DONA PERFECTA

by B. PEREZ GALDOS

Translated from the Spanish by Mary J. Serrano

INTRODUCTION

The very acute and lively Spanish critic who signs himself Clarin, andis known personally as Don Leopoldo Alas, says the present Spanish novelhas no yesterday, but only a day-before-yesterday. It does not derivefrom the romantic novel which immediately preceded that: the novel, large or little, as it was with Cervantes, Hurtado de Mendoza, Quevedo, and the masters of picaresque fiction. 

Clarin dates its renascence from the political revolution of 1868, which gave Spanish literature the freedom necessary to the fiction thatstudies to reflect modern life, actual ideas, and current aspirations;and though its authors were few at first, "they have never beenadventurous spirits, friends of Utopia, revolutionists, or impatientprogressists and reformers. " He thinks that the most daring, the mostadvanced, of the new Spanish novelists, and the best by far, is DonBenito Perez Galdos. 

I should myself have made my little exception in favor of Don ArmandoPalacio Valdes, but Clarin speaks with infinitely more authority, and Iam certainly ready to submit when he goes on to say that Galdos is nota social or literary insurgent; that he has no political or religiousprejudices; that he shuns extremes, and is charmed with prudence;that his novels do not attack the Catholic dogmas--though they deal soseverely with Catholic bigotry--but the customs and ideas cherishedby secular fanaticism to the injury of the Church. Because this isso evident, our critic holds, his novels are "found in the bosom offamilies in every corner of Spain. " Their popularity among all classesin Catholic and prejudiced Spain, and not among free-thinking studentsmerely, bears testimony to the fact that his aim and motive areunderstood and appreciated, although his stories are apparently so oftenanti-Catholic. 

I

Dona Perfecta is, first of all, a story, and a great story, but it iscertainly also a story that must appear at times potently, and evenbitterly, anti-Catholic. Yet it would be a pity and an error to read itwith the preoccupation that it was an anti-Catholic tract, for really itis not that. If the persons were changed in name and place, andmodified in passion to fit a cooler air, it might equally seem ananti-Presbyterian or anti-Baptist tract; for what it shows in the lightof their own hatefulness and cruelty are perversions of any religion, any creed. It is not, however, a tract at all; it deals in artisticlargeness with the passion of bigotry, as it deals with the passion oflove, the passion of ambition, the passion of revenge. But Galdosis Spanish and Catholic, and for him the bigotry wears a Spanish andCatholic face. That is all. 

Up to a certain time, I believe, Galdos wrote romantic or idealisticnovels, and one of these I have read, and it tired me very much. It wascalled "Marianela, " and it surprised me the more because I was alreadyacquainted with his later work, which is all realistic. But one does notturn realist in a single night, and although the change in Galdos wasrapid it was not quite a lightning change; perhaps because it wasnot merely an outward change, but artistically a change of heart. Hisacceptance in his quality of realist was much more instant than hisconversion, and vastly wider; for we are told by the critic whom I havebeen quoting that Galdos's earlier efforts, which he called _EpisodiosNacionales_, never had the vogue which his realistic novels haveenjoyed. 

These were, indeed, tendencious, if I may Anglicize a very necessaryword from the Spanish _tendencioso_. That is, they dealt with veryobvious problems, and had very distinct and poignant significations, at least in the case of "Dona Perfecta, " "Leon Roch, " and "Gloria. " Instill later novels, Emilia Pardo-Bazan thinks, he has comprehended that"the novel of to-day must take note of the ambient truth, and realizethe beautiful with freedom and independence. " This valiant lady, inthe campaign for realism which she made under the title of "La CuestionPalpitante"--one of the best and strongest books on the subject--countshim first among Spanish realists, as Clarin counts him first amongSpanish novelists. "With a certain fundamental humanity, " she says, "a certain magisterial simplicity in his creations, with the naturaltendency of his clear intelligence toward the truth, and with thefrankness of his observation, the great novelist was always disposedto pass over to realism with arms and munitions; but his aestheticinclinations were idealistic, and only in his latest works has headopted the method of the modern novel, fathomed more and more the humanheart, and broken once for all with the picturesque and with the typicalpersonages, to embrace the earth we tread. "

For her, as I confess for me, "Dona Perfecta" is not realisticenough--realistic as it is; for realism at its best is not tendencious. It does not seek to grapple with human problems, but is richly contentwith portraying human experiences; and I think Senora Pardo-Bazan isright in regarding "Dona Perfecta" as transitional, and of a period whenthe author had not yet assimilated in its fullest meaning the faith hehad imbibed. 

II

Yet it is a great novel, as I said; and perhaps because it istransitional it will please the greater number who never really arriveanywhere, and who like to find themselves in good company _en route_. Itis so far like life that it is full of significations which pass beyondthe persons and actions involved, and envelop the reader, as if he toowere a character of the book, or rather as if its persons were menand women of this thinking, feeling, and breathing world, and he mustrecognize their experiences as veritable facts. From the first momentto the last it is like some passage of actual events in which you cannotwithhold your compassion, your abhorrence, your admiration, any morethan if they took place within your personal knowledge. Where theytranscend all facts of your personal knowledge, you do not accuse themof improbability, for you feel their potentiality in yourself, andeasily account for them in the alien circumstance. I am not saying thatthe story has no faults; it has several. There are tags of romanticismfluttering about it here and there; and at times the author permitshimself certain old-fashioned literary airs and poses and artifices, which you simply wonder at. It is in spite of these, and with all thesedefects, that it is so great and beautiful a book. 

III

What seems to be so very admirable in the management of the story is theauthor's success in keeping his own counsel. This may seem a veryeasy thing; but, if the reader will think over the novelists of hisacquaintance, he will find that it is at least very uncommon. Theymostly give themselves away almost from the beginning, either by theiranxiety to hide what is coming, or their vanity in hinting what greatthings they have in store for the reader. Galdos does neither the onenor the other. He makes it his business to tell the story as it grows;to let the characters unfold themselves in speech and action; to permitthe events to happen unheralded. He does not prophesy their course, hedoes not forecast the weather even for twenty-four hours; the atmospherebecomes slowly, slowly, but with occasional lifts and reliefs, of such abrooding breathlessness, of such a deepening density, that you feel thewild passion-storm nearer and nearer at hand, till it bursts at last;and then you are astonished that you had not foreseen it yourself fromthe first moment. 

Next to this excellent method, which I count the supreme characteristicof the book merely because it represents the whole, and the otherfacts are in the nature of parts, is the masterly conception of thecharacters. They are each typical of a certain side of human nature, as most of our personal friends and enemies are; but not exclusively ofthis side or that. They are each of mixed motives, mixed qualities; noneof them is quite a monster; though those who are badly mixed do suchmonstrous things. 

Pepe Rey, who is such a good fellow--so kind, and brave, and upright, and generous, so fine a mind, and so high a soul--is tactless andimprudent; he even condescends to the thought of intrigue; and thoughhe rejects his plots at last, his nature has once harbored deceit. DonInocencio, the priest, whose control of Dona Perfecta's conscience hasvitiated the very springs of goodness in her, is by no means bad, asidefrom his purposes. He loves his sister and her son tenderly, and wishesto provide for them by the marriage which Pepe's presence threatens toprevent. The nephew, though selfish and little, has moments of almostbeing a good fellow; the sister, though she is really such a lamb ofmeekness, becomes a cat, and scratches Don Inocencio dreadfully when heweakens in his design against Pepe. 

Rosario, one of the sweetest and purest images of girlhood that I knowin fiction, abandons herself with equal passion to the love she feelsfor her cousin Pepe, and to the love she feels for her mother, DonaPerfecta. She is ready to fly with him, and yet she betrays him to hermother's pitiless hate. 

But it is Dona Perfecta herself who is the transcendent figure, themost powerful creation of the book. In her, bigotry and its fellow-vice, hypocrisy, have done their perfect work, until she comes near to beinga devil, and really does some devil's deeds. Yet even she is not withoutsome extenuating traits. Her bigotry springs from her conscience, andshe is truly devoted to her daughter's eternal welfare; she is of sucha native frankness that at a certain point she tears aside her mask ofdissimulation and lets Pepe see all the ugliness of her perverted soul. She is wonderfully managed. At what moment does she begin to hate him, and to wish to undo her own work in making a match between him andher daughter? I could defy anyone to say. All one knows is that at onemoment she adores her brother's son, and at another she abhors him, andhas already subtly entered upon her efforts to thwart the affection shehas invited in him for her daughter. 

Caballuco, what shall I say of Caballuco? He seems altogether bad, butthe author lets one imagine that this cruel, this ruthless brute musthave somewhere about him traits of lovableness, of leniency, thoughhe never lets one see them. His gratitude to Dona Perfecta, even hismurderous devotion, is not altogether bad; and he is certainly worsethan nature made him, when wrought upon by her fury and the suggestionof Don Inocencio. The scene where they work him up to rebellion andassassination is a compendium of the history of intolerance; as themean little conceited city of Orbajosas is the microcosm of bigoted andreactionary Spain. 

IV

I have called, or half-called, this book tendencious; but in a certainlarger view it is not so. It is the eternal interest of passion workingupon passion, not the temporary interest of condition antagonizingcondition, which renders "Dona Perfecta" so poignantly interesting, andwhich makes its tragedy immense. But there is hope as well as despair insuch a tragedy. There is the strange support of a bereavement in it, the consolation of feeling that for those who have suffered unto death, nothing can harm them more; that even for those who have inflicted theirsuffering this peace will soon come. 

"Is Perez Galdos a pessimist?" asks the critic Clarin. "No, certainly;but if he is not, why does he paint us sorrows that seem inconsolable?Is it from love of paradox? Is it to show that his genius, which can doso much, can paint the shadow lovelier than the light? Nothing of this. Nothing that is not serious, honest, and noble, is to be found in thisnovelist. Are they pessimistic, those ballads of the North, that alwaysend with vague resonances of woe? Are they pessimists, those singers ofour own land, who surprise us with tears in the midst of laughter? IsNature pessimistic, who is so sad at nightfall that it seems as if daywere dying forever? . . . The sadness of art, like that of nature, isa form of hope. Why is Christianity so artistic? Because it is thereligion of sadness. "

W. D. HOWELLS. 

DONA PERFECTA

CHAPTER I

VILLAHORRENDA! FIVE MINUTES!

When the down train No. 65--of what line it is unnecessary tosay--stopped at the little station between kilometres 171 and 172, almost all the second-and third-class passengers remained in the cars, yawning or asleep, for the penetrating cold of the early morning didnot invite to a walk on the unsheltered platform. The only first-classpassenger on the train alighted quickly, and addressing a group of theemployes asked them if this was the Villahorrenda station. 

"We are in Villahorrenda, " answered the conductor whose voice wasdrowned by the cackling of the hens which were at that moment beinglifted into the freight car. "I forgot to call you, Senor de Rey. Ithink they are waiting for you at the station with the beasts. "

"Why, how terribly cold it is here!" said the traveller, drawing hiscloak more closely about him. "Is there no place in the station whereI could rest for a while, and get warm, before undertaking a journey onhorseback through this frozen country?"

Before he had finished speaking the conductor, called away by theurgent duties of his position, went off, leaving our unknown cavalier'squestion unanswered. The latter saw that another employe was comingtoward him, holding a lantern in his right hand, that swung back andforth as he walked, casting the light on the platform of the stationin a series of zigzags, like those described by the shower from awatering-pot. 

"Is there a restaurant or a bedroom in the station of Villahorrenda?"said the traveller to the man with the lantern. 

"There is nothing here, " answered the latter brusquely, running towardthe men who were putting the freight on board the cars, and assuagingthem with such a volley of oaths, blasphemies, and abusive epithets thatthe very chickens, scandalized by his brutality, protested against itfrom their baskets. 

"The best thing I can do is to get away from this place as quickly aspossible, " said the gentlemen to himself. "The conductor said that thebeasts were here. "

Just as he had come to this conclusion he felt a thin hand pulling himgently and respectfully by the cloak. He turned round and saw a figureenveloped in a gray cloak, and out of whose voluminous folds peeped theshrivelled and astute countenance of a Castilian peasant. He looked atthe ungainly figure, which reminded one of the black poplar among trees;he observed the shrewd eyes that shone from beneath the wide brim of theold velvet hat; the sinewy brown hand that grasped a green switch, andthe broad foot that, with every movement, made the iron spur jingle. 

"Are you Senor Don Jose de Rey?" asked the peasant, raising his hand tohis hat. 

"Yes; and you, I take it, " answered the traveller joyfully, "are DonaPerfecta's servant, who have come to the station to meet me and show methe way to Orbajosa?"

"The same. Whenever you are ready to start. The pony runs like thewind. And Senor Don Jose, I am sure, is a good rider. For what comes byrace--"

"Which is the way out?" asked the traveller, with impatience. "Come, letus start, senor--What is your name?"

"My name is Pedro Lucas, " answered the man of the gray cloak, againmaking a motion to take off his hat; "but they call me Uncle Licurgo. Where is the young gentleman's baggage?"

"There it is--there under the cloak. There are three pieces--twoportmanteaus and a box of books for Senor Don Cayetano. Here is thecheck. "

A moment later cavalier and squire found themselves behind the barrackscalled a depot, and facing a road which, starting at this point, disappeared among the neighboring hills, on whose naked slopes could bevaguely distinguished the miserable hamlet of Villahorrenda. There werethree animals to carry the men and the luggage. A not ill-looking nagwas destined for the cavalier; Uncle Licurgo was to ride a venerablehack, somewhat loose in the joints, but sure-footed; and the mule, whichwas to be led by a stout country boy of active limbs and fiery blood, was to carry the luggage. 

Before the caravan had put itself in motion the train had started, andwas now creeping along the road with the lazy deliberation of a waytrain, awakening, as it receded in the distance, deep subterraneanechoes. As it entered the tunnel at kilometre 172, the steam issued fromthe steam whistle with a shriek that resounded through the air. From thedark mouth of the tunnel came volumes of whitish smoke, a succession ofshrill screams like the blasts of a trumpet followed, and at the soundof its stentorian voice villages, towns, the whole surrounding countryawoke. Here a cock began to crow, further on another. Day was beginningto dawn. 

CHAPTER II

A JOURNEY IN THE HEART OF SPAIN

When they had proceeded some distance on their way and had left behindthem the hovels of Villahorrenda, the traveller, who was young andhandsome spoke thus:

"Tell me, Senor Solon--"

"Licurgo, at your service. "

"Senor Licurgo, I mean. But I was right in giving you the name of a wiselegislator of antiquity. Excuse the mistake. But to come to the point. Tell me, how is my aunt?"

"As handsome as ever, " answered the peasant, pushing his beast forwarda little. "Time seems to stand still with Senora Dona Perfecta. They saythat God gives long life to the good, and if that is so that angel ofthe Lord ought to live a thousand years. If all the blessings that areshowered on her in this world were feathers, the senora would need noother wings to go up to heaven with. "

"And my cousin, Senorita Rosario?"

"The senora over again!" said the peasant. "What more can I tell you ofDona Rosarito but that that she is the living image of her mother? Youwill have a treasure, Senor Don Jose, if it is true, as I hear, that youhave come to be married to her. She will be a worthy mate for you, andthe young lady will have nothing to complain of, either. Between Pedroand Pedro the difference is not very great. "

"And Senor Don Cayetano?"

"Buried in his books as usual. He has a library bigger than thecathedral; and he roots up the earth, besides, searching for stonescovered with fantastical scrawls, that were written, they say, by theMoors. "

"How soon shall we reach Orbajosa?"

"By nine o'clock, God willing. How delighted the senora will be when shesees her nephew! And yesterday, Senorita Rosario was putting the roomyou are to have in order. As they have never seen you, both mother anddaughter think of nothing else but what Senor Don Jose is like, or isnot like. The time has now come for letters to be silent and tonguesto talk. The young lady will see her cousin and all will be joy andmerry-making. If God wills, all will end happily, as the saying is. "

"As neither my aunt nor my cousin has yet seen me, " said the travellersmiling, "it is not wise to make plans. "

"That's true; for that reason it was said that the bay horse is of onemind and he who saddles him of another, " answered the peasant. "Butthe face does not lie. What a jewel you are getting! and she, what ahandsome man!"

The young man did not hear Uncle Licurgo's last words, for he waspreoccupied with his own thoughts. Arrived at a bend in the road, thepeasant turned his horse's head in another direction, saying:

"We must follow this path now. The bridge is broken, and the river canonly be forded at the Hill of the Lilies. "

"The Hill of the Lilies, " repeated the cavalier, emerging from hisrevery. "How abundant beautiful names are in these unattractivelocalities! Since I have been travelling in this part of the countrythe terrible irony of the names is a constant surprise to me. Some placethat is remarkable for its barren aspect and the desolate sadness ofthe landscape is called Valleameno (Pleasant Valley). Some wretchedmud-walled village stretched on a barren plain and proclaiming itspoverty in diverse ways has the insolence to call itself Villarica (RichTown); and some arid and stony ravine, where not even the thistlescan find nourishment, calls itself, nevertheless, Valdeflores (Vale ofFlowers). That hill in front of us is the Hill of the Lilies? But where, in Heaven's name, are the lilies? I see nothing but stones and witheredgrass. Call it Hill of Desolation, and you will be right. With theexception of Villahorrenda, whose appearance corresponds with its name, all is irony here. Beautiful words, a prosaic and mean reality. Theblind would be happy in this country, which for the tongue is a Paradiseand for the eyes a hell. "

Senor Licurgo either did not hear the young man's words, or, hearing, hepaid no attention to them. When they had forded the river, which, turbidand impetuous, hurried on with impatient haste, as if fleeing from itsown hands, the peasant pointed with outstretched arm to some barren andextensive fields that were to be seen on the left, and said:

"Those are the Poplars of Bustamante. "

"My lands!" exclaimed the traveller joyfully, gazing at the melancholyfields illumined by the early morning light. "For the first time, I seethe patrimony which I inherited from my mother. The poor woman used topraise this country so extravagantly, and tell me so many marvellousthings about it when I was a child, that I thought that to be here wasto be in heaven. Fruits, flowers, game, large and small; mountains, lakes, rivers, romantic streams, pastoral hills, all were to be foundin the Poplars of Bustamante; in this favored land, the best and mostbeautiful on the earth. But what is to be said? The people of this placelive in their imaginations. If I had been brought here in my youth, whenI shared the ideas and the enthusiasm of my dear mother, I suppose thatI, too, would have been enchanted with these bare hills, these arid ormarshy plains, these dilapidated farmhouses, these rickety norias, whose buckets drip water enough to sprinkle half a dozen cabbages, thiswretched and barren desolation that surrounds me. "

"It is the best land in the country, " said Senor Licurgo; "and for thechick-pea, there is no other like it. "

"I am delighted to hear it, for since they came into my possession thesefamous lands have never brought me a penny. "

The wise legislator of Sparta scratched his ear and gave a sigh. 

"But I have been told, " continued the young man, "that some of theneighboring proprietors have put their ploughs in these estates of mine, and that, little by little, they are filching them from me. Herethere are neither landmarks nor boundaries, nor real ownership, SenorLicurgo. "

The peasant, after a pause, during which his subtle intellect seemed tobe occupied in profound disquisitions, expressed himself as follows:

"Uncle Paso Largo, whom, for his great foresight, we call thePhilosopher, set his plough in the Poplars, above the hermitage, and bitby bit, he has gobbled up six fanegas. "

"What an incomparable school!" exclaimed the young man, smiling. "Iwager that he has not been the only--philosopher?"

"It is a true saying that one should talk only about what one knows, andthat if there is food in the dove-cote, doves won't be wanting. But you, Senor Don Jose, can apply to your own cause the saying that the eye ofthe master fattens the ox, and now that you are here, try and recoveryour property. "

"Perhaps that would not be so easy, Senor Licurgo, " returned the youngman, just as they were entering a path bordered on either side bywheat-fields, whose luxuriance and early ripeness gladdened the eye. "This field appears to be better cultivated. I see that all is notdreariness and misery in the Poplars. "

The peasant assumed a melancholy look, and, affecting something ofdisdain for the fields that had been praised by the traveller, said inthe humblest of tones:

"Senor, this is mine. "

"I beg your pardon, " replied the gentleman quickly; "now I was going toput my sickle in your field. Apparently the philosophy of this place iscontagious. "

They now descended into a canebrake, which formed the bed of a shallowand stagnant brook, and, crossing it, they entered a field full ofstones and without the slightest trace of vegetation. 

"This ground is very bad, " said the young man, turning round to lookat his companion and guide, who had remained a little behind. "Youwill hardly be able to derive any profit from it, for it is all mud andsand. "

Licurgo, full of humility, answered:

"This is yours. "

"I see that all the poor land is mine, " declared the young man, laughinggood-humoredly. 

As they were thus conversing, they turned again into the high-road. Themorning sunshine, pouring joyously through all the gates and balconiesof the Spanish horizon, had now inundated the fields with brilliantlight. The wide sky, undimmed by a single cloud, seemed to grow widerand to recede further from the earth, in order to contemplate it, andrejoice in the contemplation, from a greater height. The desolate, treeless land, straw-colored at intervals, at intervals of the colorof chalk, and all cut up into triangles and quadrilaterals, yellow orblack, gray or pale green, bore a fanciful resemblance to a beggar'scloak spread out in the sun. On that miserable cloak Christianity andIslamism had fought with each other epic battles. Glorious fields, intruth, but the combats of the past had left them hideous!

"I think we shall have a scorching day, Senor Licurgo, " said the youngman, loosening his cloak a little. "What a dreary road! Not a singletree to be seen, as far as the eye can reach. Here everything is incontradiction. The irony does not cease. Why, when there are no poplarshere, either large or small, should this be called The Poplars?"

Uncle Licurgo did not answer this question because he was listeningwith his whole soul to certain sounds which were suddenly heard in thedistance, and with an uneasy air he stopped his beast, while he exploredthe road and the distant hills with a gloomy look. 

"What is the matter?" asked the traveller, stopping his horse also. 

"Do you carry arms, Don Jose?"

"A revolver--ah! now I understand. Are there robbers about?"

"Perhaps, " answered the peasant, with visible apprehension. "I think Iheard a shot. "

"We shall soon see. Forward!" said the young man, putting spurs to hisnag. "They are not very terrible, I dare say. "

"Keep quiet, Senor Don Jose, " exclaimed the peasant, stopping him. "Those people are worse than Satan himself. The other day they murderedtwo gentlemen who were on their way to take the train. Let us leave offjesting. Gasparon el Fuerte, Pepito Chispillas, Merengue, and AhorcaSuegras shall not see my face while I live. Let us turn into the path. "

"Forward, Senor Licurgo!"

"Back, Senor Don Jose, " replied the peasant, in distressed accents. "You don't know what kind of people those are. They are the same menwho stole the chalice, the Virgin's crown, and two candlesticks from thechurch of the Carmen last month; they are the men who robbed the Madridtrain two years ago. "

Don Jose, hearing these alarming antecedents, felt his courage begin togive way. 

"Do you see that great high hill in the distance? Well, that is wherethose rascals hide themselves; there in some caves which they call theRetreat of the Cavaliers. "

"Of the Cavaliers?"

"Yes, senor. They come down to the high-road when the Civil Guards arenot watching, and rob all they can. Do you see a cross beyond the bendof the road? Well, that was erected in remembrance of the death of theAlcalde of Villahorrenda, whom they murdered there at the time of theelections. "

"Yes, I see the cross. "

"There is an old house there, in which they hide themselves to wait forthe carriers. They call that place The Pleasaunce. "

"The Pleasaunce?"

"If all the people who have been murdered and robbed there were to berestored they would form an army. "

While they were thus talking shots were again heard, this time nearerthan before, which made the valiant hearts of the travellers quake alittle, but not that of the country lad, who, jumping about for joy, asked Senor Licurgo's permission to go forward to watch the conflictwhich was taking place so near them. Observing the courage of the boyDon Jose felt a little ashamed of having been frightened, or at leasta little disturbed, by the proximity of the robbers, and cried, puttingspurs to his nag:

"We will go forward, then. Perhaps we may be able to lend assistance tothe unlucky travellers who find themselves in so perilous a situation, and give a lesson besides to those cavaliers. "

The peasant endeavored to convince the young man of the rashness of hispurpose, as well as of the profitlessness of his generous design, sincethose who had been robbed were robbed and perhaps dead also, and not ina condition to need the assistance of any one. 

The gentleman insisted, in spite of these sage counsels; the peasantreiterated his objections more strongly than before; when the appearanceof two or three carters, coming quietly down the road driving a wagon, put an end to the controversy. The danger could not be very great whenthese men were coming along so unconcernedly, singing merry songs; andsuch was in fact the case, for the shots, according to what the carterssaid, had not been fired by the robbers, but by the Civil Guards, whodesired in this way to prevent the escape of half a dozen thieves whomthey were taking, bound together, to the town jail. 

"Yes, I know now what it was, " said Licurgo, pointing to a light cloudof smoke which was to be seen some distance off, to the right of theroad. "They have peppered them there. That happens every other day. "

The young man did not understand. 

"I assure you, Senor Don Jose, " added the Lacedaemonian legislator, withenergy, "that it was very well done; for it is of no use to try thoserascals. The judge cross-questions them a little and then lets them go. If at the end of a trial dragged out for half a dozen years one of themis sent to jail, at the moment least expected he escapes, and returns tothe Retreat of the Cavaliers. That is the best thing to do--shoot them!Take them to prison, and when you are passing a suitable place--Ah, dog, so you want to escape, do you? pum! pum! The indictment is drawn up, thewitnesses summoned, the trial ended, the sentence pronounced--all ina minute. It is a true saying that the fox is very cunning, but he whocatches him is more cunning still. "

"Forward, then, and let us ride faster, for this road, besides being along one, is not at all a pleasant one, " said Rey. 

As they passed The Pleasaunce, they saw, a little in from the road, theguards who a few minutes before had executed the strange sentencewith which the reader has been made acquainted. The country boy wasinconsolable because they rode on and he was not allowed to get anearer view of the palpitating bodies of the robbers, which could bedistinguished forming a horrible group in the distance. But they had notproceeded twenty paces when they heard the sound of a horse gallopingafter them at so rapid a pace that he gained upon them every moment. Ourtraveller turned round and saw a man, or rather a Centaur, for the mostperfect harmony imaginable existed between horse and rider. The latterwas of a robust and plethoric constitution, with large fiery eyes, rugged features, and a black mustache. He was of middle age and had ageneral air of rudeness and aggressiveness, with indications of strengthin his whole person. He was mounted on a superb horse with a muscularchest, like the horses of the Parthenon, caparisoned in the picturesquefashion of the country, and carrying on the crupper a great leather bagon the cover of which was to be seen, in large letters, the word Mail. 

"Hello! Good-day, Senor Caballuco, " said Licurgo, saluting the horsemanwhen the latter had come up with them. "How is it that we got so farahead of you? But you will arrive before us, if you set your mind toit. "

"I will rest a little, " answered Senor Caballuco, adapting his horse'space to that of our travellers' beasts, and attentively observing themost distinguished of the three, "since there is such good company. "

"This gentleman, " said Licurgo, smiling, "is the nephew of DonaPerfecta. "

"Ah! At your service, senor. "

The two men saluted each other, it being noticeable that Caballucoperformed his civilities with an expression of haughtiness andsuperiority that revealed, at the very least, a consciousness of greatimportance, and of a high standing in the district. When the arroganthorseman rode aside to stop and talk for a moment with two Civil Guardswho passed them on the road, the traveller asked his guide:

"Who is that odd character?"

"Who should it be? Caballuco. "

"And who is Caballuco?"

"What! Have you never heard of Caballuco?" said the countryman, amazedat the crass ignorance of Dona Perfecta's nephew. "He is a very braveman, a fine rider, and the best connoisseur of horses in all thesurrounding country. We think a great deal of him in Orbajosa; and he iswell worthy of it. Just as you see him, he is a power in the place, andthe governor of the province takes off his hat to him. "

"When there is an election!"

"And the Governor of Madrid writes official letters to him with agreat many titles in the superscription. He throws the bar like a St. Christopher, and he can manage every kind of weapon as easily as wemanage our fingers. When there was market inspection here, they couldnever get the best of him, and shots were to be heard every night atthe city gates. He has a following that is worth any money, for they areready for anything. He is good to the poor, and any stranger who shouldcome here and attempt to touch so much as a hair of the head of anynative of Orbajosa would have him to settle with. It is very seldom thatsoldiers come here from Madrid, but whenever they do come, not a daypasses without blood being shed, for Caballuco would pick a quarrel withthem, if not for one thing for another. At present it seems that heis fallen into poverty and he is employed to carry the mail. But he istrying hard to persuade the Town Council to have a market-inspector'soffice here again and to put him in charge of it. I don't know how it isthat you have never heard him mentioned in Madrid, for he is the son ofa famous Caballuco who was in the last rebellion, and who was himselfthe son of another Caballuco, who was also in the rebellion of thatday. And as there is a rumor now that there is going to be anotherinsurrection--for the whole country is in a ferment--we are afraid thatCaballuco will join that also, following in the illustrious footsteps ofhis father and his grandfather, who, to our glory be it said, were bornin our city. "

Our traveller was surprised to see the species of knight-errantry thatstill existed in the regions which he had come to visit, but he had noopportunity to put further questions, for the man who was the object ofthem now joined them, saying with an expression of ill-humor:

"The Civil Guard despatched three. I have already told the commander tobe careful what he is about. To-morrow we will speak to the governor ofthe province, and I----"

"Are you going to X. ?"

"No; but the governor is coming here, Senor Licurgo; do you know thatthey are going to send us a couple of regiments to Orbajosa?"

"Yes, " said the traveller quickly, with a smile. "I heard it said inMadrid that there was some fear of a rising in this place. It is well tobe prepared for what may happen. "

"They talk nothing but nonsense in Madrid, " exclaimed theCentaur violently, accompanying his affirmation with a string oftongue-blistering vocables. "In Madrid there is nothing but rascality. What do they send us soldiers for? To squeeze more contributions out ofus and a couple of conscriptions afterward. By all that's holy! if thereisn't a rising there ought to be. So you"--he ended, looking banteringlyat the young man--"so you are Dona Perfecta's nephew?"

This abrupt question and the insolent glance of the bravo annoyed theyoung man. 

"Yes, senor, at your service. "

"I am a friend of the senora's, and I love her as I do the apple of myeye, " said Caballuco. "As you are going to Orbajosa we shall see eachother there. "

And without another word he put spurs to his horse, which, setting offat a gallop, soon disappeared in a cloud of dust. 

After half an hour's ride, during which neither Senor Don Jose nor SenorLicurgo manifested much disposition to talk, the travellers came insight of an ancient-looking town seated on the slope of a hill, from themidst of whose closely clustered houses arose many dark towers, and, on a height above it, the ruins of a dilapidated castle. Its base wasformed by a mass of shapeless walls, of mud hovels, gray and dustylooking as the soil, together with some fragments of turreted walls, inwhose shelter about a thousand humble huts raised their miserableadobe fronts, like anaemic and hungry faces demanding an alms from thepasser-by. A shallow river surrounded the town, like a girdle of tin, refreshing, in its course, several gardens, the only vegetation thatcheered the eye. People were going into and coming out of the town, onhorseback and on foot, and the human movement, although not great, gavesome appearance of life to that great dwelling place whose architecturalaspect was rather that of ruin and death than of progress and life. The innumerable and repulsive-looking beggars who dragged themselves oneither side of the road, asking the obolus from the passer-by, presenteda pitiful spectacle. It would be impossible to see beings more inharmony with, or better suited to the fissures of that sepulchre inwhich a city was not only buried but gone to decay. As our travellersapproached the town, a discordant peal of bells gave token, with theirexpressive sound, that that mummy had still a soul. 

It was called Orbajosa, a city that figures, not in the Chaldeanor Coptic geography, but in that of Spain, with 7324 inhabitants, atown-hall, an episcopal seat, a court-house, a seminary, a stock farm, ahigh school, and other official prerogatives. 

"The bells are ringing for high mass in the cathedral, " said UncleLicurgo. "We have arrived sooner than I expected. "

"The appearance of your native city, " said the young man, examining thepanorama spread out before him, "could not be more disagreeable. Thehistoric city of Orbajosa, whose name is no doubt a corruption of UrbsAugusta, looks like a great dunghill. "

"All that can be seen from here is the suburbs, " said the guide, inan offended tone. "When you enter the Calle Real and the Calle deCondestable, you will see handsome buildings, like the cathedral. "

"I don't want to speak ill of Orbajosa before seeing it, " said the youngman. "And you must not take what I have said as a mark of contempt, forwhether humble and mean, or stately and handsome, that city will alwaysbe very dear to me, not only is it my mother's native place, but becausethere are persons living in it whom I love without seeing them. Let usenter the august city, then. "

They were now ascending a road on the outskirts of the town, and passingclose to the walls of the gardens. 

"Do you see that great house at the end of this large garden whosewall we are now passing?" said Uncle Licurgo, pointing to a massive, whitewashed wall belonging to the only dwelling in view which had theappearance of a cheerful and comfortable habitation. 

"Yes; that is my aunt's house?"

"Exactly so! What we are looking at is the rear of the house. The frontfaces the Calle del Condestable, and it has five iron balconies thatlook like five castles. The fine garden behind the wall belongs to thehouse, and if you rise up in your stirrups you will be able to see itall from here. "

"Why, we are at the house, then!" cried the young man. "Can we not enterfrom here?"

"There is a little door, but the senora had it condemned. "

The young man raised himself in his stirrups and, stretching his neck asfar as he could, looked over the wall. 

"I can see the whole of the garden, " he said. "There, under the trees, there is a woman, a girl, a young lady. "

"That is Senorita Rosario, " answered Licurgo. 

And at the same time he also raised himself in his stirrups to look overthe wall. 

"Eh! Senorita Rosario!" he cried, making energetic signs with his righthand. "Here we are; I have brought your cousin with me. "

"She has seen us, " said the young man, stretching out his neck as far aswas possible. "But if I am not mistaken, there is an ecclesiastic withher--a priest. "

"That is the Penitentiary, " answered the countryman, with naturalness. 

"My cousin has seen us--she has left the priest, and is running towardthe house. She is beautiful. "

"As the sun!"

"She has turned redder than a cherry. Come, come, Senor Licurgo. "

CHAPTER III

PEPE REY

Before proceeding further, it will be well to tell who Pepe Rey was, andwhat were the affairs which had brought him to Orbajosa. 

When Brigadier Rey died in 1841, his two children, Juan and Perfecta, had just married: the latter the richest land-owner of Orbajosa, theformer a young girl of the same city. The husband of Perfecta wascalled Don Manuel Maria Jose de Polentinos, and the wife of Juan, MariaPolentinos; but although they had the same surname, their relationshipwas somewhat distant and not very easy to make out. Juan Rey was adistinguished jurisconsult who had been graduated in Seville and hadpractised law in that city for thirty years with no less honor thanprofit. In 1845 he was left a widower with a son who was old enoughto play mischievous pranks; he would sometimes amuse himself byconstructing viaducts, mounds, ponds, dikes, and trenches of earth, inthe yard of the house, and then flooding those fragile works with water. His father let him do so, saying, "You will be an engineer. "

Perfecta and Juan had ceased to see each other from the time of theirmarriage, because the sister had gone to Madrid with her husband, thewealthy Polentinos, who was as rich as he was extravagant. Play andwomen had so completely enslaved Manuel Maria Jose that he would havedissipated all his fortune, if death had not been beforehand with himand carried him off before he had had time to squander it. In a night oforgy the life of the rich provincial, who had been sucked so voraciouslyby the leeches of the capital and the insatiable vampire of play, cameto a sudden termination. His sole heir was a daughter a few months old. With the death of Perfecta's husband the terrors of the family wereat an end, but the great struggle began. The house of Polentinos wasruined; the estates were in danger of being seized by the money-lenders;all was in confusion: enormous debts, lamentable management in Orbajosa, discredit and ruin in Madrid. 

Perfecta sent for her brother, who, coming to the distressed widow'sassistance, displayed so much diligence and skill that in a short timethe greater part of the dangers that threatened her had disappeared. Hebegan by obliging his sister to live in Orbajosa, managing herself hervast estates, while he faced the formidable pressure of the creditors inMadrid. Little by little the house freed itself from the enormous burdenof its debts, for the excellent Don Juan Rey, who had the best wayin the world for managing such matters, pleaded in the court, madesettlements with the principal creditors and arranged to pay them byinstalments, the result of this skilful management being that the richpatrimony of Polentinos was saved from ruin and might continue, for manyyears to come, to bestow splendor and glory on that illustrious family. 

Perfecta's gratitude was so profound that in writing to her brother fromOrbajosa, where she determined to reside until her daughter should begrown up, she said to him, among other affectionate things: "You havebeen more than a brother to me, more than a father to my daughter. How can either of us ever repay you for services so great? Ah, my dearbrother? from the moment in which my daughter can reason and pronounce aname I will teach her to bless yours. My gratitude will end only with mylife. Your unworthy sister regrets only that she can find no opportunityof showing you how much she loves you and of recompensing you in amanner suited to the greatness of your soul and the boundless goodnessof your heart. "

At the same time when these words were written Rosarito was two yearsold. Pepe Rey, shut up in a school in Seville, was making lines onpaper, occupied in proving that "the sum of all the interior angles ofany polygon is equal to twice as many right angles, wanting four, as thefigure has sides. " These vexatious commonplaces of the school kept himvery busy. Year after year passed. The boy grew up, still continuingto make lines. At last, he made one which is called "From Tarragona toMontblanch. " His first serious toy was the bridge, 120 metres in length, over the River Francoli. 

During all this time Dona Perfecta continued to live in Orbajosa. As herbrother never left Seville, several years passed without their seeingeach other. A quarterly letter, as punctually written as it waspunctually answered, kept in communication these two hearts, whoseaffection neither time nor distance could cool. In 1870, when Don JuanRey, satisfied with having fulfilled his mission in society, retiredfrom it and went to live in his fine house in Puerto Real, Pepe, who hadbeen employed for several years in the works of various rich buildingcompanies, set out on a tour through Germany and England, for thepurpose of study. His father's fortune, (as large as it is possible fora fortune which has only an honorable law-office for its source to be inSpain), permitted him to free himself in a short time from the yokeof material labor. A man of exalted ideas and with an ardent love forscience, he found his purest enjoyment in the observation and study ofthe marvels by means of which the genius of the age furthers at the sametime the culture and material comfort and the moral progress of man. 

On returning from his tour his father informed him that he had animportant project to communicate to him. Pepe supposed that it concernedsome bridge, dockyard, or, at the least, the draining of some marsh, but Don Juan soon dispelled his error, disclosing to him his plan in thefollowing words:

"This is March, and Perfecta's quarterly letter has not failed tocome. Read it, my dear boy, and if you can agree to what that holyand exemplary woman, my dear sister, says in it, you will give me thegreatest happiness I could desire in my old age. If the plan does notplease you, reject it without hesitation, for, although your refusalwould grieve me, there is not in it the shadow of constraint on my part. It would be unworthy of us both that it should be realized through thecoercion of an obstinate father. You are free either to accept or toreject it, and if there is in your mind the slightest repugnance to it, arising either from your inclinations or from any other cause, I do notwish you to do violence to your feelings on my account. "

Pepe laid the letter on the table after he had glanced through it, andsaid quietly:

"My aunt wishes me to marry Rosario!"

"She writes accepting joyfully my idea, " said his father, with emotion. "For the idea was mine. Yes, it is a long time, a very long time sinceit occurred to me; but I did not wish to say anything to you untilI knew what your sister might think about it. As you see, Perfectareceives my plan with joy; she says that she too had thought of it, butthat she did not venture to mention it to me, because you are--you haveseen what she says--because you are a young man of very exceptionalmerit and her daughter is a country girl, without either a brillianteducation or worldly attractions. Those are her words. My poor sister!How good she is! I see that you are not displeased; I see that thisproject of mine, resembling a little the officious prevision of thefathers of former times who married their children without consultingtheir wishes in the matter, and making generally inconsiderate andunwise matches, does not seem absurd to you. God grant that this may be, as it seems to promise, one of the happiest. It is true that you havenever seen your cousin, but we are both aware of her virtue, of herdiscretion, of her modest and noble simplicity. That nothing may bewanting, she is even beautiful. My opinion is, " he added gayly, "thatyou should at once start for that out-of-the-way episcopal city, thatUrbs Augusta, and there, in the presence of my sister and her charmingRosarito, decide whether the latter is to be something more to me ornot, than my niece. "

Pepe took up the letter again and read it through carefully. Hiscountenance expressed neither joy nor sorrow. He might have beenexamining some plan for the junction of two railroads. 

"In truth, " said Don Juan, "in that remote Orbajosa, where, by the way, you have some land that you might take a look at now, life passes withthe tranquillity and the sweetness of an idyl. What patriarchal customs!What noble simplicity! What rural and Virgilian peace! If, instead ofbeing a mathematician, you were a Latinist, you would repeat, as youenter it, the _ergo tua rura manebunt_. What an admirable place in whichto commune with one's own soul and to prepare one's self for good works. There all is kindness and goodness; there the deceit and hypocrisy ofour great cities are unknown; there the holy inclinations which theturmoil of modern life stifles spring into being again; there dormantfaith reawakens and one feels within the breast an impulse, vague butkeen, like the impatience of youth, that from the depths of the soulcries out: 'I wish to live!'"

A few days after this conference Pepe left Puerto Real. He had refused, some months before, a commission from the government to survey, in itsmineralogical aspects, the basin of the River Nahara, in the valleyof Orbajosa; but the plans to which the conference above recorded gaverise, caused him to say to himself: "It will be as well to make use ofthe time. Heaven only knows how long this courtship may last, or whathours of weariness it may bring with it. " He went, then, to Madrid, solicited the commission to explore the basin of the Nahara, which heobtained without difficulty, although he did not belong officially tothe mining corps, set out shortly afterward, and, after a second changeof trains, the mixed train No. 65 bore him, as we have seen, to theloving arms of Uncle Licurgo. 

The age of our hero was about thirty-four years. He was of a robustconstitution, of athletic build, and so admirably proportioned and of socommanding an appearance that, if he had worn a uniform, he wouldhave presented the most martial air and figure that it is possible toimagine. His hair and beard were blond in color, but in his countenancethere was none of the phlegmatic imperturbability of the Saxon, but, onthe contrary, so much animation that his eyes, although they were notblack, seemed to be so. His figure would have served as a perfect andbeautiful model for a statue, on the pedestal of which the sculptormight engrave the words: "Intellect, strength. " If not in visiblecharacters, he bore them vaguely expressed in the brilliancy of hisglance, in the potent attraction with which his person was peculiarlyendowed, and in the sympathy which his cordial manners inspired. 

He was not very talkative--only persons of inconstant ideas and unstablejudgment are prone to verbosity. His profound moral sense made himsparing of words in the disputes in which the men of the day are proneto engage on any and every subject, but in polite conversation hedisplayed an eloquence full of wit and intelligence, emanating alwaysfrom good sense and a temperate and just appreciation of worldlymatters. He had no toleration for those sophistries, and mystifications, and quibbles of the understanding with which persons of intelligence, imbued with affected culture, sometimes amuse themselves; and in defenceof the truth Pepe Rey employed at times, and not always with moderation, the weapon of ridicule. This was almost a defect in the eyes of manypeople who esteemed him, for our hero thus appeared wanting in respectfor a multitude of things commonly accepted and believed. It must beacknowledged, although it may lessen him in the opinion of many, thatRey did not share the mild toleration of the compliant age which hasinvented strange disguises of words and of acts to conceal what to thegeneral eye might be disagreeable. 

Such was the man, whatever slanderous tongues may say to the contrary, whom Uncle Licurgo introduced into Orbajosa just as the cathedral bellswere ringing for high mass. When, looking over the garden wall, they sawthe young girl and the Penitentiary, and then the flight of the formertoward the house, they put spurs to their beasts and entered the CalleReal, where a great many idlers stood still to gaze at the traveller, asif he were a stranger and an intruder in the patriarchal city. Turningpresently to the right and riding in the direction of the cathedral, whose massive bulk dominated the town, they entered the Calle delCondestable, in which, being narrow and paved, the hoofs of the animalsclattered noisily, alarming the people of the neighborhood, who came tothe windows and to the balconies to satisfy their curiosity. Shuttersopened with a grating sound and various faces, almost all feminine, appeared above and below. By the time Pepe Rey had reached the thresholdof the house of Polentinos many and diverse comments had been alreadymade on his person. 

CHAPTER IV

THE ARRIVAL OF THE COUSIN

When Rosarito left him so abruptly the Penitentiary looked toward thegarden wall, and seeing the faces of Licurgo and his companion, said tohimself:

"So the prodigy is already here, then. "

He remained thoughtful for some moments, his cloak, grasped with bothhands, folded over his abdomen, his eyes fixed on the ground, hisgold-rimmed spectacles slipping gently toward the point of his nose, hisunder-lip moist and projecting, and his iron-gray eyebrows gathered ina slight frown. He was a pious and holy man, of uncommon learning and ofirreproachable clerical habits, a little past his sixtieth year, affablein his manners, courteous and kind, and greatly addicted to givingadvice and counsel to both men and women. For many years past hehad been master of Latin and rhetoric in the Institute, which nobleprofession had supplied him with a large fund of quotations from Horaceand of florid metaphors, which he employed with wit and opportuneness. Nothing more need be said regarding this personage, but that, as soon ashe heard the trot of the animals approaching the Calle del Condestable, he arranged the folds of his cloak, straightened his hat, which was notaltogether correctly placed upon his venerable head, and, walking towardthe house, murmured:

"Let us go and see this paragon. "

Meanwhile Pepe was alighting from his nag, and Dona Perfecta, her facebathed in tears and barely able to utter a few trembling words, thesincere expression of her affection, was receiving him at the gateitself in her loving arms. 

"Pepe--but how tall you are! And with a beard. Why, it seems onlyyesterday that I held you in my lap. And now you are a man, a grown-upman. Well, well! How the years pass! This is my daughter Rosario. "

As she said this they reached the parlor on the ground floor, whichwas generally used as a reception-room, and Dona Perfecta presented herdaughter to Pepe. 

Rosario was a girl of delicate and fragile appearance, that revealeda tendency to pensive melancholy. In her delicate and pure countenancethere was something of the soft, pearly pallor which most novelistsattribute to their heroines, and without which sentimental varnish itappears that no Enriquieta or Julia can be interesting. But what chieflydistinguished Rosario was that her face expressed so much sweetness andmodesty that the absence of the perfections it lacked was not observed. This is not to say that she was plain; but, on the other hand, it istrue that it would be an exaggeration to call her beautiful in thestrictest meaning of the word. The real beauty of Dona Perfecta'sdaughter consisted in a species of transparency, different from thatof pearl, alabaster, marble, or any of the other substances used indescriptions of the human countenance; a species of transparency throughwhich the inmost depths of her soul were clearly visible; depths notcavernous and gloomy, like those of the sea, but like those of a clearand placid river. But the material was wanting there for a completepersonality. The channel was wanting, the banks were wanting. The vastwealth of her spirit overflowed, threatening to wash away the narrowborders. When her cousin saluted her she blushed crimson, and utteredonly a few unintelligible words. 

"You must be fainting with hunger, " said Dona Perfecta to her nephew. "You shall have your breakfast at once. "

"With your permission, " responded the traveller, "I will first go andget rid of the dust of the journey. "

"That is a sensible idea, " said the senora. "Rosario, take your cousinto the room that we have prepared for him. Don't delay, nephew. I amgoing to give the necessary orders. "

Rosario took her cousin to a handsome apartment situated on the groundfloor. The moment he entered it Pepe recognized in all the details ofthe room the diligent and loving hand of a woman. All was arrangedwith perfect taste, and the purity and freshness of everything in thischarming nest invited to repose. The guest observed minute details thatmade him smile. 

"Here is the bell, " said Rosario, taking in her hand the bell-rope, thetassel of which hung over the head of the bed. "All you have to do is tostretch out your hand. The writing-table is placed so that you will havethe light from the left. See, in this basket you can throw the wastepapers. Do you smoke?"

"Unfortunately, yes, " responded Pepe Rey. 

"Well, then, you can throw the ends of your cigars here, " she said, touching with the tip of her shoe a utensil of gilt-brass filled withsand. "There is nothing uglier than to see the floor covered withcigar-ends. Here is the washstand. For your clothes you have a wardrobeand a bureau. I think this is a bad place for the watch-case; it wouldbe better beside the bed. If the light annoys you, all you have to do isto lower the shade with this cord; see, this way. "

The engineer was enchanted. 

Rosarito opened one of the windows. 

"Look, " she said, "this window opens into the garden. The sun comes inhere in the afternoon. Here we have hung the cage of a canary that singsas if he was crazy. If his singing disturbs you we will take it away. "

She opened another window on the opposite side of the room. 

"This other window, " she continued, "looks out on the street. Look;from here you can see the cathedral; it is very handsome, and full ofbeautiful things. A great many English people come to see it. Don't openboth windows at the same time, because draughts are very bad. "

"My dear cousin, " said Pepe, his soul inundated with an inexplicablejoy; "in all that is before my eyes I see an angel's hand that can beonly yours. What a beautiful room this is! It seems to me as if I hadlived in it all my life. It invites to peace. "

Rosarito made no answer to these affectionate expressions, and left theroom, smiling. 

"Make no delay, " she said from the door; "the dining-room too is downstairs--in the centre of this hall. "

Uncle Licurgo came in with the luggage. Pepe rewarded him with aliberality to which the countryman was not accustomed, and the latter, after humbly thanking the engineer, raised his hand to his head with ahesitating movement, and in an embarrassed tone, and mumbling his words, he said hesitatingly:

"When will it be most convenient for me to speak to Senor Don Jose abouta--a little matter of business?"

"A little matter of business? At once, " responded Pepe, opening one ofhis trunks. 

"This is not a suitable time, " said the countryman. "When Senor Don Josehas rested it will be time enough. There are more days than sausages, as the saying is; and after one day comes another. Rest now, SenorDon Jose. Whenever you want to take a ride--the nag is not bad. Well, good-day, Senor Don Jose. I am much obliged to you. Ah! I hadforgotten, " he added, returning a few moments later. "If you have anymessage for the municipal judge--I am going now to speak to him aboutour little affair. "

"Give him my compliments, " said Pepe gayly, no better way of getting ridof the Spartan legislator occurring to him. 

"Good-by, then, Senor Don Jose. "

"Good-by. "

The engineer had not yet taken his clothes out of the trunk when for thethird time the shrewd eyes and the crafty face of Uncle Licurgo appearedin the door-way. 

"I beg your pardon, Senor Don Jose, " he said, displaying his brilliantlywhite teeth in an affected smile, "but--I wanted to say that if you wishto settle the matter by means of friendly arbitrations---- Although, asthe saying is, 'Ask other people's opinion of something that concernsonly yourself, and some will say it is white and others black. '"

"Will you get away from here, man?"

"I say that, because I hate the law. I don't want to have anything todo with the law. Well, good-by, again, Senor Don Jose. God give you longlife to help the poor!"

"Good-by, man, good-by. "

Pepe turned the key in the lock of the door, saying to himself:

"The people of this town appear to be very litigious. "

CHAPTER V

WILL THERE BE DISSENSION?

A little later Pepe made his appearance in the dining-room. 

"If you eat a hearty breakfast, " said Dona Perfecta to him, inaffectionate accents, "you will have no appetite for dinner. We dinehere at one. Perhaps you may not like the customs of the country. "

"I am enchanted with them, aunt. "

"Say, then, which you prefer--to eat a hearty breakfast now, or to takesomething light, and keep your appetite for dinner. "

"I prefer to take something light now, in order to have the pleasureof dining with you. But not even if I had found anything to eat inVillahorrenda, would I have eaten any thing at this early hour. "

"Of course, I need not tell you that you are to treat us with perfectfrankness. You may give your orders here as if you were in your ownhouse. "

"Thanks, aunt. "

"But how like your father you are!" said the senora, regarding the youngman, as he ate, with real delight. "I can fancy I am looking now at mydear brother Juan. He sat just as you are sitting and ate as you areeating. In your expression, especially, you are as like as two drops ofwater. "

Pepe began his frugal breakfast. The words, as well as the mannerand the expression, of his aunt and cousin inspired him with so muchconfidence that he already felt as if he were in his own house. 

"Do you know what Rosario was saying to me this morning?" said DonaPerfecta, looking at her nephew. "Well, she was saying that, as a manaccustomed to the luxuries and the etiquette of the capital and toforeign ways, you would not be able to put up with the somewhat rusticsimplicity and the lack of ceremony of our manner of life; for hereevery thing is very plain. "

"What a mistake!" responded Pepe, looking at his cousin. "No one abhorsmore than I do the falseness and the hypocrisy of what is called highsociety. Believe me, I have long wished to give myself a completebath in nature, as some one has said; to live far from the turmoilof existence in the solitude and quiet of the country. I long forthe tranquillity of a life without strife, without anxieties; neitherenvying nor envied, as the poet has said. For a long time my studies atfirst, and my work afterward, prevented me from taking the rest whichI need, and which my mind and my body both require; but ever since Ientered this house, my dear aunt, my dear cousin, I have felt myselfsurrounded by the peaceful atmosphere which I have longed for. You mustnot talk to me, then, of society, either high or low; or of the world, either great or small, for I would willingly exchange them all for thispeaceful retreat. "

While he was thus speaking, the glass door which led from thedining-room into the garden was obscured by the interposition betweenit and the light of a dark body. The glasses of a pair of spectacles, catching a sunbeam, sent forth a fugitive gleam; the latch creaked, thedoor opened, and the Penitentiary gravely entered the room. He salutedthose present, taking off his broad-brimmed hat and bowing until itsbrim touched the floor. 

"It is the Senor Penitentiary, of our holy cathedral, " said DonaPerfecta: "a person whom we all esteem greatly, and whose friend youwill, I hope, be. Take a seat, Senor Don Inocencio. "

Pepe shook hands with the venerable canon, and both sat down. 

"If you are accustomed to smoke after meals, pray do so, " said DonaPerfecta amiably; "and the Senor Penitentiary also. "

The worthy Don Inocencio drew from under his cassock a large leathercigar-case, which showed unmistakable signs of long use, opened it, andtook from it two long cigarettes, one of which he offered to our friend. Rosario took a match from a little leaf-shaped matchbox, which theSpaniards ironically call a wagon, and the engineer and the canon weresoon puffing their smoke over each other. 

"And what does Senor Don Jose think of our dear city of Orbajosa?" askedthe canon, shutting his left eye tightly, according to his habit when hesmoked. 

"I have not yet been able to form an idea of the town, " said Pepe. "Fromthe little I have seen of it, however, I think that half a dozen largecapitalists disposed to invest their money here, a pair of intelligentheads to direct the work of renovating the place, and a couple ofthousands of active hands to carry it out, would not be a bad thingfor Orbajosa. Coming from the entrance to the town to the door of thishouse, I saw more than a hundred beggars. The greater part of them arehealthy, and even robust men. It is a pitiable army, the sight of whichoppresses the heart. "

"That is what charity is for, " declared Don Inocencio. "Apart from that, Orbajosa is not a poor town. You are already aware that the best garlicin all Spain is produced here. There are more than twenty rich familiesliving among us. "

"It is true, " said Dona Perfecta, "that the last few years have beenwretched, owing to the drought; but even so, the granaries are notempty, and several thousands of strings of garlic were recently carriedto market. "

"During the many years that I have lived in Orbajosa, " said the priest, with a frown, "I have seen innumerable persons come here from thecapital, some brought by the electoral hurly-burly, others to visit someabandoned site, or to see the antiquities of the cathedral, and theyall talk to us about the English ploughs and threshing-machines andwater-power and banks, and I don't know how many other absurdities. Theburden of their song is that this place is very backward, and that itcould be improved. Let them keep away from us, in the devil's name!We are well enough as we are, without the gentlemen from the capitalvisiting us; a great deal better off without hearing that continualclamor about our poverty and the grandeurs and the wonders of otherplaces. The fool in his own house is wiser than the wise man inanother's. Is it not so, Senor Don Jose? Of course, you mustn't imagine, even remotely, that I say this on your account. Not at all! Of coursenot! I know that we have before us one of the most eminent young men ofmodern Spain, a man who would be able to transform into fertile landsour arid wastes. And I am not at all angry because you sing us the sameold song about the English ploughs and arboriculture and silviculture. Not in the least. Men of such great, such very great merit, may beexcused for the contempt which they manifest for our littleness. No, no, my friend; no, no, Senor Don Jose! you are entitled to say any thing youplease, even to tell us that we are not much better than Kaffirs. "

This philippic, concluded in a marked tone of irony, and all of itimpertinent enough, did not please the young man; but he refrained frommanifesting the slightest annoyance and continued the conversation, endeavoring to avoid as far as possible the subjects in which theover-sensitive patriotism of the canon might find cause of offence. Thelatter rose when Dona Perfecta began to speak to her nephew about familymatters, and took a few turns about the room. 

This was a spacious and well-lighted apartment, the walls of which werecovered with an old-fashioned paper whose flowers and branches, althoughfaded, preserved their original pattern, thanks to the cleanliness whichreigned in each and every part of the dwelling. The clock, from thecase of which hung, uncovered, the apparently motionless weights andthe voluble pendulum, perpetually repeating No, no, occupied, with itsvariegated dial, the most prominent place among the solid pieces offurniture of the dining-room, the adornment of the walls being completedby a series of French engravings representing the exploits of theconqueror of Mexico, with prolix explanations at the foot of eachconcerning a Ferdinand Cortez, and a Donna Marine, as little true tonature as were the figures delineated by the ignorant artist. In thespace between the two glass doors which communicated with the gardenwas an apparatus of brass, which it is not necessary to describe furtherthan to say that it served to support a parrot, which maintained itselfon it with the air of gravity and circumspection peculiar to thoseanimals, taking note of everything that went on. The hard and ironicalexpression of the parrot tribe, their green coats, their red caps, their yellow boots, and finally, the hoarse, mocking words which theygenerally utter, give them a strange and repulsive aspect, half serious, half-comic. There is in their air an indescribable something of thestiffness of diplomats. At times they remind one of buffoons, and theyalways resemble those absurdly conceited people who, in their desire toappear very superior, look like caricatures. 

The Penitentiary was very fond of the parrot. When he left Dona Perfectaand Rosario conversing with the traveller, he went over to the bird, and, allowing it to bite his forefinger with the greatest good humor, said to it:

"Rascal, knave, why don't you talk? You would be of little account ifyou weren't a prater. The world of birds, as well as men, is full ofpraters. "

Then, with his own venerable hand, he took some peas from the dishbeside him, and gave them to the bird to eat. The parrot began to callto the maid, asking her for some chocolate, and its words diverted thetwo ladies and the young man from a conversation which could not havebeen very engrossing. 

CHAPTER VI

IN WHICH IT IS SEEN THAT DISAGREEMENT MAY ARISE WHEN LEAST EXPECTED

Suddenly Don Cayetano Polentinos, Dona Perfecta's brother-in-law, appeared at the door, and entering the room with outstretched arms, cried:

"Let me embrace you, my dear Don Jose. "

They embraced each other cordially. Don Cayetano and Pepe were alreadyacquainted with each other, for the eminent scholar and bibliophile wasin the habit of making a trip to Madrid whenever an executor's sale ofthe stock of some dealer in old books was advertised. Don Cayetano wastall and thin, of middle age, although constant study or ill-healthhad given him a worn appearance; he expressed himself with a refinedcorrectness which became him admirably, and he was affectionate andamiable in his manners, at times to excess. With respect to his vastlearning, what can be said but that he was a real prodigy? In Madrid hisname was always mentioned with respect, and if Don Cayetano had livedin the capital, he could not have escaped becoming a member, in spite ofhis modesty, of every academy in it, past, present, and to come. But hewas fond of quiet and retirement, and the place which vanity occupiesin the souls of others, a pure passion for books, a love of solitary andsecluded study, without any other aim or incentive than the books andthe study themselves, occupied in his. 

He had formed in Orbajosa one of the finest libraries that is to befound in all Spain, and among his books he passed long hours of the dayand of the night, compiling, classifying, taking notes, and selectingvarious sorts of precious information, or composing, perhaps, somehitherto unheard-of and undreamed-of work, worthy of so great a mind. His habits were patriarchal; he ate little, drank less, and his onlydissipations consisted of a luncheon in the Alamillos on very greatoccasions, and daily walks to a place called Mundogrande, where wereoften disinterred from the accumulated dust of twenty centuries, medals, bits of architecture, and occasionally an amphora or cubicularia ofinestimable value. 

Don Cayetano and Dona Perfecta lived in such perfect harmony that thepeace of Paradise was not to be compared to it. They never disagreed. Itis true that Don Cayetano never interfered in the affairs of the housenor Dona Perfecta in those of the library, except to have it swept anddusted every Saturday, regarding with religious respect the books andpapers that were in use on the table or anywhere else in the room. 

After the questions and answers proper to the occasion had beeninterchanged Don Cayetano said:

"I have already looked at the books. I am very sorry that you did notbring me the edition of 1527. I shall have to make a journey to Madridmyself. Are you going to remain with us long? The longer the better, my dear Pepe. How glad I am to have you here! Between us both we willarrange a part of my library and make an index of the writers on the Artof Horsemanship. It is not always one has at hand a man of your talents. You shall see my library. You can take your fill of reading there--asoften as you like. You will see marvels, real marvels, inestimabletreasures, rare works that no one but myself has a copy of. But I thinkit must be time for dinner, is it not, Jose? Is it not, Perfecta? Is itnot, Rosarito? Is it not, Senor Don Inocencio? To-day you are doubly aPenitentiary--I mean because you will accompany us in doing penance. "

The canon bowed and smiled, manifesting his pleased acquiescence. Thedinner was substantial, and in all the dishes there was noticeable theexcessive abundance of country banquets, realized at the expense ofvariety. There was enough to surfeit twice as many persons as sat downto table. The conversation turned on various subjects. 

"You must visit our cathedral as soon as possible, " said the canon. "There are few cathedrals like ours, Senor Don Jose! But of course you, who have seen so many wonders in foreign countries, will find nothingremarkable in our old church. We poor provincials of Orbajosa, however, think it divine. Master Lopez of Berganza, one of the prebendariesof the cathedral, called it in the sixteenth century _pulchraaugustissima_. But perhaps for a man of your learning it wouldpossess no merit, and some market constructed of iron would seem morebeautiful. "

The ironical remarks of the wily canon annoyed Pepe Rey more and moreevery moment, but, determined to control himself and to conceal hisanger, he answered only with vague words. Dona Perfecta then took up thetheme and said playfully:

"Take care, Pepito; I warn you that if you speak ill of our holy churchwe shall cease to be friends. You know a great deal, you are a maneminent for your knowledge on every subject, but if you are going todiscover that that grand edifice is not the eighth wonder of the worldyou will do well to keep your knowledge to yourself and leave us in ourignorance. "

"Far from thinking that the building is not handsome, " responded Pepe, "the little I have seen of its exterior has seemed to me of imposingbeauty. So there is no need for you to be alarmed, aunt. And I am veryfar from being a savant. "

"Softly; softly, " said the canon, extending his hand and giving hismouth a truce from eating in order to talk. "Stop there--don't come nowpretending modesty, Senor Don Jose; we are too well aware of your greatmerit, of the high reputation you enjoy and the important part you playwherever you are, for that. Men like you are not to be met with everyday. But now that I have extolled your merits in this way----"

He stopped to eat a mouthful, and when his tongue was once more atliberty he continued thus:

"Now that I have extolled your merits in this way, permit me to expressa different opinion with the frankness which belongs to my character. Yes, Senor Don Jose, yes, Senor Don Cayetano; yes, senora and senorita, science, as the moderns study and propagate it, is the death ofsentiment and of every sweet illusion. Under its influence the life ofthe spirit declines, every thing is reduced to fixed rules, and even thesublime charms of nature disappear. Science destroys the marvellous inthe arts, as well as faith in the soul. Science says that every thingis a lie, and would reduce every thing to figures and lines, not only_maria ac terras_, where we are, but _coelumque profundum_, where Godis. The wonderful visions of the soul, its mystic raptures, even theinspiration of the poets, are all a lie. The heart is a sponge; thebrain, a place for breeding maggots. "

Every one laughed, while the canon took a draught of wine. 

"Come, now, will Senor Don Jose deny, " continued the ecclesiastic, "thatscience, as it is taught and propagated to-day, is fast making of theworld and of the human race a great machine?"

"That depends, " said Don Cayetano. "Every thing has its _pro_ and its_contra_. "

"Take some more salad, Senor Penitentiary, " said Dona Perfecta; "it isjust as you like it--with a good deal of mustard. "

Pepe Rey was not fond of engaging in useless discussions; he was not apedant, nor did he desire to make a display of his learning, and stillless did he wish to do so in the presence of women, and in a privatere-union; but the importunate and aggressive verbosity of the canonrequired, in his opinion, a corrective. To flatter his vanity byagreeing with his views would, he thought, be a bad way to give it tohim, and he determined therefore to express only such opinions as shouldbe most directly opposed to those of the sarcastic Penitentiary and mostoffensive to him. 

"So you wish to amuse yourself at my expense, " he said to himself. "Wait, and you will see what a fine dance I will lead you. "

Then he said aloud:

"All that the Senor Penitentiary has said ironically is the truth. Butit is not our fault if science overturns day after day the vain idolsof the past: its superstitions, its sophisms, its innumerablefables--beautiful, some of them, ridiculous others--for in the vineyardof the Lord grow both good fruit and bad. The world of illusions, whichis, as we might say, a second world, is tumbling about us in ruins. Mysticism in religion, routine in science, mannerism in art, arefalling, as the Pagan gods fell, amid jests. Farewell, foolish dreams!the human race is awakening and its eyes behold the light. Its vainsentimentalism, its mysticism, its fevers, its hallucination, itsdelirium are passing away, and he who was before sick is now welland takes an ineffable delight in the just appreciation of things. Imagination, the terrible madwoman, who was the mistress of the house, has become the servant. Look around you, Senor Penitentiary, and youwill see the admirable aggregation of truths which has taken the placeof fable. The sky is not a vault; the stars are not little lamps; themoon is not a sportive huntress, but an opaque mass of stone; the sun isnot a gayly adorned and vagabond charioteer but a fixed fire; Scylla andCharybdis are not nymphs but sunken rocks; the sirens are seals; and inthe order of personages, Mercury is Manzanedo; Mars is a clean-shavenold man, the Count von Moltke; Nestor may be a gentleman in an overcoat, who is called M. Thiers; Orpheus is Verdi; Vulcan is Krupp; Apollo isany poet. Do you wish more? Well, then, Jupiter, a god who, if hewere living now, would deserve to be put in jail, does not launch thethunderbolt, but the thunderbolt falls when electricity wills it. Thereis no Parnassus; there is no Olympus; there is no Stygian lake; nor arethere any other Elysian Fields than those of Paris. There is no otherdescent to hell than the descents of Geology, and this traveller, everytime he returns from it, declares that there are no damned souls in thecentre of the earth. There are no other ascents to heaven than those ofAstronomy, and she, on her return, declares that she has not seen thesix or seven circles of which Dante and the mystical dreamers of theMiddle Ages speak. She finds only stars and distances, lines, vastspaces, and nothing more. There are now no false computations of the ageof the earth, for paleontology and prehistoric research have counted theteeth of this skull in which we live and discovered the true age. Fable, whether it be called paganism or Christian idealism, exists no longer, and imagination plays only a secondary part. All the miracles possibleare such as I work, whenever I desire to do so, in my laboratory, withmy Bunsen pile, a conducting wire, and a magnetized needle. There arenow no other multiplications of loaves and fishes than those whichIndustry makes, with her moulds and her machines, and those of theprinting press, which imitates Nature, taking from a single typemillions of copies. In short, my dear canon, orders have been given toput on the retired list all the absurdities, lies, illusions, dreams, sentimentalities, and prejudices which darken the understanding of man. Let us rejoice at the fact. "

When Pepe finished speaking, a furtive smile played upon the canon'slips and his eyes were extraordinarily animated. Don Cayetano busiedhimself in giving various forms--now rhomboidal, now prismatic--to alittle ball of bread. But Dona Perfecta was pale and kept her eyes fixedon the canon with observant insistence. Rosarito looked with amazementat her cousin. The latter, bending toward her, whispered under hisbreath:

"Don't mind me, little cousin; I am talking all this nonsense only toenrage the canon. "

CHAPTER VII

THE DISAGREEMENT INCREASES

"Perhaps you think, " said Dona Perfecta, with a tinge of conceit in hertones, "that Senor Don Inocencio is going to remain silent and not giveyou an answer to each and every one of those points. "

"Oh, no!" exclaimed the canon, arching his eyebrows. "I will not attemptto measure my poor abilities with a champion so valiant and at the sametime so well armed. Senor Don Jose knows every thing; that is to say, hehas at his command the whole arsenal of the exact sciences. Of courseI know that the doctrines he upholds are false; but I have neither thetalent nor the eloquence to combat them. I would employ theologicalarguments, drawn from revelation, from faith, from the Divine Word; butalas! Senor Don Jose, who is an eminent savant, would laugh at theology, at faith, at revelation, at the holy prophets, at the gospel. A poorignorant priest, an unhappy man who knows neither mathematics, norGerman philosophy with its _ego_ and its _non ego_, a poor dominie, whoknows only the science of God and something of the Latin poets, cannotenter into combat with so valiant a champion. "

Pepe Rey burst into a frank laugh. 

"I see that Senor Don Inocencio, " he said, "has taken seriously all thenonsense I have been talking. Come, Senor Canon, regard the whole matteras a jest, and let it end there. I am quite sure that my opinions do notin reality differ greatly from yours. You are a pious and learned man;it is I who am ignorant. If I have allowed myself to speak in jest, pardon me, all of you--that is my way. "

"Thanks!" responded the presbyter, visibly annoyed. "Is that the way youwant to get out of it now? I am well aware, we are all well aware, thatthe views you have sustained are your own. It could not be otherwise. You are the man of the age. It cannot be denied that you have awonderful, a truly wonderful intellect. While you were talking, at thesame time that I inwardly deplored errors so great, I could not butadmire, I will confess it frankly, the loftiness of expression, theprodigious fluency, the surprising method of your reasoning, the forceof your arguments. What a head, Senora Dona Perfecta, what a head youryoung nephew has! When I was in Madrid and they took me to the Atheneum, I confess that I was amazed to see the wonderful talent which God hasbestowed on the atheists and the Protestants. "

"Senor Don Inocencio, " said Dona Perfecta, looking alternately at hernephew and her friend, "I think that in judging this boy you are morethan benevolent. Don't get angry, Pepe, or mind what I say, for I amneither a savante, nor a philosopher, nor a theologian; but it seems tome that Senor Don Inocencio has just given a proof of his great modestyand Christian charity in not crushing you as he could have done if hehad wished. "

"Oh, senora!" said the ecclesiastic. 

"That is the way with him, " continued Dona Perfecta, "always pretendingto know nothing. And he knows more than the seven doctors put together. Ah, Senor Don Inocencio, how well the name you have suits you! But don'taffect an unseasonable humility now. Why, my nephew has no pretensions. All he knows is what he has been taught. If he has been taught error, what more can he desire than that you should enlighten him and take himout of the limbo of his false doctrines?"

"Just so; I desire nothing more than that the Senor Penitentiary shouldtake me out, "--murmured Pepe, comprehending that without intending it, he had got himself into a labyrinth. 

"I am a poor priest, whose only learning is some knowledge of theancients, " responded Don Inocencio. "I recognize the immense value, froma worldly point of view, of Senor Don Jose's scientific knowledge, andbefore so brilliant an oracle I prostrate myself and am silent. "

So saying, the canon folded his hands across his breast and bent hishead. Pepe Rey was somewhat disturbed because of the turn which his mindhad chosen to give to an idle discussion jestingly followed up, andin which he had engaged only to enliven the conversation a little. Hethought that the most prudent course to pursue would be to end at onceso dangerous a debate, and for this purpose he addressed a question toSenor Don Cayetano when the latter, shaking off the drowsiness whichhad overcome him after the dessert, offered the guests the indispensabletoothpicks stuck in a china peacock with outspread tail. 

"Yesterday I discovered a hand grasping the handle of an amphora, onwhich there are a number of hieratic characters. I will show it to you, "said Don Cayetano, delighted to introduce a favorite theme. 

"I suppose that Senor de Rey is very expert in archaeological mattersalso, " said the canon, who, still implacable, pursued his victim to hislast retreat. 

"Of course, " said Dona Perfecta. "What is there that these cleverchildren of our day do not understand? They have all the sciences attheir fingers' ends. The universities and the academics teach them everything in a twinkling, giving them a patent of learning. "

"Oh, that is unjust!" responded the canon, observing the painedexpression of the engineer's countenance. 

"My aunt is right, " declared Pepe. "At the present day we learn a littleof every thing, and leave school with the rudiments of various studies. "

"I was saying, " continued the canon, "that you are no doubt a greatarchaeologist. "

"I know absolutely nothing of that science, " responded the young man. "Ruins are ruins, and I have never cared to cover myself with dust goingamong them. "

Don Cayetano made an expressive grimace. 

"That is not to say that I condemn archaeology, " said Dona Perfecta'snephew quickly, observing with pain that he could not utter a wordwithout wounding some one. "I know that from that dust issues history. Those studies are delightful and very useful. "

"You, " said the Penitentiary, putting his toothpick into the last ofhis back teeth, "are no doubt more inclined to controversial studies. Anexcellent idea has just occurred to me, Senor Don Jose; you ought to bea lawyer. "

"Law is a profession which I abhor, " replied Pepe Rey. "I know manyestimable lawyers, among them my father, who is the best of men; but, in spite of so favorable a specimen, I could never had brought myself topractise a profession which consists in defending with equal readinessthe _pro_ and the _contra_ of a question. I know of no greatermisjudgment, no greater prejudice, no greater blindness, than parentsshow in their eagerness to dedicate their sons to the law. The chief andthe most terrible plague of Spain is the crowd of our young lawyers, forwhose existence a fabulous number of lawsuits are necessary. Lawsuitsmultiply in proportion to the demand. And even thus, numbers are leftwithout employment, and, as a jurisconsult cannot put his hand tothe plough or seat himself at the loom, the result is that brilliantsquadron of idlers full of pretensions, who clamor for places, embarrassthe administration, agitate public opinion, and breed revolutions. Insome way they must make a living. It would be a greater misfortune ifthere were lawsuits enough for all of them. "

"Pepe, for Heaven's sake, take care what you say, " said Dona Perfecta, in a tone of marked severity. "But excuse him, Senor Don Inocencio, forhe is not aware that you have a nephew who, although he has only latelyleft the university, is a prodigy in the law. "

"I speak in general terms, " said Pepe, with firmness. "Being, as I am, the son of a distinguished lawyer, I cannot be ignorant of the factthat there are many men who practise that noble profession with honor tothemselves. "

"No; my nephew is only a boy yet, " said the canon, with affectedhumility. "Far be it from me to assert that he is a prodigy of learning, like Senor de Rey. In time, who can tell? His talents are neitherbrilliant nor seductive. Of course, Jacinto's ideas are solid and hisjudgment is sound. What he knows he knows thoroughly. He is unacquaintedwith sophistries and hollow phrases. "

Pepe Rey appeared every moment more and more disturbed. The idea that, without desiring it, his opinions should be in opposition to those ofthe friends of his aunt, vexed him, and he resolved to remain silentlest he and Don Inocencio should end by throwing the plates at eachother's heads. Fortunately the cathedral bell, calling the canon to theimportant duties of the choir, extricated him from his painful position. The venerable ecclesiastic rose and took leave of every one, treatingRey with as much amiability and kindness as if they had been old anddear friends. The canon, after offering his services to Pepe for allthat he might require, promised to present his nephew to him in orderthat the young man might accompany him to see the town, speaking in themost affectionate terms and deigning, on leaving the room, to pat himon the shoulder. Pepe Rey, accepting with pleasure these formulas ofconcord, nevertheless felt indescribably relieved when the priest hadleft the dining-room and the house. 

CHAPTER VIII

IN ALL HASTE

A little later the scene had changed. Don Cayetano, finding rest fromhis sublime labors in a gentle slumber that had overcome him afterdinner, reclined comfortably in an arm-chair in the dining-room. Rosarito, seated at one of the windows that opened into the garden, glanced at her cousin, saying to him with the mute eloquence of hereyes:

"Cousin, sit down here beside me and tell me every thing you have to sayto me. "

Her cousin, mathematician though he was, understood. 

"My dear cousin, " said Pepe, "how you must have been bored thisafternoon by our disputes! Heaven knows that for my own pleasure I wouldnot have played the pedant as I did; the canon was to blame for it. Doyou know that that priest appears to me to be a singular character?"

"He is an excellent person!" responded Rosarito, showing the delight shefelt at being able to give her cousin all the data and the informationthat he might require. 

"Oh, yes! An excellent person. That is very evident!"

"When you know him a little better, you will see that. "

"That he is beyond all price! But it is enough for him to be your friendand your mamma's to be my friend also, " declared the young man. "Anddoes he come here often?"

"Every day. He spends a great deal of his time with us, " respondedRosarito ingenuously. "How good and kind he is! And how fond he is ofme!"

"Come! I begin to like this gentleman. "

"He comes in the evening, besides, to play tresillo, " continued theyoung girl; "for every night some friends meet here--the judge of thelower court, the attorney-general, the dean, the bishop's secretary, thealcalde, the collector of taxes, Don Inocencio's nephew----"

"Ah! Jacintito, the lawyer. "

"Yes; he is a simple-hearted boy, as good as gold. His uncle adores him. Since he returned from the university with his doctor's tassel--for heis a doctor in two sciences, and he took honors besides--what do youthink of that?--well, as I was saying, since his return, he has comehere very often with his uncle. Mamma too is very fond of him. He is avery sensible boy. He goes home early with his uncle; he never goes atnight to the Casino, nor plays nor squanders money, and he is employedin the office of Don Lorenzo Ruiz, who is the best lawyer in Orbajosa. They say Jacinto will be a great lawyer, too. "

"His uncle did not exaggerate when he praised him, then, " said Pepe. "Iam very sorry that I talked all that nonsense I did about lawyers. I wasvery perverse, was I not, my dear cousin?"

"Not at all; for my part, I think you were quite right. "

"But, really, was I not a little--"

"Not in the least, not in the least!"

"What a weight you have taken off my mind! The truth is that I foundmyself constantly, and without knowing why, in distressing opposition tothat venerable priest. I am very sorry for it. "

"What I think, " said Rosarito, looking at him with eyes full ofaffection, "is that you will not find yourself at home among us. "

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know whether I can make myself quite clear, cousin. I mean thatit will not be easy for you to accustom yourself to the society and theideas of the people of Orbajosa. I imagine so--it is a supposition. "

"Oh, no! I think you are mistaken. "

"You come from a different place, from another world, where the peopleare very clever, and very learned, and have refined manners, and a wittyway of talking, and an air--perhaps I am not making myself clear. I meanthat you are accustomed to live among people of refinement; you knowa great deal. Here there is not what you need; here the people are notlearned or very polished. Every thing is plain, Pepe. I imagine you willbe bored, terribly bored, and that in the end you will have to go away. "

The expression of sadness which was natural in Rosarito's countenancehere became so profound that Pepe Rey was deeply moved. 

"You are mistaken, my dear cousin. I did not come here with the ideasyou fancy, nor is there between my character and my opinions and thecharacter and opinions of the people here the want of harmony youimagine. But let us suppose for a moment that there were. "

"Let us suppose it. "

"In that case I have the firm conviction that between you and me, between us two, dear Rosarito, perfect harmony would still exist. On this point I cannot be mistaken. My heart tells me that I am notmistaken. "

Rosarito blushed deeply, but making an effort to conceal herembarrassment under smiles and fugitive glances, she said:

"Come, now, no pretences. But if you mean that I shall always approve ofwhat you say, you are right. "

"Rosario, " exclaimed the young man, "the moment I saw you my soul wasfilled with gladness; I felt at the same time a regret that I had notcome before to Orbajosa. "

"Now, that I am not going to believe, " she said, affecting gayetyto conceal her emotion. "So soon? Don't begin to make protestationsalready. See, Pepe, I am only a country girl, I can talk only aboutcommon things; I don't know French; I don't dress with elegance; all Iknow is how to play the piano; I----"

"Oh, Rosario!" cried the young man, with ardor; "I believed you to beperfect before; now I am sure you are so. "

Her mother at this moment entered the room. Rosarito, who did notknow what to say in answer to her cousin's last words, was conscious, however, of the necessity of saying something, and, looking at hermother, she cried:

"Ah! I forgot to give the parrot his dinner. "

"Don't mind that now. But why do you stay in here? Take your cousin fora walk in the garden. "

Dona Perfecta smiled with maternal kindness at her nephew, as shepointed toward the leafy avenue which was visible through the glassdoor. 

"Let us go there, " said Pepe, rising. 

Rosarito darted, like a bird released from its cage, toward the glassdoor. 

"Pepe, who knows so much and who must understand all about trees, " saidDona Perfecta, "will teach you how to graft. Let us see what he thinksof those young pear-trees that they are going to transplant. "

"Come, come!" called Rosarito to her cousin impatiently from the garden. 

Both disappeared among the foliage. Dona Perfecta watched them untilthey were out of sight and then busied herself with the parrot. As shechanged its food she said to herself with a contemplative air:

"How different he is! He has not even given a caress to the poor bird. "

Then, thinking it possible that she had been overheard by herbrother-in-law, she said aloud:

"Cayetano, what do you think of my nephew? Cayetano!"

A low grunt gave evidence that the antiquary was returning to theconsciousness of this miserable world. 

"Cayetano!"

"Just so, just so!" murmured the scientist in a sleepy voice. "Thatyoung gentleman will maintain, as every one does, that the statuesof Mundogrande belong to the first Phoenician immigration. But I willconvince him--"

"But, Cayetano!"

"But, Perfecta! There! Now you will insist upon it again that I havebeen asleep. "

"No, indeed; how could I insist upon any thing so absurd! But youhaven't told me what you think about that young man. "

Don Cayetano placed the palm of his hand before his mouth to conceal ayawn; then he and Dona Perfecta entered upon a long conversation. Thosewho have transmitted to us the necessary data for a compilation ofthis history omit this dialogue, no doubt because it was entirelyconfidential. As for what the engineer and Rosarito said in the gardenthat afternoon, it is evident that it was not worthy of mention. 

On the afternoon of the following day, however, events took place which, being of the gravest importance, ought not to be passed over in silence. Late in the afternoon the two cousins found themselves alone, afterrambling through different parts of the garden in friendly companionshipand having eyes and ears only for each other. 

"Pepe, " Rosario was saying, "all that you have been telling me is purefancy, one of those stories that you clever men know so well how to puttogether. You think that because I am a country girl I believe everything I am told. "

"If you understood me as well as I think I understand you, you wouldknow that I never say any thing I do not mean. But let us have donewith foolish subtleties and lovers' sophistries, that lead only tomisunderstandings. I will speak to you only in the language of truth. Are you by chance a young lady whose acquaintance I have made on thepromenade or at a party, and with whom I propose to spend a pleasanthour or two? No, you are my cousin. You are something more. Rosario, let us at once put things on their proper footing. Let us dropcircumlocutions. I have come here to marry you. "

Rosario felt her face burning, and her heart was beating violently. 

"See, my dear cousin, " continued the young man. "I swear to you thatif you had not pleased me I should be already far away from this place. Although politeness and delicacy would have obliged me to make an effortto conceal my disappointment, I should have found it hard to do so. Thatis my character. "

"Cousin, you have only just arrived, " said Rosarito laconically, tryingto laugh. 

"I have only just arrived, and I already know all that I wanted to know;I know that I love you; that you are the woman whom my heart has longbeen announcing to me, saying to me night and day, 'Now she is coming, now she is near; now you are burning. '"

These words served Rosario as an excuse for breaking into the laughthat had been dimpling her lips. Her soul swelled with happiness; shebreathed an atmosphere of joy. 

"You persist in depreciating yourself, " continued Pepe, "but for me youpossess every perfection. You have the admirable quality of radiatingon all around you the divine light of your soul. The moment one sees youone feels instinctively the nobility of your mind and the purity ofyour heart. To see you is to see a celestial being who, through theforgetfulness of Heaven, remains upon the earth; you are an angel, and Iadore you. "

When he had said this it seemed as if he had fulfilled an importantmission. Rosarito, overcome by the violence of her emotion, felt herscant strength suddenly fail her; and, half-fainting, she sank on astone that in those pleasant solitudes served as a seat. Pepe bent overher. Her eyes were closed, her forehead rested on the palm of her hand. A few moments later the daughter of Dona Perfecta Polentinos gave hercousin, amid happy tears, a tender glance followed by these words:

"I loved you before I had ever seen you. "

Placing her hands in those of the young man she rose to her feet, andtheir forms disappeared among the leafy branches of an oleander walk. Night was falling and soft shadows enveloped the lower end of thegarden, while the last rays of the setting sun crowned the tree-topswith fleeting splendors. The noisy republic of the birds kept up adeafening clamor in the upper branches. It was the hour in which, afterflitting about in the joyous regions of the sky, they were all goingto rest, and they were disputing with one another the branches theyhad selected for sleeping-places. Their chatter at times had a soundof recrimination and controversy, at times of mockery and merriment. Intheir voluble twitter the little rascals said the most insulting thingsto each other, pecking at each other and flapping their wings, asorators wave their arms when they want to make their hearers believethe lies they are telling them. But words of love were to be heard theretoo, for the peace of the hour and the beauty of the spot invited to it. A sharp ear might have distinguished the following:

"I loved you before I had even seen you, and if you had not come Ishould have died of grief. Mamma used to give me your father's lettersto read, and he praised you so much in them that I used to say, 'Thatis the man who ought to be my husband. ' For a long time your father saidnothing about our marrying, which seemed to me great negligence. UncleCayetano, whenever he spoke of you, would say, 'There are not many menlike him in the world. The woman who gets him for a husband may thinkherself fortunate. ' At last your father said what he could not avoidsaying. Yes, he could not avoid saying it--I was expecting it everyday. "

Shortly after these words the same voice added uneasily: "Some one isfollowing us. "

Emerging from among the oleanders, Pepe, turning round, saw two menapproaching them, and touching the leaves of a young tree near by, hesaid aloud to his companion:

"It is not proper to prune young trees like this for the first timeuntil they have taken firm root. Trees recently planted have notsufficient strength to bear the operation. You know that the roots cangrow only by means of the leaves, so that if you take the leaves from atree--"

"Ah, Senor Don Jose, " cried the Penitentiary, with a frank laugh, approaching the two young people and bowing to them, "are you givinglessons in horticulture? _Insere nunc Meliboee piros; pone ordinevites_, as the great singer of the labors of the field said. 'Graft thepear-tree, dear Meliboeus, trim the vines. ' And how are we now, SenorDon Jose?"

The engineer and the canon shook hands. Then the latter turned round, and indicating by a gesture a young man who was behind him, said, smiling:

"I have the pleasure of presenting to you my dear Jacintillo--a greatrogue, a feather-head, Senor Don Jose. "

CHAPTER IX

THE DISAGREEMENT CONTINUES TO INCREASE, AND THEREAFTER TO BECOME DISCORD

Close beside the black cassock was a fresh and rosy face, that seemedfresher and rosier from the contrast. Jacinto saluted our hero, notwithout some embarrassment. 

He was one of those precocious youths whom the indulgent universitysends prematurely forth into the arena of life, making them fancy thatthey are men because they have received their doctor's degree. Jacintohad a round, handsome face with rosy cheeks, like a girl's, and withoutany beard save the down which announced its coming. In person he wasplump and below the medium height. His age was a little over twenty. Hehad been educated from childhood under the direction of his excellentand learned uncle, which is the same as saying that the twig had notbecome crooked in the growing. A severe moral training had kept himalways straight, and in the fulfilment of his scholastic duties hehad been almost above reproach. Having concluded his studies at theuniversity with astonishing success, for there was scarcely a class inwhich he did not take the highest honors, he entered on the practice ofhis profession, promising, by his application and his aptitude forthe law, to maintain fresh and green in the forum the laurels of thelecture-hall. 

At times he was as mischievous as a boy, at times as sedate as a man. In very truth, if Jacinto had not had a little, and even a great deal ofliking for pretty girls, his uncle would have thought him perfect. Theworthy man preached to him unceasingly on this point, hastening toclip the wings of every audacious fancy. But not even this mundaneinclination of the young man could cool the great affection whichour worthy canon bore the charming offspring of his dear niece, MariaRemedios. Where the young lawyer was concerned, every thing elsemust give way. Even the grave and methodical habits of the worthyecclesiastic were altered when they interfered with the affairs of hisprecocious pupil. That order and regularity, apparently as fixed as thelaws of a planetary system, were interrupted whenever Jacinto was illor had to take a journey. Useless celibacy of the clergy! The Council ofTrent prohibits them from having children of their own, but God--and notthe Devil, as the proverb says--gives them nephews and nieces in orderthat they may know the tender anxieties of paternity. 

Examining impartially the qualities of this clever boy, it wasimpossible not to recognize that he was not wanting in merit. Hischaracter was in the main inclined to uprightness, and nobleactions awakened a frank admiration in his soul. With respect to hisintellectual endowments and his social knowledge, they were sufficientto enable him to become in time one of those notabilities of whomthere are so many in Spain; he might be what we take delight in callinghyperbolically a distinguished patrician, or an eminent public man;species which, owing to their great abundance, are hardly appreciatedat their just value. In the tender age in which the university degreeserves as a sort of solder between boyhood and manhood, few youngmen--especially if they have been spoiled by their masters--are freefrom an offensive pedantry, which, if it gives them great importancebeside their mamma's arm-chair, makes them very ridiculous when theyare among grave and experienced men. Jacinto had this defect, which wasexcusable in him, not only because of his youth, but also because hisworthy uncle stimulated his puerile vanity by injudicious praise. 

When the introduction was over they resumed their walk. Jacinto wassilent. The canon, returning to the interrupted theme of the _pyros_which were to be grafted and the _vites_ which were to be trimmed, said:

"I am already aware that Senor Don Jose is a great agriculturist. "

"Not at all; I know nothing whatever about the subject, " respondedthe young man, observing with no little annoyance the canon's mania ofsupposing him to be learned in all the sciences. 

"Oh, yes! a great agriculturist, " continued the Penitentiary; "but onagricultural subjects, don't quote the latest treatises to me. For methe whole of that science, Senor de Rey, is condensed in what I call theBible of the Field, in the 'Georgics' of the immortal Roman. It is alladmirable, from that grand sentence, _Nec vero terroe ferre omnes omniapossunt_--that is to say, that not every soil is suited to every tree, Senor Don Jose--to the exhaustive treatise on bees, in which the poetdescribes the habits of those wise little animals, defining the drone inthese words:

 "'Ille horridus alter Desidia, latamque trahens inglorius alvum. '

"'Of a horrible and slothful figure, dragging along the ignoble weight ofthe belly, ' Senor Don Jose. "

"You do well to translate it for me, " said Pepe, "for I know very littleLatin. "

"Oh, why should the men of the present day spend their time in studyingthings that are out of date?" said the canon ironically. "Besides, only poor creatures like Virgil and Cicero and Livy wrote in Latin. I, however, am of a different way of thinking; as witness my nephew, towhom I have taught that sublime language. The rascal knows it betterthan I do. The worst of it is, that with his modern reading he isforgetting it; and some fine day, without ever having suspected it, hewill find out that he is an ignoramus. For, Senor Don Jose, my nephewhas taken to studying the newest books and the most extravaganttheories, and it is Flammarion here and Flammarion there, and nothingwill do him but that the stars are full of people. Come, I fancy thatyou two are going to be very good friends. Jacinto, beg this gentlemanto teach you the higher mathematics, to instruct you concerning theGerman philosophers, and then you will be a man. "

The worthy ecclesiastic laughed at his own wit, while Jacinto, delightedto see the conversation turn on a theme so greatly to his taste, afterexcusing himself to Pepe Rey, suddenly hurled this question at him:

"Tell me, Senor Don Jose, what do you think of Darwinism?"

Our hero smiled at this inopportune pedantry, and he felt almost temptedto encourage the young man to continue in this path of childish vanity;but, judging it more prudent to avoid intimacy, either with the nephewor the uncle, he answered simply:

"I can think nothing at all about the doctrines of Darwin, for I knowscarcely any thing about him. My professional labors have not permittedme to devote much of my time to those studies. "

"Well, " said the canon, laughing, "it all reduces itself to this, thatwe are descended from monkeys. If he had said that only in the case ofcertain people I know, he would have been right. "

"The theory of natural selection, " said Jacinto emphatically, "has, theysay, a great many partisans in Germany. "

"I do not doubt it, " said the ecclesiastic. "In Germany they would haveno reason to be sorry if that theory were true, as far as Bismarck isconcerned. "

Dona Perfecta and Senor Don Cayetano at this moment made theirappearance. 

"What a beautiful evening!" said the former. "Well, nephew, are yougetting terribly bored?"

"I am not bored in the least, " responded the young man. 

"Don't try to deny it. Cayetano and I were speaking of that as we camealong. You are bored, and you are trying to hide it. It is not everyyoung man of the present day who would have the self-denial to spendhis youth, like Jacinto, in a town where there are neither theatres, nor opera bouffe, nor dancers, nor philosophers, nor athenaeums, nor magazines, nor congresses, nor any other kind of diversions orentertainments. "

"I am quite contented here, " responded Pepe. "I was just now saying toRosario that I find this city and this house so pleasant that I wouldlike to live and die here. "

Rosario turned very red and the others were silent. They all sat downin a summer-house, Jacinto hastening to take the seat on the left of theyoung girl. 

"See here, nephew, I have a piece of advice to give you, " said DonaPerfecta, smiling with that expression of kindness that seemed toemanate from her soul, like the aroma from the flower. "But don'timagine that I am either reproving you or giving you a lesson--you arenot a child, and you will easily understand what I mean. "

"Scold me, dear aunt, for no doubt I deserve it, " replied Pepe, who wasbeginning to accustom himself to the kindnesses of his father's sister. 

"No, it is only a piece of advice. These gentlemen, I am sure, willagree that I am in the right. "

Rosario was listening with her whole soul. 

"It is only this, " continued Dona Perfecta, "that when you visit ourbeautiful cathedral again, you will endeavor to behave with a littlemore decorum while you are in it. "

"Why, what have I done?"

"It does not surprise me that you are not yourself aware of your fault, "said his aunt, with apparent good humor. "It is only natural; accustomedas you are to enter athenaeums and clubs, and academies and congresseswithout any ceremony, you think that you can enter a temple in which theDivine Majesty is in the same manner. "

"But excuse me, senora, " said Pepe gravely, "I entered the cathedralwith the greatest decorum. "

"But I am not scolding you, man; I am not scolding you. If you take itin that way I shall have to remain silent. Excuse my nephew, gentlemen. A little carelessness, a little heedlessness on his part is not to bewondered at. How many years is it since you set foot in a sacred placebefore?"

"Senora, I assure you----But, in short, let my religious ideas be whatthey may, I am in the habit of observing the utmost decorum in church. "

"What I assure you is----There, if you are going to be offended I won'tgo on. What I assure you is that a great many people noticed it thismorning. The Senores de Gonzalez, Dona Robustiana, Serafinita--in short, when I tell you that you attracted the attention of the bishop----Hislordship complained to me about it this afternoon when I was at mycousin's. He told me that he did not order you to be put out of thechurch only because you were my nephew. "

Rosario looked anxiously at her cousin, trying to read in hiscountenance, before he uttered it, the answer he would make to thesecharges. 

"No doubt they mistook me for some one else. "

"No, no! it was you. But there, don't get angry! We are talking hereamong friends and in confidence. It was you. I saw you myself. "

"You saw me!"

"Just so. Will you deny that you went to look at the pictures, passingamong a group of worshippers who were hearing mass? I assure you that myattention was so distracted by your comings and goings that--well, youmust not do it again. Then you went into the chapel of San Gregorio. Atthe elevation of the Host at the high altar you did not even turn aroundto make a gesture of reverence. Afterward you traversed the whole lengthof the church, you went up to the tomb of the Adelantado, you touchedthe altar with your hands, then you passed a second time among a groupof worshippers, attracting the notice of every one. All the girls lookedat you, and you seemed pleased at disturbing so finely the devotions ofthose good people. "

"Good Heavens! How many things I have done!" exclaimed Pepe, half angry, half amused. "I am a monster, it seems, without ever having suspectedit. "

"No, I am very well aware that you are a good boy, " said Dona Perfecta, observing the canon's expression of unalterable gravity, which gave hisface the appearance of a pasteboard mask. "But, my dear boy, betweenthinking things and showing them in that irreverent manner, there is adistance which a man of good sense and good breeding should never cross. I am well aware that your ideas are----Now, don't get angry! If youget angry, I will be silent. I say that it is one thing to have certainideas about religion and another thing to express them. I will take goodcare not to reproach you because you believe that God did not create usin his image and likeness, but that we are descended from the monkeys;nor because you deny the existence of the soul, asserting that it is adrug, like the little papers of rhubarb and magnesia that are sold atthe apothecary's--"

"Senora, for Heaven's sake!" exclaimed Pepe, with annoyance. "I see thatI have a very bad reputation in Orbajosa. "

The others remained silent. 

"As I said, I will not reproach you for entertaining those ideas. And, besides, I have not the right to do so. If I should undertake to arguewith you, you, with your wonderful talents, would confute me a thousandtimes over. No, I will not attempt any thing of that kind. What I sayis that these poor and humble inhabitants of Orbajosa are pious andgood Christians, although they know nothing about German philosophy, andthat, therefore, you ought not publicly to manifest your contempt fortheir beliefs. "

"My dear aunt, " said the engineer gravely, "I have shown no contempt forany one, nor do I entertain the ideas which you attribute to me. PerhapsI may have been a little wanting in reverence in the church. I amsomewhat absent-minded. My thoughts and my attention were engagedwith the architecture of the building and, frankly speaking, I did notobserve----But this was no reason for the bishop to think of putting meout of the church, nor for you to suppose me capable of attributing toa paper from the apothecary's the functions of the soul. I may toleratethat as a jest, but only as a jest. "

The agitation of Pepe Rey's mind was so great that, notwithstanding hisnatural prudence and moderation, he was unable to conceal it. 

"There! I see that you are angry, " said Dona Perfecta, casting down hereyes and clasping her hands. "I am very sorry. If I had known that youwould have taken it in that way, I should not have spoken to you. Pepe, I ask your pardon. "

Hearing these words and seeing his kind aunt's deprecating attitude, Pepe felt ashamed of the sternness of his last words, and he made aneffort to recover his serenity. The venerable Penitentiary extricatedhim from his embarrassing position, saying with his accustomedbenevolent smile:

"Senora Dona Perfecta, we must be tolerant with artists. Oh, I haveknown a great many of them! Those gentlemen, when they have before thema statue, a piece of rusty armor, a mouldy painting, or an old wall, forget every thing else. Senor Don Jose is an artist, and he has visitedour cathedral as the English visit it, who would willingly carry it awaywith them to their museums, to its last tile, if they could. That theworshippers were praying, that the priest was elevating the Sacred Host, that the moment of supreme piety and devotion had come--what of that?What does all that matter to an artist? It is true that I do not knowwhat art is worth, apart from the sentiments which it expresses, but, in fine, at the present day, it is the custom to adore the form, notthe idea. God preserve me from undertaking to discuss this question withSenor Don Jose, who knows so much, and who, reasoning with the admirablesubtlety of the moderns, would instantly confound my mind, in whichthere is only faith. "

"The determination which you all have to regard me as the most learnedman on earth annoys me exceedingly, " said Pepe, speaking in his formerhard tone. "Hold me for a fool; for I would rather be regarded as a foolthan as the possessor of that Satanic knowledge which is here attributedto me. "

Rosarito laughed, and Jacinto thought that a highly opportune moment hadnow arrived to make a display of his own erudition. 

"Pantheism or panentheism, " he said, "is condemned by the Church, aswell as by the teachings of Schopenhauer and of the modern Hartmann. "

"Ladies and gentlemen, " said the canon gravely, "men who pay so ferventa worship to art, though it be only to its form, deserve the greatestrespect. It is better to be an artist, and delight in the contemplationof beauty, though this be only represented by nude nymphs, than to beindifferent and incredulous in every thing. The mind that consecratesitself to the contemplation of beauty, evil will not take completepossession of. _Est Deus in nobis_. _Deus_, be it well understood. LetSenor Don Jose, then, continue to admire the marvels of our church; I, for one, will willingly forgive him his acts of irreverence, with alldue respect for the opinions of the bishop. "

"Thanks, Senor Don Inocencio, " said Pepe, feeling a bitter andrebellious sentiment of hostility springing up within him toward thecanon, and unable to conquer his desire to mortify him. "But let noneof you imagine, either, that it was the beauties of art, of whichyou suppose the temple to be full, that engaged my attention. Thosebeauties, with the exception of the imposing architecture of a portionof the edifice and of the three tombs that are in the chapel of theapse, I do not see. What occupied my mind was the consideration ofthe deplorable decadence of the religious arts; and the innumerablemonstrosities, of which the cathedral is full, caused me notastonishment, but disgust. "

The amazement of all present was profound. 

"I cannot endure, " continued Pepe, "those glazed and painted imagesthat resemble so much--God forgive me for the comparison--the dolls thatlittle girls pay with. And what am I to say of the theatrical robes thatcover them? I saw a St. Joseph with a mantle whose appearance I will notdescribe, out of respect for the holy patriarch and for the church ofwhich he is the patron. On the altar are crowded together images inthe worst possible taste; and the innumerable crowns, branches, stars, moons, and other ornaments of metal or gilt paper have an air of anironmongery that offends the religious sentiment and depresses the soul. Far from lifting itself up to religious contemplation, the soul sinks, and the idea of the ludicrous distracts it. The great works of art whichgive sensible form to ideas, to dogmas, to religious faith, to mysticexaltation, fulfil a noble mission. The caricatures, the aberrations oftaste, the grotesque works with which a mistaken piety fills the church, also fulfil their object; but this is a sad one enough: They encouragesuperstition, cool enthusiasm, oblige the eyes of the believer to turnaway from the altar, and, with the eyes, the souls that have not a veryprofound and a very firm faith turn away also. "

"The doctrine of the iconoclasts, too, " said Jacinto, "has, it seems, spread widely in Germany. "

"I am not an iconoclast, although I would prefer the destruction ofall the images to the exhibition of buffooneries of which I speak, "continued the young man. "Seeing it, one may justly advocate a return ofreligious worship to the august simplicity of olden times. But no; letus not renounce the admirable aid which all the arts, beginning withpoetry and ending with music, lend to the relations between man andGod. Let the arts live; let the utmost pomp be displayed in religiousceremonies. I am a partisan of pomp. "

"An artist, an artist, and nothing more than an artist!" exclaimedthe canon, shaking his head with a sorrowful air. "Fine pictures, finestatues, beautiful music; pleasure for the senses, and let the deviltake the soul!"

"Apropos of music, " said Pepe Rey, without observing the deplorableeffect which his words produced on both mother and daughter, "imaginehow disposed my mind would be to religious contemplation on entering thecathedral, when just at that moment, and precisely at the offertory athigh mass, the organist played a passage from 'Traviata. '"

"Senor de Rey is right in that, " said the little lawyer emphatically. "The organist played the other day the whole of the drinking song andthe waltz from the same opera, and afterward a rondeau from the 'GrandeDuchesse. '"

"But when I felt my heart sink, " continued the engineer implacably, "was when I saw an image of the Virgin, which seems to be held in greatveneration, judging from the crowd before it and the multitude of taperswhich lighted it. They have dressed her in a puffed-out garment ofvelvet, embroidered with gold, of a shape so extraordinary that itsurpasses the most extravagant of the fashions of the day. Her faceis almost hidden under a voluminous frill, made of innumerable rowsof lace, crimped with a crimping-iron, and her crown, half a yard inheight, surrounded by golden rays, looks like a hideous catafalqueerected over her head. Of the same material, and embroidered in the samemanner, are the trousers of the Infant Jesus. I will not go on, for todescribe the Mother and the Child might perhaps lead me to commit someirreverence. I will only say that it was impossible for me to keep fromsmiling, and for a short time I contemplated the profaned image, sayingto myself: 'Mother and Lady mine, what a sight they have made of you!'"

As he ended Pepe looked at his hearers, and although, owing to thegathering darkness, he could not see their countenances distinctly, hefancied that in some of them he perceived signs of angry consternation. 

"Well, Senor Don Jose!" exclaimed the canon quickly, smiling witha triumphant expression, "that image, which to your philosophy andpantheism appears so ridiculous, is Our Lady of Help, patronessand advocate of Orbajosa, whose inhabitants regard her with so muchveneration that they would be quite capable of dragging any one throughthe streets who should speak ill of her. The chronicles and history, Senor Don Jose, are full of the miracles which she has wrought, and evenat the present day we receive constantly incontrovertible proofs of herprotection. You must know also that your aunt, Dona Perfecta, is chieflady in waiting to the Most Holy Virgin of Help, and that the dressthat to you appears so grotesque--went out from this house, and that thetrousers of the Infant are the work of the skilful needle and the ardentpiety combined of your cousin Rosarito, who is now listening to us. "

Pepe Rey was greatly disconcerted. At the same instant Dona Perfectarose abruptly from her seat, and, without saying a word, walkedtoward the house, followed by the Penitentiary. The others rose also. Recovering from his stupefaction, the young man was about to beg hiscousin's pardon for his irreverence, when he observed that Rosarito wasweeping. Fixing on her cousin a look of friendly and gentle reproof, shesaid:

"What ideas you have!"

The voice of Dona Perfecta was heard crying in an altered accent:

"Rosario! Rosario!"

The latter ran toward the house. 

CHAPTER X

THE EVIDENCE OF DISCORD IS EVIDENT

Pepe Rey was disturbed and perplexed, enraged with himself and every oneelse; he tried in vain to imagine what could be the conflict that hadarisen, in spite of himself, between his ideas and the ideas of hisaunt's friends. Thoughtful and sad, foreseeing future discord, heremained for a short time sitting on the bench in the summer-house, hischin resting on his breast, his forehead gathered in a frown, his handsclasped. He thought himself alone. 

Suddenly he heard a gay voice humming the refrain of a song from azarzuela. He looked up and saw Don Jacinto sitting in the oppositecorner of the summer-house. 

"Ah, Senor de Rey!" said the youth abruptly, "one does not offend withimpunity the religious sentiments of the great majority of a nation. Ifyou doubt it, consider what happened in the first French revolution. "

When Pepe heard the buzzing of this insect his irritation increased. Nevertheless there was no anger in his soul toward the youthful doctorof laws. The latter annoyed him, as a fly might annoy him, but nothingmore. Rey felt the irritation which every importunate being inspires, and with the air of one who brushes away a buzzing drone, he answered:

"What has the French revolution to do with the robe of the Virgin?"

He got up and walked toward the house, but he had not taken half a dozensteps before he heard again beside him the buzzing of the mosquito, saying:

"Senor Don Jose, I wish to speak to you about an affair in which you aregreatly interested and which may cause you some trouble. "

"An affair?" said the young man, drawing back. "Let us hear what affairis that. "

"You suspect what it is, perhaps, " said Jacinto, approaching Pepe, and smiling with the air of a man of business who has some unusuallyimportant matter on hand; "I want to speak to you about the lawsuit. "

"The lawsuit! My friend, I have no lawsuits. You, as a good lawyer, dream of lawsuits and see stamped paper everywhere. "

"What! You have not heard of your lawsuit?" exclaimed the youth, withamazement. 

"Of my lawsuit! But I have no lawsuits, nor have I ever had any. "

"Well, if you have not heard of it, I am all the better pleased to havespoken to you about it, so that you may be on your guard. Yes, senor, you are going to have a suit at law. "

"And with whom?"

"With Uncle Licurgo and other land-owners whose property borders on theestate called The Poplars. "

Pepe Rey was astounded. 

"Yes, senor, " continued the little lawyer. "To-day Uncle Licurgo and Ihad a long conference. As I am such a friend of the family, I wanted tolet you know about it, so that, if you think well of it, you may hastento arrange the matter. "

"But what have I to arrange? What do those rascals claim from me?"

"It seems that a stream of water which rises in your property haschanged its course and flows over some tile-works of the aforesaid UncleLicurgo and the mill of another person, occasioning considerabledamage. My client--for he is determined that I shall get him out of thisdifficulty--my client, as I said, demands that you shall restore thewater to its former channel, so as to avoid fresh injuries, and thatyou shall indemnify him for the damage which his works have alreadysustained through the neglect of the superior proprietor. "

"And I am the superior proprietor! If I engage in a lawsuit, that willbe the first fruit that those famous Poplars, which were mine and whichnow, as I understand, belong to everybody, will have ever produced me, for Licurgo, as well as some of the other farmers of the district, havebeen filching from me, little by little, year after year, pieces ofland, and it will be very difficult to re-establish the boundaries of myproperty. "

"That is a different question. "

"That is not a different question. The real suit, " exclaimed theengineer, unable to control his anger, "will be the one that I willbring against that rabble who no doubt propose to themselves to tire meout and drive me to desperation--so that I may abandon every thing andlet them continue in possession of what they have stolen. We shall seeif there are lawyers and judges who will uphold the infamous conduct ofthose village legists, who are forever at law, and who waste and consumethe property of others. I am obliged to you, young gentleman, for havinginformed me of the villanous intentions of those boors, who are moreperverse than Satan himself. When I tell you that that very tile-yardand that very mill on which Licurgo bases his claim are mine--"

"The title-deeds of the property ought to be examined, to see ifpossession may not constitute a title in this case. "

"Possession! Those scoundrels are not going to have the pleasure oflaughing at me in that way. I suppose that justice is honestly andfaithfully administered in the city of Orbajosa. "

"Oh, as to that!" exclaimed the little lawyer, with an approving look, "the judge is an excellent person! He comes here every evening. But itis strange that you should have received no notice of Senor Licurgo'sclaims. Have you not yet been summoned to appear before the tribunal ofarbitration?"

"No. "

"It will be to-morrow, then. Well, I am very sorry that Senor Licurgo'sprecipitation has deprived me of the pleasure and honor of defendingyou, but what is to be done? Licurgo was determined that I should takehim out of his troubles. I will study the matter with the greatest care. This vile slavery is the great drawback of jurisprudence. "

Pepe entered the dining-room in a deplorable state of mind. DonaPerfecta was talking with the Penitentiary, as he entered, and Rosaritowas sitting alone, with her eyes fixed on the door. She was no doubtwaiting for her cousin. 

"Come here, you rascal, " said his aunt, smiling with very littlespontaneity. "You have insulted us, you great atheist! but we forgiveyou. I am well aware that my daughter and myself are two rustics who areincapable of soaring to the regions of mathematics where you dwell, butfor all that it is possible that you may one day get down on your kneesto us and beg us to teach you the Christian doctrine. "

Pepe answered with vague phrases and formulas of politeness andrepentance. 

"For my part, " said Don Inocencio, with an affected air of meekness andamiability, "if in the course of these idle disputes I have said anything that could offend Senor Don Jose, I beg his pardon for it. We areall friends here. "

"Thanks. It is of no consequence. "

"In spite of every thing, " said Dona Perfecta, smiling with morenaturalness than before, "I shall always be the same for my dear nephew;in spite of his extravagant and anti-religious ideas. In what way do yousuppose I am going to spend this evening? Well, in trying to make UncleLicurgo give up those obstinate notions which would otherwise cause youannoyance. I sent for him, and he is waiting for me now in the hall. Make yourself easy, I will arrange the matter; for although I know thathe is not altogether without right on his side--"

"Thanks, dear aunt, " responded the young man, his whole being invaded bya wave of the generous emotion which was so easily aroused in his soul. 

Pepe Rey looked in the direction of his cousin, intending to join her, but some wily questions of the canon retained him at Dona Perfecta'sside. Rosario looked dejected, and was listening with an air ofmelancholy indifference to the words of the little lawyer, who, havinginstalled himself at her side, kept up a continuous stream of fulsomeflatteries, seasoned with ill-timed jests and fatuous remarks in theworst possible taste. 

"The worst of it is, " said Dona Perfecta to her nephew--surprising theglance which he cast in the direction of the ill-assorted pair--"theworst of it is, that you have offended poor Rosario. You must do all inyour power to make your peace with her. The poor child is so good!"

"Oh, yes! so good, " added the canon, "that I have no doubt that she willforgive her cousin. "

"I think that Rosario has already forgiven me, " affirmed Rey. 

"And if not, angelic breasts do not harbor resentment long, " said DonInocencio mellifluously. "I have a great deal of influence with thechild, and I will endeavor to dissipate in her generous soul whateverprejudice may exist there against you. As soon as I say a word or two toher----"

Pepe Rey felt a cloud darken his soul and he said with meaning:

"Perhaps it may not be necessary. "

"I will not speak to her now, " added the capitular, "because she islistening entranced to Jacinto's nonsense. Ah, those children! When theyonce begin there is no stopping them. "

The judge of the lower court, the alcalde's lady, and the dean of thecathedral now made their appearance. They all saluted the engineer, manifesting in their words and manner, on seeing him, the satisfactionof gratified curiosity. The judge was one of those clever andintelligent young men who every day spring into notice in officialcircles; aspiring, almost before they are out of the shell, to thehighest political and administrative positions. He gave himself airs ofgreat importance, and in speaking of himself and of his juvenile toga, he seemed indirectly to manifest great offence because he had not beenall at once made president of the supreme court. In such inexpert hands, in a brain thus swollen with vanity, in this incarnation of conceit, hadthe state placed the most delicate and the most difficult functionsof human justice. His manners were those of a perfect courtier, andrevealed a scrupulous and minute attention to all that concerned his ownperson. He had the insufferable habit of taking off and putting on everymoment his gold eye-glasses, and in his conversation he manifested withfrequency the strong desire which he had to be transferred to Madrid, in order that he might give his invaluable services to the Department ofGrace and Justice. 

The alcalde's lady was a good-natured woman, whose only weakness was tofancy that she had a great many acquaintances at the court. She askedPepe Rey various questions about the fashions, mentioning establishmentsin which she had had a mantle or a skirt made on her last journey tothe capital, contemporaneous with the visit of Muley-Abbas, and she alsomentioned the names of a dozen duchesses and marchionesses; speakingof them with as much familiarity as if they had been friends of herschool-days. She said also that the Countess of M. (famous for herparties) was a friend of hers and that in '60 she had paid her a visit, when the countess had invited her to her box at the Teatro Real, whereshe saw Muley-Abbas in Moorish dress and accompanied by his retinueof Moors. The alcalde's wife talked incessantly and was not wanting inhumor. 

The dean was a very old man, corpulent and red-faced, plethoric andapoplectic looking, a man so obese that he seemed bursting out of hisskin. He had belonged to one of the suppressed religious orders; hetalked only of religious matters; and from the very first manifested themost profound contempt for Pepe Rey. The latter appeared every momentmore unable to accommodate himself to a society so little to histaste. His disposition--not at all malleable, hard, and very littleflexible--rejected the duplicities and the compromises of language tosimulate concord when it did not exist. He remained, then, very graveduring the whole of the tiresome evening, obliged as he was to endurethe oratorical vehemence of the alcalde's wife, who, without being Fame, had the privilege of fatiguing with a hundred tongues the ears of men. If, in some brief respite which this lady gave her hearers, Pepe Reymade an attempt to approach his cousin, the Penitentiary attachedhimself to him instantly, like the mollusk to the rock; taking him apartwith a mysterious air to propose to him an excursion with Senor DonCayetano to Mundogrande, or a fishing party on the clear waters of theNahara. 

At last the evening came to an end, as every thing does in this world. The dean retired, leaving the house, as it seemed, empty, and very soonthere remained of the alcalde's wife only an echo, like the buzzwhich remains in the air after a storm has passed away. The judge alsodeprived the company of his presence, and at last Don Inocencio gave hisnephew the signal for departure. 

"Come, boy, come; for it is late, " he said, smiling. "How you havetormented poor Rosarito, has he not, child? Home, you rogue, home, without delay. "

"It is time to go to bed, " said Dona Perfecta. 

"Time to go to work, " responded the little lawyer. 

"I am always telling him that he ought to get through with his businessin the day-time, but he will not mind me. "

"There is so much, so very much business to be got through. "

"No, say rather, that confounded work which you have undertaken. He doesnot wish to say it, Senor Don Jose, but the truth is that he is writinga book on 'The Influence of Woman in Christian Society, ' and, inaddition to that, 'A Glance at the Catholic Movement in'--somewhere orother. What do you know about glances or influences? But these youths ofthe present day have audacity enough for any thing. Oh, what boys! Well, let us go home. Good-night, Senora Dona Perfecta--good-night, Senor DonJose--Rosarito. "

"I will wait for Senor Don Cayetano, " said Jacinto, "to ask him to giveme the Augusto Nicolas. "

"Always carrying books. Why, sometimes you come into the house ladenlike a donkey. Very well, then, let us wait. "

"Senor Don Jacinto does not write hastily, " said Pepe Rey; "he prepareshimself well for his work, so that his books may be treasures oflearning. "

"But that boy will injure his brain, " objected Dona Perfecta. "ForHeaven's sake be careful! I would set a limit to his reading. "

"Since we are going to wait, " said the little doctor, in a tone ofinsufferable conceit, "I will take with me also the third volume ofConcilios. What do you think, uncle?"

"Take that, of course. It would never do to leave that behind you. "

Fortunately Senor Don Cayetano (who generally spent his evenings at thehouse of Don Lorenzo Ruiz) soon arrived, and the books being received, uncle and nephew left the house. 

Rey read in his cousin's sad countenance a keen desire to speak to him. He approached her while Dona Perfecta and Don Cayetano were discussingsome domestic matter apart. 

"You have offended mamma, " said Rosarito. 

Her features expressed something like terror. 

"It is true, " responded the young man; "I have offended your mamma--Ihave offended you. "

"No, not me. I already imagined that the Infant Jesus ought not to weartrousers. "

"But I hope that you will both forgive me. Your mamma was so kind to mea little while ago. "

Dona Perfecta's voice suddenly vibrated through the dining-room, withso discordant a tone that her nephew started as if he had heard a cry ofalarm. The voice said imperiously:

"Rosario, go to bed!"

Startled, her mind filled with anxious fears, the girl lingered in theroom, going here and there as if she was looking for something. As shepassed her cousin she whispered softly and cautiously these words:

"Mamma is angry. "

"But--"

"She is angry--be on your guard, be on your guard. "

Then she left the room. Her mother, for whom Uncle Licurgo was waiting, followed her, and for some time the voices of Dona Perfecta and thecountryman were heard mingled together in familiar conference. Pepe wasleft with Don Cayetano, who, taking a light, said;

"Good-night, Pepe. But don't suppose that I am going to sleep, I amgoing to work. But why are you so thoughtful? What is the matterwith you?--Just as I say, to work. I am making notes for a 'MemorialDiscourse on the Genealogies of Orbajosa. ' I have already found data andinformation of the utmost value. There can be no dispute about it. Inevery period of our history the Orbajosans have been distinguishedfor their delicate sense of honor, their chivalry, their valor, theirintellectuality. The conquest of Mexico, the wars of the Emperor, thewars of Philip against the heretics, testify to this. But are you ill?What is the matter with you? As I say, eminent theologians, valiantwarriors, conquerors, saints, bishops, statesmen--all sorts ofillustrious men--have flourished in this humble land of the garlic. No, there is not in Christendom a more illustrious city than ours. Itsvirtues and its glories are in themselves enough and more than enoughto fill all the pages of our country's history. Well, I see that it issleepy you are--good-night. As I say, I would not exchange the glory ofbeing a son of this noble city for all the gold in the world. Augusta, the ancients called it; Augustissima, I call it now; for now, as then, high-mindedness, generosity, valor, magnanimity, are the patrimony ofall. Well, good-night, dear Pepe. But I fancy you are not well. Has thesupper disagreed with you?--Alonzo Gonzalez de Bustamante was right whenhe said in his 'Floresta Amena' that the people of Orbajosa suffice inthemselves to confer greatness and honor on a kingdom. Don't you thinkso?"

"Oh, yes, senor; undoubtedly, " responded Pepe Rey, going abruptly towardhis room. 

CHAPTER XI

THE DISCORD GROWS

During the following days Pepe Rey made the acquaintance of several ofthe people of the place; he visited the Casino, and formed friendshipswith some of the individuals who spend their lives in the rooms of thatcorporation. 

But the youth of Orbajosa did not spend all their time in the Casino, as evil-minded people might imagine. In the afternoons there were to beseen at the corner of the cathedral, and in the little plaza formedby the intersection of the Calle del Condestable and the Calle de laTriperia, several gentlemen who, gracefully enveloped in their cloaks, stood there like sentinels, watching the people as they passed by. Ifthe weather was fine, those shining lights of the Urbs Augustan culturebent their steps, still enveloped in the indispensable cloak, towardthe promenade called the Paseo de las Descalzas, which was formed bya double row of consumptive-looking elms and some withered bushesof broom. There the brilliant Pleiad watched the daughters of thisfellow-townsman or that, who had also come there for a walk, and theafternoon passed tolerably. In the evening, the Casino filled up again;and while some of the members gave their lofty minds to the delights ofmonte, others read the newspapers, while the majority discussed in thecoffee-room subjects of the various kinds, such as the politics, horses, bulls, or the gossip of the place. The result of every discussion wasthe renewed conviction of the supremacy of Orbajosa and its inhabitantsover all the other towns and peoples on the face of the earth. 

These distinguished men were the cream of the illustrious city; somerich landowners, others very poor, but all alike free from loftyaspirations. They had the imperturbable tranquillity of the beggar whodesires nothing more so long as he has a crust of bread with which tocheat hunger, and the sun to warm him. What chiefly distinguished theOrbajosans of the Casino was a sentiment of bitter hostility towardall strangers, and whenever any stranger of note appeared in its augusthalls, they believed that he had come there to call in question thesuperiority of the land of the garlic, or to dispute with it, throughenvy, the incontestable advantages which nature had bestowed upon it. 

When Pepe Rey presented himself in the Casino, they received him withsomething of suspicion, and as facetious persons abounded in it, beforethe new member had been there a quarter of an hour, all sorts of jokeshad been made about him. When in answer to the reiterated questions ofthe members he said that he had come to Orbajosa with a commission toexplore the basin of the Nahara for coal, and to survey a road, theyall agreed that Senor Don Jose was a conceited fellow who wished togive himself airs, discovering coalbeds and planning railroads. Some oneadded:

"He has come to a bad place for that, then. Those gentlemen imagine thathere we are all fools, and that they can deceive us with fine words. Hehas come to marry Dona Perfecta's daughter, and all that he says aboutcoalbeds is only for the sake of appearances. "

"Well, this morning, " said another, a merchant who had failed, "theytold me at the Dominguez' that the gentleman has not a peseta, and thathe has come here in order to be supported by his aunt and to see if hecan catch Rosarito. "

"It seems that he is no engineer at all, " added an olive-planter, whoseplantations were mortgaged for double their value. "But it is as yousay: those starvelings from Madrid think they are justified in deceivingpoor provincials, and as they believe that here we all wear tails--"

"It is plain to be seen that he is penniless--"

"Well, half-jest and the whole earnest, he told us last night that wewere lazy barbarians. "

"That we spent our time sunning ourselves, like the Bedouins. "

"That we lived with the imagination. "

"That's it; that we lived with the imagination. "

"And that this city was precisely like a city in Morocco. "

"Well! one has no patience to listen to those things. Where elsecould he see (unless it might be in Paris) a street like the Calledel Condestable, that can show seven houses in a row, all of themmagnificent, from Dona Perfecta's house to that of Nicolasita Hernandez?Does that fellow suppose that one has never seen any thing, or has neverbeen in Paris?"

"He also said, with a great deal of delicacy, that Orbajosa was a cityof beggars; and he gave us to understand that in his opinion we live inthe meanest way here without being ourselves aware of it. "

"What insolence! If he ever says that to me, there will be a scene inthe Casino, " exclaimed the collector of taxes. "Why didn't they tell himhow many arrobas of oil Orbajosa produced last year? Doesn't the foolknow that in good years Orbajosa produces wheat enough to supply allSpain, and even all Europe, with bread? It is true that the crops havebeen bad for several years past, but that is not the rule. And thecrop of garlic! I wager the gentleman doesn't know that the garlic ofOrbajosa made the gentleman of the jury in the Exposition of Londonstare!"

These and other conversations of a similar kind were to be heard in therooms of the Casino in those days. Notwithstanding this boastful talk, so common in small towns, which, for the very reason that they aresmall, are generally arrogant, Rey was not without finding sincerefriends among the members of the learned corporation, for they were notall gossips, nor were there wanting among them persons of good sense. But our hero had the misfortune--if misfortune it can be called--to beunusually frank in the manifestation of his feelings, and this awakenedsome antipathy toward him. 

Days passed. In addition to the natural disgust which the social customsof the episcopal city produced in him, various causes, all of themdisagreeable, began to develop in his mind a profound sadness, chiefamong these causes being the crowd of litigants that swarmed about himlike voracious ants. Many others of the neighboring landowners besidesUncle Licurgo claimed damages from him, or asked him to render accountsfor lands managed by his grandfather. A claim was also brought againsthim because of a certain contract of partnership entered into by hismother and which, as it appeared, had not been fulfilled; and he wasrequired in the same way to acknowledge a mortgage on the estate ofThe Poplars executed in an irregular form by his uncle. Claims swarmedaround him, multiplying with ant-like rapidity. He had come to thedetermination to renounce the ownership of his lands, but meanwhile hisdignity required that he should not yield to the wily manoeuvres of theartful rustics; and as the town-council brought a claim against him alsoon account of a pretended confusion of the boundary lines of hisestate with those of an adjoining wood belonging to the town-lands, theunfortunate young man found himself at every step obliged to prove hisrights, which were being continually called in question. His honorwas engaged, and he had no alternative but to defend his rights to thedeath. 

Dona Perfecta had promised in her magnanimity to help him tofree himself from these disgraceful plots by means of an amicablearrangement; but the days passed, and the good offices of the exemplarylady had produced no result whatever. The claims multiplied with thedangerous swiftness of a violent disease. Pepe Rey passed hour afterhour at court, making declarations and answering the same questionsover and over again, and when he returned home tired and angry, thereappeared before him the sharp features and grotesque face of the notary, who had brought him a thick bundle of stamped papers full of horribleformulas--that he might be studying the question. 

It will be easily understood that Pepe Rey was not a man to enduresuch annoyances when he might escape from them by leaving the town. Hismother's noble city appeared to his imagination like a horrible monsterwhich had fastened its ferocious claws in him and was drinking hisblood. To free himself from this monster nothing more was necessary, hebelieved, than flight. But a weighty interest--an interest in which hisheart was concerned--kept him where he was; binding him to the rock ofhis martyrdom with very strong bonds. Nevertheless, he had come to feelso dissatisfied with his position; he had come to regard himself asso utterly a stranger, so to say, in that gloomy city of lawsuits, of old-fashioned customs and ideas, of envy and of slander, that heresolved to leave it without further delay, without, however, abandoningthe project which had brought him to it. One morning, finding afavorable occasion, he opened his mind to Dona Perfecta on this point. 

"Nephew, " responded that lady, with her accustomed gentleness, "don't berash. Why! you are like fire. Your father was just the same--what a manhe was! You are like a flash--I have already told you that I will bevery glad to call you my son. Even if you did not possess the goodqualities and the talents which distinguish you (in spite of some littledefects, for you have those, too); even if you were not as good as youare; it is enough that this union has been proposed by your father, towhom both my daughter and myself owe so much, for me to accept it. AndRosarito will not oppose it since I wish it. What is wanting, then?Nothing; there is nothing wanting but a little time. The marriage cannotbe concluded with the haste you desire and which might, perhaps, give ground for interpretations discreditable to my dear daughter'sreputation. But as you think of nothing but machines, you want everything done by steam. Wait, man, wait; what hurry are you in? This hatredthat you have taken to our poor Orbajosa is nothing but a caprice. Butof course you can only live among counts and marquises and orators anddiplomats--all you want is to get married and separate me forever frommy daughter, " she added, wiping away a tear. "Since that is the case, inconsiderate boy, at least have the charity to delay for a little thismarriage, for which you are so eager. What impatience! What ardentlove! I did not suppose that a poor country girl like my daughter couldinspire so violent a passion. "

The arguments of his aunt did not convince Pepe Rey, but he did notwish to contradict her. A fresh cause of anxiety was soon added to thosewhich already embittered his existence. He had now been in Orbajosafor two weeks, and during that time he had received no letter from hisfather. This could not be attributed to carelessness on the part of theofficials of the post-office of Orbajosa, for the functionary who hadcharge of that service being the friend and _protégé_ of Dona Perfecta, the latter every day recommended him to take the greatest care that theletters addressed to her nephew did not go astray. The letter-carrier, named Cristoval Ramos, and nicknamed Caballuco--a personage whoseacquaintance we have already made--also visited the house, and to himDona Perfecta was accustomed to address warnings and reprimands asenergetic as the following:

"A pretty mail service you have! How is it that my nephew has notreceived a single letter since he has been in Orbajosa? When thecarrying of the mail is entrusted to such a giddy-pate, how can thingsbe expected to go well? I will speak to the governor of the province sothat he may be careful what kind of people he puts in the post-office. "

Caballuco, shrugging his shoulders, looked at Rey with the most completeindifference. 

One day he entered the house with a letter in his hand. 

"Thank Heaven!" said Dona Perfecta to her nephew. "Here are lettersfrom your father. Rejoice, man! A pretty fright we have had throughmy brother's laziness about writing. What does he say? He is well, nodoubt, " she added, seeing that Pepe Rey opened the letter with feverishimpatience. 

The engineer turned pale as he glanced over the first lines. 

"Good Heavens! Pepe, what is the matter?" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, rising in alarm. "Is your father ill?"

"This letter is not from my father, " responded Pepe, revealing in hiscountenance the greatest consternation. 

"What is it, then?"

"An order from the Minister of Public Works, relieving me from thecharge which was confided to me. "

"What! Can it be possible!"

"A dismissal pure and simple, expressed in terms very little flatteringto me. "

"Was there ever any thing so unjust!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, when shehad recovered from her amazement. 

"What a humiliation!" exclaimed the young man. "It is the first time inmy life that I have received an affront like this. "

"But the Government is unpardonable! To put such a slight upon you! Doyou wish me to write to Madrid? I have very good friends there, andI may be able to obtain satisfaction for you from the Government andreparation for this brutal affront. "

"Thanks, senora, I desire no recommendations, " said the young man, withill-humor. 

"But what a piece of injustice! what a high-handed proceeding! Todischarge in this way a young man of your merit, an eminent scientist. Why, I cannot contain my anger!"

"I will find out, " said Pepe, with energy, "who it is that occupieshimself in injuring me. "

"That minister--but what is to be expected from those infamouspoliticasters?"

"In this there is the hand of some one who is determined to drive me todesperation, " declared the young man, visibly disturbed. "This isnot the act of the minister; this and other contrarieties that I amexperiencing are the result of a revengeful plot, of a secret andwell-laid plan of some implacable enemy, and this enemy is here inOrbajosa, this plot has been hatched in Orbajosa, doubt it not, dearaunt. "

"You are out of your mind, " replied Dona Perfecta, with a look ofcompassion. "You have enemies in Orbajosa, you say? Some one wishes torevenge himself upon you? Come, Pepillo, you have lost your senses. The reading of those books in which they say that we have for ancestorsmonkeys or parrots has turned your brain. "

She smiled sweetly as she uttered the last words, and taking a tone offamiliar and affectionate admonition, she added:

"My dear boy, the people of Orbajosa may be rude and boorish rustics, without learning, or polish, or fine manners; but in loyalty and goodfaith we yield to no one--to no one, I say, no one. "

"Don't suppose, " said the young man, "that I accuse any one in thishouse. But that my implacable and cruel enemy is in this city, I ampersuaded. "

"I wish you would show me that stage villain, " responded Dona Perfecta, smiling again. "I suppose you will not accuse Uncle Licurgo, nor anyof the others who have brought suits against you; for the poor peoplebelieve they are only defending their rights. And between ourselves, they are not altogether wanting in reason in this case. Besides, UncleLicurgo likes you greatly. He has told me so himself. From the moment hesaw you, you took his fancy, and the poor old man has conceived such anaffection for you--"

"Oh, yes--a profound affection!" murmured Pepe. 

"Don't be foolish, " continued his aunt, putting her hand on his shoulderand looking at him closely. "Don't imagine absurdities; convinceyourself that your enemy, if you have one, is in Madrid, in that centreof corruption, of envy and rivalry, not in this peaceful and tranquilcorner, where all is good-will and concord. Some one, no doubt, who isenvious of your merit----There is one thing I wish to say now--and thatis, that if you desire to go there to learn the cause of this affrontand ask an explanation of it from the Government, you must not neglectdoing so on our account. "

Pepe Rey fixed his eyes on his aunt's countenance, as if he wished topenetrate with his glance the inmost depths of her soul. 

"I say that if you wish to go, do so, " repeated Dona Perfecta, withadmirable serenity, while her countenance expressed the most completeand unaffected sincerity. 

"No, senora: I do not wish to go. "

"So much the better; I think you are right. You are more tranquil here, notwithstanding the suspicions with which you are tormenting yourself. Poor Pepillo! We poor rustics of Orbajosa live happy in our ignorance. Iam very sorry that you are not contented here. But is it my fault if youvex and worry yourself without a cause? Do I not treat you like a son?Have I not received you as the hope of my house? Can I do more foryou? If in spite of all this you do not like us, if you show so muchindifference toward us, if you ridicule our piety, if you insult ourfriends, is it by chance because we do not treat you well?"

Dona Perfecta's eyes grew moist. 

"My dear aunt, " said Pepe, feeling his anger vanish, "I too havecommitted some faults since I have been a guest in this house. "

"Don't be foolish. Don't talk about committing faults. Among the personsof the same family every thing is forgiven. "

"But Rosarito--where is she?" asked the young man, rising. "Am I not tosee her to-day, either?"

"She is better. Do you know that she did not wish to come down stairs?"

"I will go up to her then. "

"No, it would be of no use. That girl has some obstinate notions--to-dayshe is determined not to leave her room. She has locked herself in. "

"What a strange idea!"

"She will get over it. Undoubtedly she will get over it. We will seeto-night if we cannot put these melancholy thoughts out of her head. Wewill get up a party to amuse her. Why don't you go to Don Inocencio'sand ask him to come here to-night and bring Jacintillo with him?"

"Jacintillo!"

"Yes, when Rosarito has these fits of melancholy, the only one who candivert her is that young man. "

"But I will go upstairs----"

"No, you must not. "

"What etiquette there is in this house!"

"You are ridiculing us. Do as I ask you. "

"But I wish to see her. "

"But you cannot see her. How little you know the girl!"

"I thought I knew her well. I will stay here, then. But this solitude ishorrible. "

"There comes the notary. "

"Maledictions upon him!"

"And I think the attorney-general has just come in too--he is anexcellent person. "

"He be hanged with his goodness!"

"But business affairs, when they are one's own, serve as a distraction. Some one is coming. I think it is the agricultural expert. You will havesomething to occupy you now for an hour or two. "

"An hour or two of hell!"

"Ah, ha! if I am not mistaken Uncle Licurgo and Uncle Paso Largo havejust entered. Perhaps they have come to propose a compromise to you. "

"I would throw myself into the pond first!"

"How unnatural you are! For they are all very fond of you. Well, so thatnothing may be wanting, there comes the constable too. He is coming toserve a summons on you. "

"To crucify me. "

All the individuals named were now entering the parlor one by one. 

"Good-by, Pepe; amuse yourself, " said Dona Perfecta. 

"Earth, open and swallow me!" exclaimed the young man desperately. 

"Senor Don Jose. "

"My dear Don Jose. "

"Esteemed Don Jose. "

"My dearest Don Jose. "

"My respected friend, Don Jose. "

Hearing these honeyed and insinuating preliminaries, Pepe Rey exhaled adeep sigh and gave himself up. He gave himself up, soul and body, to theexecutioners, who brandished horrible leaves of stamped paper while thevictim, raising his eyes to heaven with a look of Christian meekness, murmured:

"Father, why hast thou forsaken me?"

CHAPTER XII

HERE WAS TROY

Love, friendship, a wholesome moral atmosphere, spiritual light, sympathy, an easy interchange of ideas and feelings, these were whatPepe Rey's nature imperatively demanded. Deprived of them, the darknessthat shrouded his soul grew deeper, and his inward gloom imparted atinge of bitterness and discontent to his manner. On the day followingthe scenes described in the last chapter, what vexed him more than anything was the already prolonged and mysterious seclusion of his cousin, accounted for at first by a trifling indisposition and then by capricesand nervous feelings difficult of explanation. 

Rey was surprised by conduct so contrary to the idea which he had formedof Rosarito. Four days had passed during which he had not seen her; andcertainly it was not because he did not desire to be at her side; andhis situation threatened soon to become humiliating and ridiculous, if, by boldly taking the initiative, he did not at once put an end to it. 

"Shall I not see my cousin to-day, either?" he said to his aunt, withmanifest ill-humor, when they had finished dining. 

"No, not to-day, either. Heaven knows how sorry I am for it. I gave hera good talking to this morning. This afternoon we will see what can bedone. "

The suspicion that in this unreasonable seclusion his adorable cousinwas rather the helpless victim than the free and willing agent, inducedhim to control himself and to wait. Had it not been for this suspicionhe would have left Orbajosa that very day. He had no doubt whatever thatRosario loved him, but it was evident that some unknown influence wasat work to separate them, and it seemed to him to be the part of anhonorable man to discover whence that malign influence proceeded and tooppose it, as far as it was in his power to do so. 

"I hope that Rosarito's obstinacy will not continue long, " he said toDona Perfecta, disguising his real sentiments. 

On this day he received a letter from his father in which the lattercomplained of having received none from Orbajosa, a circumstance whichincreased the engineer's disquietude, perplexing him still further. Finally, after wandering about alone in the garden for a long time, heleft the house and went to the Casino. He entered it with the desperateair of a man about to throw himself into the sea. 

In the principal rooms he found various people talking and discussingdifferent subjects. In one group they were solving with subtle logicdifficult problems relating to bulls; in another, they were discussingthe relative merits of different breeds of donkeys of Orbajosa andVillahorrenda. Bored to the last degree, Pepe Rey turned away from thesediscussions and directed his steps toward the reading-room, where helooked through various reviews without finding any distraction in thereading, and a little later, passing from room to room, he stopped, without knowing why, at the gaming-table. For nearly two hours heremained in the clutches of the horrible yellow demon, whose shiningeyes of gold at once torture and charm. But not even the excitement ofplay had power to lighten the gloom of his soul, and the same tediumwhich had impelled him toward the green cloth sent him away fromit. Shunning the noise, he found himself in an apartment used as anassembly-room, in which at the time there was not a living soul, andhere he seated himself wearily at a window overlooking the street. 

This was very narrow, with more corners and salient angles than houses, and was overshaded throughout its whole extent by the imposing mass ofthe cathedral that lifted its dark and time-corroded walls at one endof it. Pepe Rey looked up and down and in every direction; no signof life--not a footstep, not a voice, not a glance, disturbed thestillness, peaceful as that of a tomb, that reigned everywhere. Suddenlystrange sounds, like the whispering of feminine voices, fell on his ear, and then the rustling of curtains that were being drawn, a few words, and finally the humming of a song, the bark of a lap-dog, and othersigns of social life, which seemed very strange in such a place. Observing attentively, Pepe Rey perceived that these noises proceededfrom an enormous balcony with blinds which displayed its corpulent bulkin front of the window at which he was sitting. Before he had concludedhis observations, a member of the Casino suddenly appeared beside him, and accosted him laughingly in this manner:

"Ah, Senor Don Pepe! what a rogue you are! So you have shut yourself inhere to ogle the girls, eh?"

The speaker was Don Juan Tafetan, a very amiable man, and one of the fewmembers of the Casino who had manifested for Pepe Rey cordial friendshipand genuine admiration. With his red cheeks, his little dyed mustache, his restless laughing eyes, his insignificant figure, his hair carefullycombed to hide his baldness, Don Juan Tafetan was far from being anAntinous in appearance, but he was very witty and very agreeable andhe had a happy gift for telling a good story. He was much given tolaughter, and when he laughed his face, from his forehead to his chin, became one mass of grotesque wrinkles. In spite of these qualities, andof the applause which might have stimulated his taste for spicy jokes, he was not a scandal-monger. Every one liked him, and Pepe Rey spentwith him many pleasant hours. Poor Tafetan, formerly an employe in thecivil department of the government of the capital of the province, nowlived modestly on his salary as a clerk in the bureau of charities;eking out his income by gallantly playing the clarionet in theprocessions, in the solemnities of the cathedral, and in the theatre, whenever some desperate company of players made their appearance inthose parts with the perfidious design of giving representations inOrbajosa. 

But the most curious thing about Don Juan Tafetan was his liking forpretty girls. He himself, in the days when he did not hide his baldnesswith half a dozen hairs plastered down with pomade, when he did notdye his mustache, when, in the freedom from care of youthful years, hewalked with shoulders unstooped and head erect, had been a formidable_Tenorio_. To hear him recount his conquests was something to make onedie laughing; for there are _Tenorios_ and _Tenorios_, and he was one ofthe most original. 

"What girls? I don't see any girls, " responded Pepe Rey. 

"Yes, play the anchorite!"

One of the blinds of the balcony was opened, giving a glimpse of ayouthful face, lovely and smiling, that disappeared instantly, like alight extinguished by the wind. 

"Yes, I see now. "

"Don't you know them?"

"On my life I do not. "

"They are the Troyas--the Troya girls. Then you don't know somethinggood. Three lovely girls, the daughters of a colonel of staff, who diedin the streets of Madrid in '54. "

The blind opened again, and two faces appeared. 

"They are laughing at me, " said Tafetan, making a friendly sign to thegirls. 

"Do you know them?"

"Why, of course I know them. The poor things are in the greatest want. I don't know how they manage to live. When Don Francisco Troya died asubscription was raised for them, but that did not last very long. "

"Poor girls! I imagine they are not models of virtue. "

"And why not? I do not believe what they say in the town about them. "

Once more the blinds opened. 

"Good-afternoon, girls!" cried Don Juan Tafetan to the three girls, whoappeared, artistically grouped, at the window. "This gentleman says thatgood things ought not to hide themselves, and that you should throw openthe blinds. "

But the blind was closed and a joyous concert of laughter diffused astrange gayety through the gloomy street. One might have fancied that aflock of birds was passing. 

"Shall we go there?" said Tafetan suddenly. 

His eyes sparkled and a roguish smile played on his discolored lips. 

"But what sort of people are they, then?"

"Don't be afraid, Senor de Rey. The poor things are honest. Bah! Why, they live upon air, like the chameleons. Tell me, can any one whodoesn't eat sin? The poor girls are virtuous enough. And even if theydid sin, they fast enough to make up for it. "

"Let us go, then. "

A moment later Don Juan Tafetan and Pepe Rey were entering the parlor ofthe Troyas. The poverty he saw, that struggled desperately to disguiseitself, afflicted the young man. The three girls were very lovely, especially the two younger ones, who were pale and dark, with largeblack eyes and slender figures. Well-dressed and well shod they wouldhave seemed the daughters of a duchess, and worthy to ally themselveswith princes. 

When the visitors entered, the three girls were for a moment abashed:but very soon their naturally gay and frivolous dispositions becameapparent. They lived in poverty, as birds live in confinement, singingbehind iron bars as they would sing in the midst of the abundance ofthe forest. They spent the day sewing, which showed at least honorableprinciples; but no one in Orbajosa, of their own station in life, heldany intercourse with them. They were, to a certain extent, proscribed, looked down upon, avoided, which also showed that there existed somecause for scandal. But, to be just, it must be said that the badreputation of the Troyas consisted, more than in any thing else, inthe name they had of being gossips and mischief-makers, fond ofplaying practical jokes, and bold and free in their manners. They wroteanonymous letters to grave personages; they gave nicknames to everyliving being in Orbajosa, from the bishop down to the lowest vagabond;they threw pebbles at the passers-by; they hissed behind the windowbars, in order to amuse themselves with the perplexity and annoyance ofthe startled passer-by; they found out every thing that occurred in theneighborhood; to which end they made constant use of every window andaperture in the upper part of the house; they sang at night in thebalcony; they masked themselves during the Carnival, in order to obtainentrance into the houses of the highest families; and they played manyother mischievous pranks peculiar to small towns. But whatever itscause, the fact was that on the Troya triumvirate rested one of thosestigmas that, once affixed on any one by a susceptible community, accompanies that person implacably even beyond the tomb. 

"This is the gentleman they say has come to discover the gold-mines?"said one of the girls. 

"And to do away with the cultivation of garlic in Orbajosa to plantcotton or cinnamon trees in its stead?"

Pepe could not help laughing at these absurdities. 

"All he has come for is to make a collection of pretty girls to takeback with him to Madrid, " said Tafetan. 

"Ah! I'll be very glad to go!" cried one. 

"I will take the three of you with me, " said Pepe. "But I want to knowone thing; why were you laughing at me when I was at the window of theCasino?"

These words were the signal for fresh bursts of laughter. 

"These girls are silly things, " said the eldest. 

"It was because we said you deserved something better than DonaPerfecta's daughter. "

"It was because this one said that you are only losing your time, forRosarito cares only for people connected with the Church. "

"How absurd you are! I said nothing of the kind! It was you who saidthat the gentleman was a Lutheran atheist, and that he enters thecathedral smoking and with his hat on. "

"Well, I didn't invent it; that is what Suspiritos told me yesterday. "

"And who is this Suspiritos who says such absurd things about me?"

"Suspiritos is--Suspiritos. "

"Girls, " said Tafetan, with smiling countenance, "there goes theorange-vender. Call him; I want to invite you to eat oranges. "

One of the girls called the orange-vender. 

The conversation started by the Troyas displeased Pepe Rey not a little, dispelling the slight feeling of contentment which he had experiencedat finding himself in such gay and communicative company. He could not, however, refrain from smiling when he saw Don Juan Tafetan take downa guitar and begin to play upon it with all the grace and skill of hisyouthful years. 

"I have been told that you sing beautifully, " said Rey to the girls. 

"Let Don Juan Tafetan sing. "

"I don't sing. "

"Nor I, " said the second of the girls, offering the engineer some piecesof the skin of the orange she had just peeled. 

"Maria Juana, don't leave your sewing, " said the eldest of the Troyas. "It is late, and the cassock must be finished to-night. "

"There is to be no work to-day. To the devil with the needles!"exclaimed Tafetan. 

And he began to sing a song. 

"The people are stopping in the street, " said the second of the girls, going out on the balcony. "Don Juan Tafetan's shouts can be heard in thePlaza--Juana, Juana!"

"Well?"

"Suspiritos is walking down the street. "

"Throw a piece of orange-peel at her. "

Pepe Rey looked out also; he saw a lady walking down the street at whomthe youngest of the Troyas, taking a skilful aim, threw a large pieceof orange-peel, which struck her straight on the back of the head. Thenthey hastily closed the blinds, and the three girls tried to stifletheir laughter so that it might not be heard in the street. 

"There is no work to-day, " cried one, overturning the sewing-basket withthe tip of her shoe. 

"That is the same as saying, to-morrow there is to be no eating, " saidthe eldest, gathering up the sewing implements. 

Pepe Rey instinctively put his hand into his pocket. He would gladlyhave given them an alms. The spectacle of these poor orphans, condemnedby the world because of their frivolity, saddened him beyond measure. If the only sin of the Troyas, if the only pleasure which they hadto compensate them for solitude, poverty, and neglect, was to throworange-peels at the passers-by, they might well be excused for doingit. The austere customs of the town in which they lived had perhapspreserved them from vice, but the unfortunate girls lacked decorum andgood-breeding, the common and most visible signs of modesty, andit might easily be supposed that they had thrown out of the windowsomething more than orange-peels. Pepe Rey felt profound pity forthem. He noted their shabby dresses, made over, mended, trimmed, andretrimmed, to make them look like new; he noted their broken shoes--andonce more he put his hand in his pocket. 

"Vice may reign here, " he said to himself, "but the faces, thefurniture, all show that this is the wreck of a respectable family. Ifthese poor girls were as bad as it is said they are, they would notlive in such poverty and they would not work. In Orbajosa there are richmen. "

The three girls went back and forward between him and the window, keeping up a gay and sprightly conversation, which indicated, it mustbe said, a species of innocence in the midst of all their frivolity andunconventionality. 

"Senor Don Jose, what an excellent lady Dona Perfecta is!"

"She is the only person in Orbajosa who has no nickname, the only personin Orbajosa who is not spoken ill of. "

"Every one respects her. "

"Every one adores her. "

To these utterances the young man responded by praises of his aunt, buthe had no longer any inclination to take money from his pocket and say, "Maria Juana, take this for a pair of boots. " "Pepa, take this to buy adress for yourself. " "Florentina, take this to provide yourself with aweek's provisions, " as he had been on the point of doing. At a momentwhen the three girls had run out to the balcony to see who was passing, Don Juan Tafetan approached Rey and whispered to him:

"How pretty they are! Are they not? Poor things! It seems impossiblethat they should be so gay when it may be positively affirmed that theyhave not dined to-day. "

"Don Juan, Don Juan!" cried Pepilla. "Here comes a friend of yours, Nicolasito Hernandez, in other words, Cirio Pascual, with thisthree-story hat. He is praying to himself, no doubt, for the souls ofthose whom he has sent to the grave with his extortion. "

"I wager that neither of you will dare to call him by his nickname. "

"It is a bet. "

"Juana, shut the blinds, wait until he passes, and when he is turningthe corner, I will call out, 'Cirio, Cirio Pascual!'"

Don Juan Tafetan ran out to the balcony. 

"Come here, Don Jose, so that you may know this type, " he called. 

Pepe Rey, availing himself of the moment in which the three girls andDon Juan were making merry in the balcony, calling Nicolasito Hernandezthe nickname which so greatly enraged him, stepped cautiously to one ofthe sewing baskets in the room and placed in it a half ounce which hehad left after his losses at play. 

Then he hurried out to the balcony just as the two youngest cried in themidst of wild bursts of laughter, "Cirio, Cirio Pascual!"

CHAPTER XIII

A CASUS BELLI

After this prank the Troyas commenced a conversation with their visitorsabout the people and the affairs of the town. The engineer, fearingthat his exploit might be discovered while he was present, wished to go, which displeased the Troyas greatly. One of them who had left the roomnow returned, saying:

"Suspiritos is now in the yard; she is hanging out the clothes. "

"Don Jose will wish to see her, " said another of the girls. 

"She is a fine-looking woman. And now she arranges her hair in theMadrid fashion. Come, all of you. "

They took their visitors to the dining-room--an apartment very littleused--which opened on a terrace, where there were a few flowers inpots and many broken and disused articles of furniture. The terraceoverlooked the yard of an adjoining house, with a piazza full of greenvines and plants in pots carefully cultivated. Every thing about itshowed it to be the abode of neat and industrious people of modestmeans. 

The Troyas, approaching the edge of the roof, looked attentively atthe neighboring house, and then, imposing silence by a gesture on theircavaliers, retreated to a part of the terrace from which they could notsee into the yard, and where there was no danger of their being seenfrom it. 

"She is coming out of the kitchen now with a pan of peas, " said MariaJuana, stretching out her neck to look. 

"There goes!" cried another, throwing a pebble into the yard. 

The noise of the projectile striking against the glass of the piazza washeard, and then an angry voice crying:

"Now they have broken another pane of glass!"

The girls, hidden, close beside the two men, in a corner of the terrace, were suffocating with laughter. 

"Senora Suspiritos is very angry, " said Rey. "Why do they call her bythat name?"

"Because, when she is talking, she sighs after every word, and althoughshe has every thing she wants, she is always complaining. "

There was a moment's silence in the house below. Pepita Troya lookedcautiously down. 

"There she comes again, " she whispered, once more imposing silence by agesture. "Maria, give me a pebble. Give it here--bang! there it goes!"

"You didn't hit her. It struck the ground. "

"Let me see if I can. Let us wait until she comes out of the pantryagain. "

"Now, now she is coming out. Take care, Florentina. "

"One, two, three! There it goes!"

A cry of pain was heard from below, a malediction, a masculineexclamation, for it was a man who uttered it. Pepe Rey could distinguishclearly these words:

"The devil! They have put a hole in my head, the----Jacinto, Jacinto!But what an abominable neighborhood this is!"

"Good Heavens! what have I done!" exclaimed Florentina, filled withconsternation. "I have struck Senor Don Inocencio on the head. "

"The Penitentiary?" said Pepe Rey. 

"Yes. "

"Does he live in that house?"

"Why, where else should he live?"

"And the lady of the sighs----"

"Is his niece, his housekeeper, or whatever else she may be. Weamuse ourselves with her because she is very tiresome, but we are notaccustomed to play tricks on his reverence, the Penitentiary. "

While this dialogue was being rapidly carried on, Pepe Rey saw, in frontof the terrace and very near him, a window belonging to the bombardedhouse open; he saw a smiling face appear at it--a familiar face--a facethe sight of which stunned him, terrified him, made him turn pale andtremble. It was that of Jacinto, who, interrupted in his grave studies, appeared at it with his pen behind his ear. His modest, fresh, andsmiling countenance, appearing in this way, had an auroral aspect. 

"Good-afternoon, Senor Don Jose, " he said gayly. 

"Jacinto, Jacinto, I say!"

"I am coming. I was saluting a friend. "

"Come away, come away!" cried Florentina, in alarm. "The Penitentiary isgoing up to Don Nominative's room and he will give us a blessing. "

"Yes, come away; let us close the door of the dining-room. "

They rushed pell-mell from the terrace. 

"You might have guessed that Jacinto would see you from his temple oflearning, " said Tafetan to the Troyas. 

"Don Nominative is our friend, " responded one of the girls. "From histemple of science he says a great many sweet things to us on the sly, and he blows us kisses besides. "

"Jacinto?" asked the engineer. "What the deuce is that name you gavehim?"

"Don Nominative. "

The three girls burst out laughing. 

"We call him that because he is very learned. "

"No, because when we were little he was little too. But, yes, now Iremember. We used to play on the terrace, and we could hear him studyinghis lessons aloud. "

"Yes, and the whole blessed day he used to spend singling. "

"Declining, girl! That is what it was. He would go like this:'Nominative, rosa, Genitive, Dative, Accusative. '"

"I suppose that I have my nickname too, " said Pepe Rey. 

"Let Maria Juana tell you what it is, " said Florentina, hiding herself. 

"I? Tell it to him you, Pepa. "

"You haven't any name yet, Don Jose. "

"But I shall have one. I promise you that I will come to hear what it isand to receive confirmation, " said the young man, making a movement togo. 

"What, are you going?"

"Yes. You have lost time enough already. To work, girls! Throwing stonesat the neighbors and the passers-by is not the most suitable occupationfor girls as pretty and as clever as you are. Well, good-by. "

And without waiting for further remonstrances, or answering thecivilities of the girls, he left the house hastily, leaving Don JuanTafetan behind him. 

The scene which he had just witnessed, the indignity suffered by thecanon, the unexpected appearance of the little doctor of laws, addedstill further to the perplexities, the anxieties, and the disagreeablepresentiments that already disturbed the soul of the unlucky engineer. He regretted with his whole soul having entered the house of the Troyas, and, resolving to employ his time better while his hypochondriasmlasted, he made a tour of inspection through the town. 

He visited the market, the Calle de la Triperia, where the principalstores were; he observed the various aspects presented by the industryand commerce of the great city of Orbajosa, and, finding only newmotives of weariness, he bent his steps in the direction of the Paseo delas Descalzas; but he saw there only a few stray dogs, for, owing to thedisagreeable wind which prevailed, the usual promenaders had remainedat home. He went to the apothecary's, where various species of ruminantfriends of progress, who chewed again and again the cud of the sameendless theme, were accustomed to meet, but there he was still morebored. Finally, as he was passing the cathedral, he heard the strainsof the organ and the beautiful chanting of the choir. He entered, kneltbefore the high altar, remembering the warnings which his aunt had givenhim about behaving with decorum in church; then visited a chapel, andwas about to enter another when an acolyte, warden, or beadle approachedhim, and with the rudest manner and in the most discourteous tone saidto him:

"His lordship says that you are to get out of the church. "

The engineer felt the blood rush to his face. He obeyed without aword. Turned out everywhere, either by superior authority or by his owntedium, he had no resource but to return to his aunt's house, where hefound waiting for him:

First, Uncle Licurgo, to announce a second lawsuit to him; second, SenorDon Cayetano, to read him another passage from his discourse on the"Genealogies of Orbajosa"; third, Caballuco, on some business which hehad not disclosed; fourth, Dona Perfecta and her affectionate smile, forwhat will appear in the following chapter. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE DISCORD CONTINUES TO INCREASE

A fresh attempt to see his cousin that evening failed, and Pepe Rey shuthimself up in his room to write several letters, his mind preoccupiedwith one thought. 

"To-night or to-morrow, " he said to himself, "this will end one way oranother. "

When he was called to supper Dona Perfecta, who was already in thedining-room, went up to him and said, without preface:

"Dear Pepe, don't distress yourself, I will pacify Senor Don Inocencio. I know every thing already. Maria Remedios, who has just left the house, has told me all about it. "

Dona Perfecta's countenance radiated such satisfaction as an artist, proud of his work, might feel. 

"About what?"

"Set your mind at rest. I will make an excuse for you. You took a fewglasses too much in the Casino, that was it, was it not? There youhave the result of bad company. Don Juan Tafetan, the Troyas! This ishorrible, frightful. Did you consider well?"

"I considered every thing, " responded Pepe, resolved not to enter intodiscussions with his aunt. 

"I shall take good care not to write to your father what you have done. "

"You may write whatever you please to him. "

"You will exculpate yourself by denying the truth of this story, then?"

"I deny nothing. "

"You confess then that you were in the house of those----"

"I was. "

"And that you gave them a half ounce; for, according to what MariaRemedios has told me, Florentina went down to the shop of theExtramaduran this afternoon to get a half ounce changed. They couldnot have earned it with their sewing. You were in their house to-day;consequently--"

"Consequently I gave it to her. You are perfectly right. "

"You do not deny it?"

"Why should I deny it? I suppose I can do whatever I please with mymoney?"

"But you will surely deny that you threw stones at the Penitentiary. "

"I do not throw stones. "

"I mean that those girls, in your presence--"

"That is another matter. "

"And they insulted poor Maria Remedios, too. "

"I do not deny that, either. "

"And how do you excuse your conduct! Pepe in Heaven's name, have younothing to say? That you are sorry, that you deny--"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing, senora!"

"You don't even give me any satisfaction. "

"I have done nothing to offend you. "

"Come, the only thing there is left for you to do now is--there, takethat stick and beat me!"

"I don't beat people. "

"What a want of respect! What, don't you intend to eat any supper?"

"I intend to take supper. "

For more than a quarter of an hour no one spoke. Don Cayetano, DonaPerfecta, and Pepe Rey ate in silence. This was interrupted when DonInocencio entered the dining-room. 

"How sorry I was for it, my dear Don Jose! Believe me, I was truly sorryfor it, " he said, pressing the young man's hand and regarding him with alook of compassion. 

The engineer was so perplexed for a moment that he did not know what toanswer. 

"I refer to the occurrence of this afternoon. "

"Ah, yes!"

"To your expulsion from the sacred precincts of the cathedral. "

"The bishop should consider well, " said Pepe Rey, "before he turns aChristian out of the church. "

"That is very true. I don't know who can have put it into his lordship'shead that you are a man of very bad habits; I don't know who has toldhim that you make a boast of your atheism everywhere; that you ridiculesacred things and persons, and even that you are planning to pull downthe cathedral to build a large tar factory with the stones. I tried mybest to dissuade him, but his lordship is a little obstinate. "

"Thanks for so much kindness. "

"And it is not because the Penitentiary has any reason to show you theseconsiderations. A little more, and they would have left him stretched onthe ground this afternoon. "

"Bah!" said the ecclesiastic, laughing. "But have you heard of thatlittle prank already? I wager Maria Remedios came with the story. And Iforbade her to do it--I forbade her positively. The thing in itself isof no consequence, am I not right, Senor de Rey?"

"Since you think so----"

"That is what I think. Young people's pranks! Youth, let the modernssay what they will, is inclined to vice and to vicious actions. Senorde Rey, who is a person of great endowments, could not be altogetherperfect--why should it be wondered at that those pretty girls shouldhave captivated him, and, after getting his money out of him, shouldhave made him the accomplice of their shameless and criminal insults totheir neighbors? My dear friend, for the painful part that I had in thisafternoon's sport, " he added, raising his hand to the wounded spot, "I am not offended, nor will I distress you by even referring to sodisagreeable an incident. I am truly sorry to hear that Maria Remedioscame here to tell all about it. My niece is so fond of gossiping! Iwager she told too about the half ounce, and your romping with the girlson the terrace, and your chasing one another about, and the pinches andthe capers of Don Juan Tafetan. Bah! those things ought not to be told. "

Pepe Rey did not know which annoyed him most--his aunt's severity or thehypocritical condescension of the canon. 

"Why should they not be told?" said Dona Perfecta. "He does not seemashamed of his conduct himself. I assure you all that I keep this frommy dear daughter only because, in her nervous condition, a fit of angermight be dangerous to her. "

"Come, it is not so serious as all that, senora, " said the Penitentiary. "I think the matter should not be again referred to, and when the onewho was stoned says that, the rest may surely be satisfied. And the blowwas no joke, Senor Don Jose. I thought they had split my head open andthat my brains were oozing out. "

"I am truly sorry for the occurrence!" stammered Pepe Rey. "It gives mereal pain, although I had no part in it--"

"Your visit to those Senoras Troyas will be talked about all overthe town, " said the canon. "We are not in Madrid, in that centre ofcorruption, of scandal--"

"There you can visit the vilest places without any one knowing it, " saidDona Perfecta. 

"Here we are very observant of one another, " continued Don Inocencio. "We take notice of everything our neighbors do, and with such a systemof vigilance public morals are maintained at a proper height. Believeme, my friend, believe me, --and I do not say this to mortify you, --youare the first gentleman of your position who, in the light of day--thefirst, yes, senor--_Trojoe qui primus ab oris_. "

And bursting into a laugh, he clapped the engineer on the back in tokenof amity and good-will. 

"How grateful I ought to be, " said the young man, concealing his angerunder the sarcastic words which he thought the most suitable to answerthe covert irony of his interlocutors, "to meet with so much generosityand tolerance, when my criminal conduct would deserve--"

"What! Is a person of one's own blood, one who bears one's name, " saidDona Perfecta, "to be treated like a stranger? You are my nephew, youare the son of the best and the most virtuous of men, of my dear brotherJuan, and that is sufficient. Yesterday afternoon the secretary of thebishop came here to tell me that his lordship is greatly displeasedbecause I have you in my house. "

"And that too?" murmured the canon. 

"And that too. I said that in spite of the respect which I owe thebishop, and the affection and reverence which I bear him, my nephew ismy nephew, and I cannot turn him out of my house. "

"This is another singularity which I find in this place, " said Pepe Rey, pale with anger. "Here, apparently, the bishop governs other people'shouses. "

"He is a saint. He is so fond of me that he imagines--he imagines thatyou are going to contaminate us with your atheism, your disregard forpublic opinion, your strange ideas. I have told him repeatedly that, atbottom, you are an excellent young man. "

"Some concession must always be made to superior talent, " observed DonInocencio. 

"And this morning, when I was at the Cirujedas'--oh, you cannot imaginein what a state they had my head! Was it true that you had come topull down the cathedral; that you were commissioned by the EnglishProtestants to go preaching heresy throughout Spain; that you spent thewhole night gambling in the Casino; that you were drunk in the streets?'But, senoras, ' I said to them, 'would you have me send my nephew tothe hotel?' Besides, they are wrong about the drunkenness, and as forgambling--I have never yet heard that you gambled. "

Pepe Rey found himself in that state of mind in which the calmest man isseized by a sudden rage, by a blind and brutal impulse to strangle someone, to strike some one in the face, to break some one's head, to crushsome one's bones. But Dona Perfecta was a woman and was, besides, hisaunt; and Don Inocencio was an old man and an ecclesiastic. In additionto this, physical violence is in bad taste and unbecoming a person ofeducation and a Christian. There remained the resource of giving ventto his suppressed wrath in dignified and polite language; but this lastresource seemed to him premature, and only to be employed at the momentof his final departure from the house and from Orbajosa. Controlling hisfury, then, he waited. 

Jacinto entered as they were finishing supper. 

"Good-evening, Senor Don Jose, " he said, pressing the young man's hand. "You and your friends kept me from working this afternoon. I was notable to write a line. And I had so much to do!"

"I am very sorry for it, Jacinto. But according to what they tell me, you accompany them sometimes in their frolics. "

"I!" exclaimed the boy, turning scarlet. "Why, you know very well thatTafetan never speaks a word of truth. But is it true, Senor de Rey, thatyou are going away?"

"Is that the report in the town?"

"Yes. I heard it in the Casino and at Don Lorenzo Ruiz's. "

Rey contemplated in silence for a few moments the fresh face of DonNominative. Then he said:

"Well, it is not true; my aunt is very well satisfied with me; shedespises the calumnies with which the Orbajosans are favoring me--andshe will not turn me out of her house, even though the bishop himselfshould try to make her do so. "

"As for turning you out of the house--never. What would your fathersay?"

"Notwithstanding all your kindness, dearest aunt, notwithstanding thecordial friendship of the reverend canon, it is possible that I maymyself decide to go away. "

"To go away!"

"To go away--you!"

A strange light shone in Dona Perfecta's eyes. The canon, experiencedthough he was in dissimulation, could not conceal his joy. 

"Yes, and perhaps this very night. "

"Why, man, how impetuous you are; Why don't you at least wait untilmorning? Here--Juan, let some one go for Uncle Licurgo to get the nagready. I suppose you will take some luncheon with you. Nicolasa, thatpiece of veal that is on the sideboard! Librada, the senorito's linen. "

"No, I cannot believe that you would take so rash a resolution, "said Don Cayetano, thinking himself obliged to take some part in thequestion. 

"But you will come back, will you not?" asked the canon. 

"At what time does the morning train pass?" asked Dona Perfecta, inwhose eyes was clearly discernible the feverish impatience of herexaltation. 

"I am going away to-night. "

"But there is no moon. "

In the soul of Dona Perfecta, in the soul of the Penitentiary, in thelittle doctor's youthful soul echoed like a celestial harmony the word, "To-night!"

"Of course, dear Pepe, you will come back. I wrote to-day to yourfather, your excellent father, " exclaimed Dona Perfecta, with all thephysiognomic signs that make their appearance when a tear is about to beshed. 

"I will trouble you with a few commissions, " said the savant. 

"A good opportunity to order the volume that is wanting in my copy ofthe Abbe Gaume's work, " said the youthful lawyer. 

"You take such sudden notions, Pepe; you are so full of caprices, "murmured Dona Perfecta, smiling, with her eyes fixed on the door ofthe dining-room. "But I forgot to tell you that Caballuco is waiting tospeak to you. "

CHAPTER XV

DISCORD CONTINUES TO GROW UNTIL WAR IS DECLARED

Every one looked toward the door, at which appeared the imposing figureof the Centaur, serious-looking and frowning; embarrassed by his anxietyto salute the company politely; savagely handsome, but disfigured by theviolence which he did himself in smiling civilly and treading softly andholding his herculean arms in a correct posture. 

"Come in, Senor Ramos, " said Pepe Rey. 

"No, no!" objected Dona Perfecta. "What he has to say to you is anabsurdity. "

"Let him say it. "

"I ought not to allow such ridiculous questions to be discussed in myhouse. "

"What is Senor Ramos' business with me?"

Caballuco uttered a few words. 

"Enough, enough!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta. "Don't trouble my nephew anymore. Pepe, don't mind this simpleton. Do you wish me to tell you thecause of the great Caballuco's anger?" she said, turning to the others. 

"Anger? I think I can imagine, " said the Penitentiary, leaning back inhis chair and laughing with boisterous hilarity. 

"I wanted to say to Senor Don Jose--" growled the formidable horseman. 

"Hold your tongue, man, for Heaven's sake! And don't tire us any morewith that nonsense. "

"Senor Caballuco, " said the canon, "it is not to be wondered at thatgentlemen from the capital should cut out the rough riders of thissavage country. "

"In two words, Pepe, the question is this: Caballuco is--"

She could not go on for laughing. 

"Is--I don't know just what, " said Don Inocencio, "of one of the Troyagirls, of Mariquita Juana, if I am not mistaken. "

"And he is jealous! After his horse, the first thing in creation for himis Mariquilla Troya. "

"A pretty insinuation that!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta. "Poor Cristobal!Did you suppose that a person like my nephew--let us hear, what were yougoing to say to him? Speak. "

"Senor Don Jose and I will talk together presently, " responded the bravoof the town brusquely. 

And without another word he left the room. 

Shortly afterward Pepe Rey left the dining-room to retire to hisown room. In the hall he found himself face to face with his Trojanantagonist, and he could not repress a smile at the sight of the fierceand gloomy countenance of the offended lover. 

"A word with you, " said the latter, planting himself insolently in frontof the engineer. "Do you know who I am?"

As he spoke he laid his heavy hand on the young man's shoulder withsuch insolent familiarity that the latter, incensed, flung him off withviolence, saying:

"It is not necessary to crush one to say that. "

The bravo, somewhat disconcerted, recovered himself in a moment, andlooking at Rey with provoking boldness, repeated his refrain:

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes; I know now that you are a brute. "

He pushed the bully roughly aside and went into his room. As traced onthe excited brain of our unfortunate friend at this moment, his plan ofaction might be summed up briefly and definitely as follows: To breakCaballuco's head without loss of time; then to take leave of his aunt insevere but polite words which should reach her soul; to bid a cold adieuto the canon and give an embrace to the inoffensive Don Cayetano;to administer a thrashing to Uncle Licurgo, by way of winding up theentertainment, and leave Orbajosa that very night, shaking the dust fromhis shoes at the city gates. 

But in the midst of all these mortifications and persecutions theunfortunate young man had not ceased to think of another unhappy being, whom he believed to be in a situation even more painful and distressingthan his own. One of the maid-servants followed the engineer into hisroom. 

"Did you give her my message?" he asked. 

"Yes, senor, and she gave me this. "

Rey took from the girl's hand a fragment of a newspaper, on the marginof which he read these words:

"They say you are going away. I shall die if you do. "

When he returned to the dining-room Uncle Licurgo looked in at the doorand asked:

"At what hour do you want the horse?"

"At no hour, " answered Rey quickly. 

"Then you are not going to-night?" said Dona Perfecta. "Well, it isbetter to wait until to-morrow. "

"I am not going to-morrow, either. "

"When are you going, then?"

"We will see presently, " said the young man coldly, looking at his auntwith imperturbable calmness. "For the present I do not intend to goaway. "

His eyes flashed forth a fierce challenge. 

Dona Perfecta turned first red, then pale. She looked at the canon, whohad taken off his gold spectacles to wipe them, and then fixed hereyes successively on each of the other persons in the room, includingCaballuco, who, entering shortly before, had seated himself on theedge of a chair. Dona Perfecta looked at them as a general looks athis trusty body-guard. Then she studied the thoughtful and serenecountenance of her nephew--of that enemy, who, by a strategic movement, suddenly reappeared before her when she believed him to be in shamefulflight. 

Alas! Bloodshed, ruin, and desolation! A great battle was about to befought. 

CHAPTER XVI

NIGHT

Orbajosa slept. The melancholy street-lamps were shedding their lastgleams at street-corners and in by-ways, like tired eyes struggling invain against sleep. By their dim light, wrapped in their cloaks, glidedpast like shadows, vagabonds, watchmen, and gamblers. Only the hoarseshout of the drunkard or the song of the serenader broke the peacefulsilence of the historic city. Suddenly the "Ave Maria Purisima" of somedrunken watchman would be heard, like a moan uttered in its sleep by thetown. 

In Dona Perfecta's house also silence reigned, unbroken but for aconversation which was taking place between Don Cayetano and Pepe Rey, in the library of the former. The savant was seated comfortably inthe arm-chair beside his study table, which was covered with papersof various kinds containing notes, annotations, and references, allarranged in the most perfect order. Rey's eyes were fixed on the heap ofpapers, but his thoughts were doubtless far away from this accumulatedlearning. 

"Perfecta, " said the antiquary, "although she is an excellent woman, hasthe defect of allowing herself to be shocked by any little act of folly. In these provincial towns, my dear friend, the slightest slip is dearlypaid for. I see nothing particular in your having gone to the Troyas'house. I fancy that Don Inocencio, under his cloak of piety, issomething of a mischief-maker. What has he to do with the matter?"

"We have reached a point, Senor Don Cayetano, in which it is necessaryto take a decisive resolution. I must see Rosario and speak with her. "

"See her, then!"

"But they will not let me, " answered the engineer, striking the tablewith his clenched hand. "Rosario is kept a prisoner. "

"A prisoner!" repeated the savant incredulously. "The truth is that I donot like her looks or her hair, and still less the vacant expressionin her beautiful eyes. She is melancholy, she talks little, sheweeps--friend Don Jose, I greatly fear that the girl may be attacked bythe terrible malady to which so many of the members of my family havefallen victims. "

"A terrible malady! What is it?"

"Madness--or rather mania. Not a single member of my family has beenfree from it. I alone have escaped it. "

"You! But leaving aside the question of madness, " said Rey, withimpatience, "I wish to see Rosario. "

"Nothing more natural. But the isolation in which her mother keepsher is a hygienic measure, dear Pepe, and the only one that has beensuccessfully employed with the various members of my family. Considerthat the person whose presence and voice would make the strongestimpression on Rosarillo's delicate nervous system is the chosen of herheart. "

"In spite of all that, " insisted Pepe, "I wish to see her. "

"Perhaps Perfecta will not oppose your doing so, " said the savant, giving his attention to his notes and papers. "I don't want to take anyresponsibility in the matter. "

The engineer, seeing that he could obtain nothing from the goodPolentinos, rose to retire. 

"You are going to work, " he said, "and I will not trouble you anylonger. "

"No, there is time enough. See the amount of precious information thatI collected to-day. Listen: 'In 1537 a native of Orbajosa, calledBartolome del Hoyo, went to Civita-Vecchia in one of the galleys ofthe Marquis of Castel Rodrigo. ' Another: 'In the same year two brothersnamed Juan and Rodrigo Gonzalez del Arco embarked in one of the sixships which sailed from Maestricht on the 20th of February, and whichencountered in the latitude of Calais an English vessel and the Flemishfleet commanded by Van Owen. ' That was truly an important exploit ofour navy. I have discovered that it was an Orbajosan, one Mateo DiazCoronel, an ensign in the guards, who, in 1709, wrote and publishedin Valencia the 'Metrical Encomium, Funeral Chant, Lyrical Eulogy, Numerical Description, Glorious Sufferings, and Sorrowful Glories of theQueen of the Angels. ' I possess a most precious copy of this work, whichis worth the mines of Peru. Another Orbajosan was the author of thatfamous 'Treatise on the Various Styles of Horsemanship' which Ishowed you yesterday; and, in short, there is not a step I take in thelabyrinth of unpublished history that I do not stumble against someillustrious compatriot. It is my purpose to draw all these names out ofthe unjust obscurity and oblivion in which they have so long lain. Howpure a joy, dear Pepe, to restore all their lustre to the glories, epicand literary, of one's native place! And how could a man better employthe scant intellect with which Heaven has endowed him, the fortune whichhe has inherited, and the brief period of time on earth allowed to eventhe longest life. Thanks to me it will be seen that Orbajosa is theillustrious cradle of Spanish genius. But what do I say? Is not itsillustrious ancestry evident in the nobleness and high-mindedness ofthe present Urbs Augustan generation? We know few places where all thevirtues, unchoked by the malefic weeds of vice, grow more luxuriantly. Here all is peace, mutual respect, Christian humility. Charity ispractised here as it was in Biblical times; here envy is unknown; herethe criminal passions are unknown, and if you hear thieves and murderersspoken of, you may be sure that they are not the children of thisnoble soil; or, that if they are, they belong to the number of unhappycreatures perverted by the teachings of demagogues. Here you will seethe national character in all its purity--upright, noble, incorruptible, pure, simple, patriarchal, hospitable, generous. Therefore it is thatI live so happy in this solitude far from the turmoil of cities where, alas! falsehood and vice reign. Therefore it is that the many friendswhom I have in Madrid have not been able to tempt me from this place;therefore it is that I spend my life in the sweet companionship of myfaithful townspeople and my books, breathing the wholesome atmosphere ofintegrity, which is gradually becoming circumscribed in our Spain to thehumble and Christian towns that have preserved it with the emanations oftheir virtues. And believe me, my dear Pepe, this peaceful isolation hasgreatly contributed to preserve me from the terrible malady connaturalin my family. In my youth I suffered, like my brothers and my father, from a lamentable propensity to the most absurd manias; but here youhave me so miraculously cured that all I know of the malady is what Isee of it in others. And it is for that reason that I am so uneasy aboutmy little niece. "

"I am rejoiced that the air of Orbajosa has proved so beneficial toyou, " said Rey, unable to resist the jesting mood that, by a strangecontradiction, came over him in the midst of his sadness. "With me ithas agreed so badly that I think I shall soon become mad if I remain init. Well, good-night, and success to your labors. "

"Good-night. "

Pepe went to his room, but feeling neither a desire for sleep or theneed of physical repose, --on the contrary, a violent excitation of mindwhich impelled him to move, to act, --he walked up and down the room, torturing himself with useless cavilling. After a time he opened thewindow which overlooked the garden and, leaning his elbows on theparapet, he gazed out on the limitless darkness of the night. Nothingcould be seen, but he who is absorbed in his own thoughts sees with themental vision, and Pepe Rey, his eyes fixed on the darkness, saw thevaried panorama of his misfortunes unroll itself upon it before him. Theobscurity did not permit him to see the flowers of the earth, nor thoseof the heavens, which are the stars. The very absence of light producedthe effect of an illusory movement in the masses of foliage, whichseemed to stretch away, to recede slowly, and come curling back like thewaves of a shadowy sea. A vast flux and reflux, a strife between forcesvaguely comprehended, agitated the silent sky. The mathematician, contemplating this strange projection of his soul upon the night, saidto himself:

"The battle will be terrible. Let us see who will come out of itvictorious. "

The nocturnal insects whispered in his ear mysterious words. Herea shrill chirp; there a click, like the click made with the tongue;further on, plaintive murmurs; in the distance a tinkle like that ofthe bell on the neck of the wandering ox. Suddenly Rey heard a strangesound, a rapid note, that could be produced only by the human tongue andlips. This sibilant breathing passed through the young man's brain likea flash of lightning. He felt that swift "s-s-s" dart snake-like throughhim, repeated again and then again, with augmented intensity. He lookedall around, then he looked toward the upper part of the house, and hefancied that in one of the windows he could distinguish an object likea white bird flapping its wings. Through Pepe Rey's excited mind flashedinstantly the idea of the phoenix, of the dove, of the regal heron, andyet the bird he saw was noting more than a handkerchief. 

The engineer sprang from the balcony into the garden. Observingattentively, he saw the hand and the face of his cousin. He thoughthe could perceive the gesture commonly employed of imposing silence bylaying the finger on the lips. Then the dear shade pointed downward anddisappeared. Pepe Rey returned quickly to this room, entered the hallnoiselessly, and walked slowly forward. He felt his heart beat withviolence. He waited for a few moments, and at last he heard distinctlylight taps on the steps of the stairs. One, two, three--the sounds wereproduced by a pair of little shoes. 

He walked in the direction whence they proceeded, and stretched outhis hands in the obscurity to assist the person who was descending thestairs. In his soul there reigned an exalted and profound tenderness, but--why seek to deny it--mingling with this tender feeling, theresuddenly arose within him, like an infernal inspiration, anothersentiment, a fierce desire for revenge. The steps continued to descend, coming nearer and nearer. Pepe Rey went forward, and a pair of hands, groping in the darkness, came in contact with his own. The two pairs ofhands were united in a close clasp. 

CHAPTER XVII

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

The hall was long and broad. At one end of it was the door of the roomoccupied by the engineer, in the centre that of the dining-room, and atthe other end were the staircase and a large closed door reached by astep. This door opened into a chapel in which the Polentinos performedtheir domestic devotions. Occasionally the holy sacrifice of the masswas celebrated in it. 

Rosario led her cousin to the door of the chapel and then sank down onthe doorstep. 

"Here?" murmured Pepe Rey. 

From the movements of Rosarito's right hand he comprehended that she wasblessing herself. 

"Rosario, dear cousin, thanks for allowing me to see you!" he exclaimed, embracing her ardently. 

He felt the girl's cold fingers on his lips, imposing silence. He kissedthem rapturously. 

"You are frozen. Rosario, why do you tremble so?"

Her teeth were chattering, and her whole frame trembled convulsively. Rey felt the burning heat of his cousin's face against his own, and hecried in alarm:

"Your forehead is burning! You are feverish. "

"Very. "

"Are you really ill?"

"Yes. "

"And you have left your room----"

"To see you. "

The engineer wrapped his arms around her to protect her from the cold, but it was not enough. 

"Wait, " he said quickly, rising. "I am going to my room to bring mytravelling rug. "

"Put out the light, Pepe. "

Rey had left the lamp burning in his room, through the door of whichissued a faint streak of light, illuminating the hall. He returned in aninstant. The darkness was now profound. Groping his way along the wallhe reached the spot where his cousin was sitting, and wrapped the rugcarefully around her. 

"You are comfortable now, my child. "

"Yes, so comfortable! With you!"

"With me--and forever!" exclaimed the young man, with exaltation. 

But he observed that she was releasing herself from his arms and wasrising. 

"What are you doing?"

A metallic sound was heard. Rosario had put the key into the invisiblelock and was cautiously opening the door on the threshold of which theyhad been sitting. The faint odor of dampness, peculiar to rooms thathave been long shut up, issued from the place, which was as dark as atomb. Pepe Rey felt himself being guided by the hand, and his cousin'svoice said faintly:

"Enter!"

They took a few steps forward. He imagined himself being led to anunknown Elysium by the angel of night. Rosario groped her way. At lasther sweet voice sounded again, murmuring:

"Sit down. "

They were beside a wooden bench. Both sat down. Pepe Rey embracedRosario again. As he did so, his head struck against a hard body. 

"What is this?" he asked. 

"The feet. "

"Rosario--what are you saying?"

"The feet of the Divine Jesus, of the image of Christ crucified, that weadore in my house. "

Pepe Rey felt a cold chill strike through him. 

"Kiss them, " said the young girl imperiously. 

The mathematician kissed the cold feet of the holy image. 

"Pepe, " then cried the young girl, pressing her cousin's hand ardentlybetween her own, "do you believe in God?"

"Rosario! What are you saying? What absurdities are you imagining?"responded her cousin, perplexed. 

"Answer me. "

Pepe Rey felt drops of moisture on his hands. 

"Why are you crying?" he said, greatly disturbed. "Rosario, you arekilling me with your absurd doubts. Do I believe in God? Do you doubtit?"

"I do not doubt it; but they all say that you are an atheist. "

"You would suffer in my estimation, you would lose your aureole ofpurity--your charm--if you gave credit to such nonsense. "

"When I heard them accuse you of being an atheist, although I couldbring no proof to the contrary, I protested from the depths of my soulagainst such a calumny. You cannot be an atheist. I have within me asstrong and deep a conviction of your faith as of my own. "

"How wisely you speak! Why, then, do you ask me if I believe in God?"

"Because I wanted to hear it from your own lips, and rejoice in hearingyou say it. It is so long since I have heard the sound of your voice!What greater happiness than to hear it again, saying: 'I believe inGod?'"

"Rosario, even the wicked believe in him. If there be atheists, which Idoubt, they are the calumniators, the intriguers with whom the world isinfested. For my part, intrigues and calumnies matter little to me; andif you rise superior to them and close your heart against the discordwhich a perfidious hand would sow in it, nothing shall interfere withour happiness. "

"But what is going on around us? Pepe, dear Pepe, do you believe in thedevil?"

The engineer was silent. The darkness of the chapel prevented Rosariofrom seeing the smile with which her cousin received this strangequestion. 

"We must believe in him, " he said at last. 

"What is going on? Mamma forbids me to see you; but, except in regardto the atheism, she does not say any thing against you. She tells me towait, that you will decide; that you are going away, that you are comingback----Speak to me with frankness--have you formed a bad opinion of mymother?"

"Not at all, " replied Rey, urged by a feeling of delicacy. 

"Do you not believe, as I do, that she loves us both, that she desiresonly our good, and that we shall in the end obtain her consent to ourwishes?"

"If you believe it, I do too. Your mama adores us both. But, dearRosario, it must be confessed that the devil has entered this house. "

"Don't jest!" she said affectionately. "Ah! Mamma is very good. She hasnot once said to me that you were unworthy to be my husband. All sheinsists upon is the atheism. They say, besides, that I have manias, andthat I have the mania now of loving you with all my soul. In our familyit is a rule not to oppose directly the manias that are hereditary init, because to oppose them aggravates them. "

"Well, I believe that there are skilful physicians at your side whohave determined to cure you, and who will, in the end, my adored girl, succeed in doing so. "

"No, no; a thousand times no!" exclaimed Rosario, leaning her foreheadon her lover's breast. "I am willing to be mad if I am with you. Foryou I am suffering, for you I am ill; for you I despise life and I riskdeath. I know it now--to-morrow I shall be worse, I shall be dangerouslyill, I shall die. What does it matter to me?"

"You are not ill, " he responded, with energy; "there is nothing thematter with you but an agitation of mind which naturally brings with itsome slight nervous disturbances; there is nothing the matter with youbut the suffering occasioned by the horrible coercion which they areusing with you. Your simple and generous soul does not comprehend it. You yield; you forgive those who injure you; you torment yourself, attributing your suffering to baleful, supernatural influences; yousuffer in silence; you give your innocent neck to the executioner, youallow yourself to be slain, and the very knife which is plunged intoyour breast seems to you the thorn of a flower that has pierced you inpassing. Rosario, cast those ideas from your mind; consider our realsituation, which is serious; seek its cause where it really is, anddo not give way to your fears; do not yield to the tortures which areinflicted upon you, making yourself mentally and physically ill. Thecourage which you lack would restore you to health, because you are notreally ill, my dear girl, you are--do you wish me to say it?--you arefrightened, terrified. You are under what the ancients, not knowing howto express it, called an evil spell. Courage, Rosario, trust in me! Riseand follow me. That is all I will say. "

"Ah, Pepe--cousin! I believe that you are right, " exclaimed Rosario, drowned in tears. "Your words resound within my heart, arousing in itnew energy, new life. Here in this darkness, where we cannot see eachother's faces, an ineffable light emanates from you and inundates mysoul. What power have you to transform me in this way? The moment Isaw you I became another being. In the days when I did not see you Ireturned to my former insignificance, my natural cowardice. Without you, my Pepe, I live in Limbo. I will do as you tell me, I will arise andfollow you. We will go together wherever you wish. Do you know that Ifeel well? Do you know that I have no fever: that I have recovered mystrength; that I want to run about and cry out; that my whole being isrenewed and enlarged, and multiplied a hundred-fold in order to adoreyou? Pepe, you are right. I am not sick, I am only afraid; or rather, bewitched. "

"That is it, bewitched. "

"Bewitched! Terrible eyes look at me, and I remain mute and trembling. I am afraid, but of what? You alone have the strange power of calling meback to life. Hearing you, I live again. I believe if I were to die andyou were to pass by my grave, that deep under the ground I should feelyour footsteps. Oh, if I could see you now! But you are here beside me, and I cannot doubt that it is you. So many days without seeing you! Iwas mad. Each day of solitude appeared to me a century. They said tome, to-morrow and to-morrow, and always to-morrow. I looked out ofthe window at night, and the light of the lamp in your room servedto console me. At times your shadow on the window was for me a divineapparition. I stretched out my arms to you, I shed tears and cried outinwardly, without daring to do so with my voice. When I received themessage you sent me with the maid, when I received your letter tellingme that you were going away, I grew very sad, I thought my soul wasleaving my body and that I was dying slowly. I fell, like the birdwounded as it flies, that falls and, falling, dies. To-night, when Isaw that you were awake so late, I could not resist the longing I had tospeak to you; and I came down stairs. I believe that all the courage ofmy life has been used up in this single act, and that now I can neverbe any thing again but a coward. But you will give me courage; you willgive me strength; you will help me, will you not? Pepe, my dear cousin, tell me that you will; tell me that I am strong, and I will be strong;tell me that I am not ill, and I will not be ill. I am not ill now. Ifeel so well that I could laugh at my ridiculous maladies. "

As she said this she felt herself clasped rapturously in her cousin'sarms. An "Oh!" was heard, but it came, not from her lips, but from his, for in bending his head, he had struck it violently against the feet ofthe crucifix. In the darkness it is that the stars are seen. 

In the exalted state of his mind, by a species of hallucination naturalin the darkness, it seemed to Pepe Rey not that his head had struckagainst the sacred foot, but that this had moved, warning him in thebriefest and most eloquent manner. Raising his head he said, halfseriously, half gayly:

"Lord, do not strike me; I will do nothing wrong. "

At the same moment Rosario took the young man's hand and pressed itagainst her heart. A voice was heard, a pure, grave, angelic voice, fullof feeling, saying:

"Lord whom I adore, Lord God of the world, and guardian of my house andof my family; Lord whom Pepe also adores; holy and blessed Christ whodied on the cross for our sins; before thee, before thy wounded body, before thy forehead crowned with thorns, I say that this man is myhusband, and that, after thee, he is the being whom my heart loves most;I say that I declare him to be my husband, and that I will die beforeI belong to another. My heart and my soul are his. Let not the worldoppose our happiness, and grant me the favor of this union, which Iswear to be true and good before the world, as it is in my conscience. "

"Rosario, you are mine!" exclaimed Pepe Rey, with exaltation. "Neitheryour mother nor any one else shall prevent it. "

Rosario sank powerless into her cousin's arms. She trembled in his manlyembrace, as the dove trembles in the talons of the eagle. 

Through the engineer's mind the thought flashed that the devil existed;but the devil then was he. Rosario made a slight movement of fear; shefelt the thrill of surprise, so to say, that gives warning that dangeris near. 

"Swear to me that you will not yield to them, " said Pepe Rey, withconfusion, observing the movement. 

"I swear it to you by my father's ashes that are--"

"Where?"

"Under our feet. "

The mathematician felt the stone rise under his feet--but no, it was notrising; he only fancied, mathematician though he was, that he felt itrise. 

"I swear it to you, " repeated Rosario, "by my father's ashes, and by theGod who is looking at us----May our bodies, united as they are, reposeunder those stones when God wills to take us out of this world. "

"Yes, " repeated the Pepe Rey, with profound emotion, feeling his soulfilled with an inexplicable trouble. 

Both remained silent for a short time. Rosario had risen. 

"Already?" he said. 

She sat down again. 

"You are trembling again, " said Pepe. "Rosario, you are ill; yourforehead is burning. "

"I think I am dying, " murmured the young girl faintly. "I don't knowwhat is the matter with me. "

She fell senseless into her cousin's arms. Caressing her, he noticedthat her face was covered with a cold perspiration. 

"She is really ill, " he said to himself. "It was a piece of greatimprudence to have come down stairs. "

He lifted her up in his arms, endeavoring to restore her toconsciousness, but neither the trembling that had seized her nor herinsensibility passed away; and he resolved to carry her out of thechapel, in the hope that the fresh air would revive her. And so it was. When she recovered consciousness Rosario manifested great disquietudeat finding herself at such an hour out of her own room. The clock of thecathedral struck four. 

"How late it is!" exclaimed the young girl. "Release me, cousin. I thinkI can walk. I am really very ill. "

"I will go upstairs with you. "

"Oh, no; on no account! I would rather drag myself to my room on myhands and feet. Don't you hear a noise?"

Both were silent. The anxiety with which they listened made the silenceintense. 

"Don't you hear any thing, Pepe?"

"Absolutely nothing. "

"Pay attention. There, there it is again. It is a noise that sounds asif it might be either very, very distant, or very near. It might eitherbe my mother's breathing or the creaking of the vane on the tower of thecathedral. Ah! I have a very fine ear. "

"Too fine! Well, dear cousin, I will carry you upstairs in my arms. "

"Very well; carry me to the head of the stairs. Afterward I can goalone. As soon as I rest a little I shall be as well as ever. But don'tyou hear?"

They stopped on the first step. 

"It is a metallic sound. "

"Your mother's breathing?"

"No, it is not that. The noise comes from a great distance. Perhaps itis the crowing of a cock?"

"Perhaps so. "

"It sounds like the words, 'I am going there, I am going there!'"

"Now, now I hear, " murmured Pepe Rey. 

"It is a cry. "

"It is a cornet. "

"A cornet!"

"Yes. Let us hurry. Orbajosa is going to wake up. Now I hear it clearly. It is not a trumpet but a clarionet. The soldiers are coming. "

"Soldiers!"

"I don't know why I imagine that this military invasion is going to beadvantageous to me. I feel glad. Up, quickly, Rosario!"

"I feel glad, too. Up, up!"

In an instant he had carried her upstairs, and the lovers took awhispered leave of each other. 

"I will stand at the window overlooking the garden, so that you may knowI have reached my room safely. Good-by. "

"Good-by, Rosario. Take care not to stumble against the furniture. "

"I can find my way here perfectly, cousin. We shall soon see eachother again. Stand at your window if you wish to receive my telegraphicdespatch. "

Pepe Rey did as he was bade; but he waited a long time, and Rosario didnot appear at the window. The engineer fancied he heard agitated voiceson the floor above him. 

CHAPTER XVIII

THE SOLDIERS

The inhabitants of Orbajosa heard in the twilight vagueness of theirmorning slumbers the same sonorous clarionet, and they opened theireyes, saying:

"The soldiers!"

Some murmured to themselves between sleeping and waking:

"At last they have sent us that rabble. "

Others got out of bed hastily, growling:

"Let us go take a look at those confounded soldiers. "

Some soliloquized in this way:

"It will be necessary to hurry up matters. They say drafts andcontributions; we will say blows and more blows. "

In another house were heard these words uttered joyfully:

"Perhaps my son is coming! Perhaps my brother is coming!"

Everywhere people were springing out of bed, dressing hastily, openingthe windows to see the regiment that caused all this excitement enteringthe city in the early dawn. The city was gloom, silence, age; the armygayety, boisterousness, youth. As the army entered the city it seemed asif the mummy received by some magic art the gift of life and sprangwith noisy gayety from its damp sarcophagus to dance around it. Whatmovement, what shouting, what laughter, what merriment! There is nothingso interesting as a regiment. It is our country in its youthful andvigorous aspect. All the ineptitude, the turbulence, the superstitionat times, and at times the impiety of the country as represented in theindividual, disappears under the iron rule of discipline, which of somany insignificant figures makes an imposing whole. The soldier, or soto say, the corpuscle, separating at the command "Break ranks!" fromthe mass in which he has led a regular and at times a sublime life, occasionally preserves some of the qualities peculiar to the army. Butthis is not the general rule. The separation is most often accompaniedby a sudden deterioration, with the result that if an army is the gloryand honor of a nation, an assemblage of soldiers may be an insupportablecalamity; and the towns that shed tears of joy and enthusiasm when theysee a victorious battalion enter their precincts, groan with terror andtremble with apprehension when they see the same soldiers separate andoff duty. 

This last was what happened in Orbajosa, for in those days there wereno glorious deeds to celebrate, nor was there any motive for weavingwreaths or tracing triumphal inscriptions, or even for making mentionof the exploits of our brave soldiers, for which reason all was fearand suspicion in the episcopal city, which, although poor, did not lacktreasures in chickens, fruits, money, and maidenhood, all of whichran great risk from the moment when the before-mentioned sons of Marsentered it. In addition to this, the native town of Polentinos, as acity remote from the movement and stir brought with them by traffic, thenewspapers, railroads, and other agents which it is unnecessary now tospecify, did not wish to be disturbed in its tranquil existence. 

Besides which, it manifested on every favorable occasion a strongaversion to submitting to the central authority which, badly or well, governs us; and calling to mind its former privileges and ruminatingupon them anew, as the camel chews the cud of the grass which itate yesterday, it would occasionally display a certain rebelliousindependence, and vicious tendencies much to be deplored, which at timesgave no little anxiety to the governor of the province. 

It must also be taken into account that Orbajosa had rebelliousantecedents, or rather ancestry. Doubtless it still retained someof those energetic fibres which, in remote ages, according to theenthusiastic opinion of Don Cayetano, impelled it to unexampled epicdeeds; and, even in its decadence, occasionally felt an eager desire todo great things, although they might be only barbarities and follies. As it had given to the world so many illustrious sons, it desired, no doubt, that its actual scions, the Caballucos, Merengues, andPelosmalos, should renew the glorious _Gesta_ of their predecessors. 

Whenever there was disaffection in Spain, Orbajosa gave proof that itwas not in vain that it existed on the face of the earth, although itis true that it was never the theatre of a real war. The spirit of thetown, its situation, its history, all reduced it to the secondary partof raising guerillas. It bestowed upon the country this national productin 1827, at the time of the Apostolics, during the Seven Years' War, in1848, and at other epochs of less resonance in the national history. Theguerillas and their chiefs were always popular, a fatal circumstance dueto the War of Independence, one of those good things which have beenthe origin of an infinite number of detestable things. _Corruptio optimipessima_. And with the popularity of the guerillas and their chiefscoincided, in ever-increasing proportion, the unpopularity of every onewho entered Orbajosa in the character of a delegate or instrument ofthe central power. The soldiers were held in such disrepute there that, whenever the old people told of any crime, any robbery, assassination, or the like atrocity, they added: "This happened when the soldiers werehere. "

And now that these important observations have been made, it will bewell to add that the battalions sent there during the days in which theevents of our story took place did not go to parade through the streets, but for another purpose which will be clearly and minutely set forthlater on. As a detail of no little interest, it may be noted that theevents here related took place at a period neither very remote nor veryrecent. It may also be said that Orbajosa (called by the Romans UrbsAugusta, although some learned moderns, enquiring into the etymology ofthe termination _ajosa_[*] are of the opinion that it comes by it frombeing the richest garlic-growing country in the world) is neither verynear Madrid nor very far from it; nor can we say whether its gloriousfoundations are laid toward the north or toward the south, toward theeast or toward the west; but that it may be supposed to be in any partof Spain where the pungent odor of its garlic is to be perceived. 

 [*] Rich in garlic. 

The billets of residence being distributed by the authorities, eachsoldier went to seek his borrowed home. They were received bytheir hosts with a very ill grace and assigned the most atrociouslyuninhabitable parts of the houses. The girls of the city were not indeedamong those who were most dissatisfied, but a strict watch was kept overthem, and it was considered not decent to show pleasure at the visit ofsuch rabble. The few soldiers who were natives of the district only weretreated like kings. The others were regarded as invaders. 

At eight in the morning a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry entered thehouse of Dona Perfecta Polentinos with his billet. He was received bythe servants, by order of its mistress, who, being at the time in adeplorable state of mind, did not wish to go down stairs to meet thesoldier, and by them he was shown to the only room in the house which, it seemed, was disposable, the room occupied by Pepe Rey. 

"Let them settle themselves as best they can, " said Dona Perfecta, withan expression of gall and vinegar. "And if they have not room enough, let them go into the street. "

Was it her intention to annoy in this way her detested nephew, or wasthere really no other unoccupied room in the house? This we do not know, nor do the chronicles from which this true history is taken say a wordon this important point. What we know positively is that, far fromdispleasing the two guests to be thus boxed up together, it gave themgreat pleasure, as they happened to be old friends. They were greatlysurprised and delighted when they met, and they were never tired ofasking each other questions and uttering exclamations, dwelling on thestrange chance that had brought them together in such a place and onsuch an occasion. 

"Pinzon--you here! Why, what is this? I had no suspicion that you werein this neighborhood. "

"I heard that you were in this part of the country, Pepe; but I had noidea, either, that I should meet you in this horrible, this barbarousOrbajosa. "

"But what a fortunate chance! For this chance is mostfortunate--providential. Pinzon, between us both we are going to do agreat thing in this wretched town. "

"And we shall have time enough to consult about it, " answered the other, seating himself on the bed in which the engineer was lying, "for itappears that we are both to occupy this room. What the devil sort of ahouse is this?"

"Why, man, it is my aunt's. Speak with more respect about it. Have younot met my aunt? But I am going to get up. "

"I am very glad of it, for then I can lie down and rest; and badly Ineed it. What a road, friend Pepe, what a road, and what a town!"

"Tell me, have you come to set fire to Orbajosa?"

"Fire!"

"I ask you because, in that case, I might help you. "

"What a town! But what a town!" exclaimed the soldier, removing hisshako, and laying aside sword and shoulder-belt, travelling case andcloak. "This is the second time they have sent us here. I swear to youthat the third time I will ask my discharge. "

"Don't talk ill of these good people! But you have come in the nick oftime. It seems as if Providence has sent you to my aid, Pinzon. I have aterrible project on hand, an adventure, --a plot, if you wish to callit so, my friend, --and it would have been difficult for me to carryit through without you. A moment ago I was in despair, wondering how Ishould manage, and saying to myself anxiously, 'If I only had a friendhere, a good friend!'"

"A project, a plot, an adventure! One of two things, SenorMathematician: it is either the discovery of aerial navigation, or elsesome love affair. "

"It is serious, very serious. Go to bed, sleep a while, and afterward wewill talk about it. "

"I will go to bed, but I will not sleep. You may say all you wish tome. All that I ask is that you will say as little as possible aboutOrbajosa. "

"It is precisely about Orbajosa that I wish to speak to you. But haveyou also an antipathy to this cradle of illustrious men?"

"These garlic-venders--we call them the garlic-venders--may be asillustrious as you choose, but to me they are as irritating as theproduct of the country. This is a town ruled by people who teachdistrust, superstition, and hatred of the whole human race. When we haveleisure I will relate to you an occurrence--an adventure, half-comic, half-tragic--that happened to me here last year. When I tell it to you, you will laugh and I shall be fuming. But, in fine, what is past ispast. "

"In what is happening to me there is nothing comic. "

"But I have various reasons for hating this wretched place. You mustknow that my father was assassinated here in '48 by a party of barbarousguerillas. He was a brigadier, and he had left the service. TheGovernment sent for him, and he was passing through Villahorrenda on hisway to Madrid, when he was captured by half a dozen ruffians. Here thereare several dynasties of guerilla chiefs--the Aceros, the Caballucos, the Pelosmalos--a periodical eruption, as some one has said who knewvery well what he was talking about. "

"I suppose that two infantry regiments and some cavalry have not comehere solely for the pleasure of visiting these delightful regions. "

"Certainly not! We have come to survey the country. There are manydeposits of arms here. The Government does not venture, as it desires, to remove from office the greater number of the municipal councilswithout first distributing a few companies of soldiers through thesetowns. As there is so much disturbance in this part of the country, as two of the neighboring provinces are already infested, and as thismunicipal district of Orbajosa has, besides, so brilliant a record inall the civil wars, there are fears that the bravos of the place maytake to the roads and rob all they can lay hands on. "

"A good precaution! But I am firmly convinced that not until thesepeople die and are born over again, not until the very stones havechanged their form, will there be peace in Orbajosa. "

"That is my opinion too, " said the officer, lighting a cigarette. "Don'tyou see that the guerilla chiefs are the pets of this place? Those whodesolated the district in 1848 and at other epochs, or, if not they, their sons, are employed in the market inspector's office, at the towngates, in the town-hall, in the post-office; among them are constables, sacristans, bailiffs. Some have become powerful party leaders and theyare the ones who manage the elections, have influence in Madrid, bestowplaces--in short, this is terrible. "

"And tell me, is there no hope of the guerilla chiefs performing someexploit in these days? If that should happen, you could destroy thetown, and I would help you. "

"If it depended upon me----They will play their usual pranks no doubt, "said Pinzon, "for the insurrection in the two neighboring provinces isspreading like wildfire. And between ourselves, friend Rey, I thinkthis is going to last for a long time. Some people smile and say that itwould be impossible that there should be another insurrection like thelast one. They don't know the country; they don't know Orbajosa andits inhabitants. I believe that the war that is now beginning will haveserious consequences, and that we shall have another cruel and bloodystruggle, that will last Heaven knows how long. What is your opinion?"

"Well, in Madrid I laughed at any one who spoke of the possibility of acivil war as long and as terrible as the Seven Years' War; but since Ihave been here----"

"One must come to the heart of this enchanting country, see the peopleat home, and hear them talk, to know what the real state of affairs is. "

"Just so. Without knowing precisely on what I base my opinion, the factis that here I see things in a different light, and I now believe thatit is possible that there may be a long and bloody war. "

"Exactly so. "

"But at present my thoughts are occupied less by the public war than bya private war in which I am engaged and which I declared a short timeago. "

"You said this was your aunt's house. What is her name?"

"Dona Perfecta Rey de Polentinos. "

"Ah! I know her by reputation. She is an excellent person, and the onlyone of whom I have not heard the garlic-venders speak ill. When I washere before I heard her goodness, her charity, her innumerable virtues, everywhere extolled. "

"Yes, my aunt is very kind, very amiable, " said Rey. 

Then he fell into a thoughtful silence. 

"But now I remember!" exclaimed Pinzon suddenly. "How one thing fits inwith another! Yes, I heard in Madrid that you were going to be marriedto a cousin of yours. All is clear now. Is it that beautiful andheavenly Rosario?"

"Pinzon, we must have a long talk together. "

"I imagine that there are difficulties. "

"There is something more; there is violent opposition. I have need of adetermined friend--a friend who is prompt to act, fruitful in resource, of great experience in emergencies, astute and courageous. "

"Why, this is even more serious than a challenge. "

"A great deal more serious. It would be easy to fight with another man. With women, with unseen enemies who work in the dark, it is impossible. "

"Come, I am all ears. "

Lieutenant-colonel Pinzon lay stretched at full length upon the bed. Pepe Rey drew a chair up to the bedside and, leaning his elbow onthe bed and his head on his hand, began his conference, consultation, exposition of plan, or whatever else it might be called, and continuedtalking for a long time. Pinzon listened to him with profound attentionand without interrupting him, except to ask an occasional question forthe purpose of obtaining further details or additional light upon someobscure point. When Pepe Rey ended, Pinzon looked grave. He stretchedhimself, yawning with the satisfaction of one who has not slept forthree nights, and then said:

"You plan is dangerous and difficult. "

"But not impossible. "

"Oh, no! for nothing is impossible. Reflect well about it. "

"I have reflected. "

"And you are resolved to carry it through? Consider that these thingsare not now in fashion. They generally turn out badly and throwdiscredit on those who undertake them. "

"I am resolved. "

"For my part, then, although the business is dangerous and serious--veryserious--I am ready to aid you in all things and for all things. "

"Can I rely upon you?"

"To the death. "

CHAPTER XIX

A TERRIBLE BATTLE-STRATEGY

The opening of hostilities could not long be delayed. When the hour ofdinner arrived, after coming to an agreement with Pinzon regarding theplan to be pursued, the first condition of which was that the friendsshould pretend not to know each other, Pepe Rey went to the dining-room. There he found his aunt, who had just returned from the cathedral whereshe had spent the morning as was her habit. She was alone, and appearedto be greatly preoccupied. The engineer observed that on that pale andmarble-like countenance, not without a certain beauty, there resteda mysterious shadow. When she looked up it recovered its sinistercalmness, but she looked up seldom, and after a rapid examination of hernephew's countenance, that of the amiable lady would again take on itsstudied gloom. 

They awaited dinner in silence. They did not wait for Don Cayetano, forhe had gone to Mundogrande. When they sat down to table Dona Perfectasaid:

"And that fine soldier whom the Government has sent us, is he not comingto dinner?"

"He seems to be more sleepy than hungry, " answered the engineer, withoutlooking at his aunt. 

"Do you know him?"

"I have never seen him in all my life before. "

"We are nicely off with the guests whom the Government sends us. We havebeds and provisions in order to keep them ready for those vagabonds ofMadrid, whenever they may choose to dispose of them. "

"There are fears of an insurrection, " said Pepe Rey, with sudden heat, "and the Government is determined to crush the Orbajosans--to crushthem, to grind them to powder. "

"Stop, man, stop, for Heaven's sake; don't crush us!" cried DonaPerfecta sarcastically. "Poor we! Be merciful, man, and allow us unhappycreatures to live. And would you, then, be one of those who would aidthe army in the grand work of crushing us?"

"I am not a soldier. I will do nothing but applaud when I see the germsof civil war; of insubordination, of discord, of disorder, of robbery, and of barbarism that exist here, to the shame of our times and of ourcountry, forever extirpated. "

"All will be as God wills. "

"Orbajosa, my dear aunt, has little else than garlic and bandits; forthose who in the name of some political or religious idea set out insearch of adventures every four or five years are nothing but bandits. "

"Thanks, thanks, my dear nephew!" said Dona Perfecta, turning pale. "SoOrbajosa has nothing more than that? Yet there must be something elsehere--something that you do not possess, since you have come to look forit among us. "

Rey felt the cut. His soul was on fire. He found it very difficult toshow his aunt the consideration to which her sex, her rank, and herrelation to himself entitled her. He was on the verge of a violentoutbreak, and a force that he could not resist was impelling him againsthis interlocutor. 

"I came to Orbajosa, " he said, "because you sent for me; you arrangedwith my father--"

"Yes, yes; it is true, " she answered, interrupting him quickly andmaking an effort to recover her habitual serenity. "I do not deny it. Iam the one who is really to blame. I am to blame for your ill-humor, forthe slights you put upon us, for every thing disagreeable that has beenhappening in my house since you entered it. "

"I am glad that you are conscious of it. "

"In exchange, you are a saint. Must I also go down on my knees to yourgrace and ask your pardon?"

"Senora, " said Pepe Rey gravely, laying down his knife and fork, "Ientreat you not to mock me in so pitiless a manner. I cannot meet youon equal ground. All I have said is that I came to Orbajosa at yourinvitation. "

"And it is true. Your father and I arranged that you should marryRosario. You came in order to become acquainted with her. I accepted youat once as a son. You pretended to love Rosario--"

"Pardon me, " objected Pepe; "I loved and I love Rosario; you pretendedto accept me as a son; receiving me with deceitful cordiality, youemployed from the very beginning all the arts of cunning to thwart meand to prevent the fulfilment of the proposals made to my father; youdetermined from the first day to drive me to desperation, to tire meout; and with smiles and affectionate words on your lips you have beenkilling me, roasting me at the slow fire; you have let loose upon mein the dark and from behind an ambush a swarm of lawsuits; you havedeprived me of the official commission which I brought to Orbajosa; youhave brought me into disrepute in the town; you have had me turned outof the cathedral; you have kept me constantly separated from the chosenof my heart; you have tortured your daughter with an inquisitorialimprisonment which will cause her death, unless God interposes toprevent it. "

Dona Perfecta turned scarlet. But the flush of offended pride passedaway quickly, leaving her face of a greenish pallor. Her lips trembled. Throwing down the knife and fork with which she had been eating, sherose swiftly to her feet. Her nephew rose also. 

"My God! Holy Virgin of Succor!" she cried, raising both her hands toher head and pressing it between them with the gesture indicative ofdesperation, "is it possible that I deserve such atrocious insults?Pepe, my son, is it you who speak to me in this way? If I have done whatyou say, I am indeed very wicked. "

She sank on the sofa and covered her face with her hands. Pepe, approaching her slowly, saw that his aunt was sobbing bitterly andshedding abundant tears. In spite of his conviction he could notaltogether conquer the feeling of compassion which took possession ofhim; and while he condemned himself for his cowardice he felt somethingof remorse for the severity and the frankness with which he had spoken. 

"My dear aunt, " he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "if youanswer me with tears and sighs, you will not convince me. Proofs, notemotions, are what I require. Speak to me, tell me that I am mistakenin thinking what I think; then prove it to me, and I will acknowledge myerror. "

"Leave me, you are not my brother's son! If you were, you would notinsult me as you have insulted me. So, then, I am an intriguer, anactress, a hypocritical harpy, a domestic plotter?"

As she spoke, Dona Perfecta uncovered her face and looked at her nephewwith a martyr-like expression. Pepe was perplexed. The tears as wellas the gentle voice of his father's sister could not be insignificantphenomena for the mathematician's soul. Words crowded to his lips toask her pardon. A man of great firmness generally, any appeal to hisemotions, any thing which touched his heart, converted him at once intoa child. Weaknesses of a mathematician! It is said that Newton was thesame. 

"I will give you the proofs you ask, " said Dona Perfecta, motioninghim to a seat beside her. "I will give you satisfaction. You shall seewhether I am kind, whether I am indulgent, whether I am humble. Do youthink that I am going to contradict you; to deny absolutely the acts ofwhich you have accused me? Well, then, no; I do not deny them. "

The engineer was astounded. 

"I do not deny them, " continued Dona Perfecta. "What I deny is the evilintention which you attribute to them. By what right do you undertake tojudge of what you know only from appearances and by conjecture? Have youthe supreme intelligence which is necessary to judge justly the actionsof others and pronounce sentence upon them? Are you God, to know theintentions?"

Pepe was every moment more amazed. 

"Is it not allowable at times to employ indirect means to attain a goodand honorable end? By what right do you judge actions of mine that youdo not clearly understand? I, my dear nephew, manifesting a sinceritywhich you do not deserve, confess to you that I have indeed employedsubterfuges to attain a good end, to attain what was at the same timebeneficial to you and to my daughter. You do not comprehend? You lookbewildered. Ah! your great mathematician's and German philosopher'sintellect is not capable of comprehending these artifices of a prudentmother. "

"I am more and more astounded every moment, " said the engineer. 

"Be as astounded as you choose, but confess your barbarity, " said thelady, with increasing spirit; "acknowledge your hastiness and yourbrutal conduct toward me in accusing me as you have done. You are ayoung man without any experience or any other knowledge than that whichis derived from books, which teach nothing about the world or thehuman heart. All you know is how to make roads and docks. Ah, my younggentleman! one does not enter into the human heart through the tunnel ofa railroad, or descend into its depths through the shaft of a mine. You cannot read in the conscience of another with the microscope of anaturalist, nor decide the question of another's culpability measuringideas with a theodolite. "

"For God's sake, dear aunt!"

"Why do you pronounce the name of God when you do not believe in him?"said Dona Perfecta, in solemn accents. "If you believed in him, if youwere a good Christian, you would not dare to form evil judgments aboutmy conduct. I am a devout woman, do you understand? I have a tranquilconscience, do you understand? I know what I am doing and why I do it, do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand, I understand!"

"God in whom you do not believe, sees what you do not see and what youcannot see--the intention. I will say no more; I do not wish to enterinto minute explanations, for I do not need to do so. Nor would youunderstand me if I should tell you that I desired to attain my objectwithout scandal, without offending your father, without offending you, without giving cause for people to talk by an explicit refusal--I willsay nothing of all this to you, for you would not understand it, either, Pepe. You are a mathematician. You see what is before your eyes, andnothing more; brute matter and nothing more. You see the effect, and notthe cause. God is the supreme intention of the world. He who does notknow this must necessarily judge things as you judge them--foolishly. In the tempest, for instance, he sees only destruction; in theconflagration, ruin; in the drought, famine; in the earthquake, desolation; and yet, arrogant young man, in all those apparentcalamities we are to seek the good intentions--yes, senor, theintention, always good, of Him who can do nothing evil. "

This confused, subtle, and mystic logic did not convince Pepe Rey; buthe did not wish to follow his aunt in the tortuous path of such a methodof reasoning, and he said simply:

"Well, I respect intentions. "

"Now that you seem to recognize your error, " continued the pious lady, with ever-increasing confidence, "I will make another confession to you, and that is that I see now that I did wrong in adopting the courseI did, although my object was excellent. In view of your impetuousdisposition, in view of your incapacity to comprehend me, I should havefaced the situation boldly and said to you, 'Nephew, I do not wish thatyou should be my daughter's husband. '"

"That is the language you should have used to me from the beginning, "said the engineer, drawing a deep breath, as if his mind had beenrelieved from an enormous weight. "I am greatly obliged to you for thosewords. After having been stabbed in the dark, this blow on the face inthe light of day is a great satisfaction to me. "

"Well, I will repeat the blow, nephew, " declared Dona Perfecta, with asmuch energy as displeasure. "You know it now--I do not wish you to marryRosario!"

Pepe was silent. There was a long pause, during which the two regardedeach other attentively, as if the face of each was for the other themost perfect work of art. 

"Don't you understand what I have said to you?" she repeated. "Thatevery thing is at an end, that there is to be no marriage. "

"Permit me, dear aunt, " said the young man, with composure, "not to beterrified by the intimation. In the state at which things have arrivedyour refusal has little importance for me. "

"What are you saying?" cried Dona Perfecta violently. 

"What you hear. I will marry Rosario!"

Dona Perfecta rose to her feet, indignant, majestic, terrible. Herattitude was that of anathema incarnated in a woman. Rey remainedseated, serene, courageous, with the passive courage of a profoundconviction and an immovable resolve. The whole weight of his aunt'swrath, threatening to overwhelm him, did not make him move an eyelash. This was his character. 

"You are mad. Marry my daughter, you! Marry her against my will!"

Dona Perfecta's trembling lips articulated these words in a truly tragictone. 

"Against your will! She is of a different way of thinking. "

"Against my will!" repeated Dona Perfecta. "Yes, and I repeat it againand again. I do not wish it, I do not wish it!"

"She and I wish it. "

"Fool! Is nothing else in the world to be considered but her and you?Are there not parents; is there not society; is there not a conscience;is there not a God?"

"Because there is society, because there is a conscience, because thereis a God, " affirmed Rey gravely, rising to his feet, and pointing withoutstretched arm to the heavens, "I say and I repeat that I will marryher. "

"Wretch! arrogant man! And if you would dare to trample every thingunder your feet, do you think there are not laws to prevent yourviolence?"

"Because there are laws, I say and I repeat that I will marry her. "

"You respect nothing!"

"Nothing that is unworthy of respect. "

"And my authority, my will, I--am I nothing?"

"For me your daughter is every thing--the rest is nothing. "

Pepe Rey's composure was, so to say, the arrogant display of invincibleand conscious strength. The blows he gave were hard and crushing intheir force, without any thing to mitigate their severity. His words, if the comparison may be allowed, were like a pitiless discharge ofartillery. 

Dona Perfecta sank again on the sofa; but she shed no tears, and aconvulsive tremor agitated her frame. 

"So that for this infamous atheist, " she exclaimed, with frank rage, "there are no social conventionalities, there is nothing but caprice. This is base avarice. My daughter is rich!"

"If you think to wound me with that treacherous weapon, evading thequestion and giving a distorted meaning to my sentiments in order tooffend my dignity, you are mistaken, dear aunt. Call me mercenary, ifyou choose. God knows what I am. "

"You have no dignity!"

"That is an opinion, like any other. The world may hold you to beinfallible. I do not. I am far from believing that from your judgmentsthere is no appeal to God. "

"But is what you say true? But do you persist in your purpose, after myrefusal? You respect nothing, you are a monster, a bandit. "

"I am a man. "

"A wretch! Let us end this at once. I refuse to give my daughter to you;I refuse her to you!"

"I will take her then! I shall take only what is mine. "

"Leave my presence!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, rising suddenly to herfeet. "Coxcomb, do you suppose that my daughter thinks of you?"

"She loves me, as I love her. "

"It is a lie! It is a lie!"

"She herself has told me so. Excuse me if, on this point, I put morefaith in her words than in her mother's. "

"How could she have told you so, when you have not seen her for severaldays?"

"I saw her last night, and she swore to me before the crucifix in thechapel that she would be my wife. "

"Oh, scandal; oh, libertinism! But what is this? My God, what adisgrace!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, pressing her head again betweenher hands and walking up and down the room. "Rosario left her room lastnight?"

"She left it to see me. It was time. "

"What vile conduct is yours! You have acted like a thief; you have actedlike a vulgar seducer!"

"I have acted in accordance with the teachings of your school. Myintention was good. "

"And she came down stairs! Ah, I suspected it! This morning at daybreakI surprised her, dressed, in her room. She told me she had gone out, I don't know for what. You were the real criminal, then. This is adisgrace! Pepe, I expected any thing from you rather than an outragelike this. Every thing is at an end! Go away! You are dead to me. Iforgive you, provided you go away. I will not say a word about this toyour father. What horrible selfishness! No, there is no love in you. Youdo not love my daughter!"

"God knows that I love her, and that is sufficient for me. "

"Be silent, blasphemer! and don't take the name of God upon your lips!"exclaimed Dona Perfecta. "In the name of God, whom I can invoke, for Ibelieve in him, I tell you that my daughter will never be your wife. Mydaughter will be saved, Pepe; my daughter shall not be condemned to aliving hell, for a union with you would be a hell!"

"Rosario will be my wife, " repeated the mathematician, with patheticcalmness. 

The pious lady was still more exasperated by her nephew's calm energy. In a broken voice she said:

"Don't suppose that your threats terrify me. I know what I am saying. What! are a home and a family to be outraged like this? Are human anddivine authority to be trampled under foot in this way?"

"I will trample every thing under foot, " said the engineer, beginning tolose his composure and speaking with some agitation. 

"You will trample every thing under foot! Ah! it is easy to see that youare a barbarian, a savage, a man who lives by violence. "

"No, dear aunt; I am mild, upright, honorable, and an enemy to violence;but between you and me--between you who are the law and I who am tohonor it--is a poor tormented creature, one of God's angels, subjectedto iniquitous tortures. The spectacle of this injustice, this unheard-ofviolence, is what has converted my rectitude into barbarity; my reasoninto brute force; my honor into violence, like an assassin's or athief's; this spectacle, senora, is what impels me to disregard yourlaw, what impels me to trample it under foot, braving every thing. Thiswhich appears to you lawlessness is obedience to an unescapable law. Ido what society does when a brutal power, as illogical as irritating, opposes its progress. It tramples it under foot and destroys it in anoutburst of frenzy. Such am I at this moment--I do not recognize myself. I was reasonable, and now I am a brute; I was respectful, and now I aminsolent; I was civilized, and now I am a savage. You have brought me tothis horrible extremity; infuriating me and driving me from the path ofrectitude which I was tranquilly pursuing. Who is to blame--I or you?"

"You, you!"

"Neither you nor I can decide the question. I think we are both toblame: you for your violence and injustice, I for my injustice andviolence. We have both become equally barbarous, and we struggle withand wound each other without compassion. God has permitted that itshould be so; my blood will be upon your conscience, yours will be uponmine. Enough now, senora. I do not wish to trouble you with uselesswords. We will now proceed to acts. "

"To acts, very well!" said Dona Perfecta, roaring rather than speaking. "Don't suppose that in Orbajosa there is no civil guard!"

"Good-by, senora. I will now leave this house. I think we shall meetagain. "

"Go, go! go now!" she cried, pointing with an energetic gesture to thedoor. 

Pepe Rey left the room. Dona Perfecta, after pronouncing a fewincoherent words, which were the clearest expression of her anger, sankinto a chair, with indications of fatigue, or of a coming attack ofnerves. The maids came running in. 

"Go for Senor Don Inocencio!" she cried. "Instantly--hurry! Ask him tocome here!"

Then she tore her handkerchief with her teeth. 

CHAPTER XX

RUMORS--FEARS

On the day following that of this lamentable quarrel, various rumorsregarding Pepe Rey and his conduct spread through Orbajosa, going fromhouse to house, from club to club, from the Casino to the apothecary'sand from the Paseo de las Descalzes to the Puerta de Baidejos. They wererepeated by every body, and so many were the comments made that, if DonCayetano had collected and compiled them, he might have formed withthem a rich "Thesaurus" of Orbajosan benevolence. In the midst of thediversity of the reports circulated, there was agreement in regard tocertain important particulars, one of which was the following:

That the engineer, enraged at Dona Perfecta's refusal to marry Rosarioto an atheist, had raised his hand to his aunt. 

The young man was living in the widow De Cusco's hotel, an establishmentmounted, as they say now, not at the height, but at the depth of thesuperlative backwardness of the town. Lieutenant-colonel Pinzon visitedhim with frequency, in order that they might discuss together the plotwhich they had on hand, and for the successful conduct of which thesoldier showed the happiest dispositions. New artifices and stratagemsoccurred to him at every instant, and he hastened to put them intoeffect with excellent humor, although he would often say to his friend:

"The role I am playing, dear Pepe, is not a very dignified one; but togive an annoyance to the Orbajosans I would walk on my hands and feet. "

We do not know what cunning stratagems the artful soldier, skilled inthe wiles of the world, employed; but certain it is that before he hadbeen in the house three days he had succeeded in making himself greatlyliked by every body in it. His manners were very pleasing to DonaPerfecta, who could not hear unmoved his flattering praises ofthe elegance of the house, and of the nobility, piety, and augustmagnificence of its mistress. With Don Inocencio he was hand and glove. Neither her mother nor the Penitentiary placed any obstacle in the wayof his speaking with Rosario (who had been restored to liberty on thedeparture of her ferocious cousin); and, with his delicate compliments, his skilful flattery, and great address, he had acquired in the houseof Polentinos considerable ascendency, and he had even succeeded inestablishing himself in it on a footing of familiarity. But the objectof all his arts was a servant maid named Librada, whom he had seduced(chastely speaking) that she might carry messages and notes to Rosario, of whom he pretended to be enamored. The girl allowed herself to bebribed with persuasive words and a good deal of money, because shewas ignorant of the source of the notes and of the real meaning of theintrigue, for had she known that it was all a diabolical plot of DonJose, although she liked the latter greatly, she would not have actedwith treachery toward her mistress for all the money in the world. 

One day Dona Perfecta, Don Inocencio, Jacinto, and Pinzon wereconversing together in the garden. They were talking about the soldiersand the purpose for which they had been sent to Orbajosa, in which thePenitentiary found motive for condemning the tyrannical conduct of theGovernment; and, without knowing how it came about, Pepe Rey's name wasmentioned. 

"He is still at the hotel, " said the little lawyer. "I saw himyesterday, and he gave me remembrances for you, Dona Perfecta. "

"Was there ever seen such insolence! Ah, Senor Pinzon! do not besurprised at my using this language, speaking of my own nephew--thatyoung man, you remember, who had the room which you occupy. "

"Yes, I know. I am not acquainted with him, but I know him by sight andby reputation. He is an intimate friend of our brigadier. "

"An intimate friend of the brigadier?"

"Yes, senor; of the commander of the brigade that has just arrived inthis district, and which is quartered in the neighboring villages. "

"And where is he?" asked the lady. 

"In Orbajosa. "

"I think he is stopping at Polavieja's, " observed Jacinto. 

"Your nephew and Brigadier Batalla are intimate friends, " continuedPinzon; "they are always to be seen together in the streets. "

"Well, my friend, that gives me a bad idea of your chief, " said DonaPerfecta. 

"He is--he is very good-natured, " said Pinzon, in the tone of one who, through motives of respect, did not venture to use a harsher word. 

"With your permission, Senor Pinzon, and making an honorable exceptionin your favor, it must be said that in the Spanish army there are somecurious types----"

"Our brigadier was an excellent soldier before he gave himself up tospiritualism. "

"To spiritualism!"

"That sect that calls up ghosts and goblins by means of the legs of atable!" said the canon, laughing. 

"From curiosity, only from curiosity, " said Jacintillo, with emphasis, "I ordered Allan Kardec's book from Madrid. It is well to know somethingabout every thing. "

"But is it possible that such follies--Heavens! Tell me, Pinzon, does mynephew too belong to that sect of table-tippers?"

"I think it was he who indoctrinated our valiant Brigadier Batalla. "

"Good Heavens!"

"Yes; and whenever he chooses, " said Don Inocencio, unable to containhis laughter, "he can speak to Socrates, St. Paul, Cervantes, orDescartes, as I speak to Librada to ask her for a match. Poor Senor deRey! I was not mistaken in saying that there was something wrong in hishead. "

"Outside that, " continued Pinzon, "our brigadier is a good soldier. Ifhe errs at all, it is on the side of severity. He takes the ordersof the Government so literally that, if he were to meet with muchopposition here, he would be capable of not leaving one stone uponanother in Orbajosa. Yes, I advise you all to be on your guard. "

"But is that monster going to cut all our heads off, then? Ah, Senor DonInocencio! these visits of the army remind me of what I have read inthe lives of the martyrs about the visits of the Roman proconsuls to aChristian town. "

"The comparison is not wanting in exactness, " said the Penitentiary, looking at the soldier over his spectacles. 

"It is not very agreeable, but if it is the truth, why should it not besaid?" observed Pinzon benevolently. "Now you all are at our mercy. "

"The authorities of the place, " objected Jacinto, "still exercise theirfunctions as usual. "

"I think you are mistaken, " responded the soldier, whose countenanceDona Perfecta and the Penitentiary were studying with profound interest. "The alcalde of Orbajosa was removed from office an hour ago. "

"By the governor of the province?"

"The governor of the province has been replaced by a delegate from theGovernment, who was to arrive this morning. The municipal councils willall be removed from office to-day. The minister has so orderedbecause he suspected, I don't know on what grounds, that they were notsupporting the central authority. "

"This is a pretty state of things!" murmured the canon, frowning andpushing out his lower lip. 

Dona Perfecta looked thoughtful. 

"Some of the judges of the primary court, among them the judge ofOrbajosa, have been deprived of office. "

"The judge! Periquito--Periquito is no longer judge!" exclaimed DonaPerfecta, in a voice and with the manner of a person who has just beenstung by a snake. 

"The person who was judge in Orbajosa is judge no longer, " said Pinzon. "To-morrow the new judge will arrive. "

"A stranger!"

"A stranger. "

"A rascal, perhaps. The other was so honorable!" said Dona Perfecta, with alarm. "I never asked any thing from him that he did not grant itto me at once. Do you know who will be the new alcalde?"

"They say a corregidor is coming. "

"There, say at once that the Deluge is coming, and let us be done withit, " said the canon, rising. 

"So that we are at the brigadier's mercy!"

"For a few days only. Don't be angry with me. In spite of my uniform Iam an enemy of militarism; but we are ordered to strike--and we strike. There could not be a viler trade than ours. "

"That it is, that it is!" said Dona Perfecta, with difficulty concealingher fury. "Now that you have confessed it----So, then, neither alcaldenor judge----"

"Nor governor of the province. "

"Let them take the bishop from us also and send us a choir boy in hisstead. "

"That is all that is wanting--if the people here will allow them todo it, " murmured Don Inocencio, lowering his eyes. "They won't stop attrifles. "

"And it is all because they are afraid of an insurrection in Orbajosa, "exclaimed Dona Perfecta, clasping her hands and waving them up and down. "Frankly, Pinzon, I don't know why it is that even the very stonesdon't rise up in rebellion. I wish you no harm; but it would be a justjudgment on you if the water you drink turned into mud. You say that mynephew is the intimate friend of the brigadier?"

"So intimate that they are together all day long; they wereschool-fellows. Batalla loves him like a brother, and would do anythingto please him. In your place, senora, I would be uneasy. "

"Oh, my God! I fear there will be an attack on the house!"

"Senora, " declared the canon, with energy, "before I would consentthat there should be an attack on this honorable house--before I wouldconsent that the slightest harm should be done to this noble family--I, my nephew, all the people of Orbajosa----"

Don Inocencio did not finish. His anger was so great that the wordsrefused to come. He took a few steps forward with a martial air, thenreturned to his seat. 

"I think that your fears are not idle, " said Pinzon. "If it should benecessary, I----"

"And I----" said Jacinto. 

Dona Perfecta had fixed her eyes on the glass door of the dining-room, through which could be seen a graceful figure. As she looked at it, itseemed as if the cloud of apprehension which rested on her countenancegrew darker. 

"Rosario! come in here, Rosario!" she said, going to meet the younggirl. "I fancy you look better to-day, and that you are more cheerful. Don't you think that Rosario looks better? She seems a different being. "

They all agreed that the liveliest happiness was depicted on hercountenance. 

CHAPTER XXI

"DESPERTA FERRO"

About this time the following items of news appeared in the Madridnewspapers:

"There is no truth whatever in the report that there has been aninsurrection in the neighborhood of Orbajosa. Our correspondent in thatplace informs us that the country is so little disposed for adventuresthat the further presence of the Batalla brigade in that locality isconsidered unnecessary. "

"It is said that the Batalla brigade will leave Orbajosa, as troops arenot required there, to go to Villajuan de Nahara, where guerillas havemade their appearance. "

"The news has been confirmed that the Aceros, with a number of mountedfollowers, are ranging the district of Villajuan, adjacent to thejudicial district of Orbajosa. The governor of the province of X. Hastelegraphed to the Government that Francisco Acero entered Las Roquetas, where he demanded provisions and money. Domingo Acero (Faltriquera), wasranging the Jubileo mountains, actively pursued by the Civil Guards, whokilled one of his men and captured another. Bartolome Acero is the manwho burned the registry office of Lugarnoble and carried away with himas hostages the alcalde and two of the principal landowners. "

"Complete tranquillity reigns in Orbajosa, according to a letter whichwe have before us, and no one there thinks of anything but cultivatingthe garlic fields, which promise to yield a magnificent crop. Theneighboring districts, however, are infested with guerillas, but theBatalla brigade will make short work of these. "

Orbajosa was, in fact, tranquil. The Aceros, that warlike dynasty, worthy, in the opinion of some, of figuring in the "Romancero, " hadtaken possession of the neighboring province; but the insurrectionwas not spreading within the limits of the episcopal city. It might besupposed that modern culture had at last triumphed in its struggle withthe turbulent habits of the great city of disorder, and that the latterwas tasting the delights of a lasting peace. So true is this thatCaballuco himself, one of the most important figures of the historicrebellion of Orbajosa, said frankly to every one that he did not wishto quarrel with the Government nor involve himself in a business whichmight cost him dear. 

Whatever may be said to the contrary, the impetuous nature of Ramos hadquieted down with years, and the fiery temper which he had received withlife from the ancestral Caballucos, the most valiant race of warriorsthat had ever desolated the earth, had grown cooler. It is also relatedthat in those days the new governor of the province held a conferencewith this important personage, and received from his lips the mostsolemn assurances that he would contribute as far as in him lay to thetranquillity of the country, and would avoid doing any thing that mightgive rise to disturbances. Reliable witnesses declare that he was to beseen in friendly companionship with the soldiers, hobnobbing withthis sergeant or the other in the tavern, and it was even said that animportant position in the town-hall of the capital of the province wasto be given him. How difficult it is for the historian who tries to beimpartial to arrive at the exact truth in regard to the sentiments andopinions of the illustrious personages who have filled the worldwith their fame! He does not know what to hold by, and the absence ofauthentic records often gives rise to lamentable mistakes. Consideringevents of such transcendent importance as that of the 18th Brumaire, thesack of Rome by Bourbon, or the destruction of Jerusalem--where is thepsychologist or the historian who would be able to determine what werethe thoughts which preceded or followed them in the minds of Bonaparte, of Charles V. , and of Titus? Ours is an immense responsibility. Todischarge it in part we will report words, phrases, and even discoursesof the Orbajosan emperor himself; and in this way every one will be ableto form the opinion which may seem to him most correct. 

It is beyond a doubt that Cristobal Ramos left his house just afterdark, crossed the Calle del Condestable, and, seeing three countrymenmounted on powerful mules coming toward him, asked them where theywere going, to which they answered that they were going to Senora DonaPerfecta's house to take her some of the first fruits of their gardensand a part of the rent that had fallen due. They were Senor Paso Largo, a young man named Frasquito Gonzales, and a third, a man of mediumstature and robust make, who was called Vejarruco, although his realname was Jose Esteban Romero. Caballuco turned back, tempted by theagreeable society of these persons, who were old and intimate friendsof his, and accompanied them to Dona Perfecta's house. This took place, according to the most reliable accounts, at nightfall, and two daysafter the day on which Dona Perfecta and Pinzon held the conversationwhich those who have read the preceding chapter will have seen recordedthere. The great Ramos stopped for a moment to give Librada certainmessages of trifling importance, which a neighbor had confided to hisgood memory, and when he entered the dining-room he found the threebefore-mentioned countrymen and Senor Licurgo, who by a singularcoincidence was also there, conversing about domestic matters and thecrops. The Senora was in a detestable humor; she found fault with everything, and scolded them harshly for the drought of the heavens and thebarrenness of the earth, phenomena for which they, poor men! were inno wise to blame. The Penitentiary was also present. When Caballucoentered, the good canon saluted him affectionately and motioned him to aseat beside himself. 

"Here is the individual, " said the mistress of the house disdainfully. "It seems impossible that a man of such little account should be so muchtalked about. Tell me, Caballuco, is it true that one of the soldiersslapped you on the face this morning?"

"Me! me!" said the Centaur, rising indignantly, as if he had receivedthe grossest insult. 

"That is what they say, " said Dona Perfecta. "Is it not true? I believedit; for any one who thinks so little of himself--they might spit inyour face and you would think yourself honored with the saliva of thesoldiers. "

"Senora!" vociferated Ramos with energy, "saving the respect which Iowe you, who are my mother, my mistress, my queen--saving the respect, I say, which I owe to the person who has given me all that Ipossess--saving the respect--"

"Well? One would think you were going to say something. "

"I say then, that saving the respect, that about the slap is a slander, "he ended, expressing himself with extraordinary difficulty. "My affairsare in every one's mouth--whether I come in or whether I go out, whereI am going and where I have come from--and why? All because they wantto make me a tool to raise the country. Pedro is contented in his ownhouse, ladies and gentlemen. The troops have come? Bad! but what are wegoing to do about it? The alcalde and the secretary and the judge havebeen removed from office? Very bad! I wish the very stones of Orbajosamight rise up against them; but I have given my word to the governor, and up to the present---"

He scratched his head, gathered his gloomy brows in a frown, and withever-increasing difficulty of speech continued:

"I may be brutal, disagreeable, ignorant, quarrelsome, obstinate, andevery thing else you choose, but in honor I yield to no one. "

"What a pity of the Cid Campeador!" said Dona Perfecta contemptuously. "Don't you agree with me, Senor Penitentiary, that there is not a singleman left in Orbajosa who has any shame in him?"

"That is a serious view to take of the case, " responded the capitular, without looking at his friend, or removing from his chin the hand onwhich he rested his thoughtful face; "but I think this neighborhood hasaccepted with excessive submission the heavy yoke of militarism. "

Licurgo and the three countrymen laughed boisterously. 

"When the soldiers and the new authorities, " said Dona Perfecta, "havetaken from us our last real, when the town has been disgraced, we willsend all the valiant men of Orbajosa in a glass case to Madrid to be putin the museum there or exhibited in the streets. "

"Long life to the mistress!" cried the man called Vejarrucodemonstratively. "What she says is like gold. It won't be said on myaccount that there are no brave men here, for if I am not with theAceros it is only because I have a wife and three children, and if anything was to happen--if it wasn't for that--"

"But haven't you given your word to the governor, too?" said DonaPerfecta. 

"To the governor?" cried the man named Frasquito Gonzalez. "There is notin the whole country a scoundrel who better deserves a bullet. Governorand Government, they are all of a piece. Last Sunday the priest said somany rousing things in his sermon about the heresies and the profanitiesof the people of Madrid--oh! it was worth while hearing him! Finally, heshouted out in the pulpit that religion had no longer any defenders. "

"Here is the great Cristobal Ramos!" said Dona Perfecta, clapping theCentaur on the back. "He mounts his horse and rides about in the Plazaand up and down the high-road to attract the attention of the soldiers;when they see him they are terrified at the fierce appearance of thehero, and they all run away, half-dead with fright. "

Dona Perfecta ended with an exaggerated laugh, which the profoundsilence of her hearers made still more irritating. Caballuco was pale. 

"Senor Paso Largo, " continued the lady, becoming serious, "when you gohome to-night, send me your son Bartolome to stay here. I need to havebrave people in the house; and even with that it may very well happenthat, some fine morning, my daughter and myself will be found murderedin our beds. "

"Senora!" exclaimed every one. 

"Senora!" cried Caballuco, rising to his feet, "is that a jest, or whatis it?"

"Senor Vejarruco, Senor Paso Largo, " continued Dona Perfecta, withoutlooking at the bravo of the place, "I am not safe in my own house. Noone in Orbajosa is, and least of all, I. I live with my heart in mymouth. I cannot close my eyes in the whole night. "

"But who, who would dare----"

"Come, " exclaimed Licurgo with fire, "I, old and sick as I am, would becapable of fighting the whole Spanish army if a hair of the mistress'head should be touched!"

"Senor Caballuco, " said Frasquito Gonzalez, "will be enough and morethan enough. "

"Oh, no, " responded Dona Perfecta, with cruel sarcasm, "don't you seethat Ramos has given his word to the governor?"

Caballuco sat down again, and, crossing one leg over the other, claspedhis hands on them. 

"A coward will be enough for me, " continued the mistress of the houseimplacably, "provided he has not given his word to any one. Perhaps Imay come to see my house assaulted, my darling daughter torn from myarms, myself trampled under foot and insulted in the vilest manner----"

She was unable to continue. Her voice died away in her throat, and sheburst into tears. 

"Senora, for Heaven's sake calm yourself! Come, there is no cause yet!"said Don Inocencio hastily, and manifesting the greatest distress in hisvoice and his countenance. "Besides, we must have a little resignationand bear patiently the calamities which God sends us. "

"But who, senora, who would dare to commit such outrages?" asked oneof the four countrymen. "Orbajosa would rise as one man to defend themistress. "

"But who, who would do it?" they all repeated. 

"There, don't trouble yourselves asking useless questions, " said thePenitentiary officiously. "You may go. "

"No, no, let them stay, " said Dona Perfecta quickly, drying her tears. "The company of my loyal servants is a great consolation to me. "

"May my race be accursed!" said Uncle Licurgo, striking his knee withhis clenched hand, "if all this mess is not the work of the mistress'own nephew. "

"Of Don Juan Rey's son?"

"From the moment I first set eyes on him at the station atVillahorrenda, and he spoke to me with his honeyed voice and his mincingmanners, " declared Licurgo, "I thought him a great--I will not say what, through respect for the mistress. But I knew him--I put my mark upon himfrom that moment, and I make no mistakes. A thread shows what the ballis, as the saying goes; a sample tells what the cloth is, and a clawwhat the lion is. "

"Let no one speak ill of that unhappy young man in my presence, " saidSenora de Polentinos severely. "No matter how great his faults may be, charity forbids our speaking of them and giving them publicity. "

"But charity, " said Don Inocencio, with some energy, "does not forbid usprotecting ourselves against the wicked, and that is what the questionis. Since character and courage have sunk so low in unhappy Orbajosa;since our town appears disposed to hold up its face to be spat upon byhalf a dozen soldiers and a corporal, let us find protection in unionamong ourselves. "

"I will protect myself in whatever way I can, " said Dona Perfectaresignedly, clasping her hands. "God's will be done!"

"Such a stir about nothing! By the Lord! In this house they are allafraid of their shadows, " exclaimed Caballuco, half seriously, halfjestingly. "One would think this Don Pepito was a legion of devils. Don't be frightened, senora. My little nephew Juan, who is thirteen, will guard the house, and we shall see, nephew for nephew, which is thebest man. "

"We all know already what your boasting and bragging signify, " repliedDona Perfecta. "Poor Ramos! You want to pretend to be very brave when wehave already had proof that you are not worth any thing. "

Ramos turned slightly pale, while he fixed on Dona Perfecta a strangelook in which terror and respect were blended. 

"Yes, man; don't look at me in that way. You know already that I am notafraid of bugaboos. Do you want me to speak plainly to you now? Well, you are a coward. "

Ramos, moving about restlessly in his chair, like one who is troubledwith the itch, seemed greatly disturbed. His nostrils expelled and drewin the air, like those of a horse. Within that massive frame a stormof rage and fury, roaring and destroying, struggled to escape. Afterstammering a few words and muttering others under his breath, he rose tohis feet and bellowed:

"I will cut off the head of Senor Rey!"

"What folly! You are as brutal as you are cowardly, " said Dona Perfecta, turning pale. "Why do you talk about killing? I want no one killed, muchless my nephew--a person whom I love, in spite of his wickedness. "

"A homicide! What an atrocity!" exclaimed Don Inocencio, scandalized. "The man is mad!"

"To kill! The very idea of killing a man horrifies me, Caballuco, " saidDona Perfecta, closing her mild eyes. "Poor man! Ever since you havebeen wanting to show your bravery, you have been howling like a raveningwolf. Go away, Ramos; you terrify me. "

"Doesn't the mistress say she is afraid? Doesn't she say that they willattack the house; that they will carry off the young lady?"

"Yes, I fear so. "

"And one man is going to do that, " said Ramos contemptuously, sittingdown again, "Don Pepe Poquita Cosa, with his mathematics, is going to dothat. I did wrong in saying I would slit his throat. A doll of that kindone takes by the ear and ducks in the river. "

"Yes, laugh now, you fool! It is not my nephew alone who is going tocommit the outrages you have mentioned and which I fear; if it were healone I should not fear him. I would tell Librada to stand at the doorwith a broom--and that would be sufficient. It is not he alone, no!"

"Who then?"

"Pretend you don't understand! Don't you know that my nephew and thebrigadier who commands that accursed troop have been confabulating?"

"Confabulating!" repeated Caballuco, as if puzzled by the word. 

"That they are bosom friends, " said Licurgo. "Confabulate means to belike bosom friends. I had my suspicions already of what the mistresssays. "

"It all amounts to this--that the brigadier and the officers are handand glove with Don Jose, and what he wants those brave soldierswant; and those brave soldiers will commit all kinds of outrages andatrocities, because that is their trade. "

"And we have no alcalde to protect us. "

"Nor judge. "

"Nor governor. That is to say that we are at the mercy of that infamousrabble. "

"Yesterday, " said Vejarruco, "some soldiers enticed away Uncle Julian'syoungest daughter, and the poor thing was afraid to go back home;they found her standing barefooted beside the old fountain, crying andpicking up the pieces of her broken jar. "

"Poor Don Gregorio Palomeque, the notary of Naharilla Alta!" saidFrasquito. "Those rascals robbed him of all the money he had in hishouse. And all the brigadier said, when he was told about it, was it wasa lie. "

"Tyrants! greater tyrants were never born, " said the other. "When I saythat it is through punctilio that I am not with the Aceros!"

"And what news is there of Francisco Acero?" asked Dona Perfecta gently. "I should be sorry if any mischance were to happen to him. Tell me, DonInocencio, was not Francisco Acero born in Orbajosa?"

"No; he and his brother are from Villajuan. "

"I am sorry for it, for Orbajosa's sake, " said Dona Perfecta. "This poorcity has fallen into misfortune. Do you know if Francisco Acero gavehis word to the governor not to trouble the poor soldiers in theirabductions, in their impious deeds, in their sacrilegious acts, in theirvillanies?"

Caballuco sprang from his chair. He felt himself now not stung, butcut to the quick by a cruel stroke, like that of a sabre. With his faceburning and his eyes flashing fire he cried:

"I gave my word to the governor because the governor told me that theyhad come for a good purpose. "

"Barbarian, don't shout! Speak like other people, and we will listen toyou. "

"I promised that neither I nor any of my friends would raise guerillasin the neighborhood of Orbajosa. To those who wanted to take up armsbecause they were itching to fight I said: 'Go to the Aceros, for herewe won't stir. ' But I have a good many honest men, yes, senora; and truemen, yes, senora; and valiant men, yes, senora; scattered about in thehamlets and villages and in the suburbs and the mountains, each in hisown house, eh? And so soon as I say a quarter of a word to them, eh?they will be taking down their guns, eh? and setting out on horsebackor on foot, for whatever place I tell them. And don't keep harping onwords, for if I gave my word it was because I don't wish to fight; andif I want guerillas there will be guerillas; and if I don't there won't, for I am who I am, the same man that I always was, as every one knowsvery well. And I say again don't keep harping on words, eh? and don'tlet people say one thing to me when they mean another, eh? and if peoplewant me to fight, let them say so plainly, eh? for that is what God hasgiven us tongues for, to say this thing or that. The mistress knows verywell who I am, as I know that I owe to her the shirt on my back, and thebread I eat to-day, and the first pea I sucked after I was weaned, andthe coffin in which my father was buried when he died, and the medicinesand the doctor that cured me when I was sick; and the mistress knowsvery well that if she says to me, 'Caballuco, break your head, ' I willgo there to the corner and dash it against the wall; the mistress knowsvery well that if she tells me now that it is day, although I see thatit is night, I will believe that I am mistaken, and that it is broadday; the mistress knows very well that she and her interests are for mebefore my own life, and that if a mosquito stings her in my presence, Ipardon it, because it is a mosquito; the mistress knows very well thatshe is dearer to me than all there is besides under the sun. To a manof heart like me one says, 'Caballuco, you stupid fellow, do this or dothat. ' And let there be an end to sarcasms, and beating about the bush, and preaching one thing and meaning another, and a stab here and a pinchthere. "

"There, man, calm yourself, " said Dona Perfecta kindly. "You have workedyourself into a heat like those republican orators who came here topreach free religion, free love, and I don't know how many other freethings. Let them bring you a glass of water. "

Caballuco, twisting his handkerchief into a ball, wiped with it hisbroad forehead and his neck, which were bathed in perspiration. A glassof water was brought to him and the worthy canon, with a humility thatwas in perfect keeping with his sacerdotal character, took it from theservant's hand to give it to him himself, and held the plate while hedrank. Caballuco gulped down the water noisily. 

"Now bring another glass for me, Senora Librada, " said Don Inocencio. "Ihave a little fire inside me too. "

CHAPTER XXII

"DESPERTA!"

"With regard to the guerillas, " said Dona Perfecta, when they hadfinished drinking, "all I will say is--do as your conscience dictates toyou. "

"I know nothing about dictations, " cried Ramos. "I will do whatever themistress pleases!"

"I can give you no advice on so important a matter, " answered DonaPerfecta with the cautiousness and moderation which so well became her. "This is a very serious business, and I can give you no advice aboutit. "

"But your opinion----"

"My opinion is that you should open your eyes and see, that you shouldopen your ears and hear. Consult your own heart--I will grant that youhave a great heart. Consult that judge, that wise counsellor, and do asit bids you. "

Caballuco reflected; he meditated as much as a sword can meditate. 

"We counted ourselves yesterday in Naharilla Alta, " said Vejarruco, "and we were thirteen--ready for any little undertaking. But as we wereafraid the mistress might be vexed, we did nothing. It is time now forthe shearing. "

"Don't mind about the shearing, " said Dona Perfecta. "There will be timeenough for it. It won't be left undone for that. "

"My two boys quarrelled with each other yesterday, " said Licurgo, "because one of them wanted to join Francisco Acero and the otherdidn't. 'Easy, boys, easy, ' I said to them; 'all in good time. Wait; weknow how to fight here as well as they do anywhere else. '"

"Last night, " said Uncle Paso Largo, "Roque Pelosmalos told me that themoment Senor Ramos said half a word they would all be ready, with theirarms in their hands. What a pity that the two Burguillos brothers wentto work in the fields in Lugarnoble!"

"Go for them you, " said the mistress quickly. "Senor Lucas, do youprovide Uncle Paso Largo with a horse. "

"And if the mistress tells me to do so, and Senor Ramos agrees, " saidFrasquito Gonzalez, "I will go to Villahorrenda to see if Robustiano, the forester, and his brother Pedro will also--"

"I think that is a good idea. Robustiano will not venture to come toOrbajosa, because he owes me a trifle. You can tell him that I forgivehim the six dollars and a half. These poor people who sacrificethemselves with so little. Is it not so, Senor Don Inocencio?"

"Our good Ramos here tells me, " answered the canon, "that his friendsare displeased with him for his lukewarmness; but that, as soon as theysee that he has decided, they will all put the cartridge-box in theirbelts. "

"What, have you decided to take to the roads?" said the mistress. "Ihave not advised you to do any such thing, and if you do it, it is ofyour own free-will. Neither has Senor Don Inocencio said a word to youto that effect. But if that is your decision, you have no doubt strongreasons for coming to it. Tell me, Cristobal, will you have some supper?Will you take something--speak frankly. "

"As far as my advising Senor Ramos to take the field is concerned, "said Don Inocencio, looking over his spectacles, "Dona Perfecta is quiteright. I, as an ecclesiastic, could advise nothing of the kind. I knowthat some priests do so, and even themselves take up arms; but thatseems to me improper, very improper, and I for one will not follow theirexample. I carry my scrupulosity so far as not to say a word to SenorRamos about the delicate question of his taking up arms. I know thatOrbajosa desires it; I know that all the inhabitants of this noble citywould bless him for it; I know that deeds are going to be done hereworthy of being recorded in history; but notwithstanding, let me beallowed to maintain a discreet silence. "

"Very well said, " said Dona Perfecta. "I don't approve of ecclesiasticstaking any part in such matters. That is the way an enlightened priestought to act. Of course we know that on serious and solemn occasions, aswhen our country and our faith are in danger, for instance, it is withinthe province of an ecclesiastic to incite men to the conflict and evento take a part in it. Since God himself has taken part in celebratedbattles, under the form of angels and saints, his ministers may verywell do so also. During the wars against the infidels how many bishopsheaded the Castilian troops!"

"A great many, and some of them were illustrious warriors. But thesetimes are not like those senora. It is true that, if we examine thematter closely, the faith is in greater danger now than it was then. For what do the troops that occupy our city and the surrounding villagesrepresent? What do they represent? Are they any thing else but the vileinstruments of which the atheists and Protestants who infest Madrid makeuse for their perfidious conquests and the extermination of the faith?In that centre of corruption, of scandal, of irreligion and unbelief, a few malignant men, bought by foreign gold, occupy themselves indestroying in our Spain the deeds of faith. Why, what do you suppose?They allow us to say mass and you to hear it through the remnant ofconsideration, for shame's sake--but, the day least expected--For mypart, I am tranquil. I am not a man to disturb myself about any worldlyand temporal interest. Dona Perfecta is well aware of that; all who knowme are aware of it. My mind is at rest, and the triumph of the wickeddoes not terrify me. I know well that terrible days are in store for us;that all of us who wear the sacerdotal garb have our lives hanging bya hair, for Spain, doubt it not, will witness scenes like those of theFrench Revolution, in which thousands of pious ecclesiastics perishedin a single day. But I am not troubled. When the hour to kill strikes, Iwill present my neck. I have lived long enough. Of what use am I? None, none!"

"May I be devoured by dogs, " exclaimed Vejarruco, shaking his fist, which had all the hardness and the strength of a hammer, "if we do notsoon make an end of that thievish rabble!"

"They say that next week they will begin to pull down the cathedral, "observed Frasquito. 

"I suppose they will pull it down with pickaxes and hammers, " said thecanon, smiling. "There are artificers who, without those implements, canbuild more rapidly than they can pull down. You all know that, accordingto holy tradition, our beautiful chapel of the Sagrario was pulled downby the Moors in a month, and immediately afterward rebuilt by the angelsin a single night. Let them pull it down; let them pull it down!"

"In Madrid, as the curate of Naharilla told us the other night, " saidVejarruco, "there are so few churches left standing that some of thepriests say mass in the middle of the street, and as they are beaten andinsulted and spat upon, there are many who don't wish to say it. "

"Fortunately here, my children, " observed Don Inocencio, "we have notyet had scenes of that nature. Why? Because they know what kind ofpeople you are; because they have heard of your ardent piety and yourvalor. I don't envy the first ones who lay hands on our priests and ourreligion. Of course it is not necessary to say that, if they are notstopped in time, they will commit atrocities. Poor Spain, so holy and someek and so good! Who would have believed she would ever arrive at suchextremities! But I maintain that impiety will not triumph, no. There arecourageous people still; there are people still like those of old. Am Inot right, Senor Ramos?"

"Yes, senor, that there are, " answered the latter. 

"I have a blind faith in the triumph of the law of God. Some one muststand up in defence of it. If not one, it will be another. The palm ofvictory, and with it eternal glory, some one must bear. The wicked willperish, if not to-day, to-morrow. That which goes against the law ofGod will fall irremediably. Let it be in this manner or in that, fall itmust. Neither its sophistries, nor its evasions, nor its artifices willsave it. The hand of God is raised against it and will infalliblystrike it. Let us pity them and desire their repentance. As for you, mychildren, do not expect that I shall say a word to you about the stepwhich you are no doubt going to take. I know that you are good; I knowthat your generous determination and the noble end which you have inview will wash away from you all the stain of the sin of shedding blood. I know that God will bless you; that your victory, the same as yourdeath, will exalt you in the eyes of men and in the eyes of God. I knowthat you deserve palms and glory and all sorts of honors; but in spiteof this, my children, my lips will not incite you to the combat. Theyhave never done it, and they will not do it now. Act according to theimpulse of your own noble hearts. If they bid you to remain in yourhouses, remain in them; if they bid you to leave them--why, then, leavethem. I will resign myself to be a martyr and to bow my neck to theexecutioner, if that vile army remains here. But if a noble and ardentand pious impulse of the sons of Orbajosa contributes to the greatwork of the extirpation of our country's ills, I shall hold myself thehappiest of men, solely in being your fellow-townsman; and all mylife of study, of penitence, of resignation, will seem to me lessmeritorious, less deserving of heaven, than a single one of your heroicdays. "

"Impossible to say more or to say it better!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, in a burst of enthusiasm. 

Caballuco had leaned forward in his chair and was resting his elbowson his knees; when the canon ended he took his hand and kissed it withfervor. 

"A better man was never born, " said Uncle Licurgo, wiping, or pretendingto wipe away a tear. 

"Long life to the Senor Penitentiary!" cried Frasquito Gonzalez, risingto his feet and throwing his cap up to the ceiling. 

"Silence!" said Dona Perfecta. "Sit down, Frasquito! You are one ofthose with whom it is always much cry and little wool. "

"Blessed be God who gave you that eloquent tongue!" exclaimed Cristobal, inflamed with admiration. "What a pair I have before me! While these twolive what need is there of any one else? All the people in Spain oughtto be like them. But how could that be, when there is nothing in it butroguery! In Madrid, which is the capital where the law and the mandarinscome from, every thing is robbery and cheating. Poor religion, what astate they have brought it to! There is nothing to be seen but crimes. Senor Don Inocencio, Senora Dona Perfecta, by my father's soul, by thesoul of my grandfather, by the salvation of my own soul, I swear that Iwish to die!"

"To die!"

"That I wish those rascally dogs may kill me, and I say that I wish theymay kill me, because I cannot cut them in quarters. I am very little. "

"Ramos, you are great, " said Dona Perfecta solemnly. 

"Great? Great? Very great, as far as my courage is concerned; but have Ifortresses, have I cavalry, have I artillery?"

"That is a thing, Ramos, " said Dona Perfecta, smiling, "about which Iwould not concern myself. Has not the enemy what you lack?"

"Yes. "

"Take it from him, then. "

"We will take it from him, yes, senora. When I say that we will take itfrom him--"

"My dear Ramos, " exclaimed Don Inocencio, "yours is an enviableposition. To distinguish yourself, to raise yourself above the basemultitude, to put yourself on an equality with the greatest heroes ofthe earth, to be able to say that the hand of God guides your hand--oh, what grandeur and honor! My friend, this is not flattery. What dignity, what nobleness, what magnanimity! No; men of such a temper cannot die. The Lord goes with them, and the bullet and the steel of the enemy arearrested in their course; they do not dare--how should they dare--totouch them, coming from the musket and the hand of heretics? DearCaballuco, seeing you, seeing your bravery and your nobility, there cometo my mind involuntarily the verses of that ballad on the conquest ofthe Empire of Trebizond:

 "'Came the valiant Roland Armed at every point, On his war-horse mounted, The gallant Briador; His good sword Durlindana Girded to his side, Couched for the attack his lance, On his arm his buckler stout, Through his helmet's visor Flashing fire he came; Quivering like a slender reed Shaken by the wind his lance, And all the host united Defying haughtily. '"

"Very good, " exclaimed Licurgo, clapping his hands. "And I say like DonRenialdos:

 "'Let none the wrath of Don Renialdos Dare brave and hope to escape unscathed; For he who seeks with him a quarrel, Shall pay so dearly for his rashness That he, and all his cause who champion, Shall at my hand or meet destruction Or chastisement severe shall suffer. '"

"Ramos, you will take some supper, you will eat something; won't you?"said the mistress of the house. 

"Nothing, nothing;" answered the Centaur. "Or if you give me any thing, let it be a plate of gunpowder. "

And bursting into a boisterous laugh, he walked up and down the roomseveral times, attentively observed by every one; then, stopping besidethe group, he looked fixedly at Dona Perfecta and thundered forth thesewords:

"I say that there is nothing more to be said. Long live Orbajosa! deathto Madrid!"

And he brought his hand down on the table with such violence that thefloor shook. 

"What a valiant spirit!" said Don Inocencio. 

"What a fist you have!"

Every one was looking at the table, which had been split in two by theblow. 

Then they looked at the never-enough-to-be-admired Renialdos orCaballuco. Undoubtedly there was in his handsome countenance, in hisgreen eyes animated by a strange, feline glow, in his black hair, in hisherculean frame, a certain expression and air of grandeur--a trace, orrather a memory, of the grand races that dominated the world. But hisgeneral aspect was one of pitiable degeneration, and it was difficult todiscover the noble and heroic filiation in the brutality of the present. He resembled Don Cayetano's great men as the mule resembles the horse. 

CHAPTER XXIII

MYSTERY

The conference lasted for some time longer, but we omit what followed asnot being necessary to a clear understanding of our story. At last theyseparated, Senor Don Inocencio remaining to the last, as usual. Beforethe canon and Dona Perfecta had had time to exchange a word, an elderlywoman, Dona Perfecta's confidential servant and her right hand, enteredthe dining-room, and her mistress, seeing that she looked disturbed andanxious, was at once filled with disquietude, suspecting that somethingwrong was going on in the house. 

"I can't find the senorita anywhere, " said the servant, in answer to hermistress' questions. 

"Good Heavens--Rosario! Where is my daughter?"

"Virgin of Succor protect us!" cried the Penitentiary, taking up his hatand preparing to hurry out with Dona Perfecta. 

"Search for her well. But was she not with you in her room?"

"Yes, senora, " answered the old woman, trembling, "but the devil temptedme, and I fell asleep. "

"A curse upon your sleep! What is this? Rosario, Rosario! Librada!"

They went upstairs and came down again, they went up a second timeand came down again; carrying a light and looking carefully in all therooms. At last the voice of the Penitentiary was heard saying joyfullyfrom the stairs:

"Here she is, here she is! She has been found. "

A moment later mother and daughter were standing face to face in thehall. 

"Where were you?" asked Dona Perfecta, in a severe voice, scrutinizingher daughter's face closely. 

"In the garden, " answered the girl, more dead than alive. 

"In the garden at this hour? Rosario!"

"I was warm, I went to the window, my handkerchief dropped out, and Icame down stairs for it!"

"Why didn't you ask Librada to get it for you? Librada! Where is thatgirl? Has she fallen asleep too?"

Librada at last made her appearance. Her pale face revealed theconsternation and the apprehension of the delinquent. 

"What is this? Where were you?" asked her mistress, with terrible anger. 

"Why, senora, I came down stairs to get the clothes out of the frontroom--and I fell asleep. "

"Every one here seems to have fallen asleep to-night. Some of you, Ifancy, will not sleep in my house to-morrow night. Rosario, you may go. "

Comprehending that it was necessary to act with promptness and energy, Dona Perfecta and the canon began their investigations without delay. Questions, threats, entreaties, promises, were skilfully employed todiscover the truth regarding what had happened. Not even the shadowof guilt was found to attach to the old servant; but Librada confessedfrankly between tears and sighs all her delinquencies, which we will sumup as follows:

Shortly after his arrival in the house Senor Pinzon had begun to castloving glances at Senorita Rosario. He had given money to Librada, according to what the latter said, to carry messages and love-letters toher. The young lady had not seemed angry, but, on the contrary, pleased, and several days had passed in this manner. Finally, the servantdeclared that Rosario and Senor Pinzon had agreed to meet and talk witheach other on this night at the window of the room of the latter, whichopened on the garden. They had confided their design to the maid, whopromised to favor it, in consideration of a sum which was at once givenher. It had been agreed that Senor Pinzon was to leave the house at hisusual hour and return to it secretly at nine o'clock, go to his room, and leave it and the house again, clandestinely also, a little later, to return, without concealment, at his usual late hour. In this way nosuspicion would fall upon him. Librada had waited for Pinzon, who hadentered the house closely enveloped in his cloak, without speaking aword. He had gone to his room at the same moment in which the younglady descended to the garden. During the interview, at which she was notpresent, Librada had remained on guard in the hall to warn Pinzon, ifany danger should threaten; and at the end of an hour the latter hadleft the house enveloped in his cloak, as before, and without speakinga word. When the confession was ended Don Inocencio said to the wretchedgirl:

"Are you sure that the person who came into and went out of the housewas Senor Pinzon?"

The culprit answered nothing, but her features expressed the utmostperplexity. 

Her mistress turned green with anger. 

"Did you see his face?"

"But who else could it be but he?" answered the maid. "I am certain thatit was he. He went straight to his room--he knew the way to it perfectlywell. "

"It is strange, " said the canon. "Living in the house there was noneed for him to use such mystery. He might have pretended illness andremained in the house. Does it not seem so to you, senora?"

"Librada, " exclaimed the latter, in a paroxysm of anger, "I vow that youshall go to prison. "

And clasping her hands, she dug the nails of the one into the other withsuch force as almost to draw blood. 

"Senor Don Inocencio, " she exclaimed, "let us die--there is no remedybut to die. "

Then she burst into a fit of inconsolable weeping. 

"Courage, senora, " said the priest, in a moved voice. "Courage--now itis necessary to be very brave. This requires calmness and a great dealof courage. 

"Mine is immense, " said Senora de Polentinos, in the midst of her sobs. 

"Mine is very small, " said the canon; "but we shall see, we shall see. "

CHAPTER XXIV

THE CONFESSION

Meanwhile Rosario--with her heart torn and bleeding, unable to shedtears, unable to be at peace or rest, transpierced by grief as by asharp sword, with her thoughts passing swiftly from the world to God andfrom God to the world, bewildered and half-crazed, her hands clasped, her bare feet resting on the floor--was kneeling, late in the evening, in her own room, beside her bed, on the edge of which she rested herburning forehead, in darkness, in solitude, and in silence. She wascareful not to make the slightest noise, in order not to attract theattention of her mother, who was asleep, or seemed to be asleep, in theadjoining room. She lifted up her distracted thoughts to Heaven in thisform:

"Lord, my God, why is it that before I did not know how to lie, and nowI know? Why did I not know before how to deceive, and now I deceive? AmI a vile woman? Is this that I feel, is this that is happening to me, a fall from which there can be no arising? Have I ceased to be virtuousand good? I do not recognize myself. Is it I or is it some one elsewho is in this place? How many terrible things in a few days! How manydifferent sensations! My heart is consumed with all it has felt. Lord, my God, dost thou hear my voice, or am I condemned to pray eternallywithout being heard? I am good, nothing will convince me that I am notgood. To love, to love boundlessly, is that wickedness? But no--it isno illusion, no error--I am worse than the worst woman on earth. A greatserpent is within me, and has fastened his poisonous fangs in my heart. What is this that I feel? My God, why dost thou not kill me? Why dostthou not plunge me forever into the depths of hell? It is frightful, but I confess it to the priest--I hate my mother. Why is this? I cannotexplain it to myself. He has not said a word to me against my mother. Ido not know how this is come to pass. How wicked I am! The demons havetaken possession of me. Lord, come to my help, for with my own strengthalone I cannot vanquish myself. A terrible impulse urges me to leavethis house. I wish to escape, to fly from it. If he does not take me, Iwill drag myself after him through the streets. What divine joy is thisthat mingles in my breast with so cruel a grief? Lord God, my father, illumine me. I desire only to love. I was not born for this hatred thatis consuming me. I was not born to deceive, to lie, to cheat. To-morrowI will go out into the streets and cry aloud to all the passers-by: 'Ilove! I hate!' My heart will relieve itself in this way. What happinessit would be to be able to reconcile every thing, to love and respectevery one! May the Most Holy Virgin protect me. Again that terribleidea! I don't wish to think it, and I think it. Ah! I cannot deceivemyself in regard to this. I can neither destroy it nor diminish it--butI can confess it; and I confess it, saying to thee: 'Lord, I hate mymother!'"

At last she fell into a doze. In her uneasy sleep her imaginationreproduced in her mind all she had done that night, distorting it, without altering it in substance. She heard again the clock of thecathedral striking nine; she saw with joy the old servant fall into apeaceful sleep; and she left the room very slowly, in order to make nonoise; she descended the stairs softly, step by step and on tiptoe, inorder to avoid making the slightest sound. She went into the garden, going around through the servants' quarters and the kitchen; in thegarden she paused for a moment to look up at the sky, which was darkand studded with stars. The wind was hushed. Not a breath disturbedthe profound stillness of the night. It seemed to maintain a fixed andsilent attention--the attention of eyes that look without winking andears that listen attentively, awaiting a great event. The night waswatching. 

She then approached the glass door of the dining-room and lookedcautiously through it, from a little distance, fearing that those withinmight perceive her. By the light of the dining-room lamp she saw hermother sitting with her back toward her. The Penitentiary was on herright, and his profile seemed to undergo a strange transformation, hisnose grew larger and larger, seeming like the beak of some fabulousbird; and his whole face became a black silhouette with angles here andthere, sharp derisive, irritating. In front of him sat Caballuco, whoresembled a dragon rather than a man. Rosario could see his green eyes, like two lanterns of convex glass. This glow, and the imposing figureof the animal, inspired her with fear. Uncle Licurgo and the other threemen appeared to her imagination like grotesque little figures. She hadseen somewhere, doubtless in some of the clay figures at the fairs, thatfoolish smile, those coarse faces, that stupid look. The dragon movedhis arms which, instead of gesticulating, turned round, like the arms ofa windmill, and the green globes, like the lights of a pharmacy, movedfrom side to side. His glance was blinding. The conversation appearedto be interesting. The Penitentiary was flapping his wings. He was apresumptuous bird, who tried to fly and could not. His beak lengtheneditself, twisting round and round. His feathers stood out, as if withrage; and then, collecting himself and becoming pacified, he hid hisbald head under his wings. Then the little clay figures began to move, wishing to be persons, and Frasquito Gonzalez was trying to pass for aman. 

Rosario felt an inexplicable terror, witnessing this friendlyconference. She went away from the door and advanced, step by step, looking around her to see if she was observed. Although she saw no one, she fancied that a million eyes were fastened upon her. But suddenly herfears and her shame were dispelled. At the window of the room occupiedby Senor Pinzon appeared a man, dressed in blue; the buttons on his coatshone like rows of little lights. She approached. At the same instantshe felt a pair of arms with galloons lift her up as if she werea feather and with a swift movement place her in the room. All waschanged. Suddenly a crash was heard, a violent blow that shook the houseto its foundations. Neither knew the cause of the noise. They trembledand were silent. 

It was the moment in which the dragon had broken the table in thedining-room. 

CHAPTER XXV

UNFORESEEN EVENTS--A PASSING DISAGREEMENT

The scene changes. We see before us a handsome room, bright, modest, gay, comfortable, and surprisingly clean. A fine matting covers thefloor, and the white walls are covered with good prints of saints andsome sculptures of doubtful artistic value. The old mahogany of thefurniture shines with the polish of many Saturday rubbings, and thealtar, on which a magnificent Virgin, dressed in blue and silver, receives domestic worship, is covered with innumerable pretty trifles, half sacred, half profane. There are on it, besides, little pictures inbeads, holy-water fonts, a watch-case with an Agnes Dei, a Palm Sundaypalm-branch, and not a few odorless artificial flowers. A number ofoaken bookshelves contain a rich and choice library, in which Horace, the Epicurean and Sybarite, stands side by side with the tender Virgil, in whose verses we see the heart of the enamored Dido throbbingand melting; Ovid the large-nosed, as sublime as he is obscene andsycophantic, side by side with Martial, the eloquent and witty vagabond;Tibullus the impassioned, with Cicero the grand; the severe Titus Liviuswith the terrible Tacitus, the scourge of the Caesars; Lucretius thepantheist; Juvenal, who flayed with his pen; Plautus, who composedthe best comedies of antiquity while turning a mill-wheel; Seneca thephilosopher, of whom it is said that the noblest act of his life was hisdeath; Quintilian the rhetorician; the immoral Sallust, who speaks soeloquently of virtue; the two Plinys; Suetonius and Varro--in a word, all the Latin letters from the time when they stammered their first wordwith Livius Andronicus until they exhaled their last sigh with Rutilius. 

But while making this unnecessary though rapid enumeration, we have notobserved that two women have entered the room. It is very early, butthe Orbajosans are early risers. The birds are singing to burst theirthroats in their cages; the church-bells are ringing for mass, and thegoats, going from house to house to be milked, are tinkling their bellsgayly. 

The two ladies whom we see in the room that we have described have justcome back from hearing mass. They are dressed in black, and each of themcarries in her right hand her little prayer-book, and the rosary twinedaround her fingers. 

"Your uncle cannot delay long now, " said one of them. "We left himbeginning mass; but he gets through quickly, and by this time he willbe in the sacristy, taking off his chasuble. I would have stayed to hearhim say mass, but to-day is a very busy day for me. "

"I heard only the prebendary's mass to-day, " said the other, "and hesays mass in a twinkling; and I don't think it has done me any good, forI was greatly preoccupied. I could not get the thought of the terriblethings that are happening to us out of my head. "

"What is to be done? We must only have patience. Let us see what adviceyour uncle will give us. "

"Ah!" exclaimed the other, heaving a deep and pathetic sigh; "I feel myblood on fire. "

"God will protect us. "

"To think that a person like you should be threatened by a ----. And hepersists in his designs! Last night Senora Dona Perfecta, I went backto the widow De Cuzco's hotel, as you told me, and asked her forlater news. Don Pepito and the brigadier Batalla are always consultingtogether--ah, my God! consulting about their infernal plans, andemptying bottle after bottle of wine. They are a pair of rakes, a pairof drunkards. No doubt they are plotting some fine piece of villanytogether. As I take such an interest in you, last night, seeing DonPepito having the hotel while I was there, I followed him----"

"And where did you go?"

"To the Casino; yes, senora, to the Casino, " responded the other, withsome confusion. "Afterward he went back to his hotel. And how my unclescolded me because I remained out so late, playing the spy in that way!But I can't help it, and to see a person like you threatened by suchdangers makes me wild. For there is no use in talking; I foresee thatthe day we least expect it those villains will attack the house andcarry off Rosarito. "

Dona Perfecta, for she it was, bending her eyes on the floor, remainedfor a long time wrapped in thought. She was pale, and her brows weregathered in a frown. At last she exclaimed:

"Well, I see no way of preventing it!"

"But I see a way, " quickly said the other woman, who was the niece ofthe Penitentiary and Jacinto's mother; "I see a very simple way, thatI explained to you, and that you do not like. Ah, senora! you aretoo good. On occasions like this it is better to be a little lessperfect--to lay scruples aside. Why, would that be an offence to God?"

"Maria Remedios, " said Dona Perfecta haughtily, "don't talk nonsense. "

"Nonsense! You, with all your wisdom, cannot make your nephew do asyou wish. What could be simpler than what I propose? Since there is nojustice now to protect us, let us do a great act of justice ourselves. Are there not men in your house who are ready for any thing? Well, callthem and say to them: 'Look, Caballuco, Paso Largo, ' or whoever it maybe, 'to-night disguise yourself well, so that you may not be recognized;take with you a friend in whom you have confidence, and station yourselfat the corner of the Calle de Santa Faz. Wait a while, and when DonJose Rey passes through the Calle de la Triperia on his way tothe Casino, --for he will certainly go to the Casino, understand mewell, --when he is passing you will spring out on him and give him afright. '"

"Maria Remedios, don't be a fool!" said Dona Perfecta with magisterialdignity. 

"Nothing more than a fright, senora; attend well to what I say, afright. Why! Do you suppose I would advise a crime? Good God! the veryidea fills me with horror, and I fancy I can see before my eyes bloodand fire! Nothing of the sort, senora. A fright--nothing but a fright, which will make that ruffian understand that we are well protected. Hegoes alone to the Casino, senora, entirely alone; and there he meets hisvaliant friends, those of the sabre and the helmet. Imagine that he getsthe fright and that he has a few bones broken, in addition--without anyserious wounds, of course. Well, in that case, either his courage willfail him and he will leave Orbajosa, or he will be obliged to keep hisbed for a fortnight. But they must be told to make the fright a goodone. No killing, of course; they must take care of that, but just a goodbeating. "

"Maria, " said Dona Perfecta haughtily, "you are incapable of a loftythought, of a great and saving resolve. What you advise me is anunworthy piece of cowardice. "

"Very well, I will be silent. Poor me! what a fool I am!" exclaimed thePenitentiary's niece with humility. "I will keep my follies to consoleyou after you have lost your daughter. "

"My daughter! Lose my daughter!" exclaimed Dona Perfecta, with a suddenaccess of rage. "Only to hear you puts me out of my senses. No, theyshall not take her from me! If Rosario does not abhor that ruffian as Iwish her to do, she shall abhor him. For a mother's authority must havesome weight. We will tear this passion, or rather this caprice, fromher heart, as a tender plant is torn out of the ground before it hashad time to cast roots. No, this cannot be, Remedios. Come what may, it shall not be! Not even the most infamous means he could employ willavail that madman. Rather than see her my nephew's wife, I would acceptany evil that might happen to her, even death!"

"Better dead, better buried and food for worms, " affirmed Remedios, clasping her hands as if she were saying a prayer--"than see her in thepower of--ah, senora, do not be offended if I say something to you, and that is, that it would be a great weakness to yield merely becauseRosarito has had a few secret interviews with that audacious man. Theaffair of the night before last, as my uncle related it to me, seems tome a vile trick on Don Jose to obtain his object by means of a scandal. A great many men do that. Ah, Divine Saviour, I don't know how there arewomen who can look any man in the face unless it be a priest. "

"Be silent, be silent!" said Dona Perfecta, with vehemence. "Don'tmention the occurrence of the night before last to me. What a horribleaffair! Maria Remedios, I understand now how anger can imperil thesalvation of a soul. I am burning with rage--unhappy that I am, to seesuch things and not to be a man! But to speak the truth in regard tothe occurrence of the night before last--I still have my doubts. Libradavows and declares that Pinzon was the man who came into the house. Mydaughter denies every thing; my daughter has never told me a lie!I persist in my suspicions. I think that Pinzon is a hypocriticalgo-between, but nothing more. "

"We come back to the same thing--that the author of all the trouble isthe blessed mathematician. Ah! my heart did not deceive me when I firstsaw him. Well, then senora! resign yourself to see something still moreterrible, unless you make up your mind to call Caballuco and say to him, 'Caballuco, I hope that--'"

"The same thing again; what a simpleton you are!"

"Oh yes! I know I am a great simpleton; but how can I help it if I amnot any wiser? I say what comes into my head, without any art. "

"What you think of--that silly and vulgar idea of the beating and thefright--is what would occur to any one. You have not an ounce of brains, Remedios; to solve a serious question you can think of nothing betterthan a piece of folly like that. I have thought of a means more worthyof noble-minded and well-bred persons. A beating! What stupidity!Besides, I would not on any account have my nephew receive even somuch as a scratch by an order of mine. God will send him his punishmentthrough some one of the wonderful ways which he knows how to choose. Allwe have to do is to work in order that the designs of God may find noobstacle. Maria Remedios, it is necessary in matters of this kind to godirectly to the causes of things. But you know nothing about causes--youcan see only trifles. "

"That may be so, " said the priest's niece, with humility. "I wonder whyGod made me so foolish that I can understand nothing of those sublimeideas!"

"It is necessary to go to the bottom--to the bottom, Remedios. Don't youunderstand yet?"

"No. "

"My nephew is not my nephew, woman; he is blasphemy, sacrilege, atheism, demagogy. Do you know what demagogy is?"

"Something relating to those people who burned Paris with petroleum;and those who pull down the churches and fire on the images. So far Iunderstand very well. "

"Well, my nephew is all that! Ah! if he were alone in Orbajosa--but no, child. My nephew, through a series of fatalities, which are trials, thetransitory evils that God permits for our chastisement, is equivalent toan army; is equivalent to the authority of the government; equivalent tothe alcalde; equivalent to the judge. My nephew is not my nephew; heis the official nation, Remedios--that second nation composed of thescoundrels who govern in Madrid, and who have made themselves masters ofits material strength; of that apparent nation--for the real nation isthe one that is silent, that pays and suffers; of that fictitiousnation that signs decrees and pronounces discourses and makes a farce ofgovernment, and a farce of authority, and a farce of every thing. Thatis what my nephew is to-day; you must accustom yourself to look underthe surface of things. My nephew is the government, the brigadier, thenew alcalde, the new judge--for they all protect him, because of theunanimity of their ideas; because they are chips of the same block, birds of a feather. Understand it well; we must defend ourselves againstthem all, for they are all one, and one is all; we must attack themall together; and not by beating a man as he turns a corner, but as ourforefathers attacked the Moors--the Moors, Remedios. Understand thiswell, child; open your understanding and allow an idea that isnot vulgar to enter it--rise above yourself; think lofty thoughts, Remedios!"

Don Inocencio's niece was struck dumb by so much loftiness of soul. Sheopened her mouth to say something that should be in consonance with sosublime an idea, but she only breathed a sigh. 

"Like the Moors, " repeated Dona Perfecta. "It is a question of Moors andChristians. And did you suppose that by giving a fright to my nephewall would be ended? How foolish you are! Don't you see that his friendssupport him? Don't you see that you are at the mercy of that rabble?Don't you see that any little lieutenant can set fire to my house, ifhe takes it into his head to do so? But don't you know this? Don't youcomprehend that it is necessary to go to the bottom of things? Don't youcomprehend how vast, how tremendous is the power of my enemy, who is nota man, but a sect? Don't you comprehend that my nephew, as he confrontsme to-day, is not a calamity, but a plague? Against this plague, dear Remedios, we shall have here a battalion sent by God that willannihilate the infernal militia from Madrid. I tell you that this isgoing to be great and glorious. "

"If it were at last so!"

"But do you doubt it? To-day we shall see terrible things here, " saidDona Perfecta, with great impatience. "To-day, to-day! What o'clock isit? Seven? So late, and nothing has happened!"

"Perhaps my uncle has heard something; he is here now, I hear him comingupstairs. "

"Thank God!" said Dona Perfecta, rising to receive the Penitentiary. "Hewill have good news for us. "

Don Inocencio entered hastily. His altered countenance showed that hissoul, consecrated to religion and to the study of the classics, was notas tranquil as usual. 

"Bad news!" he said, laying his hat on a chair and loosening the cordsof his cloak. 

Dona Perfecta turned pale. 

"They are arresting people, " added Don Inocencio, lowering his voice, as if there was a soldier hidden under every chair. "They suspect, nodoubt, that the people here would not put up with their high-handedmeasures, and they have gone from house to house, arresting all who havea reputation for bravery. "

Dona Perfecta threw herself into an easy chair and clutched its armsconvulsively. 

"It remains to be seen whether they have allowed themselves to bearrested, " observed Remedios. 

"Many of them have--a great many of them, " said Don Inocencio, with anapproving look, addressing Dona Perfecta, "have had time to escape, andhave gone with arms and horses to Villahorrenda. "

"And Ramos?"

"They told me in the cathedral that he is the one they are looking formost eagerly. Oh, my God! to arrest innocent people in that way, whohave done nothing yet. Well, I don't know how good Spaniards can havepatience under such treatment. Senora Dona Perfecta, when I was tellingyou about the arrests, I forgot to say that you ought to go home atonce. "

"Yes, I will go at once. Have those bandits searched my house?"

"It is possible. Senora, we have fallen upon evil days, " said DonInocencio, in solemn and feeling accents. "May God have pity upon us!"

"There are half a dozen well-armed men in my house, " responded the lady, greatly agitated. "What iniquity! Would they be capable of wanting tocarry them off too?"

"Assuredly Senor Pinzon will not have neglected to denounce them. Senora, I repeat that we have fallen upon evil days. But God willprotect the innocent. "

"I am going now. Don't fail to stop in at the house. "

"Senora, as soon as the lesson is over--though I imagine that with theexcitement that there is in the town, all the boys will play truantto-day----But in any case I will go to the house after class hours. I don't wish you to go out alone, senora. Those vagabond soldiers arestrutting about the streets with such insolent airs. Jacinto, Jacinto!"

"It is not necessary. I will go alone. "

"Let Jacinto go with you, " said the young man's mother. "He must be upby this time. "

They heard the hurried footsteps of the little doctor, who was comingdown the stairs in the greatest haste. He entered the room with flushedface and panting for breath. 

"What is the matter?" asked his uncle. 

"In the Troyas' house, " said the young man, "in the house ofthose--those girls--"

"Finish at once!"

"Caballuco is there!"

"Up there? In the house of the Troyas?"

"Yes, senor. He spoke to me from the terrace, and he told me he wasafraid they were coming there to arrest him. "

"Oh, what a fool! That idiot is going to allow himself to be arrested!"exclaimed Dona Perfecta, tapping the floor impatiently with her foot. 

"He wants to come down and let us hide him in the house. "

"Here?"

The canon and his niece exchanged a glance. 

"Let him come down!" said Dona Perfecta vehemently. 

"Here?" repeated Don Inocencio, with a look of ill-humor. 

"Here, " answered the lady. "I don't know of any house where he would bemore secure. "

"He can let himself down easily from the window of my room, " saidJacinto. 

"Well, if it is necessary----"

"Maria Remedios, " said Dona Perfecta, "if they take that man, all islost. "

"I am a fool and a simpleton, " answered the canon's niece, laying herhand on her breast and stifling the sigh that was doubtless about toescape from it; "but they shall not take him. "

Dona Perfecta went out quickly, and shortly afterward the Centaur wasmaking himself comfortable in the arm-chair in which Don Inocencio wasaccustomed to sit when he was writing his sermons. 

We do not know how it reached the ears of Brigadier Batalla, but certainit is that this active soldier had had notice that the Orbajosans hadchanged their intentions; and on the morning of this day he had orderedthe arrest of those whom in our rich insurrectional language we areaccustomed to call marked. The great Caballuco escaped by a miracle, taking refuge in the house of the Troyas, but not thinking himself safethere he descended, as we have seen, to the holy and unsuspected mansionof the good canon. 

At night the soldiers, established at various points of the town, kepta strict watch on all who came in and went out, but Ramos succeeded inmaking his escape, cheating or perhaps without cheating the vigilance ofthe military. This filled the measure of the rage of the Orbajosans, and numbers of people were conspiring in the hamlets near Villahorrenda;meeting at night to disperse in the morning and prepare in this waythe arduous business of the insurrection. Ramos scoured the surroundingcountry, collecting men and arms; and as the flying columns followedthe Aceros into the district of Villajuan de Nahara, our chivalrous heromade great progress in a very short time. 

At night he ventured boldly into Orbajosa, employing stratagems andperhaps bribery. His popularity and the protection which he received inthe town served him, to a certain extent, as a safeguard; and it wouldnot be rash to affirm that the soldiers did not manifest towardthis daring leader of the insurrection the same rigor as toward theinsignificant men of the place. In Spain, and especially in time of war, which is here always demoralizing, these unworthy considerations towardthe great are often seen, while the little are persecuted pitilessly. Favored then by his boldness, by bribery, or by we know not what, Caballuco entered Orbajosa, gained new recruits, and collected arms andmoney. Either for the great security of his person or in order to saveappearances, he did not set foot in his own house; he entered DonaPerfecta's only for the purpose of treating of important affairs, andhe usually supped in the house of some friend, preferring always therespected domicile of some priest, and especially that of Don Inocencio, where he had taken refuge on the fateful morning of the arrests. 

Meanwhile Batalla had telegraphed to the Government the informationthat a plot of the rebels having been discovered its authors had beenimprisoned, and the few who had succeeded in escaping had fled invarious directions and were being actively pursued by the military. 

CHAPTER XXVI

MARIA REMEDIOS

There is nothing more entertaining than to search for the cause ofsome interesting event which surprises or agitates us, and nothing moresatisfactory than to discover it. When, seeing violent passions in openor concealed conflict, and led by the natural intuitive impulse whichalways accompanies human observation we succeed in discovering thehidden source from which that turbulent river had derived its waters, we experience a sensation very similar to the delight of the explorer orthe discoverer of an unknown land. 

This delight Providence has now bestowed upon us; for, exploringthe hidden recesses of the hearts which beat in this story, we havediscovered an event that is assuredly the source of the most importantevents that we have narrated; a passion which is the first drop of waterof the impetuous current whose course we are observing. 

Let us go on with our story, then. To do so, let us leave Senora dePolentinos, without concerning ourselves in regard to what may havehappened to her on the morning of her conversation with Maria Remedios. Returning to her house, full of anxiety, she found herself obliged toendure the apologies and the civilities of Senor Pinzon, who assuredher that while he lived her house should not be searched. Dona Perfectaresponded haughtily, without deigning to look at him, for which reasonhe asked her politely for an explanation of her coldness, to whichshe replied requesting Senor Pinzon to leave her house, deferring to afuture occasion the explanation which she would require from him of hisperfidious conduct while in it. Don Cayetano arriving at this moment, words were exchanged between the two gentlemen, as between man and man;but as we are more interested at present in another matter, we willleave the Polentinos and the lieutenant-colonel to settle mattersbetween them as best they can, and proceed to examine the question ofthe sources above mentioned. 

Let us fix our attention on Maria Remedios, an estimable woman, to whomit is indispensably necessary to devote a few words. She was a lady, areal lady--for, notwithstanding her humble origin, the virtues of heruncle, Senor Don Inocencio, also of low origin, but elevated by hislearning and his estimable qualities, had shed extraordinary lustre overthe whole family. 

The love of Remedios for Jacinto was one of the strongest passions ofwhich the maternal heart is capable. She loved him with delirium; herson's welfare was her first earthly consideration; she regarded him asthe most perfect type of beauty and talent ever created by God, and tosee him happy and great and powerful she would have given her whole lifeand even a part of the life to come. The maternal sentiment is theonly one which, because of its nobility and its sanctity, will admitof exaggeration; the only one which the delirium of passion does notdebase. Nevertheless it is a singular phenomenon, frequently observed, that this exaltation of maternal affection, if not accompanied withabsolute purity of heart and with perfect uprightness is apt to becomeperverted and transformed into a lamentable frenzy, which may lead, likeany other ungoverned passion, to great errors and catastrophies. 

In Orbajosa Maria Remedios passed for a model of virtue and a modelniece--perhaps she was so in reality. She served with affection all whoneeded her services; she never gave occasion for gossip or for scandal;she never mixed herself up in intrigues. She carried her religion to theextreme of an offensive fanaticism; she practised charity; she managedher uncle's house with the utmost ability; she was well received, admired and kindly treated everywhere, in spite of the almostintolerable annoyance produced by her persistent habit of sighing andspeaking always in a complaining voice. 

But in Dona Perfecta's house this excellent lady suffered a species of_capitis diminutio_. In times far distant and very bitter for the familyof the good Penitentiary, Maria Remedios (since it is the truth, whyshould it not be told?) had been a laundress in the house of Polentinos. And let it not be supposed that Dona Perfecta looked down upon heron this account--nothing of the kind. She behaved to her without anyhaughtiness; she felt a real sisterly affection for her; they atetogether; they prayed together; they confided their troubles to eachother; they aided each other in their charities and in their devotionsas well as in domestic matters; but, truth to say, there was always asomething, there was always a line, invisible but which could not becrossed between the improvised lady and the lady by birth and ancestry. Dona Perfecta addressed Maria as "thou, " while the latter could neverlay aside certain ceremonial forms. Maria Remedios always felt herselfso insignificant in the presence of her uncle's friend that her naturalhumility had acquired through this feeling a strange tinge of sadness. She saw that the good canon was a species of perpetual Aulic councillorin the house; she saw her idolized Jacintillo mingling on terms ofalmost lover-like familiarity with the young lady, and nevertheless thepoor mother and niece visited the house as little as possible. It is tobe observed that Maria Remedios' dignity as a lady suffered not a littlein Dona Perfecta's house, and this was disagreeable to her; for in thissighing spirit, too, there was, as there is in every living thing, alittle pride. To see her son married to Rosarito, to see him rich andpowerful; to see him related to Dona Perfecta, to the senora--ah! thiswas for Maria Remedios earth and heaven, this life and the next, thepresent and the future, the supreme totality of existence. For yearsher mind and her heart had been filled by the light of this sweet hope. Because of this hope she was good and she was bad; because of it shewas religious and humble, or fierce and daring; because of it she waswhatever she was--for without this idea Maria, who was the incarnationof her project, would not exist. 

In person, Maria Remedios could not be more insignificant than she was. She was remarkable for a surprising freshness and robustness which madeher look much younger than she really was, and she always dressed inmourning, although her widowhood was now of long standing. 

Five days had passed since the entrance of Caballuco into thePenitentiary's house. It was evening. Remedios entered her uncle's roomwith the lighted lamp, which she placed on the table. She then seatedherself in front of the old man, who, for a great part of the afternoon, had been sitting motionless and thoughtful in his easy chair. Hisfingers supported his chin, wrinkling up the brown skin, unshaven forthe past three days. 

"Did Caballuco say he would come here to supper to-night?" he asked hisniece. 

"Yes, senor, he will come. It is in a respectable house like this thatthe poor fellow is most secure. "

"Well, I am not altogether easy in my mind, in spite of therespectability of the house, " answered the Penitentiary. "How the braveRamos exposes himself! And I am told that in Villahorrenda and thesurrounding country there are a great many men. I don't know how manymen----What have you heard?"

"That the soldiers are committing atrocities. "

"It is a miracle that those Hottentots have not searched the house! Ideclare that if I see one of the red-trousered gentry enter the house, Ishall fall down speechless. "

"This is a nice condition of things!" said Remedios, exhaling half hersoul in a sigh. "I cannot get out of my head the idea of the tribulationin which Senora Dona Perfecta finds herself. Uncle, you ought to gothere. "

"Go there to-night? The military are parading the streets! Imagine thatsome insolent soldier should take it into his head to----The senora iswell protected. The other day they searched the house and they carriedoff the six armed men she had there; but afterward they sent them backto her. We have no one to protect us in case of an attack. "

"I sent Jacinto to the senora's, to keep her company for a while. IfCaballuco comes, we will tell him to stop in there, too. No one canput it out of my head but that those rascals are plotting some piece ofvillany against our friend. Poor senora, poor Rosarito! When one thinksthat this might have been avoided by what I proposed to Dona Perfectatwo days ago----"

"My dear niece, " said the Penitentiary phlegmatically, "we have done allthat it was in human power to do to carry out our virtuous purpose. More we cannot do. Convince yourself of this, and do not be obstinate. Rosarito cannot be the wife of our idolized Jacintillo. Your goldendream, your ideal of happiness, that at one time seemed attainable, and to which like a good uncle, I devoted all the powers of myunderstanding, has become chimerical, has vanished into smoke. Seriousobstructions, the wickedness of a man, the indubitable love of the girl, and other things, regarding which I am silent, have altered altogetherthe condition of affairs. We were in a fair way to conquer, and suddenlywe are conquered. Ah, niece! convince yourself of one thing. As mattersare now, Jacinto deserves something a great deal better than that crazygirl. "

"Caprices and obstinate notions!" responded Maria, with an ill-humorthat was far from respectful. "That's a pretty thing to say now, uncle!The great minds are outshining themselves, now. Dona Perfecta with herlofty ideas, and you with your doubts and fears--of much use eitherof you is. It is a pity that God made me such a fool and gave me anunderstanding of brick and mortar, as the senora says, for if thatwasn't the case I would soon settle the question. "

"You?"

"If she and you had allowed me, it would be settled already. "

"By the beating?"

"There's no occasion for you to be frightened or to open your eyes likethat. There is no question of killing any body. What an idea!"

"Beating, " said the canon, smiling, "is like scratching--when one beginsone doesn't know when to leave off. "

"Bah! say too that I am cruel and blood-thirsty. I wouldn't have thecourage to kill a fly; it's not very likely that I should desire thedeath of a man. "

"In fine, child, no matter what objections you may make, Senor Don PepeRey will carry off the girl. It is not possible now to prevent it. Heis ready to employ every means, including dishonor. If Rosarito--howshe deceived us with that demure little face and those heavenly eyes, eh!--if Rosarito, I say, did not herself wish it, then all might bearranged, but alas! she loves him as the sinner loves Satan; she isconsumed with a criminal passion; she has fallen, niece, into the snaresof the Evil One. Let us be virtuous and upright; let us turn our eyesaway from the ignoble pair, and think no more about either of them. "

"You know nothing about women, uncle, " said Remedios, with flatteringhypocrisy; "you are a holy man; you do not understand that Rosario'sfeeling is only a passing caprice, one of those caprices that are curedby a sound whipping. "

"Niece, " said Don Inocencio gravely and sententiously, "when seriousthings have taken place, caprices are not called caprices, but byanother name. "

"Uncle, you don't know what you are talking about, " responded MariaRemedios, her face flushing suddenly. "What! would you be capable ofsupposing that Rosarito--what an atrocity! I will defend her; yes, Iwill defend her. She is as pure as an angel. Why, uncle, those thingsbring a blush to my cheek, and make me indignant with you. "

As she spoke the good priest's face was darkened by a cloud of sadnessthat made him look ten years older. 

"My dear Remedios, " he said, "we have done all that is humanly possible, and all that in conscience we can or ought to do. Nothing could be morenatural than our desire to see Jacintillo connected with that greatfamily, the first in Orbajosa; nothing more natural than our desireto see him master of the seven houses in the town, the meadow ofMundogrande, the three gardens of the upper farm, La Encomienda, and theother lands and houses which that girl owns. Your son has great merit, every one knows it well. Rosarito liked him, and he liked Rosarito. The matter seemed settled. Dona Perfecta herself, without being veryenthusiastic, doubtless on account of our origin, seemed favorablydisposed toward it, because of her great esteem and veneration forme, as her confessor and friend. But suddenly this unlucky young manpresents himself. The senora tells me that she has given her word toher brother, and that she cannot reject the proposal made by him. Adifficult situation! But what do I do in view of all this? Ah, you don'tknow every thing! I will be frank with you. If I had found Senor deRey to be a man of good principles, calculated to make Rosario happy, Iwould not have interfered in the matter; but the young man appeared tome to be a wretch, and, as the spiritual director of the house, it wasmy duty to take a hand in the business, and I took it. You know alreadythat I determined to unmask him. I exposed his vices; I made manifesthis atheism; I laid bare to the view of all the rottenness of thatmaterialistic heart, and the senora was convinced that in giving herdaughter to him, she would be delivering her up to vice. Ah, whatanxieties I endured! The senora vacillated; I strengthened her waveringmind; I advised her concerning the means she might lawfully employ tosend her nephew away without scandal. I suggested ingenious ideas toher; and as she often spoke to me of the scruples that troubled hertender conscience, I tranquillized her, pointing out to her how farit was allowable for us to go in our fight against that lawless enemy. Never did I counsel violent or sanguinary measures or base outrages, butalways subtle artifices, in which there was no sin. My mind is tranquil, my dear niece. But you know that I struggled hard, that I worked like anegro. Ah! when I used to come home every night and say, 'Mariquilla, weare getting on well, we are getting on very well, ' you used to be wildwith delight, and you would kiss my hands again and again, and say I wasthe best man on earth. Why do you fly into a passion now, disfiguringyour noble character and peaceable disposition? Why do you scold me? Whydo you say that you are indignant, and tell me in plain terms that I amnothing better than an idiot?"

"Because, " said the woman, without any diminution of her rage, "becauseyou have grown faint-hearted all of a sudden. "

"The thing is that every thing is going against us, woman. Thatconfounded engineer, protected as he is by the army, is resolved to dareevery thing. The girl loves him, the girl--I will say no more. It cannotbe; I tell you that it cannot be. "

"The army! But do you believe, like Dona Perfecta, that there isgoing to be a war, and that to drive Don Pepe from the town it will benecessary for one half of the nation to rise up against the otherhalf? The senora has lost her senses, and you are in a fair way to loseyours. "

"I believe as she does. In view of the intimate connection of Rey withthe soldiers the personal question assumes larger proportions. But, ah, niece! if two days ago I entertained the hope that our valiant townsmenwould kick the soldiers out of the town, since I have seen the turnthings have taken, since I have seen that most of them have beensurprised before fighting, and that Caballuco is in hiding and thatthe insurrection is going to the devil, I have lost confidence in everything. The good doctrines have not yet acquired sufficient materialforce to tear in pieces the ministers and the emissaries of error. Ah, niece! resignation, resignation!"

And Don Inocencio, employing the method of expression whichcharacterized his niece, heaved two or three profound sighs. Maria, contrary to what might have been expected, maintained absolute silence. She showed now neither anger nor the superficial sentimentality of herordinary life; but only a profound and humble grief. Shortly after thegood canon had ended his peroration two tears rolled down his niece'srosy cheeks; before long were heard a few half-suppressed sighs, andgradually, as the swell and tumult of a sea that is beginning to bestormy rise higher and higher and become louder and louder, so the surgeof Maria Remedios' grief rose and swelled, until it at last broke forthin a flood of tears. 

CHAPTER XXVII

A CANON'S TORTURE

"Resignation, resignation!" repeated Don Inocencio. 

"Resignation, resignation!" repeated his niece, drying her tears. "If mydear son is doomed to be always a beggar, well, then, be it so. Lawsuitsare becoming scarce; the day will soon come when the practice of the lawwill be the same as nothing. What is the use of all his talent? What isthe use of his tiring his brain with so much study? Ah! We are poor. A day will come, Senor Don Inocencio, when my poor boy will not have apillow on which to lay his head. "

"Woman!"

"Man! can you deny it? Tell me, then, what inheritance are you goingto leave him when you close your eyes on this world? A couple of rooms, half a dozen big books, poverty, and nothing more. What times are beforeus, uncle; what times! My poor boy is growing very delicate in hishealth, and he won't be able to work--it makes him dizzy now to read abook; he gets a headache and nausea whenever he works at night! He willhave to beg a paltry situation; I shall have to take in sewing, and whoknows, who knows but we may have to beg our bread!"

"Woman!"

"Oh, I know very well what I am talking about! Fine times before us!"added the excellent woman, forcing still more the lachrymose note inher diatribe. "My God! What is going to become of us? Ah, it is only amother's heart that can feel these things! Only a mother is capableof suffering so much anxiety about a son's welfare. How should youunderstand it? No; it is one thing to have children and to sufferanxiety on their account and another to sing the _gori gori_ in thecathedral and to teach Latin in the institute. Of great use is it formy son to be your nephew and to have taken so many honors and to bethe pride and ornament of Orbajosa. He will die of starvation, for wealready know what law brings; or else he will have to ask the deputiesfor a situation in Havana, where the yellow fever will kill him. "

"But, niece--"

"No, I am not grieving, I am silent now; I won't annoy you any more. I am very troublesome, always crying and sighing; and I am not to beendured because I am a fond mother and I will look out for the good ofmy beloved son. I will die, yes, I will die in silence, and stifle mygrief. I will swallow my tears, in order not to annoy his reverence thecanon. But my idolized son will comprehend me and he won't put his handsto his ears as you are doing now. Woe is me! Poor Jacinto knows thatI would die for him, and that I would purchase his happiness at thesacrifice of my life. Darling child of my soul! To be so deserving andto be forever doomed to mediocrity, to a humble station, for--don't getindignant, uncle--no matter what airs we put on, you will always be theson of Uncle Tinieblas, the sacristan of San Bernardo, and I shallnever be any thing more than the daughter of Ildefonso Tinieblas, yourbrother, who used to sell crockery, and my son will be the grandson ofthe Tinieblas--for obscure we were born, and we shall never emerge fromour obscurity, nor own a piece of land of which we can say, 'This ismine'; nor shall I ever plunge my arms up to the elbows in a sack ofwheat threshed and winnowed on our own threshing-floor--all because ofyour cowardice, your folly, your soft-heartedness. "

"But--but, niece!"

The canon's voice rose higher every time he repeated this phrase, and, with his hands to his ears, he shook his head from side to side witha look of mingled grief and desperation. The shrill complaint of MariaRemedios grew constantly shriller, and pierced the brain of the unhappyand now dazed priest like an arrow. But all at once the woman's facebecame transformed; her plaintive wail was changed to a hard, shrillscream; she turned pale, her lips trembled, she clenched her hands, a few locks of her disordered hair fell over her forehead, her eyesglittered, dried by the heat of the anger that glowed in her breast; sherose from her seat and, not like a woman, but like a harpy, cried:

"I am going away from here! I am going away from here with my son! Wewill go to Madrid; I don't want my son to fret himself to death inthis miserable town! I am tired now of seeing that my son, under theprotection of the cassock, neither is nor ever will be any thing. Do youhear, my reverend uncle? My son and I are going away! You will never seeus again--never!"

Don Inocencio had clasped his hands and was receiving the thunderboltsof his niece's wrath with the consternation of a criminal whom thepresence of the executioner has deprived of his last hope. 

"In Heaven's name, Remedios, " he murmured, in a pained voice; "in thename of the Holy Virgin----"

These fits of range of his niece, who was usually so meek, were asviolent as they were rare, and five or six years would sometimes passwithout Don Inocencio seeing Remedios transformed into a fury. 

"I am a mother! I am a mother! and since no one else will look out formy son, I will look out for him myself!" roared the improvised lioness. 

"In the name of the Virgin, niece, don't let your passion get the bestof you! Remember that you are committing a sin. Let us say the Lord'sPrayer and an Ave Maria, and you will see that this will pass away. "

As he said this the Penitentiary trembled, and the perspiration stood onhis forehead. Poor dove in the talons of the vulture! The furious womancompleted his discomfiture with these words:

"You are good for nothing; you are a poltroon! My son and I will go awayfrom this place forever, forever! I will get a position for my son, Iwill find him a good position, do you understand? Just as I would bewilling to sweep the streets with my tongue if I could gain a living forhim in no other way, so I will move heaven and earth to find a positionfor my boy in order that he may rise in the world and be rich, and aperson of consequence, and a gentleman, and a lord and great, and allthat there is to be--all, all!"

"Heaven protect me!" cried Don Inocencio, sinking into a chair andletting his head fall on his breast. 

There was a pause during which the agitated breathing of the furiouswoman could be heard. 

"Niece, " said Don Inocencio at last, "you have shortened my life by tenyears; you have set my blood on fire; you have put me beside myself. God give me the calmness that I need to bear with you! Lord, patience--patience is what I ask. And you, niece, do me the favor tosigh and cry to your heart's content for the next ten years; for yourconfounded mania of sniveling, greatly as it annoys me, is preferableto these mad fits of rage. If I did not know that you are good atheart----Well, for one who confessed and received communion this morningyou are behaving--"

"Yes, but you are the cause of it--you!"

"Because in the matter of Rosario and Jacinto I say to you, resignation?"

"Because when every thing is going on well you turn back and allow Senorde Rey to get possession of Rosario. "

"And how am I going to prevent it? Dona Perfecta is right in saying thatyou have an understanding of brick. Do you want me to go about the townwith a sword, and in the twinkling of an eye to make mincemeat of thewhole regiment, and then confront Rey and say to him, 'Leave the girl inpeace or I will cut your throat'?"

"No, but when I advised the senora to give her nephew a fright, youopposed my advice, instead of supporting it. "

"You are crazy with your talk about a fright. "

"Because when the dog is dead the madness is at an end. "

"I cannot advise what you call a fright, and what might be a terriblething. "

"Yes; because I am a cut-throat, am I not, uncle?"

"You know that practical jokes are vulgar. Besides, do you suppose thatman would allow himself to be insulted? And his friends?"

"At night he goes out alone. "

"How do you know that?"

"I know every thing; he does not take a step that I am not aware of; doyou understand? The widow De Cuzco keeps me informed of every thing. "

"There, don't set me crazy. And who is going to give him that fright?Let us hear. "

"Caballuco. "

"So that he is disposed--"

"No, but he will be if you command him. "

"Come, niece, leave me in peace. I cannot command such an atrocity. Afright! And what is that? Have you spoken to him already?"

"Yes, senor; but he paid no attention to me, or rather he refused. Thereare only two people in Orbajosa who can make him do what they wish by asimple order--you and Dona Perfecta. "

"Let Dona Perfecta order him to do it if she wishes, then. I will neveradvise the employment of violent and brutal measures. Will you believethat when Caballuco and some of his followers were talking of risingup in arms they could not draw a single word from me inciting them tobloodshed. No, not that. If Dona Perfecta wishes to do it--"

"She will not do it, either. I talked with her for two hours thisafternoon and she said that she would preach war, and help it by everymeans in her power; but that she would not bid one man stab another inthe back. She would be right in opposing it if anything serious wereintended, but I don't want any wounds; all I want is to give him afright. "

"Well, if Dona Perfecta doesn't want to order a fright to be given tothe engineer, I don't either, do you understand? My conscience is beforeevery thing. "

"Very well, " returned his niece. "Tell Caballuco to come with meto-night--that is all you need say to him. "

"Are you going out to-night?"

"Yes, senor, I am going out. Why, didn't I go out last night too?"

"Last night? I didn't know it; if I had known it I should have beenangry; yes, senora. "

"All you have to say to Caballuco is this: 'My dear Ramos, I will begreatly obliged to you if you will accompany my niece on an errandwhich she has to do to-night, and if you will protect her, if she shouldchance to be in any danger. '"

"I can do that. To accompany you, to protect you. Ah, rogue! you want todeceive me and make me your accomplice in some piece of villany. "

"Of course--what do you suppose?" said Maria Remedios ironically. "Between Ramos and me we are going to slaughter a great many peopleto-night. "

"Don't jest! I tell you again that I will not advise Ramos to do anything that has the appearance of evil--I think he is outside. "

A noise at the street-door was heard, then the voice of Caballucospeaking to the servant, and a little later the hero of Orbajosa enteredthe room. 

"What is the news? Give us the news, Senor Ramos, " said the priest. "Come! If you don't give us some hope in exchange for your supper andour hospitality----What is going on in Villahorrenda?"

"Something, " answered the bravo, seating himself with signs of fatigue. "You shall soon see whether we are good for anything or not. "

Like all persons who wish to make themselves appear important, Caballucomade a show of great reserve. 

"To-night, my friend, you shall take with you, if you wish, the moneythey have given me for--"

"There is good need of it. If the soldiers should get scent of it, however, they won't let me pass, " said Ramos, with a brutal laugh. 

"Hold your tongue, man. We know already that you pass whenever youplease. Why, that would be a pretty thing! The soldiers are notstrait-laced gentry, and if they should become troublesome, with acouple of dollars, eh? Come, I see that you are not badly armed. All youwant now is an eight-pounder. Pistols, eh? And a dagger too. "

"For any thing that might happen, " said Caballuco, taking the weaponfrom his belt and displaying its horrible blade. 

"In the name of God and of the Virgin!" exclaimed Maria Remedios, closing her eyes and turning her face in terror, "put away that thing. The very sight of it terrifies me. "

"If you won't take it ill of me, " said Ramos, shutting the weapon, "letus have supper. "

Maria Remedios prepared every thing quickly, in order that the heromight not become impatient. 

"Listen to me a moment, Senor Ramos, " said Don Inocencio to hisguest, when they had sat down to supper. "Have you a great deal to doto-night?"

"Something there is to be done, " responded the bravo. "This is the lastnight I shall come to Orbajosa--the last. I have to look up someboys who remained in the town, and we are going to see how we can getpossession of the saltpetre and the sulphur that are in the house ofCirujeda. "

"I asked you, " said the curate amiably, filling his friend's plate, "because my niece wishes you to accompany her a short distance. She hassome business or other to attend to, and it is a little late to be outalone. "

"Is she going to Dona Perfecta's?" asked Ramos. "I was there a fewmoments ago, but I did not want to make any delay. "

"How is the senora?"

"A little frightened. To-night I took away the six young men I had inthe house. "

"Why! don't you think they will be wanted there?" said Remedios, withalarm. 

"They are wanted more in Villahorrenda. Brave men chafe at being kept inthe house; is it not so, Senor Canon?"

"Senor Ramos, that house ought not to be left unprotected, " said thePenitentiary. 

"The servants are enough, and more than enough. But do you suppose, Senor Don Inocencio, that the brigadier employs himself in attacking thepeople's houses?"

"Yes, but you know very well that that diabolical engineer----"

"For that--there are not wanting brooms in the house, " said Cristobaljovially. "For in the end, there will be no help for it but to marrythem. After what has passed----"

"Senor Ramos, " said Remedios, with sudden anger, "I imagine that all youknow about marrying people is very little. "

"I say that because a little while ago, when I was at the house, themother and daughter seemed to be having a sort of reconciliation. DonaPerfecta was kissing Rosarito over and over again, and there was no endto their caresses and endearments. "

"Reconciliation! With all these preparations for the war you have lostyour senses. But, finally, are you coming with me or not?"

"It is not to Dona Perfecta's she wants to go, " said the priest, "but tothe hotel of the widow De Cuzco. She was saying that she does not dareto go alone, because she is afraid of being insulted. "

"By whom?"

"It is easily understood. By that infernal engineer. Last night my niecemet him there, and she gave him some plain talk; and for that reasonshe is not altogether easy in her mind to-night. The young fellow isrevengeful and insolent. "

"I don't know whether I can go, " said Caballuco. "As I am in hiding nowI cannot measure my strength against Don Jose Poquita Cosa. If I werenot as I am--with half my face hidden, and the other half uncovered--Iwould have broken his back for him already twenty times over. But whathappens if I attack him? He discovers who I am, he falls upon me withthe soldiers, and good-bye to Caballuco. As for giving him a treacherousblow, that is something I couldn't do; nor would Dona Perfecta consentto it, either. For a stab in the dark Cristobal Ramos is not the man. "

"But are you crazy, man? What are you thinking about?" said thePenitentiary, with unmistakable signs of astonishment. "Not even inthought would I advise you to do an injury to that gentleman. I wouldcut my tongue out before I would advise such a piece of villany. Thewicked will fall, it is true; but it is God who will fix the moment, not I. And the question is not to give a beating, either. I would ratherreceive a hundred blows myself than advise the administration of such amedicine to any Christian. One thing only will I say to you, " he ended, looking at the bravo over his spectacles, "and that is, that as myniece is going there; and as it is probable, very probable, is it not, Remedios? that she may have to say a few plain words to that man, I recommend you not to leave her unprotected, in case she should beinsulted. "

"I have something to do to-night, " answered Caballuco, laconically anddryly. 

"You hear what he says, Remedios. Leave your business for to-morrow. "

"I can't do that. I will go alone. "

"No, you shall not go alone, niece. Now let us hear no more about thematter. Senor Ramos has something to do, and he cannot accompany you. Fancy if you were to be insulted by that rude man!"

"Insulted! A lady insulted by that fellow!" exclaimed Caballuco. "Comethat must not be. "

"If you had not something to do--bah! I should be quite easy in my mind, then. "

"I have something to do, " said the Centaur, rising from the table, "butif you wish it----"

There was a pause. The Penitentiary had closed his eyes and wasmeditating. 

"I wish it, Senor Ramos, " he said at last. 

"There is no more to be said then. Let us go, Senora Dona Maria. "

"Now, my dear niece, " said Don Inocencio, half seriously, halfjestingly, "since we have finished supper bring me the basin. "

He gave his niece a penetrating glance, and accompanying it with thecorresponding action, pronounced these words:

"I wash my hands of the matter. "

CHAPTER XXVIII

FROM PEPE REY TO DON JUAN REY

"ORBAJOSA, April 12. 

"MY DEAR FATHER:

"Forgive me if for the first time in my life I disobey you in refusingto leave this place or to renounce my project. Your advice and yourentreaty are what were to be expected from a kind, good father. Myobstinacy is natural in an insensate son; but something strange istaking place within me; obstinacy and honor have become so blended andconfounded in my mind that the bare idea of desisting from my purposemakes me ashamed. I have changed greatly. The fits of rage that agitateme now were formerly unknown to me. I regarded the violent acts, theexaggerated expressions of hot-tempered and impetuous men with thesame scorn as the brutal actions of the wicked. Nothing of this kindsurprises me any longer, for in myself I find at all times a certainterrible capacity for wickedness. I can speak to you as I would speak toGod and to my conscience; I can tell you that I am a wretch, for he is awretch who is wanting in that powerful moral force which enables himto chastise his passions and submit his life to the stern rule ofconscience. I have been wanting in the Christian fortitude which exaltsthe spirit of the man who is offended above the offences which hereceives and the enemies from whom he receives them. I have had theweakness to abandon myself to a mad fury, putting myself on a level withmy detractors, returning them blow for blow, and endeavoring to confoundthem by methods learned in their own base school. How deeply I regretthat you were not at my side to turn me from this path! It is now toolate. The passions will not brook delay. They are impatient, and demandtheir prey with cries and with the convulsive eagerness of a fiercemoral thirst. I have succumbed. I cannot forget what you so oftensaid to me, that anger may be called the worst of the passions, since, suddenly transforming the character, it engenders all the others, andlends to each its own infernal fire. 

"But it is not anger alone that has brought me to the state of mindwhich I have described. A more expansive and noble sentiment--theprofound and ardent love which I have for my cousin, has alsocontributed to it, and this is the one thing that absolves me in my ownestimation. But if love had not done so, pity would have impelled meto brave the fury and the intrigues of your terrible sister; for poorRosario, placed between an irresistible affection and her mother, isat the present moment one of the most unhappy beings on the face of theearth. The love which she has for me, and which responds to mine--doesit not give me the right to open, in whatever way I can, the doors ofher house and take her out of it; employing the law, as far as the lawreaches, and using force at the point where the law ceases to supportme? I think that your rigid moral scrupulosity will not give anaffirmative answer to this question; but I have ceased to be the uprightand methodical character whose conscience was in exact conformity withthe dictates of the moral law. I am no longer the man whom an almostperfect education enabled to keep his emotions under strict control. To-day I am a man like other men; at a single step I have crossed theline which separates the just and the good from the unjust and thewicked. Prepare yourself to hear of some dreadful act committed by me. Iwill take care to notify you of all my misdeeds. 

"But the confession of my faults will not relieve me from theresponsibility of the serious occurrences which have taken place andwhich are taking place, nor will this responsibility, no matter howmuch I may argue, fall altogether on your sister. Dona Perfecta'sresponsibility is certainly very great. What will be the extent of mine!Ah, dear father! believe nothing of what you hear about me; believeonly what I shall tell you. If they tell you that I have committed adeliberate piece of villany, answer that it is a lie. It is difficult, very difficult, for me to judge myself, in the state of disquietude inwhich I am, but I dare assure you that I have not deliberately givencause for scandal. You know well to what extremes passion can lead whencircumstances favor its fierce, its all-invading growth. 

"What is most bitter to me is the thought of having employed artifice, deceit, and base concealments--I who was truth itself. I am humiliatedin my own estimation. But is this the greatest perversity into which thesoul can fall? Am I beginning now, or have I ended? I cannot tell. IfRosario with her angelic hand does not take me out of this hell ofmy conscience, I desire that you should come to take me out of it. Mycousin is an angel, and suffering, as she has done, for my sake, she hastaught me a great many things that I did not know before. 

"Do not be surprised at the incoherence of what I write. Diverseemotions inflame me; thoughts at times assail me truly worthy of myimmortal soul; but at times also I fall into a lamentable state ofdejection, and I am reminded of the weak and degenerate characters whosebaseness you have painted to me in such strong colors, in order that Imight abhor them. In the state in which I am to-day I am ready for goodor for evil. God have pity upon me! I already know what prayer is--asolemn and reflexive supplication, so personal that it is not compatiblewith formulas learned by heart; an expansion of the soul which dares toreach out toward its source; the opposite of remorse, in which thesoul, at war with itself, seeks in vain to defend itself by sophismsand concealments. You have taught me many good things, but now I ampractising; as we engineers say, I am studying on the ground; and inthis way my knowledge will become broadened and confirmed. I begin toimagine now that I am not so wicked as I myself believe. Am I right?

"I end this letter in haste. I must send it with some soldiers whoare going in the direction of the station at Villahorrenda, for thepost-office of this place is not to be trusted. "

"APRIL 14. 

"It would amuse you, dear father, if I could make you understand theideas of the people of this wretched town. You know already that almostall the country is up in arms. It was a thing to be anticipated, andthe politicians are mistaken if they imagine that it will be over in acouple of days. Hostility to us and to the Government is innate in theOrbajosan's mind, and forms a part of it as much as his religious faith. Confining myself to the particular question with my aunt, I will tellyou a singular thing--the poor lady, who is penetrated by the spirit offeudalism to the marrow of her bones, has taken it into her head thatI am going to attack her house and carry off her daughter, as thegentlemen of the Middle Ages attacked an enemy's castle to consummatesome outrage. Don't laugh, for it is the truth--such are the ideas ofthese people. I need not tell you that she regards me as a monster, asa sort of heretic Moorish king, and of the officers here who are myfriends she has no better opinion. In Dona Perfecta's house it is amatter of firm belief that the army and I have formed a diabolical andanti-religious coalition to rob Orbajosa of its treasures, its faith, and its maidens. I am sure that your sister firmly believes that I amgoing to take her house by assault, and there is not a doubt but thatbehind the door some barricade has been erected. 

"But it could not be otherwise. Here they have the most antiquatedideas respecting society, religion, the state, property. The religiousexaltation which impels them to employ force against the Government, todefend a faith which no one has attacked, and which, besides, they donot possess, revives in their mind the feudal sentiment; and as theywould settle every question by brute force, with the sword and withfire, killing all who do not think as they do, they believe that no onein the world employs other methods. 

"Far from intending to perform quixotic deeds in this lady's house, Ihave in reality saved her some annoyances from which the rest of thetown have not escaped. Owing to my friendship with the brigadier she hasnot been obliged to present, as was ordered, a list of those of themen in her service who have joined the insurgents; and if her house wassearched I have certain knowledge that it was only for form's sake;and if the six men there were disarmed, they have been replaced by sixothers, and nothing has been done to her. You see to what my hostilityto that lady is reduced. 

"It is true that I have the support of the military chiefs, but Imake use of it solely to escape being insulted or ill-used by theseimplacable people. The probabilities of my success consist in the factthat the authorities recently appointed by the commander of the brigadeare all my friends. I derive from them the moral force which enablesme to intimidate these people. I don't know whether I shall find myselfcompelled to commit some violent action; but don't be alarmed, for theassault and the taking of the house is altogether a wild, feudal idea ofyour sister. Chance has placed me in an advantageous position. Rage, the passion that burns within me, will impel me to profit by it. I don'tknow how far I may go. "

"APRIL 17. 

"Your letter has given me great consolation. Yes; I can attainmy object, employing only the resources of the law, which will becompletely effectual for it. I have consulted the authorities of thisplace, and they all approve of the course you indicate. I am very gladof it. Since I have put into my cousin's mind the idea of disobedience, let it at least be under the protection of the law. I will do whatyou bid me, that is to say I will renounce the somewhat unworthycollaboration of Pinzon; I will break up the terrorizing solidaritywhich I established with the soldiers; I will cease to make a display ofthe power I derived from them; I will have done with adventures, andat the fitting moment I will act with calmness, prudence, and allthe benignity possible. It is better so. My coalition, half-serious, half-jesting, with the army, had for its object to protect me againstthe violence of the Orbajosans and of the servants and the relations ofmy aunt. For the rest, I have always disapproved of the idea of what wecall armed intervention. 

"The friend who aided me has been obliged to leave the house; but I amnot entirely cut off from communication with my cousin. The poor girlshows heroic valor in the midst of her sufferings, and will obey meblindly. 

"Set your mind at rest about my personal safety. For my part, I have nofear and I am quite tranquil. "

"APRIL 20. 

"To-day I can write only a few lines. I have a great deal to do. Allwill be ended within two or three days. Don't write to me again to thismiserable town. I shall soon have the happiness of embracing you. 

"PEPE. "

CHAPTER XXIX

FROM PEPE REY TO ROSARITO POLENTINOS

"Give Estebanillo the key of the garden and charge him to take careabout the dog. The boy is mine, body and soul. Fear nothing! I shall bevery sorry if you cannot come down stairs as you did the other night. Do all you can to manage it. I will be in the garden a little aftermidnight. I will then tell you what course I have decided upon, andwhat you are to do. Tranquillize your mind, my dear girl, for I haveabandoned all imprudent or violent expedients. I will tell you everything when I see you. There is much to tell; and it must be spoken, notwritten. I can picture to myself your terror and anxiety at the thoughtof my being so near you. But it is a week since I have seen you. I havesworn that this separation from you shall soon be ended, and it will beended. My heart tells me that I shall see you. I swear that I will seeyou. "

CHAPTER XXX

BEATING UP THE GAME

A man and a woman entered the hotel of the widow De Cuzco a little afterten o'clock, and left it at half-past eleven. 

"Now, Senora Dona Maria, " said the man, "I will take you to your house, for I have something to do. "

"Wait, Senor Ramos, for the love of God!" she answered. "Why don't wego to the Casino to see if he comes out? You heard just now thatEstebanillo, the boy that works in the garden, was talking with him thisafternoon. "

"But are you looking for Don Jose?" asked the Centaur, with ill-humor. "What have we to do with him? The courtship with Dona Rosario ended asit was bound to end, and now there is nothing for it but for my motherto marry them. That is my opinion. "

"You are a fool!" said Remedios angrily. 

"Senora, I am going. "

"Why, you rude man, are you going to leave me alone in the street?"

"Yes, senora, unless you go home at once. "

"That's right--leave me alone, exposed to be insulted! Listen to me, Senor Ramos. Don Jose will come out of the Casino in a moment, as usual. I want to see whether he goes into his hotel or goes past it. It is afancy of mine, only a fancy. "

"What I know is that I have something to do, and that it is near twelveo'clock. "

"Silence!" said Remedios. "Let us hide ourselves around the corner. Aman is coming down the Calle de la Triperia Alta. It is he!"

"Don Jose! I know him by his walk. "

"Let us follow him, " said Maria Remedios with anxiety. "Let us followhim at a little distance, Ramos. "

"Senora--"

"Only a minute, then, Dona Remedios. After that I must go. "

They walked on about thirty paces, keeping at a moderate distance behindthe man they were watching. The Penitentiary's niece stopped then andsaid:

"He is not going into his hotel. "

"He may be going to the brigadier's. "

"The brigadier lives up the street, and Don Pepe is going down in thedirection of the senora's house. "

"Of the senora's house!" exclaimed Caballuco, quickening his steps. 

But they were mistaken. The man whom they were watching passed the houseof Polentinos and walked on. 

"Do you see that you were wrong?"

"Senor Ramos, let us follow him!" said Remedios, pressing the Centaur'shand convulsively. "I have a foreboding. "

"We shall soon know, for we are near the end of the town. "

"Don't go so fast--he may see us. It is as I thought, Senor Ramos; he isgoing into the garden by the condemned door. "

"Senora, you have lost your senses!"

"Come on, and we shall see. "

The night was dark, and the watchers could not tell precisely at whatpoint Senor de Rey had entered; but a grating of rusty hinges which theyheard, and the circumstance of not meeting the young man in the wholelength of the garden wall, convinced them that he had entered thegarden. Caballuco looked at his companion with stupefaction. He seemedbewildered. 

"What are you thinking about? Do you still doubt?"

"What ought I to do?" asked the bravo, covered with confusion. "Shall wegive him a fright? I don't know what the senora would think about it. I say that because I was at her house this evening, and it seemed to methat the mother and daughter had become reconciled. "

"Don't be a fool! Why don't you go in?"

"Now I remember that the armed men are not there; I told them to leavethis evening. "

"And this block of marble still doubts what he ought to do! Ramos, gointo the garden and don't be a coward. "

"How can I go in if the door is closed?"

"Get over the wall. What a snail! If I were a man----"

"Well, then, up! There are some broken bricks here where the boys climbover the wall to steal the fruit. "

"Up quickly! I will go and knock at the front door to waken the senora, if she should be asleep. "

The Centaur climbed up, not without difficulty. He sat astride on thewall for an instant, and then disappeared among the dark foliage of thetrees. Maria Remedios ran desperately toward the Calle del Condestable, and, seizing the knocker of the front door, knocked--knocked three timeswith all her heart and soul. 

CHAPTER XXXI

DONA PERFECTA

See with what tranquillity Senora Dona Perfecta pursues her occupationof writing. Enter her room, and, notwithstanding the lateness of thehour, you will surprise her busily engaged, her mind divided betweenmeditation and the writing of several long and carefully worded epistlestraced with a firm hand, every hair-stroke of every letter in which iscorrectly formed. The light of the lamp falls full upon her face andbust and hands, its shade leaving the rest of her person and almost thewhole of the room in a soft shadow. She seems like a luminous figureevoked by the imagination from amid the vague shadows of fear. 

It is strange that we should not have made before this a very importantstatement, which is that Dona Perfecta was handsome, or rather that shewas still handsome, her face preserving the remains of former beauty. The life of the country, her total lack of vanity, her disregard fordress and personal adornment, her hatred of fashion, her contempt forthe vanities of the capital, were all causes why her native beautydid not shine or shone very little. The intense shallowness of hercomplexion, indicating a very bilious constitution, still furtherimpaired her beauty. 

Her eyes black and well-opened, her nose finely and delicately shaped, her forehead broad and smooth, she was considered by all who saw her asa finished type of the human figure; but there rested on thosefeatures a certain hard and proud expression which excited a feelingof antipathy. As some persons, although ugly, attract; Dona Perfectarepelled. Her glance, even when accompanied by amiable words, placedbetween herself and those who were strangers to her the impassabledistance of a mistrustful respect; but for those of her house--thatis to say, for her relations, admirers, and allies--she possessed asingular attraction. She was a mistress in governing, and no one couldequal her in the art of adapting her language to the person whom she wasaddressing. 

Her bilious temperament and an excessive association with devout personsand things, which excited her imagination without object or result, hadaged her prematurely, and although she was still young she did not seemso. It might be said of her that with her habits and manner of life shehad wrought a sort of rind, a stony, insensible covering within whichshe shut herself, like the snail within his portable house. DonaPerfecta rarely came out of her shell. 

Her irreproachable habits, and that outward amiability which we haveobserved in her from the moment of her appearance in our story, were thecauses of the great prestige which she enjoyed in Orbajosa. She keptup relations, besides, with some excellent ladies in Madrid, and it wasthrough their means that she obtained the dismissal of her nephew. Atthe moment which we have now arrived in our story, we find her seated ather desk, which is the sole confidant of her plans and the depository ofher numerical accounts with the peasants, and of her moral accountswith God and with society. There she wrote the letters which her brotherreceived every three months; there she composed the notes that incitedthe judge and the notary to embroil Pepe Rey in lawsuits; there sheprepared the plot through which the latter lost the confidence of theGovernment; there she held long conferences with Don Inocencio. Tobecome acquainted with the scene of others of her actions whose effectswe have observed, it would be necessary to follow her to the episcopalpalace and to the houses of various of her friends. 

We do not know what Dona Perfecta would have been, loving. Hating, shehad the fiery vehemence of an angel of hatred and discord among men. Such is the effect produced on a character naturally hard, and withoutinborn goodness, by religious exaltation, when this, instead of drawingits nourishment from conscience and from truth revealed in principles assimple as they are beautiful, seeks its sap in narrow formulas dictatedsolely by ecclesiastical interests. In order that religious fanaticismshould be inoffensive, the heart in which it exists must be very pure. It is true that even in that case it is unproductive of good. But thehearts that have been born without the seraphic purity which establishesa premature Limbo on the earth, are careful not to become greatlyinflamed with what they see in retables, in choirs, in locutories andsacristies, unless they have first erected in their own consciences analtar, a pulpit, and a confessional. 

Dona Perfecta left her writing from time to time, to go into theadjoining room where her daughter was. Rosarito had been ordered tosleep, but, already precipitated down the precipice of disobedience, shewas awake. 

"Why don't you sleep?" her mother asked her. "I don't intend to go tobed to-night. You know already that Caballuco has taken away with himthe men we had here. Something might happen, and I will keep watch. If Idid not watch what would become of us both?"

"What time is it?" asked the girl. 

"It will soon be midnight. Perhaps you are not afraid, but I am. "

Rosarito was trembling, and every thing about her denoted the keenestanxiety. She lifted her eyes to heaven supplicatingly, and then turnedthem on her mother with a look of the utmost terror. 

"Why, what is the matter with you?"

"Did you not say it was midnight?"

"Yes. "

"Then----But is it already midnight?"

Rosario made an effort to speak, then shook her head, on which theweight of a world was pressing. 

"Something is the matter with you; you have something on your mind, "said her mother, fixing on her daughter her penetrating eyes. 

"Yes--I wanted to tell you, " stammered the girl, "I wanted tosay----Nothing, nothing, I will go to sleep. "

"Rosario, Rosario! your mother can read your heart like an open book, "exclaimed Dona Perfecta with severity. "You are agitated. I have toldyou already that I am willing to pardon you if you will repent; if youare a good and sensible girl. "

"Why, am I not good? Ah, mamma, mamma! I am dying!"

Rosario burst into a flood of bitter and disconsolate tears. 

"What are these tears about?" said her mother, embracing her. "If theyare tears of repentance, blessed be they. "

"I don't repent, I can't repent!" cried the girl, in a burst of sublimedespair. 

She lifted her head and in her face was depicted a sudden inspiredstrength. Her hair fell in disorder over her shoulders. Never was thereseen a more beautiful image of a rebellious angel. 

"What is this? Have you lost your senses?" said Dona Perfecta, layingboth her hands on her daughter's shoulders. 

"I am going away, I am going away!" said the girl, with the exaltationof delirium. 

And she sprang out of bed. 

"Rosario, Rosario----My daughter! For God's sake, what is this?"

"Ah, mamma, senora!" exclaimed the girl, embracing her mother; "bind mefast!"

"In truth you would deserve it. What madness is this?"

"Bind me fast! I am going away--I am going away with him!"

Dona Perfecta felt a flood of fire surging from her heart up to herlips. She controlled herself, however, and answered her daughter onlywith her eyes, blacker than the night. 

"Mamma, mamma, I hate all that is not he!" exclaimed Rosario. "Hear myconfession, for I wish to confess it to every one, and to you first ofall. "

"You are going to kill me; you are killing me!"

"I want to confess it, so that you may pardon me. This weight, thisweight that is pressing me down, will not let me live. "

"The weight of a sin! Add to it the malediction of God, and see if youcan carry that burden about with you, wretched girl! Only I can take itfrom you. "

"No, not you, not you!" cried Rosario, with desperation. "But hear me; Iwant to confess it all, all! Afterward, turn me out of this house whereI was born. "

"I turn you out!"

"I will go away, then. "

"Still less. I will teach you a daughter's duty, which you haveforgotten. "

"I will fly, then; he will take me with him!"

"Has he told you to do so? has he counselled you to do that? has hecommanded you to do that?" asked the mother, launching these words likethunderbolts against her daughter. 

"He has counselled me to do it. We have agreed to be married. We must bemarried, mamma, dear mamma. I will love you--I know that I ought to loveyou--I shall be forever lost if I do not love you. "

She wrung her hands, and falling on her knees kissed her mother's feet. 

"Rosario, Rosario!" cried Dona Perfecta, in a terrible voice, "rise!"

There was a short pause. 

"This man--has he written to you?"

"Yes. "

"And have you seen him again since that night?"

"Yes. "

"And you have written to him!"

"I have written to him also. Oh, senora! why do you look at me in thatway? You are not my mother. 

"Would to God that I were not! Rejoice in the harm you are doing me. Youare killing me; you have given me my death-blow!" cried Dona Perfecta, with indescribable agitation. "You say that this man--"

"Is my husband--I will be his wife, protected by the law. You are not awoman! Why do you look at me in that way? You make me tremble. Mother, mother, do not condemn me!"

"You have already condemned yourself--that is enough. Obey me, and Iwill forgive you. Answer me--when did you receive letters from thatman?"

"To-day. "

"What treachery! What infamy!" cried her mother, roaring rather thanspeaking. "Had you appointed a meeting?"

"Yes. "

"When?"

"To-night. "

"Where?"

"Here, here! I will confess every thing, every thing! I know it is acrime. I am a wretch; but you who are my mother will take me out of thishell. Give your consent. Say one word to me, only one word!"

"That man here in my house!" cried Dona Perfecta, springing back severalpaces from her daughter. 

Rosario followed her on her knees. At the same instant three blows wereheard, three crashes, three reports. It was the heart of Maria Remediosknocking at the door through the knocker. The house trembled with awfuldread. Mother and daughter stood motionless as statues. 

A servant went down stairs to open the door, and shortly afterward MariaRemedios, who was not now a woman but a basilisk enveloped in a mantle, entered Dona Perfecta's room. Her face, flushed with anxiety, exhaledfire. 

"He is there, he is there!" she said, as she entered. "He got into thegarden through the condemned door. "

She paused for breath at every syllable. 

"I know already, " returned Dona Perfecta, with a sort of bellow. 

Rosario fell senseless on the floor. 

"Let us go down stairs, " said Dona Perfecta, without paying anyattention to her daughter's swoon. 

The two women glided down stairs like two snakes. The maids and theman-servant were in the hall, not knowing what to do. Dona Perfectapassed through the dining-room into the garden, followed by MariaRemedios. 

"Fortunately we have Ca-Ca-Ca-balluco there, " said the canon's niece. 

"Where?"

"In the garden, also. He cli-cli-climbed over the wall. "

Dona Perfecta explored the darkness with her wrathful eyes. Rage gavethem the singular power of seeing in the dark peculiar to the felinerace. 

"I see a figure there, " she said. "It is going toward the oleanders. "

"It is he!" cried Remedios. "But there comes Ramos--Ramos!"

The colossal figure of the Centaur was plainly distinguishable. 

"Toward the oleanders, Ramos! Toward the oleanders!"

Dona Perfecta took a few steps forward. Her hoarse voice, vibrating witha terrible accent, hissed forth these words:

"Cristobal, Cristobal--kill him!"

A shot was heard. Then another. 

CHAPTER XXXII

CONCLUSION

From Don Cayetano Polentinos to a friend in Madrid:

"ORBAJOSA, April 21. 

"MY DEAR FRIEND:

"Send me without delay the edition of 1562 that you say you have pickedup at the executor's sale of the books of Corchuelo. I will pay anyprice for that copy. I have been long searching for it in vain, and Ishall esteem myself the most enviable of virtuosos in possessing it. You ought to find in the colophon a helmet with a motto over theword 'Tractado, ' and the tail of the X of the date MDLXII ought to becrooked. If your copy agrees with these signs send me a telegraphicdespatch at once, for I shall be very anxious until I receive it. Butnow I remember that, on account of these vexatious and troublesome wars, the telegraph is not working. I shall await your answer by return ofmail. 

"I shall soon go to Madrid for the purpose of having my long delayedwork, the 'Genealogies of Orbajosa, ' printed. I appreciate yourkindness, my dear friend, but I cannot accept your too flatteringexpressions. My work does not indeed deserve the high encomiums youbestow upon it; it is a work of patience and study, a rude but solid andmassive monument which I shall have erected to the past glories of mybeloved country. Plain and humble in its form, it is noble in the ideathat inspired it, which was solely to direct the eyes of this proud andunbelieving generation to the marvellous deeds and the pure virtues ofour forefathers. Would that the studious youth of our country might takethe step to which with all my strength I incite them! Would that theabominable studies and methods of reasoning introduced by philosophiclicense and erroneous doctrines might be forever cast into oblivion!Would that our learned men might occupy themselves exclusively in thecontemplation of those glorious ages, in order that, this generationbeing penetrated with their essence and their beneficent sap, its insaneeagerness for change, and its ridiculous mania for appropriatingto itself foreign ideas which conflict with our beautiful nationalconstitution, might disappear. I fear greatly that among the crowd ofmad youth who pursue vain Utopias and heathenish novelties, my desiresare not destined to be fulfilled, and that the contemplation of theillustrious virtues of the past will remain confined within the samenarrow circle as to-day. What is to be done, my friend? I am afraid thatvery soon our poor Spain is doomed to be so disfigured that she willnot be able to recognize herself, even beholding herself in the brightmirror of her stainless history. 

"I do not wish to close this letter without informing you of adisagreeable event--the unfortunate death of an estimable young man, well known in Madrid, the civil engineer Don Jose de Rey, a nephew of mysister-in-law. This melancholy event occurred last night in the gardenof our house, and I have not yet been able to form a correct judgmentregarding the causes that may have impelled the unfortunate Rey tothis horrible and criminal act. According to what Perfecta told methis morning, on my return from Mundo Grande, Pepe Rey at about twelveo'clock last night entered the garden of the house and shot himselfin the right temple, expiring instantly. Imagine the consternation andalarm which such an event would produce in this peaceable and virtuousmansion. Poor Perfecta was so greatly affected that we were for atime alarmed about her; but she is better now, and this afternoon wesucceeded in inducing her to take a little broth. We employ every meansof consoling her, and as she is a good Christian, she knows how tosupport with edifying resignation even so great a misfortune as this. 

"Between you and me, my friend, I will say here that in young Rey'sfatal attempt upon his life, I believe the moving causes to have been anunfortunate attachment, perhaps remorse for his conduct, and the stateof hypochondriasm into which he had fallen. I esteemed him greatly; Ithink he was not lacking in excellent qualities; but he was held in suchdisrepute here that never once have I heard any one speak well of him. According to what they say, he made a boast of the most extravagantideas and opinions; he mocked at religion, entered the church smokingand with his hat on; he respected nothing, and for him there wasneither modesty, nor virtue, nor soul, nor ideal, nor faith--nothing buttheodolites, squares, rules, engines, pick-axes, and spades. What do youthing of that? To be just, I must say that in his conversations with mehe always concealed these ideas, doubtless through fear of being utterlyrouted by the fire of my arguments; but in public innumerable storiesare told of his heretical ideas and his stupendous excesses. 

"I cannot continue, my dear friend, for at this moment I hear firing. As I have no love for fighting, and as I am not a soldier, my pulsetrembles a little. In due time I will give you further particulars ofthis war. 

"Yours affectionately, etc. , etc. "

"APRIL 22. 

"MY EVER-REMEMBERED FRIEND:

"To-day we have had a bloody skirmish on the outskirts of Orbajosa. Thelarge body of men raised in Villahorrenda were attacked by the troopswith great fury. There was great loss in killed and wounded on bothsides. After the combat the brave guerillas dispersed, but they aregreatly encouraged, and it is possible that you may hear of wonderfulthings. Cristobal Caballuco, the son of the famous Caballuco whom youwill remember in the last war, though suffering from a wound in the arm, how or when received is not known, commanded them. The present leaderhas eminent qualifications for the command; and he is, besides, anhonest and simple-hearted man. As we must finally come to a friendlyarrangement, I presume that Caballuco will be made a general in theSpanish army, whereby both sides will gain greatly. 

"I deplore this war, which is beginning to assume alarming proportions;but I recognize that our valiant peasants are not responsible for it, since they have been provoked to the inhuman conflict by the audacity ofthe Government, by the demoralization of its sacrilegious delegates; bythe systematic fury with which the representatives of the state attackwhat is most venerated by the people--their religious faith and thenational spirit which fortunately still exists in those places that arenot yet contaminated by the desolating pestilence. When it is attemptedto take away the soul of a people to give it a different one; when it issought to denationalize a people, so to say, perverting its sentiments, its customs, its ideas--it is natural that this people should defenditself, like the man who is attacked by highwaymen on a solitary road. Let the spirit and the pure and salutiferous substance of my work on the'Genealogies'--excuse the apparent vanity--once reach the sphere of theGovernment and there will no longer be wars. 

"To-day we have had here a very disagreeable question. The clergy, myfriend, have refused to allow Rey to be buried in consecrated ground. I interfered in the matter, entreating the bishop to remove this heavyanathema, but without success. Finally, we buried the body of the youngman in a grave made in the field of Mundo Grande, where my patientexplorations have discovered the archaeological treasures of which youknow. I spent some very sad hours, and the painful impression whichI received has not yet altogether passed away. Don Juan Tafetan andourselves were the only persons who accompanied the funeral cortege. Alittle later, strange to say, the girls whom they call here the Troyaswent to the field, and prayed for a long time beside the rustic tombof the mathematician. Although this seemed a ridiculous piece ofofficiousness it touched me. 

"With respect to the death of Rey, the rumor circulates throughout thetown that he was assassinated, but by whom is not known. It is assertedthat he declared this to be the case, for he lived for about an hour anda half. According to what they say, he refused to reveal the name ofhis murderer. I repeat this version, without either contradicting orsupporting it. Perfecta does not wish this matter to be spoken of, andshe becomes greatly distressed whenever I allude to it. 

"Poor woman! no sooner had one misfortune occurred than she met withanother, which has grieved us all deeply. My friend, the fatal maladythat has been for so many generations connatural in our family has nowclaimed another victim. Poor Rosario, who, thanks to our cares, wasimproving gradually in her health, has entirely lost her reason. Herincoherent words, her frenzy, her deadly pallor, bring my mother and mysister forcibly to my mind. This is the most serious case that I havewitnessed in our family, for the question here is not one of mania butof real insanity. It is sad, terribly sad that out of so many I shouldbe the only one to escape, preserving a sound mind with all my facultiesunimpaired and entirely free from any sign of that fatal malady. 

"I have not been able to give your remembrances to Don Inocencio, forthe poor man has suddenly fallen ill and refuses to see even his mostintimate friends. But I am sure that he would return your remembrances, and I do not doubt that he could lay his hand instantly on thetranslation of the collection of Latin epigrams which you recommend tohim. I hear firing again. They say that we shall have a skirmish thisafternoon. The troops have just been called out. "

"BARCELONA, June 1. 

"I have just arrived here after leaving my niece in San Baudilio deLlobregat. The director of the establishment has assured me that thecase is incurable. She will, however, have the greatest care in thatcheerful and magnificent sanitarium. My dear friend, if I also shouldever succumb, let me be taken to San Baudilio. I hope to find the proofsof my 'Genealogies' awaiting me on my return. I intend to add six pagesmore, for it would be a great mistake not to publish my reasons formaintaining that Mateo Diez Coronel, author of the 'Metrico Encomio, 'is descended, on the mother's side, from the Guevaras, and not from theBurguillos, as the author of the 'Floresta Amena' erroneously maintains. 

"I write this letter principally for the purpose of giving you acaution. I have heard several persons here speaking of Pepe Rey's death, and they describe it exactly as it occurred. The secret of the manner ofhis death, which I learned some time after the event, I revealed to youin confidence when we met in Madrid. It has appeared strange to me thathaving told it to no one but yourself, it should be known here in allits details--how he entered the garden; how he fired on Caballuco whenthe latter attacked him with his dagger; how Ramos then fired on himwith so sure an aim that he fell to the ground mortally wounded. Inshort, my dear friend, in case you should have inadvertently spoken ofthis to any one, I will remind you that it is a family secret, and thatwill be sufficient for a person as prudent and discreet as yourself. 

"Joy! joy! I have just read in one of the papers here that Caballuco haddefeated Brigadier Batalla. "

"ORBAJOSA, December 12. 

"I have a sad piece of news to give you. The Penitentiary has ceased toexist for us; not precisely because he has passed to a better life, butbecause the poor man has been, ever since last April, so grief-stricken, so melancholy, so taciturn that you would not know him. There is nolonger in him even a trace of that Attic humor, that decorous andclassic joviality which made him so pleasing. He shuns every body; heshuts himself up in his house and receives no one; he hardly eats anything, and he has broken off all intercourse with the world. If you wereto see him now you would not recognize him, for he is reduced to skinand bone. The strangest part of the matter is that he has quarreled withhis niece and lives alone, entirely alone, in a miserable cottage in thesuburb of Baidejos. They say now that he will resign his chair in thechoir of the cathedral and go to Rome. Ah! Orbajosa will lose much inlosing her great Latinist. I imagine that many a year will pass beforewe shall see such another. Our glorious Spain is falling into decay, declining, dying. "

"ORBAJOSA, December 23. 

"The young man who will present to you a letter of introduction fromme is the nephew of our dear Penitentiary, a lawyer with some literaryability. Carefully educated by his uncle, he has very sensible ideas. How regrettable it would be if he should become corrupted in that sinkof philosophy and incredulity! He is upright, industrious, and a goodCatholic, for which reasons I believe that in an office like yours hewill rise to distinction in his profession. Perhaps his ambition maylead him (for he has ambition, too) into the political arena, andI think he would not be a bad acquisition to the cause of order andtradition, now that the majority of our young men have become pervertedand have joined the ranks of the turbulent and the vicious. He isaccompanied by his mother, a commonplace woman without any socialpolish, but who has an excellent heart, and who is truly pious. Maternal affection takes in her the somewhat extravagant form of worldlyambition, and she declares that her son will one day be Minister. It isquite possible that he may. 

"Perfecta desires to be remembered to you. I don't know precisely whatis the matter with her; but the fact is, she gives us great uneasiness. She has lost her appetite to an alarming degree, and, unless I amgreatly mistaken in my opinion of her case, she shows the first symptomsof jaundice. The house is very sad without Rosarito, who brightened itwith her smiles and her angelic goodness. A black cloud seems to restnow over us all. Poor Perfecta speaks frequently of this cloud, whichis growing blacker and blacker, while she becomes every day more yellow. The poor mother finds consolation for her grief in religion and indevotional exercises, which each day she practises with a more exemplaryand edifying piety. She passes almost the whole of the day in church, and she spends her large income in novenas and in splendid religiousceremonies. Thanks to her, religious worship has recovered in Orbajosaits former splendor. This is some consolation in the midst of the decayand dissolution of our nationality. 

"To-morrow I will send the proofs. I will add a few pages more, for Ihave discovered another illustrious Orbajosan--Bernardo Amador de Sota, who was footman to the Duke of Osuna, whom he served during the periodof the vice-royalty of Naples; and there is even good reason to believethat he had no complicity whatever in the conspiracy against Venice. "

Our story is ended. This is all we have to say for the presentconcerning persons who seem, but are not good.