture in the Senate-house. For herself,
+she had fallen in love with a portrait of Margaret of Austria, the queen
+of Philip III., painted by Pantoja. She ordered a black velvet dress,
+very closely fitting, with pink silk slashings braided with silver; and
+there can be no doubt that it was a costume singularly well adapted to
+set off her fine and ample figure and the imposing beauty of her face.
+
+The Duke himself worked hard at the less ornamental details; the
+erection, for instance, of a gallery for the musicians, which was to be
+built up against the wall, between the two large drawing-rooms, and
+embowered in shrubs and flowering plants; the arrangements for hats and
+wraps, the laying of carpets, the removal of furniture, and so forth.
+Salabert was a terribly hard overseer, a real driver of the workmen. He
+never allowed them to rest, and expected them to be incessantly on the
+alert. He never gave them a moment's peace, nor was satisfied with what
+they did.
+
+One day a cabinet of carved ebony had to be moved, from a room where the
+ladies were to sit to the card-room. The workmen, under the direction of
+the master carpenter, were carrying it slung, while the Duke followed,
+bidding them be careful, with an accompaniment of objurgations.
+
+"Damn it all, be quick. Move a little quicker, can't you, you snub-nosed
+cur! Now, mind that chandelier!--lower Pepe, lower--lower, I say, you
+ass! Damn it, now raise it again."
+
+As they went through the door, the head carpenter, seeing that they
+might easily hurt themselves, called out: "Mind your fingers!"
+
+"Mind the mouldings! Curse your fingers," exclaimed the Duke. "Do you
+think I care for your fingers, you louts?"
+
+And one of the men looked him in the face with an indescribable
+expression of hatred and scorn.
+
+When the cabinet was in its place the Duke saw it fixed, and then went
+to his room to brush off the dust. Soon after, he went down the grand
+staircase, and getting into his carriage went out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At last the great day arrived. The newspapers announced the ball for the
+last time with a grand flourish of trumpets. The Duke de Requena had
+spent a million of francs in preparations, they said, and they also gave
+it to be understood that all the flowers had been sent from Paris. And
+this was true. The Duke, born in Valencia, the loveliest garden of
+Europe, ordered flowers from France for his ball to the amount of some
+thousands of dollars. Camellias strewed the very floors in the ante-room
+and passages; hundreds of exotic plants decorated the hall, the
+corridors, and the rooms. An army of servants, in knee-breeches and a
+gaudy livery, stood at every corner where they might be wanted. A
+detachment of horse-guards was posted at the garden entrance to keep
+order among the carriages, with the help of the police. The cloak-room,
+erected for the occasion, was a luxurious apartment, where every
+arrangement had been made to preserve the ladies' magnificent wraps, or
+_sorties de bal_, as it is the fashion to call them, from being lost or
+damaged.
+
+The grand staircase was a blaze of electric light, the hall and
+dining-room were lighted with gas: the dancing-room with wax candles.
+The sitting-rooms and card-room had oil-lamps with wide and elaborate
+shades, and in these rooms fires were blazing cheerfully.
+
+Clementina received the company in the first drawing-room, close to the
+ante-room. She took her stepmother's place here because Dona Carmen had
+not sufficient strength to stand for so long. The Duchess sat in the
+inner room, surrounded by friends. The Duke and Osorio, at the door
+between the hall and ante-room, offered an arm to the ladies as they
+arrived and conducted them to Clementina.
+
+This lady's costume set off her beauty, as she had intended, to the
+greatest advantage. Her exquisite figure seemed even more finely moulded
+in this close fitting dress, and her head, with its magnificent coppery
+hair, rose above the black velvet like a queenly flower. King Phillip
+III. would gladly have exchanged the real Margaret for such a
+counterfeit. A rumour was current in the rooms, and made public next day
+in the papers, that a hairdresser had come from Paris by the express
+train to dress her head.
+
+The motley crowd soon began to fill the rooms. Every epoch of history,
+every country of the world had sent representatives to Salabert's ball.
+Moors, Jews, Chinese, Venetians, Greeks and Romans--Louis XIV. and the
+Empire, Queens and slaves, nymphs and gipsies, Amazons and Sibyls,
+grisettes and vestals, walked arm-in-arm, or stood chatting in groups,
+and laughing with cavaliers of the last century, Flemings of the
+fourteenth, pages and necromancers. Most of the men, however, had
+adopted the Venetian doublet and short cloak. The orchestra had already
+played two or three waltzes, but as yet no one was dancing. They awaited
+the arrival of the Royal personages.
+
+Raimundo was wandering about the rooms with the familiarity of an
+intimate friend, smiling at every one with the modest frankness which
+made him singularly attractive, though strange to a society where cold,
+not to say scornful, manners are regarded as the stamp of dignity and
+rank. The young entomologist had been for some time living in a
+delicious whirl, a sort of golden dream, such as humble natures are
+often addicted to. His page's costume, of the date of Isabella the
+Great, suited him well, and more than one pretty girl turned her head to
+look at him. Now and then he made his way to where Clementina was on
+duty, and without speaking they could exchange looks and smiles. On one
+of these occasions he saw Pepe Castro, in the dress of a cavalier of the
+Court of Charles I., approach to pay his respects.
+
+"How is this?" he said in her ear. "Are you not yet tired of your
+cherub?"
+
+"I am never tired of what is good," said she with a smile.
+
+"Thank you," he replied, sarcastically.
+
+"There is nothing to thank me for; are you trying to pick a quarrel?"
+And she turned away with a shrug of contempt to speak to the Condesa de
+Cotorraso, who came in at the moment.
+
+Raimundo had watched this brief colloquy. Its confidential tone was a
+stab to him. For a moment he did not move; Esperancita passed close in
+front of him, but he did not see her. It was the child's first
+appearance at a ball. She wore a pretty Venetian dress of a rich red
+colour, cut low; her mother was magnificent as a Dutch burgomaster's
+wife, in brown, embroidered with gold and silver, with a lace ruff and
+necklace of diamonds and pearls. What pangs these costumes must have
+cost her luckless husband! In the first instance, when this ball was
+under discussion, he had supposed that some combination of old clothes
+would answer their purpose, and had made no difficulties. When he saw
+the dresses and the dressmaker's bill he was breathless. He was ready to
+cry Thief! Woe befall that miserable Salabert and the hour in which he
+had thought of this ball, and all the Venetian and Dutch ladies that had
+ever lived! And what most weighed on his soul was the reflection that
+these costly garments were to be worn for but one night. Four thousand
+pesetas thrown into the gutter! as he repeated a hundred times a day.
+
+Esperancita looked at Alcazar, expecting him to bow; but seeing that he
+was gazing elsewhere, she, too, looked round at the group about
+Clementina, and immediately understood the situation. A cloud of
+distress came over her, as over Raimundo. But suddenly her eyes
+sparkled, and her whole ingenuous and insignificant little face was
+lighted up, transfigured by an indefinable charm. Pepe Castro was coming
+towards her.
+
+"Charming, charming!" murmured the Adonis in an absent way, as he bowed
+affectedly.
+
+The girl blushed with delight.
+
+"Will you honour me with the first waltz?"
+
+At this very moment she found herself the centre of a group of young
+men, all buzzing round Calderon's money-bags, and eager to compliment
+his daughter. Among these was Cobo Ramirez. They were all pressing her
+to give them a dance, each in turn signing the initials of his
+illustrious name on Esperancita's card. Ramoncito, who was standing a
+few yards off, did not join the little crowd--faithful to the advice
+given him, now above a year ago, by his friend and adviser Castro;
+though hitherto these tactics had proved unavailing, for Esperancita
+remained insensible to his devotion. Still, he would not ascribe this to
+any fault in the method, but to his lack of courage to follow it out
+with sufficient vigour, without hesitancy or backsliding. If the girl
+happened to look kindly at him, or speak to him more gently than usual,
+farewell diplomacy!
+
+At this moment he was casting grim looks at the crowd which had gathered
+round her, and vaguely replying to Cotorraso, who had of late taken a
+most oppressive fancy to him, button-holing him wherever he met him, to
+explain his new methods of extracting oil. The young deputy had not
+gained in dignity from his showy dress and white wig, as a gentleman of
+the eighteenth century: he looked for all the world like a footman.
+
+Suddenly there was a stir in the ante-room. The Royal party had arrived.
+The company collected about the door-ways. The Duke and Duchess,
+Clementina and Osorio, went to the outside steps to receive them, and
+the music played the Royal March. The King and Queen came in, walking
+slowly between the two ranks of guests, stopping now and then when they
+saw any one known to them to bestow a gracious greeting. The recipient
+of such honour bowed or curtsied to the ground, kissing the Royal hand
+with grateful effusiveness. The ladies especially humbled themselves
+with a rapture they could not conceal, and a gush of loyalty and
+affection which brought the blood to their cheeks.
+
+The royal quadrille was immediately formed, and Clementina left her
+place by the door to dance in it. The Sovereign led out the Duchess, who
+made this great effort to please her husband. A triple row of spectators
+stood round to look on.
+
+Salabert was in his glory. The waif, the beggar, from the market-place
+of Valencia, was entertaining Royalty. His dull, fish like, dissipated
+eyes glistened with triumph. This explosion of vanity had blown to the
+winds all the sordid anxieties which the cost of the ball had caused
+him--the deadly struggle with his own avarice. To-morrow perhaps the
+scatered fragments might reunite to give him fresh torment; for the
+moment, intoxicated with pride, he was drinking deep breaths of the
+atmosphere of importance and power created by his wealth; his face was
+flushed with a congestion of ecstatic vanity.
+
+"Only look at Salabert's radiant expression," said Rafael Alcantara to
+Leon Guzman and some other intimates who were standing in a group. "Joy
+transpires from every pore! Now is the moment to ask him for a loan of
+ten thousand dollars."
+
+"Do you think you would get it?"
+
+"Yes, at six per cent., on good security," said the other. "But look,
+look! Here comes Lola, the most fascinating and delightful creature who
+has yet entered these rooms." And he raised his voice so as to be heard
+by the lady in question.
+
+Lola sent him a smile of acknowledgment; and her husband, the Mexican of
+the cows, who also had heard the remark, bowed with pleasure. She was
+really very bewitchingly dressed, as a Louis XIV. Marquise, in rose
+colour, embroidered with gold, and a yellow train, also embroidered. Her
+hair was powdered, and round her throat was a black velvet ribbon with
+silver pendants.
+
+When the Royal quadrille was ended, waltzing began. Pepe Castro came to
+find Esperancita, who was walking with the youngest of the Alcudia
+girls. It was the first time that they had either of them been present
+at a ball, and they were perfectly happy as they looked out on the world
+in its most holiday aspect, confiding their delightful impressions to
+each other's private ear. He remained with them for a minute till a
+partner came to claim Paz for the dance, and the two couples floated off
+at the same time on the tide of waltzers. For Esperancita the world had
+vanished. A delicious sense of joy and freedom, like that which a bird
+might feel in flying if it had a soul, glowed in her heart and lapped
+her in delight. It was the first time she had ever felt Pepe Castro's
+arm round her waist. Swept away by him into the maelstrom of couples,
+she felt as though they were alone--he and she. And the music charmed
+her ears and heart, giving sweet utterance to the ineffable gladness
+which throbbed in every pulse.
+
+When they paused a moment to rest, her face so unmistakeably expressed
+the supreme emotion of first love, that her aunt Clementina, happening
+to pass on the arm of the President of Congress, could not help looking
+at her with a half kindly, half mocking smile, which made the child
+blush. Pepe Castro could scarcely get a word out of her. Delicious
+excitement seemed to have stricken her dumb. The happiness which filled
+her soul found an outlet, as so often happens, in a feeling of general
+benevolence. The ball to her was a pure delight; all the men were
+amusing; all the women were exquisitely dressed. Even Ramon, who came
+by, was bedewed with some drops of this overflowing tide of gladness.
+
+"Are you not dancing, Ramon?" she inquired, with so inviting a smile
+that the poor fellow was quite overcome with joy.
+
+"I have been kept talking by Cotorraso."
+
+"But find yourself a partner. Look, there is Rosa Pallares, who is not
+dancing."
+
+The smiling statesman hastened to invite the damsel in question,
+thinking, with characteristic acumen, that Esperancita had selected her
+for her plain face. Soothed by this flattering reflection he was quite
+content to dance with the daughter of General Pallares, of whom Cobo
+Ramirez was wont to speak as "one of our handsomest scarecrows." He felt
+as though he were doing his lady's bidding, and giving her indisputable
+proof that her jealousy--if she were jealous--was unfounded.
+
+When the waltz was over, he returned to her, as a mediaeval knight from
+the tournay, to receive his guerdon at his mistress's hands. But,
+inasmuch as there is no perfect happiness for any one in this world, at
+the same moment Cobo Ramirez went up to Esperancita. They both sat down
+by her and plied her with compliments and attentions. One took charge of
+her fan, the other of her handkerchief; both tried to entertain her by
+their remarks, and to flatter her vanity by their assiduity. It must in
+truth be owned that if Ramon was the more earnest and solid talker, Cobo
+was by far the more amusing. And yet Esperancita, against her wont, by
+one of those unaccountable whims of a young girl, was for once inclined
+to listen kindly to Ramoncito. The trio afforded a diverting subject for
+contemplation.
+
+The servants moved about the rooms with trays of lemonade, ices, and
+bonbons. Ramon called one of them to offer Esperancita a particular kind
+of jelly which he knew she liked. At the same time he insisted on his
+rival taking an ice. Cobo declined. Ramon pressed him so eagerly that
+Alcantara and some other men who were standing near could not help
+noticing it.
+
+"Look at Ramon trying to make Cobo eat an ice," said one.
+
+"He sees he is hot, and wants to be the death of him! Nothing can be
+plainer," said Leon.
+
+Pepe Castro, as soon as he saw his partner safe in the hands of Ramirez
+and Maldonado, had stolen away. As he wandered on he met Clementina. She
+seemed to be in every place at once, returning every few minutes to
+attend their Majesties, who had retired to a private room with the
+Duchess and Requena, and the ladies and gentlemen of their suite.
+
+"I saw you dancing with my little niece," said the lady. "Why do you not
+make up to her?"
+
+"To what end?"
+
+"To marry her."
+
+"Horror! Why, my dear, what have I done to you that you should wish me
+so dreadful a fate?"
+
+"Come, come, listen to reason," said she, quite gravely, and assuming a
+maternal air. "Esperancita is no beauty, but she is not disagreeable
+looking. She is fresh and youthful, and is desperately in love with you,
+that I know."
+
+"As you are," interrupted the other, with some bitterness.
+
+"As I am--but then she has not known you some sixteen years. Yes, she
+loves you, I assure you, very truly. We women can see such things with
+half a glance. Marry her; do not be foolish. Calderon is very rich."
+
+Before Castro could reply, she was gone. He stood there a few minutes
+lost in thought; then he moved away slowly, making his way round the
+rooms with a lazy strut, stopping to stare, with consummate
+impertinence, at all the pretty women, like a Pasha in a slave-market.
+
+Lola had taken possession of Raimundo, and kept him at her side in one
+corner of the sitting-room, where she laid herself out to conquer him by
+every art of the coquette. This was the pretty brunette's favourite
+amusement. No friend of hers could have a man in her train, without
+Lola's endeavouring to snatch him from her. Handsome or ugly, forward or
+shy, it mattered not; all she cared for was to gratify her incurable
+craving for admiration, and her desire to triumph over every other
+woman. Her eyes had a look of sweetness and innocence which deceived
+every one; it was impossible to believe that behind those guileless orbs
+there lurked a will as determined as it was astute. Alcazar thought her
+very pretty, and most agreeable to talk to; but the fact of her being
+Clementina's friend, and of her talking of scarcely anything else, had a
+great deal to do with this impression. As he could neither dance nor
+converse with the lady of his adoration, both for reasons of prudence
+and because she was too much occupied with other duties, he consoled
+himself by hearing Lola chatter about the details of her life. Every
+trifle interested the youth; the dress she had worn at the French
+Ambassador's ball, the incidents of a shooting-party at the Cotorrasos',
+the scenes she had with her husband, &c. Lola's tactics were first to
+gain his attention and captivate his sympathy, and then to win his
+liking.
+
+When Clementina came into the room, they were deep in conversation. She
+stood for an instant in the doorway, looking at them with surprise and
+vexation. For some time past Lola had been out of her good graces.
+Though Pepe Castro had ceased to interest her, when her friend had
+attempted to win him from her, the proceeding had led to a certain
+coolness between them. Now she perceived that Lola had cast her eyes on
+Raimundo, and was flirting with him on every possible occasion. This
+roused an impulse of hatred, which she had some difficulty in
+dissembling. She gave them a fiercely indignant stare, and going into
+the middle of the room, she said in a somewhat excited way:
+
+"Alcazar, you are wanted to dance. Are you too tired?"
+
+"Oh, no!" the young man hastened to reply, and he rose at once. "With
+whom shall I dance?"
+
+Clementina made no answer. Lola had a satirical smile which exasperated
+her. She turned to leave the room.
+
+"I am sorry to have disturbed you," she said coldly, as they went away
+together.
+
+Raimundo looked at her in surprise. This tone was quite new to him.
+
+"Disturbed me? Not at all."
+
+"Yes, indeed; for you seemed to be enjoying yourself very much with your
+companion," and then, unable to repress her temper any longer, she added
+in a brusque tone:
+
+"Come with me."
+
+She led him to the dining-room, where the supper tables were laid
+awaiting the guests. There, in the bay of a window, she poured out her
+wrath. She loaded him with abuse, and announced definitely that all was
+at an end between them. She even went so far as to shake him violently
+by the arm. Alcazar was so amazed, so overwhelmed, as to be absolutely
+incapable of speech. This saved him. Seeing dismay and grief painted on
+his countenance, Clementina could not fail to perceive that her anger
+had deceived her. Raimundo, at any rate, had not the faintest notion of
+flirting. So, calming down a little, she accepted the denial he at last
+found words to utter.
+
+"But it was solely to talk of you that I sat with her," he said.
+
+"To talk of me? Well, then, for the future, I will trouble you not to
+talk about me. It is enough that you should love me and hold your
+tongue."
+
+The servants who were passing in and out glanced at them with
+significant grimaces.
+
+As they left the room they met Pepa Frias. The buxom widow was in the
+best of humours; she had received many compliments. Her dress, a very
+handsome one, cut immoderately low, was that of a foreign princess of
+the time of Charles III., in silver brocade with gold embroidery, and a
+blue velvet train.
+
+"My dear, I am as hungry as a wolf," she exclaimed as she came in. "When
+are we to have supper? Ho, ho! so you are whispering in corners!
+Prudence, Clementina, prudence! My dear child, I must positively have
+something to eat or I shall drop. I can wait no longer."
+
+Clementina laughed and took her into a corner, where she had a plate
+brought for her with some meat. Alcazar returned to the drawing-room,
+very happy, but still tremulous from the painful emotion his mistress
+had caused him. He had never before seen her in such a rage.
+
+Clementina's friendship with Pepa had been closer than ever since the
+scene in the boudoir. The widow was convinced that the safety of her
+fortune depended on this intimacy, and did all she could to consolidate
+it. Thanks to this manoeuvre she had, in fact, already recovered
+possession of a large part of it; nor was she now uneasy about the
+remainder. She knew that Dona Carmen had made her will in her
+step-daughter's favour, and though the Duchess had been rather stronger
+lately, her death ere long was a certainty, for the doctors had
+pronounced that nothing could save her but an operation, which she was
+too weak to undergo.
+
+Pepa's cynical assurance was quite to Clementina's mind. They understood
+each other perfectly. They were a pair of hussies, grisettes born into a
+sphere of society for which Nature had never intended them. Pepa, of
+course, had a better right there than Clementina, who bore the taint in
+her blood. Pepa was an adventuress by predilection.
+
+"Look here, Clem," said she as she devoured a slice of galantine of
+turkey. "Let that boy drop; he is not worth his salt. You have had
+enough of him for a mere whim."
+
+"How do you know what he is worth?" replied Clementina laughing.
+
+"By his face, my dear. He has been your acknowledged lover for above a
+year, and to this day he turns as red as a poppy whenever you look at
+him."
+
+"That is exactly what I like him for."
+
+Pepa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Indeed? Well, I should find it intolerable."
+
+"And Arbos? How does he behave?"
+
+"Oh, he is a perfect goose, but at any rate he can keep his countenance.
+If you tell him he is a great man, there is nothing he will not do for
+you. He has found places for above a score of my connections. Then it is
+very nice to have some influence in the political world, and see
+deputies at one's feet. Yesterday, for instance, I had a visit from
+Manricio Sala, who has set his heart on being made under-secretary. He
+is quite certain, it would seem, that in that case Urreta would let his
+daughter marry him."
+
+"Oh, I loathe politics!--Do you know, Irenita is quite sweet in that
+_chasseresse_ costume."
+
+"Hm--too showy."
+
+"Not at all, it is extremely pretty. What has become of her husband? I
+have not seen him since they came in."
+
+"Her husband! a precious specimen he is!" exclaimed Pepa, looking up in
+her wrath. "Oh, what troubles come upon me, my dear, what troubles!" she
+added with her mouth still full.
+
+"Maria Huerta?" asked Clementina in a confidential tone.
+
+"Who else?" muttered the widow as she gazed at the turkey on her plate.
+Then suddenly she burst out:
+
+"He is a blackguard, a shameless scoundrel, who cannot even keep up
+appearances for his wife's sake. He spends chief part of the day
+waiting for her at the door of the church of San Pascual, and walks home
+with her. And at the theatre he never takes his eyes off her. It is a
+shame. He might have some decency. And my idiot of a daughter is madly
+in love with him, a perfect fool about him, all the while. She does
+nothing but cry, and show how jealous she is! Why, what does the wretch
+want but to humiliate her? If I were in her place I would talk to him!
+And I would give him such a box on the ear to finish with as would make
+him wink!"
+
+The lady's indignation had not interfered with deglutition.
+
+"Heaven reward you, my dear," she said as she rose. "Now let us see if
+this heart of mine will be quiet for a little while." For Pepa supposed
+herself to suffer from a heart complaint which only a good meal would
+relieve.
+
+A few minutes after they had quitted the dining-room Clementina gave the
+word, and the supper-room was thrown open. The Royal party led the way,
+attended by their suite and their host and hostesses. Salabert had
+lavished his crowning efforts on the supper-room. The ceiling was hung
+with glittering cloth of gold; the brilliant flowers and exotic fruits,
+the sheen of silver and crystal, under the blaze of gas lights as
+numerous as the stars of heaven, were dazzling with splendour. The
+servants stood motionless in a row against the wall, solemn and
+speechless. In two deep recesses burnt huge fires of logs, in beautiful
+fire-places of carved oak, which decorated the wall almost to the
+ceiling. All the food served at the Royal table had been brought from
+Paris by a little regiment of cooks and scullions. The only exceptions
+were fish, brought from the coast of Biscay, and a plum pudding, just
+arrived from London. The meats were for the most part cold, but there
+was hot clear soup for those who liked it.
+
+The Royalties did not remain many minutes in the supper-room. As soon as
+they left, the tide of guests rushed in without much ceremony. The
+sitting-rooms remained silent, abandoned to the servants, who with the
+precision of soldiers, replaced the dwindling wax lights by fresh ones,
+while the noise in the dining-room, of plates and glasses, and voices
+and laughter, was almost bewildering.
+
+Cobo Ramirez deserted Esperancita for a while, leaving her on his
+rival's hands, while he found a seat for himself at a little table in a
+snug corner, to devour a plateful of ham and Hamburg beef. Ramoncito
+naturally took advantage of this reprieve to show off his own poetical
+frugality as compared with Cobo's prosaic gluttony, till Esperancita cut
+the ground from under him by saying very spitefully to her friend
+Pacita, who sat by her side:
+
+"For my part I like a man to be a great eater."
+
+"So do I," said Paz. "At any rate it shows that he has a good
+digestion."
+
+"So have I," said Maldonado, crushed and vexed by the hostile tone the
+young girls had adopted against him. Paz only smiled scornfully.
+
+General Patino, tired of throwing his heavy shell at Calderon's torpid
+spouse without producing the smallest sign of capitulation, had raised
+the siege, to sit down before the Marquesa de Ujo; she had yielded at
+the first fire, and thrown open every gate to the enemy. At the same
+time, as a consummate strategist, the General had not lost sight of
+Mariana, hoping that some happy accident might again lay her open to his
+batteries. The newspapers had lately mentioned a rumour that he was to
+be made Minister of War. This dignity would, no doubt, give him greater
+influence and prestige, whenever he might choose to surprise the
+stronghold.
+
+The Marquesa de Ujo was dressed a la Turque, and she played her part so
+well that Alcantara declared he "longed to have a shot at her himself."
+Her languor was so great that she could scarcely exert herself to
+articulate, so that the General was obliged to assist her every minute
+in the exhausting effort. While her far from perfect teeth nibbled a
+cake or two--for her digestion did not allow of her eating anything
+more solid--she uttered, or, to be exact, she exhaled a series of
+exclamations over a new French novel.
+
+"What exquisite scenes! What a sweet book! When she says, 'Come in if
+you choose; you can dishonour my body but not my soul.' And the duel,
+when she receives the bullet that was to have killed her husband! How
+beautiful it is!"
+
+Pepe Castro was prancing--forgive the word--round Lola Madariaga. She
+was relating with a malicious smile the incident which had just occurred
+when Clementina had found her sitting with Raimundo. She spoke as though
+she had won the youth from her friend, with a scornful and patronising
+air which would have been a shock to Clementina's pride if she could
+have heard it.
+
+"Poor Clem! she is growing old, isn't she? But what a figure she has
+still. Of course it is all done by tight-lacing, and it must do her a
+mischief, sooner or later, but as yet---- Her face does not match her
+figure, above all now that she has begun to lose her complexion so
+dreadfully. She always had a very hard face."
+
+And all the time her insinuating soft eyes were fixed on Castro with
+such inviting looks, as were really quite embarrassing. She had always
+been told, and it was true, that she had a most innocent face, and to
+make the most of it she assumed the expression of an idiot.
+
+Castro agreed to all she said, as much to flatter her as out of any
+ill-feeling towards Clementina. When Clementina cast him off he had
+consoled himself by paying attentions to Lola, in whom he really felt no
+interest, though at the same time he had been careful not to let the
+world know that he was discarded.
+
+"And do you believe that she is really in love with that school-boy?"
+
+"Who can tell! Clementina likes to be thought original. This last whim
+is just like her. And look at that baby's sentimental gaze at her from
+afar."
+
+Raimundo, who was standing at the end of one of the tables, never took
+his eyes off his mistress while she moved to and fro, attending to the
+requirements of those guests whom she most desired to please. From time
+to time she bestowed on him a faint smile of recognition, which
+transported him to the seventh heaven.
+
+Pepa Frias, who, having had her fill, could eat no more, was picking up
+a fruit here and a bonbon there, while behind her chair stood Calderon,
+Pinedo, Fuentes, and two or three more, laughing at her and with her.
+But the widow was not to be caught napping; she could defend herself,
+parrying and retorting with masterly skill.
+
+"Where do you have the gout, Pepa, did you say?" asked Pinedo.
+
+"In my feet, in my feet, where all your wits are."
+
+"What is the miniature in that brooch? Is it a family portrait?"
+
+"No, Fuentes," said she, as she handed it to him to look at. "It is a
+mirror."
+
+The painting represented a monkey.
+
+All the others roared with laughter, attracting general attention.
+
+Soon after the dancing had recommenced the Royal party took their leave.
+The same ceremony was observed as at their arrival; the guests in two
+ranks on each side of the room, the Royal march played by the orchestra,
+and the master of the house in attendance to the carriage door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AN UNWELCOME GUEST.
+
+
+Clementina gave a sigh of relief. Walking slowly, with the delightful
+sense of a difficult task happily accomplished, she made her way through
+the rooms, smiling right and left, and shedding amiable speeches on
+every friend she met. This splendid ball, the most magnificent perhaps
+ever given in Madrid by a private individual, was almost exclusively her
+work. Her father had provided the money, but the motive power, the taste
+and planning, had been hers. She received the congratulations which
+hailed her from all sides with a pleasing intoxication of flattered
+vanity. Happiness stirred a craving for love, its inseparable associate.
+She was possessed by a vehement wish to have a brief meeting,
+_tete-a-tete_, with Raimundo, to speak and hear a few fond words, to
+exchange a brief caress. She looked round for him among the crowd.
+
+He had been wandering about the rooms all the evening, generally alone.
+He had looked forward to this ball with puerile anticipations of
+delirious and unknown pleasures, for he had never been present at any of
+these high festivals of wealth and fashion. The reality had not come up
+to his hopes, as must always be the case. All this ostentation, all the
+scandalous luxury displayed to his eyes, instead of exciting his pride,
+wounded it deeply. Never had he felt so completely a stranger in the
+world he had now for some months lived in. His thoughts, with their
+natural tendency to melancholy, reverted to his modest home, where, by
+his fault, necessaries would ere long be lacking; to his humble-minded
+mother, who had never hesitated to fulfil the most menial tasks; to his
+innocent sister, who had learned from her to be thrifty and
+hard-working. Remorse gnawed at his heart. Then, too, he observed that
+the young men of his acquaintance treated him here with covert
+hostility. Many of them he had begun to regard as friends; they welcomed
+him pleasantly, he played cards with them and sometimes joined in their
+expeditions, but he clearly understood at last that he was no one,
+nothing to them, but as Clementina's lover; and he could detect, or his
+exaggerated sensitiveness made him fancy that he detected, in their
+demeanour to him, a touch of scorn, which humiliated him bitterly. The
+passionate devotion which Clementina professed for him compensated no
+doubt for these miseries, and enabled him often to forget them, but this
+evening his adored mistress, though she did not ignore him, was
+necessarily out of his range. He endured the phase of feeling which a
+mystic goes through when, as he expresses it, God has withdrawn His
+guiding hand--intense weariness and the darkest gloom of spirit. He
+danced dutiously two or three times, and talked a little to one and
+another. Tired of it all, at last he withdrew into the quietest corner
+of one of the rooms, sat down on a sofa and remained sunk in extreme
+dejection.
+
+Clementina sought him for some few minutes, and was beginning to be out
+of patience. She went into the card-room, and he started up to meet her
+with a beaming countenance. All his melancholy had vanished on seeing
+that she was in search of him.
+
+"If you would like two minutes' chat, come to the Duke's study," she
+said, in rapid but tender accents. "It is on the right-hand side, at the
+end of the corridor." She went thither, and Raimundo, to save
+appearances, lingered for a few moments by one of the tables, watching
+the game.
+
+Clementina made her way in and out of the rooms till she reached the
+corridor, and hurried to the study, a handsome room, so called for mere
+form, since the Duke always sat upstairs. It was a blaze of light, as
+all the other rooms were. As she went in, she fancied she heard a
+smothered sob, which filled her with surprise and apprehension. Looking
+about her, she discovered, in a deep recess, a woman lying in a heap on
+a divan, hiding her face in her handkerchief, and weeping violently. She
+went up to her, and recognised her by her dress. It was Irenita.
+
+"Irene, my child, what is the matter?" she exclaimed, bending anxiously
+over her.
+
+"Oh, forgive me, Clementina, I came here, hardly knowing what I was
+doing. I am so miserable;" and the tears streamed down her face.
+
+"But what has happened then, my poor dear?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing," sobbed the girl. There was a short silence.
+Clementina looked at her compassionately.
+
+"Come," she said, leaning over her, "It is Emilio. He has done something
+to vex you this evening."
+
+Irene made no reply.
+
+"Do not break your heart over it, silly child. That will do nothing to
+mend matters. However great the effort, try to seem indifferent. That is
+the only way to prevent his despising you. Nay, there is a better way,
+but I do not advise you to try it; there are things one cannot advise.
+But still, even if you are in love with him, do not offer him your heart
+to wring, for God's sake! Never let him know how unhappy he makes you,
+or you are lost. Let him have his whim out, and he will come back to
+you."
+
+Irene raised her face, bathed in tears.
+
+"But have you seen--do you know what he has done? It is dreadful."
+
+At this instant Clementina heard a step in the corridor, and suspecting
+who it might be, she hastily went to look out, saying: "Wait till I shut
+the door."
+
+She was only just in time; Raimundo arrived at the moment; she put her
+finger to her lips, and signed to him to go away. Irene saw nothing of
+it.
+
+When Clementina returned to her side, Irenita poured out, between sighs
+and tears, the grievances her husband had heaped upon her that evening.
+In the first place Emilio had chosen to come to the ball in a Hungarian
+costume. As soon as she came in, she had perceived that Maria Huerta
+also wore a Hungarian dress, and this, it must be owned, was a piece of
+insolence, which more than one person had remarked upon. Then they had
+danced together twice, and all the while, Emilio had never ceased
+murmuring in her ear. He had waited on her like a servant the whole
+evening, offering her ices and fruit with his own hands. Once, as he
+handed her a plate, their fingers had met. Irenita had seen it with her
+own eyes. Oh, it was monstrous! Irene only longed to kill herself. She
+would rather die a thousand deaths than endure such torments.
+
+Clementina comforted her as best she could. Emilio loved her fondly, she
+was sure; only men liked to show off in this way and prove their powers
+of fascination. As their hearts were not engaged, there was nothing for
+it but to let them go for a while, and then they returned to the wife
+they really loved.
+
+Clementina would not take her to the ladies' cloak-room to have her hair
+rearranged and to bathe her face; she led her up to the Duchess's
+dressing-room, and in a few minutes they came down stairs again. Irenita
+promised not to betray herself. When Clementina reported to Pepa all
+that had passed, the widow flew into such a fury that she was with
+difficulty hindered from rushing off to abuse her son-in-law.
+
+"Well, it is all the same," she said, with a shrug. "If I do not scratch
+his face now, I will do it later. Come what may, I cannot allow that
+scoundrel to be the death of my daughter; and as for that bare-faced
+slut, she will not get off till I have spit in her face, and in her
+husband's ugly phiz, too! A pretty state of things!"
+
+"Would it not be better to get rid of them altogether? Huerta is in
+office. See if you cannot get him packed off somewhere as Governor?"
+
+"You are right. I will speak of it to Arbos at once; but as to that
+precious son-in-law of mine, I will pay him out this very night, or my
+name is not Pepa."
+
+The Duke, surrounded by a group of faithful flatterers, was inhaling
+clouds of incense, growling out some gross witticism every now and then,
+which was hailed with applause. The ladies were the most enthusiastic in
+their admiration. Requena's genius for speculation dazzled them with
+amazement, as though they would like to calculate how many new dresses
+his millions would purchase. And he, usually so subservient, he--who, by
+his own confession, had reached the position he held by dint of kicks
+behind--lording it here among his worshippers, bullied them without
+mercy. His coarse jests were flung at men and women alike; he gloried in
+the brutal exercise of his power. And if these devotees were ready to
+humble themselves so patiently for nothing--absolutely nothing--what
+would they not have done if he had given largesse of his millions, if
+the golden calf had begun to vomit dollars.
+
+In the card-room, whither he went after attending the retirement of
+their Majesties, a crowd of speculators literally blocked him in.
+
+"How are the Riosa shares looking, Senor Duque?" one made so bold as to
+ask.
+
+"Do not talk of them," grumbled the man of money, with a furious glare.
+
+Llera's scheme had been punctually carried out. The Duke, after buying
+up a large number of shares, had set to work to produce a panic among
+the shareholders. For some months he had been employing secret agents to
+buy, and sell again immediately at a loss. Thanks to these tactics, the
+quotations had fallen very low. He was now almost ready for his great
+coup, buying up all he could get to throw them suddenly into the market,
+and then securing half the shares, _plus_ one.
+
+"Everything cannot turn out well," said the man who had addressed him,
+not without a smile of satisfaction. "You have always been so lucky."
+
+"The Duke does not owe his success to luck," said a stock-broker bent on
+flattery, "but to his genius, his incomparable skill and acumen."
+
+"No doubt, no doubt," the other hastened to put in, snatching the
+censer, as it were. "The Duke is the greatest financial genius of Spain.
+I cannot understand why he has not the entire management of the
+Treasury. If it is not placed in his hands, the country is past praying
+for."
+
+"Well, if I tried to save it after the fashion of the Riosa Mining
+Company, it would be a bad look out for the Spaniards," said the Duke,
+in a sulky, mumbling voice.
+
+"Why, is it such a rotten concern?"
+
+"For the Government, no, damn it; but for me, after buying it at par, it
+does not seem to be much of a success."
+
+And he cast all the blame of the transaction on his head clerk, that
+idiot Llera, who had insisted on having a finger in that pie, in spite
+of his, the Duke's, presentiments.
+
+"Ah! a man like you should never trust anything but his instincts," they
+all declared. "When a man has a real genius for business--" And again
+the word genius was on the lips of every idolater of the golden calf.
+
+Suddenly, at the door of the card-room, Clementina was seen, closely
+followed by Osorio, Mariana, and Calderon. All four looked disturbed and
+dismayed, and they all four fixed their eyes on Salabert, whom they
+eagerly approached.
+
+"Papa, one word, one minute," said Clementina.
+
+Salabert quitted the group, of which he was the centre, and joined the
+quartette in the further corner of the room.
+
+"That woman is here," said his daughter in an agitated whisper, but her
+eyes flashed fire.
+
+"It is scandalous," said Osorio.
+
+"Some people have left already, and as soon as it is known every one
+will go!" added Calderon, more calmly.
+
+"What woman?" asked Requena, opening his eyes very wide.
+
+Clementina explained in a tone of passionate scorn--a woman whom the
+Duke was known to visit. It was Amparo.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, with well acted surprise. "That hussy has dared to
+come to this house? Who let her in? I will dismiss the door-keeper
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"No. What you have to do is to dismiss her this instant!" cried
+Clementina, stuttering with rage.
+
+"Of course, this instant! How dare she set foot in this house, and on
+such an occasion? But how did she get in? A ball which began so well!"
+
+"She has a card, it would seem."
+
+"Then she has stolen it, or it is a forgery."
+
+"Well, well," said Clementina, who knew her father well enough to guess
+that he had been cajoled into giving the invitation, a bounty which had
+cost him nothing. "Settle the matter at once. She is in the
+drawing-room. You must go and explain to her that she must have the
+goodness to take herself off. Say what you choose, but at once. Before
+any one discovers her--above all mamma."
+
+"No, my child, no. I know myself too well. I could not control my
+indignation. We must do nothing to attract attention. Go yourself--go,
+and get rid of her at once."
+
+This was enough for Clementina. Without another word she swiftly
+returned to the drawing-room, her face pale and set, her lips quivering.
+In a moment she discovered the foe.
+
+Certainly she was a handsome creature, magnificently dressed as Mary,
+Queen of Scots, and her beauty was fuel to Clementina's wrath. After
+wheedling Salabert to give her a card, it had occurred to the
+_demi-mondaine_ that her appearance at the ball might cause a scandal,
+but she longed to display herself in the costly costume she had chosen,
+and taking a respectable-looking old friend as a chaperon, she went very
+late, just to walk once or twice through the rooms. It was a bitter
+surprise to find that even the men of her acquaintance, the members of
+the Savage Club, here turned their backs and walked away.
+
+Her enjoyment, such as it was, was brief. Just as she was moving
+forward, with a triumphant smile, to make her longed-for progress
+through the rooms, she found herself face to face with Clementina, who,
+without the slightest greeting, holding her head very high, laid her
+hand on her shoulder, saying:
+
+"Have the kindness to listen to me."
+
+Mary Stuart turned pale, hesitated an instant, and then said with
+resolute arrogance:
+
+"I have nothing to say to you. I came to see the master of the
+house--the Duke de Requena."
+
+Margaret of Austria fixed a flashing eye on the rival queen, who met it
+without blinking. Then, bending forward, she said in her ear:
+
+"If you do not come with me this instant I will call two men-servants to
+turn you out of this house by force."
+
+The Queen of Scots was startled; still she was bold:
+
+"I wish to see the Duke," she said.
+
+"The Duke is not to be seen--by you. Follow me, or I call!" And she
+looked round as though she were about to act on her threat. The intruder
+turned very pale, and obeyed.
+
+The scene had, of course, been witnessed by several persons, but no one
+dared follow the hostile queens. Clementina went straight into the
+cloak-room.
+
+"This lady's wrap," she said.
+
+Not another word was spoken. A man-servant brought the cloak. Mary
+Stuart put it on herself unaided, with trembling hands. She went forward
+a few steps, and then suddenly turning round, she flashed a look of
+mortal hatred at Margaret of Austria, who returned it with interest in
+the shape of a contemptuous smile.
+
+It was foreordained of Heaven that the unhappy Queen of Scots should
+always be a victim--first to her cousin, Elizabeth of England, and now
+the Queen of Spain had turned her into the street. She found her duenna
+in the carriage; she had prudently made her escape at the beginning of
+the scene.
+
+What moral purification Requena's rooms may have gained by the eviction
+of Mary Stuart it would be hard to say; but they certainly lost much
+from the aesthetic point of view, for, beyond a doubt, she was lovely.
+
+The ball was coming to an end. Preparations were being made for the
+final cotillon. The crowd had thinned; several persons went away before
+the cotillon--elderly folk for the most part, who did not like late
+hours. Among the young ladies there was the agitation and stir which
+always precedes this last dance, when the most ceremonious ball assumes
+an aspect of more intimate enjoyment. Art and fancy now step in to
+eliminate every sensual element and make the waltz an innocent
+amusement--a reminiscence of the fancy ballets which, in the fourteenth
+century, entertained the Courts of France and England. And to many a
+damsel this is the crowning scene of the first act in the little comedy
+of love she has begun to perform.
+
+Pepe Castro, as we have seen, had laughed to scorn Clementina's
+suggestion that he should pay his addresses to Calderon's daughter; but
+it had not, therefore, fallen on stony ground. Though he talked and
+danced with other girls, he did not fail to ask her to waltz more than
+once. When the cotillon was being formed he went to Esperanza and asked
+her to be his partner, though he knew very well that it would be
+impossible, as the engagements for the last dance were always made as
+soon as the young people arrived. However, it fell in with the scheme he
+was plotting in his fertile brain. The girl had, in fact, promised the
+dance to the Conde de Agreda, but, on Castro's invitation, her desire to
+dance with him was so great that, with calm audacity, she accepted it.
+
+The Duchess selected the Condesa de Cotorraso to lead the cotillon, and
+she took Cobo Ramirez for her partner. He was always welcome in a
+ball-room as a most accomplished leader of cotillons; and on this
+particular occasion he had held long conferences with Clementina as to
+the arrangements for this dance.
+
+The circle of chairs was placed, and Pepe Castro went to lead out
+Esperanza, who proudly took his arm. But they had not gone two steps
+before Agreda intercepted them.
+
+"Why, Esperancita, I thought you had promised me the cotillon?" he said
+in great surprise.
+
+The girl's audacity did not desert her--the courage of a love-sick maid.
+
+"You must, please, forgive me, Leon," said she, in a tone which the most
+consummate actress might have envied. "When I accepted you I quite
+forgot that I was engaged already to Pepe."
+
+The Count retired, murmuring a few polite words, which did not conceal
+his annoyance. As soon as he was gone, Esperancita, frightened at the
+compromising interest in Castro which she had thus betrayed, began with
+many blushes to explain:
+
+"The real truth is that I had forgotten that I was engaged to Leon," she
+said. "And as I had taken your arm--and besides, he is a most tiring
+partner."
+
+Pepe Castro took no mean advantage of his triumph; his demeanour was
+modest and grateful. Instead of courting her openly, he adopted a more
+insinuating style, loading her with small attentions, establishing a
+tone of easy confidence, and showing her all possible fondness without
+breathing a word of love. Esperanza was supremely happy. She began to
+believe herself adored; fancying that the sympathy and regard which had
+always existed between Pepe and herself was at last turning to love. Her
+heart beat high with joy.
+
+Ramoncita also was pleased at the substitution. Agreda had for some
+little time been particularly antipathetic to him, almost as much so as
+Cobo Ramirez, since he was beginning to be as jealous of the one as of
+the other. Pepe, on the other hand, he regarded as his second self,
+another and a superior Maldonado. All the affection Esperanza bestowed
+on Pepe he accepted as a boon to himself. So to see her on his arm was
+to him a touching sight, and as he went up to them to say a few
+insignificant words he actually blushed with satisfaction. Pepe made a
+knowing face, as much as to say: "Victory all along the line!" and the
+young civilian felt that he was advancing with giant strides to the
+fulfilment of his hopes and the apogee of his happiness.
+
+The cotillon was a worthy climax to this most successful ball. The
+inventiveness of Cobo Ramirez, spurred by the magnitude of the occasion,
+enchanted the dancers by the variety and ingenuity of its devices; he
+kept them amused for more than an hour. A game with a hoop arranged in
+the middle of the room absorbed every one's attention and earned him
+much applause. He divided the gentlemen into two parties, who shot
+alternately with arrows from pretty little gilt bows at the hoop
+suspended by a ribbon from the ceiling. The winners were entitled to
+dance with the partners of those they had defeated, while the humiliated
+victim followed in their wake, fanning them as they waltzed. Then he had
+planned another figure for the ladies; the successful fair left the room
+and returned sitting in a car drawn by four servants dressed as black
+slaves. In this she made a triumphal progress round the room, surrounded
+by the rest. This and other not less remarkable and valuable inventions
+had placed the fame of the heir of Casa Ramirez on a permanent and
+illustrious footing.
+
+As soon as the cotillon was ended the company left--it was a noisy and
+precipitate retreat. Every one crowded out to the vestibule and stairs,
+talking at the top of their voices, laughing and calling, each louder
+than the other, for their carriages. The extensive garden, lighted by
+electricity, had a fantastic and unreal effect, like the scene in a
+fairy cosmorama. The beams of intense white light, making the shadows
+look black and deep, pierced the avenues of the park and lent it an
+appearance of immense extent. Night was ended, the pale tints of dawn
+were already grey in the East. It was intensely cold. The young
+"Savages," wrapped in fur coats, were letting off the last crackers of
+their wit in honour of the ladies who stood waiting, where their rich
+and picturesque wraps glittered in the electric light. Horses stamping,
+footmen shouting, the carriage-wheels, as they slowly came round to the
+steps, grinding the gravel of the drive. Then there was the sound of
+kisses, doors slammed, loud good-nights; and the noise of the vehicles,
+as they drove off from the terrace steps, seemed by degrees to swallow
+up all the others and carry them off to rest in the various quarters of
+the town.
+
+Pepe Castro had kept close to Esperanza and was murmuring in her ear
+till the last. The girl, muffled up to her eyes, was smiling without
+looking at him. When at last the Calderon's carriage came up they shook
+hands with a long pressure.
+
+"I hope you will not forget us for so long as usual; that you will come
+to see us oftener," she said, leaving her hand in his.
+
+"Do you really wish that I should call more frequently?" said he,
+looking at her as if he meant to magnetise her.
+
+"I should think I did!" As she spoke she coloured violently under her
+comforter, and snatching away her hand followed her mother to the
+carriage.
+
+Pepa Frias had said to her daughter:
+
+"When we go, child, I want Emilio to come with me. I am in such a state
+of nerves that I cannot sleep till I have given him my mind. We must
+have no more scandals, you see; I am going to propose an ultimatum. If
+he persists, you must come back to me and he may go to the devil."
+
+She was in a great rage. Irene, though she would have liked to object to
+this arrangement, for she adored her fickle husband, did not dare to
+remonstrate; she submitted. When they were leaving, Pepa addressed her
+son-in-law:
+
+"Emilio, do me the favour to see me home. I want to speak to you."
+
+"Hang it all!" thought the young fellow.
+
+"And Irene?" he said.
+
+"She can go alone. The bogueys won't eat her," replied Pepa tartly.
+
+"Worse and worse," Emilio reflected.
+
+And, in point of fact, Irenita, eyeing her mother and her husband with
+fear and anxiety, went off alone in her carriage, leaving them together.
+
+As Pepa's brougham rolled away, Emilio, to disarm his mother-in-law,
+tried, like the boy that he was, to divert the lightning by saying
+something to please her.
+
+"Do you know," said he, "that I heard your praises loudly sung by the
+President of the Council and some men who were with him? They admired
+your costume immensely, but yet more your figure. They declared that
+there was not a girl in the room to compare with you for freshness, that
+your skin was like satin, and smoother and softer every day."
+
+"Good heavens, what nonsense! That is all gammon, Emilio. A few years
+ago, I do not say----"
+
+"No, no, indeed; your complexion is proverbial in Madrid. What would
+Irene give for a skin like her mother's!"
+
+"Is it better than Maria Huerta's?" asked she, in an ironical tone,
+which betrayed, indeed, no very great annoyance.
+
+Pepa had, in fact, changed her plan of attack; she thought that
+diplomacy would be more effective than a rating.
+
+"Listen to me," she went on, "I meant to give you a good scolding,
+Emilio; to talk to you seriously, very seriously, and say a great many
+hard things, but I cannot. I am so foolishly soft-hearted that I can
+find excuses for every one. You have behaved so badly to Irenita this
+evening, that she would be justified in leaving you altogether; but I do
+not believe you are as bad as you seem, for you are nothing but a
+perverse boy. I am sure you do not yourself appreciate the gravity of
+your conduct."
+
+Pepa's whole sermon was pitched in the same persuasive key, and Emilio,
+who had expected a severe lecture, was agreeably surprised. He listened
+submissively, and then in a broken voice tried to exculpate himself. He
+had flirted a little to be sure with Maria Huerta, but he swore he did
+not care for her. It was a mere matter of pique and vanity. When his
+engagement to Irene was announced, Maria had been heard to say, in
+Osorio's house, that she could not understand how Irenita could bear to
+marry that ugly slip of a boy. He had sworn she should eat her own
+words--and so--and so--and that was all, on his word of honour, all.
+
+So Pepa was still further mollified; and what wonder if the young fellow
+thought that this, and perhaps worse sins, were condoned by his
+profligate mother-in-law.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A PIOUS MATINEE.
+
+
+A few days after the ball, at eleven in the morning of a Friday in Lent,
+the most elegant of "Savages" woke from his calm and sound slumbers,
+fully determined to marry Calderon's little daughter. He opened his
+eyes, glanced at the hippic decorations which ornamented the walls of
+his room, stretched himself gracefully, drank a glass of lemonade which
+stood by his bedside, and prepared to rise. It cannot be positively
+asserted that the resolution had been formed during sleep, but it is
+quite certain that it was the birth of a mysterious travail which he had
+not consciously aided. When he went to bed Castro had only the vaguest
+thoughts of this advantageous alliance; on waking, his determination to
+sue for Esperanza's hand, by whatever process it had been elaborated,
+was irrevocable. Let us congratulate the happy damsel, and for the
+present devote our attention to studying the noble "Savage" in the act
+of perfecting the beautiful object which Nature had achieved in creating
+him.
+
+His servant had prepared his bath. After looking in the glass to study
+the face of the day--his own--he took up some dumb-bells, and went
+through a few exercises. Then taking a foil, he practised a score or so
+of lunges, and finally he delivered a dozen or more punches on the pad
+of a dynamometer. Having accomplished this, the moment was come for him
+to step into the water. He was still splashing and sponging, when into
+his room, unannounced, walked the poor crazy Marquis Manolo Davalos.
+
+"Pepe, I want to speak to you about a very important matter," said he,
+with an air of mystery, his eyes wilder than ever.
+
+"Wait a minute; I am tubbing."
+
+"Then make haste; I am in a great hurry."
+
+Davalos rose from the chair into which he had dropped, and began walking
+up and down the room with a sort of feverish agitation, to which his
+friends had become accustomed. He could not remain still for five
+minutes. Any one else going through half the exercise he took in the
+course of the day would have been utterly exhausted before night. Castro
+watched him at first with contemptuous raillery in his eye; but he grew
+serious as he saw Manolo go up to the table and begin to play with a
+neat little revolver which Castro kept by his bedside.
+
+"Look out there, Manolo! It is loaded."
+
+"So I see, so I see," said the other with a smile; and turning round
+sharply, he added: "What do you think Madrid would say if I shot you
+dead?"
+
+Pepe Castro felt a chill run down his spine, which was not altogether
+attributable to the cold bath, and he laughed rather queerly.
+
+"And you know I could do it with impunity," his visitor went on, "as I
+am said to be mad----."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!" Castro laughed hysterically.
+
+He was no coward; on the contrary, he had a reputation for punctilio and
+courage; but, like all fighting men, he liked a public. The prospect of
+an inglorious death at the hands of a maniac did not smile on his fancy.
+The example of Seneca, Marat, and other heroes who had been killed in
+their bath did nothing to encourage him, possibly because he had never
+heard of them. Davalos came towards him with the revolver cocked,
+saying:
+
+"What will they say in town, eh? What will they say?"
+
+Castro was as cold as though he were up to his chin in ice instead of
+water with the chill off. However, he had presence of mind enough to
+say:
+
+"Lay down that revolver, Manolo. If you don't, you shall never see
+Amparo again as long as you live." Amparo was the fair _demi-mondaine_
+whom we have already seen at the Duke's ball. She had ruined the
+Marquis, a widower with young children, who had seriously intended to
+marry the woman; and his brain, none of the strongest at any time, had
+finally given way, when his family had interfered to protect him from
+her rapacity.
+
+"Never again! Why not?" he asked, dejection painted on his face, as he
+lowered the weapon.
+
+"Because I will not allow it; I will tell her never to let you inside
+her doors."
+
+"Well, well, my dear fellow, do not be put out, I was only in fun," said
+the lunatic, replacing the revolver on the table.
+
+Castro jumped out of the bath. No sooner was he wrapped in the turkish
+towel, with which he dried himself, than he seized the weapon and locked
+it away. Easy in his mind now, though annoyed by the fright his crazy
+friend had given him, he began talking to him in a tone of contemptuous
+ill-humour, while, standing before his glass, he lavished on his
+handsome person, with the greatest respect, all the care due to its
+merits.
+
+"Now, then, out with it, man, out with the great secret. One of your
+fool's errands as usual, I suppose. I declare, Manolo, you ought not to
+be allowed in the streets. You should go somewhere and be cured," he
+said, as he rubbed his arms with some scented unguent which he selected
+from the collection of pots and bottles of every size arrayed before
+him.
+
+The Marquis put his hand in his pocket, took out his note-book, and from
+it a letter in a woman's hand, saying with some solemnity:
+
+"She has just written me this note. I want you to read it."
+
+Pepe did not even turn his head to look at the document his friend held
+out to him. Absorbed at the moment in blending the ends of his moustache
+with his beard, he said in an absent-minded way:
+
+"And what does she want?"
+
+Davalos stared in surprise at the small interest he took in this
+precious missive.
+
+"Shall I read it to you?"
+
+"If it is not very long."
+
+Manolo unfolded it as reverently as though it were the autograph of a
+saint, and read with deep emotion:
+
+     "MY DEAREST MANOLO.--Do me the favour to send me by the bearer two
+     thousand pesetas,[D] of which I am in urgent need. If you have not
+     so much about you, bring me the money this evening.--Always and
+     entirely yours,
+
+     "AMPARO."
+
+"My word! She is a cool hand. I suppose you did not send the money?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Quite right."
+
+"Well, I had not got it. It is on purpose to see if you can help me that
+I have come here."
+
+Castro turned round and contemplated his visitor with a look of surprise
+and irritation. Then, addressing himself to his glass again, he said:
+
+"My dear Manolo, you are the greatest fool out. I am sure that when your
+aunt dies you will let that hussy spend the money for you as she has
+spent your own fortune."
+
+The Marquis was in a fury.
+
+"Do you know where the real wrong is?" he said. "It lies with my family,
+who, without rhyme or reason, interfere to prevent my marrying her. As
+my wife--as the mother of my motherless children--they would have been
+happy, and so should I!"
+
+Castro stared at him in blank amazement. Tears stood on the Marquis's
+pale cheeks. Pepe made a grimace of contemptuous pity, and went on
+combing his moustache. After a few minutes' silence, he said:
+
+"I am very sorry, old fellow. I have not got two thousand pesetas; but
+if I had I would not lend them to you for such a purpose, you may be
+very sure."
+
+Davalos made no reply, but again paced the room.
+
+"Whom can I ask?" he suddenly said, stopping short.
+
+"Try Salabert," said Castro, with a short laugh.
+
+Manolo clenched his fists and ground his teeth; his eyes glared
+ominously, and with a stride he went up to Pepe, who drew back a step,
+and prepared to defend himself.
+
+"Such a speech is a gross insult!--an insult worthy of a bullet or a
+sword thrust! You are a coward--in your own house!"
+
+His eyes started in a really terrific stare; but he did not succeed in
+provoking his friend. He ultimately controlled himself with a great
+effort, only flinging his hat on the floor with such violence as to
+crush it. Castro stood perfectly still, as if turned to stone. So often
+before he had jested with the crazy fellow, and said far rougher things,
+without his ever dreaming of taking offence, and now, by pure chance, as
+it seemed, he flew into this unaccountable rage. He tried to soothe him
+by an apology, but Manolo did not listen. Though he had got past the
+first impulse to struggle with him, he raged up and down like a caged
+wild beast, muttering threats and gesticulating vehemently. However, he
+soon broke down:
+
+"I should never have believed it of you, Pepe," he murmured in a broken
+voice. "I should never have supposed that my best friend would so insult
+me--so stab me to the heart."
+
+"But bless me, man----!"
+
+"Do not speak to me, Pepe. You have stabbed me with a word; leave me in
+peace. God forgive you, as I forgive you! I am like a hare wounded by
+the hunter, which runs to its form to die. Do not harry me any more;
+leave me to die in peace."
+
+And the simile of the hare seemed to him so pathetic that he sank
+sobbing into an arm-chair. At the same time he had a severe fit of
+coughing, and Castro had to persuade him to drink a cup of lime-flower
+tea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By the time the luckless Marquis had a little recovered, Pepe had
+achieved the adornment of his person, which he proceeded to take out
+walking, very correctly and exquisitely dressed in a frock-coat. He
+breakfasted at Lhardy's, looked in at the Club, and by three in the
+afternoon or thereabouts bent his steps to the house of the Marquesa de
+Alcudia, his aunt, in the Calle de San Mateo. This lady was, as we know,
+very proud of her religion, and equally so, to say the least, of her
+pedigree. Pepe was her favourite nephew, and, though his dissipated mode
+of life disgusted her not a little, she had always treated him with much
+affection, hoping to tempt him into the right way. In the Marquesa's
+opinion, quarterings of nobility were as efficacious in their way as the
+Sacrament of Ordination. Whatever villainies a noble might commit, he
+was still a noble, as a priest is always a priest.
+
+Castro had thought of this devout lady as one likely to assist him in
+his project. His instincts--which were more to be depended on than his
+intelligence--told him that if the Marquesa undertook the negotiations
+for his marriage with Esperancita she would undoubtedly succeed. She was
+a person of much influence in fashionable society, and even more with
+those persons who, like Calderon, had gained a place in it by wealth.
+
+The Alcudia's mansion was a gloomy structure, built in the fashion of
+the last century--a ground floor with large barred windows and one floor
+above; nothing more. But it covered a vast extent of ground, with a
+neglected garden in the rear. The entrance was not decorative; the
+outside steps rough-hewn to begin with, and much worn. The late
+lamented Alcudia was proposing some repairs and improvements when death
+interfered with his plans. His widow abandoned them, not so much out of
+avarice as from intense conservatism, even in matters which most needed
+reform.
+
+Within, the house was sumptuously fitted; the furniture was antique and
+very handsome; the walls hung with splendid tapestry; and fine pictures
+by the old masters graced the library and the oratory. This was indeed a
+marvel of splendour. It stood at one corner of the building on the
+ground floor, but was two storeys high, and as lofty, in fact, as a
+church. The windows were filled with stained glass, like those of a
+Gothic cathedral; the floor was richly carpeted; there was a small
+gallery with an organ; and the altar, in the French taste, was
+beautifully decorated. Over it hung an _Ecce Homo_, by Morales. It was
+an elegant and comfortable little chapel, warmed by a large stove in the
+cellar beneath.
+
+In the drawing-room Pepe found only the girls, busy with their
+needlework. Their mother, they said, was in the study, writing letters.
+So, after exchanging a few words with his cousins, he joined her there.
+
+"May I come in, aunt?"
+
+"Come in, come in. You, Pepe?" said the Marquesa, looking up at him over
+the spectacles she wore for writing.
+
+"If I am interrupting you I will go away. I want to consult you," said
+the young man, with a smile.
+
+He took a chair, and while his aunt went on writing with a firm, swift
+hand, he meditated the exordium to the speech he was about to deliver.
+At last the pen dashed across the paper with a strident squeak, no doubt
+emphasising the writer's signature, and taking off her spectacles, she
+said:
+
+"At your service, Pepe."
+
+Pepe looked at the floor, praying no doubt for inspiration, twirled his
+moustache, cleared his throat and at last began with much solemnity.
+
+"Well, aunt, I do not know whether it is that God has touched my heart,
+or merely that I am weary of my present mode of life; but at any rate
+for some time past I have been taking to heart the advice you have so
+often given me, and which goes hand in hand with my own wish to settle
+down, to give up the bad habits which I have contracted for want of a
+father to guide me, and yet more of a mother, like yourself. I am very
+nearly thirty, and it is time to think of the name I bear. I owe a duty
+to that, and to my calling as a Christian; for in all my excesses I have
+never forgotten that I belong to an old Catholic family, and that
+nowadays in Spain it is incumbent on our class to protect the cause of
+religion and set a good example, as you do. The means I look to as an
+encouragement to the change I feel within me is marriage."
+
+The penitent could not have chosen his words better in addressing his
+aunt Eugenia. They made so good an impression that she rose from her
+place and came to lay a hand on his shoulder, exclaiming:
+
+"You delight me, Pepito. You cannot imagine what pleasure you give me.
+And you say you do not know whether God has touched your heart! How
+could you have undergone this sudden change, if He had not inspired it?
+It is the touch of God, indeed, my boy, the finger of God--and the noble
+blood which runs in your veins. Have you chosen a wife?"
+
+The young man smiled and nodded.
+
+"Who is she?"
+
+"I had thought of Esperanza Calderon. What do you think of her?"
+
+"Nothing could be better. She is very well brought up, attractive, and I
+love her as a child of my own. She has always been my Pacita's bosom
+friend, as you know. Your choice is a most happy one."
+
+Castro smiled again with a gleam of mischief, as he went on:
+
+"You see, aunt, I would rather have married a girl of our own rank, But,
+as you know, I am utterly ruined, and the daughters of good families
+are not apt to have fortunes in these days. Those who have, would not
+have anything to say to me, as I have nothing to offer but what they
+already possess--a noble name. It is for this reason that I have chosen
+one of no birth, but with a good fortune."
+
+"Very wise. And though we are compromising our dignity a little, we must
+save the name from disgrace. And Esperanza is a thoroughly good girl.
+She has been brought up among ourselves. She will always be a perfect
+lady, and do you credit."
+
+The young man's face still wore that strange sarcastic smile. For a
+minute or two he remained silent; then he said:
+
+"Do you know what we young fellows call a marriage of this kind?"
+
+"No--what?"
+
+"Eating dirt."
+
+The Marquesa smiled frigidly, but then, looking grave again, she
+replied:
+
+"No, that cannot be said in this case, Pepe. I can answer for this girl
+that she is worthy of a brilliant marriage. You will be a gainer. Are
+you engaged? Have you spoken to her? I have had no communication----"
+
+"I have not said anything as yet I know that she does not dislike me; we
+look kindly on each other, but nothing more. Before taking any definite
+steps I decided that I would speak to you as the person of most weight
+of our family in Madrid."
+
+"Very proper; you have behaved admirably. When marriage is in question
+it is well to proceed with due caution and formality, for, after all, it
+is a sacrament of the Church.[E] In better times than these no alliance
+was ever contracted in the higher circles without consulting the opinion
+of the heads of both houses. I thank you for your confidence in me, and
+you may count on my approval."
+
+"And on your assistance? You see I am afraid of meeting with some
+difficulties on her father's part. He loves hard cash. And to be frank,
+I should not relish a refusal."
+
+The Marquesa sat meditating for a while.
+
+"Leave him to me. I will do my best to bring him to reason. But you must
+promise to do nothing without consulting me. It is a delicate
+negotiation, and will need prudence and skill."
+
+"I give you my word, aunt."
+
+"Above all be very careful with the little girl. Do not startle her."
+
+"I will do exactly what you bid me."
+
+They presently went together into the drawing-room, where some visitors
+had arrived.
+
+On Friday afternoons during Lent, the Marquesa received those of her
+friends who, like herself, would devote an hour or two to prayer and
+religious exercises. There were the Marquesa de Ujo and her daughter,
+still with her skirts far above her ankles, General Patino, Lola
+Madariaga and her husband, Clementina Osorio, with her faithful
+companion Pascuala, and several others; and, above all, Padre Ortega.
+As, in fact, the honours of the occasion were his, and he was director
+of the entertainment, every one had gathered about him in the middle of
+the room. Everyone talked louder than he did; the illustrious priest's
+voice was always soft and subdued, as though he were in a sick room. But
+as soon as he began to speak, silence instantly reigned--every one
+listened with respectful attention.
+
+The Marquesa, on entering, kissed his hand with an air of submission,
+and inquired affectionately after a cold from which he had been
+suffering.
+
+"Oh! have you a cold, Father?" inquired several ladies at once.
+
+"A little, a mere trifle," replied the priest, with a smile of suave
+resignation.
+
+"By no means a trifle," said the Marquesa. "Yesterday in church you
+coughed incessantly."
+
+And she proceeded to give the minutest details of the reverend Father's
+sufferings, omitting nothing which could make her account more graphic.
+The priest sat smiling, with his eyes on the ground, saying:
+
+"Do not let it disturb you, the Marquesa is always over anxious. You
+might think that I was in the last stage of consumption."
+
+"But, Father, you must take care of yourself, you really must take care
+of yourself. You do too much. For the sake of religion you ought to
+spare yourself a little."
+
+The whole party joined in advising him with affectionate interest. A
+maiden of seven-and-thirty, a sportive, gushing thing, whose confessor
+he was, even said, half seriously and half in jest:
+
+"Why, Father, if you were to die, what would become of me?"
+
+A sally which made the guests laugh, but somewhat disconcerted the very
+proper director of souls. The Marquesa wished to hinder him this
+afternoon from delivering the address with which he usually favoured
+them; but he insisted.
+
+Meanwhile the room had been filling. Mariana Calderon had come in with
+Esperancita, the Cotorrasos, Pepa Frias, and Irene. She, poor child,
+looked pale and ailing; in fact, she had come straight from her room, to
+which she had been confined for some days with a nervous attack. When
+the party was large enough, the Marquesa invited them to retire to the
+Oratory. The ladies took front places near the altar, chairs and stools
+having been comfortably arranged for them, the gentlemen stood in the
+background and were provided only with a velvet-pile carpet to kneel on.
+
+The meeting began by each one going through the prayers of the Rosary
+after Padre Ortega. The ladies did this with edifying precision and
+devotion, their ivory fingers, on which diamonds and emeralds twinkled
+like stars, piously crossed or clasped, their pretty heads bent
+low--they were quite bewitching. The Creator must surely hearken to
+their prayers, if it were only out of gallantry. Not the least humble,
+the least engaging and edifying figure of them all was Pepa Frias. A
+black mantilla was most becoming to her russet hair and pink and white
+complexion. The same may be said of Clementina, who was taller, with
+more delicate features, and in no respect inferior in brilliancy and
+beauty of colouring. The languid and artistic attitudes affected by the
+fair devotees were no doubt intended to appeal to the Divine Will; but,
+as a secondary end, they were no less certainly meant to edify the
+escort of men who looked down on them. And, if by any chance there could
+have been a Freethinker among them, what confusion and shame must have
+possessed his soul on seeing that all that was most elegant and
+distinguished of the _High-life_ of Madrid was enlisted in the service
+of the Lord.
+
+Prayer being over, two of the ladies, accompanied by a baritone
+"Savage," went up into the gallery, and while another gentleman played
+the organ, they sang some of the finest airs from Rossini's _Stabat
+Mater_. As they listened, the pious souls felt a vague craving for the
+Opera house, for La Tosti and Gayarre, and confessed regretfully, in the
+depths of their hearts, that the amateur performance promised them in
+Heaven would be a stupendous and eternal bore. After the music came
+Padre Ortega's homily or lecture. The priest was accommodated on a sort
+of throne of ebony and marble in the middle of the chapel, the ladies
+moved their chairs and cushions, so as to face him, and the gentlemen
+formed an outer circle, and after a few moments of private meditation to
+collect his ideas, he began in a gentle tone to speak a few slow and
+solemn words, on the subject of the Christian Family.
+
+As we know, Father Ortega was a priest quite up to the mark of modern
+civilisation, who kept his eye on the advance of rationalistic science
+that he might pounce down on it and put it to rout. Positivism,
+evolution, sociology, pessimism, were all familiar words to him, and did
+not frighten him, as they did most of his colleagues. He was on intimate
+terms with them, and fond of using them to confute the pretensions of
+modern learning. What he esteemed to be his own strong ground, was the
+demonstration of the perfect compatibility of science with faith, the
+Harmony (with a capital H) between Religion and Philosophy. His
+discourse on the Family was profound and eloquent. To Father Ortega,
+that which constituted the Family was a reverence and love for
+tradition, reverence and love for the past. "The Family is
+Tradition--the tradition of its glory and of its name, of honour,
+virtue, and heroism; and all these may be summed up in two words:
+respect for elders--love and reverence, that is to say, for all that is
+highest and most conservative in the race."
+
+Starting from this theorem, the preacher inveighed against revolution as
+against a gale from hell, blowing down all that was old, and clearing
+the ground for all that was new; against the barbarous hostility of our
+time to the beliefs, the manners, the laws, the institutions, and the
+glories of the past.
+
+"The banners of revolution are inscribed with the motto: 'Despise the
+Elders,'" said he, "as though old creeds, old manners, old institutions,
+old aristocracies--though like everything human, they fall far short of
+perfection--did not represent the labours of our forefathers, their
+intelligence, their triumphs, their soul, life, and heart. And this
+being the case, how could revolutionary science, which casts its stupid
+contumely on everything ancient and venerable, fail to besmirch even our
+great ancestors with its scorn? One element of dissolution in the Family
+was the attack on property, directed by the revolutionary faction. This
+aggression was not merely adverse to the constitution of society, it was
+still more directly hostile to that of the Family. Property,
+inheritance, and the patrimony, what were they but the outcome of
+reverence for our forefathers on the one hand, of love for our children
+on the other? Property consolidates the present, the past, and the
+future of the Family; it is the spot where it has grown up and spread;
+the soil which, when the progenitors pass away, assures them of rest
+beneath the tree of posterity, which shall grow up from it and call them
+blessed!"
+
+Then, for above an hour, the learned Father proved the existence, on the
+most solid foundations, of the Christian family. Its bases were
+religion, tradition, and property. He spoke with decision, in a simple,
+convincing style, and emphatic but correct language. His audience were
+deeply attentive and docile, quite persuaded that it was the Holy Ghost
+which spoke by the mouth of the reverend preacher, commanding them to
+cherish tradition and religion, but, above all, property. The sublime
+thought was so elevating that some of the gentlemen present felt
+themselves united for all eternity to the Supreme Being by the sacred
+tie of landed estate, and registered a vow to fight for it heroically,
+and resist the passing of any law which, directly or indirectly, might
+affect its integrity.
+
+When he ended he was rewarded by smiles of approbation and repressed
+murmurs of enthusiasm. Every one spoke in a whisper, out of respect to
+the sanctity of the spot. The bold damsel who just now had asked Father
+Ortega what she could do without him, flew to kiss his hand, with a
+succession of sounding smacks which made the rest of the company
+exchange meaning smiles of amusement, and the priest drew it away with
+evident annoyance. Once more, some ladies and gentlemen went up into the
+gallery and executed, in every sense of the word, some religious music
+by Gounod. Finally, all the saintly souls left the little chapel and
+returned to the drawing-room.
+
+The Marquesa de Alcudia, a restless nature that knew no peace, at once
+proceeded to carry out her promise to her nephew. He saw her take
+Mariana aside; they quitted the room together. By-and-by they returned,
+and Castro could see that he had been the subject of their parley by the
+timid and affectionate glance bestowed on him by Esperancita's mother.
+Then he saw his aunt retire with Padre Ortega into a corner where they
+had a private consultation, and again he suspected that he was their
+theme. The priest looked towards him two or three times with his vague,
+short-sighted eyes. He had taken care not to go near Esperanza, but they
+had exchanged smiles and looks from afar. The girl seemed surprised at
+his sudden reserve; for the last few days Pepe had been assiduous. She
+was beginning to be uneasy, and at last crossed the room to speak to
+him.
+
+"You were not at the Opera last night; are you keeping Lent?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said he, with a laugh. "I had a little headache and went to
+bed early."
+
+"I do not wonder. What could you expect? You were riding a horse in the
+afternoon that did nothing but shy. He is a handsome beast, but much too
+lively. At one moment I thought he would have you off."
+
+Castro smiled with a superior air, and the girl hastened to add: "I know
+you are a fine horseman; but an accident may happen to any one."
+
+"What would you have done if I had been thrown?" he asked, looking her
+straight in the face.
+
+"How do I know!" exclaimed the girl with a shrug, but she blushed
+deeply.
+
+"Would you have screamed?"
+
+"What strange things you ask me," said Esperanza, getting hotter and
+hotter. "I might perhaps--or I might not."
+
+Just then the Marquesa de Alcudia addressed her.
+
+"Esperanza, I want to speak to you."
+
+And as she passed her nephew she said in a low voice:
+
+"Prudence, Pepe! Asides are not in your part."
+
+Any less superior soul would have felt some anxiety at seeing the two
+women leave the room together, some uneasiness as to the issue of this
+all-important interview; but our friend was so far above the common
+herd in this, as in other matters, that he could chatter with the
+company with as much tranquillity as though his aunt and Esperanza had
+gone to discuss the fashions. When they presently returned, Esperanza's
+little face was in a glow, her eyes beaming with an expression of
+submission and happiness, which, but for fear of committing a deadly sin
+in Lent, we might compare to that of the Virgin Mary on the occasion
+when she was visited by the Angel Gabriel.
+
+The meeting still preserved a sanctimonious tone. These chastened souls
+could not forget that they were celebrating the Fasting in the
+Wilderness. The young ladies round the piano piously abstained from
+singing anything frivolous; their voices were modulated to the _Ave
+Marias_ of Schubert and Gounod, and other songs no less redolent of
+sacred emotion. They talked and laughed in subdued tones. If one of the
+young men spoke a little recklessly the ladies would call him to order,
+reminding him that on a Friday in Lent certain subjects were prohibited.
+The Spirit of God must indeed have been present with the meeting if we
+may judge from the resignation, the intense serenity, with which they
+all seemed to endure existence in this vale of tears. A placid smile was
+on every lip; the afternoon waned amid sacred song, mellifluous
+exhortation, and subdued mirth. The newspapers reported next day, with
+perfect truth, that these pious Fridays were quite delightful, and that
+the Marquesa de Alcudia did the honours in the name of the Almighty with
+exquisite grace.
+
+The party at length dispersed. All these souls, so blessed and refreshed
+by faith, trooped out of the Alcudia Palace and made their way home,
+where they sat down to dine on hot turtle soup, mayonnaise of salmon,
+and salads of Brussels sprouts, beginning with prawns to sharpen their
+appetites. But, indeed, the hours of silent prayer and communion with
+the Divinity had already done this. Nothing is more effectual in giving
+tone to the stomach than the sense of union with the Omnipotent, and the
+hope that, albeit there are fire and eternal torments for pickpockets
+and those misguided souls who do not believe in them, for all Christian
+families--those, that is to say, who believe in property and in their
+ancestors--there are certainly comfortable quarters in reserve, with an
+eternity of salmon mayonnaise and prawns _a la Parisienne_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+AN EXCURSION TO RIOSA.
+
+
+The Duke de Requena had given the last shake to the tree; the orange
+dropped into his hands golden and juicy. At a given moment his agents in
+Paris, London, and Madrid, bought up more than half of the Riosa shares.
+Thus the management, or, which was the same thing, the mine, was
+practically his. Some who had suspected his game, declined to sell,
+especially in Madrid, where the banker was well-known; and if he had not
+made haste to take the decisive step, the price would undoubtedly have
+become firmer. Llera scented the danger and gave the signal. It was a
+happy day for the Asturian when he received the telegrams from Paris and
+London. His hatchet-face was as radiant as that of a general who has
+just won a great battle. His clumsy arms waved in the air like the sails
+of a windmill, as he told the tale to the various men of business who
+had come to the Duke's counting-house to ask the news. Loud Homeric
+laughter shook his pigeon-breasted frame, he hugged his friends tightly
+enough to choke them; and when the Duke asked him a question, he
+answered even him with a touch of scorn from the heights of his triumph.
+
+And yet he was not to get the smallest percentage on this immense
+transaction; not a single dollar of all the millions which were to come
+out of that mine would remain in his hands. But what matter! His
+calculations had proved correct; the scheme he had worked out with such
+secrecy, perseverance, and wonderful energy and skill, had come to the
+desired issue. His joy was that of the artist who has succeeded--a joy
+compared with which all the other delights on earth are not worth a
+straw.
+
+The Duke's satisfaction was of a different stamp. His vanity was indeed
+flattered by this brilliant success; he honestly thought that he had
+achieved an undertaking worthy to be recorded on marble and sung by
+poets. A proceeding which was in truth no more than a swindling trick,
+within the letter of the law, was by some strange aberration of the
+moral faculty transfigured into a glorious display of intellectual
+power--and that not alone in his own eyes, but in those of society at
+large. To celebrate his success, and at the same time to see for himself
+what improvements must be effected in the working of the mine to make it
+as productive as he intended it should become, he planned an excursion
+thither with the engineers and a party of his friends. At first they
+were to be eight or ten; by degrees the number grew, and when the day
+came round they formed a party of above fifty guests. This was chiefly
+owing to Clementina, who was greatly fascinated by the notion of this
+journey. Thus what had been in the Duke's mind a little friendly "day
+out," had, under her manipulation, acquired the proportions of a public
+event, a much talked-of and ostentatious progress, which for some days
+absorbed the attention of the fashionable world.
+
+Salabert had a special train made up for his party; the servants and
+provisions were despatched the day before. Everything was to be arranged
+to receive them worthily. It was the middle of May, and beginning to be
+hot. By nine in the morning the station of Las Delicias was crowded with
+carriages, out of which stepped ladies and gentlemen, dressed for the
+occasion; the women in smart costumes considered appropriate for a day
+in the country, the men in morning suits and felt hats. But to these
+apparently unpretending garments they had contrived to give a stamp of
+individual caprice, distinguishing them, as was but right, from all the
+shooting coats and wide-awakes hitherto invented. One had a flannel
+suit, as white as snow, with black gloves and a black hat; another was
+in the inconspicuous motley of the lizard, crowned by a blue hat with a
+microscopic brim; a third had thought it an opportunity for turning out
+in a black jersey suit, with a white hat, white gloves, and boots. Many
+had hung a noble field-glass about their shoulders, by a leather strap,
+that they might not miss the smallest details of the landscape, and
+several flourished Alpine sticks, as if they were contemplating a
+perilous clamber over cliffs and rocks.
+
+The special train included two saloon cars, a sleeping car, and a
+luggage van. The cream of Madrid society proceeded to settle itself,
+with the noisy glee befitting the occasion. There were more men than
+women; the ladies had, indeed, for the most part, excused themselves,
+not caring particularly for the prospect of visiting a mine. Still there
+were enough to lend grace to the expedition, and at the same time to
+subdue its tone a little. There were some whose fathers or husbands were
+connected with the business: Calderon's wife and daughter, Mrs. Biggs,
+Clementina, and others. There were some who had come out of friendship
+for these--Mercedes and Paz Alcudia, for instance, who were inseparable
+from Esperanza. There were more again who could never bear to be absent
+from any ploy: Pepa Frias, Lola, and a few more. Among the men were
+politicians, men of business, and titles new and old. As they got into
+the train the servile assiduity of the station-clerks betrayed how great
+an excitement was produced by the mere passage through the office of
+these potentates and grandees.
+
+Last of all, and most potent of all, came the Duke de Requena, who,
+taking out his handkerchief, waved it from a window as a signal for
+departure. A whistle sounded, the engine responded with a long and noisy
+yell, then, puffing and snorting, the train began to move its metallic
+segments, and slowly quitted the station. The travellers waved their
+hands from the windows in farewell greetings to those who had come to
+see them off.
+
+Great was the excitement and clatter as the train flew across the
+barren plains around Madrid. Every one talked and laughed at once, as
+loud as possible, and what with this and the noise of the train, no one
+could hear. By degrees a sort of chemical diffusion or elective affinity
+took place. The Duke, seated in a coupe or compartment at the back of
+the train, found himself the centre of a group of financial and
+political magnates. Clementina, Pepa Frias, Lola, and some other women
+formed another party, with such men as preferred a lighter and more
+highly spiced style: Pinedo, Fuentes, and Calderon. The young men and
+maidens were exchanging witticisms which seemed to afford them infinite
+amusement. One of the incidents which most enchanted them was the
+appearance of Cobo Ramirez at the window, in a guard's coat and cap,
+demanding the tickets. Cobo, who had been in the foremost carriage, had
+clambered along by the foot-board, not without some risk, since the
+train was going at a tremendous speed. He was hailed with applause.
+
+Then the young people sent notes to their friends in the other saloon,
+the young men inditing love-letters. The heir of Casa-Ramirez took
+charge of them all, and went to and fro between the cars very nimbly,
+considering his obesity. This amused them greatly for some time. The
+love-letters, written in pencil, were read aloud, with much applause and
+laughter.
+
+Raimundo was content to talk to the Mexican and Osorio. Osorio had
+really taken a liking to him. Though but a boy in looks the banker
+discerned that he was intelligent and well-educated, and among the
+"Savages" such endowments as these conferred pre-eminence. The young man
+had, too, succeeded in adapting himself very sufficiently to the
+atmosphere which for the time he breathed. Not only was his dress
+visibly modified by the refinements of fashion and good taste, but his
+tone and manners had undergone a very perceptible change. In his
+behaviour to Clementina he was still the timid lad, the submissive
+slave, who hung on every word and gesture of his mistress; his love was
+taking deeper root in his heart every day. But in social intercourse he
+had accommodated himself to what he saw around him. He did all in his
+power to repress the impulses of his loving and expansive nature. He
+assumed a grave indifference, an almost disdainful calm; ridiculed
+everything that was said in his hearing, unless it bore on the manners
+and customs of the Savage Club; learned to speak in a joking, ironical
+voice, like his fellow "Savages," and above all was on his guard against
+ever uttering any scientific or philosophical notions, for he knew by
+experience that this was the one unpardonable sin. He even kept his own
+counsel when one of his new associates roused him to a feeling of warmer
+sympathy and regard than the others. Affection is in itself so absurd
+that it is wise to bury it in the depths of your soul, or you expose
+yourself to some rebuff, even from the object of your affection. Such
+things have been known. Thanks to his diligence, and to an
+apprenticeship, which to him was a very cruel one, he extorted much more
+respect, and was looked on as a man of consummate _chic_, a height of
+happiness which it is given to few to attain to in this weary world
+beneath the stars.
+
+When Cobo had made several journeys from one car to the other, in no
+small danger, as the train was flying onwards, Lola, with a mischievous
+look, first at Clementina and then at Alcazar, said to the young man:
+
+"Alcazar, will you venture to go to the next carriage, and ask the
+Condesa de Cotorraso for her bottle of salts? I feel rather sea-sick."
+
+Now Raimundo was, as we know, but a frail creature, who had never gone
+through the athletic training of these young aristocrats, his friends.
+The scramble along the foot-boards at the pace at which the train was
+going, which was to them mere child's play, was to him a service of real
+danger. He was apt to turn giddy when only crossing a bridge or climbing
+a tower. He was fully aware of this, and hesitated a moment; still, for
+very shame he could but reply:
+
+"I will go at once, Senora," and he was about to act on her orders.
+
+But Clementina, whose brows had knit at her friend's preposterous
+demand, stopped him, exclaiming:
+
+"You certainly shall not go, Alcazar. We will make Cobo go for it next
+time he returns."
+
+The young man stood doubtful with his hand on the door; but Clementina
+repeated more positively, colouring as she spoke:
+
+"You are not to go--not on any account."
+
+Raimundo turned to Lola with a bow.
+
+"Forgive me, Senora, to-day I am sworn to this lady's service. I will be
+your slave some other day."
+
+And neither Lola's noisy laugh, nor the sarcastic smiles of the others,
+could spoil the grateful emotion he experienced at his mistress's eager
+interest.
+
+Ramon Maldonado was in the other saloon, where also were Esperanza and
+her mother with some other ladies, whom he deliberately laid himself out
+to charm by his discourse. He was giving them a full and particular
+report, in the most parliamentary style he could command, of some
+curious incidents in the last sitting. He was already master of all the
+commonplace of civic oratory, and knew the technical cant very
+thoroughly. He could talk of the order of the day, votes of confidence,
+private bills, committees of supply, the previous question, obstruction,
+suspension, and closure as if he himself were the patentee of this
+elaborate outcome of human ingenuity. He knew the municipal bye-laws as
+well as if he had invented them, and discussed questions of city dues,
+sewage, weights and measures, and seizure of contraband, so that it was
+a marvel to hear him. Finally, being a man of unfathomable ambition, he
+had joined a party in opposition to the Mayor, a step which he hoped
+might lead to his nomination as a member of the board of highways.
+
+For a long time past he had been waging a covert but determined struggle
+against one Perez, another deputy not less ambitious than himself, for
+this very appointment, in which he believed that his great gifts as an
+innovator would shine with peculiar splendour. The various public
+places of Madrid were awaiting the redeeming hand which might give them
+fresh life and splendour, and the hand could be none other than that of
+Maldonado. In the recesses of his brain, among a thousand other
+portentous schemes, there was one so audacious that he dared not
+communicate it to any one, while he was incubating it with the fondest
+care, determined to fight for this child of his genius till his dying
+day. This was no less than a plan for moving the fountain of Apollo from
+the Prado to the Puerta del Sol. And a whippersnapper fellow like Perez,
+a narrow-minded slow-coach, with no taste or spirit, dared to dispute
+the place with him!
+
+At the moment when he was most absorbed in his narrative of how he had
+concocted the most ingenious intrigue to secure a vote of censure on the
+Mayor, Cobo--that inevitable spoilsport--came up, and after listening
+for a minute, roughly attacked him, saying:
+
+"Come, Ramoncito, do not give yourself airs. We know very well that you
+are a mere nobody in the House. Gonzalez can lead you by the nose
+wherever he wants you to go."
+
+This was a cruel thrust at Maldonado, considering that it was before
+Esperancita and several other ladies, old and young. Indeed it stunned
+him as completely as if it had been a blow on the head with a cudgel. He
+turned pale, his lips quivered, and he could not utter a word. At last
+he gasped out:
+
+"I? Gonzalez? Leads me by the nose? Are you crazy? No one leads me by
+the nose, much less Gonzalez, of all men!"
+
+He spoke the last words with intense scorn; he denied Gonzalez as Peter
+denied his Master, out of base pride. His conscience told him that he
+was not speaking truly, though no cock crew. Gonzalez was the
+acknowledged leader of the civic minority, and at the bottom of his
+heart, Ramon held him in great veneration.
+
+"Pooh! nonsense! Do you mean to tell me that Gonzalez cannot make you
+work and dance like a puppet? Much good you dissidents would do if it
+were not for him."
+
+On this Ramon recovered the use of his tongue, and to such good purpose,
+that he poured out above a thousand words in the course of a few
+minutes, with fierce vehemence, foaming and sputtering with rage. He
+rebuked with indignation the monstrous comparison of himself with a
+puppet, and fully explained the precise position held by Gonzalez in the
+city council and that which he himself occupied. But he did it with such
+frenzied excitement and gesticulation that the ladies looked at him in
+amused surprise.
+
+"How eloquent he is! Who would have believed it of Ramoncito? Come,
+Cobo, do not tease him any more; you will make him ill!"
+
+This compassionate tone stung Ramon to the quick. He was instantly
+speechless, and for at least an hour he wrapped himself in silent
+dignity.
+
+The train drew up at a small station in the midst of a wide stretch of
+open moor, looking like a petrified sea; here the travellers were to
+take their mid-day meal. The Duke's servants, sent on the day before,
+had everything ready. Ramon devoted himself to the service of Esperanza,
+and she allowed him to wait on her with a placid smile which turned his
+head with joy. The reason of her condescension was that, by his aunt's
+particular desire, Pepe Castro had not joined the party. The matrimonial
+overtures, made under the greatest secrecy, required the utmost
+prudence. As Maldonado was so intimate with the lord of her heart,
+Esperanza felt a certain pleasure in keeping him at her side; at the
+same time she avoided comment by talking to the Conde de Agreda or to
+Cobo. Poor Ramon! How far he was from understanding these psychological
+complications.
+
+They took their seats in the train once more, and went on their way
+across interminable sunburnt plains, no one dreaming of examining the
+landscape through those ponderous fieldglasses. They reached Riosa
+shortly before dusk.
+
+The famous mines of Riosa are situated in a hollow between two low
+ranges of hills, the spurs of a great mountain-chain, and are surrounded
+on all sides by broken ground, knolls and downs of no great height, but
+scarred and ravined in such a way as to look peculiarly barren and
+melancholy. In the hollow stands a town dating from the remotest
+antiquity. Our travellers did not invade it, they stopped about two
+kilometres short of it, at a village named Villalegre, where the
+engineers and miners have settled themselves with a view to avoiding the
+mercurial and sulphurous fumes which slowly poison not the miners only,
+but all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. It is divided from the
+mines by a ridge, and is a striking contrast to the mining town itself.
+It is watered by a stream which makes it blossom like a garden, gay with
+wild lilies, jasmine, and heliotrope, and, above all, with damask roses,
+which have naturalised themselves there more completely than in any
+other region of Spain. The aromatic fragrance of thyme and fennel
+perfumes and purifies the air.
+
+The most flowery plot in all the settlement belonged to the company, at
+about three hundred yards from the village. A handsome stone building
+stood in the midst of a garden, this was the residence of the
+head-manager, and the central office of the mines; round it, at some
+little distance, were several smaller dwellings, each with its little
+garden, occupied by clerks, and by some of the operatives; but most of
+these lived at Riosa.
+
+There was no station at Villalegre, the train stopped where it crossed
+the road leading to the chief town of the province. Here carriages were
+in waiting to convey them to the head office, a drive of about ten
+minutes. At the park gate, and along the road, a crowd had gathered,
+which hailed the visitors with very faint enthusiasm. These were the men
+off their turn of work, whom the director had sent for from Riosa for
+the purpose. They were all pallid and earth-stained, their eyes were
+dull, and even from a distance it was easy to detect in their movements
+a certain indecision, which, when seen closer, was a very perceptible
+trembling. The smart party of visitors drove close past this mob of
+ghosts--for such they seemed in the fading evening grey--the eyes of
+beauty and fashion met those of the miners, and from that contact not a
+spark of sympathy was struck. Behind the forced and melancholy smile of
+the labourers, a keen eye could very plainly detect hostility. Requena's
+little procession drove by in silence; these fine folks were visibly
+uneasy; they were very grave, not without a touch of alarm. The ladies
+involuntarily shrunk closer to the men, and as they turned in at the
+gates there was a murmur of "Good heavens! what faces!" and a sigh of
+relief at having escaped from the deep mysterious gaze of those haggard
+eyes. Rafael Alcantara alone was so bold as to utter a jesting remark.
+
+"Well," said he, "the sovereign people are not attractive looking in
+these parts."
+
+The manager introduced the clerks to Salabert, each by name. They were
+almost all natives of other parts of the country, healthy, smiling young
+fellows, with nothing noticeable about them, and the superintendents no
+less so. The only man of them all who attracted any attention was a
+delicate-looking man, with a pale face, and thin black moustache, whose
+steady dark eyes looked at the fashionable visitors with such piercing
+determination as bordered on insolence. Without knowing why, those who
+met his gaze felt vaguely uncomfortable, and were glad to look away. The
+manager introduced him as the doctor attached to the mines.
+
+Rooms had been found for all the party, some in the director's house,
+and others in those of the humbler residents. When they had taken a
+little rest, they all met in the director's drawing-room, and from
+thence they marched arm-in-arm, in solemn procession, to the office
+board-room, which had been transformed into a dining-room. Here the Duke
+gave them a magnificent dinner. Nothing was missing of the most refined
+and aristocratic entertainment; the plate and china, the cooking, and
+the service were all perfection. While they dined the grounds were
+lighted up with Venetian lamps, and on rising from table, every one
+rushed to the window to admire the effect, which was dazzlingly
+beautiful. An orchestra, concealed in an arbour, played national airs
+with great spirit. The whole party, panting from the heat of the room,
+which was intense, and tempted by the brilliant spectacle, went out to
+wander about the gardens; the younger men carried off the girls to a
+grass-plot, close to the band, and there began to dance. Cobo Ramirez
+presently joined the group.
+
+"Do you know what you remind me of?" he shouted. "A party of commercial
+travellers in some suburban cafe!"
+
+This comparison seemed to hurt their feelings deeply; the dancing lost
+its attractions for the fashionable juveniles, and soon ceased
+altogether. However, as their hearts were set on Terpsichorean delights,
+it occurred to them to transfer the music to the board room, where they
+continued their devotions to the Muse, free from the dreadful burden
+which Cobo had laid on their conscience.
+
+The festivities were carried on till late. Fireworks were presently let
+off, having been brought expressly from Madrid. The various couples
+wandered about the gravelled paths, enjoying the coolness of the night,
+made fragrant by the scent of flowers. There was but one dark blot on
+their perfect enjoyment. When they went near the gate, they saw a crowd
+outside, of labourers, women, and children, who had come from Riosa, on
+hearing of the great doings--the same haggard creatures, hollow-eyed and
+gloomy, as they had met on arriving. So they took care not to go too
+near the fence, but to remain in the paths and alleys near the middle of
+the garden. Lola, only, who prided herself on being charitable, and who
+was president, secretary, and treasurer of no less than three societies,
+was brave enough to speak to them, and even to distribute some small
+silver money; but out of the darkness came obscene abuse and insults,
+which compelled her to retreat. Cotorraso, when he heard of it, was in a
+great rage.
+
+"And these Bedouin savages are to have rights and liberties! Let them
+first be made decent, civil, and well-behaved, and then we will talk
+about it."
+
+The law of elective affinity had drawn together Raimundo Alcazar and a
+man who was somewhat out of his element in this riotous company. This
+gentleman, with whom he was walking, was between fifty and sixty years
+of age, short and thin, with a white moustache and beard, and prominent
+eyes, with a somewhat absent gaze through his spectacles. His name was
+Don Juan Penalver; he held a chair of philosophy at the University, and
+had been in the Ministry. He enjoyed a high and deserved reputation for
+learning, and for a dignity of character rare in Spain. This naturally
+brought him into ill-odour with the "Savages," who affected to treat him
+with contemptuous familiarity. It is obvious that nothing can be more
+offensive to the average "Savage" than Philosophy. Penalver's
+intellectual superiority and fame was a stab to their pride. Their scorn
+did not trouble him; he was by nature cheerful, warm-hearted, and
+absent-minded; he was incapable of discriminating the various shades of
+social manner, and, in fact, had not been much seen in the world since
+retiring from political life to devote himself exclusively to science.
+He had joined this expedition to oblige his brother-in-law, Escosura,
+who held a large number of shares in the Riosa mines. Of late years he
+had been an ardent student of natural science, as the surest way of
+combatting the metaphysical idealism to which he had devoted his early
+life. It was with real pleasure that he found himself accidentally
+thrown into the company of a youth so well-informed on scientific
+matters as Raimundo. The rest of the party bored him past endurance, so
+taking Alcazar by the arm, without inquiring whether he wanted him or
+no, he began discussing physiology.
+
+Raimundo was in a fit of despondency and gloom. He had observed that
+this Escosura had been definitively making love to Clementina; he was
+quite shameless in his attentions to her wherever he happened to meet
+her, and affected to ignore her connection with Raimundo. Both in mind
+and person Escosura was the exact opposite of his brother-in-law
+Penalver. He was tall and stout, with a burly person and noisy manners;
+rich, of some influence politically, a vehement orator, with a voice so
+unusually sonorous that, according to his enemies, it was to that he
+owed his parliamentary successes. He was a man of about forty, and had
+never been Minister, though he asserted that he should soon be in
+office. Clementina had already repelled his addresses several times, and
+this Raimundo knew, and was proud of his own triumph. At the same time
+he could not divest himself of some anxiety whenever, as at this moment,
+he saw them talking together.
+
+They were sitting in a summer-house with several other persons, but
+conversing apart with great animation. Each time he and Penalver went
+past them, his heart swelled with a pang; he scarcely heard, or even
+tried to hear, the learned disquisition his companion was pouring into
+his ear. Clementina could read in his anxious gaze how much he was
+suffering, and after watching him for a little while she rose and joined
+the two men, saying with a smile:
+
+"And what plot are you two sages hatching?"
+
+"You flatter me," said the younger with a modest bow. "The only sage
+here is Senor Penalver."
+
+"Well, Senor Penalver can bestow a lecture on the Condesa de Cotorraso,
+who is anxious to make his acquaintance, while you come with me to see a
+Gothic cathedral which is about to explode in fireworks," and she put
+her hand through her lover's arm.
+
+Alcazar was happy again. He did not even speak to her of the anguish he
+had suffered but a moment ago; on other occasions when he had made such
+a confession it had only led to double pain, for Clementina would answer
+him in a tone of light banter which wounded him to the heart. They
+watched the wonderful, blazing cathedral till it was burnt out; the
+gentle pressure of her hand, the scent--always the same--which hung
+about her sweet person were too much for the young man, who was
+predisposed to be overcome by the proof of affection his beloved had
+just given him. She, who knew him well, as she felt him press her arm
+more closely, looked in his face, sure that she should see tears in his
+eyes. In fact, Raimundo was silently weeping. On finding himself
+detected, he smiled in a shamefaced way.
+
+"Still such a baby!" she exclaimed, giving him a caressing little pinch.
+"Pepa is right when she says you are like a school-girl in a convent.
+Come, let us walk about; some one might see your face."
+
+They went into a more retired part of the garden. From one spot in the
+grounds they could see a very curious landscape. The full moon lighted
+up the crest of the nearest hill, which divided Villalegre from Riosa,
+making it look like the ruins of a castle. Clementina wished to see it
+closer, so they went out by one of the side-gates, where no one was to
+be seen, and slowly wandered on--the knoll was barren of vegetation, a
+pile of boulders, in fact, of fantastic shapes, looking precisely like a
+mass of ruins. It was not till they were close to it that they could
+convince themselves of the truth.
+
+When the lady had satisfied her curiosity, they returned round the
+outside of the park, to enter by the opposite gate. On this side there
+were still a few knots of people. Before reaching the gate, at a corner
+of the road darkened by the shade of some trees, Clementina stumbled
+over an object, and nearly fell. She screamed aloud, for on looking down
+she saw a human creature lying at her feet. Raimundo took out a match,
+and found that it was a boy of ten or twelve fast asleep. They picked
+him up, and set him on his feet. The little fellow opened his eyes and
+stared at them in alarm. Then, as if by a sudden inspiration, he
+snatched the stick Raimundo was carrying, and began to move it slowly up
+and down, as though he were fulfilling some very difficult task.
+Clementina and her lover looked on in amazement, unable to guess what
+this could mean. A few workmen collected round them, and one with a
+horse-laugh exclaimed:
+
+"It is one of the boys from the pumps! Go it, my boy, work away! A tough
+job, isn't it?"
+
+And his companions burst into brutal laughter, crying out to the poor
+little somnambulist:
+
+"Go at it! Keep it up! Harder, boy, harder, the water is rising!"
+
+And the unhappy boy redoubled his imaginary efforts with more and more
+energy. He was a weakly creature, with a white face, quite
+expressionless with sleep, and his ragged rough hair gave him the look
+of a wraith. The savage glee of the workmen, who looked on at the
+pitiable scene, made a very painful impression on Raimundo. He took the
+child in his arms, shook him gently to wake him, kissed him kindly on
+the forehead, and taking a dollar out of his purse, gave it to the lad,
+and then went on with Clementina. The working men ceased their laughter,
+and one of them said in a tone of envy:
+
+"Well, you have not worked hard for your day's pay."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+LIFE UNDERGROUND.
+
+
+At one in the morning the party broke up.
+
+They were to reassemble at nine, to set out in a body on a visit of
+inspection to the mines; and the programme was carried out, not indeed
+with punctuality, which in Spain is an impossibility, but with no more
+than an hour's delay. They set out for Riosa, in carriages, at ten; of
+course a diminished party. They alighted at the outskirts of the town
+and crossed it on foot, producing, as may be supposed, no small
+excitement. The women crowded to the doors and windows, staring with
+eager curiosity at this splendid procession of ladies and gentlemen,
+arrayed in clothes such as they had never seen in their lives. Like
+their husbands, brothers, and sons, these women were pale and
+sickly-looking, their features pinched, their eyes dull, their hands and
+feet stunted. The visitors also saw a few men suffering from constant
+trembling.
+
+"What is the matter? Why do those men tremble so?" asked Esperancita
+anxiously.
+
+"They have the palsy," said one of the clerks.
+
+"What is the palsy?"
+
+"They get it by working in the mines."
+
+"Do many of them get it?"
+
+"All of them," said the doctor, who had heard the question. "Mercurial
+palsy attacks all who work in the mines."
+
+"And why do they work there, then?" asked the girl, with much
+simplicity.
+
+"It is their mania!" said the doctor, with a peculiar smile.
+
+"For my part I think the fresh air up here is much better to breathe
+than the foul air down below."
+
+"Why, of course. I would be anything rather than a miner."
+
+They came out at length on a small open space, where some workmen were
+busy erecting an artistic pedestal of marble.
+
+"This is the pedestal for the statue of the Duke," said the manager of
+the mines, in a loud voice.
+
+"Ah, ah! They are going to put up a statue to you?" said one and
+another, gathering round the great man. He shrugged his shoulders with a
+deprecating gesture.
+
+"I am sure I don't know. Some absurd notion that has been started in the
+miners' wine-shops, I suppose."
+
+"No, indeed, Senor Duque," exclaimed the manager, whose duty it had been
+to start the idea which Llera had suggested to him at a hint from
+Salabert himself. "No, indeed. The town of Riosa is anxious to erect a
+monument of its gratitude and respect to a noble patron who, in the most
+critical circumstances, did not hesitate to risk an enormous sum in the
+purchase of a half-ruined undertaking, and so to save it from utter
+disaster."
+
+"What a beautiful thing it is to do good!" exclaimed Lola, in a voice
+full of feeling; and her pretty eyes rested admiringly on Requena.
+
+Every one complimented him; though many of those present knew the
+meaning of this magnificent sacrifice. They looked at the work for a
+minute or two, and then proceeded on their way. The mines were close to
+the town, on the further side. Outwardly they looked like a manufactory
+on a small scale, with a few tall chimneys vomiting black smoke. There
+was nothing to betray their colossal value. The party went into the
+buildings and over the premises where the subsidiary processes of the
+works were carried on, and which included carpenters' sheds and forges,
+the engineers' office and private room, &c. But what impressed them all
+was the sad and sickly appearance of the operatives. They were all
+broken with decrepitude, and the Condesa de Cotorraso could not help
+saying:
+
+"Only old men seem to be employed."
+
+The manager smiled. "They are not old, though they look so, Senora."
+
+"But they are all wrinkled, and their eyes are sunken and dim."
+
+"There is not a man of forty among them. Those whom you see at work here
+are too far gone to work underground. We employ them up here, but they
+get less wages."
+
+"And does it take long in the mines to reduce them to this condition?"
+asked Ramon.
+
+"Not long, not long," murmured the manager, and he went on: "Such as you
+see them, they are always eager to get back to the mine again. The pay
+for outside work is so small."
+
+"What do they get?"
+
+"A peseta a day; six reales at most."[F]
+
+They next visited the smelting-houses. The Duke had gone on first with
+the English engineer, whom he had engaged to report on the improvements
+needed to make the works pay. In these sheds they saw huge furnaces,
+piles of cinnabar and stores of mercury.
+
+The furnaces consist of a retort in which the cinnabar is placed with
+the combustibles for calcining it. From this retort earthenware
+condensers rise, branching off into pipes communicating with each other.
+In these pipes the vapours of mercury which rise from the furnace are
+reduced by condensation to the liquid state; and the quicksilver is
+precipitated and flows out by holes in the lower face of the pipes. But
+as a large amount of sooty matter remains, containing particles of
+metal, it is necessary to remove and clean the condensers one by one.
+This is the work of boys, of from ten to fifteen, who, for seven or
+eight hours at a time, breathe an atmosphere charged with mercurial
+poison. They next visited the stores and the shed where the mineral is
+weighed for sale. And everywhere the operatives wore the same appearance
+of decrepitude.
+
+The manager now proposed that they should inspect the hospital. Some
+refused, but Lola, who never missed an opportunity of displaying her
+benevolent sentiments, set the example, and most of the ladies followed
+her, with a few of the men. The Duke excused himself, as he was busy
+with the engineers, who were giving him their opinion on the state of
+the furnaces.
+
+The hospital was outside the precincts of the mines, near the
+burial-ground--no doubt to accustom the inmates to the idea of death,
+and also, perhaps, that if the mercurial vapours proved ineffectual to
+kill them, those of the graveyard might finish the task. It was an old
+building, tumble-down, damp, and gloomy. It was only sheer shame which
+hindered the ladies from turning back from the threshold. The doctor,
+who had undertaken to guide them, showed them into the different rooms,
+and displayed the dreadful panorama of human suffering. Most of the poor
+wretches were dressed, and sitting on their beds or on chairs. Their
+drawn, corpse-like faces were objects of terror; their bodies shook with
+incessant trembling, as though they were stricken with a common panic.
+Fear and pity were painted on the fresh faces of their visitors; and the
+doctor smiled his peculiar smile, looking at them boldly with his large,
+black eyes.
+
+"Not a pleasing picture, is it?" said he.
+
+"Poor creatures! And are they all miners?"
+
+"Yes, all. The atmosphere they live in, vitiated by mercurial vapours,
+and the insufficient supply of fresh air, inevitably produce not only
+this trembling from acute or chronic mercurial poisoning--which is the
+most conspicuous result--but pulmonary catarrh of an aggravated type,
+dysentery, tuberculosis, mercurial irritation of the stomach, and many
+other diseases which either shorten their lives or render them incapable
+of labour after a few years spent under ground."
+
+"Poor things--poor creatures!" repeated his hearers.
+
+The little party who had followed his guidance listened to him with
+attention and sympathy. Never had they seen anything so terrible.
+Labour--a penalty in itself--was here complicated with poisoning; and
+with sincere emotion, full of the best intentions, they suggested means
+of alleviating the misery of the sufferers. Some declared that a good
+hospital ought to be erected; others suggested a shop, on charitable
+principles, where the workmen could obtain good food at a cheap rate;
+others urged that the children should not be employed at all; others
+again that the labourers should be allowed to work for only a very
+limited time.
+
+The doctor smiled and shook his head.
+
+"All this would be admirable, no doubt; I quite agree with you. But
+then, as I can but tell you, it would not be a paying business."
+
+They distributed some money among the sick, visited the chapel, where
+again they left some money to procure a new robe for the Holy Infant,
+and at last got out of the dismal place. To breathe the fresh air once
+more was almost intoxicating, and they laughed and talked as they made
+their way back to join the rest of the party.
+
+The engineers were explaining to Salabert a new process of sublimation
+which might be adopted, and by which not only would the production be
+vastly increased, but the residue would be utilised. This was effected
+by condensers formed of chambers of very thin brickwork in the lower
+part of the funnel carrying off the vapour, and of wood and glass above.
+A furnace to which these were fitted could be kept constantly going. The
+Duke listened attentively, took notes, raised objections, mastered the
+details of the business, and finally his keen nose scented enormous
+profits.
+
+As the ladies came up he gallantly postponed the discussion.
+
+"Well, how are my sick getting on, ladies? The sun has shone on them
+to-day," said he.
+
+"Badly, Duke, very badly. The hospital leaves much to be desired."
+
+And with one accord they complained of the defects of the building,
+painting it in the blackest colours, and proposing improvements to make
+it comfortable.
+
+The Duke listened with smiling indifference and the half-ironical
+attention we give to a coaxing child.
+
+"Very well, very well; we will have it all seen to. But you will allow
+me to set the business on its feet first--eh, Regnault?"
+
+The superintendent bowed with an insinuating smile.
+
+"And the men must work shorter hours," said the Condesa de Cebal.
+
+"And they really must be better paid," added Lola.
+
+"And they ought to have cottages built for them at Villalegre," said
+another.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha," shouted the Duke, with a burst of coarse laughter. "And
+why not bring Gayarre and Tosti here to entertain them in the evening?
+They must be dreadfully dull here, I should think, in the evenings!"
+
+The ladies smiled timidly.
+
+"But really, Duke, you should not make fun of it; it is a serious
+matter," said the Condesa de Cebal.
+
+"Serious! I believe you, Condesa. It has cost me three million dollars
+already. Do you think three millions are not a serious matter?"
+
+His fair advisers looked at each other, dazzled by the enormous sums
+this man could handle.
+
+"But do you not expect to get some interest on your millions?" asked
+Lola, who flattered herself she knew something of business.
+
+The Duke again roared with laughter.
+
+"Oh no, Senora, of course not. I shall leave that in the road for the
+first passer by. Interest indeed!" Then suddenly turning serious, he
+went on: "Who the devil has been putting this nonsense into your heads?
+I tell you, ladies, that what is lacking here--sadly lacking--is sound
+morality. Make the workman soundly moral, and all the evils you have
+seen will disappear. Let him give up drink, give up gambling, give up
+wasting his wages, and all these effects of the mercury will disappear.
+It is self-evident,"--and he appealed to some of the gentlemen who had
+joined the group--"How can a man resist the effects of mining when his
+body, instead of food, be it what it may, contains a gallon of bad
+brandy? I am perfectly convinced that the majority of those on the sick
+list are confirmed drunkards. Do you know, gentlemen, that in Riosa
+thrift is a thing unknown--thrift, without which prosperity and comfort
+are an impossibility?"
+
+This was a maxim the Duke had frequently heard in the senate; he
+reiterated it with much emphasis and conviction.
+
+"But how do you expect thrift on two pesetas[G] a day?" the Condesa
+ventured to demur.
+
+"There is no difficulty at all," said the Duke. "Thrift is a matter of
+principle, the principle of saving something out of to-day's enjoyment
+to avoid the needs of to-morrow. Two pesetas to a workman are like two
+thousand to you. Cannot you save something out of two thousand? Well, so
+can he out of two. Say he has less, fifteen centimes, ten, five. The
+point is to put something aside, and that, however little, is to the
+good."
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" the Condesa sighed, "What I do not understand is how
+any one can live on two pesetas, much less save."
+
+The engineers of the works invited the party to inspect the machine-room
+and laboratory. There was here a remarkably fine microscope, which
+attracted general attention. The doctor was the person who used it most,
+devoting much of his time to investigations in histology. The manager
+requested him to show the Duke's guests some of his preparations. First
+he exhibited some diatoms--the ladies were charmed by their various
+forms; he also showed them specimens of the animalcule which wrought
+the destruction of the famous bridge at Milan; they could not cease
+marvelling that so minute a creature should be able to demolish so huge
+a structure.
+
+"And think of the myriads of these creatures which must have laboured to
+produce such an effect," said an engineer.
+
+Quiroga, so the doctor was called, ended by showing them a drop of
+water. One by one they all looked at the invisible world revealed by the
+microscope.
+
+"I see one animal larger than the others," said the Duke, as he applied
+one of his prominent eyes to the tube of the instrument.
+
+"And you will see all the others fly before him," said the doctor.
+
+"Very true."
+
+"That is a rotifer. He is the shark of the drop of water."
+
+"Look yourself a minute, it seems to me that he is hiding behind
+something that looks like seaweed."
+
+"You may call it seaweed. Perhaps he is hiding to catch his prey."
+
+"Yes, yes. Now he has rushed out on a much smaller creature. It is gone,
+he must have eaten it."
+
+And the Duke looked up, beaming with satisfaction at having seen this
+strange microscopic tragedy.
+
+Quiroga looked at him with his bold gaze, and said with that eternal
+ironical smile of his:
+
+"It is the same all the world over. In the drop of water as in the
+ocean--everywhere the big fish swallow the small fry."
+
+The Duke's smile faded away. He gave a side glance at the doctor, whose
+mysterious countenance showed no change, and said abruptly:
+
+"You must all be tired of science. Let us go to luncheon."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The crowning attraction of the expedition which had brought all this gay
+company away from their luxurious homes to so comfortless and barren a
+region, was a plan for breakfasting, or rather lunching, at the bottom
+of the mine. When Clementina had mentioned this at one of her card
+parties it gave rise to a perfect burst of enthusiasm.
+
+"How very original! How odd! How delightful!" The ladies especially were
+most eager about it.
+
+By the Duke's advice, they all had provided themselves with elegant
+waterproof cloaks and high boots, for water oozed into the mine in many
+places, and made deep puddles. Only the evening before, however, several
+had taken fright at the immediate prospect, and had given up the
+expedition. The Duke had been obliged to order two meals, one in the
+mine and one above ground. The braver party who persisted in their
+purpose were not more than eight or ten. These had brought their
+waterproofs and leggings.
+
+The whole party now gathered round one of the mouths of the mine known
+as San Gennaro's pit. Near this shaft there was a building used for
+inspecting and weighing the ore, and there the ladies and gentlemen
+changed their boots and put on their wrappers. On seeing them thus
+prepared for the worst, almost all the ladies declared that they would
+after all go down with their friends. A messenger was forthwith sent to
+Villalegre for the rest of the waterproofs.
+
+The cage, worked up and down by steam, had been prepared for the
+reception of this elegant company. It had two floors, on each of which
+eight persons could stand. It had been lined with baize, and a few brass
+rings had been fitted to hold on by. The director, the Duke, and the
+valiant ladies who had come prepared, went down first. Orders were given
+to the engineer to send the lift down very slowly. It began to move, at
+first rising a few inches, and then descending with a jerk; then,
+suddenly, it seemed to be swallowed in the shaft. The women smothered a
+cry and stood speechless and pale. The walls of the shaft were dark,
+rough-hewn, and streaming with water; in each division of the cage a
+miner with a palsied hand held up a lantern. All, excepting the manager
+and the miners accustomed to the motion, had an uneasy feeling in the
+stomach, and a vague apprehension which made them incapable of speech,
+and they clenched their hands very tightly as they clung to the rings.
+
+"The first gallery," said the manager, as they passed a black opening.
+
+But no one made any remark. This suspension in the abyss, over the
+unknown void, paralysed their tongues and almost their power of thought.
+
+"The second gallery," said the manager again as they passed another
+yawning hole. And thus he continued till they came to the ninth. There
+they heard the sound of voices and saw that the gallery was lighted up.
+
+"We shall take our luncheon here. But first we will go down to the
+eleventh gallery to see the works."
+
+When they had gone past the tenth, he shouted as loud as he could:
+
+"Are the brakes on?"
+
+And a voice from below replied:
+
+"No!"
+
+"Put them on at once," he called down.
+
+"It cannot be done," was the answer.
+
+"What, why? The brakes, I say; put on the brakes."
+
+And with a very red face, almost convulsed with excitement, he still
+shouted like a madman, while the cage slowly went down, down.
+
+A cold chill fell on every heart. In the upper compartment some of the
+women began to utter piercing shrieks. In the lower room a few screams
+were heard and all clung tightly to the men's arms. Some fainted. It was
+a moment of indescribable alarm. They all thought this was their dying
+hour.
+
+And still the manager kept shouting: "The brakes, put on the brakes."
+
+And the voices below, more and more distinct, replying: "It cannot be
+done."
+
+When they firmly believed that they were rushing into the nether void
+the cage quietly stopped. They heard a peal of loud laughter, and their
+terrified eyes beheld, by the tremulous light of tallow candles, a party
+of miners whose grinning faces suddenly assumed an expression of the
+utmost alarm and dismay.
+
+"What is all this? What is the meaning of this piece of foolery?" asked
+the manager, jumping out of the lift in a rage and going up to them.
+
+The men respectfully took off their hats and one of them with a
+shame-faced smile stammered out:
+
+"Begging your pardon, Senor, we thought it was a lot of the men, and we
+wanted to give 'em a fright."
+
+"Did not you know that we were coming down?" he angrily asked.
+
+"We thought the gentlefolks were going to stop at number nine, where all
+the fine doings are to be----"
+
+"You thought, and you thought; you should not think such stupid things."
+
+The Duke recovered the use of his tongue.
+
+"But do you know, my good fellows, that you were playing a very rough
+and ready joke on your fellow workmen! Making them fancy they were
+rushing to their death!"
+
+"Their death!" echoed the miner who had first spoken.
+
+"No, Senor Duque," said the manager, "if they had not put the breaks on
+we should only have been up to our waists in water."
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"Would you have liked a bath in dirty water?"
+
+"Well, of course it would not have been a pleasant dip. But to see you
+in such a state of frenzy made us all think we were being killed
+outright. What do you say, ladies?"
+
+The ladies were relieving their minds by exclamations; some crying and
+some laughing. Two who had fainted received every attention, their
+temples were bathed with cold water, and the Condesa de Cotorraso's
+salts were brought into requisition. At last they recovered their
+senses, and the rest congratulated themselves on having escaped from
+such fearful peril, for they could not bear to think that there had been
+none. They looked forward to exciting the sympathy of their friends at
+home by the narrative of this horrible adventure, and believed
+themselves the heroines of a story in the style of Jules Verne.
+
+The spectacle which presented itself to their eyes when they could bring
+themselves to look at it, was not less grand than fantastic. Huge
+vaulted arches diverged in every direction, lighted only by the pale
+light of a few candles placed at wide intervals. To and fro in these
+galleries, with incessant toil, a crowd of labourers were constantly
+moving, their gigantic shadows dancing in the dim, flickering light.
+Their shouts echoed to the accompaniment of creaking trolley-wheels, and
+they seemed possessed with the idea of accomplishing some mysterious
+task in a very short time. In some of the galleries the walls were lined
+with crystals of native mercury, glittering as though they were covered
+with silver. On the other side of these walls, dull regular blows might
+be heard, and on going a few yards into the openings which had been
+formed here and there, they could see at the end, in an illuminated
+cavern, four or five pale, melancholy men hewing out the ore with their
+pick-axes. Whenever they stopped to rest it could be seen that their
+limbs shook with the palsy, characteristic of mercurial poisoning.
+
+It would have been easy to fancy oneself translated to the world of
+gnomes, and the scene of their mysterious labours. Man burrows in the
+earth with incessant toil like the mole, tunnelling it in every
+direction; but he poisons himself as he eats it away. The gods could get
+rid of the human rat without the aid of the cat.
+
+Suddenly Lola gave a piercing shriek, which made every one look round,
+but she immediately burst out laughing. A driplet of water from the roof
+had trickled down her back. Every one laughed at the accident, but the
+mirth was not very genuine. At these depths every one was aware of a
+vague uneasiness, even fear, which they strove to conceal. The cage
+brought down another large party, but the third time it was almost
+empty, for the rest of the company had preferred to be deposited in the
+ninth gallery, feeling no particular interest in the mining operations.
+Those who had come to the bottom were unfeignedly desirous of finding
+themselves as soon as possible in more commodious quarters. They asked
+the manager again and again whether they were safe, if there was no fear
+of the vault falling in.
+
+"Oh, no," said the manager with a smile. "Only private mines fall in.
+This was a Government concern, and everything was done with lavish
+security."
+
+"I have been in mines where we have had to send a party of men down to
+dig the miners out," said one of the engineers.
+
+"How shocking!" exclaimed the ladies in chorus.
+
+At last they got into the cage again and were carried up to number nine.
+Here the scene was very different. It was a long time since this gallery
+had been worked, and part of it had been enlarged to form a chamber,
+which had been enclosed, boarded, and carpeted; it might have been a
+room in a palace. The roof and walls were hung with waterproof cloth and
+adorned with trophies of mining. A table was magnificently laid for
+fifty or more, and the place was brilliantly illuminated by means of
+lustres with hundreds of wax lights. In short every refinement of luxury
+and elegance had been lavished here, so that it was difficult to
+persuade oneself that this dining-room was in the depths of a mine,
+three hundred metres below the surface of the earth.
+
+The guests took their seats with a sense of excitement, a combination of
+pleased admiration and vague alarm, which was written on their smiling
+but pale faces. The servants in livery stood in a row as if they had
+been at home in Madrid. As the first course was handed round, a band,
+hidden away in an adjoining gallery of the mine, struck up a charming
+waltz tune, and the sounds, softened by distance, had a delightful and
+soothing effect.
+
+The ladies, their eyes glistening, tremulous with excitement, repeated
+again and again: "How original, how amusing, I am so glad I came, what a
+delightful idea of Clementina's!"
+
+Then they tried to be calm and talk of indifferent subjects; but no one
+succeeded. The sense of so many tons of earth overhead weighed on their
+consciousness through it all. Nay, with some of the men it was the same,
+though some were perfectly calm.
+
+Raimundo was, no doubt, the man who thought least of his immediate
+surroundings; he was entirely absorbed in his moral predicament.
+Clementina, in spite of her professions and promises, was carrying on a
+hot flirtation with Escosura. They were placed side by side, exactly
+opposite to where he sat. He could see them talking eagerly, and
+laughing frequently; he saw him devoted, obsequious, lavish of
+compliments and attentions; he saw her complacent, smiling, and
+accepting his civilities with pleasure. And though from time to time she
+bestowed on Raimundo a loving look in compensation, he could only regard
+it as an alms--the crust bestowed on a beggar to save him from death.
+What did he care whether he were on the face or in the centre of the
+earth, or even if it should fall in and crush him like a fly.
+
+Another person to whom this geographical question was a matter of
+supreme indifference was Ramoncito, though from the opposite point of
+view. Esperanza was most amiable to him, perhaps because she thought she
+could thus the better endure the absence of Pepe Castro. The young
+deputy, beside himself with joy, never stirred an inch further from her
+side, or for a moment longer than appearances demanded. Triumphantly
+happy, he cast occasional glances of condescending grace on the rest of
+the company, and when his eyes fell on Calderon's financial face his
+emotion was visible; he could hardly forbear from addressing him as
+"Papa."
+
+As the meal progressed, the superincumbent earth weighed less heavily
+on their souls. Heady wines warmed their blood, and talk revived their
+spirits. Every one had forgotten the mine as completely as if they had
+been sitting in an ordinary handsome dining-room. Rafael Alcantara was
+amusing himself by making Penalver drunk. Encouraged by the laughter of
+his companions, who looked on, he did his utmost to befool the
+philosopher, addressing him in a loud voice with extreme familiarity,
+winking at his allies each time he made some blunder, taking base
+advantage, in short, of the worthy gentleman's benevolent and
+unsuspicious temper. He had taken upon himself to avenge the whole body
+of illustrious pipe-colouring youth for the intellectual pre-eminence
+for which the great thinker was noted.
+
+When dessert was served Escosura rose to propose a toast. He was an
+object of respect to the "Savages," partly from his corpulence and his
+vehement temper, but chiefly by reason of his money. He considered
+himself an orator. In a strong, ringing voice, he pronounced a panegyric
+on the Duke, whom he repeatedly designated as "that financial genius."
+He enlarged on labour, capital, and production; and went on to
+politics--his strong point. From the depths of the quicksilver mine he
+shot terrific darts at the Ministry, which had failed to give him a
+portfolio at the last change of Cabinet.
+
+Salabert replied with much hesitancy, thanking him with grovelling
+self-abasement. "No merit of his own beyond industry and honesty had
+raised him to the proud position he held (murmured applause). The
+nation, the sovereign who had ennobled him, had ennobled a son of toil.
+By struggling all his life against a tide of difficulties, he had
+succeeded in collecting a handful of money. This money now enabled him
+to maintain some thousands of workmen. This was his best reward
+(applause). He begged to propose the health of the ladies, whose courage
+had brought down to this subterranean hole, and who would leave behind
+them, a fragrance of charity and joy, which would live for ever in the
+hearts of the mining-folk."
+
+At this instant, simultaneously with the pop of several champagne corks,
+a tremendous detonation was heard, making the bravest turn pale.
+
+"There is nothing to be alarmed at," said the manager. "They are
+exploding the borings. It is always done at this hour."
+
+It was in truth an impressive moment. The noise of each explosion,
+multiplied and repeated by a thousand echoes, was enough to make the
+stoutest heart quake with faint alarms. Every one was suddenly silenced,
+listening for some seconds, with absorbed anxiety, to the rolling
+thunders which shook the earth. The table quivered, and the glasses and
+dishes rattled and tinkled.
+
+At this moment, the doctor rose from his chair, and after steadily
+eyeing the guests all round with his dark gaze, he raised his glass and
+spoke:
+
+"Our illustrious host, the Duke of Requena, has just told us, with a
+modesty which does him credit, that the whole secret of his great
+fortune lies in industry and honesty. He must permit me to doubt it. The
+Duke de Requena represents something more than those vulgar qualities;
+he represents force. Force! the sustaining factor of the Universe.
+
+"Force is very unequally distributed among organic beings; some have a
+larger and others a smaller share. And in the ceaseless struggle which
+goes on among them, the weakest perish, the fittest and strongest
+survive. Let us, then, adore in our Amphitryon the incarnation of Force.
+Thanks to the force with which Nature has endowed him, he has been able
+to subjugate and utilise the smaller share of thousands of individuals
+who unconsciously serve his ends; thanks to that force, he has
+accumulated his vast capital.
+
+"As I look round on this distinguished company, I observe with pleasure
+that all who compose it have also been endowed with a good proportion of
+this force, either congenital or inherited, and I can but congratulate
+them with all my heart. The only essential thing in the world we live
+in, is to have been born fit for the struggle. We must crush if we
+would escape being crushed. And, I may add, I also congratulate myself
+on standing here face to face with so many chosen of the gods on whom
+Providence has set the seal of happiness."
+
+"Hear him, my dear!" whispered Pepa Frias to Clementina. "This is
+Mephistopheles' toast, I think."
+
+Clementina smiled faintly. In fact, the doctor's pale, refined face,
+with the black hair brushed off his forehead, and, above all, his black
+eyes, in spite of an assumption of innocence, were full of a bitter
+irony not unworthy of Mephistopheles.
+
+He went on:
+
+"Slavery has existed in every age under one form or another. There have
+always been men designated by fate to live in the refined atmosphere of
+intellectual enjoyments, in the cultivation of the arts, in luxury and
+splendour, and the pleasure to be derived from the society of
+intelligent and educated persons; while others again are fated to
+procure them the means of such an existence by rude and painful toil.
+The pariahs laboured for the Brahmins, the helots for the Spartans, the
+slaves for the Romans, the villeins for their feudal lords. And is it
+not the same to this day? Of what avail are laws to abolish slavery? The
+men who work in the depths of this mine, and inhale the poison which
+kills them, are slaves, though not by law--by want of bread. The result
+is the same. It is the law of Nature, and so no doubt a holy and
+venerable law, that some must suffer for others to enjoy life. You,
+ladies, are the descendants of the noble Roman ladies who sent their
+slaves to these mines to procure them vermilion to beautify their faces,
+and of the Arabs, who used it to decorate the minarets of their palaces
+at Cordova and Seville. Ladies, I drink to you, my soul possessed by
+admiration and respect, as the representatives of all that is choicest
+on earth--Love, Beauty, and Pleasure."
+
+Though the pledge was gallant enough, it seemed uncanny; some muttered
+disapproval, and the hostile feeling against the young doctor visibly
+increased. There were one or two who hinted, in an undertone, that this
+low fellow was making game of them. Rafael Alcantara was eager to pick a
+quarrel with him, but he read in the doctor's eyes that he would not
+escape without some serious annoyance, and he preferred to pocket the
+affront. The ladies regarded him with more benevolence. They thought him
+"quite a character." The doctor's speech had certainly left an
+unpleasant impression, which Fuentes failed to dissipate, though he
+brought out his most original paradoxes.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "I do not propose a toast because I am
+not an orator. I hope that ere long this will be recognised as an
+honourable distinction in Spain; that when such an individual goes by in
+the street it will be said of him with respect: 'he is not an orator;'
+as we already say: 'he wears no order of merit.'"
+
+The ladies applauded and laughed at the joke. But whether from the
+doctor's words, or whether they were again oppressed by vague fears,
+they were all conscious of an uneasy feeling. Every one was cheered when
+it was announced that the cage was ready to carry them up. Those who
+remained to the last, heard, as they started, a distant chorus, which
+came nearer as they rose, till it sounded close by them, and then
+mysteriously died away below them without their having seen any one. The
+effect was most whimsical. The words they heard were those of an
+Andalucian boat song:
+
+    Up the river, and up the river,
+      Water will never run up to the town;
+    Down the river, and down the river,
+      All the world is bound to run down.
+
+The engineer remarked in explanation:
+
+"A party of miners, going down in the cage which serves as a
+counterpoise to this one."
+
+"I told you so, Condesa," exclaimed Salabert in a triumphant tone. "If
+they are in spirits to sing, they cannot be so miserable as you fancy."
+
+The lady was silent for a moment, then she said, with a melancholy
+smile:
+
+"It is not a very mirthful ditty, Duke."
+
+This was going on in the upper compartment. In the lower division,
+Escosura observed in a scornful tone to the chief engineer:
+
+"Do you know that your young doctor was so rash as to give us a taste of
+his materialistic views?"
+
+"Materialistic! I do not know that he is a Materialist. What he prides
+himself on being--and the miners worship him for it--is a Socialist."
+
+"Worse and worse."
+
+"To tell the truth," said Penalver, with a sigh, "it is impossible to
+come up from the bottom of a mine without having caught a little of the
+infection."
+
+At nine in the evening, after dining at Villalegre, the party returned
+to Madrid, by special train. They all set out well content with the
+excursion. They hoped to amaze their friends by their account of the
+underground banquet. The only unhappy person was Raimundo. The
+alternations of joy and anguish which Clementina's flirtation occasioned
+him had quite quenched his spirit. At last, seeing him so sad and
+exhausted, his mistress was merciful. She made him sit by her in the
+train, and without scandalising a party who were cured of all such
+weakness, she talked to him all the evening, and finally dropped asleep
+with her head on his shoulder.
+
+Though a sleeping-car formed part of the train, it was not in favour.
+Most of the travellers preferred remaining in the saloons. Towards
+morning, however, sleep overcame them all, and they succumbed where they
+sat, in a variety of attitudes, some of them by no means graceful.
+
+Ramon Maldonado was on a pinnacle of triumph and happiness. Esperancita,
+to judge by appearances, must certainly love him. He felt lifted above
+the earth, not merely by the natural superiority of his soul, but by the
+ecstasy of joy. His ugly little face was as radiant as a god's. Farewell
+for ever to the struggles and obstacles which had hitherto embittered
+his life. Free henceforth from the service of sorrow, as are the
+immortals, he gloried in his apotheosis, majestically serene.
+
+He, too, had seated himself next the idol of his heroic heart, and for
+some hours sat talking to her in dulcet tones--of English cobs, and of
+the great pitched battles which were being constantly fought in the
+municipal council, and in which he bore an active part; till the
+innocent child, soothed by the monotonous and insinuating discourse,
+closed her eyes, with her head thrown back against the cushion.
+
+Maldonado remained awake, wide awake, thinking of his happiness.
+Rosy-fingered Aurora, stepping over the ridge of the distant Sierra, and
+flying swiftly across the wide plain, peeped through the blinds of the
+carriages, diffusing a dim and subdued light, and still he was hugging
+himself in contentment.
+
+Esperancita opened her eyes and smiled at him with a tender smile which
+thrilled the deepest fibres of his lyric soul. At this instant a lark
+began to sing. In Ramoncito the god was each moment growing more
+distinct from the man; intoxicated with love and happiness he murmured
+into the girl's ear, in a voice tremulous with emotion, a few incoherent
+and ardent phrases, the expression of the divine madness. Esperanza shut
+her eyes again--to hear that music better?
+
+When he had exhausted all the superlatives in the dictionary to describe
+his passion, the poetic young civilian thought to achieve the task of
+conquest by showing the damsel, as in a vision, all the glories he could
+shed upon her: "He was an only son, his parents had an income of a
+hundred and ten thousand reales[H] a year; at the next ensuing elections
+he intended to stand as candidate for Navalperal, where his family had
+estates, and if only he had the support of the Government he was certain
+to succeed. Then, as the Conservative party were greatly in need of new
+blood, he believed he should soon get an appointment as under secretary,
+and--who could tell?--by-and-by, at a change of Ministry, find himself
+entrusted with a portfolio."
+
+The girl still kept her eyes shut. Ramoncito, more and more excited,
+when he had ended this catalogue of brilliant prospects, bent over her
+and whispered in impassioned tones: "Do you love me, dearest, do you
+love me?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Tell me, do you love me?"
+
+Esperancita, without opening her eyes, answered curtly:
+
+"No."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A DEPARTING SOUL.
+
+
+A few weeks after this excursion, Dona Carmen's disease suddenly grew
+much worse. The physicians, indeed, had no doubt that her end was
+drawing near. She was in a state of complete prostration. Her face was
+so thin, that there seemed to be nothing left but the skin, and the
+large, sad, kind eyes, which rested with strange intensity on all who
+came near her, as if trying to read in theirs the terrible secret of
+death. And in view of her death, a thousand sordid feelings surged up in
+the minds of those who ought most to have sorrowed over it. Salabert
+reflected with indignation on the inheritance which was to pass to his
+daughter. He made fresh efforts to induce his wife to revoke her will,
+but without success. For the first time in her life, Dona Carmen showed
+great firmness of character. Though she was incapable of a revengeful
+sentiment, she perhaps felt bound by her desire to close her existence
+by an act of justice. A life of abject submission, during which she had
+never opposed the smallest obstacle to her husband's will, to his
+money-making schemes, or his illicit passions, had surely earned her the
+privilege of asserting her rights on her death-bed, and gratifying the
+impulses of her heart.
+
+Osorio kept silent watch, with concealed greed, over the progress of her
+malady, looking to its termination as the end of his own difficulties.
+Dona Carmen would be released from her earthly husk, and he from his
+creditors. Clementina herself, the object of the tender soul's devoted
+affection, could not help rejoicing over the prospect of so many
+millions which were to drop into her hands. She did her best to silence
+her desires, and subdue her impatience; but, in spite of herself, a
+tempting fiend made her heart give a little leap of gladness, every time
+the anticipation flashed through her brain.
+
+It was with infernal astuteness that Salabert set to work to infuse
+distrust into his wife's mind. Sometimes by insinuation, and sometimes
+by brutally broad hints, he poured the poison of suspicion into her
+soul. Clementina and Osorio were looking for her death, as for flowers
+in May. What airs they would give themselves when they had paid all
+their debts! And then they would live and enjoy themselves on her money.
+
+The poor woman said nothing, indignant at these base innuendoes. But,
+nevertheless, in her soul, broken and saddened by suffering, the keen
+point of this envenomed dart festered deeply, though she strove to
+conceal her anguish. Every time Clementina came to see her--and towards
+the end this was twice a day--her stepmother's eyes would rest on hers
+in mute interrogation, trying to read in them the thoughts in the brain
+behind. This intent gaze embarrassed the younger woman, making her feel
+a perturbation, which, though slight, occasionally betrayed itself.
+
+As her malady increased, this anxiety on Dona Carmen's part became
+almost a mania. In the isolation of soul in which she lived, Clementina
+represented the one link of affection which bound her to life. It was
+because her stepdaughter had always been cold and haughty to every one
+else, that she had never doubted the sincerity of her love for her, and
+it had made her happy and proud. It had sufficed to indemnify her for
+the scornful indifference with which every one else had treated her.
+Now, the horrible doubt which had been forced upon her, filled her heart
+with bitterness. Such a spirit of goodness and love as her own craved to
+believe in goodness and love. The uprooting of this last belief made her
+heart bleed with anguish.
+
+One evening they were alone together; Dona Carmen, motionless in her
+deep arm-chair, with her head thrown back on the pillows, was listening
+to Clementina, who was reading aloud the pious history of the apparition
+of the Virgin of la Salette. Her thoughts wandered from the narrative;
+they were disturbed as usual by the fatal doubt, which tortured her more
+than even her acute physical sufferings. She could not take her eyes off
+Clementina's fair head, with the fixed look of divination peculiar to
+dying persons, as though she could read what was passing within, but
+without gaining the certainty she longed for. More than once, when the
+reader glanced up, she met that dull, grief-stricken gaze, and hastily
+looked down again with a sudden sense of uneasiness. A desire, a whim,
+had blazed up in the sick woman's mind, a feverish yearning such as
+dying creatures feel. She longed to hear her stepdaughter quench, by
+some gentle word, the fearful pain of that burning doubt. Again and
+again the question hovered on her lips; invincible shame kept her from
+uttering it.
+
+"Lay down the book, child, you are tired," she said at last. And her
+voice came trembling from her throat, as though she had said something
+very serious.
+
+"You are, perhaps, of listening. I am not. I have a strong throat."
+
+"God preserve it to you, my child," replied Dona Carmen tenderly, as she
+looked at her.
+
+There was a brief silence.
+
+"Do you know what I have been told?" she asked finally, with an effort,
+and her voice was so low that the last syllables were scarcely audible.
+
+Clementina, who was about to read again, raised her head. The few drops
+of blood left in Dona Carmen's emaciated body suddenly rushed to her
+face and tinged it with a faint flush.
+
+"I was told--that you wish for my death."
+
+Clementina's rich blood now mounted in a tide to her cheeks and dyed
+them crimson. The two women looked at each other for a moment in
+confusion. At last it was the younger who exclaimed, with a dark frown:
+
+"I know who told you that!"
+
+And as she spoke the blood faded from her face again like a sudden fall
+of the tide. Her stepmother's retreated to her weary heart. She bent her
+head with its white hairs, and said:
+
+"If you know, do not utter his name."
+
+"Why not?" cried her wrathful stepdaughter. "When a father, with no
+motive whatever, solely for the sake of a few dollars, can insult his
+daughter and make a martyr of his wife, he has no right to claim either
+affection or respect. I say it, and I do not care who hears me. It is an
+infamous calumny! My father is a man who knows no God, no love but
+money. I knew that your will had alienated his love for me--if indeed he
+ever had any."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Yes, I knew it perfectly. But I never could have believed that it would
+lead him to do anything so vile as to calumniate me so cruelly. I
+confess to you that I have always loved you the most--oh, yes, much,
+much the most! I have no hesitation in saying so. Nay, I will say more:
+I have never really loved any one but you and my children. If this will
+is the cause of your doubting my love for you, destroy it, undo it,
+revoke it. Your love and your peace of mind are far dearer to me than
+your money."
+
+Her voice thrilled with indignation. Her eyes were sternly fixed on
+vacancy, as though she could evoke the figure of her father and crush
+him to powder. At the moment she was ardently sincere. Dona Carmen's dim
+eyes grew bright with contentment as her daughter spoke. At last they
+glittered through tears as she exclaimed:
+
+"I trust you, my child--I believe you! Ah, you cannot think what good
+you have done me!"
+
+She seized her hands and kissed them fondly. Clementina exclaimed, as if
+ashamed:
+
+"No, no, mamma! It is I who----" And she threw her arms round her neck.
+
+They held each other in a warm embrace, shedding silent tears. It was
+one of the few occasions in her life when Clementina wept from tender
+feeling, and not from vexation of spirit.
+
+But during the remaining days, though the memory of this scene was
+lively with them both, so, too, was that of the suspicion which had led
+to it. Clementina felt herself humbled in her stepmother's presence. Her
+attentions and endearments were now and then a little forced; she tried
+to efface the impression she still read in Dona Carmen's eyes. Then,
+again, fearing this might lead her to doubt her sincerity, she would
+suddenly cut them short, and assume a cold indifference. In short, a
+current of disquietude flowed between the two women, and caused them
+both much suffering, though in different ways, whenever they were
+together.
+
+At last Dona Carmen took to her bed, never again to rise. Clementina
+spent the whole day by her side. The terrible end was near. One morning,
+between two and three, two of the Duke's servants gave the alarm to the
+Osorios. The Duchess was dying, and asked repeatedly for her daughter.
+Clementina hastily dressed and flew to the Requena Palace as fast as her
+horses could carry her. Osorio went with her. As they alighted they met
+the Duke, with an expression of scornful gloom.
+
+"You are in time--oh, you are in time!" he growled, and he turned away
+without another word.
+
+Clementina fancied the words were spoken with a malevolent sneer, and
+bit her lips with rage. The pitiable scene that met her eyes as she
+approached Dona Carmen's bedside pacified her for the moment. The poor
+woman's face was stamped by the hand of death; pale as a corpse, the
+nose pinched and white, the eyes glassy and sunk in a livid circle.
+Standing by her side was a priest, exhorting her to repentance. Of what?
+Her faithful maid, Marcella, stood at the foot of the bed crying
+bitterly, her face hidden in her handkerchief; and two other maids in
+the background looked on at the pathetic picture, frightened rather
+than sorrowful. The physician was writing a prescription at a table in
+the corner.
+
+On seeing her daughter the Duchess turned to look in her face with an
+anxious expression, and held out a hand to her.
+
+"Come close, child," she said, in a fairly strong voice. And she took
+Clementina's right hand in her own thin, waxen hands, and said, with a
+fearful fixity of gaze:
+
+"I am dying, my child, dying. Do you not see it? Only so long as you are
+not glad of it."
+
+"Mamma, dear mamma!"
+
+"Say that you are not glad," she earnestly insisted, without ceasing to
+look in her daughter's eyes.
+
+"Mamma, mamma, for God's sake!" cried Clementina, both bewildered and
+alarmed.
+
+"Say that you are not glad!" she repeated, with increased energy, even
+raising her head with a great effort, and looking sternly at her.
+
+"No, my beloved mother, no. If I could save your life at the cost of my
+own I swear to you I would do so."
+
+The dying woman's dim eyes softened; she laid her head on the pillow,
+and, after a short silence, she said, in a weak, quavering voice:
+
+"You would be very ungrateful--very ungrateful. Your poor mother has
+loved you dearly. Kiss me, do not cry. I am not sorry to leave this
+world. What hurt me was the thought that you, child of my
+heart--you--oh, horrible to think of! How it has tortured me!"
+
+The priest here interposed, desiring her to turn her mind from worldly
+thoughts. The sick woman listened with humility, and devoutly echoed the
+prayers he spoke in a loud voice. The doctor and the Duke came close to
+the bed, but, seeing that Dona Carmen was breathing her last, the
+physician took Requena by the arm to lead him out of the room. Dona
+Carmen's glazing eye wandered round the little group till it rested on
+Clementina, to whom she signed to come closer.
+
+"God bless you, my child," she said, with a gaze fixed on the ceiling.
+"You are right to be glad at my death."
+
+"Mamma, mamma, what are you saying?" cried Clementina, in horror.
+
+"I am glad, too, glad that my death should be an advantage to you. If I
+could have given you all while I lived, I would have done it. It is sad,
+is it not, that I should have to die to make you happy? I should have
+liked to see you happy. Good-by; good-by. Think sometimes of your poor
+mamma."
+
+"Mother, dearest mother!" sobbed the younger woman, dropping on her
+knees with a burst of tears. "I do not want you to die, no, no. I have
+been very wicked, but I have always loved you, have always respected
+you."
+
+"Do not be foolish," said the dying woman, smiling with an effort, and
+laying her hand on the fair head. "I am not sorry if you are glad. And
+what does it matter? I die content to know that you will owe some
+happiness to me. Remember my old women in the asylum, be kind to them,
+and to Marcella, my good Marcella. Farewell, all of you. Forgive me any
+faults----"
+
+Her voice failed, her breathing was hard and painful. The sobs of
+Clementina and Marcella were the only other sound. The Duke, trembling
+and shocked, was at last persuaded to leave the room.
+
+Dona Carmen spoke no more. Her eyes closed, her lips parted, she lay
+quite still. Now and then she half raised her eyelids and looked fondly
+at her step-daughter who remained kneeling. The priest read on in a
+quavering nasal voice prayer after prayer.
+
+Thus died the Duchess de Requena. Let her depart in peace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For some days after, Clementina and her husband, in spite of their
+inextinguishable aversion, held long and repeated conferences. The great
+question of the inheritance united their interests for a while.
+Clementina went every morning and evening to see her father, and Osorio
+too was a frequent visitor; they both were lavish of attentions to the
+old man, took pity on his loneliness, and made much of him. There was an
+affectionate familiarity in their demeanour which was highly becoming in
+a son and daughter who make it their duty to cherish a venerable parent
+in his old age. The Duke, on his part, accepted their care, watching
+them with an expression which was ironical rather than grateful. When
+their backs were turned to leave him, he gazed after them, slowly
+closing his eyes, and turned his cigar-stump between his teeth, while
+his lips sketched a sarcastic smile, which did not die away for some few
+seconds.
+
+But everything went on as before. Although the Duchess's will was
+incontrovertible, Salabert never said a word on money matters. He
+continued to manage the whole of the fortune, and engaged in various
+concerns with calm despotism. But his daughter and son-in-law were not
+so calm. They began, on the contrary, to be greatly disturbed, to
+express their opinions to each other with crude vehemence, and to lay
+plots to provoke an explanation. Clementina thought that Osorio should
+speak to her father. He considered it her part to apply to him in
+dutiful terms for an explanation, before formulating a complaint. After
+some days of hesitation the wife finally made up her mind to say a few
+words to her father, though not without some embarrassment, since she
+knew his temper and her own too.
+
+"Well, papa," said she, with affected lightness, finding him alone in
+his room, "when are you going to talk over money matters with me?"
+
+"Money matters? Why should I?" he replied in a tone of surprise, and
+looking at her with such an air of innocence that she longed to slap his
+face.
+
+"Why should you? Because it will have to be done, to put me in
+possession of my property. Am I not mamma's sole legatee?" she answered
+in the same cheerful tone, but there was a very perceptible quaver in
+her voice.
+
+"Ah, to be sure!" exclaimed the Duke, with a flourish of the hand to
+dismiss the subject. "We will talk of that later--much later."
+
+Clementina turned pale. Her blood seemed to curdle with rage. Her lips
+quivered, and she was on the point of saying something violent.
+
+"Still, it would be as well that we should come to an understanding,"
+she murmured in a low voice.
+
+"Not at all, not at all. I cannot discuss it now. When I have time and
+am in the humour I will think about it."
+
+He spoke with such decision and indifference that his daughter had no
+choice but either to give the reins to her tongue and quarrel violently
+with her father, or to go. After a moment's hesitation she went. She
+turned on her heel, and, without a word of leave-taking, she quitted the
+room and went off in her carriage, in such a state of excitement that
+she was trembling from head to foot.
+
+As soon as she reached home she shut herself up in her own room and gave
+vent to her fury. She wept, she stamped, she tore her clothes, and broke
+various articles of crockery. Osorio too flew into a rage, and declared
+he would bring Salabert to book. But nothing came of it all, excepting a
+letter, in which respectfully enough, he required his father-in-law to
+give him an account of the state of his business, that the preliminaries
+of an estimate might be arrived at. Salabert simply did not answer. They
+wrote another; again no reply. They ceased going to the house.
+Clementina would not go for fear of a scandal. Osorio, on his part,
+considering the relations that subsisted between him and his wife, did
+not feel that he had the moral position which would entitle him to lay
+formal claim to her fortune.
+
+In this predicament they consulted certain persons of weight, friends of
+the Duke, and requested them to mediate. This was done; they had various
+interviews with the old man, and after much consultation a friendly
+meeting was agreed on, to avoid bringing the matter into a court of law.
+The meeting was held, after some objections on Clementina's part, at
+her father's house. Besides the interested parties, there were present
+Father Ortega, the Conde de Cotorraso, Calderon, and Jimenez Arbos.
+
+The proceedings were opened by Arbos--no longer in the Ministry, but a
+member of the Opposition--who made a speech in a conciliatory key,
+urging them to agree rather than present to the public the spectacle of
+a quarrel on money matters between a father and daughter--a spectacle
+which, in view of the position they held, must be both painful and
+discreditable. The next to speak was Father Ortega, who, in the unctuous
+and persuasive accents which characterised him, first bestowed on both
+parties a plentiful lather of preposterous encomiums, and then appealed
+to their Christian feelings, representing how bad an example they would
+set, and painting the sweets of loving-kindness and self-sacrifice,
+ending by promises of eternal life and glory.
+
+Clementina replied. She had no wish but to continue in the same friendly
+relations with her father as had hitherto subsisted, and to achieve that
+end she was prepared to do all in her power. The curt, dry tone in which
+she spoke, and the scowl which accompanied her words, gave no strong
+evidence of sincerity. However, the Duke seemed greatly moved.
+
+"Arbos," he began, "Father, my friends, and my children; you all know me
+well. To me, without domestic life, there is no possibility of
+happiness. After the terrible blow I have so lately suffered, my
+daughter is all that is left to me. On her centre all my hopes, my
+affections, and my pride. For her I have toiled, have struggled
+indefatigably, have accumulated the capital I possess. I may say that I
+have never cared for money but for the sake of my wife, now in glory,
+and my daughter--to see them living in comfort and luxury. As you know,
+I could always have lived on a few coppers a day. And now that I am old,
+all the more so. What can I want with millions? Ere long, I too must
+take the train for the other side--Eh, Julian? And you too.--Who then
+can suppose that I should ever quarrel over a handful of dollars with
+my dear and only daughter? The whole thing has been a mistake. I wanted
+time to put my affairs in order; that was all. And if you, my child,
+ever could imagine anything else, I can only tell you this: everything
+in this house is yours, and always has been. Take it whenever you
+choose. Take it, my child, take it. I can do with nothing."
+
+As he pronounced the last words with visible emotion, they all were able
+to shed a tear. Every one was deeply moved and eager with conciliatory
+exhortation. Father Ortega gently pushed Clementina into her father's
+arms; and though she was the least agitated of the party, she allowed
+him to embrace her.
+
+He clasped her to his heart for some minutes, and when he released her
+dropped into his arm-chair, with his handkerchief to his eyes, quite
+overcome by so much emotion.
+
+After so pathetic a scene no one could allude to money. The meeting
+broke up with fervid hand-pressing and warm mutual congratulations on
+the happy issue of their diplomacy. But Osorio and his wife got into
+their carriage, grave and sullen, and exchanged not a single word on the
+drive home. Only as they reached their own door, Clementina said:
+
+"Well, we shall see how the farce ends."
+
+Osorio shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We have seen the end, I suspect."
+
+And he was right.
+
+The Duke never paid them a cent., and never again spoke of his
+daughter's fortune. He was very affectionate, and constantly had them to
+dine with him, complaining of his loneliness. Now and then he spoke of
+transactions he was engaged in, but not a word of paying them their
+share. Clementina was at last so much provoked that she suddenly ceased
+going to the house. They then took to exchanging notes. Nothing was to
+be got out of her father but ambiguous replies and vague hopes. Finally
+they decided on taking legal steps, and a lawsuit began, which was a
+source of endless satisfaction to the faculty.
+
+This was an end of all joy or comfort for Clementina. She lived in a
+state of perpetual ferment, watching the progress of the litigation with
+anxious interest, communicating with the lawyers, and trying to exert
+some influence which might counterbalance the Duke's. He, on his part,
+took the matter much more calmly, conducted it with maddening acumen,
+taking advantage of her displays of violence to represent her in the
+eyes of the world as a greedy and unnatural daughter. At the same time,
+among his intimate acquaintances, he would now and then give utterance
+to some sarcastic or cynical speech which, when it reached her ears,
+made her wild with rage. The struggle became more desperate every day,
+while, on the other hand, Osorio's creditors, deceived in their hopes,
+began to press him very hard, and threatened to bring him to ruin. The
+torments, the tempers, the wretched state of things in the Osorio
+household may be easily imagined.
+
+This discomfort, and it might be called misery, extended to the hapless
+Raimundo. Clementina, torn soul and body by a tumult of other passions,
+found no leisure for the blandishments of love. The minutes she could
+spare for them were every day briefer and less calm. The gay
+_tete-a-tetes_ and merry devices of a former time were over for ever.
+The lady no longer found any amusement in laughing at her boyish lover.
+She did not seem even to remember the childish pleasures in which they
+had delighted. She could talk of nothing now but the lawsuit. Her nerves
+were in such a state of tension that an inadvertent word might put her
+into a furious rage. And, besides all this, in her vehement desire for
+triumph over her father, she flirted more than ever with Escosura, who
+had just come into office; and this, as may be supposed, was what most
+distressed the young naturalist.
+
+One day, when she was rather more fond than usual, she said in loving
+accents:
+
+"You are still jealous of Escosura, Raimundo? But it is quite a mistake.
+I do not care a straw for the man."
+
+"Yes, so you have often told me, and yet----"
+
+"There is no 'and yet' in the case, fastidious youth!" she interrupted,
+gently pulling his ear. "I never loved, and never could love any one but
+you. But--here comes the but--you alas! are not in power, though you
+deserve to be more than any one I know. My fortune, as you know, is at
+the mercy of the law, and I may be told any day that I am a beggar.
+Accustomed as I am to comfort and luxury, you may imagine how much I
+should relish this. And my pride, too, would suffer, for I am the object
+of much invidious feeling; people hate me without knowing why. In short,
+I should be laughed at, and that I could not endure. My father has a
+great many supporters. Men count on him for services, though he is
+utterly incapable of a kindness, and they are afraid of him too. Now I,
+though on intimate terms with all the official circle of Madrid, have
+not one true friend to take a real interest in my affairs, or dare to
+show a bold front to my father. And so, you see, I must try to make one.
+Now imagine this friend to be Escosura, and imagine me to break with you
+before the eyes of the world, though still you are the one and only man
+I can ever love. What do you think of the arrangement? Can you regard it
+as acceptable?"
+
+Raimundo coloured crimson at this strange and humiliating proposition.
+For a minute or two he made no reply, but at last he said, between anger
+and contempt:
+
+"It strikes me as simply infamous and indecent."
+
+The furrow, the fateful furrow, which appeared on Clementina's brow
+whenever passion stirred her stormy soul, was ominously deep. She
+abruptly rose, and after looking at him hard, with an expression of
+scornful rage, she said in icy tones:
+
+"You are right. Such an arrangement could not meet your views! We had
+better part, once for all." And she turned to go.
+
+Raimundo was confounded.
+
+"Clementina!" he cried as she reached the door.
+
+"What is it?" said she, as coldly as before, and looking round.
+
+"Listen, one moment, for God's sake! I spoke under an impulse of
+jealousy, not meaning to wound you. How could I ever mean to hurt you
+when I love you, adore you as a creature of another sphere?" and he
+poured out words of tenderness and worship.
+
+Clementina listened without moving from her attitude of haughty
+indifference, and would not melt till she saw him utterly humbled, on
+his knees before her, beseeching for the scheme he had stigmatised as
+infamous and indecent as a favour to himself.
+
+At this time Clementina received a blow which almost made her ill. Her
+father brought the audacious woman to whom he had given a card for his
+ball to live in the palace, and this extraordinary proceeding became the
+talk of all Madrid. Every one believed that Salabert was out of his
+mind. And then a rumour got afloat that he was about to marry Amparo,
+and amazement and indignation filled the soul of Society.
+
+But an unforeseen accident interfered with this alliance. At a meeting
+of the shareholders of the Riosa mines it was the Duke's part, as
+chairman, to give an account of his management, and propose certain
+measures for the advantage of the company. He usually fulfilled such
+functions with great brevity and lucidity; he was, above all else, a man
+of business, and had no fancy for rambling speeches or more words than
+were absolutely necessary. But now, to the surprise of his audience,
+among whom there were many bankers and official personages, he began a
+rambling address quite foreign to the matter.
+
+He wandered from his subject and began giving explanations of his
+conduct as a public character, sketched a complete biography of himself,
+dwelling on a thousand insignificant details; sang his own praises in
+the most barefaced way, putting himself forward as the model of a
+logical politician, and of disinterested self-sacrifice; spoke of his
+services to the nation by his loans to the Government in the hour of
+need, and to the cause of humanity by his co-operation in the founding
+of hospitals, schools, and asylums; finally having the audacity to
+assert that the Home for Old Women was his work.
+
+The shareholders looked at one another in bewilderment, muttering not
+very complimentary comments on the orator's condition of mind. When he
+had finished the catalogue of his own merits and proclaimed himself,
+_urbi et orbi_, the greatest man in Spain, he began an invective against
+his enemies, describing himself as the victim of persistent and
+deliberate persecution, of a thousand intrigues plotted to discredit
+him, and in which various political and financial magnates were
+implicated. In confirmation of this statement he read, in loud, fierce
+tones, certain articles from a paper published in the district where the
+Riosa mines were situated, and which, according to him, constituted a
+gross and shameful attack. What they actually said amounted to this:
+That Salabert was not a man of such mark as to be worthy to have a
+statue.
+
+His hearers, more and more wearied and indignant, now said, though still
+in under-tone: "The man is crazy! The man is mad!"
+
+As he read on, his face grew purple; it was usually pale, it now looked
+as if he were being strangled. Suddenly, before he had finished, he fell
+back senseless in his chair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A DARKENED MIND.
+
+
+After this attack Requena's mental faculties were perceptibly weakened,
+as every one could discern who saw him. He suffered from strange
+illusions; his speech was slow and even less intelligible than of old.
+He was full of fancies and whims. It was said that he had given his
+mistress vast sums of money; that he flew into a rage over the merest
+trifles, and shrieked and raved like a mad creature, going so far as to
+inflict bodily injuries on his servants and attendants; that he ate
+voraciously, and would say the most horrible things to his daughter. His
+sullen and vindictive temper had become violent and malignant.
+
+In business matters, however, his faculties showed no signs of deserting
+him, nor had the mainspring of his nature, avarice, run down. His
+affairs, to be sure, for the most part went on by themselves, and he
+still had Llera, whose talents as a speculator had gained in astuteness.
+Where the derangement, or rather the weakness of his mind, was most
+conspicuous, was in his domestic affairs. His mistress reigned supreme,
+and as in Madrid there is no lack of social parasites, there were plenty
+of hangers-on to sing her praises. She gave tea and card parties, and
+though the society she collected left much to be desired in point of
+quality, in appearance it made as good a show as that of many another
+wealthy house. There were Grandees of Castile who honoured her with
+their presence, among them Manolo de Davalos, as mad and as much in love
+as ever.
+
+The lawsuit between the Duke and his daughter ran its lengthy course,
+each party more obstinate and more virulent every day. In fact, to
+Clementina, it had resolved itself into a personal struggle with Amparo.
+The thing which she and Osorio most dreaded was that her father should
+commit himself to the marriage which was openly prognosticated. If he
+did, this hussy, an ex-flower-girl, would flaunt the ducal coronet, and
+treat with them on equal terms. Though society at first would have
+nothing to say to her, everything is forgotten in time, and Amparo would
+presently be regarded as a Duchess indeed. Happily for them, though
+Salabert was very submissive to her vagaries, they heard that the Duke
+had positively refused to marry her, and that when she endeavoured to
+coerce him, there were violent scenes between them. Whether all that the
+servants reported were true or no, there was no doubt that she was
+urgent and he obstinate. But though her attacks continued to be
+fruitless, Clementina and Osorio lived "between the devil and the deep
+sea." The Duke was pronounced to be suffering from creeping paralysis.
+Under these circumstances, after consulting several eminent lawyers,
+they determined to petition the Court for a decree pronouncing him
+incompetent or incapable of managing his own affairs. He had, lately, it
+was said, had a fresh attack, which had left him quite imbecile. This
+report seemed to be confirmed by his never leaving the house, and by his
+most intimate friends being refused admittance to see him. It was under
+these circumstances that, either from some sudden impulse of her
+impetuous nature, or because some of her acquaintances had suggested it
+to her, Clementina determined to deal a decisive blow, which would at
+once put an end to the litigation and to all the difficulties bound up
+with it.
+
+"My father is shut up," said she, "I will go and turn that woman out of
+the house."
+
+Her husband tried to dissuade her, but in vain.
+
+One morning, therefore, she drove to her father's palace. The porter, on
+opening the gate to the Senora Clementina, was at once amazed and
+pleased; for though she was neither so smooth-tongued nor so liberal as
+the ex-florist, a sense of justice led the Duke's household to respect
+his daughter and contemn his mistress. The haughty lady, without looking
+at the man, merely said:
+
+"Well, Rafael?" and went quickly up the steps.
+
+"How is papa?" she asked of the servant who met her in the hall.
+
+He was too much astonished to be able to reply.
+
+"Well, fellow!" she repeated impatiently, "Where is papa? In the office,
+or in his study?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, Senora; the Duke is well. I think he is in his
+study."
+
+At this juncture, a waiting-maid, who had caught sight of her from the
+end of a passage, and heard her inquiries, flew off to warn the Senora,
+while Clementina hastened up the stairs to the first-floor. But before
+she could reach her father's room, the lady in possession stood in her
+path, looking straight into her face, with flashing eyes.
+
+"Where are you going?" she asked, in a voice husky with excitement.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Clementina, lifting her head with supreme disdain,
+and looking down on her.
+
+"I am the mistress of this house," was the reply, but the speaker turned
+pale.
+
+"The sick nurse, you should say. I never heard that there was a mistress
+here."
+
+"What! Have you come to insult me in my own house?" exclaimed Amparo,
+setting her arms akimbo, as if she still were on the market-place.
+
+"No. I have come to turn you out, before the police arrive and do it for
+me."
+
+Her antagonist made a movement, as though she would fall on her and rend
+her; but she checked herself, and began to scream as loud as she could:
+"Pepe, Gregorio, Anselmo! Come here, come all! Turn this insolent
+creature out of the house! She is insulting me."
+
+Some of the servants came at her call; but they stood confused and
+motionless, contemplating this strange scene. At the same moment the
+door of the Duke's room was opened, and Salabert stood before them in a
+dressing-gown and cap. He had grown terribly old in a few weeks. His
+eyes were dull, his face colourless, his cheeks pendant and flabby.
+
+"What is all this? What is the matter?" he asked thickly. On seeing his
+daughter, he staggered back a step.
+
+"This woman," cried Amparo, in a yell of vulgar rage, "after having you
+declared an idiot, comes here to insult me!"
+
+"Papa, do not heed her," said Clementina, going up to him.
+
+But her father drew back, and holding out his trembling hands he
+exclaimed: "Go--go away! Do not come near me!"
+
+"Listen to me, papa."
+
+"Do not come near me, wicked, ungrateful child!" repeated the Duke, in a
+quavering voice, but with melodramatic emphasis.
+
+"Yes, leave this house, shameless creature," added the woman, encouraged
+by the old man's attitude. "Dare you show your face here, after treating
+your father so?"
+
+Clementina stood petrified, colourless, staring at them with a look of
+terror rather than anger. For an instant she was on the point of
+fainting away; everything seemed to be whirling round her. But her pride
+enabled her to make a supreme effort; she stood rooted to the spot, and
+incapable of moving, as white as a marble statue. Then she turned on her
+heel slowly, for fear of falling, and reached the stairs, down which she
+went, almost tottering at each step. Her father, spurred by Amparo's
+cries, followed her to the top of the flight, repeating with increasing
+fury:
+
+"Go--go. Leave my house!" And he held up a tremulous hand in theatrical
+menace.
+
+His mistress, meanwhile, poured forth a string of abuse with an
+accompaniment of gestures, sarcastic laughter and gibes, learnt and
+remembered from her early experience.
+
+By the time Clementina had reached the garden, her cheeks were tingling.
+She leaned against the pedestal of one of the lamps for a minute to
+recover herself, and then ran like a mad creature to the gate, where her
+carriage was waiting; she sprang into it and burst into tears. On
+reaching home she was lifted out in a miserable state, and helped up to
+her room by two maids. When Osorio came up, it was only in broken and
+incoherent sentences that she could tell him what had occurred.
+
+She kept her bed for eight or ten days in a state of utter prostration,
+and she rose from it at last so possessed by the desire for revenge,
+that she really seemed to have gone mad.
+
+The lawsuit, under the hot breath of her malice, was fanned to an
+imposing blaze. It was regarded in Madrid as a matter of public
+interest. The opinions of the most distinguished physicians, Spanish and
+foreign, were taken on both sides as to the Duke's mental incapacity. On
+one part he was pronounced an idiot, so hopelessly childish that there
+was nothing to be done with him; on the other it was asserted that he
+was mending steadily, his mind clearer every day, and his intellect a
+marvel of acumen and sound sense. And on one point all the authorities
+concurred--namely, in requiring enormous fees. The press took sides with
+one or the other party. Clementina subsidised one or two papers. Amparo
+had bribed others, for the Duke, as a matter of fact, was incompetent to
+direct the case. And through their columns the two women, more or less
+disguised, contrived to hurl insolence at one another, reviving, in an
+allegorical dress, an extensive selection of scandalous tales.
+
+In this warfare the daughter had the worst chance. She could not be so
+liberal as the mistress, who sowed bank-notes broadcast. On the other
+hand, Clementina had the support of her husband's creditors, and of her
+friend Pepa Frias--who was indefatigable in her visits to the doctors,
+the lawyers, and the newspaper editors--the Condesa de Cotorraso, the
+Marquesa de Alcudia, her brother-in-law, Calderon, General Patino and
+Jimenez Arbos; and, more helpful than all these, as in duty bound, her
+lover _en titre_, Escosura. He, holding a post of high importance, had
+no small influence on the course of the lawsuit.
+
+What a life of excitement, anxiety, and misery! Clementina could not
+eat, she could not sleep. She was always holding conferences with
+lawyers and judges, always writing letters. Even at her parties and
+dinners, nothing else was talked about, till at length the more
+indifferent of her acquaintance rebelled, and ceased to come. To others,
+however, she communicated some of her own flame; they became her ardent
+partisans, and brought or carried reports, volunteered advice, broke out
+in cries of indignation whenever Amparo was even mentioned. And although
+Clementina's haughty temper prevented her being a favourite in Madrid
+society, as she stood forth, after all, as the representative of justice
+and decency, her cause found most supporters. To this her antagonist's
+folly contributed, for she paraded herself and her splendour everywhere,
+with the imbecile and degraded old man.
+
+The Duke was in fact perishing before their eyes. After a stage of
+excitement and violence, when he had behaved like a madman, came a
+period of nervous prostration; by degrees he became almost idiotic. He
+lost his wits so completely that he could not even understand business.
+Everything was left to Llera. This would have been all right, but that
+Amparo would interfere and do all kinds of mischief. She took the
+greatest pains, however, to hide Salabert's condition; on days when he
+was over excitable or incoherent, she kept him in his room. It was only
+when he was calm and rational that she ventured to take him out, and
+then never allowed him to talk to any one. But her efforts were not
+always successful. Salabert went out by himself on various pretences,
+and amply betrayed his deranged condition. On one occasion he was found
+outside the town at four in the morning. Another time he went into a
+jeweller's shop, and after ordering some trinkets he pocketed some
+others, believing he had not been observed. The jeweller had seen it,
+however, but he said nothing, knowing the millionaire. He sent the bill
+in to Amparo, who hastened to pay it, and went in person to beg that the
+matter should not be divulged. In short, before long it was established
+beyond a doubt, in spite of the contending evidence of physicians, that
+the Duke was absolutely _non compos_; and it was said that the lawsuit
+would be decided in that sense.
+
+Two days before the decision was made public, Amparo vanished from the
+Requena palace, after sacking it very completely, and carrying off with
+her many objects of great value. Her savings already amounted to several
+thousand dollars, and in anticipation of disaster she had drawn the
+money out of the Bank of Spain and placed it in foreign securities. She
+was afterwards heard of in France, and a few months later it was
+reported in Madrid that she had married the crazy Marquis.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the very day of Amparo's flight--for it may be called a
+flight--Clementina and her husband took possession of the Requena
+palace. She found her father in a pitiable state of total imbecility. He
+spoke as though they had met but the day before and nothing of any
+importance had occurred, he asked for Amparo, and sometimes mistook his
+daughter for her. The daughter's heart, it must be owned, was not
+severely wrung. This catastrophe by no means satisfied the bitterness
+which possessed her soul when she recalled all the wretchedness she had
+endured. Her vengeance was incomplete, for Amparo was rich and content.
+She longed to prosecute her as a criminal, while Osorio, satisfied with
+the enormous fortune which had dropped into his hands, did not regard
+her thefts as worth a thought.
+
+The Duke de Requena, the famous financier who for twenty years had been
+the wonder and admiration of the banking world in Spain and abroad, the
+man who had been so much discussed by the public and the press, was ere
+long, in his own house--now the Osorio palace--a useless and worthless
+chattel. To avoid comment, or to be more secure as to his condition, or
+perhaps out of some dim fear lest he should recover, the Osorios did not
+send him to a lunatic asylum; they had him cared for at home. Salabert
+was no more than a child. He thought of nothing but his meals. He spoke
+very little, but sat hour after hour, looking at his nails or rubbing
+one hand over the other, now and then uttering some strange,
+inarticulate cry. He was in the charge of an attendant, who, when he was
+tiresome, would fly in a rage and slap him. But the person he held in
+most respect, it may be said in real awe, was his daughter. It was
+enough for Clementina to frown and speak a scolding word; he submitted
+at once. For his son-in-law, on the other hand, he did not care a pin.
+
+When his attendant found him quiet and went to amuse himself for an hour
+with the other servants, the crazy old man would wander about the house,
+more especially to gaze in the mirrors. His principal mania was for
+picking up pieces of bread and storing them in a corner of his room,
+where they lay till they were mouldy. When the pile was too large the
+servants cleared it away in baskets and flung it out on the dust-heap.
+Then when he missed it he was furious, and his keeper had to use strong
+measures to pacify him. One morning, soon after the Osorios'
+breakfast--the old man ate alone in his own room--three or four of the
+servants were together in the great dining-room, cleaning the plate and
+putting it away in the side-board cupboards. They were in high spirits
+and playing games, hitting each other with the long loaves they had
+taken up for sticks, running round the table and laughing loudly. Their
+mistress was upstairs and could not hear them. Suddenly the old imbecile
+appeared on the scene, with the tray on which he was wont to carry off
+the broken pieces as a precious booty to his room. He had on a greasy
+old shooting coat, and his head was bare. And, in spite of its white
+hairs, that head was not venerable; the yellow unshaven cheeks, the
+colourless, loose lips, the stony, expressionless eyes had no trace of
+the beauty of old age, but only the decrepitude of vice, which is always
+repulsive, and the stamp of idiotcy which is always terrible.
+
+Seeing so many persons, he paused a moment, but he made up his mind to
+come in, and went straight to the drawers of the side-board, where he
+began an eager search, picking up every scrap he found there and
+collecting them on the tray. The servants watched him with amusement.
+
+"Hunt away, old fellow!" cried one. "When are you going to ask us to try
+the broth, daddy?"
+
+The old man made no reply, he was much too busy.
+
+"The broth, sir," said another, "you had better ask us to share a ten
+dollar-note."
+
+"I shall not ask you," mumbled the Duke with some irritation, "I shall
+only ask Anselmo."
+
+"Oh yes, we know why you ask Anselmo, it is because he keeps the stick!
+Never fear, if that is all, you shall ask me too."
+
+The others all shouted with laughter, and the youngest, a boy of about
+sixteen, seeing him with his tray filled, and about to depart, slipped
+behind him and, giving him a jerk, upset all the bits, which were
+scattered on the floor. The Duke's rage was terrific, with yells of rage
+he went down on his knees to pick them up again, while the servants
+applauded the joke. As soon as he had collected them all again on his
+tray, and was shuffling off as fast as he could to escape from their
+rough fun, the same fellow again came behind him and snatched it away.
+The madman's frenzy was indescribable; gnashing his teeth and glaring
+with fury, he rushed on the lad, but the others seized him. The poor
+lunatic began to utter cries which were anything rather than human.
+
+At this moment Clementina's voice was heard in high wrath:
+
+"What is the matter? What are you doing to papa?"
+
+The servants let him go, and vanished from the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A PASSION BURNT OUT.
+
+
+Raimundo's love affairs hung only by a thread. In these latter days
+Clementina, entirely absorbed by her triumph and thirst for revenge, had
+hardly given him a thought. They still met frequently, for the young man
+did not cease to visit her, but their love-passages were fewer every
+day. If he timidly complained of her neglect, the lady excused herself
+on the score of Escosura's jealousy. It was in vain that she had tried
+to persuade him that she was "off with the old love." "And you see," she
+said "if he finds out that I have deceived him, he will have good cause
+for a furious scene."
+
+Raimundo was so utterly lost that he admitted, or feigned to admit, this
+reasoning as valid. Through this abject humiliation he still contrived
+to be happy in the illusion that his idol preferred him, loved him best
+at the bottom of her heart, that she only flirted with the Minister for
+the sake of her lawsuit. Clementina fostered this belief by sending him
+from time to time, when she could forget her vexations, a few lines
+appointing a meeting, "to-day at four," or "this afternoon in our
+rooms." And at these interviews she would make him as happy as of old by
+swearing eternal fidelity.
+
+But all joys are brief in this world; Raimundo's were brief indeed. The
+very next day, after some such meeting, he would find his mistress as
+cold as marble, disdainful of him, and, what was worse, absorbed in
+conversation with Escosura, in a recess of the drawing-room. He had
+innocently believed that the end of the lawsuit would restore his
+happiness, that Clementina, no longer needing the great man's help,
+would again be wholly his. But his hopes were blown to the winds like
+smoke. The lawsuit was decided in her favour, but far from dismissing
+her official cavalier, she showed him greater respect and affection.
+
+One morning, two months after the close of the business, he received a
+note from Clementina, saying:
+
+"Meet me at two this afternoon."
+
+His heart leaped for joy. It was more than a fortnight since Clementina
+had given him rendezvous at their little _entresol_. By one o'clock he
+was there to wait for her, and as soon as he saw her from afar he ran to
+open the door with as much agitation as though she had been a queen, and
+far more tender devotion. She seemed grateful and affectionate, and
+accepted his passionate caresses with gracious kindness.
+
+But after they had chatted for about an hour, as they sat side by side
+on the sofa, she looked at him with a slow, compassionate gaze, and
+said:
+
+"Do you know, Mundo, that this is the last time we shall ever sit here
+alone together?"
+
+The youth looked at her in speechless amazement; he did not, he would
+not, understand.
+
+"Yes, I cannot keep up this mystery any longer. Escosura is very
+indignant, and with reason. Besides, I am ashamed--it is horrible of me.
+And, after all, you have nothing to complain of. I have always been nice
+to you. If I ever loved a man truly, it was you, and the proof of it is
+that it has lasted so long. But nothing in this world can last for ever,
+and as matters stand we had better part. You see, Mundo, I am growing
+old--you are but a boy. If I did not break with you, sooner or later you
+would throw me over. Such is life. Though you still think me handsome,
+these are but the last remains of beauty. I must bid farewell to all the
+follies we have indulged in together, but I shall always look back on
+them with pleasure. I swear to you that you will always symbolise to me
+the happiest period of my life. So now, henceforth, we will still be
+good friends. It will always be a satisfaction to me to be able to serve
+you, for I owe you many hours of happiness."
+
+The young man listened to this cruel speech, motionless and stricken.
+His face was perfectly colourless.
+
+"Do you mean it?" he said at last, in a husky voice.
+
+"Yes, my dear boy, yes. I mean it," she replied, with the same sad,
+patronising smile.
+
+"It is impossible! It cannot be!" he exclaimed vehemently, and starting
+to his feet he looked down on her with a mixture of horror and
+indignation.
+
+This expression in his eyes roused her pride.
+
+"But you will see that it can be!" she retorted with a touch of irony
+which was the height of cruelty.
+
+He stood frozen for a moment, gazing at her with intense anguish, then
+he fell on his knees at her feet, with clasped hand, imploring her:
+
+"For God's sake, do not kill me! Do not kill me!"
+
+Clementina's face softened, and her voice broke a little.
+
+"Come, Mundo," said she, "do not be a baby. Get up. This had to come.
+You will find other women far more worthy than I."
+
+But the young man held her knees clasped, kissing them in a frenzy of
+grief, his whole frame shaken by sobs.
+
+"This is horrible, horrible, horrible!" he kept saying. "Oh! what have I
+done that you should kill me with misery?"
+
+"Come, come," she said, gently stroking his hair. "Get up, be
+reasonable. Do you not see that this is ridiculous?"
+
+"What do I care?" he cried, his face hidden in her silk skirts. "For you
+I would be ridiculous in the eyes of the whole world."
+
+Clementina tried to soothe him, but without any emotion or pity. There
+is no wild beast more cruel than a woman whose love is satiated. She let
+his grief have its way for a while, and when he grew calmer she rose.
+
+"I am grateful to you for all this feeling, Mundo. I, too, have gone
+through a terrible struggle before I could make up my mind to part."
+
+"It is false!" cried Raimundo, still kneeling, with his elbows on the
+sofa. "If you still loved me, you could not be so cruel, so base."
+
+Clementina stood silent for a minute, looking at his shoulders in great
+irritation. At last, touched by pity, she said:
+
+"I forgive you the insult in consideration of the agitation you are in.
+Though you may abuse me you will still be able to think of me with
+affection; and even when you have quite forgotten me, the memory of your
+face and the happy hours we have passed together will remain engraved on
+my heart. But now we must come to an explanation," she added, in a
+sterner tone. "Let us be worthy of each other, Raimundo. You must,
+please, take a hackney coach to your house and bring me back every line
+I ever wrote to you, that we may burn them. I have none of yours; you
+know I always destroyed them immediately."
+
+Raimundo did not stir. After waiting a few moments she went up behind
+him, leaned over him, and laid her hands on his cheeks, saying kindly:
+
+"Foolish boy! Am I the only woman in the world?"
+
+He thrilled at the touch of those soft hands, and, turning suddenly,
+seized them and covered them with kisses, pressed them to his heart,
+laid them on his brow.
+
+"Yes, Clementina, the only woman; or, if there are others, I do not know
+them--I do not want to know them. But is it true? Is it true that you do
+not love me?"
+
+And his tearful eyes looked up at her with such an expression of woe
+that she could not but lie.
+
+"I never said I did not love you, but only that we can meet no
+more--like this."
+
+"It is the same thing."
+
+"No, it is not the same thing, foolish boy. I may love you, and yet, in
+consequence of special circumstances, I may not be able--we cannot have
+everything we wish for in this world." And she wandered into incoherent
+argument and specious reasoning, which she knew was false, and could not
+utter without hesitancy; the same commonplaces, repeated in different
+words, trying to give them the weight they lacked by emphasis and
+gesticulation.
+
+But Raimundo was not listening. In a few minutes he rose, dried away his
+tears, and left the room without a word. Clementina watched him in
+surprise.
+
+"I will wait for you," she called after him into the passage.
+
+Twenty minutes later he returned, carrying a parcel.
+
+"Here are your letters," he said with apparent calm, but his voice was
+thick and his face deadly pale.
+
+Clementina glanced at him keenly, not without some uneasiness. But she
+controlled herself, and said simply:
+
+"Thank you very much, Mundo. Now, we will burn them, if you please, in
+the kitchen."
+
+He made no reply. They went together to the cold, unfurnished kitchen,
+which no one ever used, and Clementina, with her own hand, laid the
+packet on the hearth. But suddenly, just as she was about to strike the
+match which Raimundo had given her, she paused. Then she said, with a
+smile:
+
+"Do you know that this is dreadfully prosaic? To burn my love-letters on
+a kitchen hearth! It seems to me that they might have a more romantic
+end. Shall we go and burn them in the fields? That will give us a last
+walk together and a fitter parting."
+
+"As you please," he said, in a scarcely audible voice.
+
+"Very well. Fetch a carriage."
+
+"I kept one."
+
+"Then come."
+
+Raimundo took up the packet of letters, and together they quitted the
+room whither they were never to return.
+
+The hackney-coach carried them along the road to the eastward. It was an
+afternoon in Spring, misty and fresh. Clementina had closed the blinds
+for fear of being seen; but when they were outside the Alcala gate she
+asked Raimundo to let them down. Unluckily the moment was inopportune,
+for at that very moment they met an open carriage, in which sat Pepe
+Castro with Esperancita Calderon, now his wife. She had barely time to
+lean back in the corner and cover her face with her hand, and even so
+was not sure that they had not recognised her.
+
+Raimundo, by a great effort, had recovered some self-control, but not
+completely. Clementina did all she could to divert his mind, talking to
+him, like a friend, of indifferent matters, of their acquaintances, and
+taking it for granted that he would continue to visit at her house. When
+Castro and his wife had gone past she discussed them with much
+animation.
+
+"You see, I was right, Mundo. They have not been married three months,
+and Pepe and his father-in-law are squabbling over money matters. No one
+knows Calderon better than I. If he does not die before long, the poor
+children will be dreadfully hard up, for they will never get any money
+out of him."
+
+Raimundo replied to her remarks, affecting a calm demeanour, but there
+was a peculiar accent in his voice which the lady could not help
+noticing. It seemed foggy, as though it had passed through many tears.
+
+At last, in a very deserted spot, they bid the driver stop, and got out.
+
+"Wait for us here; we are going for a little walk," Raimundo explained.
+
+But then observing a doubtful glance in the man's eyes, he turned back
+when he had gone a few steps, and taking out a five-dollar note he
+handed it to him saying:
+
+"You can give me the change presently."
+
+They turned off from the high road and wandered away over the dreary
+deserted fields which stretch away to the east of Madrid. The ground is
+slightly undulating, but burnt and barren, cutting the horizon with a
+long level line--not a house, not a tree was in sight. Clementina's
+dainty shoes sank in the dust as they walked on in silence. Raimundo had
+no spirit to talk, and she, too, was oppressed by the sadness of the
+little drama, to which that of the landscape contributed; she had enough
+good feeling not to speak a word. Now and then she looked back to assure
+herself whether they could still be seen from the high road. When she
+thought they had gone far enough she stopped.
+
+"Why should we go any further?" she said. "Will not this place do?"
+
+Raimundo also stopped, but made no answer. He dropped the parcel on the
+ground and looked away--far away to the horizon. Clementina untied it,
+looked with some curiosity at her letters, all carefully preserved in
+the envelopes; then she made a little heap of them, and after waiting a
+minute or two for Raimundo to look round, finding that he did not move,
+she said:
+
+"Give me a match."
+
+The young man obeyed, and gave it her lighted, in perfect silence. Then
+he looked away again while Clementina set fire to the papers, and
+watched them burn one by one. The process took some minutes, and she had
+to turn the blazing fragments with her gloved hands to prevent their
+remaining half-burnt. Now and then she cast a half uneasy, half pitying
+glance at her lover, who stood as motionless and absorbed as a sailor
+studying the signs of the weather.
+
+When nothing remained but black ashes, Clementina rose from her stooping
+posture, waited a moment, not liking to intrude on Raimundo's deep
+abstraction, and at last, with a cloud of tender pathos on her beautiful
+face, hastily looked about her, went up to him, and laying her arm on
+his shoulder, said in a fond tone:
+
+"And now that we are alone for the last time, shall we not bid each
+other a loving farewell?"
+
+"How ought we to part?" he replied, looking at her and making a great
+effort to smile.
+
+"So!" she exclaimed, and she threw her arms round his neck, and covered
+his face with passionate kisses.
+
+Raimundo stood rigid. He let her kiss him many times, like an inert
+creature, and then his knees failed, and with a heartrending cry:
+
+"Oh Clementina, this is death!" he fell senseless on the ground.
+
+She was terribly frightened. There was no one to help; no water near.
+She raised his head, resting it on her lap, fanned him with her hat, and
+held a scent-bottle she had with her under his nose. He presently opened
+his eyes, and could soon stand up. He was ashamed of his weakness.
+Clementina was most affectionate and helpful. As soon as she saw that he
+was in a state to walk, she took his arm and said:
+
+"Let us go."
+
+And she tried to amuse him by talking of a little dance she meant to
+give, to which she urgently pressed him to come; he was on no account to
+fail her.
+
+"And on Saturdays, as usual, you know. You are to be sure not to desert
+me. In my house you will always be what you have been--my friend; and in
+my heart, so long as I live, you will fill the dearest place."
+
+Raimundo's only answer was a forced smile.
+
+Thus they made their way back to the spot where they had left the coach.
+As they drove back, still she talked, while he, as they got nearer to
+the town, turned even paler than before; nor could he even smile.
+
+Seeing him thus, with despair in every feature, Clementina at last
+ceased talking so lightly, and, moved with pity, she again kissed him
+tenderly. But he shrank from her touch; he gently pushed her away,
+saying:
+
+"Leave me alone--leave me. You only hurt me more."
+
+Two tears rose to his eyes and remained there without falling. At last
+they dried away, or returned to the hidden fount whence they had sprung.
+
+They reached the Alcala gate once more. Clementina bid the driver stop
+at the corner of the Calle de Serrano:
+
+"You had better get out here. You are close to your own house."
+
+Raimundo, speechless, opened the door.
+
+"Till Saturday, Mundo. Do not fail me. You know I shall look for you."
+And she grasped his hand tightly.
+
+He, without looking at her, merely said:
+
+"Good-bye."
+
+He sprang out. The lady saw him walk up the street, staggering like a
+drunken man, and he did not once look round.
+
+THE END.
+
+PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. LONDON AND EDINBURGH
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Heinemann's International Library.
+
+
+EDITOR'S NOTE.
+
+There is nothing in which the Anglo-Saxon world differs more from the
+world of the Continent of Europe than in its fiction. English readers
+are accustomed to satisfy their curiosity with English novels, and it is
+rarely indeed that we turn aside to learn something of the interior life
+of those other countries the exterior scenery of which is often so
+familiar to us. We climb the Alps, but are content to know nothing of
+the pastoral romances of Switzerland. We steam in and out of the
+picturesque fjords of Norway, but never guess what deep speculation into
+life and morals is made by the novelists of that sparsely peopled but
+richly endowed nation. We stroll across the courts of the Alhambra, we
+are listlessly rowed upon Venetian canals and Lombard lakes, we hasten
+by night through the roaring factories of Belgium; but we never pause to
+inquire whether there is now flourishing a Spanish, an Italian, a
+Flemish school of fiction. Of Russian novels we have lately been taught
+to become partly aware, but we do not ask ourselves whether Poland may
+not possess a Dostoieffsky and Portugal a Tolstoi.
+
+Yet, as a matter of fact, there is no European country that has not,
+within the last half-century, felt the dew of revival on the
+threshing-floor of its worn-out schools of romance. Everywhere there has
+been shown by young men, endowed with a talent for narrative, a vigorous
+determination to devote themselves to a vivid and sympathetic
+interpretation of nature and of man. In almost every language, too, this
+movement has tended to display itself more and more in the direction of
+what is reported and less of what is created. Fancy has seemed to these
+young novelists a poorer thing than observation; the world of dreams
+fainter than the world of men. They have not been occupied mainly with
+what might be or what should be, but with what is, and, in spite of all
+their shortcomings, they have combined to produce a series of pictures
+of existing society in each of their several countries such as cannot
+fail to form an archive of documents invaluable to futurity.
+
+But to us they should be still more valuable. To travel in a foreign
+country is but to touch its surface. Under the guidance of a novelist of
+genius we penetrate to the secrets of a nation, and talk the very
+language of its citizens. We may go to Normandy summer after summer and
+know less of the manner of life that proceeds under those gnarled
+orchards of apple-blossom than we learn from one tale of Guy de
+Maupassant's. The present series is intended to be a guide to the inner
+geography of Europe. It offers to our readers a series of spiritual
+Baedekers and Murrays. It will endeavour to keep pace with every truly
+characteristic and vigorous expression of the novelist's art in each of
+the principal European countries, presenting what is quite new if it is
+also good, side by side with what is old, if it has not hitherto been
+presented to our public. That will be selected which gives with most
+freshness and variety the different aspects of continental feeling, the
+only limits of selection being that a book shall be, on the one hand,
+amusing, and, on the other, wholesome.
+
+One difficulty which must be frankly faced is that of subject. Life is
+now treated in fiction by every race but our own with singular candour.
+The novelists of the Lutheran North are not more fully emancipated from
+prejudice in this respect than the novelists of the Catholic South.
+Everywhere in Europe a novel is looked upon now as an impersonal work,
+from which the writer, as a mere observer, stands aloof, neither blaming
+nor applauding. Continental fiction has learned to exclude, in the main,
+from among the subjects of its attention, all but those facts which are
+of common experience, and thus the novelists have determined to disdain
+nothing and to repudiate nothing which is common to humanity; much is
+freely discussed, even in the novels of Holland and of Denmark, which
+our race is apt to treat with a much more gingerly discretion. It is not
+difficult, however, we believe--it is certainly not impossible--to
+discard all which may justly give offence, and yet to offer to an
+English public as many of the masterpieces of European fiction as we can
+ever hope to see included in this library. It will be the endeavour of
+the editor to search on all hands and in all languages for such books as
+combine the greatest literary value with the most curious and amusing
+qualities of manner and matter.
+
+EDMUND GOSSE.
+
+
+Recent Publications.
+
+=A MARKED MAN=. Some Episodes in his Life.
+  By ADA CAMBRIDGE, Author of "Two Years' Time,"
+  "A Mere Chance," &c. &c. In Three Volumes. Crown
+  8vo, 31s. 6d.
+
+=IN THE VALLEY=: A Novel. By HAROLD
+  FREDERIC, Author of "The Lawton Girl," "Seth's
+  Brother's Wife," &c. &c. In Three Volumes. Crown 8vo.
+
+=THE BONDMAN=: A New Saga. By HALL CAINE.
+  Author of "The Deemster." In One Volume. Fourth
+  Edition. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.
+
+=HAUNTINGS=: Fantastic Stories. By VERNON LEE,
+  Author of "Baldwin," "Miss Brown," &c. &c. In One
+  Volume. Crown 8vo, 6s.
+
+CONTENTS:--Amour Dure--Dionea: in the Country of Venus--Oke of
+  Okehurst: A Phantom Lover--A Wicked Voice.
+
+=A VERY STRANGE FAMILY=: A Novel. By
+  F. W. ROBINSON, Author of "Grandmother's Money,"
+  "Lazarus in London," &c. &c. In One Volume. Second
+  Edition. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.
+
+=THE LABOUR MOVEMENT IN AMERICA=. By
+  RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy,
+  Johns Hopkins University. In One Volume. Crown 8vo, 5s.
+
+=IDLE MUSINGS=: Essays in Social Mosaic. By
+  E. CONDER GRAY, Author of "Wise Words and Loving
+  Deeds," &c. &c. In One Volume. Crown 8vo, 6s.
+
+=THE GARDEN'S STORY=; or, Pleasures and Trials
+  of an Amateur Gardener. By G. H. ELLWANGER. With
+  an Introduction by the Rev. C. WOLLEY DOD. One
+  Volume. Fcap. 8vo, Illustrated, 5s.
+
+=THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES=.
+  By J. M'NEIL WHISTLER. Fourth Thousand. In One
+  Volume, pott 4to, 10s. 6d. Also, 150 Copies on Hand-made
+  Paper, Numbered and Signed by the Author, L2 2s.
+
+=THE PASSION PLAY AT OBERAMMERGAU=,
+  1890. By F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., Archdeacon and
+  Canon of Westminster. Third Thousand. In One Volume,
+  4to, cloth, 2s. 6d.
+
+=THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS=: A Novel.
+  By ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS and HERBERT D. WARD.
+  One Volume. Imperial 16mo, 7s. 6d.
+
+=COME FORTH!= A Story of the Time of Christ.
+  By ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS and HERBERT D. WARD.
+  One Volume. Imperial 16mo, 7s. 6d.
+
+=THE MOMENT AFTER=: A Tale of the Unseen.
+  By ROBERT BUCHANAN. In One Volume. Crown 8vo,
+  10s. 6d.
+
+=THE DOMINANT SEVENTH=: A Musical Story.
+  By KATE ELIZABETH CLARK. In One Volume. Crown
+  8vo, 5s.
+
+=THE CHIEF JUSTICE=. By EMIL FRANZOS.
+  Translated from the German by Miles Corbet. In One
+  Volume. Crown 8vo. _Heinemann's International Library_.
+  3s. 6d. cloth, 2s. 6d. paper.
+
+=FANTASY=. By MATILDE SERAO. Translated from
+  the Italian by HENRY HARLAND and PAUL SYLVESTER.
+  In One Volume. Crown 8vo. _Heinemann's International
+  Library_.
+
+=PASSION, THE PLAYTHING=: A Novel. By
+  R. MURRAY GILCHRIST. In One Volume. Crown
+  8vo, 6s.
+
+
+HEINEMANN'S Scientific Handbooks.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A knowledge of the practical Sciences has now become a necessity to
+every educated man. The demands of life are so manifold, however, that
+of many things one can acquire but a general and superficial knowledge.
+Ahn and Ollendorff have been an easy road to languages for many a
+struggling student; Hume and Green have taught us history; but little
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+what wonderful physical properties the various gases possess; and to
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+know more of the practical application and the working of that almost
+unfathomable mystery--electricity? Should we not know how the relations
+of the Poles to the magnet-needle are tested; how we can ascertain by
+special analysis what produce will grow in particular soils, and what
+will not, and what artificial means can be used to improve the produce?
+
+In this Series of "Scientific Handbooks" these and kindred subjects will
+be dealt with, and so dealt with as to be intelligible to all who seek
+knowledge--to all who take an interest in the scientific problems and
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+is intended to give in a compact form, and in an attractive style, the
+progress made in the various departments of Science, to explain novel
+processes and methods, and to show how so many wonderful results have
+been obtained. The treatment of each subject by thoroughly competent
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+not intended for technical students _alone_. Being written in a popular
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+of readers who, not being professional men, are yet in sympathy with the
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+
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+pursue his studies with greater facility and clearer comprehension in
+larger manuals and special treatises.
+
+The first volume will be a Manual on the Art of Assaying Precious
+Metals, and will be found valuable not only to the amateur, but to the
+assayer, metallurgist, chemist, and miner. The work will be a desirable
+addition to the libraries of Mining Companies, engineers, bankers, and
+bullion brokers, as well as to experts in the Art of Assaying.
+
+The second volume of the Series is written by Professor Kimball, and
+deals with the physical properties of Gases. He has taken into account
+all the most recent works on "the third state of matter," including
+Crooke's recent researches on "radiant matter." There is a chapter also
+on Avogadro's law and the Kinetic theory, which chemical as well as
+physical students will read with interest.
+
+In the third volume Dr. Thurston treats, in a popular way, on "Heat as a
+Form of Energy"; and his book will be found a capital introduction to
+the more exhaustive works of Maxwell, Carnot, Tyndall, and others.
+
+On account of the requirements of the subject, a large number of
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+will also be fully illustrated wherever the subject is susceptible of
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+
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+
+
+Heinemann's Scientific Handbooks.
+
+
+I.
+
+     MANUAL of ASSAYING GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, AND LEAD ORES. By WALTER
+     LEE BROWN, B.Sc. Revised, corrected, and considerably enlarged,
+     with a chapter on THE ASSAYING OF FUEL, &c., by A. B. GRIFFITHS,
+     Ph.D., F.R.S. (Edin.), F.C.S. In One Volume, small crown 8vo.
+     Illustrated, 7s. 6d.
+
+_Colliery Guardian._--"A delightful and fascinating book."
+
+_Financial World._--"The most complete and practical manual on
+everything which concerns assaying of all which have come before us."
+
+_North British Economist._--"With this book the amateur may become an
+expert. Bankers and Bullion Brokers are equally likely to find it
+useful."
+
+
+II.
+
+     THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF GASES. By ARTHUR L. KIMBALL, of the
+     Johns Hopkins University. In One Volume, small crown 8vo.
+     Illustrated, 5s.
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+    Introduction.
+    Pressure and Buoyancy.
+    Elasticity and Expansion with heat.
+    Gases and Vapours.
+    Air-Pumps and High Vacua.
+    Diffusion and Occlusion.
+    Thermodynamics of Gases.
+    Avogadro's Law and the Kinetic
+    Theory.
+    Geissler Tubes and Radiant Matter.
+    Conclusion.
+
+_Chemical News._--"The man of culture who wishes for a general and
+accurate acquaintance with the physical properties of gases, will find
+in Mr. Kimball's work just what he requires."
+
+_Iron._--"We can highly recommend this little book."
+
+_Manchester Guardian._--"Mr. Kimball has the too rare merit of
+describing first the facts, and then the hypotheses invented to limn
+them together."
+
+
+III.
+
+HEAT AS A FORM OF ENERGY. By Professor R. H. THURSTON, of Cornell
+University. In One Volume, small crown 8vo. Illustrated, 5s.
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+    The Philosophers' Ideas of Heat.
+    The Science of Thermodynamics.
+    Heat Transfer and the World's
+    Industries.
+    Air and Gas Engines, their Work and
+    their Promise.
+    The Development of the Steam
+    Engine.
+    Summary and Conclusion.
+
+
+OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION.
+
+LONDON: WM. HEINEMANN, 21, BEDFORD STREET, W.C.
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+London: WM. HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford Street, W.C.
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+    Nineteenth Thousand.
+
+    CAPT'N DAVY'S HONEYMOON. By
+    HALL CAINE. Sixth Thousand.
+
+    ORIOLE'S DAUGHTER. By JESSIE
+    FOTHERGILL.
+
+    KITTY'S FATHER. By FRANK BARRETT,
+    Author of "The Smuggler's
+    Secret," &c.
+
+    A KNIGHT OF THE WHITE
+    FEATHER. By TASMA.
+
+    UNCLE PIPER OF PIPER'S HILL.
+    By TASMA.
+
+    THE HEAD OF THE FIRM. By Mrs.
+    RIDDELL, Author of "George Geith."
+
+    ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. By
+    AMELIA RIVES, Author of "The Quick
+    or the Dead."
+
+    THE COPPERHEAD. By HAROLD
+    FREDERIC.
+
+    THE RETURN OF THE O'MAHONY.
+    By HAROLD FREDERIC. Illustrated.
+
+    IN THE VALLEY. By HAROLD FREDERIC,
+    Author of "Seth's Brother's
+    Wife," &c. With Illustrations.
+
+    THE STORY OF A PENITENT SOUL.
+    By ADELINE SERGEANT, Author of
+    "No Saint," &c.
+
+    PRETTY MISS SMITH. By FLORENCE
+    WARDEN, Author of "The
+    House on the Marsh," &c.
+
+    NOR WIFE--NOR MAID. By Mrs.
+    HUNGERFORD, Author of "Molly
+    Bawn," &c.
+
+    MAMMON. By Mrs. ALEXANDER,
+    Author of "The Wooing O't," &c.
+
+    DESPERATE REMEDIES. By
+    THOMAS HARDY, Author of "Tess of
+    the D'Urbervilles," &c.
+
+    WOMAN--THROUGH A MAN'S
+    EYEGLASS. By MALCOM C. SALAMAN.
+    With Illustrations by DUDLEY
+    HARDY. 3s. 6d.
+
+    MR. PUNCH'S POCKET IBSEN:
+    By F. ANSTEY. With Illustrations
+    by BERNARD PARTRIDGE. 3s. 6d.
+
+    MR. BAILEY-MARTIN. By PERCY
+    WHITE.
+
+    A QUESTION OF TASTE. By
+    MAARTEN MAARTENS. New Edition.
+
+    A LITTLE MINX. By ADA CAMBRIDGE.
+
+    A MARKED MAN: Some Episodes in
+    his Life. By ADA CAMBRIDGE.
+
+    THE THREE MISS KINGS. By ADA
+    CAMBRIDGE. Seventh Thousand.
+
+    NOT ALL IN VAIN. By ADA CAMBRIDGE.
+    Fifth Thousand.
+
+    DAUGHTERS OF MEN. By HANNAH
+    LYNCH, Author of "The Prince of the
+    Glades," &c.
+
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+    By BERTRAM MITFORD,
+    Author of "Through the Zulu Country,"
+    &c.
+
+    'TWEEN SNOW AND FIRE. A Tale
+    of the Kafir War of 1877. By BERTRAM
+    MITFORD.
+
+    DONALD MARCY. By ELIZABETH
+    STUART PHELPS, Author of "The
+    Gates Ajar," &c.
+
+    THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS.
+    By ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS and
+    HERBERT D. WARD.
+
+    THE AVERAGE WOMAN. By WOLCOTT
+    BALESTIER. With an Introduction
+    by HENRY JAMES.
+
+    THE ATTACK ON THE MILL, and
+    other Sketches of War. By EMILE
+    ZOLA. With an Essay on the short stories
+    of M. Zola, by Edmund Gosse.
+
+    WRECKAGE: Seven Studies. By
+    HUBERT CRACKANTHORPE.
+
+    MADEMOISELLE MISS, and other
+    Stories. By HENRY HARLAND,
+    Author of "Mea Culpa," &c.
+
+    FROM WISDOM COURT. By HENRY
+    SETON MERRIMAN and STEPHEN
+    GRAHAM TALLENTYRE. With 30 Illustrations
+    by E. COURBOIN. 3s. 6d.
+
+    THE OLD MAIDS' CLUB. By I.
+    ZANGWILL, Author of "The Bachelor's
+    Club." With Illustrations by F. H.
+    TOWNSEND. 3s. 6d.
+
+London: WM. HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford Street, W.C.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext
+transcriber:
+
+with s look of proud disdain=>with a look of proud disdain
+
+he passed for an accompished soldier=>he passed for an accomplished
+soldier
+
+same!" exclamed Cobo=>same!" exclaimed Cobo
+
+to see the prudish marquesa.=>to see the prudish Marquesa.
+
+knowlege of human nature=>knowledge of human nature
+
+saying with determined forboding=>saying with determined foreboding
+
+Like some other who were to be seen at the club every day=>Like some
+others who were to be seen at the club every day
+
+when she illtreats me=>when she ill-treats me
+
+Baro nwas=>Baron was
+
+Pepe Frias announced to the servant behind her=>Pepa Frias announced to
+the servant behind her
+
+Hand your's over to Pepe=>Hand yours over to Pepe
+
+very place occupied shortly before y=>very place occupied shortly before
+by
+
+"Antonio," he said, "We have come to quarrel with you very
+seriously."=>"Antonio," he said, "we have come to quarrel with you very
+seriously."
+
+the foremost place in you affections=>the foremost place in your
+affections
+
+borethe taint=>bore the taint
+
+"Becaue I will not allow it;=>"Because I will not allow it;
+
+he was by nature cheerful, warm-heated, and absent-minded=>he was by
+nature cheerful, warm-hearted, and absent-minded
+
+never stired an inch further=>never stirred an inch further
+
+exclamed Salabert in a triumphant=>exclaimed Salabert in a triumphant
+
+stand as canditate for Navalperal=>stand as candidate for Navalperal
+
+rejoicing ever the prospect of so many millions=>rejoicing over the
+prospect of so many millions
+
+indignant at these base inuendoes=>indignant at these base innuendoes
+
+On seeing her daugher the Duchess turned=>On seeing her daughter the
+Duchess turned
+
+greetings and and smiles=>greetings and smiles
+
+he said in in a lazy tone=>he said in a lazy tone
+
+but she repelled him with with=>but she repelled him with
+
+who do all the the real work=>who do all the real work
+
+far above her ancles=>far above her ankles
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] About L400.
+
+[B] Above 19,000,000 of dollars; about L4,000,000 sterling.
+
+[C] About L600.
+
+[D] About L80.
+
+[E] In the Roman Catholic Church.
+
+[F] From 10d. to 1s. 3d.
+
+[G] 1s. 7d.; its purchasing value is probably at least half as much
+again.
+
+[H] About L1100.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Froth, by Armando Palacio Valdes
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROTH ***
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